Bargain On Rangda Melts

Rangda are back! The face-melting trio (Comets On Fire/Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny, Sun City Girls' Sir Richard Bishop, drummer extraordinaire Chris Corsano) are releasing another slab of frenetic, feverish instrumental rock February next year in The Heretic's Bargain (again through Drag City), and 'To Melt The Moon' is the first salvo. It's a warped Mexican Western jam smothered in macho muscularity, stretched sinew and spasmodic Spaghetti stand-offs. Whenever these guys get in the ring, tightly calibrated carnage ensues. The album has a song called 'Spiro Agnew' and the closing track goes for nineteen minutes. Mind blown already! There is no one out there like this. Pre-order the record here.

Thieving These Golden Beaches

Aussie ex-pat Michael Beach never sits still, whether it be with the excellent Colossal Yes, his rock band Electric Jellyfish (which left San Fran earlier this year to alight on these southern shores, but didn't make it up to Queensland unfortunately, even though I pleaded), and of course his stellar solo gear. His latest offering though, Golden Theft (out on Twin Lakes Records), is the best thing he has put together. If you can't get into opening track 'The Exhilarating Rise', then you are dead inside (and to me). Seriously, I listened to this track incessantly for a week before I even took in the rest of the album. Rest assured the remainder is just as golden. Teaming up with drummer Utrillo Kushner (Comets On Fire), recorded by the idiosyncratic Phil Manley and mastered by Bob Weston, Golden Theft is a rollicking rustic pastiche pulse through raucous rambles and frayed flake-outs. Beach is alienated yet sane, voicing his internal concerns with passion, and he's never sounded better.

Beach has been playing some excellent shows of late with the likes of Estrogen Highs and Scout Niblett, and there are a few more on the horizon (one at the Hemlock Tavern with MV & EE on the 21st is of particular merit). If you haven't checked him out yet, do the whole world a favour and do so - it'll change your mind for the better. Word is he will be out this way again this year as part of Newcastle's excellent Sound Summit in November (which already includes the likes of Oval, Tyvek, Heatsick, Ooga Boogas, Bushwalking, Unity Floors, Cured Pink - the list goes on and on...) so hopefully he will venture north this time. I might see if he'd be keen for a Sonic Masala show? You can buy Golden Theft in limited edition vinyl here.

In Between Mountains & Valleys Lies The Beach

Displaced Aussie Michael Beach had a nice little 7" out at the dawn of the year, A Horse (have a read and listen here). I really liked it. Well, he is releasing a mini-album to coincide with his forthcoming US tour, and it's the best thing he's done yet. Mountains + Valleys (through Spectacular Commodity and Twin Lakes) is a ballsy and accomplished collection of rustic rust, and it sounds amazing. This could do with the people he has roped in to help out - drummer Utrillo Kushner (Comets On Fire), Raymond Raposa (Castanets) on guitar and vocals, and Trans Am’s Phil Manley on the desk (Wooden Shjips and Barn Owl have enlisted his services in the past), Mountains + Valleys traverses darker terrain with more bluster than before, and is all the better because of it.


There are only 100 copies of these suckers (possibly much, much less), so try grab one here. Otherwise head here to get the digital. Its fantastic stuff. Reminds me of Jim Ward's or Jason Molina's solo stuff, but with Sonic Youth tracks occasionally coming across the radio wavelength. Really great stuff.

Michael Beach - Straight Spines
Michael Beach - Mountains + Valleys

Human Eye In The Sky

Sacred Bones have been at the zenith of labels that in the past two years create a oft deserved fervour for every release they produce. Alongside labels such as Thrill Jockey, In The Red and Hydra Head, SB are passionate about their music, creating beautifully packaged physical copies (all with a common format so that it is like collecting an entire collection, rather than buying disparate albums) whilst also refusing to break the budget.

The latest release to grace my presence from the Sacred Bones stable is from Detroit's Human Eye, whose split single with Sex Beet we thoroughly enjoyed. They Came From The Sky continues the warped, loud as hell fuzzfest that they alluded to there, but with more volume, zaniness and, bizarrely, more accessible. This loud, Comets On Fire-esque proto-punk with sci-fi allusions works really well here - an aural equivalent of a 50s B-movie double bill at the local drive in. At times utterly insane, it is this balls to the wall, devil may care attitude to the tropes of punk that make this album all the more exciting. And despite the lyrics erring on the side of absurdity, Human Eye prove that you can lead the old punk horse to water, lace it with stupidly addictive hallucinogenics and make the fucker drink it.


You can get They Came From The Sky here - but be warned, it will fry your brain.

Human Eye - Junkyard Heart
Human Eye - They Came From The Sky

Baby-eating radness

Do not go to Bali.

Wow, a rather strong statement to make, even if Sonic Masala does not have the clout to bring down the entire Indonesian tourism industry...yet...

But the statement is not meant to be literal. For no one in the world is safe from Rangda, the new collective 'supergroup' that is eviscerating eardrums everywhere via their latest LP, False Flag. Made up of Comets On Fire/Six Organs of Admittance dynamo Ben Chasny, percussion master Chris Corsano and Sir Richard Bishop (of Arizona noise wizard trippers Sun City Girls), Rangda (monikered after the Balinese witch doctor both reviled and adored for her chaotic veagence - see, I was leading somewhere with all this) are a full throttled noisefest, sludging guitar rock of monumental proportions. And they are not trying to paint their wagon in any other fashion - from their own name to song titles such as 'Bull Lore', 'Fist Family' and 'Serrated Edges', these boys are here to tear your being to the ground and devour the child within. Seriously scary stuff then - and immensely satisfying.

But that little grab of words doesn't do False Flag justice. Ive had it in my possession for over a week now, and every time I listen to it I am drawn more and more to it. Its not just the volcanic fury inherent in every bludgeoning sound that makes me salivate - it is the innate intricacy, the soul that writhes within each track, that is equally if not so more enchanting. It is a fucking awesome record, especially for the incendiary drumming of Corsano - what a fucking god! - so imagine catching them live? It would have you throwing your own child into the blender just to appease them.

False Flag is out through Drag City now. They played in London last Thursday, same night as Liars, Male Bonding and my book launch. Suffice to say that last Thursday was not particularly fair to all those bands, what with the hordes of avid readers keen to get their mitts on my grubby novella - but hopefully Rangda will (dis)grace us with their presence in the very near future - including the Godspeed You Black Emperor-curated ATP in December...

Rangda - Bull Lore
Rangda - Serrated Edges

It's getting nipply in here...

Try all you want, there is no way you can remain highbrow when talking about Toledo noisenik fuckmonsters Puffy Areolas. Yes, that's right - Puffy Areolas. And it doesnt stop there - with some of the lighter moments coming from song titles like 'Drinking My Own Sperm' and 'Bowel Movements (It's All About)', it is all about the lowest common denominator. Their sound can vary from guitar punk-rock freakouts a la The Bronx through to Comets On Fire-esque psychedelic explosions, all pushed forward by scratchy howls, inclement drumming and driving bass. Brutal, wigged out, fast and fun - all led by lead singer Krauty McKraut - fuck yes! This band means business - they want your soul.

I have Sara and Simon to thank for being slapped in the ears with a slab of whiskey-swilling concrete with glass embedded in its serrated coarse surfaces. The track below are live numbers - I stongly suggest you hunt down their recorded stuff (including fresh off the press LP from Siltbreeze, In The Army 1981) stat.

Puffy Areolas - Norwegian Wood
Puffy Areolas - If I Had A Hammer