Briggs Breaks The Heaters

Last year Jackson Briggs travelled through Europe and played a handful of solo shows, including a couple Sonic Masala: London joints. They were ragged, rugged jams, at once broken, flayed, drunken and emancipating affairs. But it is when he gets back with his Heaters that the muscle knits together and the bruised ferocity reaches fever pitch. Listen to their self-titled EP, brought out earlier this year. While opener 'A Will' absolutely slays, especially the brutal heft lent by the band and a killer sax solo from Cayn Borthwick, it doesn't stop there. There is a bit of The Men when they channelled their inner Bruce Springsteen about 'Nothing', albeit played at dusk in a piss-streaked dirt road in the broken outback; 'Not The Man' is a buster, a brawling mess of masculinity on the rack, ruined, teeth chipped and nicotine smeared and still maniacally grinning; the mournful, maudlin 'Belgrave'; before crashing to a halting in the rollicking breakdown aptly called 'I'm Done'. The boys head into the studio with Max Ducker (Mutton) to record their first album this weekend - looking forward to the rugged shit is cooked up. In the meantime, catch the EP here.

AA Roman Typo

Another of the acts we have on Tuesday's Sonic Masala showcase, Roman Typo is a new London band that have me champing at the bit. It's clear the trio have that post-punk angularity etched into their DNA, but rather than the Joy Division route, or even the Wire route, we have a cross-Atlantic reference that we don't hear too much these days - that of seminal band Fugazi. Sure, the vocals share a tonal affinity with Mackaye and Picciotto, but there is a languid fluidity to the grooves that are laid down before things blast through the breakers. The inflections, the dragged notes, the melodies that feel ominous - it is all there, fermenting.

Many Ways In To Europe For Fraudband...One Way Out

On Tuesday is the next Sonic Masala showcase at Power Lunches. Joining us all the way from Melbourne is powerful, sinuous instrumental duo Fraudband, on their European tour launching their album Many Ways In...One Way Out. It's a great record too - there are moments of sparseness, and the entire album floats in its own fermented space, even when things get loose-limbed and frenetic. It reminds me of Dirty Three, without Warren Ellis but with his ghost infiltrating the elegant mass left behind, filtered through by crossroad blues, cathartic caterwauls and genuflecting nuance. It's a nebulous work that feeds off impulse and intuition, knowing when to slip into and out of a rhythm, when to stay clean and run roughshod over a build-up, when to hold back and when to purge. It's a classy yet rambunctious affair, and I cannot wait to see it heat up that small mirrored room next week. Buy Many Ways In...One Way Out through Kasumuen Records here.

Holding On To The Briggs

Jackson Briggs used to tear up the guitar in Brisbane's unique Outback Gothics Nikko. He is now out on his own, chucking his middle name in there and has an equally ramshackle band behind him as Jackson Reid Briggs & the Heaters, and is preparing to release 7" Holding On. It's loose, rambunctious, rough around the edges rock and roll, tired yet desperate to dispel the demons, or drown in amber trying. It's the kind of singalong that has a whiff of hope come from the cracked lips of a broken man that refuses to lie down. Holding On is coming out through Kasumuen Records (home to SM faves Fraudband) - get it here. Jackson is a bit of a restless shaggy soul, traipsing all over Australia and Japan in the past, and he is coming to Europe in July. He will be playing the next Sonic Masala showcase here in London alongside Hygiene, Primetime and Tense Men. Splash some amber sods and let him know that he's holding on - he will get there.