I will never forget the first That Fucking Tank show I ever witnessed. It was at the Lexington; they were supported by Friendship; it was fucking mental. And Andy Abbott's O face as he wailed on that metallic baritone guitar - it was all so ridiculous. But that's the point - this may be incredible hi-octane instrumental rock, but with song titles such as 'Keanu Reef' and 'Making A Meal For Beethoven', there is nothing serious to be taken on board here. This is a sweat inducing aural technicolour yawn of a sound, one where you are afraid you'll choke to death because you are laughing so much.
It is with great heady pleasure that we find the duo are putting out A Document Of The Last Set (out on Gringo Records), an album that celebrates ten years of these crazy bastards being in existence. It's a set list, but as they often play it - each song bleeding into the next so that you are a quivering mess after one song. There are no breaks; there is no reprieve; it is two young punks gleefully fucking things up. It's easy to see why these boys have played with the likes of Lightning Bolt, Melt Banana and Hella (even making the wider stages of Leeds and Reading in 2008). It's because these guys are relentless, yet inherent dorks, upholding a punk aesthetic with a goofy grin. Fuck earnestness or aggression when you making noise is so much fun. Here's to ten more years - if you're up for it...
I hadn't heard of Tera Melos before listening to 'Frozen Zoo' off their latest album, Patagonian Rats. The Californian three-piece have crafted a track here that, whilst having some of the dissonant and jarring stop start rhythms of the math rock staple, there is an element of jazz/folk improvisation that lends itself more to a quirker, more precise yet still very indie sound. However, when searching the internet I found some irate comments about the poppification of what many fans felt was a much more innovative and harder edged sound. Delving further I found that Tera Melos have toured with the likes of These Arms Are Snakes, Melt Banana and By The End Of Tonight, laying some credence to these claims. Then I noted that their upcoming tour is with Maps & Atlases - and that helped to explain the change in musical direction. Nevertheless, it had my interested double piqued - to see where they had started, and to see what Patagonian Rats had done to bring about such ire. Coming at it from such an angle means Im probably less biased than some, but I found their older stuff to be really fun and powerful, whilst the newie was even better in that its exploration of pop sensibilities hidden within the nooks and crannies of the supposedly sterile landscape of math rock. I think Patagonian Rats is very exciting stuff, and with its bizarre leanings and propensity to delve ever so slightly into Mars Volta-esque prog territory ('Skywatch'), I think Tera Melos are a new band to take account of, revel in and enjoy their unique vision of the future of guitar rock. They claim to sound like Harmony Korine and Mark Borshact in a punk band - not far off the mark there...
