Can't Sleep With Deep Heat

Melbourne punks Deep Heat have put out some great releases over the past couple of years, especially their 10" EP New Design - it is still one of the most played pieces of vinyl I own. And their split with White Walls is so good, I bought a second one to put into the first Sonic Masala giveaway (I think the other pieces were a Dreamtime record, a Tym Guitars T-shirt and something else I can't remember...) So to hear that they have re-joined Poison City Records to launch their second record, Still Life. They have been quite of late, with members spread across taking part in The Stevens, Infinite Void and Shaking Hell. They are revitalised and ready to tear the air asunder. Listen to that frenetic bass that opens first track of the record, 'Sleep'. They have not lost any of the hedonistic rush of finding melody within raw angularity, the round-vowelled and clipped yet drawled delivery of Gus Lord meaning that lyrics are more insinuated than finely articulated, and Katie is so tight as the drumming rhythm that it's impossible to think of a better calibrated beast. 'Sleep' pitches into the past, echoing the darkness and desperation of blue-denim punk rock, whilst also propelling into the dank twilight of Melbourne's sweaty inner suburbs, a warm yet suffocating place, where insomnia is both a blessing and a curse. If this is the kind of nugget that callused minds churn out from being starved of rest and oxygen, keep them on the hamster wheel. I fucking love this song; I fucking love this band; and I can't wait until 2016 when I can fucking love this album.

Brendan Masala's Top 7s/10s/EPs of 2013

I'm racing for a train that is taking me into Shropshire for the New Year - village eating, drinking and debauchery awaits. So here is a list of the short form releases that floated my boat this year...

7"s

Bad Vision - 112/Favours



Harmony - Do Me A Favour



Occults - Occults



Ex Con - Ex Con



White Reaper - Conspirator/The Cut




Ttotals - Spectrums Of Light




Neon Windbreaker - New Sky

THIS CANNOT BE PLAYED AT THIS TIME.

Pale Earth - Prelude To Debut



Big Richard Insect - Big Richard Insect



Charles Buddy Daaboul - Three Colours Green



EPs

Multiple Man - Multiple Man
(one of my favourite releases, regardless of format)



Andrew Tuttle - 4064



Death Cassettes - Ghost Party



Young Adults - Born in '91 EP



WTCHS - Wet Weapons



Parquet Courts - Tally All The Things You Broke



Deep Heat - New Design


A Savage God - A Savage God


Barbiturates - Shades


Angry Seas - Angry Seas


What do you think?

Forever In Harmony

A friend of mine said last week that Harmony was easily the most original band in the country right now. It's a bold statement (made bolder by further asserting that they were indeed the best band in the country right now), but one that is easily justified. Tom Lyngcoln's rough-hewn guitar and bluesy, guttural howls alongside the three-part gospel croonings, the feverish bass and cataclysmic, marching drums. Gothic to the extreme, drenched with sweat, marked by flies, covered in red dust and moribund chagrin, Harmony seems a name initially only in existence due to the choral offshoot. Yet there is an intense, inherent fervency that forges these disparate elements together in a stoic march against adversity and despair, clawing for hope with arms interlocked. 'Cut Myself Clean' is the new track from the upcoming sophomore album Carpetbombing (after having signed to Poison City Records, who after taking on White Walls and Deep Heat amongst many more seriously know what they are doing) - and I for one have shivers permanently etched into my spine.

Harmony are about to tour the country in support of another iconic gem, The Drones. And yes, they are arguably the most original band in the country - quite possibly the best.

Foreign Thieves

I thought I'd end off  Chicago's Daylight Robbery, who I caught playing a no-frills rocking set at The Waiting Room on Friday night (alongside others such as Roku Music and Screaming Match). The trio are no nonsense, clearly doing it for the love of it, and there was something disarming about their throwback garage punk that is often missing from others of their ilk.

I'm closing down for the weekend. I'm a little bit sore from last night's stellar Trainspotters gig (thanks for coming out, by the way), I'm dreading my first day at two of my jobs in three weeks tomorrow, I've done a mountain of washing, and I'm looking at the final day of the Ashes Test with a queasy sense of trepidation. I need to medicate. And their latest release, the EP Distant Shores, is the ticket. Apparently created specifically with this tour in mind (they only released their Ecstatic Vision LP last year, but wanted something "new" to bring with them), the three tracks electrify; fast paced and urgent, with a mirthful glint in the eye, feeling more in sync with MC5, the Jam and X than more recent punk luminaries (which also speaks to their final show being a support of Straitjacket Nation).

You can pick up Distant Shores (in white 7" vinyl), and indeed any of Daylight Robbery's back catalogue, from here. They are halfway through an extensive Australian tour, have been playing with the likes of Deep Heat, White Walls, Cuntz and Native Cats of recent times, and they have tapped another show tonight at the Crowbar alongside the ever-excellent Blank Realm (Yoghurt Blood are also playing a rare set).

Daylight Robbery - Distant Shores

Spilling Paint on White Walls

I've been listening to the White Walls debut Self-titled for a few months now and it is still right up there as album of the year for me. I have a feeling that the upcoming shows at the Crowbar on Friday, 7 June (next weekend, for those playing at home) and at Tym's guitars (the best goddam guitar shop in the entire world) the following day for a free in-store will be up there on my live list too.

I caught up with Dylan from the band for a chat:

First of all, congratulations on the album, it’s a fucking fantastic piece of noisy craftsmanship. For me it really captures the hopeful side of world-weariness; a sunlight through the fringe kind of deal.

Thank you. It's really nice to hear good feedback on the record.

No worries. A lot of people up here [Brisbane] are really looking forward to hearing those doom guitar swirls live. It’s a sound that really fits well with the lyrical content: dealing with loss or regret, but in a way that’s more cathartic than depressing.

I think you have summed up the feeling of the record perfectly.

Going into it did you have any particular notions about what you wanted to convey?

Although we didn't consciously set out with any particular notion, there is definitely a familiar feeling that flows throughout.

Can you go into a bit more depth about the cover art on the album; it’s a very intriguing choice.

The cover art for the album was done by a good friend of ours; Gus Lord. He was actually working on something else initially, in a similar vein, but then came across this picture that he accidentally got paint on and built on that to create the final design.  It was perfect! We liked the fact that it was intriguing and also felt it suited the music well.

I definitely agree with that. As a band you seem very keen to talk about other people’s stuff that you think is worth getting in to, between the playing, writing, listening and sharing, it’s pretty obvious music plays quite a big role in your lives.

Music definitely plays a big role in our lives. The Melbourne music scene is thriving these days. It’s very exciting to be a part of it.

Yeah, the Melbourne music scene seems to be really kicking along at the moment. I get a sense of a sort of cross-pollination making for a vibrant and healthy environment for the bands.

We play with friend’s bands regularly and at the Gasometer Hotel more than enough - It’s almost like a second home. So our social life pretty much revolves around music, on top of the general listening enjoyment.

You must be stoked about getting on the Release the Bats line up.

We are extremely stoked on being asked to play ATP! It's a huge lineup of bands we like. Can't wait!

Tone and volume are pretty central (even to the sake of ‘worship’) – when you start a new song do you have a way of irking out or describing the sounds you want, and how long will you spend finding the right tone?

We are rather obsessed with tone, haha, this healthy obsession has grown since we started this band. We have a good idea of how we want new material to sound these days. Recently our setups have grown and we have now perfected the guitar tones we want at this point in time.

Does anyone have any secrets with their setups at the moment? Personally, I’m very keen to hear how you got the epic guitar sound in ‘transmission’.

There's no real tone secrets kept from anyone that has seen us live. Basically comes down to powerful guitar amps. The transmission guitar tone was a combination of death by audio fuzz pedals through an orange OR120 and a JCM800. This was pretty much the setup for this record. The next record will involve new and old setups.

The absence of bass guitar is something people often note about the band – was it a conscious decision at conception to leave it out? Does it impact on the song writing process?

The lack of bass guitar simply came from Fuj and myself both being guitarists when we started out and alongside Rory it just felt right. We figured if we could create a full enough sound then we wouldn't need a bass player. Some of the new songs have bass parts written in which are played on guitar.

New songs, eh? Can we expect anything anytime soon?

Got a second record in the works, which we will be recording late July, so lots to look forward to.

Get your hands on a copy of the album and the split 7" with Deep Heat (both out through the fucking incredible Poison City Records) here.

Deep Heat Burn

Due to a bit of an illness (don't worry I'm fine) and car issues (an ongoing concern), yesterday had me stranded. It was still an OK day - I watched a few films, started the fourth season of Justified, read some Daniel Cotterell (Winter's Bone is one of the best novellas of the past decade IMHO), started the layout for a gig in June, expanded on a short story premise, a few James Squires IPA beers to see out the day - but it was missing one vital ingredient.

Deep Heat played a free instore at Tym Guitars yesterday afternoon. I am soooooooo gutted.

The Melbourne band, featuring current and past members of Boomgates and Infinite Void amongst others, might be fairly unheralded up these parts, but (hopefully alongside geographical compatriots White Walls, and incidentally they released this sexy as 7" split a couple weeks ago) that will all change soon enough. Serving up a heady concoction of Wipers/Nation of Ulysses esque punk dissonance and esotericism with grungy dirge and a lurid gleam in the eye, the four-piece are terrifyingly titillating, a punch to the face that caresses the loins. I bought their 10" EP New Design on Record Store Day and it hasn't left my turntable for the past week. Blistering.

Buy New Design (out through Poison City Records on 10" vinyl) here. It promises to be one of the most truly exciting calling cards - their debut LP cannot come fast enough. And if you saw them play this weekend, why not tell us how it went in the comments? It gets so lonely around here...

Deep Heat - New Design
Deep Heat - Green Box