The New York punk band Dollhouse is a sort of DIY supergroup, though it sure doesn’t sound like one. Hank Wood, leader of local warehouse-show institution Hank Wood And The Hammerheads, and so is Margaret Chardiet, better known as the noise artist Pharmakon. Other members of Dollhouse have spent time in hardcore punk bands like L.O.T.I.O.N. and Mommy. But on their new EP, Dollhouse don’t sound like people who have been been around the world playing music. They sound like kids in a basement.

Dollhouse’s sound is a raw, grimy take on classic hardcore punk. Mike Caiazzo sings everything in a desperate, nasal, vaguely sarcastic bleat, and the rest of the band knocks out claustrophobic riffs with feral glee. The band released a demo in 2019, and they just followed it up yesterday with a hungry, hectic four-song EP called The First Day Of Spring. (One of the songs, “The Shadow Baby,” already appeared in cruder form on the demo, but everything else is now.)

The First Day Of Spring makes for an excellent little bit of nihilistic dirtbag music. (Sample lyric: “How pretty we looked down in Yonkers that day/ Eating speed with a lover was the one thing that made us feel OK.”) But I suggest you proceed directly to the title track, where the band opens up its sound a bit, adding some hazy psychedelia to the mix. Stream the EP below.

The First Day Of Spring is out now on Toxic State Records.