I was a bit anxious about the second Narkose LP 'cos i just loved that previous record so much but knew full well the exact same thing wouldn't work a second time around and it felt like kind of a gamble if and how this group could change things up without losing the essence that makes them so special in the current german punk landscape. Glad to say they found a way to make it work! Some slightly slicker production values give considerable structural support to their sound dialing down some the dark '80s anarcho vibe in favor of a tiny bit more contemporary sounding post punk and -core vibe with tunes like _Keine Ziele_ kinda transporting a bit of that 2010s british post punk and noise rock school that was flourishing in the years before the current hegemony of slick broccoli-haired mumblecore punkfluencers won out in the hype war. The equally heavy and catchy-ass hooks are hitting more precise than ever before here, with the reasonably tidied-up aesthetics laying bare an increasing Wipers-feel to the guitar work of these tunes while the lyrical content is still among the most bleak, concise and well-considered things you'll find in german languange punk right now, rubbing salt in the wounds of a rapidly unravelling europe with a bluntness and urgency that may sometimes just feel like a bit too much if it hits you at the wrong moment but really, it's just the constant background hum of a fracturing society any conscious mind has to cope with right now anyway and basically there's always some healing force to the cathartic energy that unfolds when some dudes of way superior lyrical abilities compared to the petty standards of a notoriously dumbed-down and linguistically challenged _deutschpunk_ landscape, just refuse to mince any words here. <a href=https://narkose.bandcamp.com/album/originalton-west>Originalton West by Narkose</a> <a href=https://narkose.bandcamp.com/album/originalton-west>Originalton West by Narkose</a> <a href=https://narkose.bandcamp.com/album/originalton-west>Originalton West by Narkose</a> <a href=https://narkose.bandcamp.com/album/originalton-west>Originalton West by Narkose</a>

Already having an awesome cassingle and an equally excellent EP under their belt, their newest EP shakes things up a good bit for the San Francisco group with the opening tune _Billy 3_ having an unexpected melodic foundation, _A Million Knots_ allowing some '80s Sonic Youth vibes in its verses. Their cover of The Nerves' _Hanging On The Telephone_ is doing a flawless job too. Previously more interested in complex interlocking art punk arrangements that reminded me of groups like Patti, Reality Group, earlier Fugitive Bubble, the two original tunes on this one are hinting at a more streamlined and focused way forward for the group and i'm all here for it. <a href=https://porkbelly.bandcamp.com/album/2-truths-and-a-lie>2 Truths and a Lie by Pork Belly</a>

Last year's _Greg_ LP by this Minneapolis group was already a real treat bridging the gap between melodic '80s punk (i felt a lot of Moving Targets energy with that one), '90s bordering-on-emo indie rock and 2000s crowdpleasing bearded woodcutter dude punk rock, a record that fell by the wayside of this blog simply for time and capacity reasons 'cos ya know, in a one-man-operation like this place, you sometimes just have to drop some shit you'd totally have given its due if you had unlimited time, focus and energy. Anyway, that won't happen again for their new 7" that even improves on that record's virtues with a more determined attack and their sound incorporating increasing elements of '80s/'90s postcore, especially the a-side _Liar_ now sounding like Jawbox and Jawbreaker doing unspeakable things to each others jaws and _Stench Of Calm_ then reverting to some sophisticated '90s melodic punk/indie shredding in the most satisfying way imaginable. <a href=https://visuallearner.bandcamp.com/album/liar-b-w-stench-of-calm>Liar b/w Stench of Calm by VISUAL LEARNER</a>

It's been a couple years since the last EP of this Los Angeles group and clearly their craft has evolved a lot since then as evidenced by ther new debut longplayer on Under The Gun Records, whose somewhat metal-infused hard- and postcore-ish vibes may sound a tiny bit brutal, clinical and jarring to those who fell in love with their previous sound of KBD-heavy, synth-extended garage punk tunes that just happened to sometimes venture into hardcore territory. Heck, there's almost some classic speed metal vibe in the one-minute opener _For Now_. Thankfully that ain't the sole defining trait of this record and the tightened screws here work in unison with plenty of smarts and interlocking nuance to save the punishing first half of the record from just devolving into a featureless tedious barrage. It's the second half when this record truly opens up though, its tunes letting a lot more humanity and melancholia seep through the cracks, incorporating unexpected elements of psychedelia in the midtempo post punk stomper _Gridliock/Flatline_ for example. The post punk-ish vibes persist through _Come Down_ , before the following uptempo tunes too maintain a comparatively catchy quality as if to balance-out the ultra-grim opening stretch. By all accounts this is a way less friendly, instantly fun or accessible record than what we've heard from the band in the past but it's also no less of a thoroughly rewarding listen if you're gonna stick with it. <a href=https://utgrecords.bandcamp.com/album/psychosis-neurosis>Psychosis Neurosis by IZM</a> <a href=https://utgrecords.bandcamp.com/album/psychosis-neurosis>Psychosis Neurosis by IZM</a> <a href=https://utgrecords.bandcamp.com/album/psychosis-neurosis>Psychosis Neurosis by IZM</a> <a href=https://utgrecords.bandcamp.com/album/psychosis-neurosis>Psychosis Neurosis by IZM</a>

Es ist jetzt auch schon wieder ein paar Jahre her seit der letzten EP dieser Band aus Los Angeles und ganz klar hat ihr Handwerk eine starke Evolution durchlaufen seitdem, wie es ihr neues Langspieldebüt auf Under The Gun Records unter Beweis stellt. Dessen leicht Metal-injizierte Hard- und Postcore-Vibes mögen auf den ersten Blick vielleicht […]

One of hard-/postcore's most incorruptible acts of recent years returns with yet another kickass record that doesn't sound like much else these days, apparently still not feeling any urge to significantly polish up their sound which of course doesn't mean there hasn't been tons of growth and refinement to their music along the way, which more than ever feels like a comprehensive round-trip through a decent stretch of the more out-there and weird fringes of artsy early eighties punk and hardcore history. This shit is just about the roughest-sounding material these Olympia, Washington based folks have done in a while, yet there's always a strikingly purpusefully crafted quality to their sonic chaos, the kind only a group as wildly superior and creative as Fugitive Bubble can pull off so consistently and effortlessly. <a href=https://ragdollrecords.bandcamp.com/album/voices>Voices by Fugitive Bubble</a> <a href=https://ragdollrecords.bandcamp.com/album/voices>Voices by Fugitive Bubble</a> <a href=https://ragdollrecords.bandcamp.com/album/voices>Voices by Fugitive Bubble</a>

Austin, Texas group Guiding Light already had a pretty exciting, if still kinda messy debut EP out via Stucco / Down South Tapes in 2024, who are now also responsible for the cassette release of their first full length record (viny is availablel via Post Present Medium), on which they up their game in pretty much every aspect of their sound as the the folk-ish strummy melancholia of _Shackled By Lust_ makes immediately clear and even though that tune ain't fully representative of the rest of the album, it keeps on resonating as a thoroughly impressive opening salvo nonetheless. That greatness persists all throughout the record where their folk- and cowpunk-adjacent strummery somewhere inbetween the likes of Angst and Volcano Suns keeps colliding with eighties Post Punk right between the chairs of, say, Burma, Saccharine Trust, Man Sized Action and early Minutemen, though spiked with occasional bits of Flying Nun Post Punk Psychedelia, catchy Jangle Pop guitar leads and -harmonies, though if instead you feel like naming more recent Folk-/Cowpunk/Post Punk hybrids á la Leche, Cardi O., more recent Rolex or Optic Nerve, i'm gonna say you're right on the money too. Can't miss this one if you're into any of that shit. <a href=https://guidinglightatx.bandcamp.com/album/fear-on-my-own-time>Fear On My Own Time by Guiding Light</a> <a href=https://guidinglightatx.bandcamp.com/album/fear-on-my-own-time>Fear On My Own Time by Guiding Light</a> <a href=https://guidinglightatx.bandcamp.com/album/fear-on-my-own-time>Fear On My Own Time by Guiding Light</a> <a href=https://guidinglightatx.bandcamp.com/album/fear-on-my-own-time>Fear On My Own Time by Guiding Light</a>

After an already quite thrilling demo tape in 2023, the group from Oslo, Norway finally makes good on the promise and impresses with their fully realized vision three years later on their first longplayer, wildly elaborating on their eclectic sound that incorporates such things as a bit of the frantic and anxious early Iceage energy unravelling here, a touch of early Poison Ruïn high-stakes dungeon punk drama, coupled with a momentum somewhat reminiscent of _Stay Home_ -Era Hank Woods & The Hammerheads and there's also plenty reference to be found of another New York Band Hank Wood has been in, the existential psychedelic cowpunk nightmarescapes of Murderer. Further i'm reminded of that unpredictable recent Forcer LP, the epic frankenstein song constructs of the 2020 Tom Lincoln solo album und its sort-of full band incarnation / successor Metho, whose line-up including the great Jackson Reid Briggs then again leads me to the realization that tunes like _Trollmandens lærling_ also have quite a bit of a Split System energy to them. So yeah, what this band is pulling off here covers a lot of ground and whatever these dudes touch seems to turn into pure gold instantly, while the more garage-like mid-fi production values of the previous EP give way to a more hard- and postcore-infused vibe with slightly metal-infused overtones on this, matched up with just the right kind of vicious, unrelenting performance here to make that shit stick. This record is a wildly creative grab bag brimming with pure wonder and breathless ecstasy. <a href=https://quelindo666.bandcamp.com/album/que-lindo-lp>Que Lindo LP by Que Lindo</a> <a href=https://quelindo666.bandcamp.com/album/que-lindo-lp>Que Lindo LP by Que Lindo</a> <a href=https://quelindo666.bandcamp.com/album/que-lindo-lp>Que Lindo LP by Que Lindo</a> <a href=https://quelindo666.bandcamp.com/album/que-lindo-lp>Que Lindo LP by Que Lindo</a>

Kaloomps, British Columbia group Headcheese have been messin' about for way longer than my intuition tells me as it still feels to me like their first Demo and self-titled debut mini-LP dropped just about yesterday, even though their most recent previous record _Expired_ is actually like three years old by now. Anyway, this group has certainly left a thorough impresson in my faulty memory with a number of records that feel like an endless tug-of-war between successive impulses of elaborating on their sound and then dumbing it down again in the most thrilling way possible. Their newest one might well be their magnum opus so far though, with the group operating as a simultaneously tighter and rowdier-than-ever wrecking crew, pummeling into submission their most coherent, fleshed out bundle of chemically unstable creative outbursts so far, which no serious devotee of inventive, shaggy noise inbetween the worlds of KBD-injected garage punk, oldschool propulsive west coast-style hardcore and maybe even some particles of No Trend-, Broken Talent- or Flipper-esque proto noise rock mahem should miss out on. <a href=https://headcheesepunk.bandcamp.com/album/dump-run>Dump Run by Headcheese</a> <a href=https://headcheesepunk.bandcamp.com/album/dump-run>Dump Run by Headcheese</a> <a href=https://headcheesepunk.bandcamp.com/album/dump-run>Dump Run by Headcheese</a> <a href=https://headcheesepunk.bandcamp.com/album/dump-run>Dump Run by Headcheese</a>

Damn, this Chicago group's noise must've already sounded quite archaic at the time their first LP dropped in 2013 but now, more than decade since their last recorded output, their sound has passively made it full circle back into the pleasantly old-fashioned, timeless and classy bracket of anachronistic noise, their sound clearly taking cues from the likes of Lync, early Jawbreaker and Superchunk or, to a lesser extent, Dag Nasty, Rites Of Spring and maybe also some traces of early Unwound and Hoover? Anyway, these tunes are operating on a level quite a few notches above your average '90s punk throwback, chiefly owing to an abundance of rock-solid songcraft all throughout and an unwavering intuition for timeless heavy-duty, load-bearing hooks, while also leaving plenty of wiggle room for some neat diversions and moments not quite fitting the standard early '90s postcore / emo / indie rock templates like that bit of a Wipers- and Dead Moon-esque garage flavor added to tunes like _Caustic Dreams_. It's this skillful balance of what strikes me as a quite intimate, encyclopedic knowledge and love of that particular patch of 90s punk history coupled with a marked reluctance to comply with its tropes and conventions too slavishly, adding even more of a unique flavor to a record that's not ashamed to feel vagely nostalgic and retro at points without ever coming across like a tired retread, still able to subvert and exceed my expectations in crucial places, a record equally inspired and old-fashioned. <a href=https://polishgifts.bandcamp.com/album/its-not-just-beginning>It&#39;s Not Just Beginning by Polish Gifts</a> <a href=https://polishgifts.bandcamp.com/album/its-not-just-beginning>It&#39;s Not Just Beginning by Polish Gifts</a> <a href=https://polishgifts.bandcamp.com/album/its-not-just-beginning>It&#39;s Not Just Beginning by Polish Gifts</a> <a href=https://polishgifts.bandcamp.com/album/its-not-just-beginning>It&#39;s Not Just Beginning by Polish Gifts</a>

This Dublin-based group's output so far is a bit of a, how should i put it... _messy_ affair to say the least though it was never _boring_ either, that's for sure. This new 2-track digital single may now mark their most successful attempt at uncluttering their creative vision so far and i'm nothing short of impressed with the classy oldschool indie rock vibes goin' on here, whose folk-ish strummyness recalls the glory days of Volcano Suns or one of their sorta-spiritual successors, the still active Tha Martha's Vineyard Ferries. The A-side _Secret Bench In The Bardo_ is such a strong and striking example of that kind of thing the other tune _Abacus Rubicon_ has to play second fiddle kinda by sheer circumstance, though that doesn't mean it's anything less than another perfectly pleasing late-eighties to mid-nineties postcore throwback in its own right. <a href=https://searchresultsdub.bandcamp.com/album/secret-bench-in-the-bardo-abacus-rubicon>Secret Bench in the Bardo // Abacus Rubicon by Search Results</a>

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