A Distant Fist Krilling

I haven’t been able to sit down and listen to Boston killers Krill's 3rd album A Distant Fist Unclenching since just before it came out back in February (through Steak Club in the UK/Europe - Exploding In Sound/Double Double Whammy had it out there in the US in time for Xmas last year). Not that listening to anything is hard per se, but with my sabbatical from the Sonic Masala website for a couple months I stayed clear of the emails and forgot to put this on the playlist. Now that I am back, I am free to wax lyrical about how great it is, a brooding, off-kilter rainbow-coloured gut punch. Starting with the schizophrenic 'Phantom' - a track that begins with a bustling gait before switching gears and direction two minutes out, wild frontman Jonah Furman's voice getting more unhinged in the higher octaves. It is understandable why there is mutual love for EIS stablemates Pile, what with their communal adherence to outre rhythms and suddenly serrated riffs, combined with lurid, at times gloriously indecipherable metaphors and euphemisms. There are elements of playfulness here that shines out from previous recordings - 'Torturer' is a great launchpad into this shift. It all hinges on the seven-minute 'Tiger' - that distant fist unclenches, the pain goes away, we breathe, we live on. There is a liquidity, an aural succour, to the flightiness and anxieties of the past. Furman may still find pain in internal torments, but Krill are learning to embrace the hurt.

Crying Chips Never Gets Old

I'm in the process of making an 8-bit oriented mega post (any suggestions of great chiptune albums of 2013, throw us a line), and it has all come about because of 'Bodega Run', the third track from NY trio Crying's EP Get Olde. This is saccharine noise pop run rampant, but with the Game Boy twist - and holy shit is it awesome. When that mosquito-like whine kicks off the album, it could be a stab in the ear, but as soon as the guitars and drums kick in, and Elaiza Santos' vocals float effortlessly into the mix (This band is boring me...), and it all makes seven levels of sense. The chiptune effects are more prevalent on other tracks, such as the miasma of blips and squelches that infuse minute-shy intro 'Open' or the RPG-sweet 'Vacation', but nothing can beat the innate joy that bursts forth from 'Bodega Run'. Get Olde is the kind of upbeat lightweight sugar-punk shtick that I don't get into very often, but that Game boy aesthetic here lends everything a new lease on life (especially as it is this element that above everything else feels intuitive; the natural instruments are tight, yet perfunctory in function - it feels harsh seeing as 2/3 of the band are from the great LVL UP, but there you have it).

Seriously though, Get Olde is worth getting just for 'Bodega Run'. Out through Double Double Whammy - give me some of them dank Doritos and jalapeno Cheeto-ooo-ooos...

Eating Krill in Spook Houses

I decided to jam these two releases together fairly tenuously (and what's with my needy penchant for East Coast rock bands at the moment?). Lucky Leaves is the new record from trio Krill, and its goddamn rad. It has the Jawa-esque cover art; the band have their own theme tune ("Krill Forever" indeed); Jonah Furman's vocals, whilst quirky and off-kilter, are alluring in their feverish imploring ways; perfect placement of noise and space, time changes and fades, air to breathe and cement to suffocate in; and the basslines are crystal, something you don't always have in these days' records. The drumming serves the songs, not as a driver or a destroyer, but as a guide, showing the guests in the right direction. I'm clearly a sucker for this slightly downer, brooding, off-kilter rock (see - Spook Houses, Pile, Ovlov, Fat History Month...); the Boston region has an abundance of them; and Krill have quite rightly risen to the top echelons of the pack. You can buy Lucky Leaves here (out through Sippy Cup Everything) - I know I am.

One of the surprise albums of last year was the aforementioned New Jersey band Spook Houses' Trying LP. Well the four-piece have some new stuff on the way in the form of a split with the also-aforementioned Fat History Month through Double Double Whammy Records (you can pre-order it here). Here there is a bit of a switcheroo though, with Spook Houses heading down a fuzzier, cozier, quirk-pop spin-out. It's bare, Robert Pollard/Jeff Mangum coaxing stuff - and whilst it doesn't have the hooks in abundance that 'American' used to slay me, it is the perfect curveball that this kind of 7" allows a band to throw. The static intro and the incessant fuzz throughout sits beautifully too when you put the headphones on. Thanks guys.