An Excessive Escape From Brisbane

Matt Kennedy has stepped away from the downer pop dirges for a brief time to slave over a cheap keyboard in his bedroom for the better half of last year, come out digitised as Excess. His self-titled and Sciatic Dance Party EPs were impressive, but now he has a proper release on his hands - Escape From Brisbane, out on Virtual Cool. Kennedy's voice is decidedly absent here, in its place a plethora of Brisbane musicians step up to the mike. Members of Blank Realm, Multiple Man, Gravel Samwidge, Clag, Primitive Motion, Wonderfuls, Cured Pink - the list goes on. The concept is to create warped narratives of a dystopian Brisbane, a retro-futurist time capsule of a world not that far removed from our own. Kennedy has made his appreciation for John Carpenter scores known in the past, and this is a clear touchstone with Excess (the title Escape From Brisbane alone aping the Snake Plissken classic), but these one-off collaborations provide for compelling ingenuity on their own. Personal favourites include the loquacious yet edgily paranoid ramblings of Gravel Samwidge's Mark Spinks on 'They Have Too Much To Lose' (also showcasing his deft turns of phrase), the forlorn romance of the cyberpunk trudge of the Campion bros' 'Home', and the typically dour Bobby Bot (Wonderfuls) brings us a wistful future in 'Tunnel Vision'. As most concept albums are wont to do, some tracks don't necessarily go anywhere, but again that is sometimes the greatest fear of a dystopian future - the futility and serrated harshness of inescapable banality.

Scrabbled Sewers Are Virtually Cool

Virtual Cool is a new label out of Brisbane that, whilst staying predominantly cassette based, should really reach a lot of people. Why? Because they are intent on putting out records that would otherwise languish in the tinnitus and vagrant memories of hazy booze and drug fuelled nights, a jigsaw puzzle of a sound never to be fully remembered or repeated. The first two releases are cases in point.

An unheralded amalgam of some of Brisbane's best fringe dwellers (members of Dag, Clag, Gravel Samwidge, Extrafoxx and X Wave litter their numbers, among others), Scrabbled's Welcome To Pig City is revving on narcoleptic fumes of disdain at the state of affairs in the Sunshine State and desperation. Everything is slanted and disenchanted - a dissertation to punk politicism in Can-Do Campbell Newman's backwards-leaning regime. Queensland has always had a hard run of it when it comes to forward-leaning politics, hence why the world recognises Brisbane for its punk music of the late 70s and early 80s than any other genre and era. But Scrabbled aren't interested in tapping into old vibes or digging at old scabs - no, these wounds are fresh. The music itself is loose, warped, awkward, defiantly out of step. This isn't a detriment though - Scrabbled have a voice and energy all their own; a purging of pent-up exasperation spilling into abject aggression. You need bands like this - you really do. Get angry and have some fun.

The other release is something altogether different - diseased and snarling, more malevolent, and much less serious. Sewers and Rat King split the shit right down the middle on Leather. The Brisbane contingent stomp the fuck out of any nuance anyone thought they might have had on new cut 'Chinese Tommy', a short shotgun blast to the gut. Their dirge-drivel take on Grong Grong's 'Japanese Train Driver' sounds like the best Sewers song they never wrote - the irascible energy is finally unleashed in a more rampant speed, and the whole thing falls apart in a rust-hollowed heap. Brilliant. Newcastle's Rat King don't offer the yin to Sewer's yang though - 'Sick Pills' and 'Browood' somehow slow things down with embalmer treacle yet up the ante with their seething vitriol. The feedback on the former track is still ear-splitting even in recording, a harsh reminder that the imperfections are deliberated, serrated and antagonistic; whilst 'Browood' is a pitch-dark march into the nether regions of listlessness leading to evil transgressions. Hanging out with these clowns will get you killed - if they don't kill you first.




You can get both of these here. There is more to come from Virtual Cool, including a release from Bent, so you will be hearing more from me too.

Eat A Gravel Samwidge Comes With Medicinal Requirements

What to say about Gravel Samwidge's new album Medicinal Requirements that doesn't require battery acid and a bilge pump? This shit is thick, diseased, and the best thing they have possibly ever done. They have been active of late, releasing smaller bits and pieces that seemed to exemplify the Gravel Samwidge of today - oh how wrong we were. This is all laid on the table from the first track 'Nervepowder', a song that has been doing the rounds for a while but is irrevocably turned into a behemoth here. Mark Spinks is in eye-rolled-in-back-of-the-head raging brilliance, and the guitars grind together (Spinks joined here by Kitchens Floor's Matt Kennedy) like a medieval torture implement, begging for dismemberment.


The buzzsaw attack continues into 'Rock God', where Spinks' vocal delivery delves back into his more recognisable deadpan rant, but the instrumentation here is what marks these tracks a cut above what has come before - Ashley Jenkins' bass cuts a swathe through the angular anger, a wrecking ball of monotone monstrosity. Alex Morrison lopes along, a pummelling metronome. 'Get Your Shit Together' and 'Carpool' march all over you with their Gestapo shitheel boots, and you love it, bloodied maw and all. 'Contact' is a tone-deaf precursor to closer 'Pronouncement', a warped swirling mess buoying forth Gerald Keaney's cracked poetics, before the speakers are blasted beyond all repair.

Such a virile and bilious shot in the arm - Medicinal Requirements is out now through Swashbuckling Hobo Records (you can grab it here). To add to the rough and tumble, Gravel Samwidge are supporting rock gods Mudhoney and obvious touchstones Feedtime in Brisbane at The Zoo Saturday 18th January! And here is a pic of the album in the new bin in the world's best radio station, WMFU! Thanks Ron!

Serving Up Home Brand Gravel Samwidge

Pic by Lorraine Parkin

Is it wrong that we revel in others' misfortune? Is it terrible that Australia's Funniest Home Video (on mute - an incredibly important factor) is great, especially when dads get kicked in the nuts and babies stack it? Is it deplorable that being in the gutter and kicked for our efforts is invariably the best creative thing that can happen to us? Gravel Samwidge would argue that everything is OK, even when it's not. The minutiae of grungy suburban life, one axe-handle to the kidneys at a time. Mark Spinks continues to find grim delight in the sweaty desperation of the have-nots - the destitute, the abandoned, the hopeless. And when tracks are this good, the smallest part of us is grateful for the bad things in the world. Without the gnashing of teeth, there is no Gravel Samwidge.

Gravel Samwidge has been sifting through the detritus of life for a couple decades, but the past few years in particular has seen a flurry of activity. The current upshot of this are two new releases - Trough, a mixture of demo recordings and fleshed out masters (well, as fleshed out as these guys get) out through garage denizens Long Gone Records (in cassette form - get it here), and Home Brand on Neumusak (get it in digital form here - features Matt Kennedy of Kitchen's Floor and Clag's Bek Moore on a few tracks). Keep the grime flowing...

VIDEO VACUUM - Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Morning Harvey, Bleached, Gravel Samwidge

Wow, so we are having possibly the sunniest day in Brisbane since - well, I can't remember. I've mentioned before that the rain hasn't bothered me, that I've enjoyed it in fact, but maybe I'm just lying to myself. Before I go outside with my shirt off, I thought Id give you chumps who are stuck indoors something worthwhile to look at. OOO LOOK AT THE MOVING PICTURES...

I've mentioned already that Portland-via-Auckland psych dreamers Unknown Mortal Orchestra's sophomore LP II hasn't grabbed me as much as their eponymous debut. Nevertheless, the more I hear 'Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)' I think that this is the best song they may have crafted, a real sleeper gem that floats along, and takes your grinning ass with it. Now there is this amazing puppeteer-driven video for it, which features masturbation, humiliation, USB STICK graffiti, horse laughter...and more masturbation, with a laugh out loud ending. Think stop-motion Wes Anderson by way of Todd Solondz - dark yet breezy brilliance.

The first of two music vids from my fair city of Brisbane comes from mood ramblers Morning Harvey. 'Sundown' is a typically haunting guitar driven track, driven by young adult malaise and hedonism, further augmented by the equally evocative film that oozes sensual desperation and vice. It's a classy effort all round, and has me mightily excited for their upcoming debut record, due out sometime this year.

LA sisters Bleached have shown a lot of promise, releasing some great 7" (especially Carter on Art Fag) and next month will finally be launching their debut record Ride Your Heart through Dead Oceans. Attractive yet highly stylised girls playing rock - it could be bland and unadventurous yet successful due to hipsterfied saturation (think Dum Dum Girls), but sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin manage to lend their pastiche on late 70s punk the right mixture of sweet vocals and bitter issues and pills to swallow, that attitude and ambition often equals their actual output. In short, Bleached often hit the spot with a raw rock sound that doesn't sound half-assed - unblemished by outside influences. 'Next Stop' perfectly captures this attitude, and bodes well for the LP.

Can you believe Gravel Samwidge are still going, let alone this good? This is the same band that formed in 1989 and played opposite the likes of Lubricated Goat, King Snake Roost and pre-Cruel Sea Tex Perkins, after all. With a forthcoming cassette release imminent through Long Gone Records, the now Brisbane-based slimy guitar riff band have put together a black and white vid for the track 'Ferris Wheel' starring ringleader Mark Spinks and cameoing the inimitable Gerald Keaney (from Gerald Keaney & the Gerald Keaney's) as a tortured unloved gimpish guitar pedal.

 NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!!

Sonic Masala End Of Financial Party Profiles #4 & #5 - Motherfucking Morgan Freeman & DJ Micronations

So this is tomorrow. One more sleep. Or you can go no sleep. I won't endorse it, because your body is gonna get pummelled by the likes of mnttaB, Gravel Samwidge and Bottlecock. But also these cretins, Motherfucking Morgan Freeman. Starting out as We Are Librarians and delving in more bedroom pop, sample heavy meandering ambience, this duo have beefed up their intent and decided to play actual shows for once. Their last show was also a Sonic Masala slamdunk, and they were beautifully shambolic, some noisy pop in all the right places. Expect more of the same tomorrow night. It could be one of the last chances you will get to see this band as is, and it would be a shame to put such a killer moniker to bed just yet without some fanfare. I don't have any sonics to lay out for you - just trust me that they are good.

And providing the mortar that will bind the whole night together is DJ Micronations, who will be leaving his beautiful Anonymeye persona at home and bringing the bling, showering you all with tunes of dubious monetary cred. It's at the Waiting Room from 8pm, just bring a crisp $10 bill and whatever liquor is your poison. See you there!

Sonic Masala End Of Financial Year Party Profile #3 - Bottlecock

Two more sleeps until the greatest 2012 end of financial year party ever, and Bottlecock are raring to rip into it. The local trio are steeped in grunge's afterbirth, sounding like early Magic Dirt yet with even more heroin. They have an elongated song that lovers of punchy grunge music hate, but I love. They are a sight to behold. They are some of the loveliest people Ive ever met, although they look like (and probably will) punch you in the face because you are wearing a Nirvana T-shirt. They just played in Melbourne last weekend with Penguins, another amazing noisy racket of a bunch, but also mnttaB - so they are primed for destruction. Above all else, they will melt your face off and give it to you in a Pablo Picasso Paster of Paris mould. That's worth $10 in itself.



Check out the deets to the Sonic Masala part-A here. Here is a funny write up about mnttaB from Nite Fields/Lost Race Records' Danny Venzin for website The Thousands. If that doesn't get you hot and bothered - then we just ain't compatible.

Sonic Masala End Of Financial Year Party Profile #2 - Gravel Samwidge

Marching out the bands from this Saturday's Sonic Masala show, and next up on the catwalk made out of crumbling Deutschmarks we have Gravel Samwidge. Led by the affably irascible Mark Spinks, the band have been around since 1989 when they formed in Sydney and shook the shitcan with the likes of Lubricated Goat, Munroe's Fur, King Snake Roost, and Tex Perkin's Butcher Shop before relocating to Melbourne in 1990, where there dirty grind garnered palying time with the brilliant Venom P Stinger. In 1995 they won a Triple J Unearthed competition, which helped them to actually put some shit out, but not make money - if they had it they would burn it just to keep warm. But seeing as they didnt have money for warmth, they relocated to Brisbane in 2001. In 2009 they came out of a six year orgiastic hiatus to shoot everyone in the ear with their debut LP Nonchalance (through Turkeyneck Records). And whilst these outsider dirgemongers may have put out a "retrospective" in the form of The Old Tapes last year, they are launching new material in 2012 in just another public display of infernal domination. For the best trick the 'Samwidge ever pulled was making people believe they didn't exist...

Combined with mnttab founder dik's connections when playing with Bastard Kestrel (they toured with Killdozer. KILLDOZER!!!), we have a wealth of experience on our hands to help bring about a monetary Armageddon. Get keen - it is this Saturday, with Bottlecock, Motherfucking Morgan Freeman and DJ Micronations all offering their wares! Try out this demo recording to indicate where they are kinda at now...

Sonic Masala End Of Financial Year Party Profile #1 - mnttaB

Only four sleeps until the next Sonic Masala party - and it's gonna be a end of financial year hoedown like none have seem before! With irascible rabblerousers Gravel Samwidge, uber laconic pit dwellers Bottlecock and lichen-growing hybrid enthusiasts Motherfucking Morgan Freeman unleashing all kinds of fiscal knowledge from their instruments, and DJ Micronations plying the Dow Jones commentary with the requisite monetary musical mixes, it's going to be hard to maintain control of bodily movement, function and spending.

But it gets better/worse, as taking up top billing is none other than Melbourne's master of musical mayhem mnttaB (pronounced Mount Tab). Otherwise known as Dik (Bastard Kestrel/S:Bahn), mnttaB focuses solely on brewing a glorious mess of tortured rhythms, deconstructed synth-punk and lo-fi yelling. It has evolved/devolved since the Shiny Stones and Miracles EP I spoke about in 2010 here, which is evident on new mini-release Rocky 4, 2 & 3. Head over to his Bandcamp to collect some slices of digital abrasion and buffoonery. I can't promise you will like it - which means you probably will.

mnttaB - Rocky 4, 2 and 3
mnttaB - Hollywood Nights