The Bar Is Already Low - So Love Your Pissed Jeans

It's that time of night where there is nothing for it but to piss your jeans. But Pissed Jeans have been doing it for you for years now, and are about to do it again in the form of fifth record Why Love Now (with cover art of frontman Matt Korvette going full Ricky Martin). Why indeed? These irascible, irrepressible reprobates are one of THE best live bands on the planet - they dont give a fuck, but they do so in a pitch tar sardonic way, making you laugh at your shortcomings, your foibles, your hangups, knowing their serrated magnifying glass is abrasively incisive. They are just funny bastards too (see the photo above - it's a Russian doll of flipped birds, redundant meaning within redundant meaning - priceless). And the first taste off it? Appropriately titled 'The Bar Is Low', it is three minutes of throwback rock - at first it feels wrong - where are the more eviscerating pace and grind? It comes - of course it does! - with Korvette growling in the middle of the maelstrom, eyes rolling, disdain sweating from every pore. Is it taking the piss? Maybe. Probably. I don't know. It's about how every man on the face of the earth is a shithead - so yeah, this is the real deal. All I do know is, this is already a frontrunner for album of 2017 - yep, interest piqued that much. Preorder Why Love Now through Sub Pop here.

Believe in the Leaper

Toronto duo Beliefs have crafted a buoyant dream pop winner in their LP Leaper. Starting with the typical yet nonetheless sunnily ebullient 'Tidal Wave', the band take some nicely carved tangentials - '1992' comes out like the calendar-similar Smashing Pumpkins track covered by mid-era Blonde Redhead; the soft-lens narcoleptic grind of 'Drown' ekes out a Dinosaur Jr vibe, albeit one in the Kurt Vile end of the noise pop pool; and the title track fully embraces the duo's penchant love for Sonic Youth angularity and spoken obliqueness. It is clear that Leaper revels in the 90s afterglow - its a steady stream of a dream. Pre-order Leaper through cool little label Hand Drawn Dracula (who also put out stuff from the likes of Fresh Snow and Vallens) here.

Growing Up Wrong In Native America

A New Orleans trio called Native America. I can't work out if that is a contentious moniker or not. What I CAN work out is their laconic guitar pop that these guys churn out. There are remnants of Real Estate, Kurt Vile and The Shins in the tunes that colour new LP Grown Up Wrong (out next month on Inflated Records, also home to Speedy Ortiz and Ducktails). It has that distant percolated warble that evokes a narcolept version of '60s paisley rock, faint swathes of surf rock malaise, and the dark riptide of rock breakouts that often appear without warning and sweep you away. Many of these tracks don't reach three minutes either, which makes these movements deceptive yet imminently addictive.

You can pre-order Grown Up Wrong here.

Nothing Boring About Ice-Cream Dreams

Let's start off the week with a laconic bunch of ice-cream dreams. Melbourne's Bored Nothing has taken to a lysergic sugar-rush take on the slow burn narcoleptic guitar pop that Kurt Vile has been making his own of late - except without the stoned extended wigouts. Fergus Miller doesn't exude cool as much as excrete dreams - a drifting melange of half-remembered fantasies, eyelids at half-mast, always on the border of waking life and the subconscious.

Bored Nothing's Some Songs comes out in October on Spunk.

A Fortnight Of Silence...Then Axxa/Abraxas

The Roku Music roadshow has started – the album Collider is out, Sonic Masala Records is officially out of the gates, and the band have played their first brace of regional shows. It has been a whirlwind fortnight to be sure – but poor ol blog has been neglected in the meantime! My head is foggy thanks to a number of beers consumed in the Time Machine (one of Queensland’s best stores, hands down – get out to Nambour and check it out!) and some amazing Roku Music and Dreamtime-inspired noise, so I need a nice, smooth introduction to the week…and Atlanta’s Axxa/Abraxas is providing me with just that.

Out on Captured Tracks last week, this self-titled debut from Axxa/Abraxas (real name Ben Asbury) plays like Kurt Vile if he fronted Real Estate in the 60s and sang a good few octaves higher. There is a base element here, the paring back of all but the bare elements that makes up the DNA of psych pop – and whilst the flourishes like a guitar solo (which always shadows the background) exist, they aren’t given weight. There is a breathy weightlessness to these tracks that give Axxa/Abraxas a vintage quality, like stumbling over some dust-covered 8 track in the basement of the resident recluse, giving a sneak peak into what their life might have been like. ‘Painted Blue’ allows for a more open-ended psych flourish, but in the main the album remains at a sedate pace, an ebullient meander through sepia shadows. It almost makes working on a Monday bearable…

Axxa/Abraxas is out now.

Painting Up Gizmos For Gulcher

Two records that I received belatedly over the past month have come from the stable of Gulcher Records (Kurt Vile, Home Blitz, Screamin Mee-Mees).

The first is a veritable veteran for label - 70s Indiana miscreants The Gizmos. The Gizmos Go To Purdue 1979 is pretty self-explanatory, and is the only way to really experience the garage punk pariahs - yet there are plenty of live recordings of this band, why am I so in love with this cut? Because it's recorded from a performance at a house party - the insanity is already buzzing through my subconscious - but is also one of the best sounding efforts due to it being a 4-track machine as opposed to being converted from a tape deck. They had just opened for the Ramones! Plus they open up with 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' - who isn't going to get some festive cheer before downing their own weight in frothy beer? The entire performance is uncut, so we hear the PA fuck up, songs played out of tunes, new tracks aired that only a few gigs later were cut from the set list, never to be thought of again - these are the best parts of my favourite bootlegs - it's the full visceral experience short of actually being there. And sure, it would have slayed, but I missed it, so why bother? Because I wasn't even born yet, you donkey. So this is the best I can get - and it fuels parties of my own, so the cycle continues...

Then we have David Drucker. Don't know him? That's cool - he won't mind. He would rather you knew him as Painted Faces anyway. The guy has emulated the bedroom pastiche recording philosophies of the most peripheral of artists, molding it into his own style, and it makes for amusing, eclectic, infectious listening. Alone In My Head collects recordings across the last five years, and the influences Drucker lists speak for themselves - experimental composers and improvisers, second-rate pop stars, freaky outsiders, B horror movies and other films, art both "high" and "low," mind-altering substances, psychedelia, sound, boredom, isolation, junk food, conversations, environments, dreams, revolutions, time travel, low-level philosophy, memories, insanity, humour, science fiction, nature, surrealism, literature, observations, things, people in general, and smoking lots of pot. Above all else, though, Painted Faces is a wonky pop behemoth that will dig its hooks in relentlessly, even if you can't work out why.

You can buy these releases here and here.

Gettin' Me Some Free Time

Our current predilection with jangly slacker rock that is slowed to an amble, tin in one hand and Centrelink rejection letter in the other, has been striking a chord globally - the success of the likes of Twerps, Dick Diver and Scott & Charlene's Wedding in particular are testament to this. These bands are going on European and US jaunts, plus getting picked up and taken home by Pitchfork and the likes - dirty stop-outs. But it makes sense that by throwing your love around willy-nilly, you will eventually mete out praise to something that deserves it, so kudos to them.

Before this post disappears into waffle mumblecore, I'm stating all this because the trend doesn't look to be abating, and ex-pats are now taking it to the international man as well. Free Time is a Melbourne four-pieces featuring Dion Nania (of Panel Of Judges fame, who also has played with S&CW and Twerps in the past), and their relocation to the Big Apple hasn't blunted their influences at all. Their debut LP (out through Underwater Peoples) has been doing the rounds for the past couple of months, I feel it warrants another mention. Why? Because it's a cracker - not content to move at its own pace, the album goes slower than even it seems wont to do, then speeding  up and slowing down like awkward lovers. I love it. You can understand why the Kurt Vile comparisons have been made too - although Free Time remains decidedly Antipodean. The song 'Nothin But Nice' rolls along like a merry narcoleptic on a beach-bound road trip, with an able and willing accomplice steering from the passenger seat when things become too much. Deliberately ramshackle yet always in control - it's a difficult thing to harness and maintain, yet Free Time have all the time in the world to get it right and make it their own.

Free Time can be gleaned here - well worth it.

Coloured Psalms At Sea

I heard this track 'Psalms' from A Constant Sea, the debut record from Brooklyn-based Heliotropes (out in June through Manimal Vinyl) and it floored me. True Widow parallels immediately swam to the surface, with the grungy undertones interspersed with , but this all-girl four-piece step out from the malaise with swathes of swampy psych sprawl. As if their electric cover of Roky Erickson's 'I Walked With A Zombie' last year wasn't enough indication, 'Psalms', the ozone-burning guitar solo makes your hair stand on end, all the better to tear it out as the band hit the accelerator and head for the brick wall as the song closes out. Jessica Numsuwankijkul's vocals are acid-sweet - providing disarming melody whilst emanating the slightest aura of menace. There is a vitality, a recklessness to this song that intimates that Heliotropes are overflowing with energy and a lack of sonic inhibitions - such freshness and enthusiasm burns away any hackneyed predispositions and instead presents pure, unadulterated rock (albeit of the distorted kind).

You can preorder A Constant Sea here. Heliotropes are playing the excellent 4Knots Festival in June, which pretty much namechecks all of Sonic Masala's favourite of-the-moment acts (Parquet Courts, The Men, The Babies, Marnie Stern, Reigning Sound, Kurt Vile) - and from the bubbling ecstasy generated from their fiery live performances, June cannot come fast enough.

Heliotropes - Psalms

Hits From The Box #51 - Free Swearing Day

Today it is free dress day at work. Now for me that actually means something, as I dress as a quasi suit for most of the year, and it's the one day that I can just roll out of bed. The womenfolk at work however wear pretty much what they want anyway, so they laugh at my giddiness. Ah, inadequacies... ANYway, it reminds me of this thing my sister and I used to do. Whenever our parents weren't around, we'd yell out FREE SWEARING DAY and let go. It was the funniest thing ever. I never dropped the c-bomb - that was anathema to me up to about five years ago, but now it's my third most used word behind beer and diazapem - but everything else was fair play. Ah, innocence. How I fucking miss thee.


OK, so let's start the next half-century of Hits From The Box with Walk, a Los Angeles four-piece whose debut album Icebreaker (through Manzam Records), offers some great grooving tracks that maintain the pop hook mentality whilst ramping up the guitars. When they quieten down, it doesn't always gel, but on 'Caveman Game' in particular they really get things right.

Walk - Icebreaker
Walk - Caveman Game


Next we have Sheffield dude Stewart Green, who performs his electronic multi-instrumental shtick under the moniker Carnivals. Absences/Ino (Pts 1 & 2) is a single release that came out at the turn of the year, so it's been a long time coming, but Ive just warmed to the A-side more and more as I have started utilising my iPod once more (it's been dormant for months and months - don't ask...). It's ambient drone, nice piano line, distorted vocals, glitch heavy middle third then surprise jumped-up close offers five minutes of brave eclecticism. Green has shown in the past his adherence to strange mixtures of tempo and sound, and on these tracks he does some alchemical wonders.

Carnivals - Absences


III is the name of Minneapolis psychgazers Is/Is debut record (out last month on ___), and it's a real cracker. They play around with convention - on single 'Hate Smile' for example, the drums remain buried behind a chugging bluesy riff for the first section of the track - whilst frontwoman Sarah Rose's vocals are perfectly suited for this genre, really rich and gutsy. The whole album really surprised me - whilst a couple tracks commit the sin of repetition, there is a lot of breadth on a sound that sticks to the narrow terrain that True Widow were trampling last year, yet like that band Is/Is mine gold - which is an inimitably good thing.

Is/Is - Hate Smile
Is/Is - Sun Tsunami


Gulcher Records flung this record by Tim Carroll my way a little while ago, and it's a nice throwback on 50s/60s garage rock that actually sounds like the era rather than someone else's pastiche of it. Look Out! perfectly displays Carroll's punk roots (having played in The Gizmos and The Blue Chieftains in the 80s) entrenched in Nashville country aesthetics. It's no wonder that this is solid - this is Carroll's ninth album after all - yet on tracks like 'Talk To God' (which has some of that brilliantly sloppy Neil Young & Crazy Horse feel) it is all so effortless and genuine that it is a refreshing slab of sunlight to the ears. It swings from blues to country to other windswept climes (earning him comparisons to Tom Petty and Kurt Vile, the latter of which had his record Constant Hitmaker put out by Gulcher also), but above all Look Out! rocks.

Tim Carroll - Talk To God
Tim Carroll - One More Step


Jacob Turnbloom is the singer/songwriter for Mrs Magician, a band that I covered not too long ago (and if you haven't checked em out yet, go here and fix that promptly). Grizzly Records put out a massive chunk of Turnbloom's solo recordings on a cassette called Death Tape, all rough four-track lo-fi pipe dreams (think Elliot Smith jamming with Ben Gibbard after a bender where some dirty deeds were done dirt cheap). There are a couple scuzzy rockers, but most of it is contemplative experimental pop items, and there are some real jewels to be found here. You can buy Death Tape here - it's worth it.

Jacob Turnbloom - DJ Anarcho Fight Punx
Jacob Turnbloom - Everything Dies
Jacob Turnbloom - An Officer & A Gentleman


Finally we have alt-country rockers Slow Country, who offer another connection to Kurt Vile due to member Boyd Shropshire. His unresolved, spacey rock with Mascis-style vocals are offset by Chase King’s more earnest country-flecked fare. Their debut record, The Late Great Slow Country, weaves a tapestry of pastoral folk and country with an infusion of off-kilter rock, where the gamut from Modest Mouse to Giant Sand are covered. It makes for a laconic finish to today's proceedings. You can get the album through Wonderland Archives here.

Slow Country - Land I Love

Happy Wednesday!

EXCLUSIVE ALBUM STREAM - Icarus Himself Gets His Cultural Career On

Well, it is a week of firsts here for Sonic Masala, starting with this, our first ever WORLD EXCLUSIVE (I think, at least our day starts before most other bloggerinos so we should get first dibs!) I was getting ready to post about Wisconsin psych-folksters Icarus Himself and their sophomore longplayer Career Culture. Its an ace album full of delectable twists and turns, and I feel a real find for the tail end of the year (influences include Kurt Vile, Deerhunter, The Who and David Bowie - nice!). As I said, I was going to post about it - but then I got permission to stream the sucker in its entirety! The album isnt out until October 11 (through Science Of Sound Records), but on this glorious day you can have at it for the next 24hrs! So enjoy peeps, then head here and pre-order it!

You're welcome.

Career Culture by Icarus Himself

And if that aint enough - here is their very cool video for 'On Your Side'! Im the gift that keeps on giving!!!

Kurt Vile Vies For Elegaic Angeldom

I have to say, Im very happy to see the continual ascendence of Kurt Vile. It took me a little while to get around to listen to the Philly native - blanket blogosphere fawning does that - but its always good to hear the universal praise being warranted, with Vile's lyrical voice a shadow of the laconic J Mascis. He is in constant demand for collaborations and remixes (most recently on the Dinosaur Jr frontman's sublime solo effort Several Shades Of Why), and tours pretty heavily, yet remains prolific with his musical output.

And on Smoke Ring For My Halo, we have a fleshed out affair much different from the lo-fi fuzz of 2008's Constant Hitmaker, and on the most part this is a good thing. The added focus of a backing band (Vile's on/off The Violators) creates some serious depth on the languid cruise through 'Ghost Town' and the Crazy Horse stomp of 'Puppet To The Man', whilst the clarity in production brings Vile's flok guitar proficiency to the forefront. Its decidedly shambolic in scope and nature, with Vile's dispassionate vocal delivery offering at times a poignant drawl, at others a laconic sneer. Sometimes it works admirably - 'Jesus Fever' is a sunny gem that infuses Vile's wily lyrics with some verve, and 'On Tour' mirrors the world-weary view of a long time out on the road; at other times it comes across as almost disinterested. But the songs are well structured, applying a welcome skewed view on alt-folk tropes that the high production values buff to a beautiful sheen rather than bury it in needless pop and fizz. Vile has a bit to go before he creates an entire album of hits, but his rise is one that I will ride all the way.

Smoke Ring For My Halo is out on March 8th through Matador. He is touring Stateside with J Mascis for the majority of March and April - what a double bill!

Kurt Vile - Jesus Fever

Several Shades Of Brilliance

J Mascis’ efforts in Dinosaur Jr over the past twenty-five years have been monumental. Yet whilst the slacker shaman busied himself shredding the minds and perforating the ears of grateful fanatics worldwide, it is his band mate and Sebadoh ringmaster Low Barlow who is renowned for writing the eloquent ballads. What with the thunderous rollercoaster of Dinosaur Jr’s two reunion albums and quaking live shows, it seemed likely to remain that way. But Mascis has always been full of surprises, and with Several Shades Of Why, he delivers an album that takes the plug out, instead ramping up the pathos, fragility and elegance, in doing so creating an achingly beautiful gem.

Listen To Me immediately throws you – Mascis standing on his own, his questioning vocals laid bare without the rambunctious rhythms of his day band. In fact it’s the notable absence of drums that is most prevalent here, placing all the emphasis on Mascis, his iconic vocals, and that acoustic guitar, which he wields with the same level of proficiency, bravado and nuance as his electric counterpart. The beautiful title track is all melancholy, heightened by some elegant picking and the haunting violin of Sophie Trudeau (of A Silver Mt Zion fame), whilst the rambling Not Enough has some jovial tambourine and there is a long list of guest backing vocalists such as Ben Bridwell, Kevin Drew, and Kurt Vile. It is savvy vocal interplay that elevates the toe-tapping sweetness of Not Enough, or the haunting catch-in-your-throat Very Nervous And Love. However these collaborations never take away the focus of Mascis’ innate brilliance at curling words, carving pop hooks, and even a beautifully iconic electric solo explosion in back porch crooner Is It Done? The influences of other troubadours such as Nick Drake or Springsteen lurk in the shadows, but this is decidedly Mascis’ show, one which we can only dream he will continue to bring to us for another 25 years to come.

Several Shades Of Why is out through Sub Pop in March.

J Mascis - Is It Done

J Mascis - Several Shades Of Why

And also check out this absolutely amazing video interview with Mascis!

J Mascis Isnt Done Yet

J Mascis' solo effort Several Shades Of Why (out on Sub Pop) is getting closer to launch time, and to have us salivating even more he's thrown us a second track from it. Its called 'Is It Done?', a beautifully whimsical acoustic number that still highlights Mascis' husky, strained vocals, but also surprises with backing vocals from Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell and a nice little bit of Dinosaur Jr-esque distorted guitar break midway through. This album is promising to be something quite special. And if you're Stateside, you can see J Mascis as he tours the country - first with Kurt Vile in March/April, then picking up with the Black Heart Procession in May.

J Mascis - Is It Done?

J Mascis Cant Get Enough

J Mascis has been riding some major musical waves this year, what with the Dinosaur Jr resurgence and his work in Silver Apples. But that doesnt mean he's been diluting his output - as can be seen here on acoustic number 'Not Enough'. Its the first cut of the forthcoming album Seven Shades Of Why, out in March on Sub Pop, and features the likes of Kurt Vile, Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell and Sophie Trudeau (A Silver Mt Zion...). Cant wait.

J Mascis - Not Enough

Snap, Crackle, and Purling Hiss

I know that Philly's Purling Hiss has just released an EP that I am yet to listen to, or the Woodsist newie Public Service Announcement, and that PH mastermind Mike Pollize is in another band, Birds of Maya, that is his apparent 'day job' - and yup, havent heard them either. Which makes me a bit of a bastardero. But whilst Im endeavouring to brush up on these three factors, Im going to introduce you to this self-titled debut LP. Purling Hiss is fuzzy, indulgent, ambling, incredibly loud and unrepetent. Think of recent SM postees Bo Ningen and their ilk - that Japanese psych that curls in and out of itself, and is so insanely fucked up that you cant explain why you like it, you just do. Then mate that with the dissonant sleaze scuzz of Puffy Areolas...oh yeah...

It comes from the bosom of the jam, and refuses to leave. Hang on a minute, it does - middle tracks 'White Machine Noise' and 'DUI' are less than a minute bites of mangled noise - but the album is bookended with such ridiculous hyperbolic sojourns into rainbow noise that they are more a 'blink and you'll miss it' break up to the rest of the album's trip.

Purling Hiss is out now through Permanent Records - if you can still get a copy. If not, Hissteria is out on Richie Records (who have also had Kurt Vile in their midst), whilst start saving for the Woodsist debut Public Service Announcement.
 

Purling Hiss - Montage Mountain

I Wont Go Down With This Soft Ship

Did you like the headline? A play on a Dido lyric - how so droll... I have a soft spot for Dido anyway, but that is for another time and place. Im here to thrust upon you The Soft Pack's newie, 'Gagdad', a epic (for them) jam supposedly about a sinking ship. Its on a 7" that you can only get on their tour dates, half of which is a co-headlining act with the inimitable Kurt Vile. This kinda sucks for us here over the pond, but at least we get to hear this track, which is slower, a little moodier, and pretty damn good.

NB. My friends (and now you, faithful Sonic Masala-ers) know my passive aggression towards The Soft Pack, and are thus perplexed at this post. It is because I like them on record - I think their brand of garage rock is quite good - but they will be forever marred by what can only be called an insipid, lacklustre performance at last year's Breeders curated All Tomorrow's Parties. I preferred to eat a corn cob and chat to some Heartless Bastards at the merch stand, which was cool and infinitely more worthwhile. That said - this song is good. SO enjoy!

The Soft Pack - Gagdad

Big Trouble(s) In Little New Jersey...

Good morning, sleepyheads! Its Saturday morning, so lets get some grooves on!

I have gone MIA for a little while - OK, 3 or so days, but in that time Ive accumulated a retarded amount of things and tidbits to post about, mainly to do with the myriad messages we are sent here to our email sonic.masala@gmail.com.

I have a dirty lil secret to admit - I have never until a couple weeks ago checked our email. That was Paul and Ani's job, and they have paid their dues, giving a heads up on bands like Tomorrows Tulips and Lil Daggers... But after talking to Guilty Ghosts and Reading Rainbow, and seeing how many bands were trying to get in contact with us, Ive spent the last day trying to make amends...

First cab off the ranks are this tidy lil group from Ridgewood, New Jersey. Big Troubles are a two piece, playing young fiery garage scuzz - aren't they all? - and it isn't only infectious, but it hints at a band of guys striving to be a cut above. They are having a meteoric rise of late, playing with the likes of Real Estate, RE offshoot Ducktails, and the awesome Kurt Vile. Very 'in the now' - how there is so much I hate about this movement, and yet guys like Big Troubles drag me back. Its all about exuberance and having fun, rather than owning a truckload of Ray Bans and removing a rib to suck your own cock (or clitoris - we are gender non-specific here...) Which is what a lot of this sound is so obviously about. Apparently. So Big Troubles - good stuff - their debut LP Worry will be out soon, but you can hunt down their Drastic & Difficult 7" on Olde English Spelling Bee. Well, well worth the time...

Big Troubles - Drastic And Difficult
Big Troubles - Wouldn't Mind

Six Degrees of Deerhunter #5 – recent influences

OK, Im clutching at straws here, although I'm saving a doozie for tomorrow. So last year Pitchfork ran a series of best albums/acts/singles lists as chosen by various members of various bands that were themselves relatively influential over the preceding twelve months. The irascible Bradford Cox was of course one of those list makers. Now I love lists at the best of times – whilst they can be obvious, there is always the chance that a hitherto hidden gem will come to light in your consciousness and shine brightly in your life. Ive already stated how Australia’s Triple J radio presenter Richard Kingsmill turned me on to Fugazi, and he also steered me in the direction of Tortoise – nuff said.

So this 6 Degrees… post will focus every so briefly on Bradford’s 2009 picks – what he mildly refers to as his 2009 influences – and see what you think…

Privacy – Songs
Under the guise of Privacy, artiste Laurel Knapp singing with her acoustic guitar offers bare, simple, and original folk music, sung in the writer’s own breathy, pitch perfect, deep voice. Dreamy, ethereal.
Privacy - Pining

Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
This guy has been bandied around a bit in recent months, and his name appeared on a few best of end of year lists last year. And it is almost impossible not to see why – intense, genre-snapping, mind-twisting, psych-laced piece of rock put out by a guy that seems like a mix of Tom Petty and Marc Bolan, backed by Crazy Horse. In other words, fucking brilliant. Cant wait to see what he has in store. Big fan…big fan.
Kurt Vile - Invisibility Nonexistent