Angry Equations Will Get You To Heaven

Wow. NZ's God Bows To Math (gleaning their name from an ace Minutemen track) are on the verge of releasing their self-titled debut LP, and it is killer! The Auckland three piece, shovel angular noise in bursts straight to the core of your brain. There is definite menace in there thar hills (obvious in the bristling opener 'Slow Decline'), and this its the kind of dark tension that offers the payload in wanton fits of explosive fury. Im a big fan, you will be too. There are rumours that the band will make a trip to Australia soon too - I will keep you posted on that...

God Bows To Math (through MUZAI Records) is out November 14 - pre-order it here. Their opening track, 'Slow Decline', is also the leading single - listen below. If you like (and Im positive you will), buy it digitally - the cash is helping to make back the cash spent on making the record. Its not much to help an ace band out, right?

RIGHT.

god bows to math - Slow Decline by MUZAIRecords

VIDEO VACUUM - Times New Viking, Big Troubles, Cool Cult, Apparat

Just spent the day in Bundaberg. Went out to Bagara to the beach, ate fish and chips, had a couple of rums... That was it. Not much to do out here except marvel at the sugar cane. That said, what the hell is with the polar bear being the mascot for Bundaberg Rum? Its bloody hot around here. That bastard should have perished by now. Unless they use the rum as some kind of embalming fluid - which makes some kind of sense...

Enough of the crap, on with the vids! First up are Ohio native Times New Viking and a lo fi effort to promote their 'Try Harder' single. It's just a killer song, like all of their Dancer Equired album, and is here based on that. The video has replay quality too, so its pretty much irresistible.

Times New Viking - Try Harder from POPFRENZY HQ on Vimeo.

New Jersey quirksters Big Troubles are launching their new album Romantic Comedy through Slumberland Records, and its a very interesting, and somewhat difficult , listen - a fair leap from the excellent slacker effort of last year Worry, that's for sure. Im going to live with it a little while longer before making a decision, but this video for single 'Sad Girls' is pretty damn ace regardless. (And please visit their page above - its an Angelfire site so crappily amazing!)

Big Troubles - Sad Girls from Slumberland Records on Vimeo.

Auckland, New Zealand's Cool Cult have made their first ever video, for the track 'Tomorrow'. The track itself is a little more sinister than we generally get from this noise pop act, has a slight A Place To Bury Strangers vibe due to the abrasiveness of the guitars, and this can only be a very good idea.



Finally, Apparat can do no wrong! His The Devil's Walk album is seriously good, and this video for the new track 'Song Of Los' is another stellar indicator of this. Seriously, people, take note! This is some great stuff right here!



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Cults Are Cool

I think this is a first. I put up on the Sonic Masala Facebook page last week asking what people were listening to. Other than perennial SMer Andy, there wasn't much response - except from Phil Platt who posted the album Try Crunch from a noise band from New Zealand, Cool Cult. I hadnt heard it, so I went over to the Bandcamp to do just that - and it's fucking ace of base. Running the gamut of noise pop, from your post-punk shoegaze to your no wave and some experimental flourishes in between, the Auckland trio are willing to throw their musical ideas around with wanton abandon. But don't think there isn't substance here behind the constant application of style - these are mostly beautifully formed nuggets sound that are brimming with exuberance and ebullience (like in the track 'Unlived') whilst retaining a hard edged sheen throughout. Some may even here the entire career trajectory of one Bradford Cox in there... Im very impressed - thanks for the heads up Phil, hopefully we here at SM can do the same for you!

And if this Rapture business turns out to just have gotten stuck in traffic and is actually on its way, you could do worse than to sacrifice it all to these three kids...

Cool Cult's Try Crunch is out through Muzai Records (who are also responsible for Fatangryman who I spoke about here).

Cool Cult - Tomorrow