Cop City / Chill Pillars – Gift Shop 7″ (Hozac)
The oddball vibe within the grooves of this 45 instantly pull you into a bizarro world where warbling effects-laden guitar and chanted vocals might be considered acceptable entertainment. Living up to the weirdness of their moniker, these wack Floridians continue to amaze.

Endless Bummer – Ripper Current EP 7″ (In The Red)
Four bare knuckled blasts from the most excellent Permanent Records folks and a Spit. This LA band with the ultimate SoCal name offers up a version of bitter garage punk that’s no fun and fun at the same time, perfectly wrapped up with a funny/not funny cover.

Life Stinks – Shadow on the Wall 7″ (Total Punk)
Stripped down no-frills downer punk with a less-than-positive attitude. Their snarl is evident, yet they don’t give a fuck about getting overly worked up about it. Endlessly inspiring negativity in two parts. Brilliant.

Magic Shadows – Sunburned Mind 7″ (Magic Shadows)
The wave of punk-infused psychedelia continues. Sex Church, Destruction Unit, Human Eye, etc — there’s no shortage of killer bands swirling loud tranced out guitar around mind expanding riffs. And if that sort of thing is your bag, you gotta check out these Canadians’ echoey barrage of scorching guitar stomp. Read more here.

Optional Body – Surviving Avalanches 7″ (25 Diamond)
As a huge fan of The VSS and the first few Year Future records, my ears have been craving some Sonny Kay-style jams for a number of years now. This killer pair of songs has his distinct yelp over a wash of doomed postpunk guitar — the ingredients of a classic.

Schonwald – Mercurial 7″ (Hozac)
The second the needle hits this record, a wave of atmospheric synth washes over you — a thrilling mix of ghostly vocals flowing over sustained chillwave and thin beats. A Flock of Seagulls from hell. This Italian duo’s second LP (out soon on Hozac) will be on the must-hear list for 2014.

Scorpion Violente – The Rapist 12″ EP (Teenage Menopause)
Similar to The Dreams, another French duo with repetitive, droning vocals and noise over cheap drum machines, Scorpion Violente ups the menace with minimalist disco dirges that are seedier than a Tijuana back alley at 3am —something like what a Brainbombs dance album might sound like. Their cover of The Sonics’ “Strychnine” on this record is mystifying and fascinating at the same time. Even the sleeve is morbidly unsettling and a brilliantly provocative image for setting a scene.

The Soupcans – Parasite Brain 7″ EP (Telephone Explosion/JKSHK)
If you aren’t acquainted with Toronto’s Soupcans yet, grab this 6-song EP and prepare to be atomized. Breathing new spastic life into noise punk, their brand of racket is as warped and wild as it gets. If you’ve subjected yourself to last year’s killer Good Feelings record, get ready for more righteous shocks to the system.

Straight Arrows – Never Enough 7″ (Hozac)
A-side drops bigger than life rubbery riffs that pull you in with a surge of buzzsaw guitar, while the B-side rounds out the fun with a catchy garage punk punch to the face. These Aussies have been making big waves stateside and here are two more great reasons why.

Verglas – Excommunion 7″ EP (Found Dead)
Trve to form, the 4 songs of black metal delight on this Montreal band’s vinyl debut are recorded thinly and tinny, but even that slipshod production can’t keep the fury of Veglas from shining through. Mixing the pained shrieks and buzz of standard issue isolationist black metal with the articulation of D-beat hardcore and galloping thrash metal makes this band a pleasantly aggressive anomaly in an oversaturated musical form.