punk this week: punter, ada oda, the men + 16 more

Hey, I want to encourage everyone to honor the economic blackout today (February 28). Spend cash + buy local. Listen to these records, add them to your Bandcamp wishlist, and support all these artists tomorrow (or on Bandcamp Friday or whatever).

Anyway, this is Punk This Week, see/saw’s weekly column where I recommend some stellar new punk and rock’n’roll records that just came out. The final installment of February makes the case that it’s been a genuinely wild month for new punk records. Let’s discuss the return of Punter and the Men, a stunning farewell of sorts from Ada Oda, some welcome next steps from Game Set Match and Palanta, and one of my new favorite records of the year so far from a group called Piggy Bank.

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Punter: Australienation [Drunken Sailor/Televised Suicide]

Just two years after Punter’s self-titled album arrived, where they held the Australian government in contempt for the way the very rich profited off the COVID-19 lockdown, the Melbourne band is back with Australienation. It feels very much like a direct sequel to the last record in both sound and fury. They’re absolutely appalled at complacency, illustrate the realities of power imbalance while lambasting anyone who bends a knee to billionaires. And yes “it fucking rips” but also in classic Punter fashion, there’s so much nuance to the way these songs are built. As always, I’m obsessed with the way Nathan Burns' vocal cords sound like they’re being dragged deep through a gravel path toward righteousness.