As the Bandcamp page explains, "Media Puzzle (May 7, 1997 – June 22, 2006), foaled in the United States, was an Irish horse best known for his win in the 2002 Melbourne Cup." A few years ago, a group of Australians borrowed that name for their band, whose new album is appropriately titled New Racehorse.
This is one of those situations where the Bandcamp tags are useful. Media Puzzle are a punk band, but that one word doesn't really do the sound justice because they've got a bunch of subgenres tangled up under the hood. Post-punk, art punk, egg punk, synth punk, garage punk, experimental punk — it's all there under the tracklist, and it all makes sense. Their songs are zany and energetic yet artfully sophisticated at the same time, and they all move with a contagious combination of relentless propulsion and nervous energy. A million bands have tried something like this, but not many are laying claim to the sound like Media Puzzle.
New Racehorse dropped last week, and it came to my attention when the see/saw podcast Punk This Week hyped it up.
New Racehorse is out now via Impressed Recordings. Buy it here.
