Cel Ray - Cel Rayzer

Absurdity and punk rock go together like celery and tonic water. That is to say, they are two acquired tastes that are even better together, because they push out the squares and cater to the real freaks. That spirit has driven Chicago’s Cel Ray from the very beginning.

Springing to life with their debut EP in 2023, the Chicago four-piece charted a path through twitchy, absurdist post-punk that fell somewhere between The Minneapolis Uranium Club and The B-52s.

Now, after years of waiting for a proper full-length, Cel Ray has joined the illustrious noisenicks at Exploding In Sound to release Cel Rayzer, a record that, as its name subtly implies, is sharper and more acerbic than anything Cel Ray’s done before. What makes Cel Rayzer so impactful is the inability to pin it down. Yes, it’s garage punk; yes it’s egg-punk; yes it’s post-punk, but it’s beholden to none of those things. This is what makes Cel Rayzer such a thrill; Just when you think you have the band figured out, they transform into something else so effortlessly, you’re left wondering how they even pulled it off.