Featured Releases: November 6, 2023

Lafff Box: S/T 12” (Neon Taste Records) Debut LP from this Berlin, Germany-based band (we also carried an earlier 7” on Turbo Discos) who sits at the intersection of egg punk and Carbonas-esque jittery garage-punk. Those styles share an affinity for super fast 16th notes on the cymbals and Lafff Box has those in spades, so if you like to get real caffeinated, this is a great soundtrack. Songs like “Some” and “Waste of Time” lean into that jitteriness and feature angular riffing that, along with the harsh tones, pull in the egg punk direction, while more melodic tracks like “Kai” fall on the Marked Men end of the spectrum. Lafff Box is a two-guitar band, and one guitarist has a knack for killer Carbonas-esque leads and fills that are melodic but dripping with rock and roll swagger. While ripping fast, a few mid-paced tracks like “Just a Fool” break things up. Lafff Box’s music is raw and visceral, but they’re great at thinking things through to maximize their impact and play to their many strengths. Excellent stuff.

Mary Jane Dunphe: Stage of Love 12” (Pop Wig Records) Stage of Love is the first solo album by Mary Jane Dunphe, whose voice you might know from Vexx, CC Dust, and Pinocchio. I liked those projects, and when I made the connection that Pinocchio had the same singer as Vexx and CC Dust, I realized Mary Jane is a musician whose work I needed to follow closely. While Mary Jane’s voice is arresting, what I like most about those projects is how they’re all just a little left of center; her music has a fine artist’s way of challenging the listener and pushing against expectations, and while that isn’t for everyone, it’s for me. (I know many people thought the Pinocchio EP was a head-scratcher, but it’s one of my most played records of the past several years.) While perhaps Stage of Love synthesizes what Dunphe was up to in previous projects, to me it sounds like another big step forward, charging into fresh sounds and genres. I can’t help thinking about Kate Bush whenever I listen to Stage of Love. Hounds of Love is a decent enough sonic reference point for much of Stage of Love—in particular, the way the instrumental textures are rich yet synthetic—but it’s more the general approach that reminds me of Kate Bush’s best music, how it always seems a little unfamiliar, even uncanny, without abandoning the straightforward pleasures of pop. Stage of Love is a very diverse LP, though, with “I Know A Girl Called Johnny” evoking 70s glam rock in its lyrical and musical themes and the chiming, pastoral-sounding “Moon Halo” making me think of the Smiths. You never know what’s coming next, but it’s all brilliant.

Cutre: S/T cassette (Open Palm Tapes) Open Palm Tapes brings us a domestic US pressing of the self-titled EP by this hardcore band from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’m not sure whether Open Palm has a connection to the band or if it’s just something they plucked from Bandcamp and are bringing to a wider audience, but either way it’s easy to see how this caught their ear. Cutre plays clear, powerful, and straightforward hardcore punk, but with their own twist. The singer is charismatic and has a great snarl, relying on staccato cadences that bring to mind UK82 punk, but the music is dense, precise, and fast hardcore that’s rooted in the 80s tradition without sounding like a throwback. There are lots of interesting rhythmic change-ups, a couple of breakdowns, and a few moments of creepy-sounding Die Kreuzen-esque chording that remind me of Sorry State’s Lasso. Fans of intricate, well-written 80s-style hardcore with a defiant punk spirit will dig this.

Pressure Pin: Superficial Feature 7” (Under the Gun Records) Debut release from this one-person (as far as I can tell) project from Montreal, Canada. When I first listened to Pressure Pin, I thought they must be from Cleveland because they sound a lot like the Cruelster / Knowso / Perverts Again universe of bands. Based on my research, those similarities appear to be mere coincidence, but that being said, anyone who loves those Cleveland bands’ distinctive way with a herky-jerky rhythm should give this a try. I’ve seen a few people refer to Pressure Pin as egg punk, and I suppose I can see why… I hear Devo’s focus on interesting rhythms and there are some synths in the mix, but Superficial Feature has a more classic sound and seems less of the moment than much of what I call egg punk. The production is rich and the songs feel well-developed rather than like a tossed-off imitation. Every track is dense with twists, turns, and excitement, but “Limited Movement” is the highlight, closing this strong EP by working some solid pop hooks into the melee.

Spleen: demo cassette (Roach Leg Records) This demo tape from Spleen is another of Roach Leg Records’ dispatches from the fertile Montreal punk scene that also includes Puffer and Béton Armé. In fact, Spleen includes members of both bands and shares some of their songwriting and recording sensibilities too. Their sound is a little different than those bands, though, with less of a grounding in an established style or genre and more of their own thing going on. While the rhythm section bashes and crashes in your typical punk/oi! fashion, the guitars here are just out of control, weaving through the sound with intricate melodies. Spleen’s guitarist reminds me of Johnny Marr with their quick arpeggio runs that are dense but always with a clear melody. If you can imagine Marr ripping it up with a gnarly oi! group like Red Alert or the 4 Skins you might be close to Spleen’s sound, but it’s something you need to hear to understand. They change up the m.o. on the closing track, “Sans Espoir,” the guitarist laying comparatively low and giving this track a punchy, early Kinks-like vibe. It’s tough enough to come up with a sound this fresh, but to pull it off as successfully as Spleen does here is something special.

Crosshairs: Perverted Law 12” (Mendeku Diskak) Spain’s Mendeku Diskak label brings us the debut vinyl from this Canadian band that shares a member with Bootlicker. Mendeku Diskak has built a reputation for bringing us exciting, often Spanish-language oi! music from groups like Lost Legion, Castillo, Fuerza Bruta, and Mess, but Crosshairs doesn’t fit that template super well… especially given the Bootlicker connection, Crosshairs sound like they’d be more at home on a label like Neon Taste. The label’s description hits the nail on the head when they say Crosshairs takes influence from both sides of the Atlantic. The core of their music is US-style hardcore that sounds a lot like Career Suicide (as well as bands like Gang Green and the Circle Jerks who influenced CS), but with moments that pull from the more blistering end of UK82. See, for instance, the bass runs on “Guillotine,” the guitar leads on “Panopticon,” or the driving closing track, “Herd.” The vocals toe that line too, with a hoarse shout that makes me think of another 2000s-era (but 80s USHC style) Toronto band, Terminal State, but leaning on UK82 cadences that Savageheads fans will dig. If you’re a fan of Headcheese and Imploders, Crosshairs has a similar sound, but with that sprinkling of UK82 influence bringing some unique flavor to their mix.