punk this week: twisted teens, the carp + 16 more

Hi there, it’s Punk This Week—see/saw’s punk and rock'n'roll recommendations column. This time, we’re looking at Twisted Teens’ revelatory surprise album Florida Water Blues, the Carp’s latest masterclass in street punk propaganda, plus new ones from NightFreak, Billy Gardner & Friends, Sharp Pins, Ultra Lights, Yankee Bastard, Youth in Asia, and so many others.

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Twisted Teens: Florida Water Blues [Going Underground]

Every great once in a while, an artist spills over with incredible songs and boundless charisma. This quality is why the ascent of New Orleans’ Twisted Teens was inevitable. Caspian and RJ return with their third album Florida Water Blues—their second full-length of 2026 and improbably their best record yet. Part of their success here is a full-bodied embrace of their mythology—Cas’ grizzled voice holler-croons about cigarettes, swamps, and fate. 

Also, when dude says “I invented a taste” to kick off the album…yeah! There’s not another band, full-stop, with a singer like Caspian or with a sound like Twisted Teens’. Their drive and scuzz, and perhaps most importantly their drum machine and forays into sampling and tape experiments, lends this the language of underground garage punk. RJ’s steel and Cas’ endlessly quotable fables (especially “Javelina”) keep one foot in the world of country/folk traditions, while their approach is decidedly rock’n’roll. 

This duality has remained the secret to Twisted Teens’ success. Cas was steeped in old time traditions and close with the late great August Golden. He was a Charlie Feathers apostle who learned punk by living it. Florida Water Blues is by no means the work of tourists dabbling in multiple spaces or aesthetics-only country traditionalists who know how to cuss good. On some pro wrestling or carnie shit, they present a heightened expression of who they really are when they don the Twisted Teens boots. The songs on Florida Water Blues are driving and catchy and singular. I’m a fucking mark, and I’m not the only one.