Reviews

Joy Joy cassette

Launching with forceful, haunting vocals amid minimal post-punk drumming, super-fuzzed-out bass, and atonal but brutally intentional guitar flourishes, this tape is exciting from the first moment. The next tracks venture more toward a danceable post-punk sound, folding in synth drums and vocals that duel rhythmically with the driving, syncopated instruments. JOY nods to the legacy of anarcho-punk bands like LOST CHERREES and CRASS’ Penis Envy, while also echoing the post-punk sensibilities of bands like DELTA 5 and ESG. They apply an expansive sense of imagination, breaking genre rules and creating songs that embody duality: enraged yet disciplined, sweetly harmonized yet unnerving, viscerally human yet mediated with electronics. Definitely not to be missed.