punk this week: ben and the blackwell babies, smetti subito + 14 more

Hey, it’s Punk This Week. Usually, these columns about new punk records go up behind a paywall on Friday, but out of solidarity with the general strike in Minneapolis, I decided to post on Saturday instead. This morning, another observer was executed by ICE. It’s all I can think about right now. This column is free for whoever wants to read it. Subscribe to this newsletter if you want, but it’s way more urgent to go donate to the people most impacted by the occupation if you can. Fuck ICE.

Ben and the Blackwell Babies: Ben and the Blackwell Babies [self-released]

Ben Blackwell is one of the three men from Jack White’s Third Man Records. He runs Cass Records and plays in the Dirtbombs. His bonafides as a rock’n’roll historian and record collector, specifically when it comes to the city of Detroit, are well-documented. Here’s a full disclosure that I’ve had multiple conversations with Ben as a source for different pieces and he wrote a blurb for the first see/saw year-end zine. All of this preamble is here to let you know that despite any and all aesthetic associations suggesting otherwise, Ben Blackwell is none of the credited Bens from the new Detroit shit-fi band Ben and the Blackwell Babies. (Even though that’s him on the cover.)

The band anonymously slid me a couple tracks from their debut three-song self-titled EP, which is sure to shred your eardrums real good. This is shit-fi blues punk where all the vocals are shrieked and unintelligible. There’s a 55-second song that’s all feedback and the Detroit ZIP code being recited gradually and repeatedly. This is Detroit rock’n’roll rendered radioactive, and who knows how the real Ben feels about these three minutes of chaos. To my ears, a song like “Grand Theft Shitbox” seems like a loving (and unhinged) homage to their namesake and the scene he’s fastidiously supported across his adult life. Detroit rock records remain my favorite genre.

Smetti Subito: Weak Fission [fréquences critiques]

Smetti Subito are a punk band from Paris, and this new album sounds like a fucking masterpiece to me. Weak Fission is scattered and completely unpredictable on some Cleveland shit. You’ll get a discernible garage punk banger (“Lock Screen”) into a 52-second rock’n’roll sprint as vocals get more rabid and guitars start noodling into chaos (“DTZ”). This is a record where feedback is always bubbling just beneath the seams of the band’s crumbling infrastructure. It’s the kind of record you could escape into like a thick inscrutable piece of literature—the kind that invites you back to consider it again and again and again.

Yuasa-Exide: Silver Spoon Hallucination [self-released]

Doug Busson’s Yuasa-Exide has released a mini-album of tracks recorded over the past four years with all proceeds going to Minneapolis Mutual Aid in the time of ICE’s occupation. That sentence makes Silver Spoon Hallucination sound like a hard drive dump for a crucial cause, but this one hangs with Doug’s best work over the past couple years. “My Psychic (Electric Version)” fills dude’s basement with glam swagger, and when he sings “this city is broken” on “Below Canal Street,” that shit hits real hard. Doug rules. Fuck ICE.

Tomcat: N.W.O.A.H.C. Demo [Reckless Release]

Holy shit. Tomcat promise “the new wave of Aus hardcore” on this five-song demo, and if this is what the future sounds like, sign me the fuck up. This is raw punk recorded to four-track with four microphones, and it sounds like being in the room with the band. The vocals are shredded and dangerous. The guitars and bass are burly as fuck. Everything in this recording seems to smudge together, so while lyrics aren’t clear, their targeted rage couldn’t be more transparent. 

Game Set Match: Game Set Match II [Goodbye Boozy]

Another record in the latest pile of Goodbye Boozy 7” releases is the latest from Sydney’s Game Set Match, a deeply underrated pop via garage punk project out of Australia right now. Both of these sides feel like vintage garage rock rendered with warmth and just enough edge. All of the Game Set Match records have been catchy treasures. The streak continues.

Hot Face: Automated Response [Speedy Wunderground]

Almost everything in the column up to this point was self-recorded with varying degrees of fidelity. Climb up out of the sewer with Hot Face, the London band who recorded their new full-length at Abbey Road’s Studio 3 with producer to the UK stars, Dan Carey. There’s still a ton of scuzz and spontaneity on this record; the band recorded the full album live in three takes. It sounds ramshackle and electric in a way that makes me sure this band stomps ass live. With the occasional fudged power chord, Automated Response isn’t too precious. It’s not particularly sloppy, either, which is good—the method here suits the band’s songwriting and dynamic.

Disket: “Running” b/w “Vamos a Ganar” [General Speech]

The new 7” from Disket is some absolutely stellar rock’n’roll. Featuring members of Baby Shakes, Mala Vista, and Vaxine, this is just top level execution of first wave punk rock—the era when early ’60s pop masterpiece songwriting was the aesthetic North Star behind all the tough guy shit. The A-side has stomping drums and an earworm amplified immeasurably by harmonies. When the B-side hits, it’s another anthem. What the hell!

Dr. Dence: Sick Dumb Spam [Doctored Tapes]

Dr. Dence is a member of Michael Younker’s band, and the new EP Sick Dumb Spam is fleet-footed rock’n’roll with ripping guitar leads and drum machine. There’s a tangible egginess to a song like “Don’t Know Nothing,” and lyrically, the doctor sounds like he’s on the cusp of puking on at least three songs. On the fourth, he’s eating canned bodega meat, so we all know what’s around the corner.

FORMA: FORMA [self-released]

FORMA is a punk band from Bilbao, Spain that makes indie pop overlaid with a grayscale post-punk gradient. There’s a song on this album called “aspettative” that’s a perfect pop song. The build, the melody, the sweet and sour of it all? Just unbelievable work.

Red Shadows: Ain’t Got No Time [self-released]

Following the death of guitarist Jonny Cat, the masters of a lost 2014 7” by the Portland garage punks Red Shadows resurfaced. This 7” is going to scratch a serious itch for anyone who’s loved the records of Jay Reatard’s various projects or any other wild rippers who manage to harness a sneaky pop sensibility.

EXS: EXS [The Seats of Piss/Invisible Audio]

The new self-titled EP from Batam, Indonesia’s EXS brings some simple yet powerful hardcore to the table. They’ve got this speedy tupa tupa beat (Medi), their vocals offer sharp and concise hollers (Farid), the bass lead on “Problems” is deeply sick (Pian), and their dual guitar approach often doubles up on power chord rhythm instead of giving someone a big flashy solo (Jefrey and Rian). This is angry music for the oppressed that sounds like it should be played and shouted by a horde, which is exactly what I’m looking for in my life at this exact moment.

HUNG: Suck It Up! EP [Close Call]

HUNG is a sick DIY punk rock band from Warsaw, one of these bands where looseness is a feature and not a flaw. The opening track “M.I.A.” is catchy and angry, and about halfway through there’s this second voice that comes in that sounds like somebody’s brat cousin grabbed the mic to start doing “nah nah nah” vocals that sound like they’re mocking the song actively being recorded. They hate Nazis and I enjoy this record.

TYLENOL: KISS MY ASS [self-released]

New York City’s TYLENOL is another band that sounds like they’re barely holding it together, and that’s thanks in large part to a vocalist who doesn’t give a fuck about where his bars should fit into the beat. This is ramshackle art punk for the intentionally seasick. Good shit.

завірюга: цвяхи [self-released]

This new record from the Ukrainian punks завірюга is a bass-forward EP that feels like a meeting place between art pop and art punk. The dogs are literally barking.

Attention Deficit: Triple A-Side Tape [self-released]

On the triple A-side single from Montreal’s Attention Deficit, the duo of Pin Bone and Snub Nose showcase tough-as-shit yet minimalist punk rock. “Fuck your tears,” Pin Bone mutters at the conclusion of “Shoot and Cry.”

A.I. Death Calculator: A.I. Death Calculator [Dial 9]

Florida band makes bludgeoning hardcore. Sick band name, sick record.

What else: Belgrado, Winston Hightower, Earth Tongue, Giallo, PEARL, Season 2, Ozzie Hair, Dead Finks, Crache, and Dry Socket just announced new albums. TY’s Hot Wheel City EP finally has a track-by-track breakdown on Bandcamp. I missed the New Year’s Eve full-length from Celebrity Telethon and am really enjoying that. 

Try some new ones by Subtle Body, Blockade, RRSATZ, Regulator, Crying Form, Rocky & the Sweden, winky frown, X-Force, Mr. Radical, Bilge, TAKER, Dead Drugs, Sunny Bear Forest, BALACLAVA, the Good News Dudes, Sargent Baker, Hot Garbage, Stepmother, Gut Bugs, GEGNER, Ø, Oron, Goose Eggs, L.A. Sagne, and bloody head.