SICK SAD WORLD

 

I could make comparisons (it's tempting) but they are too easy (and too obvious) so I'm just gonna revel in how intent (intense) and urgent this Melbourne trio sound more than a decade after they came and went. The epitome of punk realized by three femme maniacs who deliver maximum intensity even (pr especially?) on the slow plodding numbers like "Cane Toads" and "Rocks In My Fists" before unleashing unbridled ramshackle mania on basically every other track on the tape. "Period Pain" and "Blood Duster Suxxx" are the highlights, but everything here is delivered in ultimate lo-fi glory...they way it should be. This recording and a live set might be all we ever get, so I suggest taking the time to really let this shit sink in. 

WE MEAN WELL

KIVIRANTA

 

Nothing sounds like KIVIRANTA. No one sounds like KIVIRANTA. Hell, even KIVIRANTA doesn't sound like KIVIRANTA, because they clearly do what the fuck ever they want. I shared 2018's Dolce Vita a few years ago and yammered about the modern-indie-by-way-of-primitive-post-punk vibes and now I'm trying to wrap my head around this masterpiece from 2020. Antipsykootti is a master class in confidence - the was KIVIRANTA execute dark and minimal synths and then casually morph into tracks that land somewhere between ESPLENDOR GEOMÉTRICO and Russian rap after flirting with techno for a couple of tracks. "Kipa Ja Nautinto" is the star, a hard, drum machine driven dance floor punk smasher that stares straight in the face of most of the more subdued material on Antipsykootti, but it makes the whole release feel more cohesive at the same time....until the title track closes things down and reminds you that KIVIRANTA doesn not, in fact, sound like KIVIRANTA. 

ANTIPSYKOOTTI

EBB & FLOW

 

For readers who do not want to have a good day, GREENLING and JUNKYARD BURIAL alternate tracks, creating a north--south noise loop for the duration of the Ebb & Flow. Dizzying and disorienting tracks from the GREENLING and completely maxed out distortion worship from JUNKYARD BURIAL...there's nothing about this release that approaches calm or normal. Just maximum punishment. 

EBB & FLOW

NERVESKADE

 

Do you remember when this happened? The noisy, chaotic shit was already a thing and other bands had started pushing the envelope to be sure but NERVESKADE was different. And after NERVESKADE...? Everything was different. 

NERVESKADE

SELF-IMMOLATION MUSIC

 

Appropriately dreary desert psych from Leeds. Serious '90s REV + SPIRITUALIZED + LIPS vibes, even more so than on their debut in 2020 (Psychedelic Unknowns was released the following year), and the way SELF-IMMOLATION MUSIC deftly annihilate the simplest riffs is.....something special. There's something truly special about a band who sets their sights on a goal and then surpasses it, and that when these chaps (continue to) do. 

PSYCHEDELIC UNKNOWNS

TROPICAL DRIPPS

 

There's no way that a description using words can do TROPICAL DRIPPS justice. Hell, if I described them to myself I probably wouldn't even be interested - but this is why we listen. Simple and stripped down Canadian indie with a little sprinkle of lo-fi glam and....and some surf guitars? Yeah, I know. It doesn't make much sense but oh my stars does it work. "Sludge City" should be (or should have been) a smash hit somewhere, especially with the chorus that deftly lands the 95 second song, and then the close out a three song cassingle with a surf instrumental? Like it was a whole ass record? I can't explain it folks, I'm just here to speak truth and tyhe truth is that I love these TROPICAL DRIPPS. 

WRONG WAY

and bonus points for taping an alternate cover onto the outside of the case...

PUNK AND HARDCORE MIX TAPE

Sometimes you just need to pop it in and crank it up, and sometimes I'm here to help. Here's an absolute banger from start to finish, packed with some straight up classics. SHATTERED FAITH and the only US BOMBS recording that matters mingle with the HITLER SS split with TAMPX and a few choice cuts from PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT and HUMPERS, all backed with an entire side of VKTMS. Whether you're just getting started or you feel like letting someone else take the wheel, this tape rescued from a would-be throw away box of unmarked cassettes is going to be the soundtrack for your day.

PUNK AND HARDCORE MIX TAPE

Also I kinda feel like I just wrote the copy for a mix tape infomercial and I wish that had been a thing in the '80s because I for sure would have bought one...probably the whole set.