Sleaford Mods – ‘Tied Up In Nottz’ (Harbinger Records)
Like seventies New York electronic art punks Suicide but from the streets of Nottingham, Sleaford Mods are pure street poetry set over a clanking bass and minimal rhythms. Like John Cooper Clarke but with twice the venom and acidity, vocalist Jason Williamson’s way with words and lyrical rhymes are powerful, thought-provoking and at times, totally hilarious. He also swears better than any other f**ker I’ve heard. Believe the hype. – James Sherry
Human Eye – ‘Gettin’ Some’ (Goner Records)
When life serves you human sized bugs, exterminator’s and gunge in garage rock format from Detroit, you should thank your lucky stars someone spent their weekend up to their guts in it and then dive in head first. Human Eye released this filthy bug jam last week from their ‘4:Into Unknown’ album and it’s utter filth. You can also thank King Khan for sending this one over to us. – Zac
Thee Oh Sees – ‘Penetrating Eye’ (Castle Face)
John O’Dwyer threatened a hiatus for Thee Oh Sees after last year’s ‘Floating Coffin’ but despite flirting with electronica with his Damaged Bug project he wasn’t ready to hammer the nail in that wooden box yet. He did move to LA from San Fran, but other than that it’s business as usual. The new album is called ‘Drop’ and it’s about to ahem drop on Record Store Day. It was recorded in a banana ripening warehouse and the banana skinny on this record is that the quality has not slipped. ‘Penetrating Eye’ is the wince inducing intro track, part Ty Segall part Led Zep, as shredding an opening as you could hope to witness, it scared me shitless. – Nick Hutchings
Fist City – ‘Let’s Rip’ (Transgressive Records)
Girl gangs are taking over the world, well, in Canada anyway. This latest gang bang was shot in a bar whilst the owner was out and the band got away with it. Fist City just cruised through the UK last week and played a bunch of sold out shows that were awesome. Get some of their punk inspired malarkey on the re-issue of “It’s 1983, Grow Up” out on May 19th, you will not regret it. – Zac
The Skull Defekts – ‘The Known Unknown’ (Thrill Jockey)
Abba are from Sweden, you know? So are rabid, krautrock-flavoured noise-rock miscreants The Skull Defekts. Their new album is likely to be busting a lot of houses down when it drops this month, you’d be doing yourself a favour by making your house one of ’em. The Known Unknown is like the groovy offspring of a junkie robot and a broken amp, highly recommended. – Ross Horton
Black Bananas – ‘Physical Emotions’ (Drag City)
Snake-hipped pillow-lipped Venusian Goddess Jennifer Herrema made her triumphant return to the world of ‘pop music’ with this absolutely monstrous groove-thang. Like all of her work with (my favourite band) Royal Trux, RTX and beyond, this track totally defies genres and will warp your mind if you listen to it loud enough. Go go go. – Ross Horton
OBN III’s – ‘No Time For The Blues’ (TTT Records)
Austin Texas band OBN III’s third album ‘Third Time To Harm’ is a party record that reminds me of the much underrated Lee Harvey Oswald Band. ‘No Time For The Blues’ is like Andrew WK doing Iggy doing the ‘Spaghetti Incident’, a party record with monster riffs where you can feel free to check your brain by the door and flex your neck up the front. – Nick Hutchings
Protomartyr – ‘Come & See’ (Hardly Art Records)
Welcome to the world of Protomartyr who fit somewhere between punk and post-punk, shunning the noir-ish drama of the latter without losing the fervor of the former. Despite this being one of the more restrained tracks on their new album Under Color of Official Right there’s an clear darkness to ‘Come & See’, all held together with a delicious groove. – Joe Parry
Greys – ‘Guy Picotto’ (Car Park Records)
‘Guy Picotto’ is the first track to emerge from punks Greys forthcoming debut album, coming out in May. A slab of tongue-in-cheek hardcore with some Jesus Lizard ingenuity clashing with fellow Canadian’s Fucked Up’s ear for melody. – Joe Parry
Kevin Drew – ‘Bullshit Ballad’ (Arts & Crafts)
Kevin Drew, one half of Canadian super group Broken Social Scene, has just dropped a brand new solo album. Darlings is expectedly full of synth slurs and instrumental murmurs, atop which sit Drew’s ever suggestive vocal, laced with subtle sleaze. A mellow album certainly worth listening to, highlights come in the form of ‘Bullshit Ballad’. – Dave Palmer
Violent Reaction – ‘Dead End’ (Painkiller Records)
Let’s end this on some excellent shit-kicking Oi! influenced hardcore from Merseyside, Violent Reaction are pure musical thuggery. Think Negative Approach meets Sham 69 and the 4-Skins biting your nose off. They’ve just been snapped up by legendary hardcore label Revelation so expect to be hearing a lot from these boys and their Dr. Marten’s boots this year. – James Sherry
If you would like to contribute tracks next month or write for us then don’t be shy, get in touch.