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!

Jerking Beef Is Tragic

I'm loving Tragic, the debut long player from Sydney amiable slack jaws Beef Jerk. Coming from a wide cross-section of the city's DIY aesthetic (members come from bands such as Bad Guys, Housewives, Adults, Day Ravies, Snotty Babies and more), this four-piece/sometime-five-piece have punched out fifteen laconic ramblers that takes some of the token tropes of the much-maligned dole wave subset (droll, monotone vocals about underemployed middle-class malaise, drinking booze and specific city signifiers) and leaves it in the sun to warp in weird and wonderful ways. This isn't so much about being laconic as being smart-arses - song titles like 'Stay At Home Dads', 'Jerking Off' and 'The Last Chiko Roll', the latter with its references to the idiotic current PM and the iconic battered roll of cabbage, corn and glutinous gunk, make it clear that these boys just want to write songs that make them laugh, but that aren't novelty value either (their affinity with contemporary literate soothsayer Nathan Roche becomes evident here). There are melancholic meanders through maudlin sunsets ('Cotton'), jumbled jaunts through the detritus of humanity in the backstreets of the NSW capital ('Rhythm Infection', 'Aisle Ten'), and cantankerous canters through the jumbled thoughts of tetchy urban sages, sorting through the bowel-trails at the bottom of the public toilets for divinity ('Reissue', 'French Dish'). Beef Jerk always feel like they aren't trying, but rather than it being an affectation it's  because it seems honestly beyond them to do so - yet their unctuous delivery and style belies an extremely likable band with an interesting, amusing and epochal Australian voice, something that can't be said about many bands of this ilk really. Two thumbs up (especially when smashing tinnies on the bus).

Grab Tragic here. They supported Twerps on Friday night, but have a bunch of shows combing up and down the east coast in June/July (although none in Queensland - YET) - see below:

Friday June 12 – Grace Darling, Melbourne VIC (w/ Chook Race, Black Vacation, Gentlemane)

Monday June 15 – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC

Saturday June 27 – Hermann's Bar, Sydney NSW (w/ Unity Floors)

Friday July 10 – Brighton Up Bar, Sydney NSW

Fighting The Curlew Urges

Mark Zian has one of the most unique voices in Brisbane today. He was (is?) an integral part of the intricate machine that was (is?) Knee Chin, but finds his voice (literally) in the likes of solo outfit I Am Not A Nihilist and his “rock” band, Curlew. Not that many people know it – Curlew (Zian on guitar and vocals; Callum Wheeler on drums) have been something of a hermit/recluse for the entirety of their conception. I have had the pleasure of seeing Curlew three times in twelve months (nigh on a record), two times this year (both of which were Sonic Masala shows – hey, if you want to watch bands you really like, best put them on yourself). The duo have just released Animal Urges, and it’s an album of exquisite, and exquisitely painful, beauty – a sparse malaise of contemplation, rumination and ruin, all spun in a instrumental narrative that is both spare and dense, an exercise in steely tension and gallows humour, an extraordinary existence borne from the sweatboxes of suburban Brisbane, spat under hooded eyes and a sly yet weary grin. Zian has a cracked vocal delivery somewhere suspended between The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard and another of Brisbane’s hidden lyrical geniuses, Amateur Childbirth (their kinship came to fruition when Curlew played the launch of AC’s second album, PRIPYAT, back in February).

Animal Urges is a somewhat different beast from Curlew’s other major releases. Firstly the songs are much looser and longer in length – only three of the nine tracks on offer stay under five minutes, and three surpass the ten minute mark. Take as example the title track. Essentially a suite of songs, the tracks has a spluttering rhythm that suits the primal questions, assumptions and experiences that Zian explores. Whether it be a conversation in a café that circles the nostalgic mores that remembering the highs of narcotic highs can bring, the adolescent realisation of the strengths of being a male yet the pull towards the female, or the internal conflicts that such primal mores can cause, Zian’s presence is magnetic, drawing you into his esoteric, conflicted world. From the soft jangle accompanying soft-focus childhood memories to the harsher preamble to a venting diatribe, the instrumentation mirrors the ever-shifting narrative tangle. Curlew is a band that inhabits a singular worldview, drawing you inexorably into the swirling mental philosophising, and never have I felt more in tune to a person’s unchecked experiences and explorations of what the fuck this life might mean before. And for that you should all be eternally grateful. And the story outlaid on ‘Fitness First’ is brilliant – it gets me every time.

You can grab Animal Urges here. One of the best Brisbane releases of 2014, yet its verbosity, obtuseness and bared-vein honesty will scare some away. Be brave; step inside; close the door behind you; and listen to someone who isn’t afraid to breathe life into the confused world they live in. Amazing stuff. Their next show is at Trainspotters this Saturday July 26 alongside Black Vacation, Ciggie Witch, Blonde Tongues and Pare Ohm - an incredible line up for free.

Contrified Dusk, Urban Sprawl Dawn - Welcome To Natural Child And Endless Prowl

Two albums that I've only just started dipping into as I do some late-night work. First up is the new record from Tennessee garage cowboys Natural Child, Dancin' With Wolves (out today through Burger Records). It is true countrified sojourns, a campfire travail into the heartland of the South, and the now five piece really revel in the warmth this approach gives them. The devilish, ramshackle charm that informed their earlier records is almost non existent, something that listening to Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings may do to you - in a good way. Dancin' With Wolves is one of those rare records that is both perfect background filler and immersive delight - rustic inebriation on the languid stories of Natural Child.

Then I stumbled across Endless Prowl, which is actually a collaboration between Brisbanite Daniel Ford (Black Vacation/Thigh Master/Kids Cryptic/Evening Hiss/probably other things...) and Teva from Upclock. This is the opposite end of the sonic spectrum to Natural Child - the kind of late-night jams that discombobulate and contort between the worlds of night and day, never light nor dark, just a never ending tide of wavering existence between the beginning and the end, both seductive and weary, sensuous and lurid. In short, this is some great stuff. Whether Endless Prowl will actually amount to much more than this one collab remains to be seen. Lets hope that we do.

VIDEO VACUUM - Kirin J Callinan, Bleached, Charles Howl, Evening Hiss

It's November already?? Wow. No wonder I'm so tired. And lazy. I'm going to stop doing work now (it's 10am) and watch some music videos. You can too if you want, I'm not the boss of you.



Kirin J Callinan certainly ruffled a lot of feathers and beguiled many others with his debut album Embracism. I personally find his music far better in person, with visuals. That's why I tend to look forward to his film clips more than sitting down for just an aural taste. He hasn't disappointed thus far, and this incredible video for that album's 'Landslide' is incredible. Whilst it certainly helps that the song is probably my favourite from the album, the sight of Callinan hanging upside down above an ocean - that's in the sky - is incredible. And for whatever reason, I always get a kick out of seeing a dog swim. So win win, really.



Lots of bands get a kick out of having Halloween-themed songs for this bizarre commercialised holiday in America, whether it be kitschy tweaked originals or covers. Bleached have taken the former with 'Love Spells', a song that isn't really any different from what they do in the daytime, but have a decidedly ghoulish 80s VHS-era video to go with it. It's all incredibly fun, even if there are some evocative images held within (the woman with the severed hand and bloody crucifix in particular stick in the mind...)



Charles Howl is on the prowl, but he promises he will do you no harm. That doesn't appease me though, what with his extensive usage of white and the sleeping girl. He kicks off with his crotch in our face as he does up his fly! There's a glowing orb and smoke! Wait - he's going to smother her! Or is he? What a creep...or is he actually hugely misunderstood? Meh. He plays a mean garage line, and seeing as he has aligned himself to PNKSLM, he can't be all bad... Really looking forward to hearing more of this.


Evening Hiss - Melt from Daniel Ford on Vimeo.

Daniel Ford know no limits. I could be referencing seminal 90s act 2 Unlimited there. Maybe Ford should cover it? Probably not. He is in a gazillion local bands that would do a good job of it though - Black Vacation, Thigh Master, Kids Cryptic, just to name a few. Here is a song from solo project Evening Hiss, that started as a complement to an art exhibition he has coming up. This effort will be put out on limited release, and based on this track you will be sorry if you miss out. Or just pissed that someone has so much bloody talent to burn.

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Spotting Black Trains On My Black Vacation

It's been a while (two weeks to be exact), but I am back from holidays. To celebrate, Sonic Masala is combining with Trainspotters to help launch 'Glazed', the newish single from Brisbane's own purveyors of lackadaisical guitar pop whimsy, Black Vacation. They are growing in stature, and should be huge by the time 2013 tolls its final bell (if there is any justice in the world).

The supports are incredibly stellar too. Shambolic rocktards Cobwebbs have an album of sorts coming out on Long Gone Records, with more potentially on the way. 

Brainbeau are another band that defy categorisation and are so goddamned good that Grimes should be tweeting about them...or something. They are squirrelling out from the underground cracks they have been trapped in, and to see them playing bigger, brighter shows is a true blessing.

Newcomers Dag are something of an unknown quantity, but if this track is anything to go by the trio will safely make a home here on Planet Masala.

It's all happening at the Grand Central Hotel tonight. The band times is below. It's free entry, beers are relatively cheap (most pints will give you change from a tenner - not to be sneezed at in this money-crunching age), Black Vacation have a few more shirts on sale, and it goes into the wee hours. See you there.

Glazed Haze On Our Black Vacation

I meant to get this out sooner, seeing as their first two shows (in Newcastle and Sydney) were this weekend. Better late than never I guess... Local woozy amblers Black Vacation have just released new single 'Glazed', and its a suitably excellent track that doles out nonchalance and whimsy in equal, chiming measures. Its the most concise, crystalline effort that the Ford brothers have slapped their name to thus far (Daniel and Matt are also in Kids Cryptic and Thigh Master), whilst the added gravitas of Helena Papageorg (Feathers) and Michaela Chin (Marl Carx) helps to anchor Black Vacation's sound somewhere between the Australian slacker pop revelation and the Stateside introspective fare that the likes of Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing delve in. Excellence par none.



Black Vacation travel down to Melbourne and the Gasometer on Friday July 5 (with support from SM faves Velcro as well as Legendary Hearts and Aktion Unit), before finalising their launch in their hometown (and a Sonic Masala Presents!) at Trainspotters on Sat July 13. Supports for that one will be Cobwebbs, Stress Waves and Dag.

Australian Nonchalance

Are you as laidback as this character? I hope so. And many of our current crop of killer Aussie bands are too. Let's check some out.

Andre is the band of Andre Vanderwert, who is one of the carousel players in Hot Palms (I wrote warmly of them only last week). Andre isn't alone on this endeavour though, incorporating Jordan Ireland (The Middle East), Marc Requeiro-McKelvie (New Estate, Popolice, Teeth & Tongue), Hot Palm's Alec Marshall and members of The Ocean Part amongst others. The band has put out a helluva a lot recently: Too Much Talk was a cassette that came out in November; the Do Watchya Want CD-r in February; and the Mend b/w Have 7" this month (all out on Why Don't You Believe Me? Records - they are all available here). This shit is golden - more sonorous and accessible than some of their contemporaries, raucous, maudlin, grungy, gritty, funny - it's just damned fine. Get onto it, NOW -  these guys need to be playing much more often.

Speaking of The Ocean Party, one of their members Curtis Wakeling also moonlights as Velcro - his Wagga Wagga EP was one of my fave short-form releases of last year (check that out here). Well he now has a new lineup, and the trio are backing up with 'Bottle Shop' - distinctly Australian in tone and demeanour, with a perfectly calibrated pop composition ensuring this sticks like a burr. So easy, so effortless, so whimsical, so so good. There's promise of a full length later this year - consider all extremities crossed for that one.

Velcro - Bottle Shop

Now I'm cramming three bands in at once here, but they all contain the Ford brothers, Daniel and Matt. These Brissy-based siblings are the nicest, coolest dudes who are also cornering the market up here with excellent bands. The most prominent at this point in time is scratchy dreamers Black Vacation - so much so that they have scored recent supports for Wild Nothing. Their Scarred Glass EP is fantastic, if rough, and their newer material is much stronger - making them a deliciously dangerous proposition indeed. Not to be outdone, there is Kids Cryptic, a stomping, shambolic slice of garage flights of fantasy; and newest incarnation Thigh Master (man, these guys should be band name generators!) which is darker, dirgier, and also filled with sparkling gems (and are on the support bill for King Tuff tomorrow night here at the Primitive Room). If you haven't heard of these bands, or these boys, guaranteed you will have by year's end.

Black Vacation - Scarred Glass
Kids Cryptic - Shore

Here's footage of Black Vacation at the last Sonic Masala show...

And here is some footage of the excellent Thigh Master, filmed at Rics around the same time...

Whilst Greg Boring may have been better suited in my first post (and was, in fact, meant to be there), the Brisbane noise mumblers slot into the transient debris and shimmering sweatheaps that make up the Queensland capital's 'burbs. The band is not really a band - it's a happening, an anachronistic algae, an osmosis. It springs out of the cracks, delivers short stabs of melting casiotone combustions and wilting malapropisms before disappearing once more amongst the cigarette butts, vomit stains and saliva sprays. Yet they have also got an album out - Heavy Syrup - and the fact that its received an European release (through the ever excellent Critical Heights - grab it here) is unfathomable - and yet prescient. And while the molasses-paced tracks capture the band in "full swing", it never truly intimates how destitute, how coagulated, how haggard, yet utterly of its moment their live shows are. Fucks me when the next one will be either - I don't think even they know.

Greg Boring - Denuder
Greg Boring - Alvin

Great Earthquake is Melbourne's Noel Symons. The one-man looped-up melody maker has just released his sophomore record, Mind Maps, and its a quivering miasma of sounds, using a wide variety of instruments and samples to augment his own eclectic drumming patterns, and what is left is an album fully in tune with its master's whims and wishes. It swells and crashes in such a diverse fashion, weaving a meshed curtain of pastoral warmth, pagan rhythms and soaring vocal chants. Great Earthquake launches Mind Maps officially in May, starting with a show at the Tote in Melbourne Saturday May 4 and finishing with a show at The Waiting Room Friday May 17 (supported by the equally impressive McKisko and Sadglint) and taking on a supporting role under a Ghost Notes single launch out at Southside Tea Room the following evening.

Great Earthquake - Do. Make

I'm yet to see the wistful quirk of Wonderfuls play the traps yet, but based on the limited output the Brisbane outfit has bled onto tape, it would be a woozy, lysergic mess of an epiphany. Salty Town is a cracked malaise, washed down the sink into the underbelly of desperation and despair, all masked by a gauzy air of sun-damaged hope. Bobby's voice, flat and monotone, is the centrifugal force, and what pushes everything over the crumbling edge into the abyss of confusion and inertia - Harmony Korine via literary touchstones Praise and The Dead Heart for the ears. Can you escape? And if so, will you want to? Salty Town will be coming out on vinyl soon.

Wonderfuls - Freezing Cold
Wonderfuls - Relapse

Let's close this shop up with Pearls. I was shown this band by close mate Wilk, proclaiming their burgeoning talents, and he wasn't wrong. They slipped a self-titled EP out into the ether December last year without many people noticing, which is diabolical because these four tracks are damn fine. People are noticing though - they toured with A Place To Bury Strangers earlier in 2013, and have picked up the support for the muchly anticipated Bardo Pond tour in August. Not bad at all.