[engl] As the Decline of Western Civilization comes into full focus, our ears turn once again to Los Angeles. The first proper full length from Smirk could very well be the soundtrack to a Decline pt. IV, with tracks like "Living in Hell" and "Hopeless" delivered for a whole new generation of latchkey kids. 'Material' follows 2021's 100% TOTAL PUNK 'EP' and 2020's 'LP', which collected the first two cassettes-de-quarantine that began Nick Vicario's run as Smirk. If you've worn out your copies of those releases, then 'Material' needs no further explanation. But if you're wondering where the magic is - let's start with pure, quality songwriting. Vicario and his revolving cast of Smirk players have really done it this time. It's punk, California, paranoia, guitars, rhythm, and a sense of humor-slash-purpose joining forces to combat reality in the truest sense. Smirk have produced an impressive punk encapsulation of the times across the web of sound on 'Material'.

[engl] New 4 song 7" by LA punks Smirk.

[engl] A year characterised by a pandemic, lockdowns, political ineptitude and oh, so much staying the fuck at home is enough to make anyone want to blow off a little steam. One overused piece of glib idiocy at the start of the Trump era was ‘at least punk will be good’, as though punk can only be good when it flips the bird to right-wing, authritarian shit-headery rather than amplifying anything else. Sure, there’ve been plenty of great records over the last four years, but sometimes (across the whole of 2020, for instance) the levels of anger, fear and frustration can be overwhelming and you need a little space to goof around. For some of us, though, goofing around is serious business - and here’s a record to illustrate that perfectly. Smirk is the solo project of Public Eye’s Nick Vicario, and while you’ll hear similarities to his main outfit across these 12 excellent tracks (from the off, you can imagine how PE might refine garage-carved nuggets like ‘S Construction’), here there’s less sang-froid and more… well, fun. The reference points you might expect are still there (Killed By Death comps and Wire, especially their 80s period, to name a couple), but with added scuzz and something even approaching joy - the whirling synths of ‘Eyes Conversing’ feel ominous, but they also convey a sense of delirious excitement. And dammit, it’s all fucking cool too. With a name like Smirk, your first instinct might well be to wonder whether Vicario is laughing at us. The first line of the album (a defiant ‘it’s not funny’) should tell you that this isn’t the case, but the album certainly finds him in playful mood. The tasteful acoustic instrumental ‘Lude 2’ descends deliberately into farce as it speeds up and slows down like a turntable alternating speeds, or a record warping in real time. Obviously you’re gonna play this on vinyl, dear reader, purchased directly from Drunken Sailor or Feel It Records, but we all know that those other listeners - not us, the other guys - are gonna chiefly listen on phones or through laptop speakers. It’s a 37-second sketch, but it prompts questions of what it means for technology to fail nowadays - can a record warp when it’s all bound up in digital files? Where does the disconnect lie between the player and the record; when the objects exist only virtually? Am I overthinking this? Oh, almost certainly, but it’s a record that’ll kick that noggin of yours into overdrive. Get involved, get addicted and laugh along.

[engl] SNOB have snarled around the local London scene since 2014, leaving a trail of two self-released 7 inches and adulation in their wake. It’s now the year 2018, and SNOB finally bring us their fully fledged follow up of tense hardcore punk that’s characterised by frantic snotty dictation, agitated guitar lines and pummelling rhythms. The ten songs on the self-titled 12” are filled with disparities – sneering hi-energy, sentient meat and potato, adroit silliness, agitated apathy – creating a bleak and angry sonic force. The whip-smart whip-short lyrics are almost a poetry-to-arms that rails against all of the absurdities of modern living. To these ears, SNOB is like if you left YouTube tabs of ICONS OF FILTH, PENI, NOG WATT and JETSET/ BLOEBAD all playing at once, and it somehow sounded wonderful.

[engl] Debut seven track album from half Melbourne-half NYC Soakie. It's total no nonsense blistering, fast and energetic hardcore with a vocalist that sounds like she has been chewing on glass everyday since birth. She has a real rasp and anger that is part Nick Blinko (Rudimentary Peni) and Part Vi Subversa (Poison Girls) but the music is totally pummelling and would sit perfectly for those that love pogo punk, Teddy And the Frat Girls, The Feederz and Good Throb in equal measures. Boys On Stage is a real standout with the lyric “There’re too many fucking boys on stage” sticking in your head from one listen.

[engl] Back in the late 70's, a small Louisiana town would quietly become home to "The Band That Souled The World". The Soul Patrol hailed from the northwestern Louisiana town of Many (pronounced man-ny), just across the Toledo Bend Reservoir from Texas. Junior high pals Buckshot Coxe (vocals, guitar) and Kenny Weaver (vocals, bass, percussion) laid the groundwork for The Soul Patrol, later graduating from Many High and crossing state lines to jam in Denton, TX while Buckshot briefly attended college. Upon returning to Many, drummer Kerwin Alexander - and his particularly loose and soulful style - was added to round out the trio, now jamming in their basement space known as THE CAVE. While their live shows at small clubs went over poorly - Weaver recalls, "We were kinda anti-everything in the area and no one got us at the time" - The Soul Patrol made it into a long-since-forgotten local studio to cut a two song demo in 1979. From there, the band decided to order a custom pressing of 50 copies (!) on their own STUD Records imprint. Almost all of the sleeveless 45s were given away to friends and at parties, vanishing into near-total obscurity for over four decades. Oh yes, THAT single - well it's simply jaw dropping stuff. A double-sided monster that simultaneously kills across the hard rock/proto-punk/Bloodstains/Killed By Death spectrums. Loud, raw, loose, Southern, and WAY ahead of the curve. "Mara" is a bona fide rocker, anchored by Buckshot's brilliant vocal and guitar lines. But hell, "Take Back the Night" truly steals the show, with an incredible fuzz guitar tone driving the main riff home while Coxe screams "HERE WE GO!" to kick off the side. An incredible punk moment, almost like the cocaine mix of "Raw Power" Stooges bashing into the verse riff of "Sub-mission" by The Sex Pistols. And it's all totally replete with attitude, excelling in the same department as fellow US first wave punk regionalists like The Crap Detectors, The Gizmos, and The (Iowa) Dogs. The Soul Patrol existed until 1981, turning in a second 45 and LP on the White Horse label - neither of which quite match the veracity and sheer raw excellence of their STUD 45. Shortly after their self-titled LP, Buckshot Coxe moved to Amsterdam and would later pass there, followed in passing by Kerwin Alexander. Reissued and widely available for the first time ever, THE SOUL PATROL's debut 45 has been carefully transferred and remastered from Kenny Weaver's personal copy (one of a handful known in existence) and paired up with a newly created picture sleeve by resident Louisiana punk Drew Owen (Sick Thoughts). First 250 copies on translucent orange vinyl with 500 more on black, all with hand-stamped picture sleeves accompanied by an insert featuring liners from Kenny Weaver and a small treasure trove of reproduced ephemera from The Soul Patrol archives, plus a download code.

[engl] Spent Flesh takes highlights of American hardcore in the 1980’s and effortlessly blend them with pop punk, noise, and some avant-garde elements. This collection of songs is constantly mutating at break neck speed, all served up in a wonderful mess that blasts thru 9 songs in just over 13 minutes!

[engl] Straight forward hardcore punk with members of Mondo Gecko, Kids Insane and Useless ID

[engl] Hailing from the South East of England this Kent based 4 piece features ex members of UK punk bands Southport, 7 Day Conspiracy and More Than Normal. After listening to some old demo tracks Dan had been holding onto for years, Spoilers began in 2015. Fast forward 3 years, SPOILERS have played countless shows all over the UK and Europe sharing a stage with some of the biggest names in punk rock such as Snuff, NOFX, Lagwagon, Face to Face, Alkaline Trio, and A Wilhelm Scream. Catchy vocal melodies mixed with riffs that are just as at home now as they would have been in the early Snuff period, played with an energy that rivals China Drum and Gorilla Biscuits in a fist fight with Osker. Spoilers are the type of act that are happy to let you believe they are a pop punk band then without notice slap you in the face with some melodic hardcore. “Spoilers turn in a sweat-drenched set of soulful and gruff punk rock. Marrying pop punk with shades of Gorilla Biscuits-esque hardcore. They hit the spot early. Melodies as big as houses” Vive le Rock Magazine

[engl] “New 12 song, 30 minuted LP. 3 years in the making. Dissonance and melody. Superchunk and hardcore,” guitarist and co-vocalist Daryl Gussin explains. Joined by drummer Adrian Tenney, the pair formed out of God Equals Genocide to create some lo-fi brilliance. Arriving about three years after the release of their debut 12? EP We Move, Gone, Gone, Gone is a jam-packed collection of swiftly delivered raucous-pretty hits, a sun-drenched living room window before & after being broken. The duo is comprised of drummer/vocalist Adrian Tenney (also of Badlands) and guitarist/vocalist Daryl Gussin, whose voices mesh sweetly & perfectly, layered over ferocious whirlwinds of guitar and drums. This one’s dying for you to play it loud and often. Angry, visceral and urgent. Essential.

[engl] Spread Joy may as well be their own musical genre. An immediate flavor and mercurial 'Qu'est-ce que c'est?' begin their second album with the 45 second opener "Ow". Coincidentally, the album spins at 45, just like Spread Joy's self-titled 2021 debut. The Chicago group came out of nowhere, mid-pandemic, with a stunning ten track LP on Feel It. Returning to the warm analog environment at Jamdek Recording Co., Spread Joy have truly honed their craft across these 17 minutes and 17 seconds. This is the kind of punk-forward music that is made to be heard and felt, far from the distorted mirror of the web. A group living free, moving at their own speed, and making music that will be remembered - that's Spread Joy, folks!

[engl] limited

[engl] Static Me hailing from Cologne, Germany and feat. various members from various bands. Static play dark female fronted post punk that some remind me as a mix between, HANS-A-PLAST meets KLEENEX meets X MAL DEUTSCHLAND. A reminiscent sound w/ great catchy vocals.

[engl] ”Black Arcs Rising” is the third studio album by Swedish rock trio Statues. Recorded at Svenska grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, this 12 track full-length release brings back the imperishable soundscapes of 90’s alternative rock while showcasing Statues’ melodic, direct, and intense approach to songwriting.