Feeding On Ian's Ritualistic Figbox Feast

I have mentioned the Florida noise collective Figbox in the past (namely Unholy Clone) and am a big fan of Prison Warder. It looks to be a big, busy, noisy year for them, the first taste of which is Feast For The Supreme Ritual, the second EP by drum and bass duo Ian Iachimoe (a bizarre reference to Paul McCartney, and which features Prison Warder's singer). A bristling set of live tracks charting the (un)natural path of gluttony and body horror, Feast... is fitful, brash, as at home nestling under the sweat-stained mask of Lightning Bolt as they are bludgeoning Swans, beckoning the apocalyptic winds of OM and bowing at the altar of Ornette Coleman. Digging this, looking forward to what else comes out of the Figbox.

Livin' Friel

There is an absolute corker of a tour hitting the UK next month. One of my all time favourite bands, Lightning Bolt, is playing a show at Electric Ballroom in London alongside the excellent doomers Om. But the tour continues throughout Europe with another excellent act - the playful noisenik Dan Friel. He has proven his acrobatic musical chops with Parts & Labor, but there is something with the way Friel's frenetic effects burn and fizz in aural technicolour that ups the ante considerably - imagine a Final Fantasy game scored by by a fried and gagged Dan Deacon. What's more, his new album Life includes a Joanna Gruesome cover - how great is that! Oh, you want even more awesomeness. The new video for 'Rattler' includes a bunch of toddlers losing their shit, an infant glitter rave in Heaven. Pre-order Life here.

Friday Cover Up - Holy Sons On The Beach

Emil Amos is a man of many talents, and has spread them through a gamut of incredible bands - Grails, Om, Lilacs & Champagne... Yet Amos pours his heart out into Holy Sons, a solo project that has always pushed towards the emotional depths that the likes of Jim James, Mark Kozelek or Jason Molina regularly mined. He has an album, The Fact Facer, coming out through Thrill Jockey Records, and in preparation Amos has been releasing bonus material in the lead-up and one of the tracks is one of my favourite songs ever made - a cover of Neil Young's 'On The Beach'. But it isn't that simple - because Amos has squished it into another cover, one that also kills it - Black Flag's 'Nervous Breakdown'! I can't even imagine the conception of the idea - but I'm glad the mad alchemy exists.


And for a special bonus, here is another song, 'More Therapy'... You can pre-order The Fact Facer here.

OM Supports Singled Out

Two of my favourite Brisbane acts have both jagged the support slots for the Brisbane leg of US drone merchants OM's national tour. The gig is at the Hi Fi this Wednesday and is going to be incredible (drummer Emil Amos' other band - well, ONE OF his other bands - Grails was a definite highlight of last year also) - you should come and hang out. And in anticipation of the show, they are each releasing a single!

Andrew Tuttle is better known in musical circles as annoying Anonymeye. But he has laid the moniker to rest, preparing instead to trek out under his own biological label, and 'Rain Transplant' is the ceremonial unveiling before his "debut" EP 4064 (the suburb postcode for Paddington where he lives) hits the internet shelves. As you can here, it's not far removed from the instrumental deconstructions that earmarked Anonymeye's ten year oeuvre, which is great to hear, but the change in direction comes in subtle moments  - the amorphous segue into an effects-laden bridge, bookended by interplay between Tuttle's beloved banjo and bubbling synth - that implies there is a lot more to come that will take our breath away. I for one cannot wait.

Ghost Notes is a great instrumental rock band. Furthermore, they endeavour to create mood and sound scapes that fail to adhere to the quiet/loud dynamic that many of their contemporaries misinterpret and bludgeon to death around them, making them a more nuanced (and therefore far more interesting) prospect. It does feel like they have been riding out their last album, 2011's In Cover Of Night, for eons though, seeing as the vinyl launch came over a year afterwards. This is probably most felt by the five-piece themselves, and so they are on the cusp of correcting this conception with not one but TWO albums recorded and waiting in the wings. 'Go Where It Takes You' is the first taste of the first of those albums, entitled Hidden Horizons (out through Lofly), which will hopefully see the light of day in the next few months.

You really should get to OM. I will be posting my excellent interview with Emil Amos on Wednesday, but until then, grab your ticket now.

Lowered Holograms = Higher Expectations

Lower

I'm spending my day writing for other publications - and bizarrely it's all on the heavier side - reviews for local punks Fat and resident scuzzbuckets The Melvins, as well as an interview with OM/Sleep's Al Cisneros (and another with OM/Grails drummer Emil Amos in the works). Yet the music I'm looking forward to listening to all afternoon is of a more Scandinavian bent, as two of the greater exports from Copenhagen gear up for new releases.

Holograms

I've spoken of both Holograms and Lower of recent times (have a read about and listen to their "older" stuff here and here respectively). Combined with the likes of Iceage and Sexdrome, the underground (well, not so underground anymore) music scene there is teeming with parasitic, grimy post-punk nihilism that rattles the teeth and widens the eyes, shortens the breath and quickens the heart. It's exciting times, heightened further with the imminent releases of Lower's debut as-yet-untitled LP through Escho, and Forever, Hologram's longplayer effort (out through Captured Tracks in September). And if this isn't enough, they have both dropped teaser tracks. And lo and behold, they are fucking stellar, particularly Lower's brutal sledgehammer that is 'Another Life'.

The Virtues Of Being Adrift In Gatton?

Ive waxed lyrical about Brisbane trio No Anchor and their new release, the double LP Real Pain Supernova, in the past (here to be exact) - Ive even interviewed them for other media - but did I tell you just how ace this album is? Probably not, but you should be able to guess. Its very, very fucking good.

Real Pain Supernova opens with restraint, the ambient sounds of ironically monikered 'The End' before the obligatory crunch of dirge-like bass guitars takes the breath away, as do the Ian Mackaye-like avuncular vocals that precede the abrasive screams. It’s this sense of controlled aggression and muscular musical promiscuity that really makes an impression here – 'Wolves Bite And Disappear' holds down a nitrous-injected blues beat across the breadth of its short running time, the breakneck ebb and flow (and anguishing howls) of 'Dead Pony', the Shellac-esque chug of the bass that underpins 'Come Again', also sporting the beautifully juxtaposing vocals of Joanna Nilson from Butcher Birds. Never do you get a sense that these guys are doing anything redundant, the music speaking for itself much louder than just sheer volume or the “novelty” of being a two bass/no guitar band could achieve.

Real Pain Supernova is a milestone of an album for No Anchor, who have never sounded more vital. This is perfectly highlighted by pivotal (and fittingly epic) epic track 'Gatton Bohemia' – a song in movements that has the trio showcasing their influences such as Boris, Sunn O))) and Om (the album was mastered by Mell Dettmer), then systematically pinning them down and beating them to death with their own instruments. It’s beautiful, harnessing the dark powers of feedback, dirge, sludge and post rock into what is, hands down, the best song about Gatton ever written.


You can buy the album here. For the love of whatever exists in your life as a semblance of a God, buy this. Then get down to Tym's Guitars this Sunday at 2pm for a free in-store performance!

No Anchor - Gatton Bohemia
No Anchor - Wolves Bite And Disappear

Om's drummer finds his holy Grails

I am a latecomer to Grails. I had heard a track back in 2008 when my good friend Andy was flooding my external hard drive with music. I think i may have been into my fourth Trappist beer at the time. It was the last day before leaving Australia to move to sunny London. Hence the surprise when I was back in Australia last month and heard the exact same track, again at Andy's behest. It, and they, are awesome. (NB - Andy, you're awesome too...)

Emile Amos of Om fame is the instigator of Grails, and they have just released their fourth volume of Black Tar Prophecies. Their sound is one of many textures - the Eastern influences perfectly balance the sonic drone and occasional brutal onslaught. Influences range from Dirty Three to Sun Ra, and my sister even noted a hint of C&W musical twang? It is a true pastiche of musical imagery, one that takes a refreshing edge on that much maligned of genres, post-rock.

So I am now tres excited for the Luminaire gig that they are playing this upcoming Monday. The Luminaire is such a great venue, and the fact that i can walk home from there is a cherry on top. They are ably supported by Invisible Bees and Phillip Jeck. Tix are 10 squid. If you arent getting your mind ripped out by 9 drummers due to the Boredoms that night, you need to get it expanded by Grails. Nuff said.

And here are some tracks! The first is off Black Tar Prophecies 4, 'Silk Road' features Simeon of Silver Apples, and the third is just rad.

Grails - Up All Night

Grails - Silk Road

Grails - Reincarnation Blues