Hits From The Box #45 - Exorbitance Does Not Maketh The Radiohead

I didn't really have much exciting stuff to state about the past week. I worked. Saw Mark McGuire which was mega rad. Didn't go on a bucks night at the Gold Coast - because it was at the Gold Coast, that says it all. Drank a few Bloody Mary's, smoked a few cigarettes. Went for some bush-like walks. Watched half of Drive Angry - it was pretty shit, but I enjoyed it...can't remember why I didn't watch the rest. Ate some soft shell crab - now THAT was amazing! Then...

Radiohead did the sneak announcement of their tour. Presale sold out before I even knew about it. Then the price - $135? Seriously? So you can do pay what you want for In Rainbows, stay away for 8 years (and even in 2004, avoid Brisbane), then ask whatever you want? Bastards! Then again I paid $150 to see the reformed Police, supported by Fergie...shudder. I guess Ill see you there, Thom.

Hits From The Box time!


Ofttimes people connect over similar tastes. This is the way with Sonic Masala and Waylon Thornton & the Heavy Hands. Thornton really dug my review of the Blasted Canyons record (it is a great one - check it out here, then bloody well go buy it!!!), and then we got to his music. He and his act put together No Chew No Rip in one afternoon, and it shows. Not in a bad way, but in a frenetic, feverish, one take takes all kinda way. Thornton claims he had been listening to a lot of Captain Beefheart and Cramps when this EP was constructed, and it's not hard to see those elements seeping through like radioactive goo. It's all goof, and you can check the whole thing out here. Can't wait to hear what those heavy hands have ready for us in 2012...

Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands - No Chew No Rip
Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands - Sky High Heels


Karate Body Records are putting out Louisville, Kentucky outfit Whistle Peak's brand new album, Half Asleep Upon Echo Falls, out now on CD, digital and limited edition teal 12" vinyl (only 250 available of these). It's elegant, slanted and enchanted experimental folk pop, if that makes any sense... It bubbles over the synapses, an opaque pastoral pleasure. Again, these types of bands can be hit and miss, but if you can give your Bon Iver a Sophtware Slump LP and run with it, then you end up erring on the right side of experimentation. I really dig this record. Try it out for size here.

Whistle Peak - Wings Won't Behave


So this band called Super Minotaur sent me their 7" called Phantom Brat. Other than that, all I know is they are from Chicago... Information overload guys! A little more digging and I can tell you that...well, nothing really. Hmmm. Like all good musos though, let the music speak for itself. It's a killer piece of thrashy garage punk though. Peepers locked in on these guys - can't wait to hear more.

Super Minotaur - Phantom Brat

Now this one I feel a little guilty about. Connecticut experimental rock outfit Ghost Of Chance sent me their album A Simple Beast around November last year. Admittedly that is also around the time I took my unexpected sabbatical from the blog, but still, I feel bad for not bringing this into the light until now. It's all a little quirky and surreal, and at times reminds me of a more languid The Unicorns (oh how I miss those guys!). It's all levels of pop, filtered through cracked genre lenses, and spat out with laconic chagrin. Tracks like 'Pilot' and 'Red Garbs' lift the spirits, and they are the songs that'll grab ya. And you may recognise another HFTB recipient in the mix - Jayson Munro from Deluxe is one of these Ghosts! All three tracks below are from the album, and also have videos for them - find em on YouTube.

Ghost Of Chance - Howard Howe
Ghost Of Chance - New Carthage
Ghost Of Chance - Pilot


San Francisco post-punk preachers Bad Bibles, have pumped out a 4-song EP called Their influences range from Killing Joke, No Age, At The Drive-In, The Birthday Party, Liars, Nirvana, and Fucked Up - holy shit, soulmates right? They have had recent shows with the likes of Kids On A Crime Spree, PS I Love You and Balkans too, so they are hitting the SM high notes. I still feel that they haven't roughed up the edges enough - yet. Still, there's a little of The Austerity Program about them (that is a fucking huuuuuuuuuuge compliment, by the by), the artwork is ace and the opening track is killer. One to watch.

Bad Bibles - The Statue Talks To Me


Finally - and I never thought this would happen - we have a The Bravery reference! The Danvilles is a speed blues act that includes Mike Hindert of the titular bland band - that said, I like this. The Danvilles released a new LP titled Women and the Virginia-based band really swagger through their 23-minute longplayer like it's no one's business. And it isn't really. Suffice to say, it's all impressive. Grab Women here, but not here - ah Putin, you crazy 80s Cold War throwback you...

The Danvilles - Seemed So Easy
The Danvilles - Somethin To Say

HAPPY TUESDAY!

Hits From The Box #35 - Biggin' It Up In Biggenden

What a week! Ive had time off as I sit in between contracts, so have spent the vast majority of that listening to music, culminating in seein the legendary double act of Sebadoh and Smudge. Couldn't make the secret Sink Shit Naked On The Vague boat cruise on Friday, which sucked (me missing it, not the show, Im sure it killed), but managed to make Ben Salter's launch late Friday night. Then a wedding on Saturday - wore a proper suit (as in not found in the street) for only the second time in my life. And now Im in Biggenden, a town of less than 1000 people about an hour south-west of Bundaberg. At my parents' newsagency, listening to old people grumble about the weather, or the price of newspapers, or children not working the salt mines or some other gripe. So that means in between selling a plethora of Golden Casket tickets to the dreamers, wizened and disenfranchised, I can write this, the 35th Hits From The Box...


Differo are a duo frpm New Haven, Connecticut who interweave acoustic and electronic elements in order to craft eclectic indie pop melodies. The only track I have heard from Differo is 'Rain', and there is a lot of potential here. They are recording new material at the moment, so we'll keep an eye out for news about that as it comes to hand...

Differo - Rain


Netherlands are a Southampton born–London based five piece with the ability to craft stunningly beautiful pop songs. And just like their LP Places To Haunt suggests, their brand of folk seeps into your marrow. There is a real charm to these tracks that evokes grandiose notions that they will learnt to harness as their reputation and relationships grow and expand.

Netherlands - Something Or Nothing



Deluxe is another duo out of the New Haven area (weird, huh?), Jayson Munro (vocals) and Dave Brook. Their sound involves multiple instruments including a couple of analog synths and software that uses granular synthesis, alongside more "tradition" notional tools such as guitars and bass. An EP is in the mix, with a release date in the next few months. Here is their main offering...

Deluxe - Plastic Glass


New Orleans-based Sun Hotel have a strange amalgam of sunny pastoral folk, more traditional Americana and some darker psychedelic flourishes rolled up into their sound that makes them a somewhat familiar yet altogether different listen, which throws up a little bit of comfort and discomfort simultaneously. Whether these conflicting notions are intended or an accidental byproduct Im not sure, but it works. Tyler Scurlock's vocals (a mixture between Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock and Menomena's Brent Knopf) really tie the whole thing down, ensuring that this aural tug-of-war doesn't become too disorienting. Their latest release is Gifts and is pretty special. Talks is the first taste off it, although 'Alchemy' is where the true indicator of what this band is capable lies.
THe band has a release party coming up for it - check out the details here.



Sun Hotel - Talks
Sun Hotel - Alchemy


Lefse Records will be releasing the debut EP Wasted Youth Blues on October 11th from Denver's The Morning Clouds. The Morning Clouds consists of Josh Wambeke, who has created a sound that emulates the bedroom pop dreamscapes that have become poipular in the current musical climate whilst infusing it with enough cosmic chemistry that the pop/gospel elements at play here are cast in an otherworldly light.

The Morning Clouds - The Wrong Things


“The Reminding Ideas are brought about by the use of pressure, command, and authorization. There are good ideas and bad ideas. There are rules, and there are animals. Some vegetables can bring you happiness. Others, give you just one final remaining idea. This is where we all take a deep breath and wait for August to appear. Understand?”

Not really, but this is the illustration that Michael Magnum and Matt Soule, co-creators of last HFTB band The Reminding Ideas, has set in front of us with their House of Weather recording. The Reminding Ideas incorporates electronic and classical elements, adding reverb, playing through pedals, mixing programmed and live drums, and orchestrating, most of the songs written spur of the moment, built up, destroyed and rebuilt. And for the most part, as 'Vegetables' attests, they largely succeed. At what, Im not sure - but they have succeeded...

The Reminding Ideas - Vegetables

Happy Sunday!