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Hi fellow garage punkers
I've recently started my own blog with the single purpose of spreading the word about Danish underground artists: http://www.vortexas.wordpress.com
(I've also recently purchased a tape duplicator, so I intend to start releasing cassettes this summer and, if I can muster the cash, perhaps a couple of 7"'s here and there. So if any of you have any material, you'd like released, let me have a listen. Send it to me on vortexasdenmark@gmail.com)
In that connection, since I am a huge fan of all things garage, I've put together a list of recommendable Danish garage punk, that I hope you'll enjoy. Check my blog from time to time for any updates on new garage/punk/lo-fi/experimenetal music from Denmark, if you're into that sort.
History of Danish garage:
Denmark does, sadly, not have a huge tradition for garage rock like for instance our Scandinavian brothers Finland and Sweden. The 60's didn't have a lot of Nuggets-worthy bands (though I intend to make a mixtape/playlist on the blog of my favorites at some point, might post it in this thread as well.) Despite record labels like Bad Afro Records that release almost exclusively garage and psych (they've released mostly international artists due to the lack of Danish bands in that field), and a festival dedicated to genre like Gutter Island, we, in fact, have barely had any garage bands at all.
It wasn't until the band Baby Woodrose got critical acclaim and received the prestigious P3 Guld Award that the genre got any notable press. Luckily, we've had a minor revolution in Danish alternative music, and bands have an increasingly international outlook, looking elsewhere than the Danish canon of music for inspiration. This has produced a ton of good bands, and I'm sure a lot of you have heard of the Mayhem scene that has produced excellent post-punk and punk-related bands such as Iceage, Lower, Vår, Hand Of Dust & more. A few garage bands have also popped up along side the Mayhem scene, though no regional scenes have arisen, so you have to be in the know to... well, know... where to look for Danish garage punk.
Not included on this list:
Since it's a recommendation thread, it's very, very subjective. I'm personally way into more primitive, lo-fi and noisy garage punk. That would be stuff like Oblivians, Gories, The Mummies, Reatards... you know, that sort. That and compilations of raw obscurities such as Teenage Shutdown and Back From The Grave. I simply I find them the most entertaining and interesting to listen to. I'm of the opinion that garage punk/garage rock bands that are too well-polished production-wise sort of miss the point, unless it's done tastefully like Jack White and his knack for adding just the right amount of dirt to his otherwise well-produced analog(!) recordings.
Therefore I've made the choice to omit a few, otherwise internationally more well-known bands that are widely considered "garage". I've here listed them here for you to explore, if you'd like them for the same reason I dislike them:
Thee Attacks - Run of the mill The Hives copycats. The lead singer sounds like he's in a cover band... you know, the sort that could play at your uncle's 50th birthday. He sings with the forced swagger of the typical cock rock frontman, the type who thinks drinking Jack Daniels on stage "is totally rock'n'roll." (I don't know these guys personally, though, they're probably cool)
The Blue Van - About the same reasons as Thee Attacks. Sounds terribly forced, conjuring rock'n'roll klichés by the dozen.
Baby Woodrose - Although they are considered seminal in a Danish garage context, there's something about them I'm not really feeling. They have some good, almost Dirtbombs-esque moments (Lorenzo Woodrose, the lead singer, does sound a bit like Mick Collins), especially on their first couple of albums. But their later mixture of garage and psych falls kinda flat to me, at least I think it misses some of the energy.
The Defectors - Again, feels kinda flat. The fuzz doesn't want to bite me like friggin' piranhas like I like it. Production is way too clean and boring, no punch whatsoever.
The List:
Fright Eye - Fright Eye is a straight-forward, no-nonsense, high-energy and noisy-as-fuck garage punk band. The melodies are catchy - heck, almost anthemic - the production is trashy, but exciting. Highly recommendable.
https://soundcloud.com/fright-eye
https://www.facebook.com/FrightEye?fref=ts
Yung - Not a full-blown garage punk band. Some songs on their recent 16-track for instance are purely acoustic. Overall extremely good though. Almost a 90's grungy vibe to it, but with lo-fi production, bringing Ty Segall anno Melted (his best album imo) to mind.
https://soundcloud.com/mastermindrec/yung-miss-that-tree-mrsp16
http://shordwoodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-cassette
The Felines - The Felines have a more retro-garage kinda sound, often using the 12 bar blues as a template. They also throw in flourishes of girl group, especially in their harmonies, and of course the almost obligatory single surf rock/psychobilly inspired instrumental!
https://www.facebook.com/thefelines/app_178091127385
Mongrels - Well, I play garage punk myself (that's why I entered this site in the first place) and I would be pretty dumb to not consider my own music recommendable, right? I don't have an agenda here, pinky promise. We have a bandcamp with crude, sucky (and not in the good way, sadly) recordings recorded with a single, cheap condenser microphone in the middle of the room. The recordings are going to be released them as a tape on my Vortexas label, and I'm going to run them through my tape recorder to give them some much-needed tape distortion and compression for some more punch.
http://mongrels.bandcamp.com/
....more to come!
