Don't Leave Your Primitive Parts On The Bench

Here's some rosy/punchy garage to brighten your Halloween. Members of some of UK's most exciting bands (Male Bonding, Sauna Youth, Cold Pumas) jumped into bed as Primitive Parts a little while ago, and are prepping to release this 7" on Faux Discx. 'The Bench' is the B-side. It's all a lot of silly fun with a nice monotonous beat throughout and a wonky guitar solo bit that is endearing. It's all fairly innocuous on this side of the wax - will be interesting to see what else the boys bring to the table. Pre-order it here.

Tense Men Are Neither Dull Nor Forgotten

I’ve always had an unhealthy affinity for minimalist, repetitive, cold, spiky post punk. I can’t remember which particular band turned me onto this. I do remember the first time I heard the Language of Numbers EP and rightly realised that My Disco were gods. Or hearing Unknown Pleasures for the first time and not known what planet I was on. Or why the cold bastards of Iceage, Holograms and Lower energise and excite. The intermingling of cold, stark guitar lines with motorik drums and deep drawled/chanted lyrics seems hardwired into my loins. So it’s a no brainer that I am a massive fan of new band Tense Men, which is a project for Oliver Fischer (Cold Pumas) and Rich Phoenix (Sauna Youth), and their EP Where Dull Care Is Forgotten. Opener ‘Stages of Boredom’ hovers with burly indecision, wanting to burst forth but not ready to give in; but it’s ‘RNRFON’ where the restraint comes in full form. There is no indecision here – Tense Men want to lead you on, light the fires under your soul, have you writhe around in agony and ecstasy – and never extinguish those tetchy flames. The band is now a trio, having gleaned a drummer on the way (from Omi Palone, who are releasing a self-titled album through the ever excellent Faux Discx who are responsible for this EP too), and the looped transgressions displayed here stresses how more claustrophobic and constricting these guys could be in a live arena. It’s still a band experimenting with the form – I like ‘Lie Heavy’ without being enamoured with it (except when the sketchiness is relieved as the toms are left alone for a more free flowing rhythm in the final third), but the last two tracks 'Nonentities' and especially 'Opiate Glow' are stone cold killers. Where Dull Care Is Forgotten is a great brooding entrée – bring on the piece a la resistance…

You can get Tense Men’s EP from here.

Faux Discx Comp Tape

Here's a cool little compilation from Faux Discx. It includes tracks from Cold Pumas, Sauna Youth, Teardrop Factory and heaps of other ace UK and Canadian acts. Let it fuel the countdown to a debaucherous weekend.

Faux Magenta And Yellow Discx

Brighton independent label Faux Discx released an amazing four-way split at the beginning of the year that included the likes of Fair Ohs, Women, and Cold Pumas. They are doing incredible things, and this is continuing with a new split release that features Sauna Youth, Ale Mania, Lab Coast, and Friendo.


These splits, called Magenta and Yellow, are pretty awesome. Magenta features two songs apiece from San Diego’s Ale Mania who play genre-hopping, weirdo post-punk, and Brighton/London’s Sauna Youth, who delve in straight-up punk pushed through a myriad of delay and reverb, weird and satisfying.

ALE MANIA – Peoline by Faux Discx

SAUNA YOUTH – Backgrounds by Faux Discx


Yellow marks the return of Calgary’s Friendo who offer a decidedly left of centre jam from their previous woozy endeavours. They share the wax with their Canadian compadres Lab Coast who present their garage indie low in fidelity and high in hooks.

FRIENDO – Germanic Panic by Faux Discx

LAB COAST – Astronaut Like Me by Faux Discx

Both of these releases are limited to 300 copies worldwide. You can pre-order them now and will be released 25 July and 8 August respectively - get em here!

Old Volcanoes Warm The Brain

Whether its my dislocation from the London scene since my sudden departure to Brisbane some six months ago, but I hadn’t heard much at all of note of Warm Brains, the solo project of Rory Atwell (Test Icicles, KASMs). Atwell has proven his worth as a producer of late, working his DIY grungey aesthetics on SM faves Male Bonding, Fair Ohs, Cold Pumas and Veronica Falls amongst others. Yet here he is, refusing to sit idle, releasing his debut album Old Volcanoes (August 1 on Marshall Teller Records).

Loud & Quiet Magazine’s claims that he is wasted behind the mixing desk is a debatable one, but he sure has a talent in his own right as a musician. What this album showcases is a knack for slacker noise pop that not only matches its current contemporaries, but hints at the type of longevity that some of the genre’s innovators lacked, especially when considering the fact that Atwell wrote, performed and produced all of the tracks unaided other than some vocal collaborations (and seeing the vocal talent - Roxanne from Veronica Falls, Gemma from Trogons and Florence from Paradise – it’s easy to see why he roped these lasses in).

Its all very exciting, moreso when considering the promise of Warm Brains performances all over the UK this summer. Garnering help from Joe Ryan (Fair Ohs) and Anna Jones (Brothers), Atwell kicked off his plan for global domination on Saturday with their appearance at the Shoreditch 1-2-3-4 Festival, and are playing the following ace shows:

July 21st – The Garage, London (Islington) w/ Not Cool & Novella
July 31st – The Chameleon, Nottingham w/ Let’s Wrestle
August 3rd – album launch @ CAMP, London w/ Fair Ohs, Cold Pumas, Colours (plus both Male Bonding and Tom Vek will be DJing!)


Pre-order Old Volcanoes here.

Warm Brains – Marble Arch

Fair Oh's Enough

Those trop-punk kids Fair Ohs are so much then their brethren. Who are? Well, I only really know Vampire Weekend, and we all know how much they piss me off, so that is nt much contest. But still, the older the London trio get, the better they sound, and this goes for the following tracks off their forthcoming album Everything Is Dancing. Its pretty electric stuff, and promises that this will be the album that shoots them into the calypso stratosphere.


Everything Is Dancing is out in the UK through their own label Honey High Records on July 6, and everywhere else via Lefse on July 26. They will be busy touring too, with shows supporting Akron Family tonight at Bush Hall in London, before having their album launch at The Victory with Cold Pumas and Sauna Youth in support. They are also supporting Tune-Yards and playing the 1234 Shoreditch Festival. London, summer is going to be Fair Ohs weather...

Fair Ohs - Eden Rock
Fair Ohs - Summer Lake

Faux Discx four way awesome split

Faux Discx could have just dropped the split 7" of the year - a four way slice of epic proportions. Featuring three of Sonic Masala's favourite bands, Fair Ohs, Cold Pumas and crafters of the bittersweet Public Strain, SM's album of the year, Women. Also not forgetting the fourth slice from Friendo. This Anglo-Calgary split features new (ish - Fair Ohs' track 'Jeanneret' featured on volume two of last year's Music Sounds Better With Huw comp) songs from each band and is a complete steal at only £4 for a 7" and downloads.

We've mentioned Women and Cold Pumas (fingers crossed for an LP this year?) enough times on SM, and even south east London's Fair Ohs have had multiple visits to this blog before but as Friendo have only made one appearance on SM before, it's Michael Wallace's trio that feature below. As Brendan mentioned Wallace is Women's drummer but centre stage for Friendo, their delightful sound helping to explain the gentle underbelly of Women. Its the certain Friendo warmth that brings this piece of wax so nicely together, a stripped down DIY simplicity that is just as deserving of your time as the other three awesome bands to grace this 7". Hats off to Faux Discx, any chance of a London gig with the same line up please? Get it here.

Friendo - Pass Times

Sex My Beet Up (Sort of Exclusive!)

Sex Beet is a London-via-Leicester three piece that have been making waves for a little while now (Ive been on them since their great track 'I'm In Love With You (So Shut The Fuck Up)'). They offer up the brand of fuzzed out garage rock that Im a massive fan of, and as the year has progressed so has their confidence, and their popularity. They have their beach pop rock leanings (esp with The Shadows echoing their 'She Don't Surf' track), but Sex Beet have sleazed it up tenfold, oozing the kind of lairy nonchalance that three drunk London 20-somethings invariably ooze. They may not have had a major LP out yet, but are about to end 2010 with a bang, snavvling the support slots of both Wavves in November and Best Coast in December. As both of those acts are hipster cred personified, expect Sex Beet's name to catch a corner of the spotlight by year's end.

Oh, and before all that, if you have nothing better to do tonight (or even if you do), head down to the Old Blue Last. Its a free Halloween rockathon, with Sex Beet smashing things up along with Cold Pumas, Prize Pets and Weird Dreams - its almost a Sonic Masala London showcase! And its FREE.

Oh again. The below track is a sparkling newie, so this is a sorta exclusive - Boo!

Sex Beet - Sugar Water

Cold Pumas Sound Better With Huw?

Huw Stephens of BBC Radio One notoriety has been pushing his claim as new music head honcho. To this end he's been compiling compilations of 'new music' in conjunction with Wichita Recordings. Before I took off on my hols Mr Stephens put out his second such compilation, with artwork by Casey Raymond, which features a previously unreleased track Slow Padding from SM favourites Cold Pumas, as well as tracks from other SM faves such as Fair Ohs, Islet, Spectrals, Cloud Nothings and many more. Its worth a look here.

You can purchase the comp here, its only five quid, and have little taste below. Cold Pumas also have a gig tomorrow, courtesy of Upset The Rhythm (who else?) at The Nest in Dalston with the awesome Nisennenmondai and Waiters

Cold Pumas - Slow Padding

Cold Pumas go free

Cold Pumas' single 'Beat Mystery', originally released as a 500-copy limited edition sky blue vinyl through Upset The Rythm, is now available as a free download here (via Soundcloud).

The Brighton-based are also playing a host of shows in London and Brighton in the next few weeks, so you have plenty of occasions to check them out live:

- 2 june @ The Albert w/ Mi Ami + XXJFG DJs in Brighton
- 6 june @ The Cowley Club w/ Brilliant Colors, La La Vasquez, Lovvers, Prize Pets + The Sticks in Brighton
- 9 june @ New Hero w/ Male Bonding
- 24 june @ The Stag's Head w/ Fair Ohs + Golden Grrrls in London (Dalston)
- 25 june @ The Cowley Club w/ Fair Ohs + Golden Grrrls + Sauna Youth in Brighton
- 30 june @ Stour Space w/ Peepholes in London

Not cold but hot, warm, muggy pumas

Forgive the rubbish title (I'm getting quite good at those!) but according to my brother Pumas aren't cold. He's out in Bolivia looking after injured pumas in the jungle at the moment and apparently it is hot! Oh so hot! Yep my link is that tenuous!

Cold Pumas are a band from Brighton, I got excited about their first e.p. 'Jela'. They've got a new track kicking around the web, 'Tropical Guilt', it's like falling down a tropical waterfall with dancing fruit or, in their own words “motorik for partying.” Good stuff.

Cold Pumas - Tropical Guilt

And, yes, that is a picture of a Puma my brother is "Walking".