Ismatic Guru IV cassette
Buffalo duo John Toohill (SCIENCE MAN/Swimming Faith Records) and Brandon Schlia (Steak and Cake Records) are back with their fourth cassette release as ISMATIC GURU. It’s their first since being cited by Spin as one of the many bands making up egg-punk’s cresting second wave (BTW, seeing them listed in this context felt like coming across a 1977 NME article covering UK punk’s second wave listing F.U.2. alongside acts like EATER or GENERATION X—like, yes, technically accurate but still kinda way off). Now, this may just be me, but I feel like they’ve toned down the egginess since then. I mean, the squiggly guitar and cartoony bounce are still there, but they seem to be shifting focus to the more experimental or proggier elements of their sound. The five tracks that make up the release are darkly melodic, intricately composed, technically proficient, and, considering the average song length is 1:18, absolutely packed to the brim with ideas. Imagine some mix of SPLLIT, MR. BUNGLE (at their least annoying!), and DON CABALLERO. Also, John’s vocal performance is fuckin’ phenomenal here—dude might be on of the most underrated performers in punk today!