Nervous Twitch on Punk Fox Records

Knowing better than to have any idea what expect from the Punk Fox label, I let this four piece from Leeds, UK, Nervous Twitch walk me through the past fifty years of music history across the two sides of this single. It's weird that I find myself going back to those girl groups from the '50s thanks to Guantanamo Baywatch or yesterday's single from Susan practically daily but you'd be crazy not to hear the direct thread between The Shangri-La's and something like Personal and the Pizzas. These guys start out in the early '50s and head straight into post punk that round peg in the square hole.

A-Side's "Jonny's got a gun" blasts right into that chorus lyric right along with a three chord jangle at spastic speed, whoever came up with their name gets a free drink. Erin on vocals and has got it out for this Jonny character, who's been historically maligned in so many songs. Bash that sentiment out on the fretboard, 'got a gun' repeated that over and over in the garage, cranking on chords, tracking harmonies together updating The Angels "Boyfriends Back" and uping the stakes. Enter huge reverb on "And we did" with muted clicking chords to slow things down. A toy xylophone sounding electric plunged under water and held down with weights. I like this slower, down low vocal sounding like the Midnight Snaxxx leather jacket harmony with the attitude of The Coathangers. Greaser '50s vibe with a tambourine and warbling wah of a reverb coiled up and sprung down the stairs like a slinky. The drums have that shallow cardboard box feel, a nice mix of homemade and studio sounding, nailing that crafty quality of these sort of reenactments. They should open for Shannon and the Clams or Hunx of course, there's room for more of this winking nostalgia.
B-Side's "Modern World" opens with a heavy Wire sounding bass line that shifts into post punk reggae Clash sound. Erin is right in the front of this mix, slightly blown out with a jagged vocal delivery over stabs of new wave strings between this stutter jangle. More ominous and bleak sounding until they hit that chorus and it's almost a hyper maximum density shoegaze. They seem to have absorbed the past fifty years and playing through all of it across these two sides, can't decide? You don't have to, play it all.

Get this by contacting Chris dot punkfox at gmail or their bandcamp page.

ist "Boyfriend" on Punk Fox Records

A posthumus single release from the Leicester, UK band Ist on the Punk Fox label with a track that first appeared on their 2004 Freudian Corduroy full length. This probably being the last vinyl format release for the band who broke up in 2010 to pursue other personal projects. They seem to have been willing to incorporate a number of genres and out of the box rock instrumentation but this single is a blinders on, muscly rock track.

A-Side's "Boyfriend" opens with a burst strummed acoustic, ruffling the strings only to blow out a measure later with feedback fueled heavy chords knocking out a blues sounding gravely rock mostly driven by the best lyrics. It takes a minute to get to the punchline, the narrator is pissed but your not ready for the chorus. I hate your fucking boyfriend / I hope he fucking dies / Id like to rip his head clean off / and then piss in his eyes. Kenton Hall on vocals has a snarling low register delivery like a tough Jonathan Richman in his straightforward way of getting right to the point. He commits to this track in a ballsy way in this cleanly produced heavy rock, not to mention there wasn't much chance of this being played anywhere with his over the top pure hatred for the boyfriend. There's also a good chance you'll come up with something interesting when you're decisively all in like this.
B-Sides "Boyfriend (Window Licker Mix) must be a reference to Richard James and here sounds more of a demo version of the track with no windscreen on the mic and those guitars are forced to the center with less depth, that opening strum following through the entire track. More acoustic shows up and the gaps between lyrics have more space but Kenton still gives this version a serious effort. The solo is intact, might even be the same take cleaned up a bit and next to the muted electric strums sound empty. A cool insight to their process but that tight, packaged A-Side is exactly what the track needed to really get through to that asshole.

Splatter clear vinyl from Punk Fox who deliberately has no online presence but there's a copy for sale on Discogs or check with your local distro/record store if they can get this or contact Chris at chris(dot)punkfox at gmail.

Les Chaussettes on Punk Fox Records

Les Chaussettes began when Bella McKee pulled her three friends together in an attempt to cover "He's Not There Anymore" by the Chymes. A year or so later they continued getting together and writing songs while Punk Fox tracked the Vancouver, BC band down and offered to put out their first seven inch single. I'll never get tired of reminding people it wasn't that long ago that bands had to call each other on the phone or write letters just to figure out how to set up a tour.

On A-Side's "Kate" the guitars jangle in with a bendy soul sound and a stab or two of a precarious Hammond organ in that southern B52's meets Detroit sound. Something of a love song to 'Kate' who is also in a band. Handclaps against the kick drum, Jovana isn't afraid to snarl and get raunchy in this sideshow twee sounding carnival. Like the Manhattan Love Suicides it's a fuzzy unrehearsed punk love song that kneels before attitude instead of sonic perfection. A '90s Juliana Hatfield pop sound with a subversive wink while a mix tape of 'The walls of sound' and a DIY guide to building reverb out of an old spring.

B-Side's "Volcanoes" opens on a fuzzy bass that plugs through a couple of measures until that trio of falsetto harmonies from Jovana, Bella and Maria float in and unnerved guitar cuts in to expand on this atmospheric sound. A new take on the Vivian Girls in three chord distortion and in the way they peel off from the main melody and haze to nail down the refrain especially in the solo 'oooo.. oooo... oooozing' lyric about volcanos. They're taking that garage vocal device and turning it into a lyric that actually makes sense. They aren't just ooo-ing and ah-ing back there for effect. They're bashing this together with a sense of humor eventually turning a little heavier and darker than that pure, airy sound of the other bands with 'Girls' in their title hinting at some tougher Jesus and Mary Chain noise.

On lipstick pink vinyl from Punk Fox. No site, try Rough Trade or contact the band for domestic copies.

The Pale Faces on Punk Fox Records

Punk Fox isn't making things easy, these mysterious singles come in from the UK with no online presence and no way that I can find to pick them up domestically. If they're trying to make their releases more enticing by creating this scavenger hunt then this is the way to do it. Maybe everyone doesn't need to be on every possible social media at all times. I worry about getting to the point where I'm so busy with keeping up with everyhting for 7inches that I might not even have time to read anyone else's blogs and they won't either and it will be this self centered future where no one even cares what anyone else is doing and you have an audience of yourself. Snap out of your own mind with this dense psych freakout from The Pale Faces.

A-Side's "Guru" has a heavy bass and thud kick, all lining up in rhythm. I swear I just heard a thunderclap just as this is getting started in that progressive serious complex way. It's the math equation that's going to lead to huge chunky riffs and the slightest vocal of Janice and Danni. The bass is a scuzzy rumble like the Death From Above stuff chunking away as dirty as possible. The vocals and shaker start to get psychedelic, something of a lyric but mostly the idea of a vocal as another instrument to be layered and played with harmony. The press release mentions something about a lot of these performances being first takes but hat has to be impossible, this kind of precision and odd rhythm structures have to be rehearsed into the ground to get this right. Janice picks up this verse into a more primal raw version of the lyric drawing out the rest of the instrumentation to follow and go off on this impossibly dense journey. Repeating the lyric "I can (or can't) help you heal your soul" Maybe both? It's a gradual build with weird experimental samples and electronics pushing this over the raw guitar '70s metal stuff into a hardcore psych - one of those unclassifiable pots of sludge.

On B-Side's "Nature Calls" a damaged organ delicately explores a tiny repeated section with a bass taking front and center. This time Janice and Danni's vocal harmonizes almost exactly close in key, manipulated after the fact in places, even getting talky at one point. Experimenting with these already weird sounds, mathematical and odd, not the serious stuff that you repeat over and over, the same problem a hundred different ways but that math that seems to make personal sense. Finding those numbers in everything feeding pigeons in the park talking to yourself. "Can't help being a beast" you just catch a lyric like that among this swirling stuff that has no limits and seemingly every color and recording option has been explored to wind up forever concrete in these grooves.

No site for Punk Fox, but this solitary online store has it for import only purchase to the US.

Great cyan colored pressing, thick as hell gram and with a dvd that doesn't work on a record player.

Flying Kangaroo Alliance on Punk Fox Records

"BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal as sharing information and staying alive, instead of making profits of being cool according to traditional standards."
- Kathleen Hanna, 1991
(Bikini Kill Zine 2)
I'm reading Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus and it's crazy to be reminded not that long ago, in the '90s, when the book opens, Bush trying to overturn abortion rights and riot grrrls were just starting to raise hell in DC. This single from Flying Kangaroo Alliance was reminding me of that slightly later but related Northwestern US sound of Bikini Kill or L7 except this foursome is from the other direction in Leicester, England. Times hopefully have changed in a lot of ways but that punk sound is always going to be great and Flying Kangaroo Alliance are revisiting those sounds.

That classic Seattle grunge tone opens A-Side's "Hit the wall" and like Bikini Kill, Meri Everitt's got a lot of that same attitude. The rest of the band is rocking a thick wall of classic sound that builds up huge polished foundations. The thudding massive low end drum and bassline are trying to come forward in the face of this epic radio rock sound yelling that chorus. The writing on that woman's back with purple hair is exactly what art school was like in the '90s. Ani Deifranco, Mellow Gold and Vs.. Text on everything, real messy large format photos with the edges showing, messy and buried under broken glass. Here's the soundtrack.

A heavy guitar on B-Side's "Wasted" has a sort of PJ Harvey feel here, this instrumentation fighting alongside her angry vocals that go talky alongside the back and forth guitars crunching across channels, with something of a country feel. Instead of yelling into deaf ears or that void this track is something of an acceptance. Heavily separated left and right riffs and this solo comes in sideways from the right. Meri's vocal picks up steam all the way to the chorus contradicting that person on the A-side

Great clear two color splatter vinyl going out for the pressing and the label is vinyl only...no social media for the label and it's like I'm completely back in the early '90s.

Try emailing them at spaceponyrecords at gmail, import only. Track below.