2 hours ago
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From London
Recommend if you like Devo, Home Front, Snõõper
Up next New album Bridge of Sacrifice released 13 March
Theo Zhykharyev is one of those brilliant weirdos capable of turning wild ideas into reality. Since starting Powerplant as a bedroom recording project in 2017, a couple of years after he left Ukraine to study in London, he has released records built around fizzing electro-punk, dungeon synth and treble-heavy hardcore, concocting Dungeons & Dragons-inspired role-playing adventures to accompany some of them, while slinging visually arresting DIY merch through his Arcane Dynamics label. Yet even coming amid an output this freewheeling, his upcoming new record is full of surprises.
Bridge of Sacrifice is a pivot into black metal, with Zhykharyev’s antic synth melodies and slashing garage-rock guitars now accompanied by eerie screams and drum-machine blastbeats tinny enough to evoke the frost-bitten demos that emerged from Norway in the early 90s. It’s a head-spinning mix carried off with the gleeful energy of a fan indulging their passions – in the video for the title track, a trenchcoat-sporting Zhykharyev plays a Flying V in a creepy cellar, while Hall of Wolves’ squalling riff sounds comically evil – until the song breaks into a wonderfully camp, Cramps-worthy chorus.
In these perma-anxious times, when hope is pretty much limited to placing one’s faith in the least-worst outcome, Zhykharyev’s desire to prioritise fun, earnestness and escapism in his fabulously odd music feels like sweet relief. He knows the stakes better than many – Beautiful Boy, a ripping punk song from 2023’s Grass EP, lamented everything that’s been lost since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is how he’s fighting back. Huw Baines
This week’s best new tracks
Love Rarely – Will
Has math rock ever been this joyful and fun? The Leeds band’s time signatures certainly jump like startled cats, but are paired with super-poppy emo-tinged songcraft and Courtney Levitt’s scream-sung vocals. BBT
Fakemink – Young Millionaire
The most-tipped MC from the UK underground alongside EsDeeKid, Fakemink swaggers at pace through goth guitars and a syncopated beat, with an easy mastery to his flow. BBT
Tama Gucci – Xexe
“I can make it clean or make it dirty,” the NYC musician croons over blown-out bass and industrial grime that heavily suggest the latter – but his fantasy takes a surprisingly tender turn. LS
Chris Forsyth’s What Is Now – Both/And
The Philadelphia guitarist swaps his usual Television-indebted questing riffage for 25 minutes of tingly, exploratory improv alongside double bassist John Moran and drummer Joey Sullivan: imagine a scruffier Necks. (Available only on Bandcamp.) LS
Sluice – Beadie
Justin Morris idealises The Wire’s “McNulty and Beadie” and “Joe Pera and Sarah” of Joe Pera Talks With You on this wistful slowcore contemplation of what it means to stop running and build a life. LS
Thundercat – I Did This to Myself (ft Lil Yachty)
Underpinned by the type of ultra-dexterous jazz-funk bassline to knock pork pie hats off heads at a hundred paces, this is a grin-inducing return for Thundercat, singing of his hopelessness with someone out of his league. BBT
Brown Horse – Twisters
You’d guess that this lot come from Tulsa, Oklahoma, rather than their actual home of Norwich: Twisters is a fantastic bit of country-rock in the vein of Neil Young or Kurt Vile, with gorgeous, circuitous electric guitar. BBT
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