Little Dreamers - Release The Kraken

It's the beginning of Spring, and it's getting ridiculous. I am writing more and more articles for various publications on top of putting on gigs, doing live reviews and my "day job" - and Sonic Masala is suffering a little as a consequence. My listening pile is overflowing - there is stuff here from May! So it's time for a bit of a cull. But before I do that, here are a bunch of tracks and releases from bands I've "discovered" over the past two and a half years that I think really deserve attention.


King Dude blew me away with his Gothic country-folk dirge on My Beloved Guest and Tonight's Special Death (out through the great Bathetic label). Since then the Seattle native has kept the ball rolling with another great LP entitled Love and a 7" release. He is showing no signs of slowing down either, with the imminent release of his next LP Burning Daylight on Dias in October. Really looking forward to this one, he is an underground cult figure of his own invention, and Im waiting for the exact moment when the penny drops and everyone realises how much of a genius he is.

King Dude - Jesus In The Courtyard


Sheffield nutbars Best Friends had a rad EP earlier this year called Throwing Up, and they have kept vomiting breakneck hits since. They put out a track with a grafittied (I think...) photo of Edward Furlong called 'If you think too much your brain will fall out', a single ('Surf Bitches') is coming out under the Too Pure Singles Club (an intiative that's seeing Aussie brats Step-Panther put out a 7" on too), and have a cassette split with Grazes in tow. You can listen to all and sundry below. A great little band, I think you'd agree. They are touring around the UK as we speak, popping into London's Old Blue Last this Friday. GET THERE!





Best Friends - If You Think Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out


Brooklyn/San Fran collective Bad Bibles had a deliciously dark EP out in January, and have returned armed with 'Nearsighted'. Continuing with the tarot card imagery and post-punk skewered roiling and toiling, these guys sound like they are only just now finding their feet. This track is a big leap forward.

Bad Bibles - Nearsighted


Honey were throwing their shoegaze sounds around last year, and I quite liked it. Emphasis on the were, because they have just changed their name to The Early Morning Satellites. But they released an EP Fantasist before the changeover, and it's a doozie. Sonorous shoegaze, you had me at noisy and sexy as all hell.

Honey - Fantasist
Honey - Cape Canaveral


Mrs Magician brought out the There Is No God 7" (the titular track is SOOOOOO awesome!), which I really enjoyed - but their debut record and I didn't know about it??? The shame! Furthermore its out on the excellent Swami Records. Strange Heaven sees the San Diego band in fantastic form, so much better in less than 12 months, and the album has had to be repressed so people must be lapping it up, which is excellent news. Listen to it below, then pick it up here.

Mrs Magician - There Is No God




Minneapolis outfit Phantom Vibration had a great warbled pop EP in Kids back in 2011, followed it up with the great Growing Up and are now here with third extended player Aged. Ah, continuity, hey? You need to get it all and play it in chronological order. Love the last track in particular. Grab all three here.

Phantom Vibration - River Rock


Yeesh really blew me away with their Little Stabs At Happiness cassette, and here is the first taste of new material, verbose silly title and all. It's big emotive rawk with the requisite twist in the tail. I can't wait to hear what comes next.

Yeesh - Because Johnny Depp Always Wanted To Be A Rockstar, And Because I Always Wanted To Be Johnny Depp


I hammered on about the eclectic, electric brutality of LA's Wreck & Reference, and a little while back they upped the ante with No Youth. At times obtuse, at others bludgeoning, and with some spaciousness in between, the ten tracks on offer really are wrestling with demons the likes you nor I have ever witnessed, nor would want to. I'm not sure this is a record I could put on all the time, but when it clicks - prepare yourself for a industrial flaying.

Wreck & Reference - Nausea
Wreck & Reference - The Solstitial


Dogson, LA enigma Plant Magic Man's collection of recordings from 2008-2010, was an interesting exercise in tape-warped hypnagogic malaise. A plethora of releases later, and nothing much has changed on new EP Groo. Whoever this is, they keep as low a profile as possible, which adds to the mystique but also frustration. I want more damn you! Have at all of Plant Magic Man's releases here.

Plant Magic Man - I'm At War


Ann Arbor duo Dreampeter haven't had much new on the move (other than the Boneglow/Delusions split, which is basically Dreampeter in their solo guises) since they released 'Mason Jar' last year, but there is this deliciously warped track 'Bluebeard'. Makes me remember why I was enamoured with these dudes in the first place - hell, it's dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut! Good stuff indeed.

Dreampeter - Bluebeard


Now for some haunting folk from the UK, jah? The Skeleton Dead are a duo who I really connected with, especially after my hasty departure from the UK. At the end of my stay I was staying at my girlfriend's house, and her housemate was in love with cooking, hash and Mark Kozalek. Three great things to be in love with. I got to see Kozalek earlier this year, which was lovely, but back to the story. The Skeleton Dead's self titled LP came into my inbox at this time and slipped seamlessly into the fold. Recently they released Two Days In February, two tracks written and recorded in the winter just fled (well it was the beginning of the year for these guys), and hearing these tracks reminds me of those times. Cold, warm inside, drinking ale and smoking cigarettes in the snow, roast chicken and puppy dogs at the Coach & Horses, Bloody Mary's and cracked ice. Strange, eclectic memories, but they warm the cockles.

The Skeleton Dead - True To Our Name
The Skeleton Dead - Life Goes On


After writing about Glenn Branca I received an email from a man from the Republic of Macedonia. His self-recorded pieces were guitar explorations that examined sinuous form and abrasive noise under the moniker fydhws were exciting. Now as Sferi, he has released a concept sound collage based on the 8 planets of the solar system, and it is - sorry - otherworldly. Ranging from space ambient/rock to psychedelia and drone music, Sound Of The Spheres is actually very impressive - see Sferi's explanation of it all here - and is an album you should definitely delve into, preferably with expensive headphones on...

Sferi - Merkur


Back to Brooklyn to see what Life Size Maps are up to. The trio have just launched Excavate, a five track EP that also marks a new lineup for the poppy noiseniks. They play around with Gary Numan-esque structure and 8-bit shenanigans, whilst still holding precariously onto the shoegaze shtick they first burst out with. Its a growing bliss bomb of a release, and promises much more on the horizon.




Now this one is only a stop-gap, as Im sure Ill be mentioning more about this release as it comes to hand. Yet Cambridge, Massachusetts trio Night Fruit, who brought the graceful Dark Horse 7" last year, have a new release that is preceding an album, it's called 'Human Touch', and it's bloody great. The music speaks for itself. Stay tuned!!

Night Fruit - Human Touch


Here is another artist you will hear more of soon. Guilty Ghosts AKA Tristan O'Donnell brought a great release in his self-titled debut in 2010, excellently followed up by last year's VEILS, but if 'All Flesh Is Grass' is anything to go by, his next EP Tresspasser will easily surpass them. I love this track, and Im pretty sure you will too. You can pre-order the EP here.

Guilty Ghosts - All Flesh Is Grass


And finally we have Thor AKA Just Another Snake Cult from Iceland, whose freak pop tapestries often defy expectation and categorisation. He has just finished a new EP of minimal electronic / dream pop material called Birds Carried your Song Through The Night. It actually took me a bit to warm to, but when these tracks sink in, its impressive. You can grab the release in cassette form here. Worth every penny, especially when the title track kicks in.

Just Another Snake Cult - Birds Carried Your Song Through The Night

Phew! Fly my pretties, fly! Well, they grow up so fast don't they?

Hits From The Box #40 - An Offer I Couldn't Refuse

I became a godfather on the weekend. Now, Ive always thought I was the centre of the universe, yet to be given an outright label to influence someone else's is pretty heavy. Despite my affinity with the Dark Side, though, I have decided to be a shining light in this child's life, especially when it comes to music. I will be Ruby's musical guardian, protecting her from the Auto-Tuners and Gleeks of the world, and turning her onto the various frequencies of distorted noise and feedback.

Plus, I look really good in frilly lace.

That said, although being called a godfather is pretty ace due to its connotations thanks to Puzo and Coppola, it is pretty redundant. My godparents are my aunt and uncle, one from either side of the family. My aunt bought me copies of The Babysitter Club when I was fourteen. My uncle is MIA after shacking up with his ex-wife. So I guess nothing really has changed, and this entire diatribe is worthless. Maybe I should take back the godfather mantle. Swan in wearing a trenchcoat and hat, flick silver coins to waiting paupers' outstretched palms, offering counsel, doling out justice. I'm certainly not subjecting my goddaughter to crap novels and albums, that's for sure. Bootleg ones, maybe, but not crap ones.


Maybe I should raise up Ruby's expectations on Hits From The Box - burgeoning talent just finding their sonic feet. Just like The Fighting League, Aussie label Dream Damage's latest signing. Hailing from Canberra (who since toning down their fireworks and porn allocations, has gotten a hell of a lot more boring in recent times), The Fighting League are taking tropical pop rock and punching it in the kidneys, due in no small part to their visceral live performances led by livewire frontman Dominic Death. Produced by Saints maestro Bruce Calloway, Tropical Paradise promises to be something snottily special, and will be on our doorstep next week.

The Fighting League - Guys You Want To Be


A change of pace here with Mirador, the music project of twenty-something Philadelphia resident Kyle Robinson. Combining the limitless instrumental palate of electronic music with live guitar, synth, effects pedals and percussion, Mirador build intricate worlds of sound for the listener to explore. Verdant is the EP, and it's bustling with free-range sound collages that jostle for attention in a sanguine yet elusive manner, a juxtaposition that sounds off-kilter until you imagine the times when Animal Collective try to rein in the mania. The calm is offset with the roiling electricity that slithers underneath. It's one that I haven't necessarily struggled with, but struggled to finger why I like it so much. The mystery, therein lies the solution... you can grab digital or physical copies here.

Mirador - Dance Of The Lantern People


Britt Teusink likes to make noise pop under the moniker deadCAT, a project that is fleshed out by whoever he can get involved on a semi-regular basis. The debut EP R.I.P. contains songs named after Teusink's past feline friends. Now that his moniker makes sense, and the title of the EP, but you just get a sense that he is doing it himself - killing the cats, I mean - to get his twisted muse on... No, this is not inherent in the tracks, which are warped in a sunny sense (although if you intend to call your cat Rosie O'Donnell, it inevitably has a horrific demise lined up...)

deadCat - Rosie O'Donnell


Glasgow based act Honey threw a nice curveball at me in the form of self-released debut EP Taste It And See (it's streaming below - it's also a free download from their Bandcamp!). The follow-up single 'Nowhere Floating' is a fine slice of spectral shoegaze pop,

Honey - Nowhere Floating



Heading to the other end of the UK, Bristol kids Mayans were a fan of our coverage on the band Spectres (and if you haven't heard their EP yet, rectify that shit immediately!) As for Mayans themselves, as their 'Fitzpatrick' track attests, they are all about melding droning rhythms with eruptions of noise, all with a perfect kernel of pop nestled within. This is early days for Mayans, yet 'Fitzpatrick' promises much more.

Mayans - Fitzpatrick


Finally we have Benjamin Shaw, who was "born to soiled genes in ‘80s Blackpool and loathed in soiled scenes of 2011’s London." Gritty indie self-loathing notwithstanding, his debut LP There's Always Hope, There's Always Cabernet - despite having a very true and prescient title - is one hell of a longplayer from a troubadour who aims for the side streets rather than the sunny boulevards of the singer-songwriter realms. There are a few singer-songwriters in Brisbane who are delving into this twisted narrative bent, but Shaw has rightly found himself making a few ripples at home. Revelling in lo-fi dissonance, fuzzy production, abstract and self-depreciative lyrical approach. His single 'Somewhere Over The M6' drops some of the rambling (mis)demeanour for a more aural assault, a perfect counterpoint to the ambiguous lyricism on display. Equally at home with making wicked wordplays as he is percolating noise bubbles, Shaw may be someone that will rock the status quo of the mainstream crowds - or at the very least, eat away at the foundations.



Happy Tuesday!