Bandcamp has long been a home for DIY punk and hardcore from around the world, touching all of the myriad subgenre styles and helping to translate the simple effectiveness of cut-and-paste to the digital age. February’s edition of the best punk releases on Bandcamp features the campy power pop of London’s Grazia, the gnarly hardcore of Washington’s Nasti, the scuzzy punk of Missouri’s Skuffed, and much more.
Grazia
In Poor Taste
7" Vinyl
“God, it pays to look this cheap,” remarks Heather Dunlop on the colorful opening track of Grazia’s debut In Poor Taste. On “Cheap,” the campy London-based duo (Lindsay Corstorphine makes up the second half) layers wavy synths and girl group-style vocals over simple, jagged post-punk instrumentation. It’s an infectious bop that sets the playful tone of the rest of the EP. “Thistle” is more straightforward power pop, with raw, clean guitar and sweet-and-sour vocals, while the closing track takes a slower, more rambling stance, its dreamy choruses punctuated by a wobbly fade out. Keep your ear to the ground, as Grazia is reportedly recording a full-length with a fully fleshed band.
Aus
Der Schöne Schei
7" Vinyl
Berlin four-piece Aus delves into heavier territory on this LP, their first new music in nearly four years. The foreboding opening track combines eerie, atmospheric organ sounds with tight, industrial rhythms and a spare vocal track. “Zugvögel” has a marching cadence that erupts into a loud, dirge-like jam. But it’s the closing song, “LSD,” that really captures your attention. The band start off with a bass-forward, groovy instrumental, eventually joined by hypnotic, repetitive melodies from vocalist/guitarist Liv, whose unhurried deadpan holds all the harshness together.
Nasti
People Problem
Vinyl LP
Washington state’s gnarliest hardcore misfits are back with a aggressive new full-length, jointly released by Iron Lung and Static Shock Records. The record’s first half leans into weirder, more off-kilter structures, like the slow-burning “Not Me” or “Ruin Everything,” with its surfy guitar and painfully raw vocals. “Saved” is the kind of song that makes people lose their minds in the pit—with its roiling, heavy fury. The back end has its fair share of fast and furious hardcore, too, from the pummeling ”Little Things” to the doom-y descent of “White Fences,” the latter of which is split into two tracks.
Various Artists
Groucho Marxist Record Co:Operative
Vinyl LP
Sealed Records, a UK label adept at unearthing historic punk gems, have scored again with this compilation, assembled from four 7-inches originally released on the short-lived Paisley, Scotland label Groucho Marxist. The raw proto-punk on offer dates from the late ’70s to the early ’80s. XS Discharge is the most represented band here; sporting brash vocals and simple song structures recalling The Buzzcocks. They showcase a loose, riotous sound on “Lifted,” which features gang vocals that veer in different directions. Sneex offer a lo-fi, unserious jam about bad music on the radio, contrasted with the tight, tuneful street punk of Defiant Pose. It is well worth it to dig into this full-length and discover the intricacies of this tiny, forgotten scene.
Ikhras
Jahanam Btistana
Cassette
The fiery debut from Ikhras, a new band based in London and Brighton, UK, hits hard from start to finish. The vocals, delivered in English and Arabic, are deep and furious, recalling the barks of Cro-Mags’s John Joseph, particularly on the lightning-fast “Tolerate Me.” The NYC hardcore vibe continues in “Enlighten Me,” which slows to a moshable crawl while eviscerating people who care more about being politically correct than being human. Closer “El Nahr” paints a righteous picture of Palestinian resistance, with the memorable lines, “No peace on stolen land/ Fight to exist, standing our ground/ For long as people are occupied/ Resistance is justified.”
Skuffed
The EP
Cassette
Demonic doesn’t begin to describe the scuzzed-out sound of the new Kansas City, Missouri band Skuffed. The vocals of frontperson Marion sound like tortured retching, sometimes reverberating as if in a deep well. The guitar washes over the rest of the band—a distorted bass and heaving drums. “In Plain Sight” and “Hazed” are particularly sludgy, while “Cut Off Your Hands” boasts the hardest mosh part. The excellent “White Fence” opens with a spoken word diatribe against those funding a genocide, then amps up the intensity with caustic growls.
Liquid Images
S/T
Cassette
Two-piece Liquid Images play lo-fi proto-punk that would sound right at home on K Records. Their formula is straightforward and unimpeachable: simple, distorted guitar and raw drums that back early rock ‘n’ roll-style vocals. Liquid Images, made up of longtime rockers Marty Brass and Richard Hamilton, are clearly lovers and not fighters; these are lyrics meant to appear on a mixtape to your crush (see “Secret Fantasy”). Sometimes, the deep, cheeky vocals recall those of Jonathan Richman, as on “French Hotel.” The more upbeat “Running Out of Time” is a particularly catchy number, with its layered guitar and earworm of a chorus.
Dead Years
Night Thoughts
Vinyl LP
On their sophomore full-length, Bielefeld, Germany trio Dead Years kick their dark punk into overdrive. The band’s propulsive rhythms never cease, driving the beat forward in ten energetic tracks. Guitarist Jonas and bassist Julia share vocal duties; sometimes their voices shout over one another, as on “Into the Dark,” and sometimes they play off one another, as on the incredible title track. Comparisons to the deep, dirge-like melodies of The Wipers are apt; their poppy ’80s influence also recalls the sound of Chicago’s Silent Age. Dead Years’s brand of melodic post-punk is strongest on the closing track, with its steady bass and surging guitar.
Shooting Daggers
Love and Rage
Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD), Cassette
On Love and Rage, London-based queercore trio Shooting Daggers expand upon their solid hardcore foundation through an eclectic variety of other genres. The richness of ’90s music seems to be a strong inspiration, from the nu-metal flavor heard on “Smug” to the homage to Hole on “Tunnel Vision” to the slow, grungey “A Guilty Conscience Needs An Accuser.” Vocalist Salomé Salgado Pellegrin leads the band with both a painful scream and a melodic wail. The powerful title track recalls the emotive alt-rock of Mannequin Pussy, with Pellegrin repeatedly urging the listener to push through the pain by way of a screamed incantation: “Turn the pain into power/ Arouse your anger / Over and over.”
