Zooming Through with Voiceless oOo's

I have received a few emails from the band oOo. At first I thought it was that witchgaze dude oOoOO (or whatever that bloody "genre" Salem supposedly started) and whilst always intrigued I've always managed to put it on the backburner (turns out he's nothing really like Salem, and pretty good - more to come on that). Plus there has been another band that has come into my aural periphery of recent weeks, the Boredoms offshoot of OOIOO.

Yesterday I finally opened one of the emails and realised it wasn't that guy but a trio from Slovenia who are into improvised guitar music (complete with improvised lyrics) who are pretty bloody prolific. They have a great album from the tail end of last year called Zoom Yourself, and only last week released new jam 'How Can You Be Quiet?' I listened to these ambling, rambling, unhinged pieces all day today whilst doing a job application in the middle of torrential rain - the combined total effect being one of disorientation, slight psychosis and manic glee. Discordent, disembodied, delirious and about as far from witchgaze can be whilst still casting a pall over your senses. I could imagine the nooks and crannies of Ljubljana these guys create this music in - church naves, hollowed trees, graveyards, the kitchen... Nothing and everything is left to chance. Intriguing stuff.

Fraudband For Everybody!

In keeping with great vocal less acts/releases today, here is the debut release from Melbourne duo Fraudband. Imaginatively entitled First Songs, the five tracks on display offer a brutal, minimal/maximal approach, driving by pummelling drums, an unrelenting rhythm that the guitar runs roughshod over, a charging bull. But there is a balletic kineticism at work here that underpins it all - its the work of two guys who are intricately dancing with one another, weaving their disparate instruments into a seamless whole, a weapon of mass disruption. Think early Love Of Diagrams or Faspeedelay, yet with a harder, Fugazi-centric bent (yet on 'Tangled Up' we go into more outback-tinged fare, something that an early, more frenetic Dirty Three would have approved of). The sixteen minute ramble 'I tried To Tell You, A Few Times' is my favourite though - but I'm a sucker for those kinds of things... Out next month on new label Kasmuen Records, First Songs is a great document of a duo already setting sight on the stars, if only to send them crashing harmoniously to the ground. Preorder it here.

...Primitive Motion...

There are some bands that surprise you with their sudden rise in popularity. I'm excited to say that one act that has had light shone in their general direction has been the off-kilter experimental synth pop of Primitive Motion. Made up of ex-Deadnotes members Sandra Selig and Leighton Craig, the duo, much like another underground explorer from Brisbane, Scraps, delve into ethereal melodies and sonic manipulations, loops and echoes, repetitions and monotones, all within some semblance of a traditional song format. Selig's musical dexterity - she often swaps between saxophone, flute, tuba and keys, as well as singing - is the drawcard, whilst Craig's flat vocals are often discordant notes in themselves, all the while the ephemeral oscillations swirl around the elegantly wasted chaos. It is something that teeters on the precipice of destruction, such is its fragility and awkwardness, and it sometimes does. But when listening to the excellent Two Ellipses, their latest cassette (out through Room40 offshoot A Guide To Saints), the magic is indelibly strewn throughout the seven songs' DNA. Admittedly more ambient and drone-oriented than a lot of their stuff, the fact that it sees the duo truly take flight speaks volumes of Primitive Motion's promise. They have enthralled many, and in the past few weeks have picked up support slots for Deerhoof and (most importantly) the coveted opening for Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

You can get Two Ellipses here. Primitive Motion are the headliners in local collective Lofly Records' monthly Hangar showcase this Saturday March 9. Supports are Melbourne's Faspeedelay and locals Ghost Notes. Its at the Waiting Room, $10, BYO. BE THERE.

Primitive Motion - Two Ellipses
Primitive Motion - Unchanging Light

Faspeedelay Offer Skittish Atmospherics With Ghost On The Waterfront

 

Last year I got to see exciting Melbourne instrumental trio Faspeedelay do a show at the Waiting Room in Brisbane as part of a Ghost Notes vinyl launch (The Scrapes also played – it was a great lineup). Faspeedelay offer up the kind of asymmetrical, rhythmic sonics that are often found wanting in other instrumental rock bands – these guys are more steeped in the experimental noise side of things, preferring references of post-punkers like Wipers and Gang of Four rather than the quiet/loud dynamism of the Mogwais and Monos of the genre.

And now we can revel in the release of their debut LP Ghost On The Waterfront, - seven tracks of wiry, combustible energy and serrated time signatures. I especially like opener 'Goat Dance', the skitter and swirl of 'Don’t Let Me Go' and the understated atmospherics of 'In The Zone'. Faspeedelay insist that the listener invests time in their music – and if you oblige, you will be rewarded with a heady, cerebral mind melt with the mother lode of payoffs.

 

You can glean Ghost On The Waterfront (out through Audio Actions) here.