Punk Rock Saturday VIII

This edition of Punk Rock Saturday is strictly for the ladies. By that, we mean that we are featuring three female vocalists whose voices will peel the paint straight off of your fingernails because they ain’t f’ing around.

First up, Naga Brujo is a queer female-fronted punk band from Austin, Texas. The email that they sent us was sparse, which is fine, but it means that we really have to let the music speak for itself. They sent two tracks and when we heard “Black Magick,” it went straight into the Punk Rock Saturday pile. Unfortunately, it does not release until October 29th, so we are going to feed you the fresh, September 9th single, “Sick Sad World.” This one starts with a good ol’ clean-and-pretty-fakeout before slamming into you with a tour bus’ worth of gear. We are talking loud, dirty guitars, with the vocals coming in almost immediately, screaming at you the way that you always hope they will, with that unfiltered, I-am-sick-of-all-this-bullshit charm. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you know that we rarely turn down “oohs” and “ahhs,” and this track has some of those tossed in there as well. Plus, you may have heard us mention that no one writes bridges anymore, but there’s one of those, too, which is pretty rare for this particular style. We receive very few submissions that contain music this raw. Naga Brujo don’t want your f’ing autotune; they don’t wanna see your f’ing VST collection; they just want to plug in their f’ing instruments and tear you a new one with their truth. Punk hasn’t been this real since the ‘80s. -TM

Traveling from Texas to Charlotte, North Carolina, let us introduce you to Occult Fracture, a dynamic mix of old-school metal, gothic punk, and even a couple pinches of grunge. Although Occult Fracture claim to be a hard rock band, there is no denying the straight up punk energy that oozes out of them. And while we have never claimed to be doctors, we assure you that our prognosis is quite accurate. Vocalist Crystal Crosby has an excellent knack for laying down some snarling lines that, at times, will make you envision some parallel universe where the Misfits were fronted by a female. And you will love every f’ing minute of it. Of course, we fully expect you to hit the play button and see for yourselves. Here is their latest release, “Militant,” a song from their EP, Bones and Bonfires:

And, finally, we have YNES, whose energy and sincerity is magnetic and uncommon in this era, to say the least. To sum it up, if the prior generations failed to paint it black, Ynes has bucketloads of black paint that she’ll gleefully throw at you if you get in her way, or if you enjoy that sort of thing. The production level of her tunes has been steadily improving to a “why am I not signed” level and she recently played left field at Glastonbury, so the sky is the limit, it would seem. And rightly so, because between screeching guitars, social commentary, and deeply intimate angst, Ynes has nailed the pop punk thing through the wall and into the flat next door. A standout track is “Used To Be,” a Bright Eyes-tinged ballad on the passing of time, and if raw emotion is what you’re looking for, listen to the demo “All I Do (2016 version).” The vocals scream of a broken soul and star in the making. However, to remain current, you simply must check out “The Daily Male.” -Lewca

Now you can have a Punk Rock Saturday every day of the week! Check out the playlist:

Until next time, stay hydrated, don’t talk to strangers, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even if it only consists of Doritos.