Reviews

Knuckles on Stun

(+39) 375-649-94-64 My Telephone Number Demo #01 cassette

Lo-fi, garage-infused pop duo from Brescia, Italy, a self-described “hardcore techno” band. To me, the cassette is half anthemic garage punk bops and half mid-tempo dancy art-punk. However you choose to categorize them, (+39) 375-649-94-64 MY TELEPHONE NUMBER is sure to become a household name. That is, if it can be figured out exactly what the band name is. I have seen it listed by the Italian label that released it locally, Pollice Di Fuoco, as being (+39) 375-649-94-64, the release by US label Knuckles On Stun lists the band as simply MY TELEPHONE NUMBER, and the band’s official Bandcamp page has it listed as the combination of the two. Confuse me all you want, Wilson and Dany, just keep putting out these wacky, zany, catchy punk tunes!

Achterlicht Demo II cassette

High-energy, lo-fi garage punk from the Netherlands that sounds a lot like the SPITS. That’s not a bad thing—the five rockers here (plus one sound collage interlude) have a familiar “crunchy guitar with synth lead” formula, and the songs bounce with infectious melodies and personality. Recommended for switched-on garage freaks.

Ambulanz II cassette

AMBULANZ belts out seven tracks of messy art-punk oscillating between moments of angular, kraut-y experimentalism and catchy, sing-along fun. The dual-vocal delivery of Boni and Saskia plays off a swirling synth and bouncing bass, keeping things right at the edge of disintegration. I’m reminded of KNICKERS, who were coincidentally (or not coincidentally?) from Leipzig, Germany as well. Could be something in the sausages! In any case, AMBULANZ straddles the line between accessible oddity and art-haus freakout without ever tipping too far to either side. While that approach could easily mire a band in mediocrity, that is not the case here, thanks to an undeniable, pulsing vibrancy beneath the hood.

Cromm Fallon Presents the P200 cassette

Las Vegas-based rock’n’roll which seems to have at least started as a solo project. This is the second full-length recording under this moniker, and it doesn’t say in the liner notes if this one is also done entirely by CROMM or if the press photos of the band looking cool means it’s a full band on the recording. Thirteen songs of mostly predictable, by-the-numbers rock’n’roll stuff. The harder stuff is slightly reminiscent of later-era HELLACOPTERS, but there are some straight up harmonica-driven blues standards, as well as an instrumental yacht rock song on here. I dunno, maybe it’s good and a punk review site just isn’t the right place for it?

Death by Steamship Death by Steamship cassette

At first glance, I was admittedly a little confused by a cassette where more than half of the songs were recorded live from various shows, with a few demo songs and a single studio track. After a little research, I understand it quite a bit more. First, a bit of backstory for those not in the know. DEATH BY STEAMSHIP was an artsy post-hardcore band from Seattle, WA from 2008–2014, who released a 7” and an LP (both on Whoa! Boat Records). The band broke up with quite a few new songs written but not properly recorded. This cassette compiles what I presume are the only existing recordings of the band’s unreleased songs. It also includes a few practice demo recordings, the one studio song the band recorded for a compilation, as well as a pretty fun demo version of “Shot Down” by the SONICS. Think of this release as a companion cassette for the DEATH BY STEAMSHIP discography. Some of the live tracks are a bit difficult to digest as the recording quality is rather rough, but such is the nature of live recordings. As something of a completist when it comes to the music made by bands I care about, I can absolutely understand the appeal of such a cassette. If DEATH BY STEAMSHIP is a band that you love, you’d better act fast as only 25 copies of this cassette were made.

Former Mormon Discography 2017–2017 cassette

Complete discography cassette of a band that seems to have been wildly active for only a handful of months in the year 2017. At first glance, FORMER MORMON had me thinking there was a “too many cooks”-type situation going on. With songs ranging somewhat wildly stylistically from track to track, it was easy to assess that maybe there were multiple songwriters all bringing their own ideas to the table. Turns out that wasn’t the case at all. A few of their releases credit a single songwriter, which was somewhat surprising. FORMER MORMON seems to be the missing link between Bay Area pop punk stuff, by-the-numbers fastcore, and a little sprinkling of the MINUTEMEN tossed in for good measure—I didn’t realize these were things that had a missing link between them. Limited edition of 25 cassette copies.

Headwinds A.I. cassette

With a few records in their bin, Las Vegas’s HEADWINDS put out A.I.—songs are fun, dirty and have plenty of grit, with great-sounding guitars toned to hollow out yer bowels. There’s a little imperfection on the recording that sounds like a stylus hitting some dust, and is fairly apparent on the opener “Desire” during the longer-than-necessary outro. But they’ve got that desert-pysch thing going on, and used a 1959 reel-to-reel to record on, so I’ll give them a pass!  After a few times through, this really grew on me—the reverb-soaked vocals on the anthemic “Wild & Free” is an instant hit, and deserves a listen. The songs rollick around, kicking up dust, and give the illusion that everything will be okay, especially on the sandy-strummed acoustic closer “Melody” that sweeps beautifully to a finish.

Hospital Terrorizer Before You I Have No Other Justification for Myself Than an Animal Caught Growling in a Trap cassette

Bewildering mix of neon-coated blastbeats, chiptunes, and vibrating punk energy from this Las Vegas-based project. Each short track is an aural assault that mixes the wildest hysterics of XIU XIU, the drum machine grindcore of early AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED, and the psychedelic pounding of LIGHTNING BOLT, held together with breakcore glue. For the right audience at the right time, it’s kind of awesome. Every so often, candy-coated grenades of ecstatic beauty seep through, like on the garage punk vocals of “I Didn’t Think When I Started a Diary.” The tape is a chaotic, messy affair with 32 tracks, including titles like, “Weekly Crisis: This Time He Was Caught With Mouthfuls of Doll Hairs in His Sister’s Room,” and “10 Variations of Peter Sotos are in Your Scene.” The flow can be disorienting, but if you aren’t feeling the blasted-open groove of a particular track, you can just wait 45 seconds until the next one.

La Llama La Llama cassette

Was extremely ready to hate this, as the cover art had a strong whiff of the eggier end of punk about it, and I was prepared to mentally file this in the dustbin of history along with all those other poorly-dressed oddballs who can’t write tunes—however, how wrong I was (someone should come up with an idiom about not judging covers)! This is a tidy little cracker of a debut; scuzzy, taut garage rock that genuinely sounds like it was recorded in an actual garage. Songs fizz and whip past at a rate of knots, and never stay around too long to stay boring. Really good.

Late Show Late Show demo cassette

Sorta so-so trash garage from Seattle. It’s not bad, just not super memorable. Good vocals, nice guitar sound, but they just need a hard kick. Sorta like the CANDY SNATCHERS if they smoked weed instead of meth. Don’t give up on my account. Gurgle sounds…cough, cough, hack.

Los Retumbes Y De Postre, Komtessa cassette

If I had to imagine a garage band from the Basque Country in Spain releasing an album on a punk label out of Nashville, Tennessee, this is exactly what I would want to hear. Fast, driving, distorted guitars leading punk-tinged garage bangers with lyrics in Spanish, reminiscent of DIRTBOMBS and early MARKED MEN. Extra plus is album art that looks something William Hanna and Joseph Barbera would illustrate if they had worked for Adult Swim.

Media Puzzle Strategic Living cassette

On their third full-length album, Lismore, Australia’s MEDIA PUZZLE delivers nine tracks full of good-timing garage fuzz. The songs are short, with only one going past the two-minute mark, and feature distorted vocals with hooky-as-can-be lyrics, like on the opener “Garage Sale” with a chorus of “Buckle up down the trail / Take myself to the garage sale.” Underneath these lyrics (that don’t take themselves seriously at all) is a doddering, ghoulish synth, buzzy guitars, and a simple drum machine. The only name I can find associated with this group is Tom Peter, so I’m assuming this is a solo project? Fun, goofy, catchy—great late-summer set of tunes on offer.

Pure Sport Bigger Business cassette

Las Vegas band whose music barely fits under the punk umbrella, but here we are. Bigger Business sounds radio-ready; QUEEN OF THE STONE AGE-leaning boogie crunch with clean production, frequent wah-wah solos, and “oh yeeeaaah!”s. This is a generous comparison, but “Waterboy” has fast spoken-sung verses that remind of MCLUSKY’s freewheeling vocal style. The music itself, though, is predictable, neutered modern rock. “One Too Much” sounds like that band JET blues-screaming through a plodding song about beer. Catch these folks at your local corporate radio station’s Summer Jam second stage. They will probably be huge.

Raya Raya cassette

Ultra lo-fi, synth-accompanied garage punk from Madrid. Sounding like a mix of CONEHEADS and CHERRY CHEEKS, the six short tunes here buzz with ear-catching guitar and synth leads. The laidback, sung/spoken vocals maintain the vibe without overpowering it. Standout “Simpatia” has a mysterious hook and a theremin-sounding synth warble that buries deep and refuses to let go, but really, all the tracks flow so well that it’s better to just listen to the whole thing and repeat. Enveloped in near-surf levels of reverb and sounding like it was recorded on a boombox down the street from the band, this tape is truly a no-fi affair, but you can’t deny the musicianship and energy. If you are on the lookout for bouncy egg-punk, this is about as good as it gets.

The Shakewells Who the Hell Are? cassette

Surfy garage rock that reminds me of the VENTURES, the MUMMIES, and MAN OR ASTRO-MAN? all rolled into one. Very impressive musicianship here; very tight and never cluttered. I think it can be a challenge when you throw an organ player into the mix, but the SHAKEWELLS do a good job of not playing over each other. Otherwise, this is your typical spooky-adjacent rock’n’roll release. Not bad by any means, but nothing really groundbreaking. If you enjoy the genre, you’ll probably love this. A perfect soundtrack for the Halloween season.

Завірюга XXX cassette

Kooky, zany, wild, demented, synth-heavy Ukrainian egg-punk. In a post-SPIN Magazine egg-punk article world, where it seems everywhere you look punks are trying to out scramble one another, along comes a solo recording project that I can’t even praise since the band name is in a completely foreign alphabet to me and I can’t phonetically sound it out. And, it is quite possibly the most sincere-sounding version of this currently overdone genre I have heard in quite some time. This is outstanding! There’s six songs on this tape, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll rip through it and be thirsty for more. Well, my fellow punk enthusiasts, you are in luck, because since August 2023, this project, which I believe translates to BLIZZARD, already has five cassettes out, all of which are unbelievably good. The only downside that I see here is it seems that as of now, ЗАВІРЮГА has never played a show and the mastermind behind the project “prefers to work alone.” Somehow this just got even cooler.