A Civil Civic Marriage With Moore

Let's turn the lights down low this evening - reeeeal low. That crazy hybrid instrumental duo Civil Civic now how to grind out a groove, and have upped the ante by including perennial DIY  R Stevie Moore into the mix for new track 'When You Gonna Find Me A Wife?'. It's definitely a Civil Civic song, but with Moore's demanding lyrics for marriage and the whole nine yards, albeit at a breakneck, lurid pace. What more could you want or need? Nothing. Well, I do declare...



Civil Civic have a new album out soon - cannot WAIT.

2010's Three Best Things...by Civil Civic

Civil Civic just do their thing, which is amazingly energetic and dancey instrumental rock. They dont go much for publicity and such, liking to keep it short and sweet and getting the music to do the talking. So when I asked the duo to submit a list for the end of 2010, what they produced was pure CC - punchy, vibrant, funny.

BEST LIVE SHOW 2010: Iggy Pop @ Hammersmith Apollo
"He stage dived on me. He felt like a hot wet eel."

BEST MEAL 2010: RASA - Church St, Stoke Newington

BEST RECORD 2010:


Check out their ace blog too.

Barry Marvin

Man, I love AfricanTape Records' propensity for finding raucous, bombastic, intricate and anthemic instrumental rock bands. The latest band in their ranks to pump out an album (previous highlights have been Electric Electric and Papier Tigre) is Marvin - from Montpelier in France. Fuck, yes - brutally frenetic electro-punk algorithms that also incorporates the occasional 80s guitar lick, just to add pomp to the intensity. Imagine if Civil Civic were a bit more serious and had John Stanier on drums who isn't impervious to riding the cowbell - that's what Barry represents. Its relentless, and relentlessly awesome.

You can buy Barry on vinyl (through both AfricanTape and Sick Room Records) here.

Colouring Beverly For The TV

From Canberra's Dream Damage stable comes TV Colours. A rather basic nom de plume, to be sure. But with members of The Fighting League, Assassins 88 and Danger Beach involved (all bands Sonic Masala would kill for), the title actually makes sense. Then the crunch of 'Beverly' bursts forth, a morass of speaker-shredding distortion, tight drumming and warehouse yelling, sounding like the 80s guitar thrown through an electronic woodchipper sound that compatriots Civil Civic or DZ Deathrays utilise, and just as much as a raucous, jubilant mantra in the chorus to allow for flailing hair and limbs, beers thrown in to the air, jubilance fuelled by devil-may-care attitude and a flagrant devotion to having fun with substances. Intoxicants for teetotallers; justification for junkies.

'Beverly' comes out on TV Colours' loooooooong-awaited debut LP Purple Skies, Toxic River - more about it as it comes to light, and these suckers tour north of the border.

ATP Melbourne 2013 Mixtape

Not much to say really. Im heading off to Melbourne ATP. This is the mixtape that has been floating about the past week – amazing. I don’t want to rub it in, so Ill leave it at this. If you’re at ATP, yell out Sonic Masala and Ill come a-runnin. If not, well, enjoy whatever you’re doing!

Friel's Feral Sonics Become Total Folklore

 

Ex-Parts & Labor anarchist Dan Friel released an EP on Thrill Jockey late last year, and has wasted no time pumping out a full-length. Total Folklore is loud – a headscraping raspberry popsicle of noise that somehow manages to maintain a childlike wonder. Industrial electronics shouldn’t be able to exhibit such playfulness, but Friel’s aural exploration plays like a madcap mage, a sonic 8-bit loving Willy Wonka with tinnitus.

 

'Ulysses' is a lengthy track to open things up, and the first twenty seconds is an aural assault, alluding to a relentless cavalcade of abrasive white noise. But then the rhythms come in, the melodies, the soaring harmony – and Friel’s genius is realised. ‘Valedictorian’, the standout on the Valedictorian/Exoskeleton EP last year, still packs a candy-coloured wallop here, yet is propped up by the thumping gaiety of, well, ‘Thumper’ (and that melody is killer, I would actually buy a ringtone of that – not a glowing recommendation maybe, but I hate ringtones, so it works for me) and the frenetic squall of ‘Landslide’ (a schizophrenic cousin of what Civil Civic do in my opinion – yet more freeform and unhinged). The warped field recordings that make up the three Intermissions are necessary respites – seriously, this level of squealing, decibel-eating sound needs space to breathe – but Total Folklore stands as an exciting sonic scrapbook of confection and confusion, a cacophonous candy cane that rushes to the head. Expect headaches of happiness with this one.

 

You can pre-order Total Folklore through Thrill Jockey here. The first 500 LPs are orange, always an incentive to get in early. Even more exciting, Friel has crafted a series of homemade music boxes that play ‘Thumper’ on repeat for some lucky pre-orders. How fucking rad is that!?! Get in there!!!

Dan Friel – Thumper
Dan Friel - Valedictorian

10% Off Rules Rulez!

Guess what? For the next few days (until midnight Monday December 5) that dastardly duo otherwise known as Civil Civic are giving Sonic Masala punters (that's YOU!) the chance to get their debut LP Rules for 10% off the normal price! This is great news, as all of you should own a copy of this fun as hell record and play it till it breaks, thus buying a second one as backup. The catch? Not really - you only have to head over here and add "discountsrule" in the code section, and voila! This incredibly awesome piece of instrumental alchemy is all yours, for a fraction cheaper, meaning that you can still score tonight.* WIN WIN WIN.



* By score, I mean shooting holes. I mean hoops. Yeah, you knew what I meant...

Civil Unrest Under Civic Rules

Well, its finally here - the debut album by noisy beatniks Civil Civic. Whilst the physical release isnt until November 7, Rules can be got at on their Bandcamp - head over here to get some pre-order action going. Again, no word yet about an Australian tour, although there will be 5 weeks' worth of partying going on in Europe, culminating in a show in London, so keep your eyes peeled for that. There are a few recognisable tracks on the album (notably 'Less Unless' and 'Run Overdrive'), but it is generally new stuff - wavering to their normal hypercoloured fare ('Airspray') to more atmospheric instrumental climes ('Mayfield'). Its pretty great, as was to be expected. Have a listen below.

Civil Civic - Breakin' The Rules

FINALLY! Civil Civic have announced that their debut album, called Rules, will be out November 7! And to tide you over, here is a track off it. Typical CC, awesome way to see out the Friday (and see in my two week holiday!)

PS If you haven't checked out Civil Civic's blog, do so immediately. One of the best reads on the net - FACT.

PPS. Its my sister's wedding today. In Dalston. Im on the other side of the world. Very sad day. Love you Sezz, best of luck and love to you and Si on this day. Now Im off to celebrate in the only way I know how - by getting absolutely shitfaced...in the most positive, "I love the world" way possible. Come join me!!!

Video Vacuum - School Knights, The Grates, Civil Civic, Ty Segall

Ive been a bit lax on the video front in the past weeks, and we all need some musically-minded procrastination from time to time, am I right? Yeah of course I am. Uncle Braedog is always right... So here is what you've all been praying for...

I love Ty Segall. No seriously. This guy is one of my faves right now. And the fact that in a month's time he's going to be tearing Woodland apart is more than a little exciting. His new album Goodbye Bread is amazing, already a contender for favourite album of 2011. Here's a track off it, the title one even, in what appears to be a toilet...



It was sad when Denver's Weed Diamond called it a day despite hinting at their potential brilliance when they released Carry On + Sweater Kids last year. Still, all is not lost. Offshoot duo School Knights are out and about, and their little release of last year Rush SK was also killer (and you can download it for free at their Bandcamp - do it!). Here is their track 'Fuck The Beach' - its great. Now who wants to see these guys beat the piss out of Nathan Williams? Or at least distract him whilst I snatch Bethany Cosentino off him - that shit still baffles me...



Now this one kicks arse. SM faves Civil Civic are preparing to release their debut LP later this year, and have released an 80s-tastic video for their first track off it, 'Airspray'. If you pick every show/film used in this mashup...well, you won't win a prize, cos I have nothing other than dirty jocks to give away, but you win nonetheless...



lastly is Brisbane based indie confectionary The Grates, whose video for 'Turn Me On' is fucking rad. Its not the kind of music we normally have here, but Im biased as I know these guys and its a fucking rad video. Oh yeah - AND ITS MY BLOG! Ahem. Sorry. Just watch, even if with the sound down - you will enjoy it.



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Try Staying Civil On This Leash

European Aussies Civil Civic have been wowing all and sundry since bursting on the scene early this year, being compared to everyone from Sonic Youth to Death From Above, Husker Du to Holy Fuck, and are steadily building up a rabid cult following. After they appealed to their fans to name their latest single, it has arrived - 'Lights On A Leash', and it has a much more shimmering, Eurotrash edge than their more thrashy predecessors, but still maintaining that enervating manic essence that the duo have coming out of their pores.

Civil Civic - Lights On A Leash

Make It Yr Civil (Civic) Duty, and Get The Booty

Sonic Masala faves Civil Civic are at a bit of a loss. See, they have a new 7" coming out in December, but they don't have a name for the new track. Lucky for them, then, that their fans are smart creative types. So the band are turning the responsibility of naming the new track to the fans! Head over to the band's website, maybe you will immortalise yourself and gain epic bragging rights when their new monikered single makes everything spontaneously combust...which will mean your immortality will last for a number of seconds, but it will be worth it!

Civil Windmill

Civil Civic are still one act that, despite generating quite a bit of buzz in the first half of 2010, I am yet to have seen live. I thought Id have my chance at Shoreditch 1234, but they played at an afterparty of which I could not attend. So its exciting news to hear they are playing for peanuts tonight in the close quarters that is The Windmill. This will be a special gig, and a great way to get you through the Monday Morning Death March and riding high for the rest of the week! Don't believe me? Watch below (filmed at Kilburn's The Luminaire) and picture yourself having a great time...

Civil Unease

The 1234 Shoreditch Festival is going to be killer. So many awesome established and up-and-coming acts, all on one day, all in the middle (east) of London, all for a twenty, all with aftershows well into the wee hours... Cant ask for much more, can you?

CAN you?

Well, I think you can. Many of these acts are locals, or are putting in singular shows around July, so why settle on indulging only once?

Civil Civic are one such beast. This London duo are going to be very busy come July. Starting with the release of their limited edition vinyl 7" release (also available digitally - however the wax is 500 of, and can be garnered from their Bandcamp site) on July 5th, they then do a host of shows after 1234, namely at the Notting Hill Arts Club (29th), Camden Barfly (30th), The Flowerpot (31st) and the New Cross Inn (OK, so this is on 6th August, but would still be great to catch). Their electric anarchic slabs of guitar/bass/electro/rhythm noise, intricately sliced and blazingly delivered, will have many clambering to visit every show, and with good reason.

Here's some tracks to show you what it's all about - and their pretty darn cool blog to boot.

Civil Civic - Less Unless
Civil Civic - Run Overdrive
Civil Civic - Fuck Youth