Today's song is a joy. It's shouty, it's got a catchy as hell chorus and the video left me grinning ear to ear. There's even a Ramones inspired "2nd verse, different from the 1st" bridge.
Cruelster (https://www.facebook.com/cruelsteroh) are from Cleveland, Ohio and I previously featured them on here last year when their singles collection Lost Inside My Mind In Another State of Mind got a release by Drunken Sailor Records. The song I posted was their wonderful cover of I Love It (which was originally a hit for Icona Pop featuring Charli XCX). https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2024/02/cruelster-i-love-it.html
The line up of the band is Michael Gill (Vocals), Nathan Ward (Guitar/Vocals), Alex Ward (Bass/Vocals), Jo Coone (Drums) & Connor Simpson (Guitar).
A couple of weeks ago on the show I played the first release (Nuclear Word) from their upcoming album Make Them Wonder Why. It was a great teaser track. The 2nd teaser track is even better. The album's promising to be a classic. There'll be a mammoth 21 songs and it'll be available on July 11th via Convulse Records https://convulserecords.bandcamp.com/album/make-them-wonder-why
So, after a night out in the pub I awake at 8.45am. My day is my own. I decide to make a cuppa and have one last look around on the internet to see if I can find anything good enough to squeeze onto the playlist for this evening's Just Some Punk Songs show. I also make the mistake of browsing Twitter to see if anything's been happening whilst I slept. Damn it's depressing on there. Why are so many people horrible shits?
But it wasn't a completely down heartening early morning. I was on a different site and stumbled across a band from Glasgow that brightened things up. They're called KUTE (hopefully it's pronounced Cute as that's what I'll be going with when I play them on the show) and they announced themselves with a demo single a couple of years ago https://kutetheband.bandcamp.com/album/demo
The 2 tracks from it have been redone and are now on the band's debut album along with 8 more songs. The album is titled Intrigue/Fatigue and it's been attracting the attention of BBC Radio 6. You can check it out here : https://neversleeplife.bandcamp.com/album/intrigue-fatigue
The band, Amy (Vocals), Fletch (Bass), Kenni (Guitar) & Matty (Drums) will be embarking on their first UK Tour this month supporting Fentanyl so watch out for them if they're playing near you.
This is the song that first made me sit up and take notice. It's called Man On The Street...
Perverts Again hail from Cleveland, Ohio and feature Nathan Ward from Knowso, Cruelster (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2024/02/cruelster-i-love-it.html), Smooth Brain & The Carp. They've been around for over a decade and have garnered comparisons with such luminaries as Devo and The Fall. I think I first became aware of them when they released their 2018 album Friday Night Light.
They're a band you never quite know what you're going to get and I'm sure their upcoming album viagr aboys will be a delight when it comes out on their own Shrimptech Enterprises label April 25th. https://shop.vboysstockholm.com/
This is the 3rd single from the album (I preferred 1st single Man Made Of Meat to the follow up Uno II but both hinted at a diverse and very fine release) and it got inside my head immediately. I had to share it despite it no doubt being shared by everyone else and his dog.
Fun, catchy and just that little bit different from everything else that's around at the moment, this is The Bog Body...
You can’t believe it
They found a body buried under the ice
It is in pristine shape
Her hair and nails do look really nice
How come you are upset, do you think she’s a threat to you?
I can’t help if I’m impressed it has nothing to do with you
You are consumed by jealousy,
You are completely obsessed with
The bog body
You say you hate the swamp woman
What the hell are you on about
Do you even know the difference
Between a swamp and an ancient bog
In a bog you are pickled, in a swamp you would decompose
You’re just jealous of her darkened skin and her dainty nose
You are consumed by jealousy
You are obsessed with the bog, the bog body
You are consumed by jealousy
You are obsessed with the bog, the bog body
Look at her skin
Look at her nose
Feel her hair
Touch her clothes
Look at her skin
She’s so old
She’s so old
she's so old
Look at her skin
Look at her nose
Feel her hair
Touch her clothes
She’s so old
She’s so old
She’s so beautiful
Ooh
You are consumed by jealousy
You are obsessed with the bog, the bog body
You are consumed by jealousy
You are obsessed with the bog, the bog body
I'd pretty much forgotten about them, assuming they were one of the many bands to shine brightly for a brief moment in the annals of Just Some Punk Songs history and then to be never heard of again.
But happily I was wrong as they've just released a new 8 song cassette titled Mind The Bollards. It's limited to only 20 copies so if you want one I wouldn't hang around. If you just want the digital version, it's in the same place : https://famouslogsinhistory.bandcamp.com/album/mind-the-bollards-fw52
This is the opening track and a catchy little beast it is too. It's called Relax...
He was working at the time with his friend Cat Moyse on a new musical venture, NYEDAWEHO. They recorded a few songs with Cat promising Nan she'd release them. Unfortunately she's having difficulties crediting authorship; "I have to prove and justify 1000 views on youtube to administratively credit Nan as the author."
Hopefully today's update helps get a few more views.
It's the first track from them and showcases Nan's vocal talents. It's about "a light to come, perceptible after the chaos." It's called Soon Is The Rise...
Femme Fugazi (https://www.facebook.com/femmefugazi) have a name that stands out and if you're going to have a name that immediately gets people thinking of the Washington DC post hardcore legends Fugazi then you better be able to back it up. Happily this Netherlands based band will soon have you judging them on their own merits.
They've recently released a debut ep (they call it an ep but it's nearer full album length) titled Look At You and it's somewhat of a bruiser. It's being described as a mix of Metz and Idles though they don't need comparisons, they're good enough to stand on their own two feet.
The Threats (https://linktr.ee/thethreats) are a young Brit punk band from the east midlands who've just released what I think is their third single (the 1st 2 being Working Man and Electric Machines).
They're new to me but seem to be building up a fair bit of momentum. All 3 singles are impressive and they've a headline gig coming up at The Shed, Leicester on November 2nd where they'll be supported by Hex Poseur & Marvin's Revenge.
I'm getting some impressive post punk vibes from this one, the vocals are great and the musicianship is spot on. On this evidence, they're going to keep on with that upward trajectory. It's called Time Waits For No Man...
He's commented "Music stuff: off to The Library in Oxford this evening to see Killer Kowalski support Secret Rivals" and then followed up with "Loved them. Highlight of the night."
So I had to investigate and discovered that they released an album a couple of months ago titled Gerbils Eat Their Young.
A little bit about them... Killer Kowalski (https://www.facebook.com/killerkowalskiband) are a quartet from Oxford (so don't confuse them with a 90's band from New York). They tag themselves on Bandcamp (https://killerkowalski1.bandcamp.com/track/suffocate-the-children) as a punk band and whilst they certainly are that, they don't let the genre confine them. Not only do they turn out tunes that are a bit more ambitious than your typical 3 chord thrash, they write lyrics that demand your attention. And according to Stefan, they're damn good live so check them out.
This song is as good as any to highlight, it's called Suffocate the Children...
R.E.D (Religion Equals Decay) (https://www.facebook.com/redfromsurrey) have been shouting against social injustice since 2013. They've featured on here a couple of times previously in posts where I've mentioned their impressive soundscape of noise and Killing Joke vibes.
And they return today with a track from their brand new album, 1979.
The band say that 1979 pinpoints the year where hope ended and a failed social and political experiment started. It's the year Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan was forced to go to the country after his government lost a vote of confidence. This resulted in The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, gaining a parliamentary majority of 44 seats. There followed 18 years of Tory rule.
It was a year which the album's title track describes as a time of gimme gimme gimme. A time of uncertainty, lies, darkness and despair. It's an album on which the band don't hold back. You can find it here : https://red-religionequalsdecay.bandcamp.com/album/1979
Today I'm going to highlight a song that borrows from Don McLean's American Pie, it's called Wham Bam...
September 6th will see the release of a new album by Endless Idiot. It'll be titled Stringing Up Wires and it promises to be a more punked up affair than previous releases. So far we've been treated to synthwave, post-punk, hauntology, dark folk, minimalism, field recordings and experimental and orchestral writing. Next up it'll be Stefan letting his hair down a little (something more akin to the Who Killed Nancy Johnson? sound I'm guessing). You can discover more here : https://endlessidiot.bandcamp.com/album/stringing-up-wires
This is the teaser track that wowed the listeners last night, it's called Someone Else's Song...
The feet left bruise stains on the stair When they walked downstairs from the bath The towel wrapped round the dark wet hair Slipped down the neck like a mark
And the feeling in the stomach like a punch about to land The head set at an angle was a habit he can’t stand Eyes alive with looking, the ears were strained to hear The head was full of anger, it was too far gone for tears
That day hands packed a bag to run But then she yelled that wrong Sick of being the puppet thing In someone else’s song
And the resolution made was a blade about to cut The day she picked the knife up was the day she’d had enough Eyes wide and open, and focused on the door Knowing that cowardly piece of shit would soon be back for more
Oh, it’s someone else’s song Someone else’s song
The boots left snail tracks on the stair when dragged downstairs in the dark The towel wrapped round the open mouth made the face a question mark She packed its few possessions to show the world it’s gone away Drove the lot to a far off place and left it there to stay
And the resolution carried out was a way to say goodbye The day she cleaned the carpets she prepared her alibi Eyes wide and steady, not listening for the door Knowing that cowardly piece of shit would not be back no more
Oh, it’s someone else’s song Someone else’s song Someone else’s song Someone else’s Someone else’s Someone else’s song
And now they've upped the ante with what might be my favourite song by them thus far. It's available as a name your price download and it's called Sit Tight...
"If this isn’t the most immediate, exciting and original 2020’s slice of dance-punk since ‘Jobseeker’ and ‘We Live Here’ I don’t know what is…."
Those are the words of Louder Than War writer and Facebook friend Ged Babey, when he talks about the song (https://louderthanwar.com/ultimate-thunder-a-spider-will-come-to-eat-your-flesh-album-review-album-of-the-month/) I'm posting today, in his review of Ultimate Thunder's new ep A Spider Will Come To Eat Your Flesh. He also bemoans the fact that pretty much no one else is bigging up what is a rather spiffing new release so I'm going to jump on the bandwagon.
The band (https://www.facebook.com/ultimatethunderleeds) are from Leeds and feature a line up of Matthew Watson (vocals), Alex Sykes (keyboard), Scott Anderson (drums), John Densley (synths), Kenneth Stainburn (bass) & James Heselwood guitar/ production). They play a refreshing style of post punk that you can groove on down to. They're also a learning-disabled / neuro-divergent band.
Beige Banquet are a dark punk 5 piece based in London who feature a line up of Tom Brierley (Guitar, Vocals), Joe Munsey (Guitar), Danny Gillies (Bass), Ian Crafter (Drums) & Blake Carlson-Joshua (Percussion). They released a debut album at the start of 2021 titled Beta but I think it was only towards the end of October last year that I came across them. I notice on my Facebook feed I posted the song Animals and mentioned it was going down well with the listeners to the show.
That song was the first single to be taken from the latest album, Ornamental Hermit, which was released a couple of months ago. It's 10 tracks of lively post punk and it's available on vinyl, cd and digital download : https://beigebanquet.bandcamp.com/album/ornamental-hermit
The song I'm highlighting will give you a good idea of what to expect, it's called Parasitic Energy...
One of my favourite UK bands over the last few years have been Bristol collective Silicone Values. They've released a string of extremely catchy singles, a number of which I've featured on here : https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/search?q=silicone+values
I've always thought they didn't get the attention they deserved. Pretty much everyone on the chatroom for the Just Some Punk Songs shows that I've played them on has loved them but in general they've always seemed to go under the radar. Hopefully that's about to change with the release of How to survive when people don't like you and you don't like them.
It's a 15 track album collated by Paris label sdz records which brings together those singles into one very tidy package. It's available on vinyl and digital download and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's essential listening.
It's described as "a fabulous blend of hardcore punk, electronic, indie rock, dance and hip hop. For fans of bands like Upchuck, Turnstile, IDLES and Viagra Boys" and I can't disagree with that. The line up of Dave Martin (guitars/drums/synths/shouting), Steve Simms (vocals/lyrics/ Melodies) and DJ Butterscotch (Scratching/Sampling) certainly know how to kick up a racket.
It's a band that are certainly still very much recognizable from the one that released those 2 earlier albums but the addition of DJ Butterscotch has added a little more playfulness to their sound. Case in point, check out No Gods...
Maybe you remember New Years Eve 2023. It was the 10th anniversary of Just Some Punk Songs and it was the day I first featured a song by York band Neon Kittens (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088163643448). I commented; "they're a band that are unlikely to ever be part of the mainstream, they very much dance to their own beat."
Well that sentiment is front and center of the opening track of the band's new album. These are the lyrics :
Don't even get me started on that
you might never get me to stop
don't get me started on that
oh boy, you'd better not
we are so underground
that it's insane
no one listens to us
no one knows our name
don't even say that to me
you know that just pisses me off
I'm looking through windows, opening doors
and now I just need to stop
we are so, underground
that it's just mad
gonna dig down deeper
than we ever have
It pretty much sums up what it's like being outside the mainstream and it's a fine start to a very fine album.
The album's titled It's a NO Thing! It's 14 tracks of spoken word quirkiness and it's available from Metal Postcard Records...
5 years down the line and they're still impressing me. This time around it's by way of a new album, this one's called Aardvark and straight from the opening track you can hear those early 80's UK post punk influences front and centre.
So I was just scouring the web for a last couple of additions for the playlist for this week's Just Some Punk Songs show (and can I just mention what an awesome year 2024 is turning out to be for new punk music) when I came across the song I'm featuring today.
Choncy are a fresh faced foursome from Cincinnati, Ohio. They line up like this : Liam Shaw (lead vocals/guitar), Simon Schadler (lead guitar/vocals), Nathan McVeigh (bass/vocals) & Joe Carpenter (drums). They released a well received debut album last year titled Community Chest and they've just resurfaced with a follow up titled 20X MULTIPLIER.
It's an album that repays repeat listens. The guitars are jagged, the vocals snap. There's plenty of melody in there but it's buried in a maelstrom of post punk crashing and banging. It's available on vinyl from Feel It Records and as a name your price download so stop reading this and go snap it up :
