FRIDAY COVER UP - Crossing The Telescopic Dog

It's been a busy week on the music calendar here in London. David Byrne has killed it with his Meltdown curation (I got to see Sunn O))) put in an incendiary performance at the Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday, and reports were that Jonny Greenwood's live score with a full orchestra for an airing of There Will Be Blood - of which I failed to get tickets - was brilliant); Pissed Jeans played two sell out shows at 100 Club and were on top of their (and everyone else's) game; and starting tonight is the crowdfunded noisy fest Wyrdout, featuring the likes of Gnod, That Fucking Tank, Silent Front, Bad Guys and the mighty Helms Alee. New Cross has also held some stellar gigs - the Witching Waves show at New Cross Inn last night in particular. Tomorrow night though looks to be an absolute peach too - with a "rare" performance from psych creepers The Telescopes. So in celebration of this, here is their cover of the seminal Stooges song 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' off their Fuzz Club Records split from earlier in the year. The other side of the wax? Held by none other than A Place To Bury Strangers.



The Telescopes play at New Cross Inn tomorrow with support from Vertical Slump, Virgin Kids, The Infinite Three, Sky Between Leaves and none other than SM fave James X Boyd & the Boydoids - get your tickets here (and it's meant to be a hot one so enjoy the sunshine noise and beers!)

Video Vacuum - A Place To Bury Strangers, Tonstartssbandht, Julia Why?, Love Buzzard

Ah 2015, you bastard. Lets see what you throw at us. The more things change, the louder things get. Let's hope this world takes us beyond the black rainbow.

A Place To Bury Strangers are back and are intent on taking us down into the murk and the mire with them. 'Straight' plays with the VHS strafe attack that most bands are doing these days. What I love about this video is how creepy and stupid it is at the same time. Sometimes I felt like I was watching offcuts of V/H/S, or Japanese horror 'documentary' Noroi (if you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favour and watch it now - incredible); other times I felt like I was watching Takeshi's Castle or Jackass. The finely calibrated idiocy and unease works well with what is something of a tempered track for APTBS.

Tonstartssbandht are making the hard-to-believe-is-actually-happening tour to Australia and New Zealand this month. I have been a fan of these guys since 2011, and although they have gone through some aesthetic shifts, they are the same cerebral meltdown that I knew and loved. Here is what to expect at their shows over the next few weeks...

Julia Why? came to my attention through the Exxe label sampler compilation last year. Here is their new song 'Just One Night' which has the Night Of The Living Dead crossed with Carrie crossed with Night Of The Creeps mixed with The Loved Ones, all undercut with a huge dollop of playful heart (and a mouthful of tongue). These guys are a hell of a lot of fun.

And then there is Love Buzzard's 'Passion'. It is as blasted, raucous and ridiculous as you can expect from these vaudeville garage schlockers, and helps to up the anticipation of seeing these bastarderos live. They are playing The Old Blue Last on Thursday night alongside Witching Waves and Feature amongst others, so get along to that one if you can.

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Peeling With Their Bloody Knives...

We have been mightily impressed with the musical output of Austin doom-laden noise merchants Bloody Knives, especially as their shoegaze aesthetics have continually been twisted and corrupted into some other seething beast. I say shoegaze, mainly due to the wall of sound, but there is no guitar - this is more A Place To Bury Strangers and Health than MBV here. Each release is a further spike into the heart of dissonance, the bile pumping out then molded into a strangely alluring mantra of soothing darkness. The Death EP (their third - see what we thought of the first two here and here) is spiralling even further into the muck and the mire, yet even more productive in finding melody and warmth amidst the abject nihilism. This trio are seductive, tapping our deepest, base desires - give in and live.

Death is out now on Saint Marie Records (who have some stellar releases in the bag - stay posted) - you can buy it here. Check out the track 'Peeling Away The Skin' below.

Stellarium (Tenzenmen Update #1)

Having gone through some releases from the stellar Thrill Jockey and the always-intriguing Metal Postcard, this fortnight will be spent looking at some of the 2013 releases from Australia's resident global noise distributor, Tenzenmen Records.

The baby of Shaun Tenzenmen, the label aims to highlight the huge Australasian DIY music scene. Therefore many Asian bands that would otherwise not find a market outside their own regions can now be discovered by their own right. In the past few years I have discovered the likes of God Bows To Math, Yes I'm Leaving, True Radical Miracle, Dear Eloise, Mere Women, Hira Hira, Bare Arms, Hedgehog, Fanzui Xiangfa, Chui Wan, and Carsick Cars, PLUS they support local boys Nikko, Scul Hazzards, Quiet Steps, Make More, Little Shadow...all because of Shaun and his incredibly hard work. So thank you Tenzenmen!

The first Tenzenmen release I'm focusing on is from Singaporean abrasion provocateurs Stellarium. Their self-titled LP bears some resemblance to NY noisemongers A Place To Bury Strangers, albeit with a slighter sense of space - adopting a shoegaze wash alongside hushed vocals, Stellarium ensures their flood of feedback and guitar distortion becomes even more of an assault, both aurally and physically. The four-piece offer their sound up as "earbleedwaxpopsupersonicwhitenoisesoundfuzzkill" - and that's pretty much on the money. MBV by way of early Swans perhaps? Buzzsaw aggression, constant addiction - all very, very good (just not on the eardrums).

Grab Stellarium here - there's only one CD remaining! The digital album is free however, so it's win-win.

Stellarium - Any Day Is Fine
Stellarium - Harbinger

Another Day, Another Segall

Good morning! It has been quite a while since we had Ty Segall news (less than a month - he released his second EP of T-Rex covers for Record Store Day), so couldn't pass wait to pass on this new track. 'Music For A Film 1' is on a split release (the other act is Chad & the Meatbodies, chosen specifically by Segall himself) put out by Famous Class Records as part of the Less Artists More Condos split releases (having already featured the likes of A Place To Bury Strangers, Ceremony, Future Islands, Thee Oh Sees, Deerhoof, with forthcoming splits from Xiu Xiu and Brisbane's own Lawrence English, plus a Lower Dens one not far off). As is his wont, this is no throwaway tune from Segall, either - an instrumental of three and a half minutes of Seventies styled tribal drumming and blazed guitar, feeling like a surf-Bond-blaxploitation mishmash. Now that is the kind of movie I'd like to see, wouldn't you?

You can get the split for free download here, otherwise buy the vinyl here. You know you want to...

Glowing Wake For A Wild Moth

 

I’m finishing off today with a 7” that came out a few months ago but is getting some serious replay value around these parts. San Francisco post-punk subverters Wild Moth have crafted four tracks of angular angst on Mourning Glow, glossed over with some effervescent melodies. Whilst much further afield from Fugazi, there is something inherent in Wild Moth’s harmonies and warm sonics that evokes the titular band in the title track, whilst ‘Patience’ wouldn’t be amiss on a mid-2000s Trail of Dead record. The connection to Conrad Keely et al is also evident on the B-sides, which are just as delectable, especially in the screeched backing vocals on ‘Prison’*. Overall though, this is such a quality 7” that it feels much more substantial – you can see why they are opening for the likes of A Place To Bury Strangers – and the new album cannot come quick enough.

 

Mourning Glow is out through Asian Man Records - get it here.

Wild Moth – Mourning Glow
Wild Moth – Patience



*Sorry about the lazy reference points (although in my weary mind they do exist) – I'm finished work after a stupidly long week and I can only focus on booze and the cricket, and this 7” on the record player, followed by Murder City Devils’ back catalogue. You can understand why I'm rushing this through to get to that point, no? Have a good weekend kids!

Don't Steal The Beardy Durfs Ponce's Lunch Box

I love it when you open up the inbox and before you have to start wading through all the remixes, bad hip-hop and terribly written PR pieces, the first email inadvertantly floors you. This is what The Beardy Durfs' 7" Lunch Box/Ponce did to me. The Danish duo (seriously, Copenhagen's scene seems so disparate and incredible awesome!) are channelling no wave into makeshift pop compositions, then are extrapolated or truncated on a whim. 'Lunch Box' is a delectable slice of raucous garage noise-pop, whilst 'Ponce' is a lysergic jam into a bleached-white wilderness. Digital-only track 'Dead Poncho' is pure noise abandon, the kind of pop single Times New Viking or Japandroids might put out if collaborated with motorik annihilators A Place To Bury Strangers. This cacophonous ear orgasm is achieved via modified guitar pedals, homemade amplifiers, broken guitars and a seriously trashed drum kit built in the former East Germany. I seriously enjoy this 7". These are the kind of tracks I want to hear when I wake up people! (Actually, I want to hear them all day long. Keep it coming dudes).


You can get Lunch Box/Ponce from Pad & Pen Records.

Found A Dead Sailor In The Stagnant Pools

I brought to your attention only weeks ago that rad track 'Consistency' by Indiana brothers Stagnant Pools, drooling over the groove-laden dirge that is equal parts shoegaze swoon and lackadaisical guitar pop, with a smattering of gritty drone to boot. Well they have an album coming up on Polyvinyl called Temporary Room. What's more they have just finished up support slots with labelmates Japandroids (who also have a newie out, more on that later!!!) and EMA, and have more to come alongside A Place To Bury Strangers, Lotus Plaza, Exitmusic and Akron/Family (the last two of which sees them touring in a van they received as a graduation present - thanks pez!). These guys are heating up.

Stagnant Pools - Dead Sailor

Video Vacuum - A PlaceTo Bury Strangers, Trailer Trash Tracys, The Eversons, Milk Maid

Another miserable day to bring in the bullshit Winter season. I don't feel like doing work, and I KNOW you are playing Solitaire instead of whatever it is you are actually employed to do, so make your wasteful minutes count with some new music videos.

Noisy juggernauts A Place To Bury Strangers are on the cusp of unleashing their new hotly-anticipated LP Worship via Dead Oceans, and here is the clip for single 'You Are The One'. It includes typical NSFW fare such as dark hallways, hot ladies and sudden bursts of violence. All APTBS staples then...



UK act Trailer Trash Tracys have been riding waves of hipster adulation since the release of their debut album Ester, and although I enjoyed some of the tracks I felt the whole thing a bit inauthentic - much like any band that hipsters heap praise on. However, I didn't mind the song 'Los Angered' and it now has a cool video that evokes Battles' Gloss Drop conception art. Despite the TERRIBLE name, Trailer Trash Tracys could be onto something if they shirked the glossier elements of their persona and embraced their music more...



I found that the efforts of NZ goofy guitar pop kids The Eversons nailed their self-titled EP last year, and I'm glad to say they are releasing a full length called Summer Feeling on Lil Chief Records (a review of the album will be forthcoming). The following track 'Could It Ever Get Better' is off that, and the stop-motion felt cut out clip is the perfect complement to the band's aesthetic. Dumb, silly fun, done well.



Finally we have 'Summertime', the latest single from UK grungy 90s throwbacks Milk Maid. They will be releasing their debut LP Mostly No shortly, which promises to be a strong record. Sure, they are good - they ain't no Milk Music though (but Milk in the name is helping - does it really strengthen the bones???)



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!

Burying Strangers, Claiming Victory

Exciting news week, methinks! First up today is the news that A Place To Bury Strangers are set to release their new LP, Victory, June 11 through Dead Oceans. It will be their first album with new bassist Dion (last seen in The D4), and shows a shift in sonic dexterity that will surely divide fans, but I think it opens up a plethora of opportunities The new single is 'You Are The One', and it starts off moody and jangling, down a sleek monochrome hallway before exploding in your face, the closest you can get to a 4D aural experience. Seriously, get some wicked headphones and plug into this, see if it doesn't forge itself onto your eardrums.



A Place To Bury Strangers - You Are The One

I mentioned a while back that APTBS phoenixed out of the death of a band called Skywave, and the other band to do the same was Ceremony (not Rohnert Park and Zoo Ceremony - these guys have nary a hardcore bone in their bods). The similarities are rife. Well, there is obviously no bad blood between them, as they have this ltd edition 7" split with each other! Out on Famous Class Records, expect this to fly out the window, so buy it here.

Bloody Knives Get Bloodier

I was really impressed with Austin's industrial shoegaze trio Bloody Knives and their debut release back in 2010. A heady mixture of HEALTH and A Place To Bury Strangers, the tracks on Burn It All Down were relentless and loud - very loud. (check it out here if you missed out - silly.)

Well, I missed their Disappear EP from May last year (silly), but grabbed their Blood release recently. These punkish rogues have taken their aesthetic and twisted the dials to breaking point. It can be quite busy, and the noise can fight the actual melody of the song, but it's true that this trio are insistent on branding their music onto your soul. By the end of this listen, you'll be glad to oblige.

Bloody Knives - Blood
Bloody Knives - Death Blessing

Burying Strangers Beyond The Wall

We, along with just about everybody, loves A Place To Bury Strangers' 2009 LP Exploding Head. Hell, I played the Dinosaur Hunt light gun arcade game with former bassplayer Jono at ATP the very night this blog came to be! But since then it has been kinda quiet. Now they have announced February's launch of EP Onwards to the Wall, their first release since leaving Mute Records for Dead Oceans. The incredible noisy shoegazers (complete with new bassist Dion, formerly of cool Ramones-obsessed Kiwi band The D4)have done everything behind the scenes in order to bring these new tracks to light, which pretty much ensures it will be loud as fuck and just as exhilarating.

A Place To Bury Strangers - So Far Away

Mesozoic Laurels

Photo courtesy of Sangye Christianson

A few months ago, Texan psych legends The Black Angels toured Australia. I went to the Brisbane show at the Hi Fi Bar. It was the third time I had seen them, and the show was notable for three reasons - The Angels' killer set (as per usual), Brian Jonestown Massacre's Joel Gion's abysmal DJ "set", and the incredibly loud shoegaze proffered by Sydney act The Laurels.

The quartet have a six-track EP out called Mesozoic that isn't overly new in terms of its shoegaze aesthetics, but what it does it does bloody well. Jesus & Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, even newer exponents such as Beaches and A Place To Bury Strangers (both of which they have toured with) - it's all there in spades. Shit, Swervedriver's architect Adam Franklin is a devotee! But not only is it good, it such an awesome punch, a miasma of visceral noise that permeates the tracks that excites. This is how shoegaze ought to be played.

The Laurels were just in Brisbane, supporting Seekae, but you won't have to wait long for a return tour de force. They will be here as part of next week's live music and conference extravaganza Big Sound (Sept 7-9).

The Laurels - Black Cathedral

A Ceremony To Bury Strangers

Virginian duo Ceremony are Paul Baker and John Fedowitz. This name isn't the most helpful, as there already exists a band called Ceremony who are amazing hardcore denizens (you should do yourself a favour and hunt down their 2010 album Rohnert Park - fucking rad). But these guys are also worthy. Both share duties on every noisy instrument they can get their grubby fingers on, and then infuse it all with a skewed sense of pop. Paul and John were also two thirds of the highly revered band Skywave along with Oliver Ackermann, now the lead man for A Place To Bury Strangers. The similarities are certainly there - Im not kidding about the noise factor! - but as is evidenced on their latest EP Not Tonight, it fits a little more inherently to the shoegaze modus operandi. Its five tracks of dissonant gorgeousness, likely to blast the earwax out and let love into your heart - intravenously of course...

Not Tonight is out now on Custom Made Music.

Ceremony - Not Tonight

Shining Wrays On Some Quiet Yet Medicinal Americans

The second of our web of musical mystery comes from a seemingly unrelated email form Luke Giffen, who has been seen in Sleepover Disaster. He has recently formed a new band called The Quiet Americans, also from central California like Fay Wrays...then I noticed that the drummer was one Eli Reyes! Apparently Luke had no idea Eli had contacted me about Fay Wrays, yet they bounced my way within 24 hours of each other. Yet the guys have more than a supernatural bond to Sonic Masala - the recording of Medicine was a family affair, as Eli is married to Luke's sister, and Luke's little brother Ross contributed moog synth to the record (aww, right?). Family brings the best out of many creative groups. Its a different sound that this crew is crafting - combining predominantly short and fast songs with bright melodies and fuzzed out guitar squall. They really love the fuzz! The six song EP Medicine is their first release and is out on local label Coattrack Records (also responsible for putting out Fay Wrays' Strange Confessor). They have also been punching above their weight on the music scene, opening for the likes of A Place to Bury Strangers, The Fresh and Onlys, Royal Baths, and Light Pollution.

Check out Medicine below - and head to their Bandcamp to get it for free!

A Weapon To Use On Strangers

Now here is something. There was a period a few months ago there wasnt anything that I could do without getting me a fix of A Place To Bury Strangers. I was hunting far and wide for B-sides, remixes and rarities, a few of which I shared with your fine selves.

From that point, I moved on, but have kept dipping my toes in their abrasive version of shoegaze nihilism. I pretty much thought Id have to wait until the New Yorkers brought out their next album.

Or maybe not...

I have been listening to Austin, Texas duo Bloody Knives for about a month now. Its pretty rude of me to have kept em from you really, so Im finally imparting their album Burn It All Down. Despite labelling themselves as electropunk, what with the use of drum machine/laptop/keyboard/noise and all, the first five seconds of opening track 'Tell Me Im Wrong' had me swooning for APTBS's 2009 classic Exploding Head. And as this album progresses, the foreboding sense of dread and doom dealt with demonic efficiency and mirthless glee accentuated this notion. That said, this is not just a homage - the industrial dirges that spark tracks like 'No One Else' infuses the album with ever darker images, whilst the electronic flourishes on 'Close' and 'No One Hears' comes out like a slightly less manic Death From Above covering Joy Division. This is a very impressive release, imbued with the right amount of attitude and aggression to ensure repeated listens - even moreso if you're intending a night filled with narcotic fuel and a trip down the rabbithole.

Burn It All Down is out now on Killredrocket Records - grab a digital copy here. If you do decide to hunt down a physical (limited edition) copy of the album, be prepared - it is an amazing package due to the band's emphasis on the art being as much a telling factor of the music than the music itself. Well worth it.

Bloody Knives - No One Else

Bloody Knives - Hands Around Your Neck

Mass Graves Tame Grinderman's Worm

A Place To Bury Strangers' Exploding Head was a visceral kick to the groin last year, and is still handing unwary punters their arses today.

Grinderman encapsulates the piss and vinegar stroke manner in which Nick Cave and his badder than Bad Seeds have ensconced themselves in, and are intent to immerse us all in their delicious degradation.

And now the two bands have jumped into bed together, with APTBS remixing 'Worm Tamer', the upcoming single from the esoterically named Grinderman 2. Its a sharp slap of chaos theory sonics - you can hear the seismic shifts and the echoes of a million souls being torn up by a grave natural disaster every time this track hits the airwaves.

'Worm Tamer' will be released on November 22.

Grinderman - Worm Tamer (A Place To Bury Strangers remix) by MuteRecords

The Friday Cover Up - Noise does Bowie

Its a bit late in the day but this week's Friday Cover Up should really set up for a mental Friday night. A Place To Bury Strangers are a loud band and are not the sort, I thought, to drop a cover of these epic proportions. Sure they might have hit us with a blistering Sonic Youth cover, or maybe a Jesus and Mary Chain or even Mogwai track, but I never saw this coming, David Bowie's Suffragette City. The Brooklyn band have a bunch of shows coming up in Mexico, maybe the thought of all that Tequila drove them to Bowie. Crank it up and its like a legend wiping your brain with static. they should put that on the NHS.

A Place To Bury Strangers - Suffragette City

They Shoot Strangers, Don't They?

I was lamenting the lack of new material A Place To Bury Strangers had put out of recent times, mainly cos I love em and was in dire need of a fix that wasn't remix related. Well, Michael over at Austrian videoblog They Shoot Music, Don't They? has shot us an email about the acoustic work they did with the noiseniks, one of the songs which you can watch below. Very interesting, a stripped back version of these songs wouldnt appear to work normally, but it does here...

Answer: A Mass Grave. Question?

I havent heard much in the way of new A Place To Bury Strangers other than a continuing barrage of remixes. And sure, remixes can be good, I wanted something new new, you know? So I did a bit of a search, and whilst nothing sparkling has come out in the wash, I found some songs not on the brilliant album that was worth posting. I just want some APTBS now - Im being greedy, I know, but I don't care! SO before I lose my shit, Im going to listen to these tracks, calm down, and then reach for my shovel...(and reminisce about shooting dinosaurs, but thats another story for another time...)

A Place To Bury Strangers - Ocean

A Place To Bury Strangers - The Falling Sun

A Place To Bury Strangers - Never Going Down