Labels
Drunken Sailor
- 01. Count To Three
02. Annie Hall
03. December Sun
04. Face The Wall
05. I'll Show You What For
06. Last Time
07. Losing Out
08. Roll On Rolly Wheel
09. Velocity Exercise
10. Tongue Tied
11. Wrong Time Wrong Place
12. Mile After MileFLAMINGO 50
Tear It Up
[engl] Razorcake Review: I’m just gonna come out and say it. Louise Hanman from Flamingo 50 is my favorite singer in the whole world. Her adolescent-boyish shout, and thick Liverpool accent spread smoothly over her band’s noisy-guitar, Superchunky power pop to make this perfect little nugget, like Oliver Twist just after he eats a paper cone of French fries with mayonnaise. Seriously though, this album is awesome. It’s a little more polished than their last full length; not sonically, but from a songwriting perspective. The record is awash in layered guitars, Beach Boys-inspired backing vocals, and an incredible warmth that only some magic mixing board wizard knows how to attain. This CD is in ultra-heavy rotation in my player. I sure hope they fucking tour the states. –ben- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 01.03.2013
- 01. Waxing Moon
02. Cold Ideas
03. Canned Laughter
04. Breach
05. Strange Light
06. Get Ready To Go
07. Now It's Done
08. You Think You Know Yourself
09. Nothing In Between Us
10. Stitches
11. Pushing Back
12. Close Up FearFREAK GENES
III
[engl] 3rd LP from Freak Genes, they make cleverly deranged punk music for freaks, by freaks. Whether it's in their genes or acquired from years of dysfunctional ideas gone awry playing in bands, this album is a synth in your face. For their third LP, Freak Genes have unearthed 12 more sort-of-pop sort-of-not songs for your ears to enjoy. Making use of a synthesiser found in a skip and a guitar that won’t stay in tune, III is garage rock meets Gary Numan. There are some hit tracks, weird stuff and almost intentional accidents. If you like making functional use of dysfunctional ideas, this is for you…and if you love DAF, The Units, Lodger-era Bowie, 154-style Wire or The Flying Lizards then so much the better. Freak Genes III was made by Charlie Murphy (Red Cords) and Andrew Anderson (Hipshakes / Proto Idiot) and mixed/mastered/made good by Mikey Young. Strictly not for norms. "The always wonderful Freak Genes are back with what is already their third album in 20 months. On Qwak Qwak, you could hear Andrew and Charlie flirting with electronic instrumentation. III (out on Drunken Sailor Records) finds them all-in on synth-pop. Think more 154 era Wire, less Pink Flag. That's quite a leap for inside of two years, but in my business we call that a "natural progression" (Wire themselves did the same thing!). Everything that was charming, wonderfully weird, playfully non-conforming, and non-conventionally hooky about the duo's first two albums remains fully in tact. Perhaps the more cohesive synth-pop sound makes this particular album feel less all over the place. But I can assure you that it is still somewhat all over the place! The one-sheet promises "garage rock meets Gary Numan", and tracks like "Get Ready To Go" and "Strange Light" deliver exactly that. You can pick up the influences immediately yet still recognize distinct qualities of these guys' other bands. They are never afraid to experiment, but they always come back to writing memorable tunes with hooks. Meanwhile songs such as "Breach" and "Now It's Done" demonstrate that even synth pop era Freak Genes have not totally left post-punk behind. And if your favorite part of every Freak Genes album is coming across a song that makes you go "I don't know what the hell this is, but I sure like it!", "Stitches" and "Close Up" are oddball tracks that you will surely enjoy. There will never be such a thing as two Freak Genes songs that sound the same. Is it just me, or could "Nothing In Between Us" pass for one of The Cure's "poppy" songs?! I can't fully put my finger on what delights me so much about Freak Genes. I think it's that they've made me fall in love with post-punk and new wave again. This was music I grew up on, yet I've been mostly lukewarm on its modern adherents. Charlie and Andrew take those influences and actually have fun with them. Even if there's a dark turn or two on III, it remains a joyful musical creation that's an absolute pleasure to listen to. Originally inspired by the idea of recording misfit songs, Freak Genes have become a misfit band (and that's a lower case "misfit"....these guys are probably 20 albums away from attempting horror punk). And I hope that's what they continue to be forever." Fast and Louder blog.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 22.03.2019
- 01. At Odds With You
02. On The Tv
03. Give Way
04. We Want Trouble
05. Romford
06. Layers
07. Isn't The End
08. Chemical Shift
09. Anonymous
10. Destroy
11. Read The Papers
12. 7 or 9
13. Vermillion
14. It's Not There
15. Not Quite Enough
16. Talk 2
17. Drainage Curriculum VitaeFREAK GENES
Qwak Qwak
[engl] If you distilled the late-’70s explosion of punk rock into a single mixtape that incorporated the pop side, the garage side, and the experimental noise side, Freak Genes would be that mixtape made flesh. Freak Genes is the child of Andrew Anderson and Charlie Murphy, brought into this world to make fun music. Charlie has survived bands like Red Cords, Holiday Ghost and M.Rutt, while Andrew is a veteran of Proto Idiot, the Marble Vanity and the Hipshakes. The idea behind Freak Genes is to take all the weird ideas deemed too dysfunctional for their other outlets and create something interesting. Their original inspiration was the Raincoats LP Odyshape. So far, they sound nothing like that. In 2017 Freak Genes released their first 12” LP Playtime on Alien Snatch records. That album has 16 tracks, and throws together all kinds of garage rock crappola to make quick, catchy songs. Live shows followed in the UK and Mainland Europe, featuring an all-star band of best pals from the Black Tambourines, the Hipshakes and the Be Positives. Since then, Charlie and Andrew have discovered synthesisers and drum machines. The result is Qwak Qwak, a bumper collection of 17 songs, which, if we’ve done our maths right, makes it 6.25% better than their debut. Its angrier and more awkward but still has hooks. They hope you like it.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 20.04.2018
- 01. One More Shot
02. Short-Brain
03. Fathom
04. Idling EnginesFUR COATS, THE
Short Brain
[engl] Chicago Power Poppers 'The Fur Coats are back with this 4 track EP to coincide with their UK tour. Short-Brain is the latest 7? by The Fur Coats, the musical vehicle of Chicagoan (recently Brooklynite) Marc Ruvolo. Marc has enjoyed a long and storied career as a musician and promoter, from booking his first DIY punk show in 1984, to fronting a number of long-running bands (No Empathy, Traitors, The Atari Star, Das Kapital), to running the Johann’s Face Records label (since 1989 – recently passed the one-hundred-release mark!). Wanting to tour more frequently, but finding the original members of the Coats unavailable, Ruvolo has now opted for a revolving cast of characters in terms of live and studio rhythm sections. Joining him for the four songs on Short-Brain are John Polydoros (Off With Their Heads, Vacation Bible School) along with Chris Mattern on bass, with Kyle Manning (Tens/Costanza), handling drum duties. The 7? also features cover art by the UK’s scribblin’ wunderkind, Wolfmask. The four songs on Short-Brain fall into the realm of pop-punk/power-pop, and showcase Ruvolo’s love for melody, while still throwing in an odd lyrical turn or two. Recorded in Chicago, if you listen closely you can hear the influences of some of his favorite favorite bands: Naked Raygun, The Smoking Popes, and the Buzzcocks.- Format
- 7''
- Release-Datum
- 27.03.2015
- 01. Handcuff
02. Factory
03. Wonga
04. Hang
05. Deadbeat
06. Rort
07. Generation Gap
08. Storm In
09. Skin Of Your Teeth
10. Stop
11. Clean Shirt
12. SocialGAFFER
Dead End Beat
[engl] After releasing a demo back in 2020 and then heading into hibernation for a few years, only to pop their head out briefly for the occasional show, Perth’s Gaffer drop their debut LP. And it doesn’t disappoint! They’ve churned out twelve tracks of hard-edged punk, post-punk harking back to the scenes of the UK (the mother-land) in the 80s. Bricks, mortar, boots, rain, factory lines, and the pub. However, not a whole lot has changed and so the content of this record is also remarkably modern. It addresses the current crushing stagnation surrounding life, work, and wages today. It’s undeniable: life is tough. We’re all tired, and we’re unsure of the future. But at least we can put back a few drinks and chuck on a record like this. It’s hard to keep up in the modern world, but you get through by the skin of your teeth. “Piles of ear popping punk rock from inside a locked vault where former members of DiE and Cold Meat have been stewing in their own juices and listening to nothing but The Zeros, Blitz, and Chron Gen. This musical escape is a pummelling bop, dragging all and any good graces through a glorious puddle of fuzz, grit, saturation, and agitation. Of all the possible musical notes you can choose on a song, you’re not gonna wanna miss THESE three chords.”- Format
- LP lim
- Release-Datum
- 27.01.2023
- 01. Balas
02. Me Estan Buscando
03. Dia Tras Dia
04. Dime Donde Esta
05. Fuego
06. Identidad
07. Ilusion
08. Jaulas
09. Nacidos
10. Todos Un Sueno
11. ViolenciaGENERACION SUICIDA
Regeneracion
[engl] Originally released in demo form, in 2022 the band went into the studio and fully re-recorded the songs. 'What if Blitz hailed from Los Angeles and sang in Spanish’ isn’t a question you hear all that often. Fortunately, we don’t need to ask - the answer is provided by Generacion Suicida’s latest album, which rages and rattles in all the right places, drenched in the memorable brilliance that powered the Killed By Death compilations (ask yer dad - and if he doesn’t know or care, burn his terrible records and make some space to track down the KBD LPs). The band’s slogan is ‘musica del barrio, para el barrio’ - music from the neighbourhood, for the neighbourhood - but it sounds like they could use these hooks to take on the world. That’s a pretty accurate sentiment as well, because this album was written during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, while the world bubbled over with carefully managed misinformation, police violence and the sickening overspill of white supremacy’s foul brew. If Regeneracion sounds potent, it’s because there was a lot to be angry about, and the result is arguably their best album yet. Those chorused-out guitar lines carry shades of deathrock, hints of Manchester circa 1980, elements of something you might call goth if it was several degrees less furious. But there’s no doomed romance to this music; it’s an all-out attack. Street punk with the smarts turned up and an ear turned to the lessons learned from post-punk (but crucially, not the ‘post-punk revival’ that is essentially shirtless beardy lads chanting non-sequiturs over landfill indie). Chiefly, it’ll make you wanna get out of your chair, unite your local community and march on down towards your government’s centre of operations with a simple-to-use molotov cocktail kit. Its rage is infectious. It’s inspired by bleak moments in our recent shared history, but it revels in humans’ capacity to find strength in each other. And the tunes? Oh damn, they’re good.'- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 15.10.2022
- 01. Like It Shows
02. Pretty Houses
03. Speed With Goldie
04. Loner
05. Doin' Nothing
06. Paralyzed
07. Fade Away
08. I Want You
09. I Don't Mind
10. Tell Me
11. Bite Me
12. Waiting
13. I'm Freaking OutGINO AND THE GOONS
Do The Get Around
[engl] It's budget, it's punk and it rocks. Gino and the Goooooooons are back. Led by Gino Bambino, the Goons play rowdy punk rock that holds up it’s pint to the Ramones, Chuck Berry, Willie Nelson, Nervous Eaters, and Motorhead. It sounds like being in the middle of a really tense house party. Ten songs to dance, drink, fight and breakdown to. With records on Slovenly, Total Punk, Red Lounge etc, Drunken Sailor is proud to release their 4th (5th??!!) long player. "Another lo-fi garage-punk maverick, you say? Sure thing! In fact, throw away yr Ty Segall records, smash yr Oblivians 45s into dust and sand down the grooves on yr Gories LPs – you ain’t gonna need ‘em any more. OK, yes, you could also stick ‘em on eBay, sell to the highest bidder and live out the rest of yr days in the lap of luxury (sorta), but c’mon now, that really wouldn’t be in keeping with the spirit of beer-soaked, fuzz-fuelled mayhem. Much better to trash ‘em and live drunkenly in squalor. Who’s with me? Point is, Gino And The Goons are here to claim their crown as the new kings of trash. Led by the primal howl of Gino Gambino – it’s not just a clever name – the Florida band drop their fourth album on us with scant regard for subtlety, maturity or basically anything that isn’t a rowdy, hip-shaking groove or a gnarly guitar sound. Do The Get Around features ten barnstormers composed entirely of snot, snarl and serious sass. Opener ‘Hard Way’ introduces the band in the best way possible – a riff lifted straight from the raucous end of Nuggets and Pebbles, a gravel-throated sense of swagger and a guitar crunch that’ll make you gasp in wonder at the heroic dumbness of it all. They’ve got plenty of other tricks up their sleeve. ‘Do The Get Around’ sees ‘em messing with toe-tappingly abrasive soloing, ‘I’m Your Man’ throws stink bombs at The Beach Boys’ ‘Surfin’ USA’ before sealing it in an unventilated room, and ‘Monkey Love’ takes an uncomplicated sentiment and crunches it underfoot with Stooges-styled sludge. Does this sound like the sort of thing you’d be interested in? Of fkn course it does, unless you’re dead. The best soundtrack to out letting all the air from yr boss’ tyres, and then some." Will Fitzpatrick.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 15.11.2019
- 01. Gone With The Wild
02. Crime
03. What's Inside (Never Dies)
04. It's Nothing To MeGoldie Dawn
s/t
[engl] "The lasting effect of constant exposure to the Rip Off Records back catalogue, Back From the Grave, and the general radiation of Destroy All Monsters has produced this 4 track guitar-athon. This is dripping with touches of the Electric Chairs, Kiss, and the Heartbreakers, but holds together as a blast of modern offering in the grande tradition of very loud guitars and loving rock and roll". - Jonah Falco. "You’re gonna enjoy Goldie Dawn’s debut EP. It begins with a crash of power chords. Nothing fancy, just the sound of Cheap Trick’s ‘Surrender’ being pushed down a fire escape. Almost immediately, it explodes into a bona fide garage-punk stormer, like Brian James’ finest Damned riffs bolstered by some serious bottom-shaking – yes, we’re going there – GROOVE. ‘Gone With The Wild’ sashays and slinks around, even as it feels like it’s hurtling full throttle towards your skull. It is without doubt a tremendous slice of rock and/or roll. Hailing from Glasgow, Goldie Dawn’s mighty racket is heralded by the dramatic presence of Kate Rambo on vocals – and hers is a formidable snarl, with shades of Ludella Black and A Giant Dog’s Sabrina Ellis. It meshes perfectly with the wall of sound concocted by her bandmates, equally capable of creating an addictive noise from the finest riffs in punk’s ignoble history (‘Crime’) as they are of making a jauntily moving country ballad that twangs in all the right places (‘It’s Nothing To Me’). You’ve heard all these tricks before and no one here’s ashamed to admit it; the trick is in the joy that emerges when the guitars are ablaze and Rambo’s at full pelt. Remember how the humble 7” used to feel like pop’s finest weapon on the front line? An explosive device loaded with hooks and delirium? So do Goldie Dawn. Raw, fun and… what’s that word the broadsheet writers use to describe records that feel like classics even as you’re hearing them for the first time? Oh yeah: timeless. If you’re gonna wear out your stylus, playing this on repeat for the rest of existence would be a worthy cause" Limited to 300.- Format
- 7''
- Release-Datum
- 29.05.2020
- 01. Rotten Mind
02. Binding Me
03. The Lonely Face
04. Empty Places
05. Forming Horrors
06. Corpse Dream
07. Nets
08. Simple Evil
09. The Roads
10. Blood ApexHUMAN TROPHY
Corpse Dream
[engl] Reuben Sawyer is nothing if not prolific. He’s also a man of many talents - his various projects have included the coldwave sounds of The Column, Hollow Sunshine’s blown-out psych-noise, Anytime Cowboy’s take on countrified weirdo-pop, and even ambient house courtesy of Rose. Oh, and he’s a visual artist too, of course. Pfft, who needs an attention span anyway? One thing he’s also dabbled in, however, is post-punk. Human Trophy is firmly in line with that tradition, but pulling from multiple directions at once - one minute this album rattles along like Big Black with the tempo down and the textures dialled up, the next we’re firmly in Christian Death territory. The twisting guitar lines and pummelling bass of ‘Forming Horrors’ even call to mind his blackened punk project Dry Insides, but with less velocity and a helluva lot more menace. Is ‘Corpse Dream’ a goth record? Possibly. Whether goth is a lifestyle choice for Sawyer or not, he’s certainly adept at immersing himself in sounds and making them feel like a comfortable fit. As with all his projects, it feels like another effortless facet of Reuben Sawyer - and in keeping with the rest of his output, it’s absolutely packed with songs you’ll wanna play again and again. Penultimate track ‘The Roads’ is built on a none-more gloomy pile-up of darkly portentous rhythms and a firm sense of disquiet, but once you’re locked into its circular riffage you’ll feel an urge to keep the loop going endlessly. Then there’s the closer ‘Blood Apex’, a dual-vocal nightmare set to music which draws you back in even as it attempts to push you away. Yeah, it’s pretty great. Who knows where Sawyer’s restless muse will take him next - he’s spoken before of wanting longevity from The Column, before unveiling another ludicrous number of projects. Maybe there’ll be more from Human Trophy, maybe he’ll decide it’s high time for a sludge project or start delving into glitched-out techno. All seem possible (and likely). But if this is the only record we get under this name, at least it’s 100% solid gold.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 05.03.2021
- 01. Introductie
02. Vuur In De Lucht
03. Oorlog
04. 'T Stad Slaapt
05. Belgie Staat In Brand
06. UitroductieIMPOTENTIE
Demonstratieve Opnamens
[engl] Punk – like beer, coffee and films about people in space fucking each other up with laser swords – is an uncomplicated thing. So why do so many people get it wrong? We get it, you have frills you wanna throw in, but throw in one too many and you’ve got a holy mess on your hands – or a record that no one gives a toss about. Luckily, no one told Montreal’s Impotentie, whose punk racket is gloriously straight-ahead, beautifully ugly and a gritty pleasure to spend time with. Ok, it’s not without the aforementioned frills (more specifically, they sing in Flemish… because why not, eh?) but its charms are rooted in the fuck-you-up brutality of hardcore, the fuzzed-out vim of your garage rock faves and a direct simplicity that sounds like the gloopy chaos that comes out when you throw your turntable into a cement mixer. You know, just to see how the records sound inside churning liquid concrete. With members of Thee Nodes and Omegas on board, you know what you’re getting yourself into here. You can taste the bitterness of service station coffee, smell the beer-soaked floors of crappy dive bars and feel the blown-out bass of rotting PAs – it’s the product of lifers who love the road and it hits home hard. Even if Demostratieve Opnamens (‘demonstrative recordings’) turns out to be the only document this band ever produce, it’s a bundle of energy you’ll wanna drape all over yourself time and again. Will Fitzpatrick.- Format
- 7''
- Release-Datum
- 23.03.2018
- 01. Intro
02. Back Taxes And Anaphylaxis
03. (Dis)Charge It To The Game
04. Freemasons Run The Country
05. (I Want A) Amphetamine Prescription
06. Die Mierda
07. In The Mist
08. What Should've Been
09. Soft Youth
10. Today's Active Dads
11. Theme
12. 52 Holes
13. My Swamp
14. ISSISS
s/t
[engl] Nothing’s original. Everything’s up for grabs. Nothing is dead and everything is popular and we’re simultaneously experiencing restrospective appreciation for the entirety of pop culture in one fell swoop. Hey, fuck you man, I didn’t invent postmodernism; it’s happening all around us. ISS know this and they don’t give a shit, which is why they’ve concocted one of the best punk releases of recent years from a combination of samples from their record collections and ultra-stoopid but mind-crushingly addictive hooks from their own fertile imaginations. Eddie and Rich are the kids behind this North Carolina outfit, and their ‘we’ll take what we want from punk and make it punker’ approach makes for one helluva potent cocktail – just try listening to this without feeling like a brick in a rusty washing machine, I dare ya. (Dis)Charge It To The Game takes a breakneck D-beat, attaches it to an anchor made of sass and chutzpah then throws it into a canyon; meanwhile on Today’s Active Dads they make like Ty Segall (at his crudest) wrapping The Coneheads in gaffa tape, bundling them in the back of a car and driving them off a cliff face. Canyons and cliff faces? Hey, this isn’t about originality. Post-punk-garage-sample-lo-fi-snot-core at its finest, basically. Originally released on tape in 2015, now finally available on vinyl and wonderfully, gloriously horrible. Buy it and throw all your other records away; this has already commandeered their best bits anyway. Will Fitzpatrick.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 18.05.2018
- 01. B What You B
02. Here's The Rub
03. God Bless The Ego
04. Reprobate
05. Playin MTVITCHY SELF
Here's The Rub
[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.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 05.03.2021
- 01. Intro
02. If You Only Knew
03. Been Waiting
04. Eaten Alive
05. Too Many Years
06. Dealing Again
07. Look Me In The Eyes
08. Feel It
09. OutroJACKSON REID BRIGGS & THE HEATERS
Waiting In A Corner
[engl] Imagine a world where The Saints held onto the raw-throated, full-throttle rock’n’roll of their mighty first three albums. Where Radio Birdman are rightly held up as one of the all-time great bands. Where the Wipers never left the driving punk rock of ‘Is This Real?’ behind for the post-kraut-psych-whatever of the (admittedly still totally ragin’) ‘Youth Of America’, and simply kickstarted a revolution. That’s the sort of reality where Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters would be best appreciated. Where driving rhythms, crunching power chords and the sound of a man howling ‘YOU’RE GONNA GET EATEN ALIVE’ are the adrenaline-pumping soundtrack to the everyday. Where an album like ‘Waiting In A Corner’ is heralded as a goddamn classic upon arrival, and worshipped as a vital instrument in setting souls on fire and lifting spirits everywhere. Where… aww, you get the idea. Because Melbourne-based Briggs and his thrillingly rambunctious collective have made one of those albums - their fifth - where all you can do is play it over and over, thrilling to the ordered chaos of songs like ‘Too Many Years’ while swooning to the anthemic likes of ‘If You Only Knew’. There are some types of music that Australia just does better. Garage? Punk? Yeah, something like that. ‘Waiting In A Corner’ is the latest example, and holy fuck, it’s an instant wonder. If only rock’n’roll could always be this good.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 30.05.2021
- 01. Boredom in the Valley
02. Turning Planet
03. Staring at the Spiral
04. Scanning You
05. The Plants
06. Fucker Such As You
07. You Lick The Boot
08. 4th WonderKNOWSO
Rare Auld Trip/ Psychological Garden
[engl] All caught up with last August’s blast of herky-jerky darkness from Knowso? Don’t get too comfy, now - nine months later, they’re back with another eight hits of visceral smarts and discombobulating fury. Sounding, as ever, like Big Black firing pellets of snot at their Cleveland forebears Devo, ‘Rare Auld Trip/Psychological Garden’ finds them picking up where they left off with ‘Specialtronics Green Vision’. This being the best part of a year on from that excellent debut, though, they sound wiser, snarkier and more pissed off than ever before - good news all round, then. Opener ‘Boredom In The Valley’ reintroduces their signature tricks but feels more focused; a sub-two minute blast of staggered beats powered by the gnarliest-sounding bass this side of Bob Weston, and a disaffected vocal styling that you’d be tempted to call nihilist if you couldn’t sense the number of fucks given beneath the impassive facade. They pick up the pace with ‘Staring At The Spiral’, which almost sounds like the Buzzcocks unravelling at the seams while a Vogon watches on, before crashing into the smash’n’grab antics of ‘The Plants’ - one of the record’s clear highlights and a frantic, dizzying trip. Along the way are enough bon mots and smartarse quips too make you wonder if they’re taking this as seriously as they should. Let’s not spoil the highlights in advance, but if you’re already on board with Knowso, you’ll know they’re simultaneously utterly hilarious and unquestionably, deadly serious. ‘I could never be friends with a fucker such as you,’ they snarl disgustedly on another of the record’s instant classics, but by this point you’ll already have given your heart over to this most delirious of post-punk/noise-rock hybrids. As the closing cacophony of voices on ‘4th Wonder’ will no doubt drive into your brain with overwhelming force, ‘Rare Auld Trip/Psychological Garden’ (you pays your money and you takes your choice with the title, presumably) is not to be missed.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 30.05.2021
- 01. Sea Of Tranquility
02. Chosen One
03. Prophecy
04. Calamine
05. Wrong Calculator
06. Peaceful and Extinct
07. Digital God
08. Specialtronics
09. Green Vision
10. Open Up The BookKNOWSO
Specialtronics Green Vision
[engl] Ever since Rocket From The Tombs gave way to Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys, Cleveland’s been producing endless shots of adrenaline courtesy of the wildest, weirdest sounds around. Knowso may not have much sonically in common with their city’s elder statesmen, but they’re following in the same spiritual tradition, blasting away with a take on punk rock that’s tense, spiky and powerful. Following on from their ‘Look At The Chart’ 12” for California’s premier trash-rock stable Neck Chop, and a 7” for Total Punk, ‘Specialtronics Green Vision’ is their debut album - and as full-lengths go, it’s a helluva first offering. Cuts like ‘Calamine’ echo the likes of Devo in their jerked-out fury, but whereas there’s a whole raft of slopcore bands in recent years who’ve focused on the other-worldly side of Mothersbaugh and co., Knowso rub their angular tendencies against clenched-teeth riffage and a brutal sense of righteous outrage. The effect is somewhere in between Steve Albini’s more pointed rackets, Black Flag in both ‘weirdo freakout’ and ‘perfect slice of fury’ modes, and (unexpectedly) even the screwy rhetoric of Welsh wonders Future Of The Left. They have a killer CV - Knowso boast members of Cruelster, Perverts Again and Cloud Nothings among their line-up - but still, this is a record that sounds everything and nothing like those bands, with a healthy number of bonus ingredients thrown in. ‘Peaceful And Extinct’ shows them at their smartarse best, bouncing between (hey, bear with me) tasteful riffology and sheer power, while ‘Digital God’ is just a heads-down thrill ride. But hey, it’s a record full of surprises and wonder, like ice cream topped with barbed wire, and it’s one of the best things you’ll hear all year. Insert your own ‘think so? I knowso’ joke here; I’d write one myself but I’m too busy putting this on repeat play for the rest of forever. Will Fitzpatrick.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 14.08.2020
- 01. I'm Not A Fuck Up
02. Your Turn
03. Graveyard
04. The Problem Is You
05. Screwed
06. You Said I Said
07. Get It Done
08. RNR Band
09. Mexican Highway
10. Gutter/Strutter
11. Pissbottle
12. HarryKÜKEN
II
- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 02.09.2016
- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 17.01.2024
- 01. Weak
02. When you were born, You should have died
03. Don't wanna get to know you
04. All you say
05. Crutched
06. Violent
07. Defeat
08. You're burning
09. Night lights went out
10. Bat out of hell
11. You're a punk
12. More than a friend
13. Nobody likes you
14. Think too much
15. Shitty fuckin' DNA
16. Life of Oi
17. Prison food
18. Same mistakes
19. Strutter
20. Tryin'
21. Give up
22. Werewolves problem solved
23. Doomed to liveLIQUIDS
Life is Pain Idiot
[engl] Well, look who’s back! There was a time not so long ago when Liquids’ Mat Williams seemed like the most prolific lo-fi maverick this side of Robert Pollard, as the Indiana collective pumped out two albums (one a double) and a whole mess of tapes and 7” EPs between 2015-18. With a line-up that’s best described as ‘fluid’ (no pun, my babe, no pun), although it once included Mark Winter of fellow weirdos Coneheads on drums, Liquids burned brightly in a haze of creativity, grinding hardcore, Ramonescore pop, Devo-inspired weirdness, new wave and more into their own rough-edged concoction. It was addictive, it was fucked up, it was quite possibly genius (seriously, if you’ve not heard 2016’s ‘Hot Liqs’ LP, go right that wrong immediately). Then… nothing. Until last year, that is. Liquids re-appeared in 2021 with a brand new album that dropped online out of nowhere. Who’s in the band? Fuck knows. Williams, you’d presume - they’re not known for giving much away. The surprise offering picked up where they’d left off, with sneering melody turned all the way up and fidelity right down, except this time they’d come armed with country balladry, an unexpected dip into doo-wop and a full-throttle smash’n’grab raid on Meat Loaf’s overblown anthem Bat Out Of Hell. Yep, really. It’s titled ‘Life Is Pain Idiot’ and it might just be the best thing they’ve done thus far. So here’s some more good news: Drunken Sailor are now bringing this mighty collection to vinyl, so you can treasure it just as much as ‘Hot Liqs’ or the ‘Live At Mat’s House’ tape or ‘Heart Beats True EP’. Put it on your turntable, put it in your ears, just put it somewhere and accept that you will love it. This is inevitable. Liquids have got a lot of things right, but here’s two more for starters: life truly is pain, and we are indeed all idiots. This album goes some way to redressing the balance when it comes to the former, and as for idiocy… well, you ain’t getting any smarter by not listening to it, dummy. Get involved.- Format
- LP + 7''
- Release-Datum
- 01.08.2022
- 01. Todo Está Bien
02. El Mundo Nos Mata
03. Preguntas Insignificantes
04. Crónicas TerrestresMALOS MODALES
Cronicas Terrestres
[engl] Totally excited to release the debut EP from Malos Modales. Hailing from Monterrey, Mexico, 4 amazing Garage/ Pop songs. If you are into The Marked Men, YOU NEED to check these out. Malos Modales are a punk band of people who technically aren’t old but could make some people question this very fact. Formed in Monterrey, Mexico, the band features some familiar faces in its lineup, namely Kiko Blake from División Minúscula (one of the most successful and emotionally charged bands from the past decade), and Johnny Vzz and Hugo “Scrap” Zapata from electroparty mainstays She’s A Tease (Chacho Zapata rounds up the band). They converged and recorded some demos, then decided to take the proper steps to formalize the band. They have recorded a self-titled EP at their rehearsal space with the help of a 4-track tape recorder. In short this is one of the best EPs we have heard for ages- Format
- 7''
- Release-Datum
- 23.03.2016
- 01. I Wanna Piss In The Face Of The World
02. Goon
03. Boy (I'm Allergic To You)
04. You're Dreaming
05. Everybody's Punk Now
06. You've Got To Split
07. Now I Wanna Be A Bad Boy
08. All That You've Done For Me
09. Shadow Of Your Former Self
10. Big Time Rocker
11. Big City Smoker
12. I Just Have To Get Her Off My Mind
13. Touch Of Grey
14. Mark's BluesMARK VODKA GROUP, THE
s/t
[engl] Debut LP from The Mark Vodka Group, Nova Scotia delivers again. FFO Coneheads, DLIMC, Buzzcocks and sunshine in the city. More effortlessly catchy brilliance from Nova Scotia, Canada, that your ears, speakers and shelves simply cannot live without. You want a quality guarantee? Well, howsabout if I told you that The Mark Vodka Group includes members of the Booji Boys? Their 2019 opus ‘Tube Reducer’ should still be rattling the walls of your house and making your neighbours question the wisdom of moving next door to one of those ‘punk rockers’ the newspapers warned them about. This is a different prospect to the Boojis, of course. While that group buries deceptively tasteful hooks in clouds of ear-lacerating distortion, The Mark Vodka Group opt for a more immediately accessible level of audibility, while still keeping things firmly in the box marked ‘lo-fi’. They sound like a bare-bones Descendants at their most irritably bratty, stealing the Oblivians’ homework and doodling stupid faces all over the most insightful parts. Or maybe the other way around. Point is, they do smart and stoopid simultaneously and they’ll make you wanna dive onto a dancefloor to revel in both sides. As they’re not ashamed to tell you, however, the band have been around this music long enough to grow pissed off with… well, what have you got? Scenester elitism (‘Big Time Rocker’), the sudden trendiness of punk among previously sceptical normies (‘Everybody’s Punk Now’, which also boasts a killer Buzzcocks homage at its peak) and everyone dumb enough to cross them. Truth be told, punk rock doesn’t come out of these lyrical screes too well, but the Mark Vodka Group are too in love with the stuff to truly let go. Besides, as ‘Mark’s Blues’ laments at the album’s close, even when the rest gets you down, there’s always booze to keep us going: “The drinking hasn’t let me down yet.” Hey, Mark Vodka ain’t just a clever name. This is a damn fine record, though. Will Fitzpatrick.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 20.03.2020
- 01. Martha - The Historian
02. Martha - Dom Kan Inte Hora Musiken
03. Benny The Jet Rodriguez - In Love
04. Benny The Jet Rodriguez - Wish You Were BeerMARTHA / BENNY THE JET RODRIGUEZ
split
[engl] Martha are probably the best English pop band of the last 10 years, everything they touch turns to gold. After last years perfect debut LP 'Courting Strong', here are two brand new songs, 'The Historian' and an amazing Masshysteri cover of 'Dom Kan Inte Höra Musiken'. Currently writing their 2nd LP, world domination awaits. Benny The Jet Rodriguez from San Pedro follow up their debut LP Home. Run on Recess Records with these new killer songs. I read somewhere that Benny the Jet Rodriguez find a balance between the simple and the complex, between yesterday and today. Lo-fi pop genius, can't get enough of this band.- Format
- 7''
- Release-Datum
- 27.03.2015
- 01. Bite Me
02. Waiting
03. I'm Freaking OutMARVELOUS MARK
Bite Me
[engl] Marvelous Mark is the moniker of Mark Fosco, formerly of the band Marvelous Darlings, which also included Matt Delong from No Warning and Ben Cook who plays guitar in Fucked Up. Essentially they were a Toronto punk supergroup "before they were famous", but their limited catalogue - a string of seven-inches - stuck like staples within a cult fanbase long after they called it quits. Now Mark has a solo project. With the title track previously released on Ben Cook's own label Bad Actors, Bite Me is made up of three succinct tracks so infectious they should come with their own NHS advice leaflet. We’re talking power-pop with punk roots. It's every bit as brilliant as you'd expect from a guy who uses "Marvelous" as a prelude to his actual name. Sound of your summer.- Format
- 7''
- Release-Datum
- 27.03.2015
- 01. Like It Shows
02. Pretty Houses
03. Speed With Goldie
04. Loner
05. Doin' Nothing
06. Paralyzed
07. Fade Away
08. I Want You
09. I Don't Mind
10. Tell Me
11. Bite Me
12. Waiting
13. I'm Freaking OutMARVELOUS MARK
Buzzin'
[engl] Formerly of Toronto’s blown-out noisepop superstars The Marvelous Darlings, Mark Fosco hasn’t exactly rested on his laurels since that band broke up. Instead, he’s picked up where they left off – now recording as Marvelous Mark, he dropped debut solo LP Crushin’ last year via Drunken Sailor, and it proved not only what a ludicrously talented songwriter he is, but also how much fun can be had with a guitar, a fuzzbox and a whole lotta hooks. Buzzin’ collects the two EPs that preceded that album – Husband Material and Bite Me – together with seven brand new demos, and it’s another essential dose of woozy yet muscular powerpop. Recalling Teenage Fanclub circa Thirteen, Weezer at their catchiest and Slowdive hiding their steroids in thick clouds of weed smoke. It’ll shred your speakers even as it gets your head nodding and your toes tapping – you’ll be singing along and demanding more before you know it. Will Fitzpatrick.- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 20.07.2017
- 01. Silhouette
02. I Dunno
03. Doin Fine
04. Would You Believe
05. Stay A While
06. Sun Goes Down
07. When I'm Without You
08. Under The RainMARVELOUS MARK
Crushin
[engl] Amazing debut LP from the former Marvelous Darlings man. After his debut 7" earlier this year 'Bite Me, Mark is back with his infectious pop. Marvelous Mark is the moniker of Mark Fosco, formerly of the band Marvelous Darlings, which also included Matt Delong from No Warning and Ben Cook who plays guitar in Fucked Up. Essentially they were a Toronto punk supergroup "before they were famous", but their limited catalogue - a string of seven-inches - stuck like staples within a cult fanbase long after they called it quits. "Sounding a bit like Big Star with power-pop overtones and a pop-punk driving force, Crushin' is a collection of songs bursting with feeling that sound like they were written while the sun was either going down or coming up."- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 18.01.2016
- 01. Blah Na Nothing
02. The Mind
03. Running On My Head
04. Enjoy Your Fantasy
05. Technical Intuition
06. Excelsior
07. Space Is Binary
08. Baby RatsMIND, THE
Edge Of The Planet
[engl] It's the year 2019. The future has arrived. And so have THE MIND. A cross-country collaboration made possible by modern technologies but driven by that ancient spirit of creative cooperation between like-minded musical peers. Who are these people you ask? Would calling them two guys from HOMOSTUPIDS and DRYROT summon thoughts of screaming loud guitar rock and aggressive tempos? Perhaps I should refer to them as being members of URANIUM ORCHARD and PLEASURE LEFTISTS. That will get your head somewhere in the area code necessary to digest what has been laid down for us here. To add that they've also played in FACTORYMEN and COSMIC SAND DOLLARS should then make you raise an eyebrow just enough to realize that this LP goes out THERE to the perimeter. It's hard to pin down. Sci-fi post-punk new-wave punk-rock. It's beautiful and rhythmic and weird. Robotic and organic. Future primitive. And I haven't even mentioned the vocals yet - radiant sonic transmissions tuned in straight out of the ether. A girl's voice to tie it all together with an elegant Gordian knot, giving warm life to the cold musical machinery. The cryptic lyrics she's singing so beautifully should not alarm you at all. The record is called 'Edge of the Planet'. The trip to get there starts now.. RICH KRONEISS (Termbo)- Format
- LP
- Release-Datum
- 20.10.2019