For this month’s show, these bands are totally new to me: BB Bomb (though generally anything on the Damnably label is totally worth checking out), Wiccans, Liam Vincent & The Odd Foxes (they remind me of someone…. Wolfstone? It’ll come to me eventually), Haram (if you are interested in seriously angry smart punk, and not Hot Topic/Warped Tour stuff, then you must check this Haram record in its entirety), The Big Idea, Morwan, Sunflowers, Piso Franco, Sword II, and Flux (the “flux your heard” I’m sure is a direct reference to the classic hardcore Dischord various artists compilation Flex Your Head, which includes Minor Threat’s cover of “12XU” with Ian screaming at the end “flex your HEAD!!”), and Medussa. I apologize for not having any exciting back info on the artists or my discovery of them; I think these were all the result of my many Bandcamp rabbit hole excursions.
This latest album from Citric Dummies kicks total ass. The songs on this album I think are a bit longer and more sophisticated than their earlier hardcore bursts, but make no mistake, this album has speed and power galore.
I was back home in Detroit this past autumn and I was very happy to find a copy of the Kit Sebastian album in Dearborn Music for a very fair price (if you find yourself in Detroit I recommend trying Dearborn Music before anything else). Kit Sebastian is an example of the talented and fun bands coming out of the modern Turkish music scene.
In the past couple of years there seems to be a welcome renaissance of reissues covering late 1970s – early 1980s American hardcore. This is welcome for all kinds of reasons; mostly, because the originals can be very hard to find and expensive; the reissues often include material never before available; and the sound quality is sometimes much improved. I was overjoyed to get the reissues of the two SS Decontrol 12”s a couple of years ago from the Trust label, we just got a reissue of one of the last NoMeansNo records, and now we have archival releases from Midwest bands Mecht Mensch and Zero Boys. Now if we could just get Necros….
This new song from Mandy Indiana (from their new album due out in February, 2026) shows off everything I love about this band: in your face percussion, frequent changes in tempo and instrumentation, and vocals that hit me a different way each time I listen.
I discovered Waltz For Debbie via a rather large various artists label sampler box set I picked up from the Labrador label. I don’t remember exactly how I stumbled my way into the Labrador camp- most likely it was the group The Radio Dept., though how I found them is anyone’s guess. I’ve periodically thought about keeping a journal describing each time I hear a band for the first time- that might be a fun future project. Anyway, this Waltz For Debbie song is a perfectly executed piece of indie pop.
Oruã has a great hard indie-psych sound on all of their records (I recommend their entire catalog) but what I find really interesting is the vocals. The singer has a voice that is really unique- I’m not good at describing vocal stylings, but this guy has that sound that you can recognize immediately as him.
Optic Sink- cold wave from Memphis! Why not? I love how this band’s sound has evolved from the earliest records to now.
The Danzig-era Misfits often recorded several versions of their songs, and in a few other cases (like here) we get treated to a remixed version (not remix in the dance sense, mind you). If you are a real Misfits fanatic, you can sit back and enjoy listening to multiple versions back to back and comparing and contrasting. For “Who Killed Marilyn?” I have five different versions in my collection, including this new remixed version by Glen Danzig. I think l like this one the best- the vocals are easier to hear and the instruments are better balanced compared to other versions.
Listen to this great song from Chini.png- isn’t this a masterwork of pacing and soft/loud dynamics? All of their music is this good.
I have to thank my fellow Dandelion Radio DJ Sean for introducing me to Neon Kittens. I love their overall sound- it sounds like a mix of second/third album PIL if Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp joined in on guitar.
This Algebra Suicide sounds like another great example of neo-Cold Wave. The talk-sing matches well with the nervous, furtive music. I like to keep listening to this song and picking out the layers.
I first ran across the Tzadik label way back in the late 1990s, if I recall correctly. This was the height of the CD era and I was in my Marc Ribot rabbit hole, trying to get my hands on any of his material. He did some work on the label, including a Marc Bolan tribute compilation. Fast forward ten years or so and I was reading a newsletter from Wayside Music, a mail order company where I buy music from now and then. They had a short description of this Afrirampo CD that grabbed my interest, so into my shopping cart it went. I haven’t done much research on this artist but from what I recall it is two ladies who mix visual and performance art with the music.
Dame Area is one of the most fascinating artists around. They share a general approach to another of my favorite bands, Party Dozen. Can you imagine a show with the two of them on the bill?
The Dirtbombs put out a fantastic all covers album in 2011 called Party Store. They covered all techno songs in their inimitable Detroit garage rock style. All of the covers came off well, but I think their version of “Cosmic Cars” (originally by Cybotron) is the best of a very good lot. The album refers to a Detroit area staple: the party store. In Detroit and its suburbs, a party store is basically a cross between a liquor store and a 7-11 or bodega. But unlike today’s chain store everything, party stores were all independent. No two looked the same even though the concept was similar. Most of them were a big part of the neighborhood, especially before the rise of Walmart, Target, and Costco. They were (and still are for those that still operate) a neighborhood place that held a lot of local meaning. Party Stores are a part of Detroit’s fabric, and so the title of this album by a great Detroit band has special meaning.
Most songs tell a story, but this song by Karen Y Los Remedios feels more like a novella. The pacing, arrangement, and vocals make this song sound like you are being treated to one-act play, tightened into a mere three and a half minutes.
Superior Viaduct has done a great job of selecting and reissuing out of print records and artist anthologies that are criminally long out of print, including this new archival release by Paris 1942 out of Phoenix. Arizona has always had a very eclectic (sorry, but this time the word truly fits) punk/hardcore/post-punk scene: groups like Feederz, J.F.A., and Meat Puppets, to name a few. I wasn’t aware of Paris 1942 but I love this sort of mid-80s New York City angular post-punk sound.
While I wasn’t aware of Paris 1942, I do remember the Amuck compilation coming out of Phoenix in 1982. It contains a wealth of great bands but unfortunately has not been reissued, as various artist compilations rarely are.
Isn’t it really cool when just the right artist takes on a dinosaur of an old song and breathes new life into it? Anika, who has one of the most compelling voices on the planet, can make magic out of anything she covers but her singing “Spooky” is just astonishing.
The fine folks at Kool Tone Records (thank you guys) sent me a cassette of the new Sunset Images album Live at Glastonbury and it is fantastic. The band is out of Mexico and reminds me of Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, so if you like the latter be sure to check out the former.
Intel have accomplished the near-impossible; they sound very much like Osees without coming across as a lame copycat band. Keep it up!
Babe Haven recently did a few shows opening for Die Spitz, and wow, what a one-two punch of a lineup that was. Babe Haven are out of North Carolina and if you are looking for something beyond Lambrini Girls or Wet Leg then point your little ears toward these ladies.
I don’t spend very much time on Spotify, but a couple of years ago I came across a couple of good playlists featuring independent music from Armenia and Georgia. This caught my attention because it’s not always easy finding alternative music from those countries (I spent eleven days in Tbilisi several years ago and I could only find choral church and the usual garbage club music) so I did what I could looking into the featured bands. For some reason very few alternative/indie bands from Armenia and Georgia are on Bandcamp, but many of them do sell songs on iTunes, so I spent time listening to stuff on Spotify then buying the things I liked on iTunes. Not ideal, but better than nothing at all. This artist, սխալduke has this melancholy, almost spooky quality that I find interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment