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.

Rocking Cosmic Exploding Porches

(photo by Jessica Lehremans)

Exploding In Sound are figuratively (and probably literally) blowing up with their recent releases, with both Fat History Month and especially Ovlov offering stellar records of late. That doesn't mean the label has exhausted the coffers however.

New York's Porches. are releasing their debut LP Slow Dance In The Cosmos late August, and it's a corker. Swinging inexplicably between 60s pop rock, maudlin campfire musings, reverb-heavy Casiotunes, wonky slacker euphemisms and a lead in Aaron Maine who sounds like a cross between Mark Koselek and Brandon Flowers (similar to their labelmates Fat History Month - well, except for the Brandon Flowers reference. I feel I should clarify isn't a backhanded compliment - Flowers and his cronies had the inkling of something in those first two albums, which the excellent collab with Lou Reed verified, before they decided they would rather be U2). Intro song and single 'Headsgiving' is fantastic, even though the opening riff sounds not that dissimilar from another (ex)labelmate Speedy Ortiz' 'Silver Spring'. That is part of the charm of Porches. - that despite the genre hopping (the spazz-synth faux RnB of 'After Glow'; the faux MOR ramble of 'Franklin The Flirt' - just a lot of fauxs really, with tongue planted in concrete in the cheek), Maine manages to anchor it into a skewed world where everything is aligned and in its right place, for better or worse depending on the abuse being suffered or inflicted, a tawdry scratched out existence. Slow Dance In The Cosmos is its own beast, inhabiting the same cracked, homespun world that Exploding In Sound seems to be cultivating whilst ensuring their environment is invariably their own.

Pre-order Slow Dance In The Cosmos here - it's a keeper.

Porches. - Headsgiving
Porches. - Franklin The Flirt

I Am Ovlov

I love it when you throw an album on with 0% knowledge of what is about to assault you - and it ends up being mindblowing. Massachusetts label Exploding In Sound have an uncanny knack of slinging unknown entities my way that have pulled the rug out from under me - Pile, Fat History Month and Speedy Ortiz have all graced their stable at some stage. I have been listening to Am, the debut LP from the Newtown Connecticut upstarts Ovlov, for a few weeks, but missed the boat on writing about them before the album was released last week.  The band can't help but wallow in the holy waters of Dinosaur Jr ('Grapes', the crushing 'Blue Baby') and Archers of Loaf ('Really Bees'), melding molten distortion with insidious melody - preternatural pop tunes for those with chronic tinnitus. Come for the noise; stay for the lack of pretension, the weary warmth, the all-you-can-eat harmonic buffet. Abject 90s predilections never felt so right as they do here.

Am is a killer gift that keeps on giving. Have at it here. Ovlov have been playing some great shows Stateside recently, not least with SM faves PAWS and Speedy Ortiz, and seeing as Speedy Ortiz seems about to explode (more on that soon), let's hope these guys follow suit.

Ovlov - Milk
Ovlov - Where's My Dini

Rad History Month

Back in 2011, I was enamoured by Fucking Despair, a small release by Boston's Fat History Month, specifically the title track (it made our best songs for the year). This song still slays me. It is acoustic desperation excellence bar none, the kind that sweeps you away. There is a slight Australian connection with these guys also, seeing as their Safe & Sound 7" came out on Brisbane's Bedroom Suck Records the same year (you can still buy it here). The band have a LP out, Bad History Month (on Exploding In Sound/Sophomore Lounge), and it continues the duo's scattershot imagery interspersed with whimsical angst, shambolic regrets and enough rustic bombast and flippant half-jokes to fill a fleet of freak-folk flotillas, only to sink them all as they come within eyesight of the shore. Psychedelic breakdowns for the straight-edged, or pop for the deranged - either way, Fat History Month are possibly one of the most underrated acts that I have come across since I started Sonic Masala. Their songs are the kinds that you come back to time and again - and in an age of disposable art, this is mighty high praise.

You can buy Bad History Month here - it comes with a 6" x 9" 30 page illustrated lyric comic book and an 11" x 17" poster all drawn by Adric Giles. And like their good labelmates Pile and their album from last year Dripping, they don't make such rambling, discordant indie rock like this anymore - maybe they never did. A very good album that deserves much higher kudos than it's ever going to receive.

Fat History Month - Bad History Month
Fat History Month - Bald History Month
Fat History Month - Everyday Is Christmas

Fat History Month Fuck My Despair Away

This album is good. Not great, but good. However I cannot for the life of me get this one track out of my head, and for that reason alone I have to mention Fat History Month.

The Boston duo have put out this LP, Fucking Despair (through Sophmore Lounge) , and the title track, for its one minute and forty-three second duration, kills me. I dont know how often I have put it on repeat this past fortnight. If I cant sleep, i put this on repeat. If Im marking assignments, on repeat. If Im eating a quesadilla - yep, on repeat. It's such an addictive little number. There are some solid tracks on here - 'Free As A Cat', 'Old Smokers' and the elongated 'You Can Pick Your Nose But You Can't Escape Your Horrible Family' are all winners - but none hold a flame to the minimal indie malaise of 'Fucking Despair', especially when it builds to a climax which I wish would stretch out into forever. Cheers lads.

Fat History Month are currently touring with a band from Brisbane, Kitchen's Floor, all over the US. Make sure you check em out (dates are here) - I reckon you will be blown away. Buy Fucking Despair here (or at least listen to Side A and see what you think - it's pretty good...)

Fat History Month - Fucking Despair