Video Vacuum - Big Ups, Black Vacation, Smile, Food Court, Bad Vision, White Lodge

Lots of people are back at work today. Not me. This post was written and posted last Thursday, my last day of work for a while; I have altered some of the stuff here to make it more "prevalent". Hope it gets you out of the back to work doldrums, for a little while at least...

Big Ups play tomorrow night, which I cannot make because I have my own gig on at The Victoria with Shitwife, Nitkowski and Girl Sweat (not even sorry about the promotion here - seriously, come along, it's a fiver for three of the best bands going around here). I am bummed to miss them - their last album 18 Hours Of Static has been a favourite, and the new one Before A Million Universes looks to be just as good. 'National Parks' has a severe Slint complex in the first half before launching into the Big Ups diatribe that we are more familiar with. The film clip is glossy, with plenty of interpretive dance and a heavy undercurrent of tragedy.

It's been a while since I have seen or heard new stuff from Aussie down-and-outers Black Vacation, but Dan Ford surprised me with this newie. 'For Fear' sees the man with a form of forlorn roto-scoping - an injection of Waking Life into the Melbourne slackersphere. The reverb-heavy vocals can't hide the mourn and malaise, and even animated he remains - well - inanimate. But again, as always, Black Vacation nail it. When's the next release coming out already?

Speaking of inanimate objects/people/faces in Melbourne - Smile have released their video for 'Holiday' featuring a sexy full-size mannequin, getting ready for work, dealing with PPTs and synergy, smashing mid afternoon tins and dreaming of that much-deserved city break. It's a great song, made all the better with the Tim & Eric meets Lynch coda.

Jumping up to Sydney for a bit now with Food Court. 'For The Morning' shows the band in true sporting and synchronized dancing mode - is there anything they cannot do? As you will see, there is quite a lot. Features the best appearance from a bear since The Bear (that one that ripped up Leo is such a poseur...) I love that it comes together (helps when the song rollicks along like a train with Seagal on board), but also looks incredibly half-arsed. Sometimes things work in spite of themselves.

Which brings us back to Melbourne, where Bad Vision take their jauntier punk approach to a house situation that looks classy (look at that stocked bookshelf! is that a clean 4WD in the driveway?), volatile (fusbal fisticuffs!), and jaunty (spinning unbrellas!). These guys are one of the most fun bands in the city, and their upcoming album promises to keep pushing the ante.

And we close out with the VHS stylings of 'Labour of Love' from Gold Coast woozy garage goons White Lodge. Basically this is looking back at the good times, a time capsule compendium of the band's wildness and idiocy. The album is out soon (watch new single 'Bella-Union Creeps' also below) - their stagger assault on the world continues...

Now get back to work!

Aussie Attack - Hoodlum Shouts, Bad Vision, Us The Band, Le Villejuif Underground, Loose Tooth, Velcro, Weak Boys, California Girls

I am always struggling to keep up! So much good stuff to look out for and look forward to. none moreso from my native Southern Land. So here are eight acts that you should keep your ears peeled for over the next few months...

Canberra's always been an interesting place for music, mainly because of how isolated and idiosyncratic the place is in all senses of the word. So when great bands come out of there it is a pleasant surprise. There have been quite a few recently to be fair (Wives, Primary Colours, TV Colours) and today I bookend this post with two more. The first guys are one of the most underrated bands in the country - Hoodlum Shouts. Their gig alongside Tape/Off, Freak Wave and Bad Vision in 2014 at Public Bar really rocked my world, fully confirming their brilliance that is showcased on 2012's stellar LP Young Man Old Man and every other release they have smashed out. 'Heat Island' is the title track, and it is emblematic of the shuddering, heat-soaked post-punk these Australian battlers embody. in fact it makes sense that such a bruised band with a weary-yet-defiant eye on the state of the nation would be born in the nation's capital. Take it down from within, boys. VERY excited for Heat Island.

Bad Vision seem to have toned down the sloppy grime-flecked punk for new track 'Goon'. It is still undeniably BV though - despite the piercing sun rays sparking off the jangly guitars, playing like a rollicking indie-folk stomper, Jerome's laconic vocals and that howled chorus about staring out and about at the detritus of the population floating like flotsam on the shit-creek of life tells us definitively otherwise. It is the first cut from their sophomore record, Turn Out Your Socket, due out in May (pre-order through Adagio 830 Records here).

Us The Band have upped the ante with 'Ghoul' - while they played loose and fast with their DZ Deathrays associations early on, the new track feels more in line with that other killer two-piece, Japandroids. The EP But Where Do They Go looks to be a lung-tearing, ear-bludgeoning calling card - if you are in Sydney pop down to Petersham Bowls Club on Friday for the launch.

Nathan Roche is a true global troubadour - on the lam from landlords, ladies, beer barons and every government linked debt agency he has had the pleasure/pain of crossing, he has crafted out some great records with both Camperdown and Out and under his own name. Back incognito in the Sydney swelter, he has brought some of that Gallic saunter and swagger with him in the form of Le Villejuif Underground. His laconic drawl is the same louche observations, living in a hazy cloud, a unreliable holiday parallel to the real world, never breaking a sweat, even when the wall is racing towards the windscreen. 'On The Seine' is the kind of wonky lounge pop whimsy that only someone as careless, carousing and carefree as Roche can get away with, let alone do well. Just go with it - it might fleece you, but you will be happy for the experience... Watch for a release to come out of Rice Is Nice later in the year.

Out of all the acts on this Antipodean breakdown, Loose Tooth is the only "new band" to me, having only heard 'Bites Will Bleed' yesterday. It's impressive - a scuzz-blasted call to arms, both maudlin and steadfast, brutal and brittle, not reticent, unrepentant. They have been picked up by Milk Records (Courtney Barnett, The Finks) and their debut EP Saturn Returns will be out in April. (And how amazing is that band photo? Bloody amazing, that's what).

Curt from The Ocean Party has his own outlet as Velcro - he played a Sonic Masala show in Brisbane back in 2013 (to all of 30 people, on a $5, 6-band bill - but I sunk $300+ on the bar to make up for the disappointment so I think everyone had a good time. That image above is from the show). He has released a self-titled LP that was recorded around that time, and is finally out in the ether - you can see how his songwriting leads into The Ocean Party meringue. It's about the same laconic worldviews that his band mates' side projects Ciggie Witch and Hobby Farm - being bedridden ('Bed Ridden'), loving Victoria ('Victoria'), visiting Sydney ('Sydney')... Yeah, the name is definitely the game. Especially like 'Whine', but they are all good tracks. Bout bloody time, Curt.

Sydney upstarts Weak Boys continue to rattle the cage. These carefree slacker poptarts don't know how to take things seriously - except when they do. I was going to apologies about not writing about their fun as hell album Weekdays/Weekends, or their new single 'Life Rules'n (death drools). But then they got angry at the shitty situation of their home town and spat it out for all to see - 'Good One Sydney'. Fucking good one. Kings Cross living. Here is a link to their record anyway so you can see how good these goofballs are - and maybe you will see them in Brisbane in August for something or other...

And we sign off with California Girls AKA Gus McGrath (Wives, Primary Colours, Beach Slut). he has been a heavily prolific dude in the past, and you can see why - his latest, Desire, has already sold out in cassette form, with an LP version to be out sometime this month. It's New Wave gothic post-punk caught between a black hole and a vase of rotting roses, not wanting or knowing anything other than to sway to the sounds of anguish and desire. It lives in Australia, but could emanated out of the cold terrain of the European dour, a constant search for passion and longing through a prism of dancefloor disappointment and narcotic necrotism. In short, it is insidiously sensuous in its abject, knowing despair... See California Girls play this Saturday with Hobart legends Naked and locals Wives at the Phoenix, before he hits Melbourne to play at Howler alongside Bent, Hierophants and Waterfall Person.

Lost In Loobs

Melbourne trio Loobs are preparing to launch their second EP (Loobs 2, doncha know) and it's a good'un. Taking the dissonant legs-splayed post-punk approach and throwing it to the ground in abject disgust, these four tracks machete their own path through the sonic jungle, a sweat soaked fever dream of anguish and despair. The chanted vocals and spidery, spiralling guitar is reminiscent of bands like Women and Sonic Youth, albeit more stripped back and ramshackle, but when things cascade into shards of noise, it's a sight/sound to behold. And the narcoleptic closer 'Pingu', whilst not my favourite track on the EP (that's split between 'Dysentery' and 'Great Wall Of China') the marked change of pace and weight of desperation with promises of hope in the last lyrics, despite the trainwrecks (I feel the closest I ever have), shows Loobs are onto something special here. Buy Loobs 2 here.

Bad Vision Is 20/20

Excellent Melbourne label Every Night Is A Saturday Night have corralled a damn fine roster over the past year and a bit (Batpiss, The Spinning Rooms) and they can now cram Bad Vision into the fold. The band released their self-titled debut 12" back in November (I know, where was I, right?) and with Mikey Young behind the controls, you know it sounds sick. Bad Vision is pretty straight up with its intentions - fast and loose figuratively, fast and tight musically, thrashing through the types of garage punk that proliferated the back streets of the Seventies. References are rife, but it's best to focus more on the whole album, one bristling with desperate, bratty energy, feverish sweat flying off the fret, relentless rhythms marching you into the sea of writhing bodies that makes up the front of the stage. Because Bad Vision, whilst not a "live album", is permeated with a sense that this is the tip of the iceberg when you see them in the flesh. Not so much a calling card though as it is a reminder that straight up punch in the face rock and roll is more than enough justification to live another day.

Buy Bad Vision (in pink vinyl) from here.

Brendan Masala's Top 7s/10s/EPs of 2013

I'm racing for a train that is taking me into Shropshire for the New Year - village eating, drinking and debauchery awaits. So here is a list of the short form releases that floated my boat this year...

7"s

Bad Vision - 112/Favours



Harmony - Do Me A Favour



Occults - Occults



Ex Con - Ex Con



White Reaper - Conspirator/The Cut




Ttotals - Spectrums Of Light




Neon Windbreaker - New Sky

THIS CANNOT BE PLAYED AT THIS TIME.

Pale Earth - Prelude To Debut



Big Richard Insect - Big Richard Insect



Charles Buddy Daaboul - Three Colours Green



EPs

Multiple Man - Multiple Man
(one of my favourite releases, regardless of format)



Andrew Tuttle - 4064



Death Cassettes - Ghost Party



Young Adults - Born in '91 EP



WTCHS - Wet Weapons



Parquet Courts - Tally All The Things You Broke



Deep Heat - New Design


A Savage God - A Savage God


Barbiturates - Shades


Angry Seas - Angry Seas


What do you think?

Australian Noise

Finally let's ride this tsunami of Australia sound out with a cataclysmic tremor of noise, starting with ebullience and ending with apocalyptic destruction.

Brisbane's Velociraptor are about to launch into an overseas onslaught that will leave every pundit in their wake feeling sucked dry from over-drinking, over-dancing and over-rejoicing (I have actually heard someone say they "rejoiced" when Velociraptor came on stage...) To get the European hordes well and truly lathered up, they are releasing this cassette through Heart Throb Records. Set out just like a Streetfighter video game - nice. Get your twinkle toes in order, because this twelve-headed beast won't KO you with a flurry of punches, but an overload of cocky swagger. Preorder the cassette here.

Melbourne duo Super Wild Horses have followed up their attention-grabbing debut Fifteen with an even more confident showing in Crosswords. Still showcasing the spiky, effervescent garage rock Amy Franz and Hayley McKee have become renowned for, the album nevertheless takes us to places hitherto unthought of - slower jams, country twangs, boys' germs, and Smokey Robinson. You thought they had arrived before - Crosswords truly heralds their arrival, slightly eschewing the garage they were inadvertently placed in for bigger, comfier, more kick-ass digs. A great live band finally has a truly befitting album to back it up - you can get Crosswords here.

Super Wild Horses - Memphis
Super Wild Horses - West Coast
Super Wild Horses - Alligator

Next up we have the ever evolving instrumental band Making. Initially following in the vein of minimalist angular titans No Disco, Making have added colour and verve to the industrial edges to become an altogether different beast. 'Stay Stil' is the newest example of this evolution - finding a middle ground between the aforementioned band, Whizz-Fizz contortionists Fang Island and the earliest math-rock leanings of Foals before they disappeared into their emo stadium shoes. Making's live shows are incendiary too; make sure you catch them in their volatile element. Listen to the new track below, head here to hear what else they have to offer, and see their version of 'Pascal' that they let loose on revellers at this year's Camp A Low Hum festival in NZ. Amazeballs.

Making - Stay Stil

MAKING / PASCAL / LIVE AT CAMP A LOW HUM 2013 from jackyp on Vimeo.

Back down to Melbourne and some incessantly loud yet drunkenly amenable punk in the form of Bad Vision. Their 112/VISIONS 7" is goddamn killer (you can grab it here), as were the shows they pulled off up in Brisbane late last year. The bassless quartet are carving their way through Europe as we speak, having a blast, and so should you...be (that doesn't sound right, does it?). Suffice to say that this kind of racket is impervious to pain and boredom - it charges on, and leave you with an empty wallet, a sense of wanton abuse and a sloppy grin plastered on your face. Win win.

Bad Vision - 112
Bad Vision - Visions

From the unholy bowels of Wollongong spews forth Bruce!, a four-piece enraptured by beer, weed, souped up cars and rocking out. A heady mix of balls to the wall rock and Josh Homme man love, Bruce! don't cop airs and graces, and will batter such bullshit into the ground with a maniacal quivering tic the only movement on the stony faces, before necking a tallie and screwing your mum. The thing is, you will all laugh about it in the morning. I saw these guys play the Record Store Day show at Tyms Guitars on Saturday - and man, they were fun. Booze very much needed to appreciate this - no dry runs here. Grab Bruce! here for a good time...

Bruce! - Hell Gig
Bruce! - Bottle In A Brown Paper Bag

Getting even dirtier, we head into the demonic depths with Sewers, a diseased squadron of cellar dwellers dishing out acid reflux and refuse, an atonal IV into the core of you're basest instincts. At one time playing every second show, Sewers are being more selective, preferring to slink in the shadows, all the more potent because of it. Their show on Saturday with Living Eyes was as depraved and nihilistic as ever. They've got a few releases out, I only picked up this cassette the other day, and my ear canal developed eczema. Can you smell the human roast? Feedtime.

Sewers - Human Spray
Sewers - Grease My Chain

Dastardly downer improv instrumental misanthropes Die On Planes have a new album called Our Work Matters, and it's free. Yep, all free. You want such brutality as a handout. Such cerebral cleansing. Such follicle annihilation. There is no hatred here - just cold, emotionless being. Feel your fears and anxieties sucked into a black hole at the pit of your even darker soul. Everything will be all right. You are already on the other side. (Seriously though, heavy shit, belting sandpaper noise, good good times).

And to finish this gargantuan undertaking, we have the new LP from Sydney's excellent Yes I'm Leaving. Mission Bulb (out on Tenzenmen in May) finally captures how brilliantly unhinged these noiseniks can really be. I only got it yesterday, so I'm still ingesting it. But I'm pretty sure Ive got something insidious growing inside me as a result. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, then I might very well have metamorphosed. Ah well - when it's this delectably ear-shattering and deliciously visceral, scurrying up the walls is the least of my concerns. Or going all Michael Shannon from Bug. You seen that movie? It's damn good I reckon. Small, but good. And it's a William Friedken piece! Precursor to Killer Joe. So you can see what kind of twisted hole we're hurtling down here... These guys played with God Bows To Math and Lennon Lenin the other night in Newcastle. Jesus, what I would have done to be at that show, you don't wanna know. Here's a track from it - you're welcome.

Yes I'm Leaving - Song For You

...and I'm spent. Night.