Video Vacuum - Juan Wauters, Bed Rugs, Big Brave, Spring King

I just watched V/H/S 2. Breakdown - the surrounding story was better than the first V/H/S anthology wraparound; and each of the vignettes were really inventive with the use of "found footage" (mechanical eye and mounted bike helmet were both pretty great), yet the best by a million miles was the Indonesian cult story. Overall it's just a lot of fun - some great scares, but just a lot of fun. So let's get lo-fi and (potentially) get scared with these new tracks...

I showcased this track 'Sanity' from frontman of The Beets' Juan Wauters a little whiles ago. The vid for the song is bullshit crazy, with blunts, gimps, Juan doing psycho Z-grade wrestling against women (and Guapo!), a wonky American flag - and it's purely brilliant. "You know what country's ugly but they could have some very interesting ugly girls? England."



Some hazy rock pinned together by underwater synchronised swimming? Bed Rugs (hailing from Antwerp in Belgium) has you covered. This oscillating track 'Blinds' is off their just-released EP Rapids (out through Ample Play & Burger Records) - from this sound alone I'm intrigued to hear more.



I know even less about Montreal psych rockers Big Brave, seeing as this is all I've heard, but the simplicity and dirge held within has me very hopeful. The new song is titled 'There Is No Victory, Only Burning Flags and Fallen Men' - which I really, really like. More please.



And let's finish with this cut and paste slab of scuzzy silliness from Manchester's Spring King. I've meant to mention these guys for some time, but this dropped in the inbox over the weekend and has been played incessantly in the playlist ever since, so there is no excuse now. Spring King are probably certifiably insane, and I'm happy with that. They just supported Fair Ohs too, so the insanity is spreading.

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Cuckoo Chaos Are Doing It For The Woman

Cuckoo Chaos is an interesting bunch of guys. Hailing from San Diego, the five-piece hold a strange musical netherland, somewhere akin to Arthur Russell covering Paul Simon. Sure, the tropical pop genre moniker will rear its ugly head, and they bear a lot of resemblances to London's Fair Ohs, but on their upcoming LP Woman (out through Lefse), Cuckoo Chaos show that there is more madness in their method. Take single and opening track, 'Jesus American Flag Fish'. In the band's own words - "Imagine a Jesus on a flag attached to a flag pole. At the base of the flag pole is a school of fish in the shape of America. We are Cuckoo Chaos." No faux Harvard intellectualism here - Cuckoo Chaos just like having joyous, unabashed fun.

Grab a pre-order of Woman here.

Cuckoo Chaos - Jesus American Flag Fish
Cuckoo Chaos - Just Ride It

Veronica's Bad Fall Feeling

London's Veronica Falls have been hovering around the edges of success for a while now, and whilst they haven't had the leg up that Male Bonding or even Fair Ohs have had, they still hold their own and punch well above their wait. That said, the slog may be about to come somewhat easier as their debut self-titled album prepares to drop like a meteor in October (thanks to Slumberland Records). Carrying on from the momentum built by great tracks 'Beachy Head' and 'Found Love In A Graveyard' (haven't we all?...no, really??), 'Bad Feeling' rolls forth like a bad acid trip of a Western set in a fictional land between the surf of Big Sur and the hairpin turns of Devilgate Drive. This is the 60s rock hit from an alternate universe that we have all been waiting for. These guys appear to have nailed the Dick Dale/The Shadows-tinged surf rock, the Shangri-Las style of hip-swaying doo-wop brilliance and a dash of Morricone mysticism that has inexplicably become a salient focus in indie rock circles. The B-side 'Back Page' is just as delicious, recorded with Rory Attwell (what ISN'T this guy doing?). This is a release Im very excited about. They will also be playing the Lexington in London in October, then touring the UK with Dum Dum Girls in November. No plans to come down to Australia...yet...but we can take solace that another solid album is on its way.

Buy the Bad Feeling 7" and/or pre-order the Veronica Falls LP here.


Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling by Bella Union

Faux Magenta And Yellow Discx

Brighton independent label Faux Discx released an amazing four-way split at the beginning of the year that included the likes of Fair Ohs, Women, and Cold Pumas. They are doing incredible things, and this is continuing with a new split release that features Sauna Youth, Ale Mania, Lab Coast, and Friendo.


These splits, called Magenta and Yellow, are pretty awesome. Magenta features two songs apiece from San Diego’s Ale Mania who play genre-hopping, weirdo post-punk, and Brighton/London’s Sauna Youth, who delve in straight-up punk pushed through a myriad of delay and reverb, weird and satisfying.

ALE MANIA – Peoline by Faux Discx

SAUNA YOUTH – Backgrounds by Faux Discx


Yellow marks the return of Calgary’s Friendo who offer a decidedly left of centre jam from their previous woozy endeavours. They share the wax with their Canadian compadres Lab Coast who present their garage indie low in fidelity and high in hooks.

FRIENDO – Germanic Panic by Faux Discx

LAB COAST – Astronaut Like Me by Faux Discx

Both of these releases are limited to 300 copies worldwide. You can pre-order them now and will be released 25 July and 8 August respectively - get em here!

Old Volcanoes Warm The Brain

Whether its my dislocation from the London scene since my sudden departure to Brisbane some six months ago, but I hadn’t heard much at all of note of Warm Brains, the solo project of Rory Atwell (Test Icicles, KASMs). Atwell has proven his worth as a producer of late, working his DIY grungey aesthetics on SM faves Male Bonding, Fair Ohs, Cold Pumas and Veronica Falls amongst others. Yet here he is, refusing to sit idle, releasing his debut album Old Volcanoes (August 1 on Marshall Teller Records).

Loud & Quiet Magazine’s claims that he is wasted behind the mixing desk is a debatable one, but he sure has a talent in his own right as a musician. What this album showcases is a knack for slacker noise pop that not only matches its current contemporaries, but hints at the type of longevity that some of the genre’s innovators lacked, especially when considering the fact that Atwell wrote, performed and produced all of the tracks unaided other than some vocal collaborations (and seeing the vocal talent - Roxanne from Veronica Falls, Gemma from Trogons and Florence from Paradise – it’s easy to see why he roped these lasses in).

Its all very exciting, moreso when considering the promise of Warm Brains performances all over the UK this summer. Garnering help from Joe Ryan (Fair Ohs) and Anna Jones (Brothers), Atwell kicked off his plan for global domination on Saturday with their appearance at the Shoreditch 1-2-3-4 Festival, and are playing the following ace shows:

July 21st – The Garage, London (Islington) w/ Not Cool & Novella
July 31st – The Chameleon, Nottingham w/ Let’s Wrestle
August 3rd – album launch @ CAMP, London w/ Fair Ohs, Cold Pumas, Colours (plus both Male Bonding and Tom Vek will be DJing!)


Pre-order Old Volcanoes here.

Warm Brains – Marble Arch

The Fair Ohs Are Dancing

The London tropical pop rock band Fair Ohs err just on the right side of fun (see my thoughts on Vampire Weekend for those who traverse to the Dark Side…), and they now have a case of tracks for ya to catch some sun to! Everything Is Dancing came out last week on their own label Honey High (you can get it here) – it hits the global shelves via Lefse on July 26. According to the boys, Everything is Dancing is influenced by West African funk, 60's Psychedelic Rock, Eritrean Guayla music and a whole heap of Fleetwood Mac. Well, I'm certainly love Rumours again right about now (and it has absolutely nothing to do with those Glee fucks), so this description is floating my boat – as are the below tracks, all off the album!

Fair Ohs - Baldessari
Fair Ohs - Summer Lake
Fair Ohs - Eden Rock

Fair Oh's Enough

Those trop-punk kids Fair Ohs are so much then their brethren. Who are? Well, I only really know Vampire Weekend, and we all know how much they piss me off, so that is nt much contest. But still, the older the London trio get, the better they sound, and this goes for the following tracks off their forthcoming album Everything Is Dancing. Its pretty electric stuff, and promises that this will be the album that shoots them into the calypso stratosphere.


Everything Is Dancing is out in the UK through their own label Honey High Records on July 6, and everywhere else via Lefse on July 26. They will be busy touring too, with shows supporting Akron Family tonight at Bush Hall in London, before having their album launch at The Victory with Cold Pumas and Sauna Youth in support. They are also supporting Tune-Yards and playing the 1234 Shoreditch Festival. London, summer is going to be Fair Ohs weather...

Fair Ohs - Eden Rock
Fair Ohs - Summer Lake

Faux Discx four way awesome split

Faux Discx could have just dropped the split 7" of the year - a four way slice of epic proportions. Featuring three of Sonic Masala's favourite bands, Fair Ohs, Cold Pumas and crafters of the bittersweet Public Strain, SM's album of the year, Women. Also not forgetting the fourth slice from Friendo. This Anglo-Calgary split features new (ish - Fair Ohs' track 'Jeanneret' featured on volume two of last year's Music Sounds Better With Huw comp) songs from each band and is a complete steal at only £4 for a 7" and downloads.

We've mentioned Women and Cold Pumas (fingers crossed for an LP this year?) enough times on SM, and even south east London's Fair Ohs have had multiple visits to this blog before but as Friendo have only made one appearance on SM before, it's Michael Wallace's trio that feature below. As Brendan mentioned Wallace is Women's drummer but centre stage for Friendo, their delightful sound helping to explain the gentle underbelly of Women. Its the certain Friendo warmth that brings this piece of wax so nicely together, a stripped down DIY simplicity that is just as deserving of your time as the other three awesome bands to grace this 7". Hats off to Faux Discx, any chance of a London gig with the same line up please? Get it here.

Friendo - Pass Times

Cold Pumas Sound Better With Huw?

Huw Stephens of BBC Radio One notoriety has been pushing his claim as new music head honcho. To this end he's been compiling compilations of 'new music' in conjunction with Wichita Recordings. Before I took off on my hols Mr Stephens put out his second such compilation, with artwork by Casey Raymond, which features a previously unreleased track Slow Padding from SM favourites Cold Pumas, as well as tracks from other SM faves such as Fair Ohs, Islet, Spectrals, Cloud Nothings and many more. Its worth a look here.

You can purchase the comp here, its only five quid, and have little taste below. Cold Pumas also have a gig tomorrow, courtesy of Upset The Rhythm (who else?) at The Nest in Dalston with the awesome Nisennenmondai and Waiters

Cold Pumas - Slow Padding

A Friendship of daggers

Right back to Double Dagger, well-ish. As you can tell I'm mega stoked to see Double Dagger at last but I thought it was only right to give a mention to their support for the European tour, namely Friendship. The London duo have been floating round for a while, in fact the track below The Graveyard Shift has been around for just over a year but their new single Lifeguard (out last month) has a touch more sunnier vibe, reminds me of the Fair Ohs but less Paul Simon. Friendship really deserve more attention than they've be getting; maybe that should read, than I've been giving them? Either way it will be good to hear more of the stuff over the weekend.

Friendship - The Graveyard Shift

Pic by Gareth James, photographer mate of the band, nice stuff.

(Brendan T - you've seen them a couple times in support slots - Part Chimp, That Fucking Tank! - they've always been floating about in the right circles. Agreed - well worth a look)

Fair Ohs speculate

Fair Ohs and a Leeds outfit Spectrals have a new split 7" out today on Tough Love. The perfect mini soundtrack with Spring finally poking its head above winter's parapet (maybe Brendan will even stop moaning about the weather now!) Spectrals have long coveted my attention and Fair Ohs' itchy reverb drenched afro-punk went down a treat when we saw them at Rest is Noise a few weeks ago. Here is one track to lure you in, three more await you on the 7". As good as daffs!

Fair Ohs - Hey Lizzy