By Over the many years contributor Chris Coplan has been writing for Merry-Go-Round Magazine, readers have no doubt come to learn that he loves his punk music in every shape and form. Last year, Chris launched The Dredge, a newsletter you can subscribe to here, in which he further highlights his ever-expanding collection of hardcore, noise rock, Riot grrrl, Oi!, and more! MGRM is happy to be editing and re-publishing old editions of The Dredge into a regular column you can explore here on the site! Enjoy!
The Overjoyed – PRESSUREPOP
Press X for nostalgic overload.
It’s Christmas 1999, and I hear The Ernies, Goldfinger, The Suicide Machines, and Dead Kennedys as I play TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER on PS1. It’s October 2023, and I’m drinking tea in my apartment while listening to PRESSUREPOP from Athens’ own The Overjoyed. I see the curvature of time and space looping ad infinitum as “So Far, Okay” and “Whimsical” set my fingers’ muscle memory ablaze with their heart-on-sleeve skate punk. With its power-pop overtures, “Blue Flower” almost tosses me back to our shared plane — until “Go Fish!” renders my chronal perceptions asunder with its basic-but-blazing hook and that mighty chorus. I start to see the universe’s true machinations as “Whiner” nearly splits open the power-pop/pop-punk universal paradigm. But then my dalliance with the sonic infrastructure of reality ends with the pure retro bliss of the oversized “If One Green Bottle.” I’m in my kitchen once more, palms a little sweaty, head surging with ideas of cyclical nostalgia and pop-punk’s continued resurgence. I feel my shimmery youth bashing up against my grizzled self, and how the right sounds can nullify everything in the name of some unspeakable catharsis. But mostly, I want to try and do a kickflip in the alley.
Final Thought: The Past and Present are One Big Pop-Punk Jam, 7.2 / 10
RIYL: Speedealer, The Queers, and dropping into Burnside
Get the Album Here
TV Death – WELCOME TO THE FEAST
Horror punk for the mildly cool, mostly discerning crowd.
I became a man because of horror punk. At 18, I had my first proper job and long-distance relationship while obsessing over The Rosedales and Blitzkid. (Perhaps those extra gimmicky bands are why I regard my own manhood with the existential equivalent of “sustained shrug.”) Luckily, England’s own TV Death are scratching those same horror itches without all the zombie references and cheap face paint. OK, “Living Dead,” the opener of last December’s WELCOME TO THE FEAST, leans into lite zombie shtick, but those sweltering psych-rock vibes make it decidedly cooler. Same with “Heads Will Roll” (it could’ve easily been featured in this iconic scene) and “Vultures” (a likely soundtrack for a sitcom about a serial killer). It’s all about balancing the nerdier horror tendencies with something sleek and sexy while honoring the emotional value of exploring death, violence, etc. Even less overt cuts (the excellent “Repo Man”) filter pure aggression and fear through big rock noise. There’s no room for blood and guts or murdered film stars here — just music that stalks its prey with crunchy chords, endless swagger, and a playful approach to darker subject matter. In short, a Halloween party playlist that’ll get you laid and start a fight.
Final Thought: You Don’t Need Blood and Monsters to Embrace the Darkness, 8.4 / 10
RIYL: The Cramps, The Black Angels, and ZOMBI 2
Get the Album Here
Lothario – “Drunk F**k” b/w “Black Hair”
Prepared to be scared and aroused simultaneously
I’ve long celebrated my singular love of Aussie punk music. But if anyone ever asks me again of said fondness (they won’t), I’ll point to Lothario. That would be the solo project of Melbourne’s own Annaliese Redlich, who makes a convincing argument for the Down Under’s domination with a recent single, “Drunk F**k” b/w “Black Hair.” The former repurposes everything scummy, sexy, and super fuzzy about East Coast garage — and promises overt violence as a fully tantric release. The latter, meanwhile, strips out the overt aggression for a track with a Misfits-ian tinge of poppy flirtation (while retaining a manic edge, of course). They’re tunes obsessed with the past and antsy for the future; dripping with sex and passion while remaining perpetually standoffish; and proving as assaultive and threatening as much as they simply toy with and taunt listeners. It’s a short, sharp injection of wonderfully seedy punk, and a proper distillation of the hammer-like wit and oversized charisma emanating from Australia’s punk collective. Now, slam it down like a Fosters, you dummy.
Final Thought: Sex and Violence and Endless Fuzz, 8.4 / 10
RIYL: New York Dolls, Primo!, and puking in nightclubs
Get the Album Here
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