[engl] SAVAK is Sohrab Habibion, Michael Jaworski & Matt Schulz Beg Your Pardon, SAVAK's third release in as many years, follows a compelling progression from their past releases (2016's Best Of Luck In Future Endeavors and 2017's Cut-Ups) -- equally the most punk rock and sublime record in their repertoire. The new album features everything from noisy careeners and '80s hardcore nods to slightly glammy stompers and straight-up, New Zealand-inspired, guitar-pop songs (and that's just in the first 10 minutes of side one). The band recorded and produced Beg Your Pardon themselves in their Gowanus practice space and then handed off the songs to Mikey Young (Royal Headache, Kelley Stoltz), Geoff Sanoff (Nada Surf, Luna), Ed Ackerman (The Jayhawks, John Wesley Harding) and Matthew Barnhart (Superchunk, METZ) to mix.

[engl] SAVAK is a Brooklyn-based post-punk band formed in 2015 by singers/guitarists/songwriters Sohrab Habibion and Michael Jaworski. Drummer Matt Schulz has been the other constant member over the course of 5 LPs, an EP, and multiple 7” singles. To round out their recordings and live performances, SAVAK has welcomed a variety of bass players and other musician-friends on horns, strings and keyboards. From the onset, Habibion and Jaworski's intent has been to give each other space to bring in ideas and to support the other songwriter in the process. Setting aside any notion or formality of there being one “lead singer,” they’ve taken a shared approach, setting aside their egos for the benefit of the song. The band extends this ethos to everything it does, typically taking turns singing songs at shows and sharing an equal number of contributions to each recording. SAVAK’s 5th full-length album, Human Error / Human Delight, will be out April 15th, 2022 on the band’s newly-minted record label, Peculiar Works Music. Like more than a few albums coming out these days, this is the band’s “pandemic record,” which happened to suit the dual-songwriter approach quite well, as Habibion and Jaworski wrote and recorded separately, isolated in quarantine, sharing files back and forth. Whenever the coast seemed clear, they met up with Schulz to add drums and various overdubs. The completed tracks were then handed off to long-time SAVAK producer, and occasional bass player, Geoff Sanoff, for mixing. The album was initially conceived as two separate EP releases, with songs falling under one thematic umbrella or another. Human Error tracks deal with frailty, shared struggles, humility, and self improvement. Human Delight celebrates togetherness, understanding, joy and even hints at transcendence.

[engl] Savak are back with their fourth album, "Rotting Teeth in the Horse’s Mouth". The band recorded the album at their Gowanus studio and the record features appearances by Scott McCloud (Girls Against Boys, Soulside, Paramount Styles), Michael Hampton (The Faith, Embrace, S.O.A., One Last Wish, Fake Names), and Anthony Roman (Radio 4). The band was formed in 2015 by members of The Obits, Holy Fuck, Edsel, Nation of Ulysses, and The Cops. Their influences range from '60s Texas psychedelia to British pub rock to early-'80s American hardcore. Savak is Sohrab Habibion, Michael Jaworski and Matt Schulz. It comes on solid white vinyl. This is a co-release with Ernest Jenning Record Co. from Brooklyn, NY.

[engl] This is fucking great. Immediate, tense stabs of abrasive post-punk, punctuated by raw, desperate [bavarian] vocals. Propulsive, straightforward rhythms suggest an alternate history where KILLING JOKE recorded with RUDIMENTARY PENI and appeared on the Bullshit Detector comp. Comparisons (favorable) could be drawn with recent Euro acts like STRUCTURE and DIÄT. I should mention that the album comes with a very plush lyric (and translation) booklet. Can’t recommend highly enough. - MRR

[engl] How weird can we go at the ETT hq? and the answer is - extremely weird, thanks to SET-TOP BOX. Some of the weirdest punk songs I've heard and what should i say? I freakin love it. Crack a drink, put your feed up, turn off yur brain and just relax to this TV GUIDE TEST BOX. Both tapes combined to a great full-length vinyl debut. The minimalism is monumental, the tone is dismal, and the delivery is deadpan, everything you are looking for in a first date, or your last meal. On their debut LP SET-TOP BOX siphons radiator fluid and rat piss along with a heaping helping of hopelessness and trauma into a ghastly broth of negativity that would probably cave your head in if it wasn't for that dumb skull of yours. Leave it to Diptheria Derbyshire or Kenny Logarithms, these jams are lethal and catastrophic, a level of punk danger you won't be ready for, repeatedly adding pressure to your weaknesses and reminding you how tough those synthesizers can really sound when pushed to their limit. Twelve songs of grudge-centric punk slime, run through a filter of fried armpit hair and burned out electronics, something you surely do not want to miss. Maybe you're already too late, fuck it, these guys are straight from the future and came all this way back to tell us that IT SUCKS. Hallelujah. Eggpunk, Devocore, whatever you wanna name it, we made it and here is more, but in a different way,unique, weird and over the top. Lofi, fucked up, but in a damn good way, I have no idea what those kids are doing down under, but they do it right! I just love the complete concept behind this whole thing These guys play a thumping, tough as nails, stripped down and catchy as hell brand of classic 1-2, 1-2 UK82 inspired hardcore punk with bruising vocals, sharp guitar riffs and a rhythm section that sounds like it's done a pharmacy full of speed. Gritty and loud production elevates what could otherwise be doomed to dollar bin hell. Four songs of ripping punk created by some of the key members of the Bay Area punk scene. Staying away from the epic side of things, SABRE keeps their songs catchy and punk. No fakes on this platter just punks playing what they love. That says it all. No trend, no fashion, just pissed friends shreddin' fast and loud.

[engl] A Sydney-borne future classic in the making. Downer synth-pop stylings that have New Order as a clear point of reference, but infuse the stuttering drum machines and shimmery guitars with a very Australian sense of anti-romantic fatalism. Some smart production brings these well-crafted poppers into the hi-fi field they belong in. Featuring members of Aloha Units, Natalia And Her Naptime and Houseband. Originally released on Paradise Daily Records. "Incredible ten track 12" from Australian synth punks SEX TOURISTS. I'd place this somewhere between the excellent, postpunk leanings of fellow Aussies ORION and the fine tuned, pop-inflected hits of TOTAL CONTROL. A serious contender and one of the best Aussie releases that I've heard in recent memory. Trust me, if this is your thing, you'll get plenty of spins outta this one." Sam/ Feel It Records.

[engl] Shipping News “One Less Heartless To Fear” is the band’s first new full length album since “Flies The Fields” (2005) and a helluva lot has happened over the last five years. Two weddings, fatherhood, serious illness, a presidential election, multiple wars, city moves... these things have inspired the band to make their most rowdy, aggressive and adolescent album to date. Shipping News has jettisoned the long songs (and glacial tempos) of the past and is concentrating on energetic blasts of noisy rock (with a little gallows humor thrown in). While slipping into a slightly more sympathetic mood once or twice, the new songs are stripped down and pretty much nasty. Working for the first time with the kind folks at AfricanTape and Ruminance, this album marks the 14th year of the band’s existence. “One Less Heartless To Fear” features seven brand new songs and two “oldies” recorded live on a digital multitrack system at the all-ages venue Skull Alley (Louisville) and The O-Nest (Tokyo). Not only is this a must for fans of any the band member's former outfits: Rodan, June Of 44, Slint and Rachel's, but also it's a must hear for anyone into Jesus LIzard,Shellac,Sonic Youth,Fugazi and Mission Of Burma. Superb!

[engl] Direct from Kansas City and encased in a layer of four-track analog glory comes the debut album from Silicone Prairie. You may have enjoyed Ian Teeple in action with Warm Bodies or The Natural Man Band, though Silicone Prairie is where Teeple has been focusing his solo creative energies over the past couple years, culminating in these 13 tracks. A trebly & jittery, landlocked Midwestern punk sound comes into effect straight out of the gate, much in the lineage of Gulcher's 'Red Snerts' comp or the Dow Jones side of 'Hoosier Hysteria' - with a dash of hardcore DEVO or even D.L.I.M.C. thrown in for contemporary spuds. But there's far more to Silicone Prairie - with quantitatively great songwriting and instrumentation bursting any preconceived sub-subgenre bubbles and occupying a kindred creative plain that made just about any Mould, Kirkwood, or Sage composition of the mid-80's oh so delightful & memorable. Heck, there's even a synth-heavy instrumental dedicated to electronic pioneer Patrick Cowley. 'My Life on the Silicone Prairie' dances across the sonic spectrum, from bedroom jangle to basement devolution, carrying big guitars, sharp synthesizers, and a hopeful grin into 2021 and beyond. A carefully crafted debut alive with the kind of creative rock'n'roll energy that simply cannot be quarantined, now or ever.

[engl] Ever since releasing 'My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. I' in 2021, Ian Teeple has been riding a creative high. Whether you've noticed his incredible visual art, witnessed the cathartic Silicone Prairie live band, or know Ian as the newest member of Snõõper - his driving, free-spirited energy abounds. Silicone Prairie have transcended landlocked guitar punk/jangle into new realms on Vol. II. The album manages to color outside the lines of genre, blurring worlds of sound together beautifully. Cloudy bedroom pop tangles with fields of flute, warbled tape editing, thick fuzzed guitars, and a sage sense of introversion. 'My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. II' is a deeply personal, ethereal ride through the mind of Ian Teeple, joined by friends from Kansas City and abroad. "You can't really listen to Silicone Prairie on record without noticing the laborious production and limber musicianship. Take for one, the way organized horns and muffled jungle beast roars harmoniously make themselves adjacent. Or the polarity of the bass and guitar, the grace of every instrument when it peeps. It has a raw edge though, the idiom and architecture does not impede the visceral, emotional content. It's about form AND heart AND realness, the more rigorous AND open AND boiled down, the more wrenching. It communicates in introspections and outbursts. The vocal can lilt with melancholy only to turn with smug angst within a phrase. For all its forethought, the end result pends until the application of the last stroke. There is nuance and humanity in this, there is aim and aimlessness, side by side and both fully present. Like Ayers or Newell or Stamey. Like Carole King or Abba or Don Mclean in the power pop Olympics, and then closed off and difficult and foaming at the mouth. See: bittersweet folk unknowns, reprobate bedroom glammists, serpentine flight simulators, or synchronized swimmers." - Joe Chamandy (Celluloid Lunch)

[engl] This record is a pure death-rock gem ! It was originally released in 1984 on Red Rhino Records, and is now available again on vinyl, with the original demo song « Lies » as bonus track ! SKELETAL FAMILY formed in 1982 in keighley, UK. After a debut 7’’, the band signed a record deal and entered studio to record 10 tracks for a debut album called «Burning Oil» which remained in the top 10 of the UK charts for several months. Stan Greenwood superb melancholic guitar leads and Anne-Marie Hurst haunted voice made the band become a major Death-Rock / Gothic Rock act. They are very often listed as a big infuence by the new generation of post punk bands. High quality vinyl repress housed in black inner sleeve, thick outer sleeve and including insert sheet with band pictures. First orders get limited smokey orange color vinyl !!

[engl] Skeletal Family remain one of the most adventurous & best-loved of all the bands associated with the 80s Goth scene; originally released in 1985, the 'Futile Combat' sessions featured Anthony Thistlewaite [Waterboys] & Graham Pleeth [Fischer Z] on keyboards; includes the singles 'Promised Land' & 'She Cries Alone'. It's their second album.

[engl] Another gem from the fertile Indiana scene, and if you like stuff like Coneheads, CCTV, and Liquids it’s probably more or less a given that you’ll be into this as well. Skull Cult have elements of a lot those bands’ sounds as well as some of their own tricks. Another slab of goofy, shambolic keyboard punk from some of the best rockers Bloomington has to offer, this time with not one, but TWO jank-ass keyboards. I bring you Skull Cult: a newly-founded project from, assumedly, one of the bright minds behind Bloomington’s outstanding punk scene. The claustrophobic, direct-in-the-board guitar sound and manic rhythms remind me of Coneheads and the big melodies paired with hardcore tempos reminds me of Liquids, but Skull Cult’s 60s-sounding synth work (which often sounds kind of like a farfisa organ) is all their own, as are the almost demonic screamed vocals (which, despite their harshness, manage to carry more than a little bit of melody). A maniacal, goofy, utterly infectious synth-infused punk project with shameless songwriting. The hammy, omnipresent key tones sound as if they’re emanating from a Fischer-Price “Baby’s First Keyboard” that’s low on batteries, the vocals are discernably alien-like and hellbent on rattling your eardrums, and the bass and drums are so synonymously quirky and synchronized – this LP is insane in every sense of the word. Stupidly catchy hooks and melodies offset with the best warbled/ distorted vocals. It's the best. Throw in some downright iconic cover artwork and you have a real standout LP… grab this one now before it becomes another one of those things with shocking Discogs price tags.

[engl] We "invented" the DEVO-CORE so here is more for you freaks! I couldn’t be happier. Here’s to another slab of goofy, shambolic keyboard punk from some of the best rockers Bloomington has to offer, this time with not one, but TWO jank-ass keyboards. I bring you Skull Cult: a newly-founded project from, assumedly, one of the bright minds behind Bloomington’s outstanding punk scene. This “Vol. 1 + 2” EP compiles the first two tapes of the group’s efforts, and hot damn, is it fuckin’ GOOD. I’ve only listened to this record for a few days at this point, but Skull Cult has already grown on me just as hemorrhoids do on an overweight, sedentary, middle-aged man’s spotted asshole – meaning very easily. “Vol. 1 + 2” a maniacal, goofy, utterly infectious synth-infused punk project with shameless songwriting. The hammy, omnipresent key tones sound as if they’re emanating from a Fischer-Price “Baby’s First Keyboard” that’s low on batteries, the vocals are discernably alien-like and hellbent on rattling your eardrums, and the bass and drums are so synonymously quirky and synchronized – this EP is insane in every sense of the word. If I’m gonna be honest, the clunky, dopey-ass guitar solos shoehorned throughout “WTTT” literally sold me on this entire band. You need to jam this EP NOW, because Skull Cult is stupidly amazing. I don’t care what any of you nudniks have to say, Skull Cult is a movement I can fuckin’ get behind.

[engl] Slum of Legs are a queer, feminist noise-pop DIY band. We are Alex, Emily, Kate, Maria, Mich and Tamsin. We write songs about ghosts, architecture, gender, loneliness and hair envy. You can dance to all of them. Sometimes we sound like The Shaggs, Slant 6 and La Dusseldorf playing at an impromptu party in space. One of our songs is a live séance. We’ve performed on a Norwegian mountain and in many, many basements. We like pylons and onstage pile-ons. We’re interested in modernist architecture, art & literature. We use collage & cut-up in our artwork and this also reflects the fractured nature of our songs and how the 6 of us, who all bring completely different influences to the band, have been stuck into a blender with the controls jammed. We are a giant pop-psych, punk monster with twelve legs. Our songs are melodic and dissonant, anthemic and experimental. Our debut album ‘Slum of Legs’ is a manifesto for compassion and defiance in a confusing, unrestful world.

[engl] First UK band on ETT and they making fresh, fiery, and eminently danceable music! SLUMB PARTY are awesome! They just have such a cool vibe... they're overtly arty, but also have this kind of approachability about them as well, rather than something like the more detached art school aesthetic of Gang of Four or Wire. More to the point, they wrote simply incredible songs that combined the power of punk rock with the earworm quality of psychodelic children's songs. As one might expect from this kind of self-consciously artsy music, it is forward-pushing in a way that puts them in stark contrast to today's retro-oriented bands. Of course you can hear strains of various quirky, feminist punk from the Slits to the Raincoats to various other Rough Trade bands and beyond, but this is also heavy and raw in a way that would really only make sense in the year 2017. It's a brilliant EP that will take a little bit of unpacking to make sense of, but there's so much here... and most gratifyingly of all, it gives you the sense of punk actually moving forward. SLUMB PARTY sound like the future erupting out of all your favourite DIY punk 7”s simultaneously. There’s the infectious momentum of Essential Logic driving things ever forward, the arty minimalism of Lilliput underscoring the band’s lyrical subject matter. SLUMB PARTY use all these lightning rods as jumping on points to hurtle us all into a new dimension very much of their own making. This upsurge of energy and vision has now been skillfully captured on the band’s debut EP. The EP is basically everything that I want punk to be. I guess you can draw comparisons with any number of minimal, aggressive bands femenist bands of today (anything from THE WORLD to DOWNTOWN BOYS to PRIMETIME to FRAU to PRIESTS and more), but SLUMB PARTY are truly their own beast. Listening to this is like happening upon some raw, undiscovered European lady- freak punk gem from early 80s Europe, and if you treasure records of that ilk you NEED this like you need few other modern records. Utterly essential and highly recommended.

[engl] Second LP from Slumb Party, Nottinghams finest Post Punkers. First LP is long gone, don't sleep. Everyone’s favourite herky-jerky Nottingham noiseniks Slumb Party return to blow minds once more. Maybe it’s time you polished all the hard surfaces in your house and strapped on your dancing shoes, cuz once this one lands on your stereo you’re gonna be pulling shapes and bouncing from the floor to the walls and back again. Last time round their influences were clear: James Chance, Minutemen and Gang Of Four rose to the surface in a heady concoction of skronking, sax-drenched post-punk and addictively wonky hooks. This time they’re no less deliciously addictive, but the pop factor rides higher in the mix, at the cost of precisely none of their aching smarts or visceral thrill. A wheezing synth powers opener Go To Work, with nods to the same heroes as before, but also a sense of Attractions-style powerpop appeal – if XTC had ever attempted to refract pub rock through their angular prism while shouting ‘CAN YOU BUY ME A PINT’, it might have felt something like this. Sound good? Of course it fucking does, and it sets the tone for the rest of the album. While their 2017 debut (and if you slept on that masterpiece, then what are you waiting for, dummy?) dealt with working a day job and dealing with getting older, here the world weighs even more heavily on their shoulders. The snarling fury that characterised those songs is transposed to an exhausted rage that’s no less bilious or righteous – being skint, the overwhelming vacuum of ‘creative’ culture, and the general nature of just existing in 2019 all come under the microscope. No spoilers, but turns out all those things are bad; luckily they’re soundtracked and documented by a band that’s (whisper it) maturing (nah, fuck it, shout it: MATURING) into something far greater than the sum of their influences, that simply explodes from the speakers and demands your time. Like Molotov cocktails and lit matches, this is gonna seem daunting to swallow in one go, but the resultant explosion is messy and spectacular. Slumb Party describe this record as their ‘new/no wavey post punk power pop effort’, and that’s a pretty accurate summary: certainly, there’s a Stiff Records/Marked Men undercurrent to all those geometrical puzzles that make up their songs. Leave it to us, though, and we’ll just call it ‘one of the most essential records to emerge from the UK underground this year’. Or order you to drop everything and listen right now. ‘Spending Money’ is a keeper, alright. Will Fitzpatrick.

[engl] "Smarts are a relatively new Australian band who began playing shows around Melbourne and surrounds towards the end of 2018. Combining frantic, yet taut and rapidly-paced rhythms amidst playful, almost child-like riffs and melodies that just about make you want to pull your hair out, Smarts are a sound of their own. The band stemmed out of a bedroom demo that was recorded for fun a year earlier by Billy Gardner (bass, vocals) and Mitch Campleman (guitar) in Geelong. After letting it collect dust for 12 months, they assembled a band to perform the songs live featuring Jake Robertson on drums and Sally Buckley on synth; and released the four-song demo cassette, “Smart World”. Stella Rennex later joined the band, largely filling out the sound with her eccentric saxophone parts. “Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?” was recorded by the band themselves over a weekend slumber in Geelong at the DIY studio setup; The Barracks, with finishing coats added in Melbourne before sending off to mix-master-Mikey Young in Rye. There’s a feeling throughout as if the whole thing could collapse into pieces at any moment, and just when you think it’s about to, Smarts weave their way out and into a new direction. Points of reference could be compared to the quirkiness of LA’s Suburban Lawns or Geza X, as well as citing influence from modern sounds like Japanese band Vodovo and the ever-evolving Midwest American punk scene. It could even be viewed as a refreshing and original extension of the so-called “egg punk” genre. The North American pressing of ""Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?"", limited to 400 copies, comes packaged with a double-sided risograph insert and download code. "

[engl] French noise rock trio SOFY MAJOR will unleash their long-awaited fourth full-length this January! Titled TOTAL DUMP, the follow-up to 2015’s triumphant Waste LP was recorded and mixed by Dave Curran (Unsane, Big Business) at Black Box Studios, mastered by Carl Saff (Fu Manchu, Rosetta, KEN mode, Child Bite) at Saff Mastering and delivers eleven rocked out, Big-Muff-powered tracks of relentlessly raw, driving, melody. Fans of Unsane, Harvey Milk, The Jesus Lizard, Coliseum, and the like pay heed.

[engl] ‘Death Drive’ is a collision of two very distinct worlds; the scorched earth of indie rap legend, Sole, and the concrete jungles of certified platinum producer, DJ Pain 1. ‘Death Drive’ combines modern pop/rap aesthetics with the political edge reminiscent of hip-hop classics such as “Fear Of A Black Planet ». Sole & DJ Pain 1 utilize the golden era hip-hop approach of a rapper and DJ without employing gimmicks or rap cliches typical with more formulaic two-turntables-and-a-mic unions.