Hardcore band Las Otras from Barcelona. Courtesy of åÁEstÌÁ Pasando!

As much as I try to branch out into different genres of music, I know I’m definitely guilty of settling into a certain niche. At the moment, I’m very much pop and R&B-oriented but I never want to close myself off to other types of music. That’s why I took some time this week to especially find bands in genres outside of my knowledge of music. I’m definitely out of my element when it comes to hardcore or punk or anything with lots of scream-singing and distorted guitars but I am willing to give anything and everything a proper go. Crossing geographic and language barriers, here are five all-female bands that are objectively really cool and definitely punk.

1. x1955x (Peru)

This four-piece band from Lima is not only all-female but also all-punk. Their debut EP, Tomar Parte, came out just last year and they’ve only been around since 2012 so they’re fairly new. Not only are they hardcore in their music, they’re also hardcore in their feminism.

2. Las Otras (Spain)

“Las Otras” is Spanish for “The Others” or “Others”. I’ve never taken Spanish so naturally I had to look this up and found that “otro” is the masculine form. So these four women had taken the feminine form of this word maybe to describe themselves but perhaps also to describe other women who may also feel like they’re part of the fringes as well. It’s no surprise from this band whose four members are self-described anarchists and feminists. They have two albums out on their Bandcamp and have played numerous shows around their hometown of Barcelona. This year, they’ll be playing at punk festival ScumFest in South London, but any North American appearances have yet to be announced.

3. The Golfas (Argentina)

From Buenos Aires, this three-piece band is a bit more post-punk than hardcore and they sing in English so their lyrics are more discernible. “Golfa” is not a nice word for a lady so their name is a reclamation. They haven’t released a full album yet or even an EP but if you’re ever in Buenos Aires, you can catch one of their shows there.

4. Horregias (Chile)

Their debut album, Pasarela Fracaso, came out in 2011 and is available for download on their Soundcloud. Check them out if ever you’re in Santiago because they seem like three very cool women. Their music is super dance-able and relatable (if you understand Spanish).

5. Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation (Japan)

The four members of this band have to be the most punk because firstly, their website is still hosted by GeoCities and secondly, even though their band name is in English, it makes absolutely no sense and that’s pretty hardcore. So to save you the trouble, I looked up these words and their definitions are as follows: “flagitious” means “atrociously wicked”, “idiosyncrasy” means “thoughts or behaviors particular to an individual”, and “dilapidation” means “the state of being in ruins”. So altogether…the band name still doesn’t make any sense but it doesn’t even matter because their music will cause extreme head-banging and moshing. Their song “Evacuation”, on the split with Insect Warfare, is quite literally loud screeching but the guitars and drumming are insanely good.