Rock Four Thee

Ye olde English, what a blast, eh? Thou, thine, thy, thee. That extra E though tends to imbue an added layer of gritty garage looseness that straight-laced bands starting with "The" simply can't hold a candle to. Here are four examples...

The plastic, debauched, twisted fantasy land that is LA is a petri dish of creativity - spewing forth brilliance whilst also harbouring countless parasitic wasters. Thee Commons is an anomaly in that they don't sound anything like an LA band in almost any respect. Warped, strange, yet almost yesteryear-innocent, the four tunes on this EP plunder from 50s & 60s rock'n'roll - there is some of that hybridised brilliance that Buddy Holly had in spades in 'Dr's Visit' for example; wobbly sunburnt spaghetti surf yet with 21st century seediness bleaching in at the sides.  Sunburn At Midnight comes in turquoise vinyl 7" - definitely worth the pennies.

Thee Mighty Fevers come from the land of the rising sun, and we all know that Japan have unearthed some of the most depraved garage rock ever witnessed by the ears of man. These Kobe punks are snotty, bile swilling raconteurs, with endless chasms of nauseating energy, visceral nihilism and saliva. Every track starts with the same screamed 1234 count in. EVERY. SINGLE. SONG. Did I mention this is the perfect cocktail for the loosest night out? Ill probably see you there - won't remember it in the morning though. If you love this straight-up reckless garage punk (and my guess is you do), you need to get ahold of Fuck-in Great RnR this minute - I recommend the red wax.

Thee Mighty Fevers - Bad Party
Thee Mighty Fevers - RnR

Indiana's Thee Open Sex is the tangential odd band out, weaving deranged versions of psychedelia and punk in and out of each other in lurid form. Their self-titled record is one of the best and depraved things I have heard this year. It has heady sex with your ears, violates your cerebral vortex and impregnates your soul. Live Dead' is surely the soundtrack to the most hedonistic hallucinogenic orgy imaginable, on repeat, all the time. You won't have time to be spent - this is one aural orgasm that just won't quit. Seriously, get this now.

Thee Open Sex - Walkin' The Dog
Thee Open Sex - Live Dead

Finishing off with the E that rules them all (and the instigator of this post, seeing as I received this bone-coloured hottie in the mail yesterday), San Fran's hyperactive Rumpelstiltskins Thee Oh Sees. They released possibly their best album to date in Floating Coffin only last month, yet here is an excellent 12" EP made for Record Store Day that furthers their mythic consistency. Moon Sick harbours four blistering yet rather obtuse tracks that didn't make the Floating Coffin sessions - which is understandable, seeing as these songs would probably suit 2011's quirky Castlemania more. I loved that record though, so Moon Sick is still a killer purchase.  'Sewer Fire' is even sung by A-Frames/Intelligence impresario Lars Finberg - how much more power does a band wanna wield? Well worth innumerable spins, you can buy Moon Sick through the band's Castle Face Records here.

See Thee Oh Floating Coffin

It feel perfunctory telling you how good SF garage leviathans Thee Oh Sees' latest record Floating Coffin is. But then again, I probably should tell you that out of all of Dwyer and co's albums, this has been by far and large the most addictive album from start to finish for me - it's been locked in my car stereo since before Easter, and isn't likely to budge anytime soon. Below is a paraphrased version of the review I wrote for theMusic.com.au - check that one out here.

Five seconds into opening track 'I Come From The Mountain'  and it’s clear that the band, rather than diluting their style from overexposure the quartet are at supernova levels of intensity, ferocity and excellence. Like kindred spirit Ty Segall, Dwyer is a magnetic force, a feverish maelstrom of energy with an endless supply of riffs, melodies and yelps at his disposal. And like Segall, who took his garage rock DNA and fused it with Seventies era hard rock on 2012’s Slaughterhouse, Floating Coffin (out through Freeform Patterns and Fuse in Australia, Castle Face elsewhere) is a ramped up affair, perfectly augmenting last year’s great Putrifiers II in almost every conceivable facet.

'No Spell' wafts along like a sonorous Californian pop number, Brigid Dawson’s vocals deliberately flirting with the saccharine before being cut in half by a killer riff and Dwyer’s ecstatic bark; the feverish growl of ingenuously-named 'Strawberries 1 + 2' is a face-melter in the purest sense, before entering a intense motorik swirl into psych country; 'Night Crawler' takes a left-turn into spaced-out phasers and languid turns, before 'Sweet Helicopter' lifts off, and back into the stratosphere we go. 'Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster' best exemplifies the two extremes in the band’s blueprint, and is one of their best tracks because of it.

Not that other sonic artillery was necessary, but Dwyer ropes in the likes of luminaries Kelley Stoltz and Lars Finberg (A-Frames, The Intelligence, whose presence is truly felt on penultimate killer 'Tunnel Time' - which I might also add, is the closest I've ever heard a TOS song actually sound like local acolytes Tiny Migrants - kudos guys!), and the overall final product is addictive, breath-taking brilliance. 

Grab Floating Coffin here - garage excellence par none.

Thee Oh Sees - I Come From The Mountain

Thee Oh Sees - Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster

Uneasy Intelligence

Lars Finberg has been attacking the mundane and successful for nigh on a decade now, either through his excellent and sadly defunct post punk project A-Frames or through his now collective garage quirkfest The Intelligence - and with latest album Everyone Has It Easy But Me. Jumping from Casio twitches to rollicking rumbles, hip-swaying 60s pop covers and acoustic whimsy, the ideas are far-reaching and abundant yet all with that pitch-black sneer and caustic tut-tutting that Finberg delivers so well. Much of this musical legacy is in keeping with Finberg's work band, the John Dwyer dynasty Thee Oh Sees, and some of the schizophrenia inherent with that collective can be gleaned from this record.


I have always loved what Finberg has involved himself with, and on Everyone Has It Easy But Me he is near his best. An eclectic album, sure, but one that electrifies more intensely with each listen, and the lyrics are spot on...something that seems to fall by the wayside in this day and age. You can grab it through In The Red here.

The Intelligence - (They Found Me On The Back Of) The Galaxy
The Intelligence - Sunny Backyard

I likelikelikelikelikelikelike The Intelligence

A couple of friends of mine were mega excited of death a few months, as they had procured tickets to see a one off show of Seattle garage puke rockers the Intelligence (the other project fo A Frames' Lars Finberg). Such fervent excitement quickly turned to sour disappointment when the band werent allowed into the country - visa hassles and what-not - can someone please sort out the Border Office??? What added to their torment was the fact that after regaling me with this story, I pretty much told them that the Intelligence were shit anyway, and continued to drink my pint. It was only a joke, but the looks I received made me think I was to receive my first double glassing from mates...

Such hiccups have never stopped The Intelligence from rolling right along however, as the release of their new LP Males showcases. Put out by In The Red Records, Males is their 7th album proper since their inception in 1999 (if you count Let's Toil, which is debatable, but I do), and it is an album recorded with a full band in tow. I dont think it is a lick on previous effort Fake Surfers, which is amazing and you should check it out RIGHT NOW, but the track below is a great snapshot of Finberg's biting lyrics (a la Mark E Smith at times...) and the down n dirty approach to grinding out a garage rock tune. I also think that whilst Males is a little bit of a downturn for them, their next output (if they stick together) could be their best thing yet - new band members include past members of Eat Skull and Karate Party.

The Intelligence are romping around the US on a month long tour now, so catch them if you can.

The Intelligence - Like x 7

Everybody's Doin The A Frames

A Frames...