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200 Words Or Less

The Dumpies

Drunk Dial #8
Drunk Dial Records (2021)

A quick word on the Drunk Dial series. Basically, the label asks bands to get intoxicated, then record an original a-side and a cover b-side.On #8, we get The Dumpies, who deliver 4 songs at a total runtime of five minutes. It’s fast, catchy and harmonized rough-around-the-edges garage-punk goodness. Take some of your favorite garage bands and speed them up. … Read more

200 Words Or Less

ZEPHR

Don’t Worry About It
Snappy Little Numbers (2020)

It’s fantastic to still see label holding up the torch when it comes to being dedicated to the fine art of the analogue format, partly because of its sonic superiority, partly as a reminiscence to a time where it was de rigour.Snappy Little Numbers is a label that keeps pumping out quality releases, lovingly illustrated with attention to detail and … Read more

Inhumanity Vortex

Reverse Engineering
Independent (2020)

Inhumanity Vortex started life in Poland in 2008 as the project of Tomasz Dziekoński and has slowly evolved over time into a sort of cyber tech-death metal band that has grown beyond the initial seeds of inspiration from those early days. Having released a handful of pre-production demos and EPs prior to Reverse Engineering in the winter of 2020, Inhumanity … Read more

Various Artists

Ink Bomb - No Breakfast Goodbye - split
Horn & Hoof Records/Dental Records/Concrete Head Entertainment (2021)

Two Dutch punk groups decided to join forces. 2020 saw their dreams of playing live go up in smoke. What to do instead? Write new music! Both bands bring three tracks to the table. Ink Bomb is the most experienced band of the two with an EP and full length under their belt. In my review of that full-length album … Read more

Amenra

De Doorn
Relapse (2021)

Memories burn in the flames while onlookers stare on. Relief washes over those present as though cleansed in the fires and reborn. Screams of catharsis spill from the lips of the watchers, emptying their souls of all the hurt and pain that has brought them to this point. Letting go of the mistakes and agonies that tie us to this … Read more

Pierce With Arrow

Shatter
Dais Records (2021)

Troy Pierce has been creating off-kilter techno since the mid ‘00s, always opting for a non-conformist, adventurous output (just listen to his 2007 full-length, Gone Astray). Now, he is joined by another forward-thinking creative mind in Natalie Escobar, who has also stepped into the off-kilter experimental music realm with her project Poison Arrow. Their collaboration, Pierce With Arrow, finds them … Read more

Book Review

Billie Eilish

Photobook
hachette Book Group (2021)

Love her, hate her – the thing that cannot be dispute is that she has left an indelible mark on the firmament of contemporary popular music. To tide over the waiting period until the release of her new album, Billy Eilish has released a photo book showcasing how she was brought up from infancy and her evolution to the person … Read more

Jason Paul + the Know It Alls

Alien or Martian?
Broken Anchor Recordings (2021)

I’d seen the name Jason Paul + the Know It Alls around a few times but never really looked into them -- which is a shame, seeing that they share members with a personal favorite, Toys That Kill. It took ‘em four records, but I’m finally checking out the brand new Alien or Martian?, released this April.Suffice to say there … Read more

Needles//Pins

Needles//Pins
Dirt Cult (2021)

Needles//Pins have all the familiar elements of pop-structured punk. Yet, at the same time, it’s hard to distill their sound to a single scene or subgenre. It’s melodic; it’s gruff; it’s sing-along. But it’s not really angry, fist-in-the-air cynicism. There’s an uplifting vibe underneath the coarse offering that soars instead of cycles. Off the top of my head, there are … Read more

Monte Penumbra

As Blades in the Firmament
End All Life (2021)

Monte Penumbra’s obscure origin dates back to 2013. The project of one W.uR suddenly appeared in the underground black metal scene with a debut full-length in Heirloom of Sullen Fall. Released at the time through Deamon Worship Productions, a label with an excellent pedigree of extreme metal having released music from the likes of Devouring Star and Wormlust, Heirloom of … Read more

thisquietarmy X Away

The Singularity, Phase I
P572 (2020)

Imagine a highway, stripped of all life and containing their minute particles, each one full of information and colour, sound and breath. Imagine the highway reaching to the sky, its steps as notes and stretches of sound as the straights. thisquietarmy have created such an image in their collaboration with Voivoid’s Michel “Away” Langevin, their rhythms bringing soul and a … Read more

Senyawa

Alkisah
Phantom Limb (2021)

Indonesian duo Senyawa are experimentalists of the highest order on Alkisah, a record the dives head-first into the strange and unusual through improvisation with homemade instruments from Wukir Suryadi and a voice that ranges from the manic to the beautiful from Rully Shabara. Senyawa link the traditional to the modern as Alkisah progresses through structures that are formed as if … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Electric Chair

Social Capital
Iron Lung (2021)

This is short, fast, loud; brutal, punishing stuff. Ripping straight into it with “Bastard,” the first verse is spit-shouted in a way that, to normal people who don’t listen to this kind of thing all the time, will literally sound like he’s saying “blah blah blah, fuck shit.” It’s damn fast, and damn angry.But speed and intense drumming isn’t enough … Read more

Neighborhood Brats

Confines of Life
Dirt Cult (2021)

Neighborhood Brats play punk as you’d expect it to sound – regardless of year or era. It’s angry, aggressive and timeless. A review doesn’t require hyphens and subcategories. But while they’re easy to pin into a genre, they remain full of surprises, which is exceedingly rare. For every political lyric, fist punch in the air and shout-along moment, there’s a … Read more

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