Ex-Cult Still Haunts Your Filthy Dreams

 

When anything is given the seal of approval by the Svengali of garage rock, Ty Segall, you know you should sit up and pay notice. Mikal Cronin was one, Wymond Miles another. Memphis punks Ex-Cult (formerly Sex Cult) have a killer reputation, and now have their debut record out on the ever excellent Goner Records, and for the most part this is deliciously brutal stuff. Jagged, ragged and ramshackle, spit and vinegar their lifeblood.

The record sounds like a live album – not that “we wanted to go back to what we sound like live” kinda hype, but it sounds like a good recording of a live performance in some shithole in the wall in the backwaters of their hometown. A performance where they are killing it. ‘Knives On Both Sides’, ‘Shade Of Red’, ‘Shot The Beehive’ all have that sneering nihilistic venom that is hard to emulate because you have to inhabit it, whilst there are some vintage punk rock throwbacks like ‘Young Trash’, ‘Better Life Through Chemistry’ and ‘Post Graduate’.

There are a few songs that sound almost carbon copies of each other, yet this swing between grassroots 70s Brit punk and snarling sonic terrorism not only feel genuine, but archived – as if Segall dug Ex-Cult out of a 40 year old time capsule. This is a great record (am I just high, or have there been a high proportion of high-rotation killer albums out the past few months?) Segall can lead me to the jaws of death, and further, and I would trust him every step of the way – especially if these guys were the frontline attack.

 

Ex-Cult is available here. It’s a visceral slice of serrated pie – cut your teeth on it now.

Ex-Cult – Knives On Both Sides
Ex-Cult – Shade Of Red

I'll Only Get Fresh On This Long Slow Dance

I've mentioned in the past that it took me seeing San Franciscans The Fresh & Onlys live (supporting Deerhunter no less) for me to truly appreciate what they did, as on record I couldn't get past the poppiness of their tracks - it all felt staid to me. I've since become a convert. This year could see me become a zealot though. What with great solo records from Tim Cohen and Wymond Miles, and now their impending LP Long Slow Dance (out September 4 through Mexican Summer), the quartet are doing all they can to "rectify" their past undoings (this last comment is aimed squarely at me, folks, before I get the backlash and death threats - although is any F&O fan straight enough to get that wound up? I know that I'm not...) The album physically looks beautiful, and if the two singles that have been released (which you can get as 7"s) the album will be the aural equivalent.


See what I mean about the beauty of the package? Get in fast and grab any/all of these releases here, here and here.

Secret Segall Puts Me On A Cloud

You can never get enough Ty Segall - FACT. How about combining other such SF luminaries as Fresh & Onlys' Wymond Miles and Tim Cohen? Holy shit, right? Then introduce Hannah Lew (of Grass Widow), Sonny & The Sunsets, Vetiver, Kelley Stoltz and a host of others, and you have In A Cloud II: New Sounds From San Francisco, a vinyl compilation coming out through cool label Secret Seven Records (who have put out releases by The Sandwitches as well as Sonny & The Sunsets in the past). All tracks are previously unreleased, so this is a must have. As for the Ty Segall track? 'Swag' is one of his best throwaway tracks in a long time - seriously.



Here is the link to stream the album on Soundcloud. Also below are four tracks to take away with you - 'Swag' of course (I wouldn't leave you hanging!), alongside the two Fresh & Onlys boys' efforts and Chuck Prophet's 'Gotta Get Back'. In A Cloud II comes out in July - pre-order it here if you know what's good for ya!

Ty Segall - Swag
Chuck Prophet - Gotta Get Back
Wymond Miles - Don't Ask This Of Me
Tim Cohen - People Like Us