Coolin' On The Carpet, Listenin' To Shrapnel Radio

Brand new Brisbane label Coolin' By Sound aren't content on releasing, as their first foray, the much awaited debut from louche punks Thigh Master (see what I said about Early Times here), but have another hot off the presses to slam into your solar plexus. Tranceplanetsugarmouth comes from Shrapnel, a Sydney collective fronted by Sam Wilkinson (Day Ravies, Mope City, King Tears Mortuary). Once a solo venture, Wilkinson has roped in members of Miners, Dollar Bar, Julia Why? and Weak Boys (who also have an album on the way) to flesh out some rough, raw, yet sugarcane sweet guitar pop classics. Too many adjectives there, but bear with me. The album is a languid opus of wry, sun-drunk catharsis rabidly in love with classical pop convention from the cracked underground gods. There's the Kinks in simple cyclical ditty 'Fraction Man'; Superchunk via Guided By Voices hum/squall/warmth of 'Leap Year'; the early 00s indie rock nous of Gaslight Radio in the brilliant soaring wind-out of 'Another Year' (one of my favourite songs of the year). Almost every song is a drunk harmony, Wilkinson slinging his arms around the shoulders of his cohorts as he sings about the fraying infrastructure of a beaten-down scene and the stubborn weeds that continue to sprout through the cracks, mid quarter mid life crises, finding a dinghy to waste away on in a sea of roiling insecurities and inanities. Each song has odd flubs, cheap-pedal effect warbles, production doodles - constant reminders that these guys love crafting perfect pop nuggets before cracking the beers and digging deep into the art supplies in a flurry of cutting, pasting and naive abstraction. Yet there is sinew flexing beneath the seams; gossamer coating the rust and rattle. Shrapnel is at odds with the beautifully formed pastiches on display here - a burnt orange decoupage of damaged delights.

I may have put out Liminal Zones, Day Ravies' second and final album, a release that I am eternally in love with - but I don't mind saying that Tranceplanetsugarmouth supersedes it through ragged, crooked grin ambition.

A 7" Monument To Hysterical Cathys

Just a short post to give a shout out to Sydney's The Cathys. Featuring members of JuliaWhy?, King Tears Mortuary, Plum and Hell Selzer, the lo-fi pop kids have just released Hysterical Monument, a four-track 7" that sums up the slightly disparate corners these guys have crawled from. 'Loan' is a jumped up pop gleam in the eye, with Sam Giddey's goofy baritone galloping over the top; 'Rebble' is more tempered but no less coiled, taking the tense tempos of Dunedin's finest; 'Subtle Barbs' is a little more laconic, but spirals out into a guitar washout; and 'Heart Disease' finally brings the rock riff out to play, albeit with a giddily sunny disposition. The band launches the 7" in Sydney tomorrow night followed by dates in Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane - see below for details, and order the 7" here.

Sydney: 

Thursday 18 June @ The Union with Disgusting People and Drowning Fleets. RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1613992808814040/

Canberra:

Saturday 20 June @ The Phoenix with Mope City, Thunderbolt City + Eadie & The Doodles. RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/849857128434071/

Melbourne:

Friday July 3 @ The Tote with Shiny Coin, Chook Race and Summer Blokes. RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1399589547035794/

Sunday July 5 @ Grace Darling with Pure Moods and Cool Sounds. RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/825112544237141/ 

Brisbane: 

Saturday July 25 @ Trainspotters with Kitchen’s Floor, Cannon and Point Being. RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1594349354151380/

Moping & Courting In A Halfway House In The City

Brisbane short-form DIY label Tenth Court keeps punching well above its weight. New 7" cab off the rank is Halfway House, the new EP from Sydney's Mope City, a band that has no right being this good when members are already stretched thin with excellent bands such as Day Ravies, King Tears Mortuary, Shrapnel and Snotty Babies. The three tracks on display latch onto a restless urgency that writhes underneath the glistening jangle and sonorous harmonies, intimating a more desperate Go Betweens (the title track), or a moribund, self-flagellating Swirlies ('Blunt Razor'). It's such a great bite-size release - when is the album coming out guys? Seriously?!

Grab Halfway House here.

Exxe(in)halation

This is in the running for the best compilation album of the year (the other one, celebrating a label's fifth birthday, is the other and will grace these pages next week). New Sydney label Exxe Records has gotten together the crud of the city's crop on Inhalation to contribute to a destructive record that reverberates to the point of combustion. The likes of Housewives, Ghastly Spats, Mope City and Drown Under tear things to their basest concerns, whilst tracks from Friendsters, Beef Jerk and king Tears Mortuary keep things off-kilter. Sacred Product and Kitchens Floor also appear in what is a pretty damn incredible release. Can't wait to see what they bring to the table next. Get Inhalation here.