punk this week: visual learner, r.m.f.c. + 17 more
A huge pile of good new punk records from all over the damn globe.
Hey, it’s Punk This Week, the weekly see/saw column where I round up and write about the best new punk + rock'n'roll releases. This week we’ve got the full-length from Minneapolis’ Visual Learner, a new single from R.M.F.C., a Béton Armé side project, and some deeply sick records from Japan, Italy, Germany, and Australia.
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Visual Learner: Greg [Salinas/Bloated Kat]
The first time I met Zac Mayeux of Visual Learner, Texture Freq, and Panel, we talked for a good while about Weezer. The last time I saw him, he went on a “Rock, Rot & Rule”-style rundown of what bands are and are not pop punk. Visual Learner are pop punk in the most Minneapolis way imaginable, this pop-forward mixture of peak early ’90s college rock and Denton-style power pop. Avery Taylor from the band is originally from Denton and the Marked Men’s Jeff Burke mastered this album.
The songs across Greg do everything exactly right. They’re catchy, and thanks in large part to Tim Chandler‘s drumming and Morgan Purcell’s bass, fully relentless. If you haven’t heard “THEMCHARMINGHAMMS” before, it’s a masterpiece. I love Morgan’s vocals on the album’s most aggro track “Cure-All.” I’ve taken Greg for a few drives and it sounds better every time. It’s one of those bands that’s brand new but the songs sound like they’ve been on community radio rotation since 1993. It rules.
