Watch Out For The Witch Hats Tonight...

Melbourne's Witch Hats might have started out as purveyors of dark, loud noise, but with the arrival of the excellent Pleasure Syndrome last year it's clear the boys have much more to their palate than shouts and moans. See how they marry this more melodic material with the visceral older stuff in Brisbane tonight at the Alhambra Lounge. Support goes out to enigmatic six piece Crass Creatures and dark surfers Feathers. It's around $12, so nice and cheap (even if the drinks aren't...bring a flask).

Imbogodom Weaves Another Beguiling Web

Imbogodom has a new album out - that's the project of Alexander Tucker and Daniel Beban. I saw Tucker play solo as support of A Silver Mt Zion back in 2010 - it was pretty sweet. These tracks off And They Turned Not When They Went (fresh off Thrill Jockey's shelves) are as eclectic and intricate as always. Following last year's Imbogodom debut The Metallic Year and Tucker's 2011 solo album Dorwytch, the duo clearly have upped the ante in their aims to compose, dismantle, and expand their songwriting. It isn't an easy listen, but that is part of Imbogodom's point. Unpacking the music is as much the listener's job as it is the musicians', and on this LP there is some fun to be had.

Field recordings such as the utilisation of live feeds from the Houses of Parliament's bell Big Ben intermingle with pastoral dirges, ghostly tape manipulations and skewed sonics, coalescing in an experience that may be trying for those looking for a semblance of conventional structure. Even expressionistic acts like Explosions In The Sky have a clear, definable M.O. - Tucker and Beban work hard to abolish these notions. It's foreboding and even deliberately confrontational - an experiment that teeters on the knife's edge of unmitigated disaster.

In my opinion, And They Turned Not When They Went has its merits. 'Rubbings' is a piano collage that battles valiantly with synthetic brushstrokes, whilst 'Heir Looms' and closer 'Pillars Of Ash' are the closest that we get to actual songs, with the duo bringing their voices to the mix for good measure. It doesn't always work - it can be incredibly cold in between the corrupted soundscapes - but, again, that seems to be part of the point. Isolate yourself from all amenities and warm bodies, and let Imbogodom take you to a parallel, inverted universe along a path less travelled.


And They Turned Not When They Went is out now on Thrill Jockey.

Imbogodom - Heir Looms
Imbogodom - Rubbings

Posting Rank/Xerox's Punk

San Francisco has to be one of the best places in the world music-wise right now, especially if you love your guitar rock dirty, dingy and fun. But not all is fine and dandy. One of the best albums of 2011 came not from a garage group but some disgruntled guys that, alongside The Men, Iceage and Total Control, proved that some of the best music comes from the darkest spaces - and that post-punk is far from dead, despite many fuckwits' attempts to make it so. Rank/Xerox's self-titled debut is acid-tinged angularity, acid saliva and discord. What's not to love? Nothing, for this album, just like those mentioned above, have distilled what the genre's progenitors (read: Wire, Gang Of Four, Mission Of Burma) gave birth to, and adding so much verve and venom that it refuses to be ignored. I'm a douche for not putting this out there sooner. Rank/Xerox is vital. (Plus the lead dude is an Aussie, and what with Liars still pushing hard and Total Control killing, says something, dontcha think?)

Rank/Xerox is out now through Ros Records.

Rank/Xerox - Cave Dweller
Rank/Xerox - Nausea

Backwards Looking Forwards 2011 - Pow Wows, The Spits, Acid Kicks, High Wolf

Here's a few more sweet rekkids from last year that you really should dip into...


Pow Wows is a Toronto band who put out the great Nightmare Soda on Get Hip. The band actually recorded this way back in 2010, but its release some months later has done nothing to dilute its seedy goodness. In fact, I put this alongside Natural Child's 1971 as a companion piece of slacker garage, and as that album was in my best of 2011 list you can bet your bottom dollar Nightmare Soda would have made the cut if discovered earlier. Plus, 'Do The Splash' is my belated fave track of 2011. Not really, but it is a killer track, for drinking booze in the pool in these summer months, which has happened on occasion. Try it - its good for you.

Pow Wows - EIO (During The Flood)
Pow Wows - Do The Splash


I told you about a High Wolf release that Bathetic put out early last year. Well, the demented guru put out a longplayer at the tail end of 2011 called Atlas Nation. It is the typical waterlogged mantra drone fare that High Wolf dishes out, but after getting loose to Pow Wows and doing the splash, it's a great come down. Atlas Nation is available through Holy Mountain.

High Wolf - Raagini


But there is only so much spacing out one can take, and that's where The Spits' V comes in. A harder, vitriolic Ramones, Seattle's fave purveyors of garage gutter punk delivered an album that was straight outta New York circa 1981. It's unashamedly in LOVE with the leather smell of Johnny and his bros - something a few Brisbane bands can definitely sympathise with - and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

The Spits - All I Want
The Spits - Fed Up

Yes, I'll Be Your Third Eye (Times Forever)

Out of all Vivian Girls offshoots and side-projects (and there are quite a few), Katy Goodman's La Sera is by far the best. And this track - holy shit. Hooked up to the eyeballs! I want to go to there. Seriously, it's so sweet, yet not sickly so, and Goodman's vocals are pitch perfect. I'm really looking forward to the new album, Sees The Light. Really, this track is soundtracking my way through this week - well, that and Terry Malts, I'm gonna OD on fuzzy sugar. But when it sounds so good, I'm gone.

La Sera - Please Be My Third Eye

And in case the aural pleasures aren't enough, try the visuals...

LA SERA "PLEASE BE MY THIRD EYE" DIR BY VICE COOLER from Vice Cooler on Vimeo.

I'm so in love... Sees The Light comes out on Hardly Art in March.

Watch Out Terry Malts! He's In The Mirror!

I haven't heard Killing Time yet. The debut release by San Franciscan garage-pop act Terry Malts has been generating a small amount of anticipation, in no small part because of solid smaller releases and their allegiance to Slumberland Records. And I wasn't all that fussed - until I heard 'Tumble Down'. Now I NEED to hear this record. It is lackadaisically verbose, inherently simple, and so hook-laden that you'll feel perforated afterwards. Then 'Nauseous' fuzzes the fuck up, without letting you go, and it's so effortless. Hells yeah!



Terry Malts - Tumble Down
Terry Malts - Nauseous

X-Ray Eyeballs Look Squalid And Oh So Splendid

XRay Eyeballs are ready to foul up your living room and put out cigarettes on your cheeks once more. These blacker-than-thou noir-pop-punks have rejigged the lineup and are readying to tear down the foundations with Splendor Squalor, which 'X' is gleaned from. There is something decidedly glorious about this track, with enough glam, New Wave and Blondie references to poke a stick at before it's scuffed up with a Germs-monogrammed safety pin and set on fire.


Splendor Squalor is out soon on Kanine.



Xray Eyeballs - Die Little Love

Strangely Transfixed By Royal Baths (Updated)

I'm still not wholeheartedly convinced that I like Royal Baths. I mean, the Brooklyn-via-San Francisco band tick the right boxes - dark, brooding, garage based tendencies, drone tinged rock, a love of Spacemen 3... Yet I can't quite get them. Whether it's because I think/thought they're style over substance, or that they are/were a little over-hyped, I'm not sure. I wasn't enamoured with their debut Litanies (on Woodsist), but I listened to it quite a bit anyway. Weird.

I'm equally flummoxed by how much I'm enjoying them right now. I find their songs to be fairly insidious in how they squirrel under my skin without my notice or permission. It kinda hurts my head, because I can't put my finger on it, yet there it is, on repeat, making me happy and maudlin at the same time. Their new album, Better Luck Next Life, is coming out through Kanine next week, and it will be interesting if there is a similar sensation to the first. Likewise, I'll keep you posted as to whether it bewitches me the way the first one did, or if I genuinely dig it (or genuinely loathe it - nothing is off the table here...).

UPDATE - Royal Baths will be playing in Brisbane! Yep, they have lined up Woodland for Thursday March 29. I think it's time I settled my love/hate stance once and for all...

Royal Baths - Black Sheep
Royal Baths - Darling Divine

Ono, Pontiak!

Sonic Masala has always been a fan of the Carney brothers. Otherwise known as Pontiak, the trio put out the EP Comecrudos last year on Thrill Jockey, and it seriously killed. As Jennings stated, it was a departure, an experiment, and new album Echo Ono cuts back to the sun-bleached psychedelic rock they are renowned for. In fact the album is leaner and meaner than previous releases, with the focus being on creating an album of songs as opposed to segueing space jams that hinge together through mood and atmosphere. 'Lions Of Least' is let off the leash first, and the rabid hunger of it all is a shock that takes a little to recover from. Are we listening to a revitalised Black Keys? Is that an insulting shot at Pontiak? It's proper rock that we are hearing here, the fat (however colourful and tasty) flayed from the bone. It's not until third track 'Left With Lights' that everything comes together - this is Pontiak distilled into tear-shaped dots, taken on the tongue for instant rush and gratification. It's an album that is just as addictive too - you will be rotating this one ad nauseum. And don't get me started on the closing motorik monster 'Panoptica'...

It's an altogether different sound to all their previous output, yet is still indelibly Pontiak. Which means...if you like balls to the wall blues rock that has been lost in the Texan desert and is suffering from hallucinations, dehydration and snakebites, you'll be queuing up to let this record salve the wounds.


Pre-order Echo Ono now and you can get one of 500 copies in translucent teal vinyl.

Pontiak - Lions Of Least

Rolling The Young Black Prisms

There have been announcements of all kinds of interesting releases in the past couple weeks, and I thought I'd focus on a couple more that are piquing my interest.


Seems that Black Dice are primed to drop Mr Impossible, their sixth official LP since their inception some fifteen plus years previously. Easily one of the most influential experimental rock bands to ever walk the dirty corridors of this earth, the NY trio never approach music the same way, offering instead a distilled focus on creating something insular, unique, and unequivocally Black Dice. THAT is why my skin is tingling at the thought of this release. Mr Impossible comes out April 9 on Ribbon Music.

Black Dice - Pigs


Whilst not at the heady heights of excitement, this one is still up there. An early highlight of 2011, San Francisco band Young Prisms' album Friends For Now married the shoegaze aesthetics that has attracted so many bands of late with an earthier, more playful style that nevertheless was a little too throwaway. Now they are prepping to hit us with some clearer, fresher dream pop madness courtesy of sophomore effort In Between on Kanine Records. I enjoyed the first album, but there were chinks in the armour, so I'm eagerly awaiting the drop of this LP to see if they come back stronger. The first taste is below. I'm not entirely won over to be honest, but the crisp production could play in their favour if there is enough deviation in their sound. The premise - the band has based the record on the loss of a dear friend and an unexpected stranding in London's Heathrow Airport - certainly alludes that this may be the case. Time will tell...

Young Prisms - Floating In Blue

Population 1280 - And The Horror Continues

Holy shit. I love - LOVE - Pop. 1280's The Grid EP from last year. It is one surly, dirty, desperate piece of work. Which means that I should have been prepared for their LP, The Horror.

I so wasn't prepared.

Sacred Bones have helped these reprobates recreate Sadako's tape for the aural generation. Seriously, if you haven't gone insane or spontaneously combusted within 7 days of hearing this album, you are deaf and dumb (as in stupid). This LP rivals the excellence of labelmates The Men's brill album of last year, Leave Home, and although they too have a new release cooking for 2012, The Horror is gonna be hard to beat. When you can be labelled by punters as "Cop Shoot Cop eating Sonic Youth's afterbirth"*, you have hit the motherlode - and sprayed it in everyone's face.


GET. IT. NOW.
Pop. 1280 - Bodies In The Dunes

Hits From The Box #43 - Some Tasty New Releases From Old SM Faves

It's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Our first Hits From The Box for 2012 - really? Yeah, things are taking a while to come back to normal on Planet Masala - but define normal? This place is always in stasis. ANYway, you'll see that it's slightly different in that the bands below are all familiar ones. Well, at least to us here, as we posted about them in the past eighteen months. Well, they have gone from strength to strength and have new releases out, so we may as well crack open this Pandora's box and have at them, huh?


Christchurch has copped a ridiculous amount of shit from Mother Nature since we last caught up with Ipswich, the dudes responsible for the grungey ruckus of an EP of the same name. Since that was put out Steven Marr, like many other on the South Island, has had his hands full, but has kept his toe in the local scene, helping, putting out and playing with a plethora of acts. But of course Ipswich still remains the focus, and to prove it he has released a visceral punch of an EP, Living In A Stranger's Home, most notable for the eviscerating 'Alien Vs Sexual Predator'. They have Die! Die! Die!, Big Black and Slint counting as influences, so they are using the best playbooks. They have signed to MUZAI Records, so expect to hear more from them in 2012.

Ipswich - Alien Vs Sexual Predator
Ipswich - I Could Care Less


Evacuee impressed with their Property Type: Horseranch early last year. They followed this up with Donuts & Water, an album chock full of intricate, shouty, fun pop hooks. Two class albums in one year, both for free? Impressive. 2012 actually will see Evacuee slow down some, with minimal recording/playing scheduled. Not that ideas have dried up - a new album inspired by Judy Bloom called are you there god? it's me, margaret has been mooted, with songs penned, but only the cover art has seen the light of day. Band members are also branching out into other projects - Stephen and Travis are working on some sample based electronic stuff that is called DONAHUE, about none other than talk show behemoth Phil Donahue. Stephen is also doing something called Sports Duck that's dumb electronic/distorted guitar naff, alongside recording some acoustic guitar based songs that his girlfriend has had written for awhile (no name as yet). All of these projects will be posted on Murray Records. Meanwhile, jump into some tracks from Donuts & Water below.

Evacuee - Making Jokes
Evacuee - Monster Truck


Britches handed out one nasty, rusty, yet tasty demo last year. 2011 proved a busy year for the St Louis lads, ending with a new EP, Demonstration. The sinister leanings on the EP are coloured a darker shade of pitch this time around, yet it is also strangely more accessible. 2012 shows no signs of slowing down either, with "album" Democracy up for grabs on their Bandcamp here. Let the twisted times roll.

Britches - We're Both Ready


The Denver outfit StaG really impressed us last year with their Rifle Meeker album, so much so that it lingered on the fringes of our end of lists last year. 2012 has seen the release of 'Lived Like String', a single that distills all that came before into four minutes of unadulterated pop bliss. A new album is in the wings. Can't wait guys - seriously can no wait!




Porcupine are back! Those crazy kids from Wisconsin responsible for The Trouble With You, an extremely likable pop schlock record, released a 7" split on Big Action Records at the tail end of the year with Metal Ghosts, from Copenhagen/Berlin. It's a great piece o wax - here is one of Porcupine's efforts. It's seriously one of the best things they have done - more please!

Porcupine - Rooftops


Tunabunny really floated our boats in 2010 with their debut self-titled record. Well, it didn't take long before the Atlanta, Georgia spazzy kids came forth with album no 2. Minima Moralia, as evidenced from their Solar Sister 7", is an entirely different beast, with the chaotic swirl and bombast tied down to temper the tantrums. Instead we have a more melodic sound, and whilst some of the spazz-outs are missed, it is overall a sign of things to come - and we wont have to wait long. The third LP is due out mid year.

Tunabunny - Hurry Up
Tunabunny - Fake It, Faker


Finally we have those whacked out wizards The Fantasies, self-dubbed "America's greatest psychopop duo", The Fantasies are incapable of sticking to one genre, whilst perennially sticking tongue firmly into cheek. After a plethora of rel;eases over the past eighteen months, all of their singles, plus some newies, found their way onto a longplayer, appropriately titled The Fantasies. Love the cover art! Such irreverent revivalist aping should come across as a crap pastiche of better glories, but many of the tracks here are pretty ace to be true. You can grab the album for free here.

The Fantasies - Tammy The Tease

Happy Tuesday peeps!

Friday Cover Up - Get Hushed On Those Future Islands

Well, another week down. My birthday is tomorrow. Gonna get blasted in the park if the weather permits, with my bottle in a paper bag and other paraphernalia. Hopefully some people will join me. Ill be the one looking like the above. Anyway, check out this beautiful cover of the excellent Future Islands track 'Little Dreamer' by the enigmatic Doe Paoro. Enjoy, and Ill see you on the other side. The side where you turn 31.

Doe Paoro - Little Dreamer (Future Islands cover)

Video Vacuum - Dan Melchior, Rhyton, Jason Urick, Sennen

Who needs a break? I can hear your shouts from here! I do too, although people may not guess it - my increasingly accurate physical resemblance to an elegant hobo is raising eyebrows and rashes both. So here are some choice cuts from Thrill Jockey, who look to have us covered once more in 2012...

But before we get there, if you remember, I really enjoyed Dan Melchior's Assemblage Blues record last year. The man is nothing if not prolific, and he has some good stuff coming out soon. This vid has been available for a little while, but its a fair summation of how Melchior does his shtick (it's also on a 7" put out by SDZ Records). Love him or hate him, he is true to his idiosyncrasies... (NB - I love him).

Dan Melchior "Red Nylon Valance" from max dembo on Vimeo.

Here is one band I had never heard of until TR sent me this clip. Rhyton are aiming to liquify your bones inside you so you become quivering bags of mush. Their bass played is from Psychic Ills for Chrissakes! Their self-titled debut sounds pretty killer, by the way - grab it here. And while I'm at it, here is a track you can have on top of the vid - happy Friday yo!

Rhyton - Shank Raids

Rhyton - Stone Colored from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Jason Urick has melded dub and drone into a delectable tapestry on his latest, I Love You. Here he has pared the static noise to create something otherworldly, something akin to High Wolf in some respects, which is always welcomed, but there is something...warm about this record that is great. Anyway, here is the clip. Bliss out folks...

Jason Urick - Ageless Isms from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

To finish off today, let's veer out of the Thrill Jockey stables, but not too far. Sennen sound like they would fit right at home, so I'm placing them in the meadow adjacent. The UK band are releasing their Vultures 7" in March, which will be on heavenly white vinyl - pre-order here. Their upcoming album Lost Harmony looks to be a sweaty palms kinda release - I'm itching for it already.



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!

Raven Steals My Hovering Resonance (Not Really)

Dammit, Raven Sings The Blues beat me to this by a day! Goes to show what wading through a backlog of music will do to ya. Still, RSTB is an amazing music blog, if you don't already frequent their page and delight in their delicacies, then you aren't living.

Sound Of Cobra put out a cool release by Cannibal Movie last year (word is that CM are bringing out a full length release this year - watch this space...), and now they have mixed blood with the ever excellent Expo 70 (AKA Justin Wright) for Hovering Resonance, a swirling, coalescing masterpiece of motorik haze. It is nuts how many releases of great consistency this dude puts out - it's hard to even ascertain where to start! But I think that this rivals anything he put out last year, including the Night Mist cassette he put out on Nurse Etiquette, or Inaudible Bicoastal Trajectory which was far spacier. This has a hedonistic bent that is yet somehow more palatable, and that isn't a detriment. There is a lot of playback value on this one. The krautrock drive underneath the title track in particular will have you coming back for more.


You can grab Hovering Resonance here - I highly recommend this one.

Expo 70 - Hovering Resonance

Nothing Wild Leads You Nowhere

Jack Tatum rode a tsunami wave of adulation on the back of his Gemini album of 2010 under the moniker Wild Nothing, and his underground king status is bound to escalate into something otherworldly with the release of his sophomore album later this year. In the meantime, Captured Tracks are releasing Wild Nothing's new 7", Nowhere, on Feb 21st. Check out the single below, which features vocals also from Andrea Estella of Twin Sister. There is something distinctly 80s sounding in the alt-rock college radio sense, yet with a more polished sound due to this being the first time that Wild Nothing has ventured into a real live studio. I personally think it sounds amazing, possibly the best track he has laid down to date - the production really suits him. Nothing feels fabricated here - this could be the sound of Real Estate if they weren't so fucking boring.


Pre-order the album here, where you might be lucky to get 1 of 500 limited white vinyl editions of the 7".

Wild Nothing - Nowhere

Rustic Women

It's time to get in touch with my feminine side today, so Ive made a mini-playlist of four ladies that, either on their own or out front of a band, are belting out some amazing tunes leading up to special releases in 2012.


First up is a band that I haven't mentioned before, which is strange because their band tee is my fave t-shirt of all time. Erika Wennerstrom fronts Heartless Bastards, a brooding garage country band (having been compared to Crazy Horse, Neil Young, The Black Keys and more) who brought out a pretty amazing album in 2009 called The Mountain. Check it out - especially the title track - and get it here. Anyway, they have a new LP about to drop called Arrow, and this is the first cut off it. Its been floating on the blogosphere ether for a while - that's what happens when you hibernate for two months - but it's a good track for what promises to be another great album. Plus, Wennerstrom shreds, seriously. Arrow is out on Partisan Records, and you can get it here (there is a $US65 deluxe package that includes 2xLP, shirt, ltd edition lithograph, CD, and digital download with bonus tracks - well worth it methinks!)

Heartless Bastards - Parted Ways


I've somehow passed Sharon Van Etten by, but 'Serpents' brought me whiplashing back to have another listen. Her new LP Tramp is also out soon (out on Jagjaguwar - pre-order it here). She has a bit of a "topper" of a career - encouraged by TV On The Radio's Kyp Malone to pursue a music career, she has done backing vocals with and become good buds with The National, and Tramp feature the Dessner Bros, Matt Barrick (The Walkmen), Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, whose Civilian was pretty ace and I forgot all bout it for last year's lists, oops!) and one Zach Condon (AKA Beirut). I can't see the songs from the stars! But seriously, listen to 'Serpents'. This is Neil Young (again!) and Stevie Nicks procreating, and that is an inimitably awesome thing.

Sharon Van Etten - Serpents


Lower Dens are also a bit of alright - each single they produce has me salivating, they are really coming into their own - and new track 'Brains' is all kinds of ace. I'm a bit in love with Jana Hunter (actually I'm in love with every woman in this list, their music is truly amazing), and on this latest brooding bubbler of a track I think she nails the spectral vocals perfectly. They have a new album coming out in May called Nootropics, which after the strength of this single is too fucking long! Get ready to become addicted...

Lower Dens - Brains


And finally we have an album that I actually talked about last year as part of Hits From The Box but has just recently gotten a vinyl release, Cheyenne Marie Mize's We Don't Need. You can get it here. It's a nice way to end of this excellent post, by revisiting an oft-missed little release. Enjoy!

Gauntlet Hair Go Chillwave On The Top Bunk

You've gotta give it to Gauntlet Hair - despite their constant pigeonholing, the Denver duo refuse to be taken seriously. Latest track 'Top Bunk' is impressive in its innate ability to capture the shimmering insularity of the "chillwave" movement (I shall refrain from this abhorrent name from here on out) whilst remaining solely live instrument based, and wearing their Animal Collective thinking caps for all to see. The skewering of the coastal sounds is of particular note. Now, I haven't heard their self titled debut (on Dead Oceans) yet - I know, I'm a bad person - but with this twist in the tale track, I'm sure their noisy pop has many other trajectories on which to travel. I think I will try to find this record today...

Gauntlet Hair - Top Bunk

Have A Lot Of Faith In Errors

We have a frontrunner for album of the year, folks.

I'm not going to say much about this, but Glaswegians Errors have managing to combine pop with synth ice, epic noise and soaring ideals to create an album that is eloquent, garish, flamboyant and subversive, all at once. Have Some Faith In Magic (out on Rock Action Records today!) is so different to last album Come Down With Me - which was pretty ace in itself - and so, so much better. I was apprehensive about the possible inclusion of vocals, but it works. Not traditional vocals of course (nothing here is ever conventional!!), but as another sonic instrument. This is a crazy awesome record. I implore you - buy it now!

Have Some Faith In Magic by Rock Action Records

Hinder The Shot That Curses Us All

I shared a little love for Denver band Hindershot's 'I Won't Change' video last year - check it out here. Im pretty excited about their upcoming release, second EP Curse Us All. Out through Hot Congress Records, the 4-track EP offers some dark indie guitar rock with a devilish twist, the incessant synth with a slightly cheeky swagger and twist in the tail that was indicative of last year's excellent single. Im hoping that this record will mean that a longer release is in the waters soon - these guys mean business.

Hindershot - Curse Us All


Curse Us All is out now. Check out the vid too - I would like to be on either end of that treatment...

VIDEO PREMIERE: "Curse Us All" by Hindershot from Hinder Shot on Vimeo.