Cannon Wanna Be With You Everywhere - Cool, No Worries (Friday Cover Up)

(pic by Glen Schanau)

Another day, another Brisbane band spitting out thrashy garage rock. The thing about five-headed monster Cannon is that no matter how well you capture them on tape, they never emulate the sloppy, unhinged nature with which they deliver live - yet latest EP It's Cool, No Worries certainly does its best. Recorded by Donnie Miller at Nowhere Audio, the instrumentation on these five tracks really highlight how deceptively tight the band can be - the guitar lines are finally discernible, and you start to figure out that there are actual defined songs underneath the mania. But as always it is impossible to deny the rabid presence of frontman Callan Murphy and his ranting, incomprehensible vocals. Penetrating out of the abyss, self-flagellating, the bark of a madman - Murphy's vocals will always divide audiences. The thing is, it's this sense of unbridled passion (even when seemingly delivered with apathy, and the casual tearing of the oesophagus) that truly marks out Cannon as different from the rest.

It's been a while since local imprint Bon Voyage have put their name to something, but It's Cool, No Worries has gotten their seal of approval - and fair dues. You can grab the 7" here. And seeing as this is a Friday, this release doubles as a Friday Cover up, as the EP closes with a ramshackle version of Fleetwood Mac's 'Everywhere' (it's the last track). Nuff said.

Ex Slugs And Butcher Birds Let Fly

 

Ex-Con came to be after Joanna Nilson (Butcher Birds) and James Dalgliesh (Slug Guts) got together in the feverish, nightmare-inducing humidity of a a Brisbane summer awash with monsoonal floods, kneejerk alcoholism and an inexplicable anxiety borne of idleness. The first combination of the band also included Cat Maddin (Dreamtime) and Alex Dunlop (Keep On Dancins), captured on their debut self-titled 7” (out through Bon Voyage).

Recorded live by Blank Realm’s Luke Walsh at the now defunct Woodland Bar this time last year (apparently accompanied by a bottle of Captain Morgan, a Holy Grail reverb pedal and some extra long Rizlas, these 3 tracks are icy fingers dug deep into the skull, tetanus behind the eyes, eczema for the ears. Nilson is at her best when she sounds tortured, and here she moans, screeches and howls like a death wraith with withdrawal symptoms, backed by barbed-wire noise and production-line industrial drum disorder. It’s a nasty mix, yet the heritage here (plus the feverish connection to the “Sunshine” State) gives it the rusted barbs to stay stuck in the flesh for a long time after the last note has been flayed.

Ex-Con comes out on Monday, and can be pre-ordered here. Nilson and Dalgliesh have absconded to Melbourne, and now have a new rhythm section comprising of Steph Cola (Spite House) and Andrea Blake (Chrome Dome).

Ex Con - Cuda '82

This Miaou Is More Like A Roar

Dan over at local boutique record label Bon Voyage whispered in my ear at the beginning of the year that he had some special releases earmarked for 2012. Well the first one is ripe to drop. French duo Looks Like Miaou have put together a raw and intense self-titled debut, a cacophonous maelstrom that echoes out of a rubbish bin with just the right resonance of anguish, isolation and fetid angst. The guitar lines are warbled, serrated and diseased; the vocals interchange between mumblecore sweetness and light to aggrieved, anguished wails; the electronics hiccuping throughout feel contrived, ad hoc and organic all at once. It's a confronting yet overtly compelling album. Chloe and Constant are apparently part of a life-punk collective living in Marseilles who are at odds with the continental beauty of their environment, gnashing their teeth as they revel in nihilistic oblivion. This LP certainly mirrors such aspersions. It's dark and vicious, yet like most things in this realm it's indelibly seductive.


Put out through Goner Records in the States, Looks Like Miaou hits Aussie shores April 30th thanks to Dan and his Bon Voyage crew. Pre-order this excellent LP here.

Looks Like Miaou - Chevreuil Rodeo
Looks Like Miaou - Canif & Diana Ross

Hunting Feathers

Those Brisbane ladies in love with the reverb pedal, Feathers, have a new album out in a couple weeks. Hunter's Moon - that title alone should be a fair indicator of what to expect, and why they have supported the likes of Best Coast, Vivian Girls and Dead Meadow in the past. Recorded in a few hours (!) in an empty hundred-year-old movie cinema, Hunter’s Moon is the band’s first release in their current line-up, marking a transitional period in the band’s history. The LP presents a collection of songs spanning from upbeat surf inspired pop love songs (like opener 'Darklands'), to hazy, reverb obscured ballads about lost dreams and tales of phantoms (the closer 'Wild Horse Mountain' is the perfect example of that). The Rolling Stones' 'Play With Fire' also makes an appearance. Its a lovely languid release, and just another reason to take not of what's happening in this under appreciated Australian city.

Hunter's Moon is out October 7 through Bon Voyage Records, and is limited to 100 pressings - tiny! So get here and get in quick!

Feathers - Darklands
Feathers - Wild Horse Mountain

Say Bon Voyage To Neon Mountain

The 2011 Brisbane Festival is the best one yet, bringing together all creative muses to create a multimedia extravaganza right across the city. The music contingent is quite high too, with a variety of eclectic artists frequenting the Spiegeltent in King George Square over the next fortnight (such as Syl Johnson and Gareth Liddiard...).

Another event that is sure to take the locals by storm is Neon Mountain. The two events showcase some of Australia's underground musical talent. The first, curated by Andrew Tuttle (Anonymeye, Micronations and all round good guy), is on this Saturday (17 September) and focuses on audio projects such as DOT.AY and Qua. This will be an incredible, immersive show - get your tickets here.

However the second Neon Mountain show is more conducive to Sonic Masala circles. Curated by Dan Lewis of boutique record label Bon Voyage Records, it focuses on underground rock. Headlining is Sydney slacker noise outfit and SM favourite Naked On The Vague, and will be supported by Melbourne witch-house mystery Horse MacGyver; Brisbane’s own dark psych circle, Secret Birds; and local noise-pop outfit Martyr Privates. Projections on the night come from visuals duo syncingboat. This one will be held on Saturday September 24 (the final night of Brisbane Festival). Get your tix here. Both events are held in the Metro Arts carpark, so weather permitting, it will be an unforgettable series of shows.

The event precedes what is set to be an exciting end to the year for Bon Voyage, with vinyl releases forthcoming from Brisbane’s psych pop girl-group Feathers, Martyr Privates, and St Etienne les Orgues no-wave duo Looks Like Miaou. Circulating on vinyl and tape media, as well as digitally, Bon Voyage specialises in short-run limited editions, taking in psychedelia, lo-fi, noise, avant-pop from Australia and across the sea.