Water Machine - God Park [LP]

Flooding out of Glasgow in 2022, Water Machine quickly gained a reputation for their weird and wonky art-punk, winning hearts with sing-along songs about dogs, struggling artists and the housing crisis. The world of Water Machine is a swirling eddy of melodic bass lines and volatile guitar sliding between jazz chords and punk riffs, all the while narrated by sardonic social commentary and silly stories. Driving rhythms thumped out on a sparse kit with cowbell flourishes are reminiscent of Beat Happening and The Jesus and Mary Chain, while cherubic vocal and violin harmonies hint at country and folk influences. A band with pop sensibilities and indignant punk urgency, these oddballs dart from sweet C86 to spiky post-punk, often within a single song. Their debut LP God Park takes disparate influences and distils the disjointed into something new. Taking influence from everywhere - from Lili PUT to The Pastels - the tunes are always on the verge of falling apart or breaking down. Whether it's the bubblegum pop of "Tiffany" or the country-punk bait and switch that is "Hando", their frantic genre-hopping is always underpinned with anarchic joy.