Goggs, “Pre-Strike Sweep” (In The Red, 2018)Second album from this side project featuring Ty Segall and ex-Ex-Cult singer Chris Shaw. This rocks with the same dynamic-but-mid-range-thick-shock-chamber guitar-bass-drums wall-bang attack, but with even better tuneage in a melodic early-L.A.-hardcore vein (think Adolescents).Try A/1, A/410/18/18
Fall, “This Nation’s Saving Grace” (Beggar’s Banquet, 1985)The “Brix era” begins in earnest here, and it’s as great as their earlier stuff, but different. Still the same sinuous, barreling urban ramble-billy with cubist power-chord propulsion, but the old gargoyle monochrome now splashed with odd color. It would be “pop” if the context wasn’t as looking-glass-landscape […]
Fastbacks, “The Question Is No” (SubPop, 1992; original releases 1980-92)Pioneering Seattle punk combo’s classic years, in singles. The sound is a clattering melodic rush firmly rooted in the Buzzcocks. The sensibility is a kind of suburban bedroom lyricism that foreshadows Rose Melberg, Frankie Cosmos and many more.Try 2, 7, 10, 124/17/16
Fear, “The Record” (Slash, 1982)Fear could never happen now, that’s for sure. They went out of their way to act like the biggest assholes imaginable, and without the saving posture of “just kidding” or “I’m really a nice guy” that might have palliated the offense. Their saving graces were (1) an uncompromising nihilism that played […]
Feels, “Postearth” (Wichita, 2019)Followup to their debut (I think) on Castle Face is even better. Where others draw the template for their revived modular/heavy/melodic postpunkish alternarock stylings from the ‘90s “brand,” this group goes further to the subgenre’s late-‘80s origins, when it was still forming and therefore more varied, volatile, and arresting. Songs speed up […]
Fefe Dobson, “Fefe Dobson” (Island, 2004)Canadian teen-pop-punk dynamo’s debut, in the mold of her countrywoman Avril Lavigne, but with a bouncier bubblegum twist to the sneer. The many differet emotions behind the sound of a slammed locker echoing down the hallway are rendered her with an unparalleled complexity and spirit.Try 1, 2, 4 for starters4/7/19
Felt, “Absolute Classic Masterpieces” (Cherry Red, 1992; original releases 1979-85)Felt were one of the most fascinating, elusive groups in U.K. post-punk. Their thing was gauzy, shimmering strum-pop over which the guitarist unspooled Tom Verlaine-like explorations. In fact, Felt were kind of like what Television might have turned out like if they’d lived in a tiny […]
Geraldine Fibbers, “Butch” (Virgin, 1997)Second album from ex-LA postpunk/noise-rock folks playing a hybrid of acid-tinged, melancholy country à la Gram Parsons and pummeling bar-punk somewhere between X and L7, in the SoCal style. Beautiful stuff; you can almost taste the yearning rising through the freeway smog and the Pacific salt in the air.Try 1, 5, […]
The Fight, “Nothing New Since Rock And Roll” (repossession, 2004)Female-fronted pop-punk from the UK. What made them stand way ahead of their early ‘00s pack was that the emphasis was on the “punk” part, with a distinctively British pissed-off attack (think Stiff Little Fingers) and a sense of ferocious pressure pushing back against social constraints […]
Figures of Light, “Drop Dead” (Norton, 2011)Veterans of garage-punk titans like the Gories, Dirt-bombs, A-Bones, etc., get together for a rattling, rumbling, pummeling blowout of Stooges/Velvet Underground-style rock and roll grooves, with acerbically funny lyrics.Try A/1, A/2, A/6, B/2, B/ 61/29/12