New LP — June 26, 2026
Devil's Bowl
Unlettered
Devil's Bowl finds Unlettered pushing outward with a tense post-punk record shaped by pressure, structure, and cultural unease.
New LP — June 26, 2026
Unlettered
Devil's Bowl finds Unlettered pushing outward with a tense post-punk record shaped by pressure, structure, and cultural unease.
Unlettered is a post-punk project led by multi-instrumentalist Mike Knowlton, a lifelong musician with roots in the 90s NYC experimental music scene. Knowlton previously was a member of Gapeseed and is also currently in Poem Rocket. With Unlettered he draws on an unholy trinity of influences — Polvo, Sonic Youth, and Lungfish — crafting detuned, driving post-punk anthems recorded at his studio in Englewood, Florida.
Devil's Bowl, the project's second LP, is its most outward-facing work. Co-lyricist and vocalist Kelly Grimm returns alongside Knowlton as the pair continue mapping a world where meaning is disposable, performance has replaced authenticity, and the ground itself feels provisional.
Their 2024 debut LP Five Mile Point received widespread critical praise, landing on Ghettoblaster Magazine's Best of 2024 list and earning strong notices from Daily Vault, Big Takeover, Rosy Overdrive, and others.
Unlettered also contributed two songs, "Always Sunday" and "Eat Me to the Core" to the compilation Meat Whiplash Collected/Contextualized on Silver Girl Records.
RIYL: Fontaines D.C. · Lungfish · Polvo · Shame · Sonic Youth · Squid · Unwound
"Big, booming rock that favors slow clobbering riffs and minor keys — hypnotic and ominous."
Bandcamp New & Notable"Like all good music, you can't pigeonhole what Unlettered does — brilliant swirls and spirals between sonic worlds."
Big Takeover"On Five Mile Point the chaos is controlled with prowess and that's something that's not easily done. For Unlettered, it seems much too easy. Unlettered is not to be fucked with."
Ghettoblaster — Best of 2024"Soundtracked by music that's straight-up suffocating, threatening to consume and overwhelm either of the stoic bandleaders at any moment."
Rosy Overdrive"They have that rare thing: a private logic that's easy to get lost in."
Razorcake"Intriguing, challenging and immersive."
Punk Rock Philosophy"I like it honestly...Sounds a lot like something Numero would reissue in their tireless campaign to shine up any obscure '90s emo/indie artifact, but Unlettered are happening in the present tense."
Yellowgreenred"Disorienting riffs bend and break in the far off distance...dark, distorted."
Austin Town Hall"Fans of legends like Polvo, Indian Summer, Bitch Magnet, Big Black, Don Caballero, or even Drive Like Jehu will devour these songs with a ferocious appetite."
Daily Vault"A time box of sonic explosions, a musical box of unease and bewildered fuzz bass whimsy."
Monolith Cocktail