[engl] Garage lo-fi bedroom punk homework is done. Another banger from Down Under! Very Jay, is there something better? Catchy af - love it. This whole album is super charming, lovely. ETT has never been shy about showing the love for well done pop-garage sounds. Shit, it's impossible not to, considering just how nice 1-800-Mikey is and how sweet he sounds. With a crisp power pop punk sound and riffs as sharp and concise as the legend Jay, 1-800-Mikey is the perfect answer to anyone looking for songs with the astute hooks of memphis finest, perfect songwriting and the punk formula of 2022. All of these songs are filled with distorted voices, noisy synthesizer sounds, robotic beats and modern monotony. Brilliant. The songs are top notch and the recording is raw in all the right ways. A furiously raucous blast of pure go-for-it hard-crunching dynamic rock'n'roll powerpop garage, done with a stirring sense of sheer fun and aggressive vitality that's impossible to either resist or dislike. It's all kills and thrills, fired by a furious pace and hooks galore. Oh, I wanna go to a house party!

[engl] If anyone would ask me if I was serious about releasing this record from a totally unknown Swedish band, I would totally say yes. Why is ETT going to release Allvarets debut LP "Tank pa doden"? Not just because Allvaret means "serious" in Swedish, but because this LP is seriously great. Hailing from the Swedish underground punk scene, this catchy phenomenal guitar lines can only be written by Swedish guys and sound so perfectly vintage! Allvaret emerge from a fertile musical ferment to deliver some totally off the hook KBD punk with tunes that will stick in your head after just one song. The guitar sounds so Scandinavian – Masshysteri and The Vicious say Hello. The driving rhythm section with the harmonic drum and bass parts remind me of some kind of early UK street punk, without sounding stupidly Oi! The most important part is the awesome voice of Sushila, with Swedish lyrics matching perfectly together. A bag full of diamonds for sale, even if you don't speak Swedish, this record will make you want to start the kind of dance action you haven't had since that childish days way back then!

[engl] AOL released this full album and it’s definitely an… update… to the singular You’ve Got Mail song that was released towards the end of 2019. AOL out of Florida has some of the hardest, toughest, most down low and brutish riffs coming out right now. AOL is the palate cleanser for the entire swampy state. Sometimes you don’t want to be tuff. Sometimes you just need to nerd out on the internet with abrupt and angular guitar riffs while complaining about being an intern at the ole day job. If Android is the angry anti cyberpunk revolution on the frontlines, AOL is their nerdy tech assistance back at base. The songs are top notch and the recording is raw in all the right ways. What a time to be alive! Seriously, though, this tape is top-shelf stuff, so give it a whirl if it sounds like something you’d like to hear.

[engl] I am fucking psyched to bring you this 12" banger all the way from Australia. In a time the world has become a melting pot of hate, absurdity and on the brink of destruction ARSE have made a record that sums up these dark, dense and claustrophobic times. The relentless rhythm section drives the sound with guitar work that is squealing and immense alongside vocals that spit bile and razor-sharp lyrics. PRIMITIVE SPECIES is the pinnacle sound of a band that has been crafting, honing and re-imagining the way punk music should be played, with so much raw atmosphere and energy that it will probably rip you apart. Be careful. It has energy, heart and that special something you can’t put your finger on. Built on a relentless sinister thrum, a taut propulsive clatter, ARSE explode with scalding fury in the screaming guitars and tortured barks and roars echoing out of the radioactive slurry. This is ferocious hardcore/post punk, worked til its end. Noisy and incessant, but it's hella melodic all the same, so hurry up and snag this bad boy. Primitive Species just sent me three steps back on the evolutionary chain. And I am thankful for this reset!

[engl] Hailing from dystopian Sydney, the punk rock trio known as ARSE arrived at the end of 2017 with their acerbic debut Primitive Species on a cassette tape, sounding like the bastard lineage of Feedtime and Black Flag with an uber-modern spin. Equal parts dumb, terrifying and fitting for the times, Species copped the full vinyl treatment six months later courtesy of German punk label Erste Theke Tontraeger. By years end it had crash-landed on The Quietus’ best of 2018 punk round-up alongside Hank Wood and The Hammerheads, Geld and Amyl and The Sniffers. Never content, as their music attests, ARSE have since opened for Cosmic Psychos (AU), No Age (US) and released a split seven-inch record with Sydney noise-assassins Party Dozen. The forthcoming Safe Word EP, a stop-gap on the road to long player glory, is four tracks of future-fried punk the world truly deserves. I like bands that fall on the dividing line between noise rock and hardcore, and Arse are right in that pocket, using pogo beats, wild and noisy guitar solos, and a nihilistic vocal bark that will appeal to fans of Geld, Gay Kiss, Walls, and other bands that trace their lineage back to Black Flag’s My War. Far from just a copycat band, though, Arse strike me as more artsy and ambitious than any of the aforementioned groups. I hear this in the guitar solos (which are particularly unhinged, like Ginn and Hendrix on a bunch of bad drugs), but even more on the two songs that end each side of the EP. These aren’t so much songs as abstract noise / electronic pieces that flesh out the world hinted at in those guitar leads into a full-on post-apocalyptic soundscape. Far beyond your typical “dude stringing together a bunch of guitar pedals and hitting them at random,” these intricately composed pieces scratch the same itch as Klaus Schulze or Tangerine Dream.

[engl] More than ten years into their career, Bad//Dreems have an energy that most bands rarely manage to attain. Passionate, powerful, and pertinent, HOO HA! Is a sign of what’s to come for the group, and an indication that things will never lessen in intensity. “We’re in this for the long haul, and we don’t ever want to start going through the motions,” Cameron notes. “Nor do we ever want to stop.” Bad//Dreems were born during an Adelaide heatwave in the summer of 2012. Ben Marwe, Alex Cameron, James Bartold & Miles Wilson began playing together in a whitegoods warehouse on the banks of the River Torrens. Their first release, the Badlands EP led to attention from triple j and US college radio, seeing them sign to Ivy League/Mushroom. The debut LP Dogs At Bay (2015) and its follow up Gutful (2017), both produced by Mark Opitz, cemented their place as one of the most exciting Australian guitar bands of recent times. Over this period they toured extensively both in Australia and abroad, appearing at Splendour in the Grass, Falls and Laneway festivals and supporting acts such as Midnight Oil, At The Drive In, The Avalanches, Wolf Alice, Scientists and Cold Chisel. 2019 saw the addition of long time live member engineer Ali Wells to the band. Their 3rd album, ‘Doomsday Ballet’, was recorded in Adelaide with production from Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin, DZ Deathrays) and Jack Ladder. Released in October 2019, it received incredible praise from fans & media, including from KEXP, triple j, DORK Mag, UPSET Mag & many more. Musically the band play a rough and tumble brand of jangling rock and roll, that draws influence from Antipodean groups of the 70s and 80s, as well as US acts such as Wipers, DEVO and Television. To date the band have explored ideas of Australian dystopia and isolation, suburban ennui and male identity. Their new album deals with the absurdity of the post truth world, via a dark psychedelic vision of the end of days. It was 2012 that the Australian music scene was first really introduced to Bad//Dreems. Having formed as mates at their local footy club, the group soon hit the studio, releasing music that soon found itself lumbered with anachronistic labels like “outsider rock” or “pub rock”. In the time since, the band have – to borrow a cliché – gone from strength to strength, releasing a solid debut EP, and three full-length releases produced by Aussie icon Mark Opitz. While their live shows have been wild, and their records sounding like unreleased albums from the likes of the Celibate Rifles or Radio Birdman, the band’s new release showcases the result of expanded horizons, and sees a band making the music that they wish to make, no longer being burdened by the expectations of outdated labels.

[engl] Olympia, WA 's own Beta Boys are back with more songs in the form of a LP. Since their demo tape (that came out in 2014) and several EPs they have had a lot of time to develop the sound that truly makes them betas. Leaving their aggressive hardcore style in the past, they play more of "Hell Comes To Your House" style songs, more rock`n`roll with a graveyard guitar boogie and a punk Screamin' Jay Hawkins on vocals. For those of you keeping count this is our second release from Washington's state capital. Time to set up a field office because I don't see this town slowing down anytime soon. Look out Atlanta there's a new contender for the crown. This time around we’ve got Olympia scuzz punks Beta Boys. Following stellar releases on Lumpy, Neck Chop, Total Punk and Goodbye Boozy, they are back with their best outing yet. Beta Boys have a sound that is a call back to when punk was fresh without sounding like a boring rehash band. All of their songs have a rhythmic echo that stays in your head for days after hearing it. The inconsistent sloppy delivery over a classic mid-tempo 80s punk sound make for an excellent combination. This band fills all the void in your records right now. It's funny, when you first listen to them, Beta Boys sound like a fairly typical hardcore band, but the more you pay attention the more you realize that they really have managed to stake out their own particular aesthetic. Their songs are fast but not too fast, and the guitars have a chorus effect on them but they never sound too over-the-top goth-y... the descriptions for one of their records mentioned Hell Comes to Your House-style punk, and while I've never heard that mentioned as a genre before, it kind of makes sense... Beta Boys do fit somewhere on the same part of the punk spectrum occupied by 45 Grave's punkier moments (like the track "Already Dead"), Christian Death, Legal Weapon, and Modern Warfare. In an age when every band seems to break up after just a demo and some 7"s, it's refreshing to hear a band grow a little bit more and really develop their own voice. Here's hoping they continue to push forward, and until then I'll be spinning this LP quite a bit. A strikingly focused and sonically refined tour de force, these ten new tracks pair the band's Midwestern hardcore roots with a darker, midtempo burn. A pure punk sound if there ever was; precisely capturing the boredom, depression, and ever-present sense of hopelessness spread across modern America. Beta Boys have truly upped the ante on this full length; an album absolutely brimming with stellar production, first-rate songwriting, and unapollegetically punk flavor. Packaged in a full color jacket with artwork from Beta Boys' own Hank Durango.

[engl] For their second release on ETT, Omaha-based BIB continues their streak of making sketchy-as-hell hardcore punk for straight up weirdos. This is a Compilation LP, this rules, ok! When you hear Omaha, Nebraska, you might think of steak, Warren Buffet, or Saddle Creek Records. But you probably don’t think of hardcore. In comes BIB. Noisey, blown out hardcore from the middle of nowhere. Following the “everything louder than everything else approach” to their demo, Bibs already colossal riffs sound like an avalanche when the bottom drops. Squirmy effected vocals veer their sound from huge to weird. Live, sometimes seen with 3 guitar players, Bib takes their wall of sound to a whole new level that will leave your eardrums vibrating. BIB continues their wall of noise style production on this compilation release, with delayed vocals that sound like they're being tossed off of a mountain. BIB mixes quick, full chord riffs with crushing breakdowns. Vocals weave between child like shrill barks, primordial grunts, and pressure reducing singing. The straight ahead, downstroke pounding demo has been compared to the likes of Hoax mixed with Pissed Jeans, this EP is one step over! This band slays harder than riot police at a G8 summit.

[engl] When you hear Omaha, Nebraska, you might think of steak, Warren Buffet, or Saddle Creek Records. But you probably don’t think of hardcore. In comes BIB. Noisey, blown out hardcore from the middle of nowhere. Following the “everything louder than everything else approach” to their demo, Bibs already colossal riffs sound like an avalanche when the bottom drops. Squirmy effected vocals veer their sound from huge to weird. Live, sometimes seen with 3 guitar players, Bib takes their wall of sound to a whole new level that will leave your eardrums vibrating. BIB presents POP. Their follow up release to their 2015 Demo. POP takes you on a panicked journey through a wormhole of anxiety and isolation. BIB's brooding sound is steeped in mutant destruction and caustic anger—a mid-tempo hardcore foundation with thick, chainshaw guitars and gruff grunts, pummeling towards metal. The band is self-loathing but not self-sabotaging. Placing headphones blaring BIB into your eardrums has the empowering effect of plugging a phone charger into an outlet; you’re struck with a visceral surge of energy that is possibly dangerous. Play BIB while walking down the street in your hood, and no one is going to fuck with you. BIB continues their wall of noise style production on this release, with delayed vocals that sound like they're being tossed off of a mountain. BIB mixes quick, full chord riffs with crushing breakdowns. Vocals weave between child like shrill barks, primordial grunts, and pressure reducing singing. The final track, P. M. F. ends the record with a chaotic blast of organ that perfectly captures BIB's pop and hardcore sound. The straight ahead, downstroke pounding demo has been compared to the likes of Hoax mixed with Pissed Jeans, this EP is one step over! This band slays harder than riot police at a G8 summit.

[engl] In the past year, the band's been locked in the basement, recording their first full length album with Emil Bognar-Nasdor (Dawn of Humans, Hankwood & theHammerheads, L.O.T.I.O.N). The outcome of this collaboration broke provocative new ground for this band and we're really excited about this debut LP. Their stock in trade is a rough-hewn take on 70s rock – there are what must contractually be referred to as “duelling guitars” in the style of Thin Lizzy, bursts of slightly funky southern rock à la Lynyrd Skynyrd, bits of choppy new-wave guitar and a whole lot of appealingly clunky pop heaviness that brings to mind nothing so much as an extremely low-budget Kiss. BIG HUGE's music stuffs hip-shaking hooks and burly riffs within impeccably structured pop songs, wrapped in lyrics both open-hearted and openly political In the darkened, mangled heap of a humanity taught to sink to the bottom or exploit to the top, we can convince ourselves that we have breached beyond this pit of manmade depravity unscathed. But at what cost came that supposed glimmer of light? Are we convinced we compete in a playing field so fundamentally and institutionally unleveled? Are we patrons to a system of power sustained only by select oppression? We forfeit empathy to ambition. We estrange, digitize, and withhold from basic human connection to evade that emotional accountability - long-since unlearned - to survive in a CRUEL WORLD. In this pitchblack place, ascension is just an illusion. Our singular pursuits inch higher while we, with every transgression, dig deeper down the mortal trench. We bang at a door that does not open, and yet it begs of us to keep on knocking. But perhaps, the only way out is not over - but through. Flailing. In the thick of it all. If we let the backbone pop, the knee bend, the joints clash against all those contorting souls in our midst, what do we have to lose except the fallacy of our isolation in the dark? If the limbs go akimbo and the neck ajar, if we give - give of the whole and unabashed self - What then? Unchain the armor and thrust the body bare into that spiteful eye. With only the weapon of our pulsing vulnerability, our personhood, perhaps that which has been denied will thrash in time with all that surrounds – railing in tandem to be free. We are all we have. If the door will not open, we'd be wise to step outside.

[engl] Blotter is everything you want from a modern day hardcore punk band. Over the past few years, Austin, TX has seen a resurgence in young, quality punk bands. Blotter is one of the top tier groups of this new school of Texas hardcore and Under Armour '77, their debut vinyl effort, stands as some of the best work this scene has produced. Primordial ooze USHC at its finest. Blotter is yet another new hardcore punk featuring members of Wiccans, Glue, Impalers and Creamers. Blotter delivers just brutal, stomping stuff with a perfect, early 80s-sounding 8-track production. This five piece band rages through five songs in a little over five minutes. Fast precise hard hitting drums, loud distorted guitar that flirts with chaotic, noisy feedback, compliment dynamic and aggressive vocals that have just the right amount of snot and grit. Their sound touches on classic 80’s hardcore, whilst paying no tribute to any other HC band I’ve listened to in the last few years. This is unique, this is weird, fucked up and awesome! No filler on this EP – it’s all legit. No nonsense Hardcore in 2014, go and get your copy. Fuck.

[engl] In fact we must confess that if we had to choose at this moment a reference band in the US or in AU of what many name "egg", "weird" or as we like to call it "punk" it would probably be this huge line-up. We can't help it, these three youngsters who also add a fucking drilling synth to their hyper-accelerated tennis-core-lofi-garage of infamous guitar sound, stole our hearts from the very first moment I’ve really fallen in love with this album. A great combo of sounds: hard-edged synth-punk rhythms below with a charming disaffected vocal on top. With just one listen to their upcoming LP, it becomes evident that Busted Head Racket shares a kindred spirit with modern punk. Their music radiates an electrifying energy, bursting through the speakers with campy hooks and exhilarating restlessness. While their songs are irresistibly catchy, it's their lyrics that truly shine, offering a whimsical sense of humor. From humorous odes to fast food to insightful explorations of human relationships and the dynamics of personal agendas, Busted Head Racket delves into the intricacies of how people interact with one another. Prepare to be captivated by their zany synth punk sound and infectious enthusiasm. The Busted Head Racket LP on Erste Theke Tonträger is set to be a must-have addition to any punk music collection. Don't miss out on this exhilarating musical experience!

[engl] The 3rd full-length from this brilliant but underrated power-pop band and I have to say I'm completely blown away again. I generally have a pretty low tolerance for bubblegum-punk, but Nancy do it absolutely perfectly. As on their earlier releases, they still sound a lot like the Jabbers thanks to their straightforward punk arrangements and rather high-pitched vocals, though Nancy are even sillier and more over the top than the Jabbers (this is like Muff Divers-level silliness I'm talking about here!). At its core, this is simple, Ramones-influenced punk, and at the end of the day could be compared with 90s bands like the Queers or 00s bands like the Spits as anything else, and while that is a very crowded tradition, Nancy separate themselves from the pack with truly great songs. You may not want to like this, but once it's on your turntable I guarantee you'll have a very, very difficult time removing it. There are a lot of options out there for dumb, sing-songy punk, but for my money Nancy are right at the top of the heap. I mean, it's your basic second-and-third-Ramones-LP influenced stuff (though their newer stuff is a hair more musically sophisticated and borders on power-pop), but the execution is completely flawless and the gleeful sense of absurdity is totally infectious. I mean, this is the band that has their own sea shanty! It’s no secret that we are enthusiastic devotees of Joe Sussman’s work—he’s also a key player in Nancy as well as Dangus Tarkus and the outstanding MUFF DIVERS Dreams of the Gentlest Texture is the best thing he’s done so far. I’ve wasted a lot of time thinking (and having idle conversations, mostly with Seth and Jeff) about what makes a Muff Divers song different from a Nancy song or a Dangus Tarkus song, but I’m not sure there’s an answer to that riddle. The more important thing to note here is that—as good as all of those projects’ releases have been for some time now—each new one seems to be better than the last, and this is the best one yet. Enough of promo words this is what real NANCY fans have to say: „These dudes are like the modern day dictators“ „This reminds me of music, they sound like a band“ „Been listening to this everyday for like a year now... it’s definitely love“ „This HAS to be the best record of the last 10 years in my humble opinion! Definitely Ramones influenced but with a new and unique flair for songwriting, something a lot of these new bands want but can't but these guys JUST DO IT! A rare quality in today's rock.“ „Hot slab of wax from some real Chicago rockers.“

[engl] ETT is honored to bring another mindblowing debut LP on your turntable. All the way from Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) we have a unique debut album. Jordan from Pinch Points, Miranda from Dr Sure's Unusual Practice, Tom from Gonzo and Dragnet, Amada from Carpet Burn, Gutter Girls plus Chris and Erik from Hobsons Bay Coast Guard. What do you get when you put these people in one practice room? Yes - CHECKPOINT! This is a no-filler record; every song feels as though it’s been crafted carefully, and explored fully. There is so much to explore here and every listen will make you piece this puzzle even better. It’s pretty damn catchy, and old spiky punks might find themselves nodding along as they grumble. Front to back, DRIFT is like shotgunning a Red Bull. It never slows down, it has some solid punk grit and the speed and style works in the album’s favor. Each track has just enough variation to keep you hungry and the song topics at times will have you questioning if the world will make it! It’s always good to see this loose coalition of bands keep the spirit of 00's garage punk alive and supercharged into the now. I won’t throw around the usual references, but this is the type of attitude that first turned my ear to this style and it’s just getting better. It’s exhilarating, and already leaves me breathless for the next release. It’s music you can’t help but enjoy. I think you are under the impression that this is an album by the amazing band Checkpoint. After purchasing the record and enjoying it, you will be pleasantly surprised to learn that you were correct and you would do it again.

[engl] The second Album from this Minneapolis trio -- a strikingly-hyper-punk-rock-conundrum. Seriously, Citric Dummies have a LOT to say on this LP, be it worthwhile advice or not, but it's all done with an excellent tongue-in-cheek bravado. Oh yeah, the music - it's a trebly, garage-leaning mess that seems to catapult between backing the obnoxious dual-vocal assault and ramping up the speed towards a proto-hardcore feel at times. Strangely enough, it's taken this long for a band to remind me of Henry Fiat's Open Sore (check those mad Swedes out for extra credit if you haven't!) but between the snappy arrangements and lyrical genius, Citric Dummies may very well win an endearing spot in yer collection. I get the same kinda dumb, personable feeling while listening to this as say...Angry Samoans. Real music for the proles, eh? The Dummies receive bonus points for their highly apt usage of parentheses in song titles and stunning full color artwork from Nathan Ward. Out of the ashes of Brain Tumors comes the Dummies, the Citric ones. Brain Tumors was pretty good, but man... Citric Dummies are way, way better. I really have no idea how to describe their sound... I mean it's definitely hardcore, but it has these really distinctive vocals that are kinda-sorta melodic most of the time, but often erupt into these big sing-song choruses that really don't sound like much of anything I've ever heard. Jerky punk guitar driven calamitous tunes with hyper yet clear and tuneful vocals hurling toilet lyrics and an attitude that is also of-the-toilet. Its an album! An album whose grooves are densely packed with the sounds of angry nerds propelling their rotten attitudes down deep into the basement. The punk basement.

[engl] The Bay Area is one of the most interesting places for punk these days – one of the most outstanding bands from there are the Cold Circuits! Shattered guitar sound, mutated post punk basslines creating a danceable despair with bratty darkwave vocals, this is so punk! No garage, no post punk, no deathrock or whatever… The icy, anxiety-ridden post punk is replaced by salivating droning punk. Less twitching, more pogoing, but still ravaged by the mounting dissolution and paranoia. A fucking great rhythm section (well known from Synthetic ID) rounds this whole thing down. Cold and bleak with sporadic tinges of fear. If you are a fan of Terrible Feelings and also Rank//Xerox, Cold Circuits will be your new obsession! Keep your eyes open – the 12“ will be limited to 200 copies!

[engl] Whatever these Bay Area guys secretly mix in their drinks, it seems to bring out an endless flow of brilliant and catchy, yet distinctive songs – in each of their bands. I'm talking about the rhythm section of Synthetic ID with the same guys of this awesome new San Francisco band! Ok, many bands try to do some kind of post punk stuff these days, but in my opinion the Bay Area knows how to do it best! After Rank//Xerox and Synthetic ID, Cold Circuits is the band to listen to right now! Robert Collins said: "UK post punk meets an angular cousin" and he's totally right. There are similarities to Synthetic ID, even though this band is less focused on the vibe and more on driving the listener. Lazy guitar lines weave in and out of logic, while bass and drums keep the whole thing forward with an inevitably urgency. It sounds excitingly familiar and so new in skills and maturity, that you just can't listen to anything similar elsewhere. What can I say?! Get it or not – this thing will explode, without any doubts!

[engl] aka "14 Year Old High School PC?-?Fascist Hype Lords Rip Off Devo for the Sake of Extorting $?$?$ from Helpless Impressionable Midwestern Internet Peoplepunks The NWI scene is on another level to the rest of humanity. Oh yes, it's going to get weird once you put this shit on. Coneheads are a basement punk band who have decided to douse themselves in creepy circus riffs, robot meets alien vocals with science-fiction wackyness. Keep in mind, it's still punk and damn catchy! Who said weird can't be catchy? They sound like DOW JONES AND THE INDUSTRIALS on speed or a more manic DEVO. This would perfectly fit in 1982 but I doubt they were born before 92. Major points for historical awareness! The rhythm barrels along while solos are interspersed at six second intervals, desperately played like a blur between a Jerry Lee Richard piano solo and a fevered banjo picker who lives in an Appalachian cave. It's hard to find the line between cheap gimmick and true weirdness sometimes, but this one shows that line with every spin. This band is highly addictive and leaves you stunned!

[engl] Criminal Code from Tacoma, Washington, play an anthemic, sneakingly melodic mixture of post-punk and cacophony of raw wavy punk. Formed in 2011, they’ve just released several 7“s and their debut LP No Device on Deranged Records, a welcome shot in the vein (or kick in the teeth) to an increasingly ethereal genre. They took their Husker Du/Greg Sage influences and made it their own unique sound. The new 7“ harkens back to the raw, stripped down and primal intensity that characterised the early days of post punk, back when it was still considered just punk, only punk that was a little off and slightly more unsettling than usual. Criminal Code straight rip and rock with an urgency and rabid junkieunpredictability that was traded in long ago when post punk started investing wholeheartedly in synthesisers and chorus pedal collections and diverting down broodier pathways to goth and whatever-wave. Criminal Code are a perfect mess of contradictions, simultaneously full-bodied and forceful, and cold, distant and washed-out, like a hardcore heart in pale post punk skin, or vice versa. While specifically for Criminal Code’s European tour, the EP neatly coheres and expands on their Husker Du Over A Cliff guitars and post-post (post) Wipers despair/rage. Snag the EP on tour and dig hard!

[engl] Here’s the debut LP from CRISIS MAN, the sound of standing barefoot in the garage and watching all your stepdad’s power tools on the shelves gradually rattling to the floor. Nine songs of heatstroke music performed by alums of Ceremony, Acrylics, Violent Change, a pure punk blend featuring bending and winding guitar parts twisted alongside springy bass lines and hopping mad drum hits while the vocalist barks and growls like a coyote lost in a Whole Foods hot bar. Straight to 12" in a Tascam tone warm as a Novato sunset, a must-have for record flippers and headcleaner huffers alike. Hardcorepunk in 2022. Phased-out vocals are sung into a microphone covered with a sock over some claustrophobic clatter. Nine songs of frenetic, free-spirited weirdness. An aural display of what living in the bay area feels like, the rent is due, the car doesn't run anymore, a techie just took the last seat on the crowded BART car. The glass was full to the brim with anxious energy already, but now it's been knocked on the floor.

[engl] Dark Web: a Philadelphian post-punk group that I’m surprised to have not heard of sooner. Given, it’s not like I was keeping a close eye on the place to begin with, but I seriously should’ve been gushing about this band’s stuff a long time ago, especially since the EP itself was released by Suicide Bong Tapes in mid-2016. Everything about the band is seemingly tailored to my liking, and for the most part, falls into a section of my library that rarely sees the likes of Dark Web; with such engrossing, goth-tinged post-punk sounds such as these, that’s pretty fuckin’ unfortunate. Sharing members with Throbbing Chakra, Key Bumpz, Cool Piss, and Beth Israel, Dark Web is sure to impose a rich, powerful presence the moment the EP pivots from the opening rhythm into a dirge of squealing guitars and wholesome bellows, effectively combining elements of both gothic rock and punk alike, while also dispersing a hearty dosage of spacey, vibes into the mix in order to further obscure the band into territory I can only describe as “tastefully erratic”. The first track, “Alien Vacation”, immediately sold me on the group, demanding that I get back to a member of the group and let them know that I’d be all-for sharing their material. I mean, it’d be difficult for me to turn a band like this down. That lead’s got SERIOUS pipes, to an extent that I originally mistook the influxes of similarly-alienlike backup vocals as some form of vocal processing – which is still oftentimes present, unsurprisingly, as to further bolster the weird, eccentric influence beyond the resonating harmonies that the vocals and guitars bring forth to the forefront. Weave in some scathing solos and extremely memorable melodies, and maybe you can see why I’m kinda disappointed in myself for not catching wind of this four-piece anytime sooner. But what do *I*, Jimmy, personally think about Dark Web? I think they’re fuckin’ aliens, duh. Ain’t it obvious?

[engl] DEAD CELLS out of Vancouver do it dark, desperate, and minimal. An archaic sound from the gothic ages of punk - when punk was catchy, but also dangerous. Going back to the three chord song, with downstrokes, vicious energy, and the two minute deadline. Sacred by the outstanind artwork, it's night church in the post apocalyptic wasteland. Their first LP and follow-up to their 2018 demo tape which was overheared by many people. Desperation, angst and frustration pepper the words that twist and turn like daggers to the back of emperors. Twin guitar attacks carry melody and smart chord changes backed by a rhythm section that runs the risk of falling off the edge of the cliff. It's complimented by a brooding vocalist that half shouts-half sings. You are welcome to dismiss this as some more of that melodic punk that you are too cool to admit that you like, but you would be a fool. Yes, the songs are catchy, and yes DEAD CELLS will get stuck in your head and even sometimes put a spring in your step, but this shit is deep and these songs are as close to utter brilliance as I can ever remember hearing. This goes way, way beyond the “punk kids playing post punk” thing going around these days. The tone of the songs, and of the album as a whole, is just as important as the content of the songs themselves. The guitar is somehow bright and dark at the same time. Chorus and reverb effects give it a shimmer, but distortion and minor and diminished chords dull that shimmer enough to keep everything nice and dark. It’s like a beefed up version of an 80’s post-punk bands’ sound. The drums are tight throughout and the bass is dark and punchy as well. All of this is behind spooky male lead vocals. Dark, anxious, paranoid, manic, obsessive, melodic, misanthropic, gothy, punk - Don't sleep on this.

[engl] Dead Finks is the musical output of New Zealand-born duo Joseph Thomas and Erin Violet. Formed in Sydney sometime in the late '10s, it's current incarnation is a four-piece rock band based in Berlin. On The Death & Resurrection Of Jonathon Cowboy the band showcase an incredible knack for writing catchy and unique melodies. They play punk music in the tradition of Wire, Sonic Youth and The Fall (whose "Frightened" is covered here, recorded the night of Mark E. Smith's death) and take cues from contemporaries like Parquet Courts and Iceage in their efforts to manipulate and expand upon what it means to be a punk group in 2021. Written and recorded in Sydney, late 2018 (shortly before the duo moved to Berlin) the LP serves as a strange prediction of the horrible state of the world today. Songs about war, plagues, pissing, police, David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and the climate burning. Its a sea of wiry guitars and thumping bass that plants itself inside your inner ear and doesn’t leave. Thomas’ smart-ass delivery and literary style with odd references abounding, sees a return to something similarly touched upon in his previous group Trust Punks. However, on this LP Dead Finks feel more straight-forward in the best kind of way. Stripped down rock music that knows what it is and smashes you over the head. Vocal harmonies and lush organ sounds. It sounds really good. Divorcing somewhat on this release from the harsh underground sounds of previous iterations of the band. An extremely strange synchronicity. Some will try and say it was planned. It wasn’t. This is art working in mysterious ways. Hopefully for some of you it will help. Personally, these songs transcend this horrible situation we are collectively going through. But they cannot be exempt from being looked at through the gaze of a world stricken by plague. It’s the Death… & RESURRECTION of Johnathon Cowboy; you, me & everyone else.

[engl] Get ready for a new Derby Dolls EP! When I first listened to the rough mixes I was thinking again, yes, that‘s tight! The 4 new songs come with German lyrics and a solid early NDW background, but with an amazing sound! You will love it! I don‘t know when this band had the time to write a new EP, because two of them are playing constantly with Hysterese. Derby Dolls are always the best happy thing between sweet pop and early Neue Deutsche Welle. With this new 4 Song EP they put some more snotty Midwestern Garage influences into their unique sound and they often remind me of Something Fierce, maybe it‘s the excellent bass sound or just the perfect songwriting?! The guitar lines are jangling and aggressive – but not in a testosteron way. And Helens voice is doing the rest. The debut 12“ was sold out in a few months without the Derby Dolls having played one show. You should buy one of these little vinyl jewels and grab your own copy, because this is another unique piece of fine music, combining the power and the pop when it comes to punk.