Cleaning Rifles With Your Cousin

Brighton trio Cousin really impressed us with their intricate wiry debut EP Alternate Tunings For Regular People, filled as it was with “tight, intricate guitarwork, incessant grooves, a rhythm that doesn't know how to quit so beats the shit out of you instead, a melodicism that is infused with equal parts sunshine, narcotics and playful disdain.” (that’s me quoting our review. I don’t think I have ever done it in this way before. Weird.)

Back in March the band released their follow-up EP Music To Polish Your Rifle To (out through Fcking The Night and Barely Regal Records), maintaining their faux-instructional pretences while playing with the wordsmithery, the titles of the 6 songs evoking backwoods sweat-stained inertia and anxieties. Don’t worry, the music has stayed the same – Cousin are clearly infatuated with the Polvo school of atmospheric intricacies. In my opinion the new songs are a little muted – a sense of gravity pervading the compositions, a subtlety that belies the playful nature of the song titles. So the languid nature of ‘Oversized Haulage’ or the freneticism of ‘Dry Steering On A Wet Road’ feels undercut by a rich seam of control, of tempered temperatures, of zen abrasion. I was expecting something more frenetic, more sinuous, yet Music To Polish Your Rifle To instead enthrals through intricate mechanisms designed to entrance, to control. Pick it up here.

Caught Outside In The Grey Rain

Hot on the heels of the excellent The World Is Well Lost, the shoegaze gem from Tel Aviv legends Vaadat Charigim, comes another stellar Israeli band with a guitar-heavy, melody-laden elegance. Afor Gashum (Hebrew for grey rain) released the exultant album From The Inside at the beginning of the year, but it deserves some serious attention, not in the least from the emotive core of Michal Sapir's songs which share some of the opaque eloquence of likeminded outsiders Polvo. The marriage of fragility and grace with isolated space and the occasional crushing feedback blows is a tumultuous one, swinging from maudlin ('Likuy Yare'ach'), shoegaze malaise ('Adama Mugenet') and bludgeoning beauty ('Aeroplane') - and on 'Hypnotoxic', all three nestle together in deafening glory.

From The Inside is being re-released next week through UK label Land Speed Records - and visiting these shores couldn't come sooner for this guy, right here. It's a stunning album that came from left of field, buried itself into my olfactories, and refuses to let go. You can also read Sapir's excellent blog Loose Grains of Sonic Dust here.

Tuning Your Cousin Ain't For Regular People...

Totally accidental, but Wednesday is all about the instrumental Brit bands. It was a no-brainer that I would talk about That Fucking Tank's new offering, but I stumbled over Alternate Tunings For Regular People last night and was enthralled. The band in question - Brighton trio Cousin - put out an EP last year And Other Relations that I really liked, so I'm not sure how I missed this. Alternate Tunings... is an EP that ticks most of my mandatory boxes - tight, intricate guitarwork, incessant grooves, a rhythm that doesn't know how to quit so beats the shit out of you instead, a melodicism that is infused with equal parts sunshine, narcotics and playful disdain - you can tell there is some major Polvo punishing going on behind closed doors here. Their penchant for intriguing, often amusing titles still stands too, with 'Post Relationship Feedback Form' my particular pick. Its a great little release from a great little band - worth breaking some taboos over...

You can get the EP on 12" vinyl through Fcking The Night here.

Last Year's Men Had No Claws

Remember when all the best bands came from North Carolina? Chapel Hill in the early/mid Nineties? No? Hmm. Well, they did - Archers of Loaf, Superchunk, Polvo, Sex Police, Pipe, Squirrel Nut Zippers (*cough*). And Last Year's Men are doing their best to bring the mojo back to the region. They have an LP coming out soon (produced by Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound/Oblivians, even more reason to get excited), and have this Clawless Paw 7" (out through the excellent Sophomore Lounge)to whet the whistle. Two tracks of garage rock that also deal in subterfuge - the titular track's intro is raucous yet contained, yet threatens to derail every second thereafter; whilst 'What I Can Get' shows us a shinier, happier side of the coin, before the facade crumbles and the rot sets in, full fledged coarse steel-wool glory. Its clear that these guys have something percolating here; that the garish cover only hints at the hypercolour madness within; that this incoming record could be napalm to the soul; and that a good spiritual hazing is something 2013 is begging for. Bring that shit ON.

Clawless Paw can be in your eager mitts now - get it here. The band have a May tour of the US lined up, but need YOUR help! Look below, and if you can help hit up their Facebook here.

may 20th - asheville, nc HELP

may 21st - nashville, tn w/ cheap time (need help with a place to play!)

may 22nd - louisville, ky at tba w/ mount carmel

may 23rd - chicago, il at tba

may 24th - detroit, mi at tba

may 25th - toronto, on at silver dollar w/ mystics

may 26th - hamilton, on at casbah w/ mystics

may 27th - montreal at tba w/ mystics

may 28th - new york, ny at shea stadium

may 29th - new jersey/dc/philly HELP PLEASE?

may 30th - richmond, va at tba w/ nervous ticks

Last Year's Men - Clawless Paw

DIY Is Good - DIT Is Better

 

I came across the trailer for this documentary earlier this week, and have spent the consequent time trying to find out what the hell it's all about. Do It Yourself is a collective of youngsters based in Amsterdam who create new media and organise events, bringing together creative people who like and make honest and independent art. Yet the endeavour is to stress that this is global. Currently, their main project is a documentary [named, funnily enough, Do It Together]. It explores the life of independent artists who struggle to survive making music in a changing world, with a large number of DIY artists taking part, giving their opinions and ideas of where this medium is heading to, along with plenty of great live performances. The movie is focused on the DIY ideology and the artists' independence, today's music industry issues, copyright matters, young artists barriers, the experience that people have and new ways they find to spread their art.

Take a look at the collaborators: So far we have many artists involved in this film. To name some:
- Devo [US]
- Steve Albini [US]
- Flux Information Sciences [US]
- Shipping News [US]
- David Yow /The Jesus Lizard [US]
- Lite [JP]
- John Dikeman [NL]
- Adebisi Shank [IE]
- Hella [US]
- Julien Fernandez [IT]
- Polvo [US]
- Tera Melos [US]
- Giraffes? Giraffes! [US]
- Chevreuil [FR] - Deerhoof [USA]
- The Ex [NL]
- Knalpot [NL]
- Le Singe Blanc [FR]
- Boutros Bubba [NL]
- Petrol [RS]
- Parts & Labor [US]
- Aural [UK]
- Deformica [ARG]
- Pneu [FR]
- Aucan [IT]
- Dan Deacon - [US]
- Part Chimp [UK]
- Al Scorch [US]
- Nelson Can [DK]
- Hurtmold [BR]
- Gijs Gieske [NL]
- The Bulletproof Tiger [CA]
- Kit [US]
- Selfkill [TWN]

That's a mere fraction. With the documentary due out in March, the collective aim to conduct some workshops to teach people how to do audio engineering and lights at shows, to get people more involved in their respective DIY communities. I'm very keen to see how this progresses, and what local communities already in existence think of this. You can visit their website here, and by all means, leave your thoughts below. You can also email them here if you are interested in finding out more.

Gumming On The Novella

 

Here are two releases from UK bands that I was writing about separately, but seeing as they played together a couple weeks ago, I’m using that tenuous link to bring them together.

Novella are London-based trio Sophy Hollington, Hollie Warren and Suki Sou, having met in “sunny” Brighton back in 2010. Claiming that months listening to the likes of Polvo, Guided by Voices, Broadcast, Calico Wall and My Bloody Valentine sparked their desire to form a band, it’s not hard to see why tracks like 'Mary's Gun' rock the casbah. Melding guitar pop zaniness with crackling bursts of noise, the trio (who flesh out to a quartet in the live arena) love dipping their sweet dispositions into a vat of battery acid and Alka-Seltzer.

 

Then there is GuMM, taking the reverb-drenched shoegaze noise monster and ramming their spikes through its cerebral vortex. The Bristol kids (on the great Howling Owl Records roster) are a guitar band through and through, unashamedly stealing from their predecessors’ playbooks, but with such a delectable outcome delivered with naïve abandon, who fucking cares? It isn’t all earaches and bluster either – the quieter moments elevate the charm tenfold. I am gushing a little here, about both bands – they have yet to truly prove themselves. But these guys back to back have ruled this day, so they deserve the accolades – and a stamp of approval. Keep an eye out for these crazy kids.



Expect to see other releases from these two out soon (Novella is in cahoots with Gravy Records, just so's you know what to expect...)

Salo Bring The Discordant Pestilence

Glasgow has never been found wanting when it's come to intricate, loud and weird rock, and so it remains with the introduction to the debut self-titled EP by Salò. Its incredibly discordant, somewhat similar in tonality and darkness to Manchester's Kong (although not as good in my opinion). On Overlook Records, Salò’s sound stems from a shared love of the discordant end of 80s and 90s post-hardcore, such as Fugazi, Shudder To Think, The Jesus Lizard and Polvo, while also bringing in a range of more left field influences, from Swans to Beefheart. It shows.

In the immediate future, Salò will be playing as many shows as possible in support of the EP, and will be releasing a limited edition 7″ with Struggletown Records before starting work on new material. Looking forward to it, boys. Check out their song 'Valis' amongst this Overlook Records compilation, which isn't bad in itself.

Interview - Soccer Mom

Boston's Soccer Mom originated as the bedroom noodlings of Dan Parlin, before being fleshed out into a four-piece - Danielle Deveau (bass), David Kaplan (drums), and William Scales (guitar). They have been developing their sound for a few years, and yet their current 7" Billy Cosby In Glamorous Chains is their first proper release. With this kind of slow gestation, maybe they should combine with Autolux and score the next Terence Malick film? However their vision is set - they aim to find the perfect balance between harmony and distortion, melody and debilitating feedback; they wear their influences (ie Swervedriver, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine) - but above all to provide a lot of noisy fun. I interviewed the band about their direction, their influences - but first of all, that name...

Sonic Masala - The moniker - Soccer Mom - I personally really hate that term, and was ready to write you guys off based solely on that! Where did the genesis of the name come from?

Dan Parlin - To be honest, the name started a long time ago, and the motivation behind it was probably more humour than anything else. At the time, I (Dan) was playing in other bands but making bedroom recordings in my free time - when I wanted to put out of tape of all the songs I had been working on, I chose the name because, initially, the song lyrics all had something to do with what some terrible, bored housewife would do in her free time. I had songs about a woman stalking her neighbor in the grocery store, one about putting the "care back in the caravan" - it was all pretty silly. While I always took the music itself seriously, the lyrics were just an afterthought. At the time I was in bands where the lyrics were all very serious - this was sort of an escape from that. But, when we decided to take some of the songs and form a band around it, we kept the name. Granted the first song we all learned was about going to the Mall, but it's certainly become less silly as we've progressed. It's kind of a bummer that it might turn people off but, when you think about it, lots of bands have names that are kind of silly. It could be worse - we could be called Vampire Weekend.

SM - Ha, exactly! But do you think Soccer Mom as a name encapsulates your sound?

Dan - I don't know many bands that have names that really do that. Besides metal and hardcore bands where you pretty much know what your going to get by the name (no one really expects a ballad from Cannibal Corpse), Sonic Youth is one of the only bands I can think of where you can almost hear the music reading the name - that could also be my obsession with them talking. So, no - I don't think it does. But I also don't know what would.

SM - You've listed references in the past such as Swervedriver and Polvo, both of which make sense, but is there any J Mascis lurking in the darkened corners here? Particularly on the opening of 'Bill Cosby In Glamorous Chains', to me it smacked of Dinosaur Jr's dissonant guitar wail...

Dan -Dinosaur, Jr. are a HUGE influence on me, personally. The first time I heard Bug, I almost lost my mind. They took these walls of sound and made something so beautiful with it. For me, it was like they took all of the abrasive and sort of off-putting pieces of noise rock and made these really pretty songs - but, at the same time, they are the loudest fucking band I have ever seen play live. There are still parts of songs like "Little Fury Things" that give me chills. I'll put it this way, if My Bloody Valentine has you listed as a huge influence, you know you've done something right.

SM - All right then, for a bit of fun, if you were to shoehorn yourself into a genre, or to give yourself a label, what would it be?

Dan -That's hard - and not because we are so wildly different from anyone else - but because we're all coming from so many angles, influence-wise. I mean, it's rock music - but It's not punk, and it's not just noise. It's not quite dreamy enough to be shoegaze, but it's also not hard to hear all of those pieces sneak in. I think the sound lends itself to sit beside a lot of different sounding bands, which we really like. When people ask us what kind of music we play, I just say "loud". It's not much to go on, but at least you'll remember to bring earplugs to a show.

SM - You certainly aren't the prolific types...

Dan -Lyrically, no. But that's not our goal by any means. There are plenty of bands with great things to say, and to try to imitate that doesn't interest us. Though you'll hear a lot more vocal tracks on the newer stuff, it's still not where our focus lies.

SM -Is it your MO to do little recording or gigging, just disappear to the back of the queue, then jump back out at people at an unforeseen moment to remind us all that you are here? Or is it more of a Marty McFly/Doc Brown moment whereby your Delorean gets stuck in the nineties on a regular basis? (AKA Will you do more stuff?)

Dan -We've been playing a lot more this year and will probably continue to do so. We actually just finished recording a six-song EP which should see the light of day in some format by early next year. So yeah, we took it slow in the beginning (a few of us were in other bands when it started), but it's gaining some momentum for sure.

SM - Any thoughts towards travelling abroad, preferably to grace the presence of us wee UK dwellers?

Dan - Lots of thoughts, but no specific plans. We'd rather tour over there then here!

SM - Boston has carved out some pretty rocking musical niches in the past. Whats the scene like at the moment in your opinion?

Dan -It's always been a little cluttered in Boston, in my own opinion - tons of bands for such a small city. And it's no different now. There has always been a wealth of amazing stuff happening here - and there is a lot of stuff going on now that people (myself included) just never hear - tons of little scenes. The bands that play the big rooms here, however, might not always represent the overall city in terms of diversity. Check out a show in a basement (it really is still 1994!) and you'll hear some great stuff. Young Adults, who I know you've mentioned in the past, are a great example of some of the coolest stuff going on out here. They're definitely starting to take off (as they should). We're excited to see what else comes next. The great thing about playing smaller shows around town is you just see cool bands that you might not have otherwise. There is no doubt that great stuff comes out of here - remember the Swirlies?

SM - If you could support any band in the world, either existing or defunct, who would it be and why?

Dan - For me, it would be Sonic Youth. And that is because they are the best band that has ever happened. (Besides the Smiths, but I can't even joke about playing with them...)

SM - Best album/release of 2010 thus far?

The new Autolux record is pretty amazing. There is a band out of Canada called Women that just put out a pretty awesome follow-up record, too. But to be honest, I don't have that much new stuff...

SM - Well that's more than enough! Two of our favourite albums too. Finally, what is sonic masala?

Dan - I think we cracked the anagram: anal mosaics.

Wow - anal mosaics? Nice call. Soccer Mom's 7" can be found if you contact the guys, and we'll let you know when that elusive EP is on its way.

Soccer Mom - Billy Cosby On Glamorous Chains

Soccer Mom - High On Dad