Locked In Pleasurable Radioactivity

This is my track of the weekend, and I think it should be yours too. Texan bright (as in shining AND clever clogs) punks Radioactivity will be launching a self titled LP through Dirtnap Records on Tuesday, which is awesome, but seriously, I only need 'Locked In My Head', played back to back 12 times. Timeless, incessant, bubbly, full steam ahead punk rock. And they feature dudes from The Marked Men and Mind Spiders. Fuck yes.


And here is the stream of Radioactivity, including first single 'World Of Pleasure.' You can pre-order the record here.

Google Give Me Mind Spiders

Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday! For whatever reason, Google locked me out of my own site just so I could set up a Google+ profile. I have no idea what the hell went on, but we seem to be back on board. So I thought as celebration we should all get down to the excellent Mind Spiders record Meltdown (on Dirtnap Records). Texas' finest exponents of garage rock (featuring members of Marked Men, High Tension Wires, Bad Sports and Uptown Bums) have totally smashed this one out of the park, whilst still remaining Mark Ryan's baby. This tracks sound simple, yet huge - no easy feat. See opener 'You Are Dead' as the perfect example - a Ramones-riffing rollicker that chugs along at two minutes yet implores that you don't listen to the rest of the record, just hit rewind and replay. The first half of the album is top-heavy with hits, and shows a nice downturn with the organ-fuelled 'More Than You'. There is a slight shift in the second half (see the sci-fi schizophrenia of 'Skull Eyed' or the synth-spazz meltdown of closer, err, 'Meltdown', for example) but the hooks remain indelibly infectious. A fantastic record.


Meltdown can be gleaned here. DO IT.

Mind Spiders - You Are Dead
Mind Spiders - Play Out Loud
Mind Spiders - Wait For Us

A Familiar Yet Refreshing Sojourn Down Sonic Avenues

I have had Television Youth, the ace record from Canadian punks Sonic Avenues, in my inbox for months (it came out in January). I was meant to post about it for The Styrofoam Drone (amongst a plethora of things - sorry Zac, I'll be back on top of things in the upcoming week!), yet it fell through the cracks (expect to see the Happy New Year/Nite Fields split 7" soon though). This is a great album though, and it has jumped on my hunched back and beat me around the ears insistently this week, so I thought I better purge by vomiting it all over you, beautifully warped listener. It harkens back to days when punk was really just anarchic rock - The Clash, The Jam, The Ramones. Yet it shines a light on many of the shitty things that slacker kids can find themselves latching on to - namely, apathy. Above all though, it is the romantic notion of hope rising out of the angst that is most endearing. This is no throwback, it is merely a bunch of dudes writing a brace of killer songs that refuse to not kick arse. Actually, maybe that is a throwback...


Television Youth is available through Dirtnap Records.

Sonic Avenues - Givin' Up On You
Sonic Avenues - Television Youth

Video Vacuum - Liars, Mind Spiders, Birthdays, Charbonneau

It's been some time since I got it on with the visuals, and I've had a few up my sleeve without acting on them. Well, this post is nothing if not to show off the new video for Liars' single 'No. 1 Against The Rush', a incredibly filmed, dark as fuck mood piece that starts solemn, gets fucking twisted, and ends in territory that will haunt my dreams. The Human Centipede 2 should have been this. Angus Andrew's facial expression says it all really. If the track is already whipping you into a frenzy for the upcoming LP WIXIW (it is for me), then this video will seal the deal.



Raging Texans Mind Spiders have just released Meltdown on Dirtnap Records, and 'Wait For Us' is off it. It portrays a guy apparently abandoned on a desolate planet, who calls out for help. Yet when it comes, the "rescuer" gets more than he bargains for... This is a slick video, much like the Liars video, and perfectly complements this killer tune.



Portland synthers Charbonneau have an 80stastic flick to correspond with their 'American Is My Favourite Language' track. Focusing on US billboards and signs, interspersed with some slow-mo spazz dancing, we have something affecting, amusing and addictive. I don't know who this band is, but this video is amazing.



Finally we have Boston act Birthdays, who threw me their 'Howolding Girls' video the other day (via Mike from Sippy Cup Everything). It has Birthdays (AKA Sam Yager) standing with a black background and various colours and images projected onto his face, the overall effect coming across as B-grade horror, glow-in-the-dark tribalism and Animal Collective eclecticism with the right amount of unease and fascination. The track itself emulates AC in its swathes of synth, yet with slightly more immediately accessible vocals... Good stuff. Birthdays is rocking with Gauntlet Hair in his hometown before winging his way to Japan for a two week jaunt - good luck dude, let us know how it goes!



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Backwards Looking Forwards 2011 - Bad Sports, AIDS Wolf, Acid Baby Jesus

OK, so here are three more releases that I "discovered" over my two-month sabbatical that, whilst not anything overly groundbreaking, were a hell of a lot of fun.


Bad Sports, on their 2nd LP Kings Of The Weekend, have chiseled out some major disaffected pop rock that'll tear holes in the seat of your jeans. The Denton, Texas trio are made for summer benders with a sleazy bent. Dirtnap Records put out this fun-loving, fuzzy gem, and it reverently does what it says on the tin. I guess there are elements of Bare Wires about Bad Sports, albeit with more protopunk snarl, which makes me like these guys all the more.

Bad Sports - Can't Just Be Friends


Richie Follin's sister Madeline of Cults' fame will be here on Saturday as a part of the Laneway festival, so it would be remiss of me to mention Guards' Do It Again 7" that came out in December that I found quite delectable. Put out by White Iris, these tracks cement two facts - that Richie Follin knows how to pen a heck of a hook, and that they need to bring out their debut album STAT.

Guards - Do It Again


There was a stage when I seemed to be listening to a lot of Athens, Georgia acts back in 2010 - kickstarted probably by my love of Tunabunny - and it's more than possible that Acid Baby Jesus is going to bring that love full circle. Yet these clowns are from the "other" Athens - the one that proclaims to be the capital of Greece, the starting point (and possibly the endpoint - oh, political controversy!!) of civilisation as we know it. Their self-titled debut came out in October last year on Slovenly Recordings, and it sounds like another 2011 fave of mine, Human Eye, in its insistence of sounding like psych punk played by Ming The Merciless off Flash Gordon. Such space jams are morbid and strange, and oh so goddamn rad. This is a pretty killer album, and may have made the top 40 of 2011 if I'd heard it sooner. 2012 also has them firing up to join the biggest and best lineup yet for the Austin Psych Fest. Live long and prosper, you awesome weirdos.

Acid Baby Jesus - Tooth To Toe