12XU

08/24/2026

The Hobknobs on tour this autumn

08/23/2026

08/20/2026

I've got a new show coming your way this Friday, with 16 tracks in total, 15 of which are either recent, brand new, or forthcoming releases. Expect to hear 3 tracks from the new Fupper album, plus Dragged Up, Flowers Must Die, Blind Yeo, Benedict Drew, Water Damage, Grey Malkin, Heikki Ruokangas, Ondness, Believe, Vellocet Roll, Hans Castrup & James Hill, and Psychic Lemon.

Join me on internet station CRMK this Friday at 8pm (UK) if you want to treat your ears to a good night.

Cardinal Fuzz 12XU Wrong Speed Records Ramble Records Rocket Recordings Discrepant Les Disques Bongo Joe

08/07/2026

"It's among the fastest, noisiest Water Damage tracks to date. I don't know how anyone could keep that intensely physical drumbeat going for almost 20 minutes, but I love the sound of them going full Boredoms here."

Today, on my birthday, God and 12XU have smiled upon me by granting me news of a new Water Damage album. The large Austin band, masters of rhythm, drone, and repetition, are constantly kicking out fresh live recordings, and they seem to drop a studio album each year. But their prolific status doesn....

08/07/2026

5 track album

08/07/2026

coming October 23 :

Water Damage - 'Repair' 2XLP (12XU 174-1)

preorder : https://waterdamage12xu.bandcamp.com/album/repair

http://12xu.bigcartel.com/product/water-damage-repair-2xlp-12xu-174-1

(UK/EU orders : cful.bandcamp.com)

Water Damage were always destined to be veterans. It’s not only that its members are themselves veterans of a daunting roll call of groups, but that this particular juggernaut was born to birth a solid-to-the-core set of dispatches. The four performances that make up Repair rank among their best. The m.o. of listing their track titles “Reel 45,” “Reel 38,” etc. now registers as a clearsighted, long-game approach and a wise sidestepping to the nuisance and potential for distraction of giving these workouts programmatic titles. They’ll tell us the order in which they were laid down, but what else do you really need to know in advance?

Because “in advance” with Water Damage seems largely irrelevant. It’s what happens when the sticks are clicked and the band lurches into gear, whether ten players or twice that number. In the case of Repair, it’s an even ten plus simpatico pals Wendy Eisenberg and Ricardo Dias Gomes.

Repair what? Repair to where? Reel 45 charges out of the gate at what you might imagine to be peak intensity. But not yet. A frenetic beating of the traps—no slow burn here—becomes a mutated thrash beat and summons Mari Maurice’s Shepard tone-ish climb cymbals swell,

Everybody join in, safe to call it one of the group’s new high water marks. Also sounds like they’ve been doing cardio. Where do you go after that? Reel 38 is boppy garage rock with sneaky cellular subdivision, a splinter group let loose inside the broader band. Fiddle appropriately takes the wheel. Reel 43 tips its hat to the Stooges’ “Down On The Street,” sharpening that guitar msound and sounding awfully spry in the process—a big dog of a band mauling a classic of swagger. Reel 41 refocuses to some kind of Water Damage golden mean, sad that an LP sideM can’t last a full hour. I’m left readier than ever to see these geniuses again shoehorn themselves onto a stage. - David Grubbs

Water Damage is:
Mari Maurice, Thor Harris, Jonathan Horne, Nate Cross, Danielle Hills, George Dishner, Travis Austin, Mike Kanin, Greg Piwonka, and Jeff Piwonka.

Special Guests:
Ricardo Dias Gomes: Electronics on Reel 45, 38 & 31. Electric Bass on Reel 43.
Wendy Eisenberg: Electric Guitar on Reel 45, 38, 43 & 31.

Engineered by Max Deems at Diseased Tapes Billion Dollar Studio.
Mixed by Travis Austin
Mastered by Chris Hardman
Art & Design by Greg Piwonka

fig 2 band photo : Angela Betancourt

08/07/2026

Water Damage - "Reel 45"

from 'Repair', out October 23

from the album Repair