After spending a couple of years perfecting their riffs and honing a heavy, retro sound, Norwegian stoner rockers White Tundra unveiled their debut EP ‘Graveyard Blues’ in the middle of the 2020 global pandemic. Their weighty Monster Magnet/COC influenced sounds were a perfect compliment to a troubled time, and proved yet again that a tried and tested heavy psych/stoner sound could still impress when delivered with a lot of confidence and a few massive hooks. The title cut, in particular, with its chugging riff, gravelly vocals and rattling bassline – at times sounding as if a direct descendant of ‘Children of The Grave’ – set White Tundra on the road to stoner greatness, but ‘Freedom Fighter’ with its heavy and lurching anger suggested they’d have more to give than your bog standard stoner copyists.
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THE RADIO BUZZKILLS – Get Even
After a couple of rough but very cool demo recordings, The Radio Buzzkills crashed their way onto the punk scene in 2018 with ‘Get Fired!’, a full length debut that melded the heart of classic 90s pop punk with a tougher edge, some killer choruses and a whole world of confidence. Despite a few teething troubles during the album’s creation, it ended up being one of the year’s best releases – of any style or genre. The band later took their undying love of Screeching Weasel, Ramones and a truckload of Lookout! Records artists and created the tougher sounding – but no less great – ‘Get Lost’, which gained them further enthusiastic press.
SHOT DOWN TWICE – Shot Down Twice EP
On this follow up to their 2020 EP ‘Got Up Once’, Canadian rockers Shot Down Twice absolutely exude confidence. With a punchier production and a couple of songs that are unafraid to be a little more complex than anything the band have recorded before, ‘Shot Down Twice’ is the kind of release that deserves to take these musicians to the next level.
KRUPOVIESA – Default EP
There are two kinds of music fan in the world: those who get The Fall, and those who don’t. Love them or hate them, you can’t deny that their sharp edged sounds, lyrical barbs and willingness to challenge didn’t change the punk/post-punk scene. The influence they had on other alternative bands – particularly in the 90s, with the slacker movement spearheaded by Pavement – is often glaringly obvious but, occasionally, there comes a band willing to take The Fall’s influence and use it to create something a bit different. This short tribute from Argentinian band Krupoviesa is a curious affair. They’ve taken four 90s era Fall compositions and reworked them in their own punchy image, repackaged them in a homage to The Fall’s ‘Slates’ – a seminal 80s work – and shared the spoils for free.
CITY MOUSE – Magnitude EP
Although they’ve kept up a seemingly relentless touring schedule over the years, City Mouse have never been the most prolific band when it comes to studio work. An enjoyable self-released digital EP in appeared in 2004, but it would be seven more years before they returned to the studio. An excellent four track EP in 2011 was swiftly followed by split releases with The Homewreckers and Weekend Dads, but obviously, these only gave fans brief glimpses of a great band at work.