Steady Teething

The Steady As She Goes continued to roil in the deep dark night, a behemoth breaking the surface in slow motion, the spiked moonlight  sparking off its glistening carapace. The one-man Gothic doomsayer scorches the (E)arth on 'Kindred', the sepulchral opener to new release Teeth Dreams, before the Man In Black saunters through the smoke, a haunted gunslinger looking for his 'Throne Of Want'. I know that Tal will hate me for some of this - but I felt like I was trapped in a vacuum with three speakers spewing forth Tangerine Dream, Ennio Morricone and Pink Floyd in an unholy triumvirate of textured sound. I personally absolutely love it - it has become my soundtrack to my current spate of late-night writings. 'You Don't' is more in the scheduled TSASG vein, a slow-grinding leviathan of heaving waves of expectation and expulsion, before the nightmare crawl of 'Toluca' takes into the delicious darkness. The Steady As She Goes is one of the best things about the Brisbane music scene in my opinion - defiantly dark, dense, idiosyncratic and intense, a solo journey to the centre of the earth with no promise of return. More please - always fucking more.

Tiny Fingers

The Fall, the new album from Israeli band Tiny Fingers (it's their fourth), has totally blindsided me. The swirling, atmospheric intensity that comes with these coalescing psych squalls, complete with organ, took my breath away. 'Traveller Sound' emulates the dizzying acrobatics that Battles do so well; the proggy flourishes and indulgences on tracks like 'Dispatcher' fly the freakout flag as diligently and mind-meltingly as The Mars Volta (whom thee band has supported in the past). But it is how good these intricate instrumentals build and breathe that is stunning - from the frenetic, kinetic title track to the contemplative yet bombastic 'Music For The Sun' (which seems to tip the hat to Yes, Pink Floyd, Eluvium and Explosions In The Sky, all through a very idiosyncratic filter). The Fall is breathtaking and transcendental - I haven't said enough about it. Let's hope this record explodes, because Tiny Fingers are that good.

Pushing Breedlings' Lungs All Over The Velodrome

As I'm not overly familiar with the bands that have burst out of the hallowed halls of Cambridge, England other than Pink Floyd, I can't let you in on the history of angularity and dissonance. That said, I met a guy in a pub there that loved my Explosions In The Sky T-shirt, and he then proceeded to school me in all kinds of awesome music. I believe I gave back as good as I got. I wish I knew his name - or indeed the pub. Swallowed in misty memories marred by substances far and wide, I'm afraid.

So I have no geographical reference when it comes to listening to this triple-A release from Cambridge trio Breedlings, other than to say that this kind of post-punk excellence is like the cast-off and eaten embryo twin of God Bows To Math - there are Minutemen references a plenty here too, and whilst it's a little more straight up the line than the NZ juggernaut, you could hear these guys doing a mean cover of 'Slow Decline'. And a band comfortable enough to release three tracks of equal merit is good enough for me. Discord is well and truly on the table here - a smorgasbord of collegiate angst, bubbling along the Punt, overflowing in bitter bile. Good times.

Mining Those Dark Depths And Currents

I have sat on this far too long. Depth & Current is a three-piece out of Norman Oklahoma that in their self-titled debut have created a warped and incredibly dark Gothic psychedelic stumble into the blacker realms of reality. There are recognisable connections to the light world through samples and influences (touching on Pink Floyd ('Lost'), Joy Division ('Pick Yourself Up'), Black Sabbath ('Minefield') and Flaming Lips (almost everything)) but this is an overall parallel universe. It could even be hokey with its heady gauze-like production, but it remains steadfastly resolute in its mining of the darker elements of progressive 70s rock and stoner rock mores, and for that I am grateful.


Depth & Current is available here.

Depth & Current - Pick Yourself Up
Depth & Current - Red Haute Sects (Ft. Baby Crenshaw)
Depth & Current - Lost

Champions of the Fur State

The Boxing Lesson - a two-piece outta Austin Texas. I had never heard of them until they contacted me the other evening. So I got to listening. Their new LP Fur State, numbered from 1 to 8 (first eight - fur state - geddit???), is an interesting and intricate listen, the guitar and synth/Moog interplay making for a refreshing take on the ambient instrumental genre. Its not all easy drifts though, as 'Three' bursts out of the blocks with a lovely acoustic/electric double-helix of sound, that segues from time to time into a space Western-influenced score - High Moon, perhaps?

Then I got to reading. The Boxing Lesson have been around in some form since 2002, having put out quite a few releases and garnering a gamut of good reviews across the globe. They are predominantly known as a psych space rock band and have shown their Pink Floyd influences in the past, which makes you appreciate the change of pace Fur State obviously is (originally created in 2006, reworked for 2010). Having had a band of musical members come and go, including drummer Jake Mitchell who was jailed for manufacturing marijuana, its been a long and arduous journey...and its set to continue.

You can purchase Fur State in mega rad of death orange cassette from their bandcamp site!

The Boxing Lesson - Three
The Boxing Lesson - Eight

The Glove Fits #3 - Wish You Were Here (literally)

This week's trip down memory lane has been hastily erected - my original piece was all set and ready to go, but a tragic event has taken precedence - the tragic suicide of singer songwriter Mark Linkous, more commonly known by his bedroom folk pop moniker Sparklehorse. He was found outside his friend's home in Tennessee on Saturday with a self inflicted shotgun wound in the chest. This news has sent tremors throughout the music world - Linkous has collaborated with some of the world's greatests producers and musicians, and has left behind a unique canon of music that was engaging, ethereal and hauntingly beautiful.

So whilst my thoughts are tainted with sadness, Im choosing a song that, whilst not written by him, has stuck with me ever since I heard it, and his version has epitomised everything that I hold dear.

I first heard Pink Floyd when I was a kid. My father never listened to music that often, but one of my favourite memories of my childhood was when it rained on the farm on weekends. Dad would down tools and spend the Sunday at home, hanging out with me and my sister, playing his records. He put me onto Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits and Bruce Springsteen, my platform for my burgeoning love of music, but Pink Floyd wasnt his strong suit. Nevertheless, it was Dad who put me onto songs like Another Brick In The Wall, Comfortably Numb, and this one, Wish You Were Here.

And yet it wasnt until my first year of university that I truly embraced the song. I have my friend Hugh to thank. We used to sit around on a sunny hungover morning (and there were many) and sing along. These memories have always stuck with me, so that even when some two-bit busker or deluded cover artist is strangling it, I still hum along.

But my favourite version, for whatever reason, isnt the original. As Sparklehorse, Mark Linkous supported Radiohead on their OK Computer tour, where he became good friends with the band, particularly Jonny Greenwood, who spoke of Linkous' death on his blog:

"His first two records were very important to me, and I carried his music from the tour into my life, and my friends' lives too ... Mark wrote and played some beautiful music, and we're lucky to have it."

On that tour, Sparklehorse did an EP which featured Linkous and Thom Yorke doing a ghostly rendition of the song.

So I send out my condolences to all who have been touched by Linkous and his music, and endeavour to make sure his music lives on in our hearts.

RIP Mark Linkous (1962-2010) - wish you were here.

Sparklehorse (feat. Thom Yorke) - Wish You Were Here