DOMESTIC PUNK, POST-PUNK SECTION
From Dayton, Ohio
Supremely weird, supernaturally talented and criminally underrated, Brainiac was considered by many to be “the next big thing” when their story was cut short with the tragic death of front man Tim Taylor. A collection of noisy, frantic B-sides, covers, and previously unreleased tracks was released on Record Store Day, and is now streaming on your service of choice. The documentary about the band, Transmissions After Zero, is also highly recommended. – tom
The Lipschitz | Savannah/Chicago
squabble
I really dig The Lipschitz tracks from their upcoming album Chevron. This song and “computer sun” have been floating around for a while, but the promise of a full album of infectious, caffeinated, garage rock tracks like this is pretty exciting. If you fondly remember the SAV scene during the Cray Bags/Wet Socks era, you definitely should track this album down. Chevron is out 7/31. — tom
INTERNATIONAL PUNK, POST-PUNK SECTION
Year Of The Horse
Spanning 97 minutes, the EPIC new Fucked Up four-part album is epic. Epic! Four Parts! Narrative vocal lines, constructed by a playwright, are traded between the sweet pop aria of Maegan Brooks Mills and Tuka Mohammed and the harsher, hardcore lines delivered by the immaculate Damian Abraham. Not to mention, incredible punk riffs and sweet melodies throughout. Everything you could want in a prog-punk album. Matt Berninger and Julien Baker make appearances too. Name drop! This is my personal favorite effort since the exceptional David Comes To Life. Remember that time that Fucked Up played Savannah? Yeah, that was awesome. — joshua
Damaged Good
IDLES has led a recent resurgence of post-punk United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland bands—post post-punk?—topping charts on their island and making some headway into the U.S. market. (Click here for the best Tiny Desk Concert ever). The lads pay homage to the first wave of post-punk with this killer Gang of Four cover. Instant cool. — joshua
Bright Green Field
Remember that post-punk wave I mentioned in the paragraph above? Yeah, here’s another great release from that deep pool of new U.K. artists taking notes from late 70’s early 80’s post-death-of-punk music, albeit with a bit more Birthday-Party-experimentation. Disjointed at times, there are several really beautiful moments in the distortion here. Straight grooves. — joshua