post punk

Warmduscher: “Midnight Dipper” [Live In Studio 1A]

For ten years, London’s Warmduscher have been tantalizing audiences with their raucous brand of post-punk, weaving throbbing guitar melodies with elaborate stories about ridiculous run-ins with characters of all stripes. It’s like getting a dive bar soundtrack to the best stories you’ve heard from your favorite regular. Despite ten years and five albums under their belt, the quintet has never lost its dirty debonair attitude, and that was manifested for our Studio 1A audience last Thursday ahead of their Levitation show at 13th Floor that night. Even better, they blessed us with this classic from 2019’s Tainted Lunch.

Find the full Studio 1A video at KUTX.org.

CDSM: “Not Another Bleeder”

They say the SXSW trifecta is free food and drinks, seeing one of your favorite bands (current or past) and discovering your next beloved band. I hit that trifecta this year, and it is my absolute pleasure to bring you my new obsession.

Atlanta’s CDSM (short for Celebrity Death Slot Machine) are a rag tag collective possessed by the ghost of Alan Vega and the living spirit of Can, fusing freakish synth-heavy post-punk with dance punk and a touch of goth in a refreshingly atypical manner. Many of their songs sound they fall down a wormhole into a different dimension partway through, while the guitars take a backseat to the crazed, workhorse synths. To top it off, a well-placed growling saxophone makes many a guest appearance.

All the members of CDSM are kinetic on their instruments, rotating duties between every song, but it seems the one constant rule is at least three people need to be on synths at any given time. It’s brilliantly executed controlled chaos. Being part of the CDSM chaos while packed in the small front room of Tweedy’s on a Sunday afternoon, you look around and think, “this is why I leave the house.”

Convertible Hearse is out May 23rd.