Play It Faster...
The onslaught of new music marches on!
It’s always wild to me how people hit a certain point in their life when music doesn’t seem to matter anymore to them. Maybe that’s too sweeping and generalizing - more like the desire to hear and discover new music doesn’t seem to matter. It’s a cliché, certainly, and I know there is that whole thing about the music you hear when you are blah blah blah age ends up sticking with you more than yadda yadda whatever. I just don’t get it. Tastes change, become more expansive, become more restrictive or whatever but, given music’s ability to connect intimately with our emotions I’ll never fully understand moving away from the discovery of the new, or at least the new to you.
A lot of old punks love to shit on new bands - either for being different than what they are used to or for being too derivative of what they remember back in the day. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t I guess - I’ll never understand shitting on the expression of people who are pushing punk forward, keeping it vital and new. Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s a bunch of new/recent records worth checking out.
ANGEL DUST - Brand New Soul LP
This record is wild - 70s power pop, Burt Bacharach style lounge jams, hints of bossanova, BAD BRAINS ferocity - it’s a bit all over the place but somehow totally cohesive. Acoustic guitars over bongo drums in this SoCal summer beach party vibe in one moment to taut percussive hardcore the next then moving over to fuzzed out 70s KBD punk feels - hell there is a song here that sounds like JAY REA. It’s almost like a mix tape - it took me a minute to wrap my brain around it all but its a fun listen for sure.
ASMONUMENTSFALL - This Means Fire 12″
Expansive and crushing metal. Take that sweeping heaviness of Souls at Zero-era NEUROSIS, mix in some of TRAGEDY’s directness and this is what we find. It’s only four tracks, one being an acoustic interlude. but its a pretty powerful punch.
BATTERY MARCH - Boston Eats Its Young / Futur Pour Eux EP
I’m a sucker for this sound - gruff vocals, mid-tempo, melodic and extremely infectious street punk from Boston. It’s just three songs but it’s a much snatch release if you are into the likes of CRIMINAL DAMAGE or Parisian bands like SYNDROME 81.
Fairly straight forward mid-paced hardcore punk of the more traditional 80s Boston variety - hints of UK82 with occasional bursts of speed. Lots cool riffs and interesting drum work guaranteed to get the kids worked up into a pogoing frenzy.
THE BOLLWEEVILS - Essential LP
It’s wild to me the BOLLWEEVILS are still a band and weirder that I have never really paid them much attention, assuming them to be more of a pop punk band. Instead, its more of a melodic hardcore in that GOOD RIDDANCE meets DESCENDENTS sorta way - fast paced, big singalongs, catchy hooks. Its a fun listen.
CITRIC DUMMIES - Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass LP
This is fucking great - punchy, soaked punk with ample amounts of snot, piss, and vinegar. It’s got that same tough and sassy feeling found on STITCHES or SPITS records - like they could kick your ass but they probably would rather just do drugs with you and dance the night away. Absolutely lovely.
Hard as nails, no bullshit Malaysian hardcore - quick bursts of speed running up into stomping mosh bits. The vocals are a bit weird - feels like the singer is sorta mumbling into a blown microphone.
DAYDREAM - REACHING FOR ETERNITY LP
Rampaging garagey punk that progresses at a relentless pace - lots of slashing guitars twisting into incoherent leads layered over a staccato drum attach and fuzzed out as shit bass lines. Pretty cool.
Snarky, strutting punk that feels a bit ominous - the vocal patterns remind me of how HUGGY BEAR would approach a song while musically its a bit discordant and sludgy all at the same time - like MELVINS playing CRAMPS songs.
Mid-tempo, left wing punk from Mississippi - it’s got a little bit of a DISSUCKS or FILTH feel to it. Snarling lyrics about cops, riots, Republicans, etc.
EASTERN SYNDROME - Brain Driller CS
Dancey German punk taking cues from 80s Anarcho punk and synth powered new wave - think DIRT meets NENA and HONEY BANE in a squat and get down to business.
ES WAR MORD - Die Utopie der Kosmonauten LP
Rough yet melodic German punk but in the classic Deutschpunk style - which makes sense given this is ex members of classic German bands like VORKRIEGSJUGEND, ZERSTÖRTE JUGEND & JINGO DE LUNCH. It’s bouncy and catchy with plenty of interesting guitar lines that sound a little mournful. This is great!
You know how ZORN (the old German band but maybe the Philly band too?) has that sort creepy snarly metallic thing going on but then like POISON RUIN has that dour yet melodic, sorta WIPERS but not really thing going on? This is like that but add in a twist of the discordant unease present in NEGAZIONE. I really like this - ambient, spooky, abrasive but somehow catchy.
Crunching, moshy, metallic riffs colliding headlong into primal blasts of speed backing up against a ranting snarly vocal attack. It’s a vicious record and great follow up to their LP from a couple years back.
Thrashy hardcore punk from Germany that takes the HENRY FIATS OPEN SORE or REGULATIONS thing into the modern era - garage punk played at a blistering pace with a rough and tumble production style. Worth ruining your hearing over.
GREY C.E.L.L. - Cursing Every Lesson LP
Ferocious, snarling and ugly hardcore from Philadelphia - discordant and melodic all in the same moment. In one moment its straight forward punk attack and in the other it twists and writhes in this compelling manner in this sorta 90s hardcore manner of playing with ‘traditional’ punk forms and flipping them on their head. This is really apparent on the cover of CRUCIFIX’s “Death Toll,” you know the song but there is a twist to it. Really great follow up to their release from a few years back.
Heavy as shit, sludgy punk with melodic, quasi tribal interludes - it kind of oozes and crawls along with occasional blasts of speed. Totally massive sounding like COUNTERBLAST or BREACH but perhaps less theatrical in sound? I could see this on Neurot records.
HØAX/ MOTRON - All Over Again... Split LP
Two bands playing a similar style of MOTOR-CHARGE, d-beat fueled, rocknroll punk - throaty vocals, hammering drums, buzzsaw guitars. For my money HØAX wins this split simply because they cover “Bloodstains” by AGENT ORANGE.
Thick, mid paced UK hardcore - soaked in reverb. Never quite hitting full velocity it more struts along in that same sorta way THE FLEX does.
I RECOVER - Until I Wake Again LP
Sloppy and slightly disjointed, Revolution Summer influence emo - taking some of the ideas around EMBRACE or RITES OF SPRING and mixing it with the 1993 emo explosion (think CHINO HORDE, CURRENT, etc). Plaintive lyrics and discordant riffing - I love this sorta thing.
Eight killer tracks of thrashing hardcore punk from here in Richmond. Heavy, early USHC influence to be found here but with more of snarling vocal approach than would have been found in the 80s. Great stuff.
LITTLE ANGELS - Psycho Summer EP
Lo-fi as shit and totally ripping hardcore punk - mostly sizzles along at 300mph, thought occasionally slowing down into stage diving mayhem. Nine songs that just barely topping the one minute mark - you gotta better way to spend less than 10 minutes?
It’s a good thing the music that produce rages because the cover artwork that is a tribute to BOLD would typically file a record in the trash can. But enough about my irrational distaste for said old band - let’s talk about NYLON and how ferocious they are - five tracks of face stomping, pit starting hardcore played at a generally quick pace with plenty of occasional breakdowns and singalong bits. Just the right amount of distortion on everything to make it all feel just right.
PHANTASM - Conflict Reality EP
Rough and tumble, distortion soaked punk from Australia. It’s an intense ride, with the vocalist’s delivery being this almost hypnotic rapid chanting style (think COMES) splattered over a steady, hammering 1-2 musical attack. Super into this.
PROSTHETIC - Theory Of Pain Demo
Raw, d-beat fueled pink with occasional forays into blast beat thrash from Oakland. It’s a nice first taste with plenty of promise.
REPRESSION - War Comes Home EP
Soaked in reverb and fuzz, REPRESSION pummel away at this violent, buzzsaw clip. Thick, wall of sound production highlighting the songsmith hidden behind all that echo and noise. Totally killer.
Hammering, Oi inflected hardcore with a 1-2-1-2 pooka-pooka drumbeat and gruff vocal approach. Lots of energy embedded in the songs here so it doesn’t slip into boring mid-paced morass.
Dreamy pop plugged through a WIPERS-esque malaise and the edginess of the spookier GUN CLUB songs. Jangly, shimmery guitars layered over a lockstep backbeat and vocals that express a twinge of desperation.
Totally killer thrashing hardcore in the NO COMMENT meets INFEST line of thinking. Blasting, 10000 mph thrash with grinding, sludgy breakdowns - with a vocalist that can actually keep pace with the music. Great. Great. Great.
YELLOWCAKE - Can You See the Future? EP
Ripping, fuzzed out hardcore from Phoenix with a heavy DISCHARGE through a Swedish filter influence. Reminds me a bit of the rather excellent INNOCENT LP.
More killer stuff from Baltimore - molasses thick, fuzzy guitars ride in tandem with a burly rhythm section really helping to enforce the vocal aggro attack.
The Eastern Syndrome tape is in my 2023 top ten for sure!
That Yellowcake LP fucking rips. Heard Inflicter this week as well, really good stuff!