punk this week: xanny stars, elle barbara, electric chair, the gobs + 16 more
I wrote about the new Lame, Black Dog, Power Pants, Fungas, and Histamine in a moving car and now I’m car sick, whoopsies ;)
Hey, it’s Punk This Week, see/saw’s weekly punk and rock'n'roll recommendations newsletter. This time, there’s a pile of sick new stuff out of Olympia. We have to talk about the visionary work of Montreal’s Elle Barbara, a new one by Cleveland’s Xanny Stars, plus new stuff from Iron Lung, La Vida Es Un Mus, Erste Theke Tontraeger, and Convulse Records.
I’m typing this in a moving vehicle. (No, I’m not driving.) I just want to illustrate the absurdity of my commitment to posting these Friday columns, which are available every Friday to paid see/saw subscribers (who also get the radio archive and bonus podcasts). That’s $4/month, $40/year, or barter. Free subscribers get plenty of stuff, too, but there’s a two-week free trial if you want to try everything.
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Xanny Stars: Adaptor [Just Because]
This is a Cleveland rock’n’roll band that does that perfect thing where pop glossiness is mashed into rock’n’roll grit. It’s that rare power pop Voltron where the band rides a riff that kicks untold ass and the drums sound massive. At first the vocals sound subdued, then they’re powerful. It builds to the point where what you were processing as their final form has become something altogether more magnificent. It was expertly recorded by Jerome Westerkamp at Checkered Flag.
