The Bungaboys are back in town ladies and gentlemen with their sixth (if you include 2010’s Juvenile Jungle) long playing record ‘Heavy Male Insecurity’. A mighty slab of wax containing ten tracks that are guaranteed to blow your warped and fragile tiny little minds.
If you’ve yet to experience the delights of Death By Unga Bunga, this all-new album is the perfect opportunity for you to play catch up with one of the most essential bands to ever come out of Norway since Turbonegro. So, why not take a few minutes of your time to ponder what The Hives meets Ash might sound like put through a sonic blender with just a little Thin Lizzy added for the fun of it, and if that ain’t got you eager to hear this record then surely nothing will.
Look, all comparisons/possible influences aside, for those of us who luxuriated in the aural splendour of the band’s awesome 2018 album ‘So Far So Good So Cool’ I suppose you all just want me to cut to the chase and tell you if the guys have managed to top that album? Well, here’s the answer to that million krone question.
Kicking off with the buzzsaw guitar pop of ‘Modern Man’ the immediate thing that strikes me is that there is no real sonic departure for the band with singer Sebastian Ulstad Olsen once again turning in a Robin Zander-esque mix of bark and bite complete with a sugary twist.
‘Egocentric’ is up next and this for me is where ‘Heavy Male Insecurity’ truly hits its stride. Full to bursting with melody the brilliance of the synth pomp breakdown in the middle of the song is worth your admission money alone.
From here on in there’s honestly not a single duff track or off moment to gloat over like some other magazines seem to delight in doing right now. Nope, this record is a ten out of ten set of ten songs. A truly perfect ten if you will, and I dare you to not be singing along with the likes of ‘My Buddy’ (Weezer who?) or ‘Trouble’ (like Sleaford Mods meets the Ramones – believe it) whilst air guitaring like a teenager to one of the album’s lead singles ‘Live Until I Die’ after just a couple of listens.
At 34 minutes long ‘Heavy Male Insecurity’ is all about the quality of tunes on offer, so for those wondering how the Bungaboys might ever top ‘So Far So Good So Cool’ go out get your CD, LP or if you prefer, the download. Then slam the sucker on your stereo and you’ll very soon be listening to the answer.
Norwegian rockers Death By Unga Bunga have announced the release of their new album ‘Heavy Male Insecurity‘, out on 12th February via Jansen Records.
They have now shared ‘Live Until I Die’, the third single taken from the upcoming LP. Following rock banger ‘Not Like The Others‘ and summer stomper ‘Trouble‘, the new track is, according to the band, “about living your life to the fullest/max and not caring too much about making a complete fool of yourself in the process. A pandemic rock anthem about not forgetting that no matter what, you’ll have to live until you die”.
For over a decade, Death By Unga Bunga have supplied their own blend of punchy rock and roll, joyful power pop, and wavy psychedelia that reels you in and doesn’t let go. Formed in Moss, Norway, in 2007 and taking their name from the title of an album by legnedary garage-punk band The Mummies, the band have since released 5 albums and numeours EP and have toured around the world many times over.
With a new album ready to come out next year, listeners should buckle up for rock’n’roll that will fill your soul and music that will allow you forget about the troubles of modern life.
Another week comes to a crashing end and another week of pretty impressive singles get dumped on the RPM Singles Club dancefloor. The finest in wax, digital and video are here to tickle your taste buds and hopefully inspire you into finding your new favourite band. From all corners and alleyways of the world we search
Jenny – ‘Same’ (Wanda Records) When we saw that this band was fronted by LA Drugz Justin Maurer we had to go and crack it open and crank up the volume and from the first clashing chords of the harmonious ‘Stupid Band’ we smiled knowing we were in the presence of a power pop genius. But with five tunes on this release, it could only get better as the dreamy ‘Rose City’ took us in an upwards trajectory as far as moods go towards that layered vocal chorus it was already a must-have new record. ‘Cockroach Tea’ is more power-pop goodies leaning more towards the pop and then the 60s infused acoustic Thunders melodic ‘Alright With Me’ it has a really early Who mod like quality if it’s possible to mash up some Thunders, meets The Who if it’s not possible then it has just been invented.
To round it off there’s the acoustic ‘Song For Sadie’ an old Suspect PArts track but redone here making this a more eclectic offering than Maurers LA Drugz or Suspect Parts but none the less desirable. Don’t dilly dally as they say in the olden days get it here or on one sided vinyl 12″ from Wanda Records Here
Stiff Richards – ‘Going Numb’ (Legless Records) With two albums in the bag Australias Stiff Richards are hot property. If you managed to get a hold of their debut album first time around then you’re good if you managed to pick up a repress then, well-done pat yourself on the back. Then came ‘Dig’ which was also pretty spectacular to be fair and seemingly unable to do any wrong they sneak out this digital single to let us all know they’re still alive and ready to go (hopefully) with album number three due in October it looks like a winter assault from Melbourne’s finest and we can’t get enough from the southern hemisphere who are leading the way with some awesome punk rock.
Death By Unga Bunga – ‘Trouble’ (Jansen Records) The second in a series of new singles set to be released in the coming months. These Norweigan Nutters have got a slice of summer sunshine in the shape of ‘Trouble’ With a great hook over that steady beat its catchier than a global pandemic. once this one lodges itself into your head it’s not coming out and you’ll be muttering the lyrics for days wondering just who the hell it is. That’s Death By Unga Bunga that is and with the news of more to come there is light at the end of this pandemic that’s for sure and it’s coming from Norway and not some lab in England it might be power pop it might be death metal but one thing for sure it’ll have the DBUB logo on it. Get it here
Killer Hearts – ‘Get Some’ (Spaghetty Town Records) Houston we have a problem. We’re not getting enough Rock and Fucking Roll and that’s a problem. What isn’t a problem is when Killer Hearts this is the first glimpse of what’s coming on their long player ‘Skintight Electric’. Lots of loose riffs and oohs and arghs and some of the best sleazy Rock and Roll since Flash Boys and The Adjusters were about. Go Get some high octane Rock and Roll if you know what’s good for you! Buy Here
Guerrilla Teens – ‘Tell Me What To Do’ (Self Release) Another day another Guerrilla Teens record gets released via Bandcamp. This week’s offering is a right thumper by the name of ‘Tell Me What To Do’ backed by ‘Hurry Up’. One is in your face and bouncing on its toes like a young hooligan the other is a more laid back confident slow burner but both ooze quality and will make for awesome tracks when these weekly offerings finally get pressed by some awesome record label onto a slab of plastic to nestle alongside Those Humpers, Lovesores records you’ve got. buy Here
14 Units – ‘Listen’ (Self Release) This is the lockdown-busting debut release from 14 Units who cram five tunes into this debut EP, Five songs about drinking, getting old, murder, regret, not drinking and Brexit (possibly). opening with a neat uptempo twelve-bar with melody and somewhere between Frank Turner vocally and a cowpunk Quo. They get their jig on from a sprightly ‘Can’t Unlike You’ its melodic and uptempo and carries a decent melody. They certainly like to boogie and then they turn down for a more mellow knocking on heavens door progression for ‘Looks Like Rain’ which heads off down a Buffalo Tom wormhole and its probably the best track on offer with the sparse verse with just percussion before the guitars rejoin for the build-up to the chorus which is a catchy sing-along. A decent EP and first offering from 14 Units. Buy Here
Grindhouse – ‘Ramma Damma’ (Tuff Cuff Records) Melbourne must have something in the water because over the last couple of years its turning up some smoking hot records and this summer has seen that continue with those purveyors of pounding Rock and Roll Grindhouse are back in the room with some sweaty flesh pressing high octane Rock and Roll. in the shape of ‘Ramma Damma’ and ‘City High’ with its bruising riff-a-rama and moon the loon like drumming this is the dogs bollocks. If there ever was a sleeve that best described what was going on in the grooves before you ever played it then it’s this bad boy. or should that be bad girl? Rock and Roll can get you high so fuckin high and Grindhouse has the goods baby!
Relentlessly good band and with a new album on the way these are good times for fans of high octane Rock and Fuckin’ Roll Grindhouse Style. Bring it on. Buy it here
Girls In Synthesis – ‘They’re Not Listening’ (Harbinger Sound) Taken from the debut album ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’ this video will guarantee you a head fuck from the Jesus and mary chain feedback and the repetitive pounding to the strobe on the video GIS are fucking with you and that’s always a good thing. turn it up and then some more and get lost in that caustic guitar riff before the bass rumble nails you to the floor. Extreme music for extreme times uncompromising and uncomfortable just like punk rock should be. Like crass for the 2020s the album is due the end of the month. Let’s hope this isn’t the soundtrack to the apocalypse like my neighbours think it is.
Cutters – ‘Cutters’ (Legless Records) Another day another slice of punk rock from Down under. This time labelmates of Stiff Richards Cutters are here with this tasty three-track EP. With howls of feedback and a frantic hoof around your ears, this is relentless. ‘Chewed Up Fortune’ is first up and lead throat Al insists he wants to fuck and sleep in that order I guess. Cutters aren’t fucking around either with their Lo-‘Fi take it to the edge of reason and give it a good fuckin’ thrashing. If you think they would be spent after that opener then you’d obviously be wrong. ‘Robo Debt Blues’ is like Motorhead in their late 70s heyday knocking out some ANL and uk82 anthems and dragging through the Melbourne back streets before dropping them off at the studio. Nice!
But then they get all proggy on the five-minute headfuck frenzy of Twister’. Only yanking your chain the intro is painless before they go fuckin’ ape-like Venom meets the Exploited. Its frantic, Nasty, out of control and fuckin’ champion – Buy it here
Zip Gun Bomber – ‘Paper Aeroplanes EP’ (Rum Bar Records) Outta Cambridge, Massachusetts Zip Gun Bombers have been a thing since 2011 and with this being a revisited yup, you guessed it its a new improved take on that EP. Sure its a Nostalgic trip for that early 90’s era Lookout! Records and all things Green Day. ZipGun Bomber’s ‘Paper Airplanes’ EP embraces and embodies all of that. From the opening of ‘Chase That Feeling’ to the acoustic closing of ‘Paper Airplanes’, its easy on the ear pop-punk where the lyrics are easy to embrace and before you know it you’ll be singing the songs like they’ve always been on your playlist. Well worth checking out if any of the previous words ever meant anything to you jump in and lose yourself in the tunes. Sure there is a familiarity here but it’s only pop-punk Rock and Roll and I like it! Oh and if you like you can download the EP for free or name your price. Pick it up Here
Science Man – ‘Match Game’ (Swimming Faith Records) Punk as fuck – a 7″ single with not 2 or 3 songs on it but nine slabs of uncompromising head mashing industrial hardcore. Science Man from Buffalo NY isn’t here to compromise he’s here to lay out his manifesto and from the opening repetitive thump of ‘Tiny Tower’ it’s game on through the frantic thirty-two seconds of ‘Steal The Street’. Don’t leave the fuckin room for gawds sake.
‘Surge’ sounds like the cassette on a Commadore 64 or finally, the aliens are coming. At times it sounds like out of control chaos but I suspect it’s far from that and the almost prog length of the final track ‘Cursed’ clocking in at almost two minutes is a challenge but industrial hardcore isn’t meant to be easy listening, I’m sure only the hearty punk amongst us will endure or even get this straight off. But its certainly interesting as well as a challenging listen.
S V & the Eruptions – ‘Tomorrows Promises’ (Avenue Recordz) An altogether more sombre and thoughtful SV & The Eruptions, It’s not all cheeky chappies and a bit of slap and tickle it can’t be. Here SV busts out a mid-paced thoughtful number with a big catchy chorus that drops back into the muted guitar work and into another tuneful verse. A most excellent twist and shows how versatile and downright bloody good these gents are. I have told him myself the tunes you aren’t expecting are some of his best work and this will grow and grow and in time will be one of those late in the set anthems you look forward to. Excellent song with great vocals.
Ryan Hamilton & Kay Hanley – ‘Oh No’ This dropped last minute so we thought we’d include it in the singles Club because we love some Ryan Hamilton.
The Fuzzstainz – ‘Sick! Sick! Sick!'(Beluga Records) How could we sign off this week’s singles Club without dropping in on Scandinavia Again. Always reliable, Always churning out quality Rock and Roll from all the corners of the world Beluga Records have released this banging 7″ platter with two tracks of sizzling Garage Punk courtesy of The Fuzzstainz. The lead track is sick – no it literally is sick! those guitars sound like razor blades trying to cut through some barbed wire. But it’s catchy and easy to sing along to but the best is yet to come in the shape of ‘Thinkin’ ‘Bout Me’ again the same standards are set but with added floor tom and is that a buzzsaw? Gawd knows but its got swagger and I love it. Pick it up here
With RPM barely a month old there is obviously a huge stash of great music already released in 2018 that we’d never had the chance to share with you guys, until now!
The bizarrely named Death By Unga Bunga and their fifth studio album ‘So Far So Good So Cool’ is about as perfect a place as any to start though as having just wowed audiences across the UK in support of Irish rockers Ash we thought it was about time you also discovered why this 5 piece from Norway were handpicked by Tim Wheeler and Co out of relative obscurity to secure such a prestigious slot.
Originally released back in April of this year I first got to hear about the band when a Facebook mate of mine sent me a link to the total nerdgasm that is the video to their track ‘Into The Night ‘with a note that simply said “this is your new favourite band.”
Well that infectious slab of powerpop was certainly enough to grab my attention and the fact that the band also just happened to look like the bastard sons of Biff Malibu only helped to increase my interest. The real game changer happened just before ‘So Far So Good So Cool’ was finally due to hit the streets though when the guys dropped the second video from the record, the superb ‘Soldier’, a song so catchy I just had to get my shots at my local rock ‘n’ roll doctor and experience the full majesty of Death By Unga Bunga.
Having lived with this record (it’s also out on CD and download) for nearly six months there is rarely a day that goes by when ‘So Far So Good So Cool’ isn’t actually on my stereo, as the 11 tracker (note 2 tracks are quirky incidental interludes) is simply one of the best powerpop records you will hear anywhere this year.
With a particular penchant for writing instantly memorable 3:30 minute pop/rock tunes just like say Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, The Knack and yes, their UK touring buddies Ash what Death By Unga Bunga do ever so well is make their own particular brand of powerpop sound totally unique to them, something I haven’t really felt since the heady days of when Scandinavia was seducing my eardrums at an alarming rate with genre defining bands such as Gluecifer, Division of Laura Lee and Randy.
It’s simply impossible to pick a stand out track amongst the 9 equally brilliant tracks captured within the all killer no filler grooves of ‘So Far So Good So Cool’ but ‘Boys’ really is up there with the very best hard rock tracks released this year and in ‘So Cool’ the Bunga boys give Turbonegro a lesson in how to use synths without having to sound like Van Halen circa ‘1984’.
‘So Far So Good So Cool’ is quite simply essential listening for anyone who has albums by the likes of Fuzzbubble, Sugarbomb and The Semantics within their collection. I’m just gutted I didn’t get a chance hear this record played live.
The Bungaboys are back in town ladies and gentlemen with their sixth (if you include 2010’s Juvenile Jungle) long playing record ‘Heavy Male Insecurity’. A mighty slab of wax containing ten tracks that are guaranteed to blow your warped and fragile tiny little minds.
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