S.G.A.T.V.

Reviews

S.G.A.T.V. Collected Recordings 2020–2023 cassette

Complete discography cassette of a solo new wave project from Frauenfeld, Switzerland. Killer songwriting, mostly driven by synth and drum machine. Stylistically S.G.A.T.V. is all over the map. Spastic, eggy punk riffs, catchy dreamy synth pop, danceable club music licks somehow tastefully crafted into driving synth-heavy disco punk songs. Is that a damn thing? Well, it is now thanks to S.G.A.T.V. There’s a slow progression to these songs that reads like storyline-driven songwriting. It adds an epic feeling to these songs, as if they were written to be in some sort of new wave freaker musical. Apparently this discography cassette was released for this solo recording project to do a two-week Euro tour as a full six-piece band. Holy hell, I would absolutely have loved to see how these songs were recreated live. The fine folks over at Chrüsimüsi Records really pulled out all the stops with this release. In my thirty-some years of listening to music on cassettes, I have never seen one with printing in this manner. Black-and-white artwork printed on both sides of the shell of the tape itself in a way that I can’t quite tell how it was done. Intriguing and awesome, which are also adjectives I would use to describe S.G.A.T.V.

S.G.A.T.V. S.G.A.T.V. LP

Synth-driven new wave and dirty punk rock combine to form a sound that skips the day-glo and instead fuels itself on frustration. After spending the past few years creating in Switzerland, S.G.A.T.V. has finally released a full-length LP, and it goes hard. From the opening track “Never Trust the Rich” to the closer “The Twilight of Infinite Loneliness,” you’re in for a fun trip exploring the depth of sole creative Severin Beerli’s feelings about the contemporary world. If the BOOMTOWN RATS mated with the EPOXIES, the progeny might come out sounding something like this.