Reviews

Spoilsport

Delivery Yes We Do EP

Like a lot of creative punks who found themselves cooped up over the past couple years, Melbourne duo Rebecca Allan (GUTTER GIRLS) and James Lynch (KOSMETIKA) started writing songs. Then, in one of the short stretches when their city wasn’t locked down, they fleshed out their project into a full band—adding players from SOURSOB, HEIR TRAFFIC, and the VACANT SMILES—to record this EP for Spoilsport. On the surface, DELIVERY plays that same mix of post-punk and garage that’s been so prevalent in the past decade, particularly in Australia. But they take that sound and infuse it with enough pop sensibility and even a bit of surf to help differentiate them from mere imitators, and in any case these are well-crafted songs. On a spectrum that has UV RACE at one end and TOTAL CONTROL at the other, tracks like “Floored” and “Brickwork” would fall smack-dab in the middle—not a bad place to be. “The Explainer” sounds an awful lot like an INTELLIGENCE track until an extremely early-SUPERGRASS bridge kicks in. It ends up being my least favorite song on the record (in no small part due to the annoying and unnecessary synth)—still, it’s hard to say it’s bad. “Rubber” settles into a pleasant groove and might be the track where this band’s disparate influences meld together best. It’s a solid enough record that I’m keen to tune back into whatever these folks have planned next.

Delivery Personal Effects / The Topic 7″

This Melbourne act follows up a strong debut (2021’s Yes We Do EP), with a new 7”, a split release between Feel It and Spoilsport. You’re getting a song per side on this one. “Personal Effects” is a slower, sax-laden garage-y post-punk number—sounds a lot like Homo-era UV RACE, when that band was at their most VELVET UNDERGROUND-y. “The Topic” sees the band leaning into some of the noiser aspects of that same sound, speeding things up a bit, and underpinning the proceedings with a brooding new wave synth. The vocals are largely rhythmic, chanted by at least two of the members in unison, but there’s an understated melody to them that I found really compelling—like, you wouldn’t call it poppy, but it’s definitely hummable and plays nicely against the harsher elements of the track. Cool stuff! Can we get an LP, please?

Dragnet The Accession LP

I sound like a broken record, but Australia is exporting some of the best releases in rock’n’roll at the moment. Gritty dance-punk similar to bands like BLOC PARTY and ADAM AND THE ANTS, but much more rustic, raw, and powerful. Drums and bass are massive and everything is just so damn catchy. Love the dueling harmonic guitars as they seemingly compete for attention with the keyboards. Somehow with all of this going on, the vocals still stand out front and center. Even within the chaos of having six members, the music never sounds cluttered or messy. Great stuff.

Hooper Crescent Essential Tremors LP

Second album from Melbourne’s strident new wave/indie-artsy rocker project. Experimentation is a key point on this 12”, as their post-punk sound structure with a drum machine heart is filled with nods to TELEVISION, DEVO, and the like, but with much fresher (and on some tracks, much deeper) dives into sections and also instrumental space sounds. Aspects like the creation of “tension during order” is on-point here. I should also emphasize the fact that tempos are quite similar between the songs, giving the impression of monotony and repetition, which bored me from time to time, so note that this airplane takes time to pick up. Synths and keys are sweet and well-played. On the poppier side of post-punk, and for garage synth lovers.

Hot Tubs Time Machine Double Tubble LP

Second album by this synth side-piece of UV RACE frontman Marcus Rechsteiner and Daniel “Tubs” Twomey of DEAF WISH. As a UV fan, I’ve always enjoyed Marcus’ goofy but erudite perspective, his observations on the everyday, and his ability with a standout one-liner. The second song talks about his favorite Lebanese bakery, where he ponders “What is even zaatar? It’s delicious…I wonder if I’d be a decent Zaatarist?” Twomey provides a musically minimal matte painting for Marcus to meditate and meander upon, with sinewy sine wave washes and looping beats, but also an ability to create the odd texture that separates it from any synth punk reenactors and minimal wave what-have-yous.

Kosmetika Illustration LP

Melbourne-based art-punk/new wave band that bends the genres to their will, blending industrial noise with shambling dream pop that’s gone goth, maybe? Vocals are sung half in English and half in Russian, Veeka Nazarova’s native language, the harsh Slavic nature of which adds to the angular and industrial sound of the tracks. Fans of obscure ’80s new wave/darkwave/no wave will like this. I hear similarities to STRAWBERRY SWITCHBLADE in pop-driven songs like “Eighty Four,” or to contemporaries DELIVERY (who I reviewed a while back). On the other hand, the two opening tracks “Strawberry Needles” and “Psycho TV” remind me of—and I’m sure this is a stretch—the clamoring FOETUS, with noisy and experimental brushes throughout. This just came out in April, so if any of this interests you, get your copy of the limited pressing before it’s gone.