It’s been nearly five months since their last album, so naturally the Mason City based quartet are getting ready to release a new album, Serenading Unwanted Ballads, due out March 22nd via Feel It Records. Their latest is primarily split between balls-to-wall grooves and reverberating romanticism, but the record acts as a sonic grab bag of ideas.
While it’s been a couple years since their last record, Wallplant, now a full band, are out there doing their thing, creating bent lo-fi post-punk and power-pop that feels animated, alien, and incessant. The recently filmed Live at Jamdek session captures the band in the studio, working through songs old and new.
“Bare Minimum” is a loud, somber track with introspective lyrics highlighting the moment you knew you could and should be better. Self-awareness is the central thread that lingers throughout the song with lines like, “I look for loops of applause for doing the bare minimum” and “giving myself the space to pity the person I helped myself become.”
The Wisconsin based trio - comprised of Bobby Hussy, Tyler Spatz, and Hart Alan Miller - are no strangers to the world of DIY punk, but with their latest project they’re blurring the lines and creating their own boundaries, taking equal parts sinewy post-punk and corrosive artistic grunge, and then flipping it all on its head.
DRILL return with Permanent, their first (and unfortunately last) full length, but they’re not going quietly into the good night. Animated and agitated, the trio - Sonam Parikh (vocals, keys), Gavin Perez-Canto (drums), and Nina Ryser (bass, vocals), continue to craft songs with a charming sort of irreverence, creating post-punk as minimal as it is vibrant.
BALACLAVA originally started as a solo of Dylan Joyce aka BALA, but has now become a five-piece live band based in Ridgewood, Queens. The looming question that they seek to answer is, “What does animated trash sound like?” Their EP, THE 1/4 INCH ALMANAC, is out March 1st with tapes via Orlando based label Godless America.
Al Harper has been a part of the San Francisco DIY scene for years now, often working with noisy lo-fi projects like Tony Jay and Eternal Drag. She’s set to follow up here solo debut with The Analemma Observation League, due out February 23 via Take a Turn Records, and she just shared the second single “Plaster of Paris.”
Last year saw the release of You Can Do It All, introducing Cusp to a wider audience, the songs equal parts muscular and gorgeous, heartfelt but heavy. Everything about it was well-crafted, Jen Bender’s memorable songwriting the spark. That spark grows ever brighter on Thanks So Much, due out March 15th, a triumphantly defining moment.
The NYC super crew are back with their first full length in six years. Zenith No Effects is out May 10 via Gentle Reminder, Home Late, and Intellectual Birds Records. “Play it Cool,” is a tense and subdued number a few simmering moments from boil. It never quite bubbles over, leaving the listener with a collage of agitation and unease.
Following last year’s excellent BUBBLE (billed as a “mixtape” upon release), the band return with a new proper album, their third full length, Total Reality. Due out April 19th via Marthouse Records and Erste Theke Tontraeger, it’s fair to say that each successive DSUP record is better than the last, and they’ve definitely upped the ante.
Sometimes it’s the songs with the least intentionality that have the biggest impact. Let loose and see what happens. That would appear to be the case with “Nail Biter,” the latest single from Cor de Lux. Originally recorded during the band’s sessions for last year’s Media LP, they scrapped it without much intention on releasing it.
Toronto’s cootie catcher are set to tour across Canada this Friday. The band has a pair of hometown shows tonight and tomorrow with a brand new track to boot. “Sound Out the Vowels” is cootie catcher’s latest single for The Cooked Raw Label and the best way for new listeners to dive into the band’s playful and colorful discography.
Toronto punk outfit Life In Vacuum have a full dance card for 2024 so far. Later this month, the Canada-by-Ukraine trio set out for a great big North American tour; a multi-coast trek you don’t see too often nowadays. Before they hit the road, the band has shared their latest ripper “Soul Crusher” via the always reliable Born Losers Records.
With their self-titled album out in just a few weeks, it would seem that Austin’s Porcelain aren’t holding any punches. The band’s first full length, due February 16th via Portrayal of Guilt Records is jagged and rampant, an album that seems to burst at the seams, a missive of explosive peaks and dynamic arrangements.
“Will Get Fooled Again” is the latest single off SAVAK’s upcoming album, Flavors of Paradise, releasing on March 1st. The track courses with a surf rock groove, upon their trademark post-punk, and is laced with minor key guitar lines. “Will Get Fooled Again” provides an ebb of respite from the band members’ backgrounds.
