In a year full of album release delays, it feels a bit weird to share best-of lists at the halfway point of 2020, but it seems like post-punk LPs—as opposed to the big pop, rock or hip-hop releases of the day - were largely unaffected. Whether it’s the danceable rhythms, razor-sharp social commentary or mind-bending guitars, post-punk helped us process today’s extremely tumultuous circumstances...
If you’re not a fan of snotty, overexaggerated vocals, this album probably won’t be for you—but if that doesn’t deter you, keep reading! Mush excel at precise guitars, borderline loony vocals and lyrics about modern day dystopia. Try keeping up with Dan Hyndman’s expressive enunciations, and you might even giggle about your own similar gloom. They’re pretty blunt about their reference points—the nimble guitars on “Coronation Chicken” are straight out of Television’s playbook...
Time can get bent. Somehow No Age have now been putting out records as long as Sonic Youth had when they released Washing Machine in 1995. The young guns are now elder statesmen and instead of trying to process that, I’ll just listen to Goons Be Gone some more. No Age doesn’t have much in common structurally or procedurally with Sonic Youth, but they have similar attitudes about how noise and songwriting can be mutually beneficial, and those notions are on beautiful display on No Age’s fifth full-length...
Pleasure Vision is a way of looking at the world that ignores everything but how you can twist it to your own purposes. It’s a vision that’s well-suited to a time when everything and everyone is supposed to be for sale. As the inkblots on the cover imply, this is an album about what you project onto what you see, not the things themselves. It’s about the distance between what you say, what you think you want, and what you actually want.
The debut album from Chicago outfit Stuck offers off-center post-punk with tinges of noise rock and psych to keep you on your toes... Tempos shift, scratchy guitar passages come out of nowhere and their lyrics of abstract imagery and radical social commentary would fly over the heads of your average band. Paranoia becomes too much to bear on “Invisible Wall"...
...Their newest effort Stray sees them pushing even further. With inspiration from Bateh’s Georgia upbringing and a stack of thrift store photographs, the Bambara singer isolated himself for a month to write their new album. While Shadow on Everything placed Bateh in the story with events unfolding chronologically, Stray is more ambitious with third-person narratives and shuffled timelines snaking in and out of each other. Imagine the types of skeevy characters who congregate in late-night alleyways, hop freight trains just for the rush and possess the hard-nosed stare of someone two decades their senior. These are the people who reside in the harsh, small-town Georgia where Stray takes place.
Public Practice, the Brooklyn-based quartet who blends elements of new-wave, punk, funk and ’70s era New York disco in order to create uniquely danceable tracks, have the disadvantage of their reputations preceding them. Ever since the release of their 2018 EP Distance Is a Mirror, they’ve proven their penchant for clever songwriting, instrumental prowess and, especially among New York fans, a live show that entrances so successfully that it’s almost physically impossible not to shake one’s ass...
Deeper know tragedy better than most. While recording their sophomore album Auto-Pain, guitarist Mike Clawson left the band due to deteriorating relationships with the Chicago group’s other three members. Later, after their record was finished and the post-punk act was touring in Europe, they received the news that Clawson had taken his own life... Auto-Pain is an album built on hues of blacks and grays, depicting a shadowy, sinister world. Clawson’s suicide turns those already gloomy colors into something several shades darker.
Post-punk trio Shopping have long been heralded as queer icons of the London DIY scene—but things change. For one, Shopping no longer consider London as their home base: Guitarist Rachel Aggs and drummer Andrew Milk have relocated to Glasgow, while bassist Billy Easter is currently living in L.A. The trio is also shaking off their pared-down sound, instead choosing to embrace the possibilities of synths, beats and a polished studio feel... while many bands lose their edge when they adopt a smoother, synthier aesthetic, Shopping still remain punk in a restless and frenetic way—even when the guitars are put down.
The new FACS album sounds like it warped in the sun, which is ironic, because it’s impossible to imagine listening to it outdoors in the daytime. Void Moments is another entry in the recent wave of gothy post-punk exhumations, but one that doesn’t get tripped up on the past—perhaps because it’s made by seasoned vets with clear goals and ambitions... This is plodding, sputtering, arrhythmic robot rock with both brains and a soul, and yes, that is all meant as a compliment.
Australian quartet Primo! do a lot with a little. On their second full-length Sogni, they leave plenty of room for their frank vocals and no-nonsense guitars to stretch. As much as they embrace a bare bones punk framework and unhurried pacing, they also bring a bright jangle pop sensibility. Their layered verse vocals on “Machine” are fairly straightforward with the occasional voice deviating for some satisfying echo at the tailend of each line, but their refrain of “Machine, machine, machine!” is one of the finest indie-pop moments of the year so far...
It only takes a few seconds of their single “In / Out” to realize that En Attendant Ana have something special. “Shred” isn’t a word you’d normally associate with jangle pop, but it can definitely be used to describe the chiming, pummeling riff that’s sprinkled throughout the Parisian band’s single. Margaux Bouchaudon’s vocals evoke Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin—she was practically genetically engineered to sing perfect, hyper-melodic dream pop. It would be unfair to dub them a dream pop outfit—they tap into avant-pop, post-punk and college rock with similar ease...
... This coming Friday (June 26), the Montreal five-piece are unleashing their first full-length, and it’s even more eccentric than we were expecting (or hoping). It’s full of psych-punk jams so surreal and danceable that falling down their wormhole and grooving to the beat are not optional. Make sure you polish off your dancing shoes before diving into its off-the-wall percussion and snappy guitars. Their sky-high dance-punk and witty psychedelia can hardly pack more tightly-coiled zip.
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