Fighting The Good Fight With LAPD Insecurities

I have been sick with the flu three times in two months. This must be a record for me. I just cannot kick this bug. First it's just a lingering cold; then a quickfire fever; now it's sitting on my chest. If I wasn't more sure of the way the world works (and I ain't no expert), I would think that this bacterial bastard has a personal vendetta.

This is where Ryan Pollie comes in. His musical outlet, Los Angeles Police Department, has become a quiet, medicinal aphrodisiac for us here at Sonic Masala - and latest song 'Insecurity' is the top of the heap. It comes off an incoming 7" he is bringing out on Fat Possum later this month, and it is a typically blase yet affecting shuffle through a rumination on hedging bets and trying to win despite a plethora of neuroses - I think. I'm dosed up on a bunch of meds and buzzing on the fuzz. It's a goddamn corker that will ensure I fight this fungal nightmare for another day - and if that isn't an endorsement, I don't know what is. Pre-order the 7" here.

Going The Gap Dream

In the space of a fortnight I have had two Burger Records releases come in the mail, yum yum.

First up I stumbled across Fiesta, the double album from Detroit garage devotees The Go, when heading into the local record store to pick up the reissue of The Living Eyes - and before I knew it I had two classics in my sweaty palms. How these guys haven't climbed to the higher echelon of the garage rock movement of the past decade truly escapes me; Fiesta is like listening to the authentic playlist of the greatest progenitors of the sound from the 60s and early 70s, an intricate patchwork of touchstones that the band have finally unequivocally embraced, and instead of sounding like a tired fade-out into aperisms, this is a retro slice of lime in the most refreshing of beachside beverages. All angst and grit has been shorn away, and left we have twenty capsules of easygoing fun times. Seriously, this has become my pick-me-up rock record for the ages. You can grab Fiesta here - so much fun to be had, you gotta share it around.

Then yesterday Shine Your Love, the latest LP from Ohio's Gap Dream flew through my bathroom window (or into my inbox), and once more I was hit for six. Expecting a downbeat dream pop netherscape, I instead discovered euphoric synth pop that was much more indebted to the Beatles and Euro-futurist consumerbabble than it was to Balearic pop. I was entranced by its tractor beam intensity, hypnotized by its faux-80s cheese yet enamoured by its inherent charm. Whilst the single is out through Fat Possum, the album proper won't be out until November, so I delved further back and tonight have been hooked on his self-titled Burger Records released record, a bit more rock oriented but still languid garage melodies. It's been like listening to the PG Irreversible of the garage rock world - no Monica Belluci, but no rape and a hell of a lot more sunlight. It's no wonder that fellow garage glam conquistador King Tuff is a kindred spirit - although Gap Dream certain goes into more transcendental realms. Thanks, Gap Dream!

Aping Realities And Boosting Calcium

Seeing as I swung Washington way to delve wholesale into Royal Trux earlier today, why not linger amongst the new crowd? Another killer record of the year that has been a constant on Planet Masala but has (until now) missed these pages is Cruise Your Illusion (out on Fat Possum), the official debut longplayer by Olympia's Milk Music (their Beyond Living 12" is one of the best things I've heard in the last five years, FACT). Despite the ace play at the "classic" Guns n Roses double albums, the album riffs on plenty of influences straight off the bat - the instrumental intro 'Caged Dogs Run Wild' seems to inadvertently pay homage to the sadly departed Jason Molina; 'Illegal And Free' (and indeed any of lead guitarist and vocalist Alex Coxen's frayed leads) takes us into J Mascis territory; the buzz and hiss of the 90s seeps through the cracks and over the edge of everything. Yet there is an inimitable electricity that permeates this album, and indeed this band - they are alive, and are above and beyond any constraints, restrictions and cares. The carelessness that the noodling and Coxen's wails on 'New Lease On Love' permits is freedom personified. If you can't listen to this record and immediately feel younger and carefree in the most positive way possible, duly transformed by the amber gold of the music, then your heart ain't beating.

You can (and really should) grab Cruise Your Illusion here.

Milk Music - Illegal And Free
Milk Music - No, Nothing, My Shelter

Prepare To Be Re-Spiritualized!!!

Spiritualized have been on fire with their Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space album concerts, and they have dropped this brand new track to spin in our ears ad nauseum! It is off Sweet Heart Sweet Light, which will be out April 17 on Fat Possum Records. Holy fucking shit. That is all.

Spiritualized 'Hey Jane' by Spiritualized

The Old Origins of A Young Tennis

Those lovely retro kids that make up Denver band Tennis are set to release their hugely anticipated sophomore effort Young and Old on Valentine's Day next year, again through Fat Possum Records. For their forthcoming album guitarist Patrick Riley, vocalist Aliana Moore and drummer James Barone headed to Nashville to work with The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney. These sessions were very successful, with Carney coming out gushing about the band. Yet today we can make up our own minds with first taste 'Origins' streaming below! It will be available on a clear blue 7" through Forest Family Records on December 6. Once again, I cant quite finger the exact ingredient that lifts these guys above most of their contemporaries - but 'Origins' hits the target, and makes Young and Old an early contender for best album of 2012...

Origins by tennisinc

Return Not So Yucky

2011 has been a Yucky year. The quintet from London have really come into their own, dominating most festival stages, being at the pinnacle of the hip as fuck blogosphere intelligentsia, and raping the slacker rock songbook writ large.

As you can see from the above, I don't have the biggest love.

It stems from the only time I have seen them play, as a support for another massive band that I don't "get", Real Estate, back in January last year. Real Estate I found to be incredibly boring - I spent most of their set standing at the downstairs bar at the Lexington drinking Jagerbombs and talking shit to my sister and some other person to this day I cannot remember. Yuck and Colours supported, and whilst both acts exploited the Pavement MO, it was actually Colours who came away with the most points in my opinion that night.

Yet the release of Yuck has gone gangbusters for the Londoners, and although im happy for them, I haven't really given them the time of day (except for Mogwai's ace remix of 'Rubber'...). It seemed that they filled out the right questionnaire or application form, for, like Colours, there seemed to be many bands mining the 90s penchant for noodling guitars and haphazard pop hooks yet they remained on the periphery, whilst Yuck conquered the US and jammed with Jools.

Now Fat Possum is re-releasing Yuck as a double LP stacked with B-sdies and rarities. The editor at Time Off magazine in Brisbane implored me to listen, to be more forgiving (as he has seen millions of bands on many different continents, it kills him to know that he hasn't seen Yuck, an employee has, and said employee slags off his favourite new band on regular intervals).

TRACKLISTING

Get Away
The Wall
Shook Down
Holing Out
Suicide Policeman
Georgia
Suck
Stutter
Operation
Sunday
Rose Gives a Lily
Rubber
Milkshake (previously available on limited vinyl only, streamed digitally)
The Base of a Dream is Empty (vinyl and digital B-Side to Rubber)
Cousin Corona (iTunes bonus)
Soothe Me (brand new)
Coconut Bible (B-side to Holing Out)
Doctors In My Bed (vinyl B-side to Get Away, only streamed digitally)

So I have. And it's...pretty good. Im not changing my tune too much - I really don't get hooked on these tracks at all enough to spin the record on frequent occasions - but it's ok. Right place, right time perhaps? 2012 will tell...

Below are two of those "new" cuts. Believe me, there is substance here. 'Soothe Me' has seen a lot of press due to the blatant Kevin Shields stealing, but who doesn't in this day and age? It is also a sound that is stolen precisely because its a style that can go with almost any other genre, and its cool as fuck. And it probably isnt their fault that they have been lauded so hard. AND, as seen by my intermittent Real Estate posts, I will give bands a second chance if it's deemed warranted. And on the strength of these two tracks alone, I may still be bemused at the level of hype and adulation, but it has me soothing the previously held rage. These kids seem ok. Bring on LP #2.





Before the band retreat into the studio however, they are slamming the UK in one final jaunt - although the London show is already sold out (again, THAT confuses me...)



UPCOMING LIVE DATES

November
14 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
15 – Academy 3, Manchester
16 – Leadmill, Sheffield
18 – Academy 2, Newcastle
19 – Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
20 – King Tuts, Glasgow
21 – 53 Degrees, Preston
22 – Wedgwood Rooms, Portsmouth
23 – Waterfront, Norwich
24 – Electric Ballroom, London
26 – The Button Factory, Dublin
27 – Speakeasy Bar, Belfast

Don't Hibernate In Lagoon Of Youth...

Ive mentioned Idaho resident Trevor Powers AKA Youth Lagoon before. His track 'Montana' (and brilliant accompanying video clip) is jaw-droppingly good, and I was highly anticipating his debut record, The Year Of Hibernation. And its pretty damn great, with the elements prevalent on that track - lush instrumentation, deeply echoed vocals that sit on the precipice between wide-eyed, youthful hope, and a tensely growing storm of fear and anxiety about the world at large. The problem is that these are in place on EVERY song, so the effect dissipates over the album's entirety. Nevertheless, these tracks on their own are amazing. Personal favourites include the first two, 'Afternoon' and 'Cannons' - but this could also be because they are the first two, before the familiarity of the construction breeds contempt. Powers is a talented guy, no question, and the fact that this discards much of the lo-fi obscurities that most bedroom wanderers insist on utilising is definitely worthy.


The Year of Hibernation is out through Fat Possum - get it here.

Youth Lagoon - Montana
Youth Lagoon - The Hunt

Youthful Montana In The Lagoon

Youth Lagoon is Idaho's Trevor Powers, a 22 year old multi-instrumentalist who has been bubbling under the crust of washed-out experimentalism for a little while now. Fat Possum have seen his promise and snapped him up. The debut release of Youth Lagoon, The Year Of Hibernation, hits us with both barrels next month, and if 'Montana' is anything to go by, it's going to be a very exciting release.

Montana by Youth Lagoon

Over the Tennis Courts And Far Away...

I resisted Tennis for so long. As you may have picked up over the inception of Sonic Masala, or even yesterday's Brilliant Colors post, the glut of bands that share this similar sound have jaded me somewhat - well, certain bands amongst the ranks (it's becoming a low blow to mention Dum Dum Girls, isnt it?). And the deliberate 80s yacht rock stylings of the duo and the cover art of Cape Dory (out earlier this year on Fat Possum) had me on my guard from the get go. Yet I needn't have worried - these guys have somehow condensed the woozy doo-wop summer warmth guitar pop formula into a winsome elixir of youth. The best part? There is little if any filler, which most bands of their ilk have found hard to avoid. New single off the album 'Take Me Somewhere' is a perfect case in point. (NB - yes, this has been around since November, but this is the OFFICIAL RELEASE, so there).

In support of Cape Dory, Tennis will also be embarking on a UK and European tour encompassing London’s Cargo. You lucky gits...

Tennis - Take Me Somewhere
Tennis - Is It True

Minting The Unknown Mortals

I mentioned Unknown Mortal Orchestra and their track 'Ffunny Ffrends (New Bounce)' last week as part of my warped dance mixtape. Well there has been a helluva lot of hoopla around the band in the past few weeks, culminating in the release of their selftitled debut album (on Fat Possum). The influence of lead Ruban Neilson's former band, the ace, sad-to-see-you-go NZ noise pop trio The Mint Chicks, is more evident on second track 'Biocycle', yet UMO is a very different kettle of fish, glamming up the punk, infusing it with bizarre dollops of soul, and selling it down the river Styx - and hell, probably to the band Styx too. It jumps genres, more than once per song, falls through the gaffer-taped gaps, claws its way back onto the Yellow Brick Road and keeps on dancing. Unknown Mortal Orchestra really is a yellow-tinged bad acid trip, but one that you will gladly endeavour to undertake time and time again. And the kicker? Its those spaces between that truly brings the money - there is so much to unearth, unpack and unravel here that it will take myriad listens to get the true experience.

Or, its just a fucking great album.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra is out now (Look at that cover art! Genius...). They play tonight in London at the Lexington - get tix here or here!

UMO - Biocycle
UMO - Ffunny Ffrends
UMO - How Can U Luv Me

Leather Bound Love For The Digital Age

Shawn Foree has been putting out his multinstrumental bedroom project Digital Leather for a few years now, and made his most notable offering with 2009's studio offering Warm Brother (via Fat Possum Records). His new album Infinite Sun harkens back to his more DIY offerings. Its out through Volar Records, which 'Sea Of Hate' is off.

Digital Leather - Sea Of Hate

NB - Since writing this I have been down to Rockinghorse Records in Brisbane which is unfortunately closing its doors - another fucking independent store bites the dust! Anyway, I bought up big, for cheap - and was so suprised to find not one, not two, but THREE Digital Leather releases there! I bought Sorcereor, the effort on Goner Records, but Dance Til Dead and Blow Machine are still down there!

Voiceless Crocodiles

Hip as fuck-sters Crocodiles are doing their best to not get caught rehashing themselves. Seeing as Crocodiles itself is a new direction by members of The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, this is impressive. We heard a track from Sleep Forever, their sophomore effort after the much-lauded Summer of Hate, and it shows a cleaner, poppier approach to their snarling scuzzy post-pop. Now they are releasing Fires of Comparison, a four track EP that has the leatherclad brooders shifting styles, showing samples, and vetoing vocals altogether for what proves to be a great little instrumental record.

Each song has a different approach - 'Kill Joe Arpaio' is a Girls Versus Boys-lite driver, all slink, smirk and menace with the looped radio samples; 'A House With Skin Like Yours' is a stamping monotone, with reverbing guitar and incessant tambourine evoking a blue soaked Western vista replete of Wayne's and Ford's, replaced instead with Gallo's and Jarmusch's filling their snakeskin boots whilst BRMC revisit their roots at the local saloon; the title track sits comfortably with John/Ono noodlings and shimmering guitar with white noise overload from a data projector; with 'Hearts Reprise' coming at the bottom end with minimalist blips and sonic veils, a muzak number if imagined by Melbourne indie wunderkinds Minimum Chips.

I never thought I would say this - but Crocodiles have actually submitted a release that is not saturated in its own self-worth; that is not pandering to the disaffected masses; that is not bleeding kudos from the quiffed copouts and the denimed slackers that mark out their peers. Dont get me wrong - these guys are continually walking a hipster tightrope, threatening to disappear up their own arseholes at any given opportunity (we got strep from doing crack with a hobo; I cant do interviews cos Im stoned; Im sweating profusely cos Im wearing leather but refuse to take it off yadda yadda), but they are proving their worth as frontrunners for the new bands of the beginning of this decade. Which bodes well for Wednesday when Sleep Forever is due to hit...

Download Fires of Comparison from Fat Possum Records for free here, and sample 'A House With Skin Like Yours' below. In the meantime Crocodiles are finishing up a tour in the US with a New York gig with Reading Rainbow and The Girls at Dawn, and start a new one with Golden Triangle and Dirty Beaches late October. In between Crocodiles are treating us here in the UK with the first tour after releasing Sleep Forever - lucky us! SO get tix for the Hoxton Bar and Grill (5 October) or the in-store at Rough Trade East (14 October), or catch their shows spread across the land.

Crocodiles - A House With Skin Like Yours

Sleep with the Crocodiles, See...

Crocodiles' new single.  Cleaner, lighter, echoier - and
radder.  This was evident through their live set at Madame
Jojo's a couple weeks ago - still tres cool, of course,
Brandon Welschez doesnt do it any different - so this pushes
forth as a follow up that will be a true progression.  7"
will be out in August through Fat Possum, with a new album
in the works before 2010 is out.

Crocodiles - Sleep Forever

Drop Acid and Ride the Wavves...

I haven't had much luck with Wavves. My one and only chance thus far of seeing them was last year at the Old Blue Last. Paul and I went up to buy tickets on the door. There was literally no one in there, and yet it was 'sold out'. We ended up at 93 Feet East - and the less said about that the better... Two days later Wavves had a meltdown on stage and that was the last of him for a while. These events (in)explicably left a bad taste in my mouth, and I had found my interest in their actions waning...until now.

2nd album King of the Beach is almost upon us - out in August via Fat Possum - and a track (out on Green Label Sound) and the cover art have been flung at the wall to see what sticks. Sometimes that's how Wavves comes across - a mad pastiche, forever fighting a losing battle for coherence, yet (in)explicably listenable. 'Post Acid' lives up to the claims of a cleaner sound, without losing any of that innate craziness. Its warped and ugly, and yet beautiful - like a rainbow shining off a BP oil spill. My yearning to catch Wavves in the act has returned.

There's plenty chances to do just that too - Upset The Rhythm are hosting a night in his honour, and he's playing a host of festivals including 1234 Shoreditch. Unless he beats another band member to death with his own shoes, we will all have a chance to take the plunge...

Wavves - Post Acid