On their 2024 release ‘Mall Grab’, alternative band Integra Pink fused indie rock with a hefty dose of post punk angularity on a selection of short and punchy tracks that showed off their energetic style in a very direct way. Even from first listen, it was hugely gratifying to hear The Cure’s ‘Seventeen Seconds’ era guitar tones cutting through the heart of ‘Push Pop’, and ‘A Forest’s incessant rhythm jostling against a vocal that felt decidedly more new wave on the equally cool ‘As You Feel’. With tracks like ‘Lockjaw’ owing more to punk by pushing forth a harder guitar sound, and ‘How’s It Going To End?’ leaning further towards smart alt-pop when applying a funk bassline beneath a heavily filtered vocal, the album threw so much into a musical blender, it was likely that most listeners would come away having heard something interesting.
Tag Archives: punk rock
BLACK RUSSIANS – Communist Dudes
At the end of 2020, Black Russians issued a selection of new tracks as part of a split with US horror punks, The Jasons. The “Soviet Punk Rock” band might not have been the bigger name, but their material ran rings around the American act, showing a musical tightness and a humour that fit their chosen genre perfectly. A couple of years down the line, their full length ‘Communist Dudes’ makes good on the promise of those earlier tracks, delivering thirteen Ramones influenced bangers, dealing with topics such as satanism, communism, and an iron curtain winter. Armed with massive riffs and played with tongues firmly in cheek, aside from an obviously DIY production sound, it’s almost everything genre fans could hope for.
DUCK & COVER – Attention Economy EP
With its mix of classic hard rock and an almost bar-room trash aesthetic, Duck & Cover’s 2018 release ‘Rob Them Blind’ was fuelled by a superb confidence. Driven by the kind of high octane riffs that would have suited both Duff McKagan and the early years of Soul Asylum alike, its eight songs delivered highly in terms of toughness and retro cool. It wasn’t widely noticed by the world at large – despite the Rum Bar Records label doing their best via a free download of the excellent ‘Live It Up’ – but it gained praise from almost everyone who happened to stumble upon it at the time. The three song EP ‘Two Shots’ followed in 2020 and, if anything, was even better thanks to an even stronger sense of urgency supplied by more of a melodic punk feel. Between them, these two DIY releases really suggested that, despite their home city of Boston being almost overrun by great bands, Duck & Cover had something special.