Bottlecock Made A Dirty Record

Brisbane's purveyors of dirty grunge pop Bottlecock have been around for a while without gaining the kind of respect they probably deserve, although they don't really care what people think either way. They are named Bottlecock after all. However some people have been taking notice - the band reached the 7th spot on 4ZZZ's Hot 100 for 2014 with their song 'Girt By Dickheads' - a great title if I've ever heard one.



It's taken some time, but they finally have an album for us, conveniently named Record. It's exactly as you would expect - obnoxious, loud and scuzzy as hell. Although knowing Josh's adamant statement that no songs should really exceed two minutes, opening the album with 7 1/2 minute 'Bad News' is a strong indication that they don't even give a shit about their own convictions. Sell out? Hardly. Bottlecock have always maintained a mainline into the veins of early Magic Dirt and are unashamed of this. Shit, 'Dumbledore' goes for twelve fucking minutes! Don't worry, the punch is still as deadly as the slow kill - the darkly sinuous 'Caan't' slinks up before ripping your face off; 'Intro' is a thirty second caterwaul that bleeds into the growling march of 'I Wanna See Your Insides'. 'Karaoke Quickie' is a downer deadbeat 'Kool Thing'. They even have a downbeat, "quieter" number in closer 'Mopey'. Solid all round bang up job, cocks.



They have played a number of Sonic Masala shows in the past, and I'm also happy to announce that Bottlecock will be playing our 2nd Sonic Masala Festival on Saturday March 14. Bring on the bottles and the cock.

Do You Believe in Nana Vigilante?

Sometimes living in a uppity little city can get you down. Even - especially - when you get labelled the 'trendiest' uppity little city in the whole uppity little country. But no matter how many boutique beer bars try to charge you an hours wage for a drink or inner-city unit dwellers demand live music venues be shut down, you have to remember that it's all just worthless chatter, that there's no reason to let it all put the hoodoo on you. The beauty of this city is that there's still something under the chatter - little voices, little voices with something to say.

And if the city gets you down, at least you know there'll be people down there with you; people who aren't trying to squeeze you for cool.

I first heard Nana Vigilante on 4ZzZ (saviour of Brisbane's little voices). I was stunned and shaken - it was the most original thing I'd heard for a very long time... and it was from Brisbane. There are ideas here, fully realised and otherwise. There are cracks in the floorboards and stares, vacant and brooding. It is pointed and self-aware and sometimes nonchalant. It is the sound of people making sounds because people must make sounds. Call it Hip-hop if you will. Call it experimental. Nana Vigilante will still call it as they see it.



See Nana Vigilante play this Friday (28 Feb) at a Sonic Masala presents show at the Waiting Room with Galapogos and BARGE with an antenna on it. Watch their mate-made video below.

Yawning Without Guilt

Big Yawn are a duo out of Melbourne that delve deep into the darker, inflamed realms of electronic sentience. Their Hash Matters/Lowlite 7" (out now through Fallopian Tunes) is crafted to find the holes in the digital age and plug them with jagged ephemera and pummelling hypnosis. The band call themselves "electronic/doof/industrial/miscellaneous" - that should placate the pigeonholers, at least until they take a tab of Big Yawn. It becomes indecipherable static thereafter, of course - after all, the rest is noise. Or is it? It's the febrile mix of slight, layered abrasion and percussive asphyxiation that makes Big Yawn anything but.

Big Yawn are currently in Brisbane, having played a famed Real Bad show out at Moorooka on Sunday (alongside the likes of X In O, Screaming Match and Slurpee). Tonight they are playing at The Hideaway for Guilt Retreat #4, a 4ZZZ connected show (presented by Makeda from A Guilt/All Day Breakfast Enterprises, which is also featuring Sky Needle/6majik9's Michael Donnelly and the Fun Police DJs (AKA Brainbeau), so you know it will be sensational). You can buy Hash Matters/Lowlite here.

Happyfest Playlist

I haven't spoken much about Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ other than in passing, but suffice to say it is the only way to hear decent music on this side of the world on the radio (of course you could stream WFMU, but I like my wireless). Anyway, they have a mega old transmitter of death, it's on its last legs, and the station has been raising funds (aiming for around $30 000) to replace it. Good news is they have almost done it. Better news, you can help get em over the line by going to a cool boutique festival they are putting on this Saturday, at the last show at the sadly defunct(ing) Woodland. The festival's called Happyfest, and the lineup is pretty radtacular. As far as outside bands go we have Lost Animal (Melb), Kirin J Callinan (Syd) and Ghastly Spats (Syd), with the local contingent led by Blank Realm, Feathers, Dreamtime, Martyr Privates, Nite Fields, Per Purpose, Cannon, Outerwaves, The M-Humm...Jesus tittyfucking! For a palty $20 you can be there, have the time of your life, see off Woodland in style, and help save your local musical taskmasters. Win-win, kids. And if THAT doesn't win you over, check out this lil playlist. See you there punks.

Blank Realm - Full Moon Door
Feathers - Wild Horse Mountain
Dreamtime - Robe
Nite Fields - Come Down