Beyond The Earthless Ages

If you have never seen San Diego trio Earthless, you haven't lived. Admittedly, when I try to explain what Earthless is I get a lot of despondent, disdainful, and in one case pissed off response. That's because they are essentially an instrumental jam band with massive guitar solos... But I don't know one person, regardless of their taste in music, that has come away from an Earthless show and not been irrevocably converted. No one plays like these fuckers do. But when you have one of the best guitarists ever in Isaiah Mitchell and one of the best drummers ever in Mario Rubalcaba, the calibre of shredding and thumping going on here is mind melting. Mike Eginton has the unenviable position of anchoring everything here, but really, the dude merely adds adamantium to these killer skeletons.

They are about to unless a new record, From The Ages, on Tee Pee Records, and my chin is still smarting from the giant slice I took out of it when it hit the floor. This is uncategorisable stuff, as in that this rocks so hard and remains hypnotic throughout when anyone - ANYONE - else would fuck this up in the first fifteen minutes - just strap yourself in for an hour of WTF mind expansion.

You can pre-order From The Ages here. Do it now - it'll be like GTA V for your ears.

VIDEO VACUUM - Lower Dens, JEFF The Brotherhood, OFF!, Slug Guts

It's been a while since we had some visual spirituals, but now I have a plethora of tracks that blow the casbah sky high, so let's give work the forks and watch them together like old times, yeah?

First up is another recording from those amazing cats over at They Shoot Music, Don't They? This time the aural offender is Lower Dens, chilling out in Barcelona after some down time from the Primavera Sound Festival back in May, playing some semi-acoustic toons in a square...with a friend in support(I TOLD you there was a Deerhunter connection today!) The two tracks here are 'Candy' and 'Nova Anthem', and it is, as is to be expected, pretty darn amazing.





It's great to hear that garage-trippers Jeff the Brotherhood are winging their way down to Australia in January (even if it is for the Big Day Out - sigh...), and they will be raring to rip into their new material off Hypnotic Nights. I heard someone at Splendour In The Grass on the weekend say that the album sounded like Weezer "or something like that where I'd enjoy it as a teenager but not give a shit when I grew up." Hmmm... Not sure what kind of a comment that is. Anyway, 'Sixpack' is slick and a lot of raucous fun. And yes, this track sounds a LOT like Weezer - even more than usual.



OFF! kicked off a triptych of video clips with the board spinning meltdown of 'Cracked', and now here are the final two-thirds of this "opus". Both starring Dave Foley (Kids In The Hall), the songs are 'Borrow & Bomb' and 'I Got News For You', and the clips encapsulate dodgy community television so well that I cannot believe that Teen Talk isn't the real deal (the look on Foley's face at 2:00 is priceless).



Finally we have the claustrophobic band clip for 'Scum', Brissie degenerates Slug Guts' single from their new Sacred Bones-endorsed LP, Playin' In Time With The Deadbeat. It's a typically Slug Guts song really, which means it is pretty damn fine. They may not reach the heights of the Aussie reprobates that they idolise, namely Venom P Stinger and Feedtime, but they give it a red hot shake, their feverish dirge never sounding more genuine.



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Video Vacuum - OFF!, Relations, Hugo Race, Die Antwoord

I'm finding it harder and hard to justify why I bother coming into work on a Monday, how about you? The unlimited download limit notwithstanding, there isn't much at the moment. I have holidays coming in sight though, so Ill suck it up - by watching some sweet music videos!

OFF! have just released this clip for 'Cracked', which promises to be the first in a triptych of videos with some sort of common theme or link. This one has a sign spinner losing his shit over another sign spinner's antics. He has a Walkman! So old school punk... It is quite funny too, and it's a great track.



100m Records (who put out the ace Soccer Mom EP last year) have just put out the new EP by NY synth-punk duo Relations, and here is the video for 'A Savage Way To Live'. It's certainly entrenched in subtle dissonance and shadows, and makes for an alluring listen.



The inimitable Hugo Race (The Bad Seeds, The Wreckery, Dirtmusic) has just released a solo album of covers called No But It's True, just another record to put in his massive oeuvre. He strips back a load of classics to their skeletal form, allowing the lyrics to shine through. Here he takes on the excellent Bruce Springsteen track 'I'm On Fire'. A dry rendition, this one...



Oh shit. I HAD to put this one up here. Those South African mentalists Die Antwoord are off the charts, a helluva lot of dumb, and they really make me laugh. I'm not sure if I like them or not, but I really like this video for their latest "song" 'Baby's On Fire'. It's crazy and a little bit NSFW - just sayin'.



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Cracked Off With The Fever

Ah, that dreaded day back after a long weekend. Well, hopefully these two balltearers will propel you in the right direction, kicking and screaming all the way.


That pesky Off! album is finally, FINALLY out today! And here is another track off it. I love that so many are being drip-fed to the rabid masses. Sure, most of the album will be accessible in bite-size pieces all over the Net, but that is punk! Give the fans what they want. And I need no nonsense punk to the crotch, stat.

Off! - Cracked

Ah fuck it - here is the whole album!


And of course we have this London trio to make sure this raging high is maintained. New track 'The Chair' is Fever Fever's first true single, and was put out yesterday through Kissability (whose first release was the UK distribution of Brisbane wunderkinds DZ Deathrays' Ruined My Life EP - they know their shit). It offers a more bridled facet of the trio, yet is still ballsy and plays with convention a lot, two things these Norwich hellraisers will always have in spades. This track is actually a bit like Blood Red Shoes, but not crap (Ill admit I used to like BRS, but I think they have disappeared down the mainstream/pretension hole...) Buy the cassingle here - these kids just keep getting better. They are playing The Great Escape this weekend too - check em out if you are there.

Going...OFF!

OFF! certainly killed when they came to Aussie shores December last year, even if their entire setlist had to be played twice so that they could play a decent running time. Their songs are pretty killer though - coming from the ashes of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Redd Kross, Hot Snakes, Rocket From The Crypt and Burning Brides, it's not really a surprise. Their self-titled album comes out in May on Vice Records, and the song below is the first taste. So far, so awesome. Also, it is meant to be 16 songs in 16 minutes. Breakneck then. Looks like they'll still need a few covers to break that half hour playing time then...

Pre-order the album (and get it in white) here. (NOTE: since publishing this the vinyl has sold out - 1500 out the door like that! More will be on call soon, in black though, but stay tuned).

OFF! - King Kong Brigade