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Amyl and The Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness
New album: The Australian punk band fronted by the electric personality of irrepressible singer Amy Taylor return with another set of fabulous songs, with some new musical dynamic variation, plenty of humour, swearing, exposed flesh, but also self-aware, kick-ass feminism driven by great riffs and melodies
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The Linda Lindas: No Obligation
New album: The engaging and likeable American Asian-Latin band of two sisters, cousin and friend return with a second album of infectious, broad appeal, ,energetic, rock, indie and punk pop, following 2022’s debut Growing Up
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cumgirl8: the 8th cumming
New album: Provocative in name, and after a couple of great EPs, the Manhattan four-piece are now fully released in LP form, with their infectiously catchy, witty, punchy, dirty electro-cyber-punk-pop, influenced in part by The Slits and girl-punk era of the late 1970s, new wave, horror and anime, and self-described as “a scantily clad Creature from the Black Lagoon”
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Fat Dog: WOOF.
New album: Having gathered a lively cult following on tour, the canine-themed London-based band’s LP is an eclectic, theatrical techno, industrial-pop post-punk fusion, with klezmer strains, synth- and horn-parping, panache-filled dancey debut of wit, energy, noise and sheer shouty fun
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Malice K: AVANTI
New album: Angsty but beautiful, reminiscent of the whispery, intimate style of the late, great Elliott Smith, but also the occasional punk scream eruption, this darkly mesmeric, candid, introspective indie-folk-grunge-punk LP by New York-based visual artist and songwriter Alex Konschuh is a vivid, ghostly, and deeply emotional
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Crack Cloud: Red Mile
New album: Sharp, witty satire and parody abound in this third LP by the Canadian indie-garage-rock collective, playing with cliches across pop to rock with a striking set of clever, aggressively tuneful, curveball songs led by frontman and Zach Choy
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Soft Play: Heavy Jelly
New album: A welcome return from the witty and raucously noisy Kent garage punk duo of Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent, formerly known as Slaves, with blistering guitar, drums and shouting, a storm of sharp irony and fabulously thumping riffs
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Peter Bibby: Drama King
New album: Witty, self-deprecatory, earthy, emotional and energetic, the Australian singer-songwriter’s superbly fun and sweary new LP of love, loss and addiction has echoes of Suicide and country-era Bob Dylan
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Lip Critic: Hex Dealer
New album: A dazzlingly high-octane, white-knuckle ride of a debut album by the New York-based electronica-punk-hip-hop-hardcore-noise-rock band, who push the musical boundaries with express vocal delivery and double drummers
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Big Special: Postindustrial Hometown Blues
New album: A witty, punchy, restless post-punk debut LP by the heavily accented Midlands duo of Joe Hicklin and Callum Maloney, with echoes of Sleaford Mods who they’ve supported on tour, packed with sharp jokes, wordplay and sweary anger about toxic masculinity and the absurdities of modern life
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The Lovely Eggs: Eggsistentialism
New album: Lancaster’s loveable DIY rockers Holly Ross and David Blackwell return with another punchy collection of comedy, simplicity, profundity and creativity, psych and punk, but also some old-school synth sounds and some complex emotions
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Fat White Family: Forgiveness Is Yours
New album: Lias Saoudi and co return with their first since 2019’s Serfs Up, one with that despite the troubled departure of founding member Saul Adamczewski during its creation, is an entertainingly sharp, ironic, aesthetic, literary release packed with stylish reference points, soundscapes and tunes
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BODEGA: Our Brand Could Be Yr Life
New album: Smart, literary, packed with cultural references from film, books and art, the New York post-punk band’s fourth album is a more melodic release than the punchier of previous, being in part a self-reflexive reworking of much older songs from their previous incarnation as Bodega Bay
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Bob Vylan’s second album: Humble As The Sun
New album: The London hip-hop-punk-heavy-rock duo return with a second helping of articulate, pull-no-punches, take-no-prisoners social and political commentary, taking aim at Tory-ruled Britain, corrupt police, toxic masculinity and other social ills, but alongside righteous rage, some doses of positivity
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Gossip - Real Power
New album: After 12 years away, the American pop trio of the irrepressible singer Beth Ditto, multi-instrumentalist Nathan "Brace Paine" Howdeshell and drummer Hannah Blilie return with set of punchy, candid, personal disco-punk-pop bangers, and produced by Rick Rubin
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Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven
New album: Dynamically vaulting between fierce, explosive anger and beautiful tenderness, unabashed lust, sometimes soothing and seductive, at others biting, this is a powerful, passionate, new indie-rock LP by the band fronted by singer and guitarist Marisa Dabice
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Erotic Secrets of Pompeii: Mondo Maleficum
New album: Gloriously theatrical, witty, panache-filled, this is a lavishly swaggering, swirling cauldron of excess, rock-pop, post-punk, prog, baroque indie, and classical, a debut whirlwind LP of history-spanning reference and energy, from Greek myth to Shakespeare and the apocalypse
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If it’s not here, you don’t need it: His Lordship
New album: Explosive, punchy, sharp, witty, thrilling debut LP of 60s-style garage punk, anarchic rockabilly and 50s rock’n’roll by the duo of James Walbourne (The Pretenders) and Kristoffer Sonne (Chrissie Hynde) taking inspiration from Jerry Lee Lewis to The Stooges, The Cramps to The Black Keys
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SPRINTS: Letter To Self
New album: After many strong singles and EPs, a bold, dynamic, blistering punk and post-punk debut by the Dublin four-piece, tackling turbulent existential crises with dark passion and wit
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Favourite LPs of 2023, Part 2.
Welcome once again to the annual tradition of Song Bar’s favourite album releases of 2023. This is Part 2, and Part 1 was yesterday. There’s no such thing as a chart rundown or ‘best of’ here, and these come in no particular order …
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