01 Slaves – Sockets (2015/Are You Satisfied?/Virgin EMI Records)
Great raw modern punk sound. It is loud, ridiculously so. These guys could start a mosh pit in an old people’s home. “It wasn’t her fault/She made sugar taste like salt” is the standout line from ‘Sockets’, a track that needs to be cranked up to full volume. Do it!
02 Altar of Eden – The Abandonment (2020/The Grotto Screams/Sound Grotesca)
You ever listened to Bauhaus and Killing Joke and thought, ‘Well, this is great, but I wish it was a bit more of a rager.’ Well step forward Altar of Eden. This song, ‘The Abandonment’ will absolutely lay waste to your speakers – it’s gloomy and full of distortion, and it operates at breakneck pace and maximum volume. Fantastic track! Fantastic band.
03 Chain Cult – The Uninvited (2019/Shallow Grave/La Vida Es Un Mus)
Chain Cult are a dark / post-punk band from Athens, Greece, and they play postpunk with a chilly, ferocious urgency; they make sure the punk part of their genre name never gets lost. It’s quite lo-fi, but it’s the kind of lo-fi that actually serves the songs. One of my favourite recent finds.
04 Shame – Harsh Degrees (2021/Drunk Tank Pink/Dead Oceans)
In the current post-punk revival the UK finds itself in with acts like Fontaines D.C. and The Murder Capital, Shame remain one of the most intriguing bands. Their first album boasted a tried and tested guitar rock sound and they were thought of as a band to watch. Their recent album, Drunk Tank Pink, which Harsh Degrees comes from, more than confirms the existence of that spark. Great band.
05 Grey Hairs – White As Whispers (2015/Colossal Downer/Gringo Records)
Describing themselves as, “punk rock lifers”, Grey Hairs are a deliciously noisy quartet hailing from Nottingham, England. I love this song, a nervy riot of heavily layered fuzzy guitars and speaker shaking bass that that represent Grey Hair’s confusion, anger, and withering despair at aspects of the modern world.
06 Healers – Cavern (2012/healers/Self Released)
Healers is a Post-Punk band from Oakland, CA comprised of Mikey Meadows, Milla Puccini, Gloria Ines and Nick Wortham. Healers began in Olympia, WA as a recording and performance project by Nick Wortham and is now a three piece band in Oakland, CA. ps its healers not “the healers”. They don’t like when you get this wrong!
07 Kaczka – Februar (2018/Keiner Da/Self Released)
A band from Cologne, Germany releasing epic post punk music. Not much other information on these guys, but don’t let that stop you from getting into their music which is really quite excellent.
08 Moth – Work (2020/Modern Madness/Self Released)
From Melbourne, Australia, they describe themselves as technological paranoid discordant robot rock. Pretty accurate but exceptional sound. Love the synth on this song. The whole EP is fresh and original.
09 The Mall – An Answer (2020/Zone/punk)
I love this. It’s really gritty and totally seamless. This song is typical of the whole idiosyncrasy that is The Mall, and also of the minimal instrumentation and the act’s really good synth work. Moreover, the reverberating, rough and almost indistinct vocals maximize the impact of the weirdly deformed pop melodies. The album is full of lo-fi post punk qualities and a commendable DIY ethos, and as uncommon as it may sound, it can be very easy to appreciate with an open mind.
10 Black Country, New Road – Sunglasses (2021/For The First Time/Ninja Tune)
A nine minute wild ride of a song, morphing from post-rock to post-punk to an explosion of free-jazzy noise (the seven-piece band prominently features a saxophone and a violin). Quite incredible.
11 Childs Pose – Ella’s Fate (2021/Eyes To The Right/Thrilling Living Records)
This is New Wave for Now People, lush, warm vignettes of start-stop punk-pop, played by members of Sauna Youth, Woolf, Sarcasm, and Nekra. The fluid vocal delivery is at once dark and jubilant, punctuated by instrumentation that reinvents itself over and over, twisting and turning that reward repeat listens.
12 Shepparton Airplane – Say What Again (2020/Sharks/Wing Sing Records)
Another band from Melbourne, Australia. Shepparton Airplane aren’t just a band with an awesome name, they also happen to be a remarkable band. And no, none of them are from Shepparton. They are more rooted in ’90s post-punk and ’80s oz-rock than the ’60s psychedelia that the name may suggest. Not that a catchy pop hook is out of the question. In fact, those are plentiful. As this song proves.
13 The Briefs – Poor And Weird (2000/Hit After Hit/Dirtnap Records)
This is ’77-style pop punk which is loud, raucous and fierce, yet cohesive and hooky and hilarious. Their groove is familiar but they’ve got a sound that’s all their own and uniquely unique. Infectious even. Once they get in your ear, there’s no getting them out.
14 Shopping – Trust In Us (2020/All Or Nothing/Fatcat Records)
A brilliant British post-punk trio based in London and Glasgow. Shopping are propulsive bass lines, primitive disco-not-disco drums and guitar lines sharp as broken glass. This is the last song from their 4th album and the fact that this is the last song shows how strong an album it is. Amazing stuff!
15 Cross Stitched Eyes – Overpass (2021/Autosarcophagy/Ruin Nation)
From their new release, Autosarcophagy, lyrically once again exploring with the darkest and twisted corners of the mind as well as personal nightmares and haunting expiriences. They continue to combine elements of postpunk and deathrock from the likes of early KILLING JOKE, AMEBIX and RUDIMENTARY PENI with more obscure psychedelic rock influences , odd timings and drone like compositions.
16 METZ – Acid (2020/Acid_Slow Decay/Sub Pop)
This is a song about having a fresh perspective, a newly widened outlook on the world and one’s life. Being shaken awake from a malaise and realizing there is no time for petty bullshit. Love what you love, love who you love! Embrace it and don’t wait. It’s also been recorded by Steve Albini, so you know you are on to a winner straight away!
17 tunic – Exhaling (2020/Artoffact Records 2020 Sampler/Artoffact Records)
This song serves as a taste of demolition before their full length album is released in 2021. This song, and the firepower on the band’s previous music, serve as fair warning of the brutality that awaits. Cannot wait for this album top come out.
18 TV Priest – The Big Curve (2021/Uppers/Sub Pop)
Packed full of commentary and ideas evolved and delivered through the filter of punk and its DIY ethos—it wakes you up both physically in the music and emotionally with its powerful content.
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