Chroming The Young

I am a massive fan of Austin reprobates The Young’s Voyagers Of Legend LP, which tore my face off in 2010 (it was one of our top albums of that year). That album was surprisingly on Mexican Summer - not a label that keeps tabs on this kind of viscerality - and was also their last one on there. Then my knowledge of their existence pretty much stopped right there. The quartet apparently brought out a follow-up album called Dub Egg, which I somehow missed. I'm scurrying around looking for it now...

But onward and upward. The Texans have a new album on Matador Records, and it's a balltearer. Chrome Cactus is sharper; harsher; leaner; sinister. There is a dropped-down drive that underscores this songs, which are then superseded by fuzzed out guitar solos a la Fu Manchu’s Scott Hill albeit with some deliberate restraint, and other abrasive effects like the squalling feedback stab on ‘Metal Flake’ or the the soaring synth that accompanies the “ballad” ‘Apache Throat’. The excellently-named Hans Zimmerman takes front and centre with his vocals this time around, and it lends an interesting counterpoint that is often overlooked in 21st century rock production – his voice is uninhibited by pedals, effects and nonsense distortion and delay, and as such stands somewhere between the monotone snarl of Girls Against Boys’ Eli Janney and the growl of Young Widows’ Evan Patterson. It helps the the sound has been tweaked by Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses/The Fucking Champs) in the blasted surrounds of the Sierra Nevada – definitely perfect environs for what transpires here - but you get a sense that Chrome Cactus may have landed at his feet fully formed. ‘Chrome Jamb’ has a narcoleptic undertone to its dry crawl, bent strings belying a Morricone hangover before bringing the doom; ‘Moondog First Quarter’ maintains the vitriol that has been missing from Black Mountain for some time. I still miss the darkness sewn into the Pixies-lite that littered their debut, but when the raucous drown-out that is the aptly-titled ‘Slow Death’ kicks in, closely followed by the feedback squall of closer ‘Blow The Scum Away’, the new Young is all that matters.

You can grab Chrome Cactus here. The Young play in NY tonight alongside SM faves Degreaser - get along.

Ghostly Disconnected

The first two albums from Indiana static-heavy post-punk nihilists TV Ghost Cold Fish and Mass Dream are ground out evil slugs of things, insidious dream worms that shudder and shake (I gave them both a wrap back in 2011). They are prepping a third release, Disconnect, for tomorrow. The first two tracks to be released for it, 'Elevator' and 'Siren', are much slicker, more approachable - its gloss somehow evokes early Interpol if they were drugged out and listened to Girls Against Boys slowed down 200%. It's certainly a marked shift in pace - but not of purpose, because the black ooze sticks to the arteries of this beast. I'm not sure how I feel about this so far, but I'm interested to hear the rest of this. So far I kind of feel disappointed, yet at the same time I can't stop listening. I'm plugged into the machine.

Disconnect can be bought through In The Red tomorrow from here.

Video Vacuum - Crime & the City Solution, Sherpa, Hotel Mexico, Circular Keys

 

A couple weekends ago I was at ATP Melbourne. What a blast! But I also missed some of the greatest film clips on Rage courtesy of iconic reviewers Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, highlighting the foundations that a lot of today’s great innovative filmmakers cut their teeth on. It’s this kind of retrospective that really makes you appreciate the music video platform. That, and rewatching The Woken Trees’ ‘Yells’ clip yesterday. So today, here are four more good little music videos to lose yourself in (and lose some valuable work minutes while you’re at it…)

I thought we’d start with one of the bands I saw whilst missing the said Rage special. After a twenty year hiatus, Berlin-based Australian (maybe?) art band Crime & the City Solution are back, led by Simon Bonney and featuring the likes of Dirty Three’s Jim White on drums. They were underrated to the point of forgotten in the wake of the rise of the likes of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (now ex-Bad Seed actually convinced Bonney to move to England at the genesis point of Crime…, whilst Rowland S Howard played guitar with them, and they even play in Wim Wenders’ excellent Wings of Desire in this guise), even though they bore many similarities. Now they are back (having relocated to Detroit for the most part) and playing fairly solid sets (it wasn’t always my cup of tea, but there were some old crackers and some new growers, and White is always a delight to watch, one of the most underrated drummers in rock history), they are releasing a new record in American Twilight (the title track, when played at ATP, reminded me of a less aggressive Girls Against Boys, which was a huge surprise…). ‘Goddess’ is the first single off it, and although buoyed by fairly jubilant lyrics (Love the light of which you give / A human touch eternal gift / Against the dark a gentle face / I celebrate your sensual grace /Oh Goddess), it remains a roiling psych-inflected tune, and the video accentuates this. Whilst I'm not entirely sold on the new stuff, it at least has shone a light on a band that were incredibly undervalued when they were at their peak – well worth peering into the back catalogue.

   

Now here is an interesting thing. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of Sherpa, a psych pop band from Auckland, New Zealand. They appear to be following in the footsteps of like minded (and bizarrely NZ-led) acts Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Opossum, yet I’ve only heard this one track. I wouldn’t have paid it much mind to be honest – but this bonkers film clip, done on the cheap, sold me and then some. This is like a 90s bad paisley psych band, taking barbs that went stale in the 90s, which somehow coalesces into that netherground of good trip/bad trip unease. A lot of fun – let this Sherpa lead you where it may…

   

Two bands close to home – now for one that is distinctly Australian. Circular Keys is a duo that delve into dreamy, ethereal synth soundscapes, and their video for ‘Possessed’ is just as otherworldly – evoking the fear of isolation in nighttime lockdowns (in this case, a storage facility), an overtly-frilled-and-laced hotel and a ghostly beauty navigating it all. True comedown.

   

Finally we have Hotel Mexico, who are from where? Kyoto Japan, of course! This new track from the six-piece is everything that the hipster masses love – the 80s synths with slight wear and tear, distorted reverbed vocals with female backing vocals humming just under the mix, and a film clip that is obtuse and looks shot on VHS, Harmony Korine-lite. I should despise this on principle. But this track ‘AI In Dreams’ is a lot of fun – not least because the band, dressed up in faux zombie chic, look like they are having such a good time. The bands that enjoy making music – regardless if it’s in a genre that irks me – tend to imbue their sounds with the kind of joviality that pushes them to the top.

  

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Big Branch Hangs Over God's Town

Small label Texas Is Funny have released In Love, a 7" split between The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (whose two tracks here are pretty much slay everything) and these guys, God Townes, and I have been impressed since my first listen around a month ago. The quartet (now with new drummer Josh Huskin on the skins) eschew their noise-punk origins (coming out of the ashes of Sohns) for a darker, dynamic dirge, akin to Southern brethren Young Widows with a dash of Girls Against Boys. These two tracks are a great calling card for what could very well be an interesting couple of years for both bands.


Buy the 7" split here. It is well worth the vinyl. Or you can grab the digital album here.

God Townes - Big Branch
God Townes - W.H.A.N.S