Aural Australia #3 - Feral Ferocity

Life is rough and stuff. Time to get feral.

Ausmuteants won't give a shit what I write here anyway. The Melbourne punk wastoids have made that abundantly clear with their track 'Music Writers' off new record Band Of The Future (out now through Aarght!) - an acerbic vomit that pierces the bubble on critics, both of the page and from within the scene. But you can never take these guys seriously - the album title alone throws shade on their Devo shadings, carving themselves of the Marty McFly's of proto-punk's past, flitting back and forward, changing history by deliberately crushing bugs, ripping off butterflies' wings, and beating mouthbreathers at their own game. Plus BOTF builds on last record Order of Operation's clarity, injecting the slicker sonics with familiar spit, pace and leers. The rants and tantrums are as visceral and zanily ridiculous as we have come to expect, yet even more infectious, like a sandblasted canker, with that rank synth whirr throwing us into the surreal and absurd. Nailgun blasts of punk that leaves slackjawed wonder in its wake, with bumps of T-Rex glam and Boggles wrongness to ingest. In short, brilliant. (But what does any of this even mean? What the fuck would I know? Just listen to it already.)

The Peep Tempel released one of Sonic Masala's favourite albums of 2015, Tales, and one of the most underrated rock acts in the country are back with a killer song and video for 'Rayguns'. A bullshit crazy newslogue purge with rolling-news lyrics, .gif ready stock clips fused to the band revelling in their zero-fucks chicanery. It comes from 3rd LP Joy, which promises to get deep into the human psyche and wade maniacally in the roiling chaos. There are still a great degree of Australian grotesquery and humour in their offerings though - opener 'Kalgoorlie' alone lends whiffs of Wake In Fright horror. And while we are at it, below this excellent video is another taste of the album (out later this month through Wing Sing Records), 'Totality'.

Screamfeeder closing out our second Sonic Masala Fest is still (and will always remain) a defining moment in my life. The band have continued to play together and release the periodic new song since re-releasing their albums on vinyl through Poison City Records, and 'Karen Trust Me' is the latest ebullient slice. They have their miasmic noise pop down pat - every chord change, swelling squall, cymbal crash and Steward/Lloyd harmony is present and accounted for, embedded with myriad hooks of all persuasions that it is impossible to remain impervious to its charms. It's enough to keep the withdrawal at bay until their promised 8th album in 2017.

Back to the insanity then. Melbourne punk messes Mesa Cosa have crafted a pagan travesty for their film clip for new track 'Stone Bone'. Still riding the serrated ridge between raucous psychedelic and fucked-up garage rock, the madmen don marsupial, Ex-President and Simpsons masks while running rank in the wilderness, destroying their instruments, TVs and other paraphernalia to climax in a jerrycan-fuelled bonfire for the ages. The boys spend a good portion of the time with their heads impaled on sticks too. They have sold their soul, sacrificed their body bags, and lost their minds - all for our eternal benefit.

Members of Freak Wave, Iowa and Camp Cope join forces to travel back in time to flannel fuzz Valhalla in TV Haze, an act inimitably indebted to Dinosaur Jr in both rambling guitar rock and dry, warbled vocal delivery. The 90s throwbacks continue, but with this self-titled effort it feels warranted, a welcome addition that climbs to the upper echelons of their contemporaries, yet steeped in Australian music nostalgia. They are playing some massive shows in Melbourne next month too supporting the aforementioned Screamfeeder as well as playing alongside SM faves Pale Heads, Ouch My Face and Summer Flake.

We will finish with post-punks Gold Class who are making their way back to Europe after a successful stint over here earlier in the year. New track 'Kids On Fire' feels (to me at least) a mix between obvious signifiers (Joy Division, The Smiths) and more rugged outliers (slowed motorik Hey Colossus, and The Spinning Rooms - really! - with the little guitar lick that strikes me like Joe's saxophone - maybe I just miss those guys so much). The film clip IS Gold Class - black and white, smoked lens, white on black, Venetian shadow, strobe glare. Urgent earnestness. The guys play in London at The Victoria October 26 with The Bodies - it looks to be a tense affair.

Video Vacuum - Yes I'm Leaving, Mesa Cosa, Cobwebbs, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, USA Nails

I don't know about you, but today is a drag. Let's punch through the walls with some raucous noise coupled with stupid visuals!

Yes I'm Leaving have inexplicably built up a true head of steam with the incumbent launch of 3rd LP Slow Release. I'm not saying it is unwarranted - far from it; I have maintained everywhere, including this here blog, that the Sydney trio are one of the best live acts in Australia and have been for the past couple years. But just seeing these guys in reviews and post on US music sites has been a bit of a weird notion - I mean, they still are lucky to pull ten punters to shows in their hometown! Well people better start taking notice, because they are brilliant. Aren't sold? If the nightmare/hilarity of 'Fear' doesn't hook you, you are probably dead (at least to me).

Mesa Cosa is another band that are slaying the stages across Australia, although their brand of rock is certainly more party friendly. The Melbourne garage wild boys have launched into the zombie zeitgeist with latest track 'Creepy' - well, hordes of pantyhose-wearing acolytes anyway. It's stupid and awesome in equal measure, and the bulk of noise that comes out of  the backend of this band is truly felt here. 

It always feels like self-promotion nowadays when I talk about a band that has released material through Sonic Masala Records - but things need to be seen (and heard) to be believed with Brisbane's Cobwebbs. Having just released their second album WORLD WIDE WEBBS through our label (on 12" orange vinyl no less, and now at much more affordable digital prices), the dudes have just come away from a support slot with Iceage and a Sydney show alongside another group that should be on everyone's radar at the moment, Exek. Here is the decidedly batshit crazy video for second single 'Easy', filled with everything that makes Cobwebbs tick - airplane interiors, fast cars, Dubai, models, and bad CGI, amongst other snatch grabs of brain-frying ephemera. The world we live in, eh?

Who wants some 60s B-movie 3D? King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have you covered. The latest clip for new track 'Cellophane' has a bored night in front of the idiot box transformed by psychedelic robed hippy red-blue-yellow madness - there's fuzzy lines! There's gold chains! There's flying! The last couple of seconds are amazing too. A great all round trip.

I'm  finishing with USA Nails because, well, this band just slipped into my slipstream this morning. 'Sometimes I'd Rather See It All' has a clip that feeds into its title, which is always an added bonus. The strobes, the sliding blood, the interfered-with facial close-ups - it's all disconcerting. The London band (really) play out like a more crystallised A Place To Bury Strangers - something I am extremely excited about. Hopefully you are too.

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!

Flaying The Cow From My Bones

Here is a distorted chugging Western thug disaster classic if I've ever heard one. Probably haven't, but this is what I imagine it to be. French outfit Cowbones are bringing out their new album Vox Populi Pollux on Casbah Records (The Future Primitives, Bits Of Shit, Mesa Cosa) and first cut feels like a demented bastard child of Grinderman and John Spencer Blues Explosion if their dirtiest dirge got caught in a timeloop. The masked madmen look a sight to behold, and if this track is anything to go by, this album is going to melt the bones of the most hardened gunslingers. Colour me excited.

Video Vacuum - Mesa Cosa, Bitches, Popstrangers, Nine Black Alps, Cull

Did you know it is Christmas... Or was. You probably noticed, seeing as it was jammed down your throat every five minutes. It's gone for another year, so relax. Or don't - because Valentine's Day and Easter paraphernalia are already in the shops! Fuck you, The Man. I'm gonna watch some videos instead...



Mesa Cosa are a bunch of loud, destructive idjits who love to rock. They don't want to go to Sydney either, enough to write a song about it. It's such a fun song though it sounds like they actually DO want to go to Sydney. Or maybe want to party hard so that they they don't have to go. But then 80 seconds in they ARE in Sydney...stop confusing me dudes!



London's Bitches have 'No Brain'. Read that sentence carefully - there are capitals and specific kinds of punctuation there for a reason. The duo are silly too, running around screwing with hipsters in garish ritualistic masks - but then they get their comeuppance by being chased down and killed - by themselves! Whoa. It's all typically serrated punk of the decidedly sloppy kind, fuzzy and loose as fuck, and all words are in their right place - a no brainer bitches.



Popstrangers burst forth with their excellent debut LP Antipodes earlier in 2013, and closed out the year with an EP with new single 'Rats In The Palm Trees', a little slower, glowier, and a fitting postscript to a highly successful twelve months for the trio. The film clip is simple yet intriguing. I want to never drink Red Stripe from a can again though (especially at venues like Scala where its almost five quid), and yet this video (filmed in London) makes it more than OK.



A surprise in the inbox this week comes from Sydney dreamers Cull. Their montage of vehicular-viewed landscapes intercut with other wind and snow swept footage fits the drifting cacophony beautifully - set your ears to swoon. I missed their album Ba Noi last year, Ill have to rectify that pronto.



Let's finish with some Brit grunge wails, huh? Well, it suits the fucking miserable weather they (and I) have over there at the moment. Nine Black Alps have always wavered in and out of favour with me, but the Manchester marauders have hooked me on the chorus of their single 'Novokaine' (REALLY could have done without the K though). The clip is straightforward band playing in a room stuff, but it's all about the bombast and bluster and gnashing of aural teeth. OK, lads - Ill crush my molars into dust too.

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Missing The Mesa Cosa Spangola

As much as I love this wide brown land we call Australia, it isn't always the most accepting of places. Sure, we are pretty multicultural (look at all the sushi joints!), but there are a lot of grey generationers, VB swilling deadheads, happy clapper xenophobes and just plain ignorant pluggers that don't get what that word even means - yet it frightens them, which makes them defensive, which leads to abject aggression. Sigh. If only we could sic Mesa Cosa onto them - a nationwide trailer campaign as the Melbourne-based scuzz rockers rip through their Spanish-drenched garage crashers, get everyone naked and point out the fact that the colour of your skin doesn't matter when everyone looks stupid without clothes on. These Davila 666 clones only know one way to party, and that's all out, all inclusive, all the time.

Now their Infernal Cakewalk album came out some time ago, but it made the march into global waters on the turn of the year, and something this deliciously deranged needs championing no matter what day of the week it is. Mesa Cosa - Or How You Dropped Being A Bigot And Learned To Love The Fuzz. Get it here through French label Casbah Records, otherwise pilfer the party from here.