After their hot Budapest show in the summer (at Rakéta Festival) Warsaw-based Black Coffee is soon releasing a new album filled with jamming/tripping tracks  – titled ‘What Happened To The Gang’.

As an appetizer, here’s a weird new video to check out as well!

(if you dig the music, just share their FB post for a pre-release album download code)

What a great year! Even though the world has not been saved in 2014 and the Antichrist is still hiding somewhere, I have discovered quite a lot of new bands, been to great shows and managed to write many songs as well. I’m not saying that it has been a legendary year, neither has it been any milestone in the history of music but to those who haven’t found any new favorites in 2014 I have two things here!

Firstly, as a heartfelt advice, don’t get lost in your listening routines and the good old favorites… Just open your ears because the enormous amount of information we consume every day almost excludes any sort of in-depth experience, so next time don’t skip to the next or scroll like a maniac.

Secondly, … of course, here are my favorite albums of 2014 – sorry but I am not setting up an order so that you could not skip to the no. 1 hahaahaa!

Tovább / Read more »

What if some crazy guys from the Finnish countryside (under the not so extraordinary name ‘The Achtungs‘) decide to play raw, shitty but even more intense garage punk than the good old Reatards? Well, if The Achtungs were only half as great as they are, they would still make their entry to my top punk records list of 2014 with their Full of hate LP (from Going Underground Records). Personally, I have always been fond of The Reatards but I think Jay Reatard’s songwriting skills were much more prominent on his later solo albums. So, what struck me about The Achtungs is that they preserve the overdriven garage punk sound but at the same time they manage to write really catchy songs – and by this I mean great and painful ones. In a quite thorough interview with singer Joni at It’s Psychedelic Baby he talks about the beginnings as simple as possible: ‘In the summer of 2010, I was really bored with the band I was in, Pill Poppers, and I wanted a band that sounded like The Reatards.  So, I formed one’.

It probably makes no sense to tell any more about them….in case the concept ‘great songs with a ferocious sound’ does not impress you, then why are you reading this anyway? Haha. But seriously, give them a listen. I think both of their releases have already been sold out, so we can only hope for a reissue or something… but as long as we have such great bands around, there’s no need to worry about punk at all.

Swiss independent label A Tree in a Field Records is hitting you this time with a triple reverb attack from Roy & the Devil’s Motorcycle. The four piece around the three Stähli brothers unveils a most unpolished garage/basement sound on their new 7 inch single I’ll Sing You a Song. The title track and Sweet Reputation both lead us back to good old Velvet Underground but with an unmistakable 21. century appeal and a juvenile charm.

After switching to another side (and to a speed of 33 rpm) things get a bit peculiar  with Rock’n’Roll Soldier – it’s a bright psychedelic tune infused with traditional reggae sound. It made me ponder a bit about this strange combination, although I’m aware that this is far from unprecedented… Actually, the term Jamaican fusion sounds like a horrible idea in theory (with numerous mainstream examples supporting this notion) but if you consider Bad Brains, Serge Gainsbourg or Polish post punk pioneers, Brygada Kryzys for example, the outcome can be the coolest thing ever. Roy & the DMC’s  effort is by all means within the cool league!

Order the vinyl from A Tree in a Field Records and check it out for yourself!

An introduction / invocation / guide to the new EP from David (Romania, Broken cups, Terrible Ted, Los Vargitos etc.)

It’s been two years since the last Piresian Beach EP was released. Alle Falle hit a darker tone, now I cannot see for miles is a much more mixed one, sporting brighter tones as well and a nice pack of self-irony. RNR666 is here to present. You are here to consume.

The album starts off with a slower, yet still energic one, called ‘Sex Claws’. Zsofia rings her trademark voice with backing vocals giving an ancient feel that Mother Nature herself invites us to her bedroom. Don’t let me out in the dark, she begs but it won’t happen, as the song gets brighter and brighter, filling the mind. In more human words: make sure you wear comfortable underwear listening to this.

World peace ends fast as ‘Well who are you‘ operates with a tobacco filled throat, yelling, but still catchy vocals, drums which pump glitter in your face and guitars inspired by folk songs.

Weird songs are always welcome. Weird songs with self-irony are more than welcome. Mix the two ingredients and you get a cocktail of fun and remorse: ‘Blood in the gutter’. Not suitable for children under the age of 3.

‘I cannot see for miles’ is one of the faster songs on the EP but it has a strange flow that makes it one of the slowest. It’s like bathing nude in overhelming waves of warm water in a spa among miserable old people, without giving any fuck.

‘Rotten Raspberries’ is not the highlight of the album but you can still make some push ups, or show your stupidest dance moves in a party to your friends in glasses while listening to it.

Guess the party was too hardcore cause the ending song ‘Vitamins’ reminds me of nothing else but a funeral procession. Despite being the heaviest song on the EP, or the heaviest ever written by Piresian Beach, it is also very catchy, which can leave you in awkward situations. Like whistling it on your regular summertime visit to the cemetery.

This EP shows that Zsófia Németh is not here to make music to run away from boredom. These tunes prove her progression of writing better and better pop songs, in a shell of garage and psychedelic rock.

You can download it from Bandcamp for free but you can support Piresian Beach with a donation as well. (Money will go on cheap guitars or expensive beers).

LISTEN HERE!!!

cover art by Stanisław Legus http://legushobodesign.tumblr.com/

The debut full-length of Gustave Tiger is titled At the Idyll’s End and believe me, it sounds quite the contrary!

And what’s new with the band since their latest release, Mitanni Mares? First of all, they have extended into a four-piece with singer, graphic designer and visual artist Erika Szurcsik. It is also notable how Gustave Tiger has advanced into the direction of  more eclecticism, which would have seemed impossible half a year ago. Their music involves much more pop, psychedelia and even weirder sounds – and to my regret, less eunuch vocals this time.

Their new, less than one minute long video for Clitoris Crucifix is quite probably a result of a thorough experiment in cross-fertilizing surf pop music with black metal and VHS-philia. Well, that’s a fair appetizer.

Without sinking far too deep into the praise of Hungary’s number one cathedral punk band – which is basically impossible – listen to the album, download it for a name-your-price donation and make sure to go to their record release party… in about two hours time (an advice better late than never, right?)

Ted ain’t no ordinary bear for sure – he used to be the king of wrestling against human beings and now at the 40th anniversary of his retirement he is back in the shape of a newborn Hungarian band!

Terrible Ted is formed by members of Broken cups, Haunebu, Tumo, Hangmás and they play raw heavy-masculine RNR music. After watching this teaser make sure to go to their first show together with Dope Calypso in June!

Like them HERE!

Even though I’m not too much familiar with the 2014 Polish music scene, I still bet (or hope) that the first full length album of Wild books will make it to most end-of-the-year lists there and without any over-argumentation this is simply because their self-titled LP is insanely good!

Ever experienced listening to an album and saying to yourself ‘oh these guys clearly have their own musical influences, let’s see which bands …’ ? And suddenly finding yourself in a dead end as soon as you realize that you are listening to something great and there’s no need to compare it to anything else. And hey, music freaks, I bet you also recognize when you are listening to music made by another music freak… I think you all see my point by now: Wild books knows how to write good songs and they also have their own prescription for sound. I hate to be snobbish but I appreciate this approach most of all – even though the band consists of only two guys, the music is not lacking anything and they do not sound minimalistic at all (if you want to read more about the recording process and their previous bands, read this bilingual interview here).

If you are not scared away by genre labels like garage, surf and noise pop (I might even say grunge, sorry) then give it a listen and feel the inexplicable waves of nostalgia rushing all over your body, get a nice ear massage from the crispy fuzz, press replay at the end of the album and consider a name-your-price donation for Wild books.

You might already be familiar with Barcelona’s punk side but if you ever wondered what the independent pop music scene is like in sunny Barcelona, here’s your chance to listen to a brand new compilation of emerging bands from various genres brought to you by LaFonoteca Barcelona and ShookDown webzine.

From softer psychedelic tracks and eccentric pop tunes to the noisy garage pop sound this is a wide range of selection inspired by the devotion to quality pop music. Thumbs up!

Stream the compilation at Rockdelux.com and order your vinyl here.

After becoming one of the flagship bands of Hungarian independent music with their 2013 LP, derTANZ is now back with a new self-released album.

It’s been almost a year since the release of ‘Kaktusz’ and the band seems to be ready for action and as you can guess, it is  once again a ruthless, loud and twisted attack on human senses.

VATTA is no principal shift from the older songs – especially if we ignore the fact that the minimalist ‘free punk’ music of derTANZ is not at all based on songs (in a traditional 4/4 sense, of course).  This album is more like a post-apocalyptic audio book  for the last handful of  survivors (?) on Earth. The 30 minute-flow is basically one indivisible musical piece recorded in their countryside rehearsal space with the help of András Weil.

I wanted to paint a bee but it became a fly

The trio claims that they only had a couple of songs but no plans or directions in advance, they have just spread out an imaginary butterfly net to see what they can catch – and as Gábor puts it ‘we have caught bats, bees and flies as well‘.

Those who are already familiar with the music of derTANZ  will probably be least surprised (but most satisfied instead) that the new album is again attempting to evoke the atmosphere of their insane live performances (just like on Kaktusz) with a loose combination of free flowing sequences, lots of tense feedback noise and maniac loop sounds.

And how about some words of advice from the band before listening?

‘Listen to it as loud as possible’– Gábor says.

 So, here it is – RNR666 proudly presents

VATTA

Listen, enjoy, name-your-price-download, share and join  the album release party to see derTANZ (supporting acts: King Pepper, Bartha Márk) at MÜSZI on the 7th March!

Отстой is from Saint Petersburg, Russia and as far as it seems it’s only one guy doing druggy psych music in a garage, or a bedroom…or on the bathroom floor, it’s quite hard to tell. He definitely gains inspiration from the average noisy US-influenced garage revival bands but he adds his own under-the-influence Eastern vision and as a result you get the kind of music Kevin Failure would lick all his fingernails from tip to toe (thanks to DrugPunk blog for introducing Отстой to me, by the way).

I had the strange feeling while listening to Отстой’s EP that the first track even has some influences from hispanic RNR, then we go on with a bit of neo-psychedelia but the spirit of Russian punk god (and the father of  shitty-fuzzy guitar sound) Yegor Letov is constantly with us – crazy, isn’t it!? The Russian punk scene seems to have a fucking great time with bands like Sonic death, Wavepool Abortion who take Western music and just spit it against the wall – if you lack the originality in American music, Russian punks are your way too!

For those who dig hispanic garage rock and miss Davila 666 here are three highly recommended Latino rock bands to become fans of – especially if you’re looking for bands without the unwanted over-hype but with the energy of bands before their first LPs

Los Blenders are coming from Mexico City and they are just about to become well-known worldwide with their dreamy tunes fully soaked in reverb.  Meta y dinero ruled over many music bloggers and their previous releases also have everything we really love about hispanic rock. This music reminds me of wanting to remain a kid/girl forever – what else do you need?

Mesa Cosa is a band from Mexico with an eclectic stage image – a short Mexican guy, a tall tambourine guy and … yes, saxophones. Their first and very promising EP Infernal Cakewalk came out in 2012 (I’d better post about it later than never, right?) so I bet it’s high time they came out with something new, hopefully they are still together. They basically play a powerful blend of The Stooges, Los Saicos, classic surf tunes and I guess they listen to all sorts of freak out music of the 00’s.

Eva & John is a Peruvian band from Lima and they are playing reverby epic noise pop songs, to which everyone wants to sing and jump around after a couple of drinks. With only two songs available so far (on a flexi single, which are probably still for sale) they managed to appear on numerous end of the year lists – on my personal one as well <3