7/4 Days with St Augustus

Throughout the long Easter weekend here in London, we had some wild, predictably unpredictable weather. Friday was amazing and sunny; Saturday cool with rolling, sharp stabs of rain deluge; Sunday threatened to storm but gave a fine afternoon, before the heavens broke in killer winds; and Monday was a shapeshifter, taking in all shades, albeit at mildly more accessible climes. Which means I spent a lot of it inside. And the vast majority of that time was spent listening to Seven Days, the debut album of St Augustus, the solo guise of Brisbane entity Cameron Smith (Ghost Notes, Tape/Off, Tiny Spiders, Spirit Bunny).

And it is a true triumph years in the making.

He breaks the mould with the loose and raucous 'Always Ends', taking a GVB via Nova Scotia (one of the best little Brisbane bands to come out of the place in the past decade IMHO) fuzzed-out blast. But it is the still, sparse moments that have always resonated. Trouble outlasts with the devil in the chest on 'Limit, Limitless', a brilliant song that haunts as it stills the breath, shadows of Jason Molina in its shake-you-to-the-core mourn; 'Run Away' a folk-drunk dream about finding the special moments among the mundane of daily life which is draining as it is still grasping for the last gasp for something great with a capital G.

I don't know if I am supposed to find 'Candy' funny - its quintessential Cam, the maudlin realisations of past activities now being beyond/beneath you, a curmudgeon kicking out against the former self, with broken, sloppy elements that are almost grandiose in their Big Song longings and shaggy singalongs. It's a theme that echoes through another rollicking pop song, 'Afterthoughts'. Then there are small moments littered throughout that continue to resonate and haunt - the cascading effect in 'Walk Right Through' a synthetic comedown (that - dare I say it - reminds me of my childhood love of Richard Marx's 'Hazard'); the echoed backing vocals on 'The Goldilocks Zone'; the flatness of the recording and the musical saw permeating the Nick Drake-esque 'Song For A Windy Day', about being too young to know how to connect with mortality so close to home; the glockenspiel-like chimes underneath the Sparhawk evoking miniature 'Descending'.

By the time the heart-rendingly magisterial closer 'I Didn't Come Calling' comes to rest, I am in tears. Literally, tears. It's hard to explain - Cam is a dear friend, and knowing how much he has touched my and many other people's lives, both through his work and his quiet friendship, I know hearing this evokes a lot of personal emotions. But also knowing that someone I know so well put together such a awesome (in its truest meaning) suite of songs, with every timbre, note and emotion front and centre - I feel blessed to be able to be a part of it, just as a listener. I'll see you on the other side of the night. Please go pick Seven Days up - and pay for it.

St Augustus Never Ends...

Good friend Cam Smith has many guises - recording maestro with his Incremental Records studio, his stint as owner of the brilliant (and sadly defunct) The Waiting Room in Brisbane, and playing in a million bands, such as Ghost Notes, Tape/Off, Tiny Spiders and Spirit Bunny. He has his own stuff of course in the form of St Augustus - he is FINALLY releasing an album. First up is 'Always Ends', an uncharacteristically loud and boisterous, scuzzed guitar pop tune that is easy to get sucked up into. That crusty feedback at the end too - you can tell that Cam is loving strangling the shit out of that. A new album means some live performances - and St Augustus has some lined up for next month. Stay tuned...

Climbing Tall Pines

Here is a new enterprise out of Brisbane that I think is incredibly exciting. Ghost Notes guitarist Owen has joined forces with close friend Kelly for Tall Pines, a grunged out grind somewhere between the revisionist post-shoegaze schisms of fellow Brisbanites Deafcult and the sludgy hypnotics of True Widow. The duo (with fellow Ghost Noter Cam Smith on drums) have released just the two tracks so far, but they are both killer - 'Palo Verde' has a post-punk insistence and sparsity that lends a stark menace to the edges; while 'Extreme Handshakes' eschews the subtlety of the former with a mid 90s brood that washes out in white noise in the middle third. Early days, but Tall Pines seem like the business.

Review - Beast & Flood's Lanugo and Tour Dates

Sydney trio Beast & Flood have graced the pages here a few times over the past twelve or so months, ever since I saw them play an energising set at Blackwire Records supporting Roku Music on their national Collider tour. The band are finally bringing out debut LP Lanugo and it's as chaotic, guttural, twitchingly melodic and fearlessly verbose. Opener 'Gold Maids' is indicative of the piano-wire strikes and emotive strangulation that these guys deliver in sonic cyanide capsule form. There is an affinity with Adelaide's Sincerely, Grizzly and Texan titans At The Drive In and ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - the frenetic fretwork, the bearing of sinew and soul, the anguish, ambiguity and absurdity of life. Adam's vocals will be an acquired taste to some - each word is ripped from the throat, an involuntary expulsion of pent-up existentialism and ennui. but there are moments of synchronicity amidst the gnashing and gurning.

Lanugo is out June 22 on No Safe Place Records. They tour the album through June/July/August - see below for dates and supports:

25/06 - RAD, Woollongong w/ Milkk, Solid Effort
26/06 - Blackwire, SYD w/ Hannahband, Polyfox & the Union of Most Ghosts

09/07 - Rics, BRIS w/ On VHS

10/07 - The Bearded Lady, BRIS w/ Ghost Notes, Draining Pool, Low Season

11/07 - Beatdisc, Parramatta w/ Carb On Carb + Bare Grillz + Sweater Season

16/07 - Phoenix, Canberra w/ Primary Colours + Mind Blanks

17/07 - The Metropolitan, Adelaide w/ No Action + Great Oceans + David Crosby's Sinus

18/07 - Vice Bar, Melbourne w/ Worm Crown + Nun of the Tongue

24/07 - The Brisbane Hotel, Hobart w/ Naked + All The Weathers

01/08 - The Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle

07/08 - The Old Manly Boatshed, Sydney w/ Ruth Carp & The Fish Heads

Built From Sticks

Built From Sticks is the nom de plume of Jamie Curran, the man on the piano on Brisbane instrumental unit Ghost Notes (whose truly excellent third album Moonlight State came out at the beginning of the year on our own Sonic Masala Records - listen to/grab it here - if you haven't already). Out today through Duskdarter as a digital release, Curran's fifth solo album as Built From Sticks, Return To Underwater Breathing, is subtle yet breathtaking. From the sublime slow-crawling preamble that is eleven minute opener 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?', it is clear that Curran is steering clear of the more conventional song structures of the past, more open to tangential shifts and sonorous drifts. Curran's acoustic ruminations are coloured by Ghost Notes bandmates Luke McCallum (trumpet) and Cam Smith (drums). As with all internal aural contemplations, there is room for a susurration to boil over into a more cacophonous release, as the rusted distortion that closes out 'New Habitat' assuages, but in the main this is the type of somnambulist meandering that the likes of Black Eagle Child, Mark Koselek or Codeine might impart (albeit with Curran's gentle vocals and without the crooked posturing or the cathartic noise). It's great to have these ruminative pastoral sojourns out in the world, outside of the four walls of the bedroom and given space to breathe. 




Do yourself a favour and pick Return To Underwater Breathing here. Built From Sticks launches the album at the Milk Factory in Brisbane on Thursday May 14 with Duskdarter alums Bremen Town Musician and Dempefka in tow.

IT'S TIME - SONIC MASALA FEST PART DEUX

That's right people, after the success of last year's inaugural Sonic Masala Fest, we are ready to throw down again. Descending once again on Brisbane's Greenslopes Bowls Club on Saturday March 14, we bring you 22 bands from across the land for a day of music, food, booze and barefoot bowls. We are opening up channels to buy an early bird ticket of $15 (and some bundles with records and T-shirts of the design above, made once again by the brilliant Phoebe Paradise), which will go up to $20 after February 1 - which still works out as less than a dollar a band, so win win. So far the lineup is pretty stellar if I say so myself!

SCREAMFEEDER

WHITE WALLS

SUMMER FLAKE

GHOST NOTES

DOLLAR BAR

DANYL JESU

UNPEOPLE

THIGH MASTER

BARGE WITH AN ANTENNA ON IT

PLEASURE SYMBOLS

MCKISKO

PRIMITIVE MOTION

THESEASHALLNOTHAVETHEM

GOLDEN BATS

ULTRA MATERIAL

GO GO FISH

VULTURE CIRCUS

JULIA R ANDERSON & THE JOHNNYS

With more bands and added extras to announce, including criminally cheap Cooper's Pale Ale schooners once again, and as another excuse to fly back into perennial sunny good times, I for one am pretty excited.

SONIC MASALA RECORDS PRESENTS: GHOST NOTES' MOONLIGHT STATE

Today is a special day, as we unearth Moonlight State, the sublime new album from Brisbane instrumental ensemble Ghost Notes.

Oppression takes many forms. Drudgery and alienation seem an ever-present. Sometimes overt, but mostly subtle; we bury ourselves under our daily practices.

Moonlight State is Brisbane instrumentalists Ghost Notes’ third album. Largely written and recorded during the same period as the band’s previous release, Hidden Horizons, the new album occupies an altogether different space to its twin. Where that record wandered through bright and distant open lands, Moonlight State is firmly set amidst the dim claustrophobia of our own backyard, while still reaching for an inherent beauty.

Littered with references to the humid, hazy shadows of their hometown’s recent past - none more deliberate than the title track - Moonlight State is an album for present history; for the return of ‘Pig City’, the soundtrack to the G20 and VLAD and unchecked political power. The single ‘Freedom Scouts’ furthers the theme, taking its name from a local survivalist militia, while ‘Split Solitary’ harkens back to the darkness behind youth spent in idyllic rural areas. Here are the murmurs from sun-beaten sheds looking out through rust spots in corrugated iron.

Moonlight State represents a musical end point for Ghost Notes. Designed from inception to be a long-term project, the band have reached their most dynamic and bombastic with this album. The music demands to explode and destroy, and yet even at its most unhinged Ghost Notes repeatedly turn inward. The band’s signature musical spaciousness remains, but their Morricone-meets-Bitches Brew instrumental rock moves in darker territories on this album, from melancholy folk eulogies to noise-rock freak-outs. Nowhere is this breadth of sound more evident than on the album opening ‘Vanishing Point’, a 13-minute epic that travels through starkness, Steve Reich-esque polyrhythms, Kraut-rock freakouts and Sabbath grooves before finding itself back where it began only with a newfound sense of triumph.


You can buy it now!!! Ghost Notes will launch the album in Brisbane on Friday December 5 at The Bearded Lady, with support from other excellent acts Danyl Jesu and Pleasure Symbols.

Hozac Takes Me To First Base On An Epicycle

Back in July I was sitting in a governmental café, waiting for the outcome of a court case and a lift to Byron Bay. That’s the start for a good story right there. Instead, I spent two hours listening to Hozac-sanctioned garage rock gems, specifically the new album from Shocked Minds.

Today I sit on a train weaving its way from Maryborough West to Brisbane, where I will drop off assessment pieces to a local university, pack a bag, have one final meeting about a special, exciting event that I am about to embark upon, then see mates in Ghost Notes and Cobwebbs support Chicago legends Cave (you can still gettickets here) before I wing my way to the UK. We have reached Nambour, where we have sat for an hour after a truck somehow ran into a bridge. I don’t know how to soundtrack the amount of emotions that are bolting around in my heart, my chest, my ever overactive brain. So now, much like that surprisingly balmy winter’s morning, rather than attempt to sum it up, it’s time to counter the apprehension and anticipation with some bludgeoning Hozac heaven.

First Base! No, I haven’t had a pepped-up virile lady sit next to me on the train – she’s four rows down, chugging mini red wines at 12.45pm – it’s the power-punk buzz of an album from the same-named Toronto sugarpunks. Its effervescent crack, hard to stay angry (or any other emotion other than giddy deliriousness) when this stuff is coursing through your brain like mainlined sugar. It has elements of a Superchunk/Thermals hybrid that loved Del Shannon and 80s made, 60s set high school romantic comedies a little too much and couldn’t make it out of their own basement, yet had more than enough money to build a good studio-slash-bunker so that they never had to leave. Song titles include ‘I’m All Alone Again’, ‘Get A Taste Of Your Love Again’, ‘She’s Boy Crazy’ and ‘That’s My Girlfriend’, seemingly attesting to such notions – but then tracks like ‘I Broke My Mind’ give a clearer notion to these crackpots’ machinations. Crazy yet gloriously infectious. The organ is what really sells this – a wailing call of the warm and fuzzies.

Then we have the excellent Epicycle, a late 70s punk act that Hozac are thankfully shining a light on once more. These clean cut snots from Chicago were healthily instilled in the brotherhood of punk's true pioneers, but their relative obscurity is a goddamn shame. This retrospective, You’re Not Gonna Get It, beautifully exemplifies the juxtaposition of Epicycle’s raw-edged pop with their propensity for scabrous wit and sweaty abandon. So it swings from Ramones aping, Kinks aping, The Who aping… Yet rather than remain an adept and chameleonic tribute band, Epicycle transcend due to their excellent songwriting chops and their insistent mining of insidious hooks. Seriously, I wish these guys could play at my wedding, if I ever get married of course. Perfect soundtrack to what I see as a tumultuous, scary yet life-affirming event. Or the soundtrack to a train ride with a bunch of tweakers. Plus they have the song ‘Radical Attitude’ with the line “I’m the guy that you shot down/I’m the guy with the long hair and a radical attitude/I'm the nigger white honky Jew all wrapped up in one.”

So we have the pop fizz with the sardonic fuzz. My day is infinitely better. How about yours?

Bludgeoning The Bunny

Improv bands can be ugly beasts - there is only so much noodling "jams" one can take before murderous rampages are the only acceptable retaliation. Then there is Spirit Bunny, a relatively new Brisbane band born out of the marvelously maladroit meanderings of FEET TEETH (supported here by Ghost Notes/Tiny Spiders skinsman Cam Smith). Their take on their shtick? "Grit Hop - Phat beats and twee melodies through a haze of circuit bent Casio noise and C64 synth." It's an apt description for what is an incredible melange of squelched cross-pollination hip-hop instrumentation, a Frankenstein's monster of noise, melody and insidious beats. Listen to 'Gold & Brown' - awesomeness, until the breakdown in the final thirty seconds scares the shit out of you...

No Hidden Ghost Notes

It's been a little while coming - the majority of recording was cleaned up over a year ago - but local instrumental rock band Ghost Notes have hit us with their sophomore release, Hidden Horizons. Straight off the bat it's obvious that the five-piece have taken great pains to avoid the quiet/loud pitfalls of the genre, and how. Adopting other tropes - the dirge-doom riff emanating throughout the second half of 'Pinnacles'; the jazz strokes of 'Go Where It Takes You'; the organ that underscores 'Contrails Over Plains'  - Hidden Horizons is multilayered, multifaceted, multilingual. The beauty of music such as this is to indeed transcend language in its most basic form, taking us on journeys undefined, so that we are guided and offered solutions rather than bludgeoned, a square peg in a round hole. Luke McCallum's trumpet takes centre stage here, yet unlike the theatrical histrionics of a Warren Ellis he remains muted - aloof yet engaged, a regal presence at the centre of an unfurling evolution. Owen Dengate's guitar in these tracks has become more prominent too, yet not through sheer force or distortion, but through restraint. Jamie Curran's keys hold even more prominence here than they once did, and Cameron Smith and Simon James pin down the rhythm with a more natural rapport than on By Cover Of Night. That isn't to say that Ghost Notes' debut record isn't successful - it's bloody great - but the refinement and pure emotional heft that has been imbued into these tracks is frankly awe striking. Like Dirty Three at their most introspective or Crow with Fenton fading into the background, Hidden Horizons is able to strike at the heart with a feather just as devastatingly as when it all comes down a la the cathartic crash of 'King Wave'. All of these influences meld together for ten minute track 'Esperence', but despite its length it remains a regal statement, as rigidly restrained as it is warmly immersive. Only when the urgency of 'Melt, Bloom' hits do we get anything close to a true release - and yet it's here you realise that all of this meticulousness, all of this elegance, is only part of the whole - these guys are capable of having fun too! The temptation to topple into noisy cliche avoided, it's time to end on a effortless jam, soaring towards the sun - and this time Ghost Notes plan to learn from Icarus' mistakes.

You can pre-order Hidden Horizons here (as well as pick up the digi album for a pay-as-you-like endeavour) - easily the best instrumental rock release I've laid ears on this year. They are launching it on Sunday August 25 at Black Bear Lodge, and have rounded up a special group of friends in Turnpike and Roku Music as support. Talk about a special night - Ill see you there.

OM Supports Singled Out

Two of my favourite Brisbane acts have both jagged the support slots for the Brisbane leg of US drone merchants OM's national tour. The gig is at the Hi Fi this Wednesday and is going to be incredible (drummer Emil Amos' other band - well, ONE OF his other bands - Grails was a definite highlight of last year also) - you should come and hang out. And in anticipation of the show, they are each releasing a single!

Andrew Tuttle is better known in musical circles as annoying Anonymeye. But he has laid the moniker to rest, preparing instead to trek out under his own biological label, and 'Rain Transplant' is the ceremonial unveiling before his "debut" EP 4064 (the suburb postcode for Paddington where he lives) hits the internet shelves. As you can here, it's not far removed from the instrumental deconstructions that earmarked Anonymeye's ten year oeuvre, which is great to hear, but the change in direction comes in subtle moments  - the amorphous segue into an effects-laden bridge, bookended by interplay between Tuttle's beloved banjo and bubbling synth - that implies there is a lot more to come that will take our breath away. I for one cannot wait.

Ghost Notes is a great instrumental rock band. Furthermore, they endeavour to create mood and sound scapes that fail to adhere to the quiet/loud dynamic that many of their contemporaries misinterpret and bludgeon to death around them, making them a more nuanced (and therefore far more interesting) prospect. It does feel like they have been riding out their last album, 2011's In Cover Of Night, for eons though, seeing as the vinyl launch came over a year afterwards. This is probably most felt by the five-piece themselves, and so they are on the cusp of correcting this conception with not one but TWO albums recorded and waiting in the wings. 'Go Where It Takes You' is the first taste of the first of those albums, entitled Hidden Horizons (out through Lofly), which will hopefully see the light of day in the next few months.

You really should get to OM. I will be posting my excellent interview with Emil Amos on Wednesday, but until then, grab your ticket now.

Australian Nonchalance

Are you as laidback as this character? I hope so. And many of our current crop of killer Aussie bands are too. Let's check some out.

Andre is the band of Andre Vanderwert, who is one of the carousel players in Hot Palms (I wrote warmly of them only last week). Andre isn't alone on this endeavour though, incorporating Jordan Ireland (The Middle East), Marc Requeiro-McKelvie (New Estate, Popolice, Teeth & Tongue), Hot Palm's Alec Marshall and members of The Ocean Part amongst others. The band has put out a helluva a lot recently: Too Much Talk was a cassette that came out in November; the Do Watchya Want CD-r in February; and the Mend b/w Have 7" this month (all out on Why Don't You Believe Me? Records - they are all available here). This shit is golden - more sonorous and accessible than some of their contemporaries, raucous, maudlin, grungy, gritty, funny - it's just damned fine. Get onto it, NOW -  these guys need to be playing much more often.

Speaking of The Ocean Party, one of their members Curtis Wakeling also moonlights as Velcro - his Wagga Wagga EP was one of my fave short-form releases of last year (check that out here). Well he now has a new lineup, and the trio are backing up with 'Bottle Shop' - distinctly Australian in tone and demeanour, with a perfectly calibrated pop composition ensuring this sticks like a burr. So easy, so effortless, so whimsical, so so good. There's promise of a full length later this year - consider all extremities crossed for that one.

Velcro - Bottle Shop

Now I'm cramming three bands in at once here, but they all contain the Ford brothers, Daniel and Matt. These Brissy-based siblings are the nicest, coolest dudes who are also cornering the market up here with excellent bands. The most prominent at this point in time is scratchy dreamers Black Vacation - so much so that they have scored recent supports for Wild Nothing. Their Scarred Glass EP is fantastic, if rough, and their newer material is much stronger - making them a deliciously dangerous proposition indeed. Not to be outdone, there is Kids Cryptic, a stomping, shambolic slice of garage flights of fantasy; and newest incarnation Thigh Master (man, these guys should be band name generators!) which is darker, dirgier, and also filled with sparkling gems (and are on the support bill for King Tuff tomorrow night here at the Primitive Room). If you haven't heard of these bands, or these boys, guaranteed you will have by year's end.

Black Vacation - Scarred Glass
Kids Cryptic - Shore

Here's footage of Black Vacation at the last Sonic Masala show...

And here is some footage of the excellent Thigh Master, filmed at Rics around the same time...

Whilst Greg Boring may have been better suited in my first post (and was, in fact, meant to be there), the Brisbane noise mumblers slot into the transient debris and shimmering sweatheaps that make up the Queensland capital's 'burbs. The band is not really a band - it's a happening, an anachronistic algae, an osmosis. It springs out of the cracks, delivers short stabs of melting casiotone combustions and wilting malapropisms before disappearing once more amongst the cigarette butts, vomit stains and saliva sprays. Yet they have also got an album out - Heavy Syrup - and the fact that its received an European release (through the ever excellent Critical Heights - grab it here) is unfathomable - and yet prescient. And while the molasses-paced tracks capture the band in "full swing", it never truly intimates how destitute, how coagulated, how haggard, yet utterly of its moment their live shows are. Fucks me when the next one will be either - I don't think even they know.

Greg Boring - Denuder
Greg Boring - Alvin

Great Earthquake is Melbourne's Noel Symons. The one-man looped-up melody maker has just released his sophomore record, Mind Maps, and its a quivering miasma of sounds, using a wide variety of instruments and samples to augment his own eclectic drumming patterns, and what is left is an album fully in tune with its master's whims and wishes. It swells and crashes in such a diverse fashion, weaving a meshed curtain of pastoral warmth, pagan rhythms and soaring vocal chants. Great Earthquake launches Mind Maps officially in May, starting with a show at the Tote in Melbourne Saturday May 4 and finishing with a show at The Waiting Room Friday May 17 (supported by the equally impressive McKisko and Sadglint) and taking on a supporting role under a Ghost Notes single launch out at Southside Tea Room the following evening.

Great Earthquake - Do. Make

I'm yet to see the wistful quirk of Wonderfuls play the traps yet, but based on the limited output the Brisbane outfit has bled onto tape, it would be a woozy, lysergic mess of an epiphany. Salty Town is a cracked malaise, washed down the sink into the underbelly of desperation and despair, all masked by a gauzy air of sun-damaged hope. Bobby's voice, flat and monotone, is the centrifugal force, and what pushes everything over the crumbling edge into the abyss of confusion and inertia - Harmony Korine via literary touchstones Praise and The Dead Heart for the ears. Can you escape? And if so, will you want to? Salty Town will be coming out on vinyl soon.

Wonderfuls - Freezing Cold
Wonderfuls - Relapse

Let's close this shop up with Pearls. I was shown this band by close mate Wilk, proclaiming their burgeoning talents, and he wasn't wrong. They slipped a self-titled EP out into the ether December last year without many people noticing, which is diabolical because these four tracks are damn fine. People are noticing though - they toured with A Place To Bury Strangers earlier in 2013, and have picked up the support for the muchly anticipated Bardo Pond tour in August. Not bad at all.

Hits From The Box #62 - Working Overtime In Overcast Times

God I'm tired. Started work at 6.30am today, don't finish til 10.30pm. Using my lunch break to write this. And it's still raining.I know a lot of people are over it - and I understand, because people have been flooded and everything - but I love Aussie rain. Maybe it's the fact that it isn't freezing cold, and it has that fresh smell. Although I don't love it today - the overcast weather just makes me want to sleep. That's all Ive got today - sorry. So time for some Hits From The Box, see what'll revive me...

Speedy Oritz AKA Sadie Dupuis released the EP Sports ages ago, and slack ol me am only getting to it now. It's a complete 90s throwback, reminding me of hanging out at my friend's place after school and watching his sister jump on the trampoline listening to Veruca Salt. It's much more innocent than it sounds, actually... The grungey, distorted haze reminiscent of those times is well and truly at the fore of these five tracks. That juxtaposition between the sweet vocals and abrasive lyrics, pop transitions to aggressive explosions of sound, are elements that were rife in 90s bands from the Pixies to the Breeders (and lots of bands without Kim Deal in them). You've heard it before, but the inherent verve and attitude, accompanied by sharp musicianship, means it's a winner. Sometimes you've gotta look backwards to look forward - and hey, this sound never gets old.

Speedy Oritz - Curling
Speedy Oritz - Indoor Soccer

Portfolio is an improvisational instrumental band from Italy, whose album The Standing Babas seesaws between ambiance and defiance without disappearing or bubbling over - a controlled medium. It bears some resemblances to local Brisbane band Ghost Notes, especially with the spectral presence of the trumpet. Portfolio at times feel a little too ephemeral, lacking the punch needed to sustain a languid, mood-building exercise, but there are many moments on this record that really shine. Laura Loriga's vocals swims over the top, or sometimes through the compositions, enmeshed within the melodies.
Portfolio - Beth Gibbons
Portfolio - Latre

Another ambient daydreaming act is Cliff Dweller, who is classically trained violist, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer whose strong predilection for soundtracks have led to an intriguing body of work. His latest record is Emerald City, a cinematic kaleidoscope that utilises a mix of orchestral instrumentation and electronic sounds across its nineteen tracks. There is an understated sense of desperation and unease throughout, giving it a noirish undercurrent that belies some of the sunnier moments such as 'Peace In The Valley'. Its the kind of art concept that can uproot and transport you even without the aid of visual cues, no easy task.

Cliff Dweller - Peace In The Valley

Last week's HFTB I spoke about Kiki Pau. Their Pines record was the second release from Brooklyn label Beyond Beyond Is Beyond. The first was Prince Rupert's Drops
' Run Slow EP, and it's a cracker. Straddling genres that sees them eat up garage rock, psychedelic malaise, alt-folk Americana and countrified truisms, and the result is electric. I've only sat down with this album for a bit, but it really got me the first time and continues to grow on me with repeated listens. I expect to make more hullabaloo about these guys before the year is out...

Prince Rupert's Drops - Almond Man

I have to admit that Younolovebunny is a strange name. The Danish artist is an overtly prolific songwriter, allegedly with more than 700 recorded songs under his belt. The latest release he has is Happy Nation II, and its quirky lo-fi sensibilities belie a rocky core that often lends the songs more gravitas than they probably would have otherwise. The record is out through Almost Musique (home of Shimmering Stars and Hhappiness) and is well worth checking out.

Finishing up is Radar Brothers, a Los Angeles rock band that have been doing the traps for almost twenty years now. The latest record Eight is a cracker. They are probably a little better know than most bands that first sweep through HFTBM, but I wanted everyone to discuss this song and band.

Radar Brothers - If We Were Banished

Sorry that's it. I'm falling asleep. I hope you enjoy. Happy Tuesday people!

...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.

1st Birthday of Live Celebrations



(poster by Matt Deasy)

Well here it is, the "Big" announcement. It's actually been floating around the traps and the social medias for a while, but it ain't official before it's launched here. This month marks one year since Sonic Masala started supporting the local bands of Brisbane, putting on DIY shows for friends and bands that I like and want to help out. We have had a single launch, an album launch, and even had a couple interstate and one NZ band join the fray. The future looks incredibly rosy for this arm of Planet Masala, with some bigger shows, niche shows and such planned for 2013, but let's forget about the future and party in the present! As part of local venue The Waiting Room (who are also celebrating its first year putting on amazing shows) we are putting on a three night extravaganza! Its mainly to thank everyone for supporting us over the past year, but also to see bands that we like and who like us. So its a big love in, basically!

THE LINEUP:

Thursday 25 October

Ghost Notes



Anonymeye



Feet Teeth




Friday 26 October

The Rational Academy



Tiny Spiders



Undead Apes



+ DJ Monster Monster

Saturday 27 October

Tiny Migrants



Go Violets



Do The Robot



+ DJs Don Candon & Pete Vegas

Three nights of awesome fun times, Im sure you'll agree! Tickets a $10 on the door, or for $20 you can go to all three nights! And of course its BYO, so you know it will be a cheap and easy night. Tiny Migrants promise to "blow y'all cocks off", so the bar has been set. See you there!

The Masala Before Time - The 4th Sonic Masala Presents... Show TONIGHT!!!

The Sonic Masala shows roll on, and tonight we delve into slightly more familiar territory. It's funny that I haven't put on a truly psych-entrenched band on until now, but Dreamtime are certainly the best band to open the account with. I was a big fan of their debut self-titled 12" last year, plus their slot in a Gin Club show around May last year was pretty special, so this will be a good show to catch. What's more, they are playing first due to work commitments (damn you Black Bear Lodge! Actually, don't - I like to blow money on White Rabbits when Im feeling like a Waylon Jennings vinyl fix...)!



Next up is The Maryettas, an outlet for Ryan Potter to present some of his sunnier tracks that don't fit the doom-laden goth noir stomp of Nikko or the elegaic instrumentals of The Scrapes. Normally in solo form, Potter tonight is joined by fello Nikko member Jackson Briggs and Brock (all the way from Goondiwindi no less! We drag in the big guns!) in what will be the world first electric performance! Special times indeed!



Then we have special guests Dingo's Baby (what a name), the "new" project from Dreamtime's Zac Anderson. Backing up from the earlier slot, Anderson and his cronies promise psych-punk-vomit-enlightenment (my words...). I have no real idea, other than to expect something special, regardless of what quarter of shambolism this one stumbles into. Could be the show of the night.

Closing us out is Ghost Notes, the eloquent instrumentalists that wowed all and sundry with last year's By Cover Of Night. They are playing witha truncated lineup, therefore offering yet another unique set. One of the members is The Waiting Room's very own Cam Smith, who knows this enue inside out, so expect the sound to be silky to the point of being invasive. Golden.




So come down. Once again it's at The Waiting Room, it's $10 and it's BYO. And hopefully it will be brilliant as the above artwork, done once more by the delectable Joanne Thies. This will be a great night!

PS The next night on March 23rd is yet another show on a very crowded Friday night, so we are going to strive for some special inclusions to drag you away from the other shows. Expect prizes, giveaways, maybe even a karaoke machine. Ill do what it takes to make you love me...

These Tiny Spiders Have Bite

Tying off the first day back in the saddle we have Brisbane sludge pop duo Tiny Spiders. Consisting of Cam Smith (Ghost Notes, Mount/St Augustus, runs Incremental Records and West End venue The Waiting Room) and Innez Tulloch (Feathers, Pastel Blaze, co-runs Nowhere Records and West End venue The Waiting Room), Tiny Spiders are simple, yet complex. Simple, because they play scuzzy as fuck guitar and rickety drums. Complex, because they are inherently pop. Result? Some of the rustiest, dirtiest pop sounds you are ever likely to hear. Which is something I inherently love.


Tiny Spiders have just released new single 'Shoot The Rainbow Rays Out' which is their tastiest slice yet, and have put it on record with three live cuts in what then becomes the Shoot The Rainbow Rays Out EP. The three tracks were recorded when they supported other local behemoths No Anchor during their 7-day squat at The Waiting Room, and the recordings are as close you will get to being at that performance without a revamped Delorean. Its great stuff. Get the EP here.

The terrible twosome are also launching said EP at the Alhambra Lounge in the Valley tonight for a tenner, and have roped in some stellar names for support, including Happy New Year (also spreading the love for her recent split with Nite Fields, that you can read about and hear in the previous post!!), Go Violets and Tangle.

Tiny Spiders - Shoot The Rainbow Rays Out

Brisbane Outfit Give Off Nihilistic Spirit

I posted a few months ago about an instrumental act from Australia, The Scrapes. We have seen some amazing acts come from their that really push the boundaries of sound (Dirty Three, Love of Diagrams, Because Of Ghosts), and it seems in my absence that this trend has continued. Another Brisbane band to stretch the sonic climes are Ghost Notes, a four piece intent on infusing jazz and folk compositions with post-rock melodrama. I don''t know much about them, other than they released an EP a while back at Incremental Records (which cane be found here), and are recording a debut LP - if the end result is anything like 'The Nihilist' though, consider me hooked.

Ghost Notes - The Nihilist