The dissolution of Phone Jerks has created a power vacuum in the budget rock universe which has left many of us lost and confused. How can one get out of bed in the morning knowing that the title of best garage punk band in the world has been vacated? It is at this trying moment that I look in the direction of Indonesia and ask Andresa Nugraha to don the championship belt. His apprenticeship began three years ago in his bedroom with just a Jaguar guitar, a 15-watt amp, a floor-snare, and a tambourine. By the time COVID shut down the world, his one-man-band The Battlebeats had produced an instant classic debut EP and a crackling full-length album that eventually found its way onto the venerable Alien Snatch Records. Andresa has been putting in the work. He's been practicing his guitar, taking his vitamins, exercising his middle finger, and playing his Teengenerate records until his ears bleed. It is time to proclaim The Battlebeats the kings (or is it just king?) of lo-fi trash.
The Battlebeats' latest 7", Get Lost, is its second release on Post Party Depression Records and third and final single of 2022. If you missed out on this year's previous two singles (on Otitis Media and Big Neck Records), you'll definitely want to grab this one since it's the best of the whole lot. Andresa describes Get Lost as a "1000% total fuck-you punk rock record," and he's not wrong. 999% would have been more than enough, but he didn't stop until he'd given that last percent of fuck-yous. Now that's commitment to a craft! On this EP, he tears through four tracks of raw & wild buzz-saw punk rock and roll that scorch with attitude but never fail to get your toes tapping. In particular, the bookend tracks "Get Lost" and "I Don't Like You" are everything that garage punk ought to be. All these tunes rip with pure energy and maximum force. It's wild that someone this young could be so in tune with what made trashed-out budget punk so awesome back in the '90s. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Andresa was able to discover this music and bring it back with a vengeance. Hail to the king!
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