Stand Still, Stop Breathing

This has taken me by surprise. First of all, Ex-Breathers have a song that is more than a minute long. Secondly, it is three-and-a-half minutes long (I was slayed by their EXBX release of last year, a brutal yet giddily, maniacally fun - as much as an acid tongue lashing and pummelling can be considered fun). Thirdly, it is quite polished. But there is no need to worry - 'Stand Still', the first taste off their upcoming LP on Exploding In Sound, Past Tense, is a effectively bristling beast. It opens in a much more melodic manner than you might expect from these hardcore heathens, but the first lyrics, "This is not an end", makes it clear that this is a different type of trip. Think more in line with Double Dagger meets Cloud Nothings with Fugazi interludes, with more bottom-end aggression. I love how it cuts off, almost in mid-statement. Which is a statement in itself really... Yeah, I'm dead on board with this.

Running Separate Rooms

Let's open the floodgates to Hell to end the weekend off with Roomrunner. OK, so the Baltimore four-piece isn't the most bloodcurdling of bands, but they are a great raucous grunge punk fest with Denny Bowen (Double Dagger, Dan Deacon, Future Islands) out from behind the skins and wielding guitar/vocal duties, so this gets my motor running. Separate is a album of opposites - Nirvana-baiting melodies with stadium-flirting melodies; dismembered angularities with emo-skirting riffs; plummeting emotions with sunlight-flecked buoyancy. The EP might be a kneejerk reaction to the pigeonholing that the band originally came in contact with last year, but it is also a deliberate muddying of the waters - a chance to spread the palette far and wide, see what sticks. The restlessness that squirms beneath Bowen's plaintive vocals speaks volumes - further adding to the frenetic nature of their live act. Plus it has a song on it called 'Chrono Trigger' - one of my all-time favourite video games - and 'Slow' could be a Weezer trip if they all wore black and liked breaking things, so it was always going to get my seal of approval.

Get Separate from Accidental Guest Records here.

Brendan's Favourite Songs of 2013

Whilst my other two top 10s will be a bit more definitive, here are TWENTY songs that stuck in my head a lot this year - whether they are the BEST twenty is of contention, even with me. Ah well, let's have at it then...

20. Mogwai - Remurdered

As if a list of songs from me wouldn't feature Mogwai. This song has taken a lot of people by surprise - but this is Mogwai now. And I can deal with it. Very much. This track is just as dark as their transcendent white pulse nightmares of Young Team, just from a different sonic universe.

19. FIDLAR - Cocaine

This isn't the best song from these guys, but they were excellent fun at the dire Splendour In The Grass this year, and Ron Swanson pisses on people. Fin.

18. Crying - Bodega Run

Chiptune guitar pop whimsy? That mosquito buzz at the beginning is painful...but give it a few seconds, and for the live instrumentation to crash on in, and everything makes sense. I'm stuck in a 90s 8bit skateboarding RPG!

17. Violent Soho - Covered In Chrome

I am so proud of these boys and their new album Hungry Ghost. I would have this at the top of every list if I was ten years younger - effervescent, virile grunge rock played at maximum velocity. The fact I still think it's a great album even when I rarely visit these realms anymore is a testament to its success. I've seen them play live four times this year alone and I felt the years melt away every time. And they are the best dudes on the planet. Keep killing it guys!

16. Porches. - Headsgiving

Porches.'s album Slow Dance In The Cosmos makes me wish that the Wolf Parades of the world hadn't gone so quietly into the dark dark night. This isn't slacker territory; just classic cracked intellect guitar rock. I love it.

15. Pale Earth - Coral Skulls


This foray for Benjamin Thompson to step way from the introspections of The Rational Academy continues to sprout myriad legs, and this track of the decidedly left-field Coral Corral release is the culmination of his propensity to push himself to the outer limits of his abilities, and then some. A track that may not be brilliant, but to me is a true testament to a work in progress; a stepping stone into the stratosphere.

14. Batpiss - Loose Screws

Not my favourite track from the trio's debut album Nuclear Winter, but it's a live staple, and this insane clip that accompanies it elevates it to cult status. If you don't feel a rush of blood to the head when listening to Batpiss, you are probably dead. Or at least about to be.

13. Dead - Scratching My Arts

A split with No Anchor is never an easy ask to stand out on, such is their brutal brilliance, but the underdogs of the Australian noise rock scene easily usurp their brethren here. Why isn't everyone championing these guys? With the amount of dark and twisted rock coming out of the bowels of our country, surely it's about time that people sat up and took notice?

12. Girls Names - The New Life

The longest track on the Irish band's new album, and for me the best by far. I really enjoyed the album, but it didn't stick with me as much as this song did.

11. Plant Parenthood - Transit Town

A small band from Knoxville who delivered what was the most listened to song on my playlists this year. Bizarre but true. See if you can ignored the sleepy, deceptive hooks. I can't. Shit, I'm listening to it on repeat again...

10. TEEN - Ambient



A cut from the Brooklyn band's In Limbo recordings. That was a great album of 2012, yet it baffles me how this didn't make the cut, even as a longwinded outro. All cyclical psych, all killer.

9. Per Purpose - Eureka


Probably not the best song Per Purpose put out this year - 'Warburton' was amazing, as is most off their new (and missed out of my year review yesterday) LP Circle The Stains - but every incarnation of the band is present and accounted for in this nine-minute dirge. Caustic brilliance.

8. Double Dagger - Heretic Hymn



The excellent Baltimore punks called it a day last year, then surprised us with a posthumous album, 333, in time for Record Store Day. This is a fitting farewell if I've ever heard one - Nolen's vocals say it all.

7. Pissed Jeans - You're Different In Person

The irascible howlers slayed it once more with new album Honeys, and this is the track that buried its sordid hooks furthest into my soul this year. It's typically dirty, raucous, serrated and blackly funny. You just can't fuck with this.

6. Ides - Prisms

Alanna McArdle might be more recognisable as part of Joanna Gruesome, who brought out a great LP this year. But it's her solo endeavour Ides that moved me most this year, and 'Prisms' really slays me. Every time. I cannot listen to this without getting whispers of the maudlin shakes and the longing that love and the loss of it can bury within you. Hauntingly beautiful.

5. Totem - See Saw Girl

I'm sure most of you won't agree with this one, but this track was played ad nauseum for weeks on Planet Masala. It's like a voodoo mantra, maniacal in its bubblegum hooks disguised as dark motorik. I'm not sure if Totem will ever match the heady heights of this one song, and I'm not sure if I care. This is enough.

4. Lake Mary & Nathan Wheeler - Agrimony (Porch Music)


A lot of great experimental and drone music crossed my desk this year, and there are so many tracks that I return to in my dark den of iniquity that its unfair to focus on one. Yet 'Agrimony (Porch Music)' is one that took me completely by surprise, and I find new pieces of beauty in it with each listen. A great improvisational track, and one I never want to end.

3. Gooch Palms - We Get By

I could have this here for the video alone. I interviewed Leroy from the band earlier in the year for a national magazine and it was a lot of fun. The fact that their LP NOVOs isn't a complete shambles but a combustible ball of playful energy and soulful intent is a further surprise. This track, though - quintessential party music. Well, a party in a grimed-out Queenslander with holes in the shirts and bottomless cans of beer. So, my kind of party then.

2. Pontiak - Innocence



This is a fresh one, but the Carney brothers are in my opinion one of the greatest psych rock bands going round. Why? Because the emphasis is on rock. Every album they have put together is strong, and 'Innocence' intimates that the next one will be a killer as well. All together now...'WAAAAAAAAASTED!'

1. Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener

This is the only song that is solidly in place as numero uno. I have loved this song ever since I first heard it. A woozy guitar track that feels country and slacker at the same time; Barnett's hilarious lyrics about a panic attack are prescient, acerbic and, whilst delivered in a flippant way, are defiant in the way they shape who Barnett is. No pretentions here, just a meteoric talent on the rise.

Tomorrow - my top 7"/10"/EPs...

Like A Moth To A Flame, Over And Again

I spoke about Mourning Glow, the great little EP from San Francisco's Wild Moth, not that long ago. They have since released this excellent LP Over Again on Asian Man Records - Jesus it's good. Strong, pummelling, warm yet raucous tones, frenetic atmosphere that wavers between the type of repetitive punk rock of Double Dagger but dipped in the waters of Iceage, then thrown into the Delorean and flung back into the backwaters of 1995... Over Again is a relentless mashing of all my buttons. The best thing is that it is an assured collection of songs - there are no noodling vignettes, no misplaced sense of gnashing of teeth. It encapsulates a certain place in time, sure, but it also feels authentic, acid-tinged bile tempered by knowledge and experience, then played with. Wild Moth aren't necessarily an angry band, then (although 'Blossom' certain sounds furious), but one that uses dissonance just for kicks as well as for kicking the pricks.

You can pick up Over Again here - it's a great album that deserves attention when December comes around, seriously electric.

VIDEO VACUUM - Liars, Wild Wild Wets, Peals, Plant Parenthood

Going crosseyed is the spice of 21st century life. Here are four rectangular boxes with stuff moving in them to expedite that blissful process, hmmm?

Sonic Masala faves Liars have a couple new tracks floating around for those who haven't already joined their mailing list. Because they are good aliens. Strangers with candy and all that. If it tastes this good though, what's the harm in some lost innocence? None, I say. NONE.



San Diego's self-confessed psych party band Wild Wild Wets have just released a 7", Criminal Blue, through Grizzly Records. Its pretty good, keeping things loud, loose, limber and louche. Acid coco pops? Bacardi barbiturates? Helium hallucinogens? Whatever the poison of choice, guaranteed that after a hedonistic night with these guys, you'll wake up in the middle of a deciduous rainforest, naked, cut and bruised, tongue tied, wild eyed, and ready for round two.


Wild Wild Wets - Realized Into Redwood from Celeste Byers on Vimeo.

What is a peal of laughter anyway? A sudden, abrupt, high-pitched outpouring of mirth. Usually over the top, often inappropriate, always noticed. Put a peal in a plural, and you have a conversation stopper. Baltimore duo William Cashion (Future Islands) and Bruce Willen (Double Dagger)'s collaboration, Peals, also stops the chatter, only because the air in the room has been sucked out by its inordinate beauty. Intrinsic to such elegance is the undercurrent of flippancy. Its a weird mix, likely to cause eyes to close and a grin to crease the lips. And maybe - maybe - a peal of grateful, unfettered joy to bubble through.



I've already proclaimed my love of 'Transit Town', the lo-fi racket Knoxville's Plant Parenthood smashed out earlier this year (check that out here). Here is a suitably lo-fi racket smashed out on celluloid. MTV-of-the-80s worthy - riptastic. Just try to get this serrated hook out of your head.


NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Deacon Presley

As I've made known on countless occasions, I'm not much for remixes. But when the remixee is Peals (Bruce from Double Dagger/Will from Future Islands) and the remixer is Dan Deacon, it's a no-brainer. And so it is. Enjoy. Night night.

Vinyl Orgasm, 2013 Style

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL RECORD STORE DAY!

There isn't much I can tell you, other than if you aren't out and about celebrating this at your local record store, I don't know why we are friends. So many exclusive releases, it's incredible! Here is a massive list of some of the things on offer. There is a lot of local gear too, so keep your peepers gleaned!

Here are four I'm pretty excited about:

Baltimore's Dan Deacon is a cuddly maelstrom of gummi-bear electronica, a sugar rush of giddy proportions, yet on last year's America produced a sliver of gravitas that further accentuated his relevance in the 21st century. He has a 500-press only 7" through Domino Records that utilises four - count 'em, four - drummers, two for each cut on the wax. The two tracks, 'Konomo Ripoff No 1' (essentially ripping off the Congolese Konomo No 1 - naturally), features ex-Ponytail skinsman Jeremy Hyman and percussionist Kevin O'Meara on one cut whilst the other sees ex-Double Dagger drummer/current Roomrunner frontman (and regular Dan Deacon Ensemble participant) Denny Bowen and regular Deacon cohort Dave Jacober take control. It's vintage Dan Deacon - therefore, vintage excellente.

Then there is this beautiful absurdity. Indianapolis label Joyful Noise have somehow managed to collate some serious shit under a 7" serious they are naming Cause & Effect, with the premise being an influential, historically-significant solo musician on Side A, and the modern result of that musical influence on Side B. And they ain't fucking around - the first cabs off the rank include Thurston Moore coupled with Talk Normal, Lou Barlow synced with Dumb Numbers, and David Yow vomiting arm-in-arm with Child Bite. The special, limited edition run that is available only to VIP Joyful Noise members is pressed on silver/clear split colour vinyl, while the regular edition for all the other people, is printed on black/clear colour vinyl. Amazing? Fuck yes. You can actually order too - try that here - and try some of the results here and here.

And as I mentioned last week, there is the new (posthumous) Double Dagger record 333 - only 1000, so they will sell like the proverbial. You'd be insane if you had the opportunity to pick this up and didn't - DD are definitely one of the unsung bands of the past ten years, full stop.

Double Dagger - Heretic's Hymn

Finally, for some local flavour, the excellent Tym's Guitar started a record label late last year in the form of a 7" record club (which I am a part of), and it's drawing some pretty special exclusives (including an amazing Earthless one-off). This is another pretty rad one - Californian nutjob guitar rippers The Shrines. If you don't know what they are all about, think Fu Manchu, in your teens, on waaaaaaay too many Red Bull-tainted bowls. Sweet, I know.


So get there. It doesn't even matter if you buy anything. I love going to Tyms, or Title, or Rockinghorse, or Jet Black Cat, or Woolly Bully (RIP), as much to listen and to chat as I do to buy. Many friends have been made in such a place. If these places die out, so will an integral part of why music is the amazing thing that it is. And to remind you, Brisbane is having some pretty cool parties at its stores. Head to any one of the below, and trust me, it will prove to be an outstanding day - it may even change your life.

TYMS - opens at 10am. Second wave of new stock rolls out at 1pm. Bands start at 12pm, including The Nation Blue (most likely their only show in Queensland for 2013 - an absolute must-see!), Bruce!, Midnight Wolf, Emperors, Roku Music and Cannon.

Rockinghorse - opens at 9am. Bands start at 12.30 and include Per Purpose, Living Eyes, Brainbeau and Half Spoken.

Jet Black Cat Records - opens at 9am. Bands start at 12 with We All Want To, with Thelma Plum at 4 and Morning Harvey at 6.30, with a mystery band thrown in for shits and giggles.

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Barn Owl Is Alive (Thrill Jockey Update #7)

I finish off the week, and my two week catch-up with Thrill Jockey releases with one of my favourite current  affiliates from the Chicago label. Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti are strong drone explorers in their own right, but their forces are at their greatest when together as Barn Owl, having carved out some of the best desert-scorched psych releases in recent times. You could say I am a bit of a fan - Ancestral Star from 2010 is a minor masterpiece in my humble opinion, and Shadowland and Lost In The Glare (both from 2011) continue this excellent beginning. Yet I have been taken aback by their latest offering, V. Their guitar-driven aural invasions this time have been extremely tempered, underpinned by sonorous electronics that somehow augment the unnerving atmospherics to a razor's edge. This is ambiance in a desolate, desecrated concrete jungle, all twisted metal and human ashes, yet hope exists beneath the surface. It's insidious, so much so that by album's end you don't care that the guitar drones you came to the record for in the first place are almost non-existent. That in itself is a admirable feat. The true magic is the realisation that you don't care. Five releases in four years, and the serpentine meanderings of Porras and Caminiti continue to enthral.

Order V here.

Barn Owl - The Long Shadow
Barn Owl - Pacific Isolation

Waving At The Life Coach (Thrill Jockey Update #6)

Constantly churning out exploratory classics, Chicago's Thrill Jockey is privy to some amazing collaborations amongst likeminded souls. One I wasn't expecting (but still makes a fair degree of sense) is Life Coach. Last year Trans Am's Phil Manley released a solo record with this as its title, yet like Jason Molina and his Magnolia Electric Company, he liked the process enough to make it a project in and of itself. The collaborative process comes from Manley joining forces with Jon Theodore. This excited me for a number of reasons. Whilst Life Coach wasn't something that connected with me in 2011 (which is bizarre, since since listening to it again in the past week it's brand of kraut-inflected motorik minimalism is pretty damn awesome) I have always been in awe of Trans Am's sonic explorations - I bought Futureworld in my first year of uni based solely on its cover art and haven't looked back. Theodore was the original drummer from proto-prog act The Mars Volta (and for the record, I loved them in the beginning - De-Loused In The Comatorium is actually right up there in my favourite albums of the '00s - and I still kinda like em, despite their douchery - let the daggers fly), and he was by far the best. Since then he's ..., and there was that One Day As A Lion project he did with Zach de la Rocha. The key is that Manley and Theodore played together on Golden, and have been spiritual and musical buddies for nigh on two decades.

So what do Life Coach bring to the table? Alphawaves, effectively a continuation of Manley's cyclical solo instrumentals that nevertheless grow into amorphous beasts due to Theodore's unrestrained style of playing. He is a truly kinetic force, and his inclusion on songs like 'Lifeless Possibilities' is breathtaking. The album is further augmented by the inimitable Isaiah Mitchell (the brilliant Earthless and Golden Void) on lead on a few songs, most notably on face melter 'Fireball'. The album is apparently played in sequence in its entirety when performed live, and you can see why. Essentially an exploration in drone and rhythm in various genres, from Endless Boogie-esque free form rock to shoegaze, Alphawaves is unrelenting in its groove, failing to truly ease off its intensity, rather letting it shift incrementally. It's the variations in tone and style that shows off Manley's various artistic facets, and it becomes a bit of a masterclass due to the members involved.

You can buy Alphawaves here. Buy now and you can bundle it up with Life Coach too, well worth the effort. I don't expect Life Coach to be a long-term endeavour - but you never know. There has to be a music god out there somewhere...


Life Coach - Alphawaves
Life Coach - Fireball

Zomes Was The Time (Thrill Jockey Update #5)

I can't say I'm a long term observer of the evolution of Lungfish - in fact I haven't really followed them at all. But before you hang me up and burn me life an effigy, I have, however, kept tabs their members. The solo work that Daniel Higgs has done as well as working with The Skull Defekts (which I spoke about here); and on Baltimore's Zomes AKA ex-Lungfishian Asa Osborne. But it's clear on Time Was (another excellent Thrill Jockey issue) that there has been a sizable shift in sonic manipulation, fidelity, scope and vision. There is no tape hiss - these tracks are clean as a whistle. The addition of Hanna Olivegren on vocals (a collaboration allegedly pushed into play by a member of The Skull Defekts) lends a pastoral, almost elemental root to Osborne's minimalist organ flourishes that grounds it, allows a focus and slipstream for his ideas to course more naturally. Olivegren's improvisational beginnings with Zomes have had time to ferment also, and the combination is something to behold - at times ethereal, at times tribal, yet remaining true to a stylistic mantra that Osborne set as a template on 2011's Earth Grid. In fact, Time Was is something of a palimpsest - Osborne's previous incantations and meanderings washed off the page and a new composition takes its place, even though remnants of yore appear like ghostly sign-posts from then to now. So whilst continual plays on repetition and melody rear their head, the amount of improvisation has been pared back, or at least intensely magnified to the point that such a performance is more second-nature than a true exploration of whim. And most importantly, its a beautiful record, with so many gems hidden within that repeated listens are mandatory, and instantly rewarded. Time Was is a pleasant surprise.

Grab Time Was here.

Zomes - Loveful Heights
Zomes - Cave Mountain Stream

Taking It In His Stygian Stride (Thrill Jockey Update #4)

The Thrill Jockey juggernaut continues to roll forth. This synth-driven release is the eponymous debut of Stygian Stride AKA Jimy SeiTang (Psychic Ills/Rhyton), eschewing tradition rock formations and templates in favour of electronic music that nevertheless adopts the improvisational style he has honed his craft in for such a long period of time. These stylings are further hued by the usage of vintage analog synthesizers. Therefore the atmosphere that cloaks Stygian Stride comes across as a metallic, metronomic heartbeat, the score of a hallucinogenic dystopian desolation that still invokes creeping dread beyond the horrors that already exist on the surface. It isn't all fearful anxiety and despair - the pun 'Fade Into Bolivian' hovers on the edge of inebriatic bliss, an ecstasy of glacial glitch - but SeiTang's insistence on cyclical elongation and distortion of tones within these undulating rhythms means that nothing on these tracks can be taken at face value - for better or worse, you need to allow yourself to be submerged by the bubbling white noise. And like all true classic brainwashings, it won't be long before you are proclaiming, "I love Stygian Stride".

You can buy Stygian Stride here.

Stygian Stride - Drift
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Double Dagger, Then, Now, Later (Thrill Jockey Update #3)

One of the bands that Paul, the other party that gave birth to this beautifully twisted sister of a blog, introduced me to was Baltimore's Double Dagger. The first time I saw them play was in the now defunct The Rest Is Noise bar in Brixton in 2009, to about thirty people. The people moshing (well, jumping around into each other...) were myself and a few friends. The supports, Friendship and Bitches, were brilliant. But Nolen came out and did his thing, Denny and Bruce kept it locked down, and it killed. Later that night, a woman who had been throwing up outside attacked my girlfriend out the front, in the process ripping out strands of another friend's hair. Suffice to say that it left an impression.

A lot has happened since then. Double Dagger has called it a day, but there is much still to celebrate. Denny Bowen has since drummed for the Dan Deacon Ensemble (which saw him visit Brisbane early last year), as well as playing in Roomrunner. Nolen Strals has a few projects in the offing, and his graphic design continues to abound, as seen (by me at least) on the Part Chimp/Torche split record.

Bruce Willen has teamed up with good friend (and Future Islander) William Cashion to form Peals, whose Walking Field is coming out on Thrill Jockey this month. Peals is an entirely different beast altogether, using live loops to encapsulate an exploratory tome to ambiance and intimacy and their intricacies and connectivity. It, like their stablemates Mountains as mentioned two days ago, is all about fully immersive soundscapes, leaving the outside world behind and reaching within. Peals are already searching for the smaller, more intimate realms in order to play their music live too, oft-times preferring houses and small art galleries over larger stages. They have recently come off a tour that included shows with other Thrill Jockey-ites Dan Friel and Brokeback, as well as Romantic States and Bamboo, and will embark on another tour in support of Walking Field (which, if you pre-order now, comes with a free 7") in June. (Also go to their website here where you can manipulate and make your own version of another track, 'Furniture' - pretty cool.)

Peals - Blue Elvis

But the legacy of Double Dagger itself lives on, as for Record Store day 2013 we are granted the final, posthumous record 333, coinciding with If You Shout Loud Enough, a documentary showcasing the criminally underrated trio in all their fabulous glory. It seems that the album is going to not only underline such a standing, but that they broke up just as they were gathering in strength. The growth from the More LP to the Masks EP alone was monumental. It's a damn shame they aren't around anymore, but their legacy can live on through these songs (as much as they'll fucking hate to hear it).

Double Dagger - Heretic's Hymn

Here is the trailer for the doco too. It features interviews with many of the Baltimore scene, such as Deacon, members of Wye Oak, Future Islands, Ruiner, Thank You and so many more, and a staggering amount of live footage across their 9-year reign. You can only get this on RSD from your local independent record store. You can see If We Shout Loud Enough as part of the official selection of the Maryland Film Festival, with (hopefully) many more venues thereafter.


If We Shout Loud Enough - Trailer (Double Dagger documentary) from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Vale Double Dagger, long live Double Dagger!

Double Baltimore Magic

It was sad news indeed that two Baltimore acts, Double Dagger and Ponytail, have hung up their chaps in 2011. Both bands were up in my top ten live acts of all time (as witnessed by me - that's how these things work, right?). But two other B-more acts continue to ply their trade with excellent results.


First up we have the electro-shock artist and dance-party authority Dan Deacon, renowned as one of the world’s funnest and most epic live performers. I saw him play at London's ULU in 2009 - such an amazing show, it had all the funky white kids shuffling (they are too hip to dance). The Dr Marvin Monroe maniacal yet lovable alchemist, is equal parts crazy and inspirational, participatory and energetic, and his intense live show breaks down audience inhibitions to enable mass mayhem and fun. He has just signed onto Domino Records, and is making his way to Australia in January 2012! What's more he is bringing his ensemble - sop full band awesomeness! AND one such member is Denny from Double Dagger! Wow.

But the excellent times do not halt there, as he will be supported by one of 2011's most lauded artists in John Maus. His groundbreaking new album We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (released on one of our fave labels ever, Upset The Rhythm (as if you didn't already know!!!), distributed locally through Inertia) has been one of the iconic records of 2011. The confrontation of punk, the fleeting poignancy of 80s movie soundtracks, the insistent pulse of Moroder and the spirituality of Medieval and Baroque music all find salvation in John Maus.

The show is rounded out by locals Toy Balloon, whose sound is a collision of shambolic noise, plump dance grooves, brother / sister vocal harmonies and rigid polyrhythms. The result is a brilliant and confounding bastardisation of pop music that few people can resist. With one foot in a world occupied by new wave, cosmic disco, early hip hop and acid house, and the other foot firmly planted in the introspective, experimental indie rock world, the four piece has built a scene-busting following through their dynamic and diverse live shows. It all happens at Woodland on Thursday January 12 - grab your tickets here. AND A NEW ALBUM IS ON ITS WAY!!!

Dan Deacon - Red F


Then we have Future Islands, who also played that titular ULU show. Their new album, On The Water, is every bit as great as was hoped, and whilst they aren't known to be touring Australia soon, this album is more than enough to keep you afloat! Grab it here.

Future Islands - Give Us The Wind
Future Islands - Before The Bridge

With these two acts in business, the world is not a cold, dead place...

Torch(e)ing Part Of The Dying Chimp

Its with much sadness that this release comes out. Whilst its an excellent one - a 12" tour split between Scotsmen Part Chimp and US mentalists Torche (plus they play Guided By Voices covers!!!), it marks the second last release that we will get from the Glasgow noise merchants, what with them pulling up stumps in the New Year. Chunklet are the fine folks that are putting this out, and its a special one. The story is thus:

"Five years ago, during SXSW, Chunklet put on a 20 band bill in two parking lots in north Austin. Two bands met and became immediate fans of each other. Torche, who were still a brand new band and at SXSW at Chunklet's request, and Part Chimp, the noise titans from London who were touring the States for the second time. And well, on that steamy tarmac, a love affair was born. Almost immediately thereafter, we all started discussing a split release featuring the two bands, and sadly, it takes the pending dissolution of Part Chimp to make it happen. Yes, this is the final Part Chimp release here in the States and the penultimate worldwide."

Sad, right? But at least this thing exists! Part Chimp turn in two scorchers, 'Dr. Horse' and 'The Watcher', while Torche send a love letter to the boys from Dayton and cover three GBV songs ('Exit Flagger', 'Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy' and 'Postal Blowfish').


But the awesomeness does not stop there! You get a colour vinyl with the cover artwork (featuring Gorillas and Yeti's fighting in a future we'll hopefully never witness) done by the world-renowned sci-fi illustrator Trevor Claxton. That's the art that lies above and below us, gang! Furthermore, that amazing looking type was hand drawn by Nolen Strals from Post-Typography and Double Dagger, another band that has just called it a day (one of the best bands I have ever seen - sigh...).


I hope you are planning on getting your mitts on this one! Grab it here before it all runs out!!

Have a listen to Part Chimp's 'The Watcher' and Torche's version of 'Exit Flagger' here.

Burying The Dagger

People, sad, sad new. One of my favourite bands of recent times, Baltimore's Double Dagger, are calling it a day. The trio - Denny Bowen, Nolen Strals, Bruce Willen - provided one of the most electric, immersive, and insane live performances ever, and were able to somewhat recreate it in recorded form, especially on their LP More and their Masks EP. Below is a statement from the band themselves:

"We've accomplished a lot in those nine years, playing some incredible shows with bands we love and in places we never thought we'd get to play. We've been fortunate enough to have several great labels support us along the way, starting with local friends Hit-Dat, and later Chicago-based labels Stationary (Heart) and Thrill Jockey, as well as hometown labels Toxic Pop and Terra Firma.

To answer the inevitable question about why we're breaking up: Like any relationship's end, it's complex, but for us it mostly comes down to time. As the band got older and grew and changed, the people in it did too, and our individual lives are pulling us towards other pursuits. With this in mind, we decided to focus on playing a few final shows in some of our favorite cities, and go out on a high note instead of slowing fading away. We still like the music, the shows, and each other, and we think it's best to bring things to a close while we can still devote our full energy to this music.

We've been taking time off from playing live to finish a few new songs, which will be released posthumously in some format (the details are still being figured out). We've also been planning a string of final shows in some of our favorite cities next month. Those dates are at the end of this and are also posted at www.posttypography.com/doubledagger and www.thrilljockey.com.

We could fill a book with the people we want to thank for everything they've done for us over the years. Those who helped us out in any way from putting out our records, helping us screenprint record covers and t-shirts, taking a chance on booking us in other cities we'd never played before (or booking us time and time again), roommates who sat through countless hours of practice (and sometimes recording), strangers who made us meals in their homes, let us sleep on their floors, drove us around, put up with our bad jokes, lent us equipment (though more often it happened that we were the lenders), absorbed the onstage insults, didn't sue us when getting hit in the head with drums, gave us good advice, bought the records and came to the shows and flipped out which gave us the energy to better do the same, and most importantly the girlfriends and wives who let us take the time to do this, all of you made everything we've put into this worth it.

We're all creative dudes so this isn't the last you'll hear from us, but it is (almost) the end of the line for hearing from us together as Double Dagger."

If you are lucky enough to be in the following areas of the US in October, I implore you to do the world a favour and GO. They are an amazing act, and will be sorely missed. The last few Double Dagger shows:

Wed, October 12 - Baltimore, MD - Charm City Art Space w/ Ed Schrader's Music Beat, Holy Tongues (ex-Ruiner)
Thu, October 13 - Detroit, MI - The Berkley Front
Fri, October 14 - Chicago, IL - Ultra Lounge w/ Call Me Lightning
Sat, October 15 - Chicago, IL - TBA
Sun, October 16 - Cleveland, OH - Now That's Class w/ Megachurch, Clan of the Cave Bear
Wed, October 19 - Washington, DC - Black Cat w/ Imperial China
Thu, Oct. 20 - Brooklyn, NY - Death By Audio w/ AIDS Wolf, Zomes
Fri Oct. 21 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar w/ awesome secret guests!!!

Vale Double Dagger.

Double Dagger - Pillow Talk
Double Dagger - The Lie/The Truth
Double Dagger - Camera Chimera

Sonic Masala's Fave Gigs of 2010!

OK, so we have seen a hell of a lot of gigs this year, so much so that it has been hard to keep track! So over a couple of Doom Bars on Sunday we tried to nut it all out, and still managed to miss a couple (ah...Mono?!?!?). Anyway, with our collective hazy memories somewhat in check, here are our favourite shows that blew us away. Again, there are more than ten here - no need in splitting hairs really. And whilst still not in a rigid order, the top few were the highlights amongst the highlights...

Sonic Masala's Favourite Shows of 2010

Double Dagger - ALL OF THEM! (Lock Tavern/Rest Is Noise/Cargo

Godspeed You Black Emperor (The Troxy)

White Hills/Pontiak (The Luminaire)

Thee Silver Mt Zion Orchestra (Electric Ballroom)

Mono (Scala)

Liars (Heaven)

Deerhunter (Heaven)

Part Chimp/Sloath/Gum Takes Tooth (The Luminaire)

Fuck Buttons/Factory Floor (Heaven)

My Disco/Factory Floor/Snowman (The Lexington)

The Knife - "Tomorrow, In A Year" opera (The Barbican)

Mi Ami/Islet (Barden's Boudoir)

Pontiak (Old Blue Last)

Action Beat/Stig Noise/Shield Your Eyes (The Macbeth)

Thee Oh Sees/Sex Beet (The Luminaire/Plan B)

Women (Cargo/The Social)

TuNe-YaRdS/Trash Kit (Cargo)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring (The Zoo, Brisbane, Australia - yep, my guilty pleasure!)

Sonic Masala's Fave support bands of 2010

Sonic Masala has one rule when it comes gig going... NEVER MISS THE SUPPORT BANDS! You never know what fledgling genius you might stumble upon.

This year we've been privileged to witness some great gigs, something Brendan has rounded up, but a blog like this wouldn't exist without the bands that prop up the big name at the top of the bill. We've discovered many gems doing the hard graft in a supporting role this year, sometimes by accident, sometimes by design and sometimes we've gone just to see the support band in the first place (of course we hung around after). In many cases the support band in question has shone just as brightly, and sometimes outshone their soundcheck-indulged, rider-demanding, bill-topping peers. In truth though many gigs are so well thought out (thanks Upset The Rhythm) that they don't really have a pecking order. In these cases you go to see one band and leave with two or three new faves, everyone is a winner.

So below in no particular order is a list of bands that have rocked up in a supporting slot this year and blown us away. In places it shows just how far some of them have come, in others its a glimpse of the treats that 2011 many hold in store.

Sonic Masala's Fave support bands of 2010

Not Cool supporting Screaming Females (The Luminaire)

Nisennenmondai supporting The Ex (The Dome)

Eat Skull supporting Ganglians (XOYO)

Double Dagger supporting Real Estate (Cargo)

Gum Takes Tooth supporting Part Chimp (The Luminaire)

Grass Widow supporting Naked On The Vague (The Lexington)

Factory Floor supporting Fuck Buttons (Koko)

Islet supporting Frankie & The Heartstrings (Lock Tavern)

Kong supporting Future of the Left (Club 229)

Snowmen/Factory Floor supporting My Disco (The Lexington)

Trash Kit supporting Vivian Girls (Clowns Church Hall)

Wolf People supporting The Besnard Lakes (Cargo)

Sonic Masala's Fave EPs of 2010!

So the duty of Sonic Masala's second 'best of' list falls to me, and its late. No change there. As the title points out I've got the daunting task of picking out our fave EPs for 2010 and there are a hell of a lot to pick from. Now as we all know EP stands for extended play - no shit Sherlock - and as such a format extended play seems to have stretched its criteria somewhat. There really seems so to be no set rules these days about what is an EP and what's not, from the number of songs to the size or even type of format, is all up for grabs. So our list below has taken some liberties, after all isn't a mini album or a limited 10" an extended play?

So with this in mind, and so much awesomeness to choose from, the list below was really rather tough to put together, I'm sure I'll have committed some heinous crimes and omitted some real gems, if so please comment and correct. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here's the EPs and other extended plays that have got SM all worked up into an extended frenzy this year...

Sonic Masala's Fave EPs of 2010...

LA Vampires and Zola Jesus - LA Vampires meets Zola Jesus

Double Dagger - Masks

Not Cool - Rugged Raw

Gum Takes Tooth - 5" floppy disk demo

Factory Floor - Untitled

Forest Swords - Dagger Paths

Pop. 1280 - The Grid

Zola Jesus - Stridulum

Running - Running

Islet - Celebrate This Place

When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth - Peaced

Zorch - Zut Alore!

The Austerity Program - Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn

Women - A Sight For Sore Eyes

Paul has just posted about the September release of Women's sophomore LP Public Strain. I still remember when I got into the debut album proper - it was only a couple months ago! Id listened to it sporadically, but went over to Paul's to work on the blog, before going to see that infamous Double Dagger @ The Rest Is Noise gig... Anyway, amidst listening to DD's More, Glenn Branca's The Ascension and Sic Alps, I decided to throw Women on - and it raced straight back up the top of my playlist. I still think that Paul's being in the dark about the new album is a travesty - but there is my travesty.

Im more than making amends this Sunday morning however - I have my sweaty mitts on the first taste of Public Strain! Its called 'Eyesore', its the final track of the album, and apparently it is the 'uplifting ballad' that ties the whole thing together...hmm. I think I like that. If this is the positive 'Wind Beneath My Wings' belter, then the rest of the album should be stellar...

Women - Eyesore

Double Dagger a photographic odyssey

Friday at the Lock Tavern...

Like I promised here are those Double Dagger photos. Never before have I seen a band so many times over such a short period of time, three shows over five days. To set the record straight we never intended to go to all three gigs, it just worked out that way... Christ I felt like some kind of fan boy geek, but it was worth it. All three sets were very different but awesome in their own way - from the riot of the Lock Tavern to the six man mosh pit and wall climbing of The Rest Is Noise, to the 'in your face' tactics of Nolen at Cargo (hold on, he's always in your face!) Double Dagger came to our fair city and showed us how its really done - and dicked all over Real Estate in the process. Sorry Real Estate but they really did!

Saturday at The Rest Is Noise...

Tuesday at Cargo...

Loads more snaps after the drop...