The Marnie, The Witch and the Wardrobe (And Me)

Man, I am sooooooo in love with Marnie Stern. I apologise to my fiance, I do, but head over heels, right here. She is an awesome guitarist, songwriter, she gets Zach Hill and Kid Millions to drum with her - that is just some fucking ridiculous shit right there. I could go on. She also seems kind of stupid, as in she loves to muck around just as much as she does to hunker down with her guitar and blow everyone away, which every truly cool person must be. Because the truly cool person, is actually someone just like you and me - except they are really good at something, and it doesn't change them. Her new record, The Chronicles of Marnia, may not be in the same frenetic mash-up of previous recordings, but she nails even more because of that - there is bright, shiny pop mannerisms hiding underneath the manic aural colour streams. It's like Ponytail in structured form. I wrote a review of the album already for theMusic.com.au, and I've posted it below. (And by the way, Marnie, you should have extended your Win A Date comp to Brisbane, Australia. Just sayin').

Bursting forth like a clusterbomb created by art-noise tricksters Ponytail and Lightning Bolt (helped by the fact that the drumming duties, normally held by eight-armed Zach Hill, are pinned down by Oneida’s whirling dervish, Kid Millions), Year Of The Glad, Marnie Stern’s opening salvo on fourth album The Chronicles Of Marnia, sets the tone for the entire record. Still featuring the jawdropping fretwork dexterity that Stern is rightly renowned for, the track is a maelstrom of hypercolour explosions for the ears, Stern’s high-pitched vocals swinging from shrieking vowels to hushed murmurs, all evoking a sense of giddy joy.

Yet Stern has always countered her manic musical presence with a lyrical inversion, straddling euphoria and melancholy in equal measure. And so it continues here: the raucous math-rock punch of You Don’t Turn Down is punctuated by Stern’s finger-tapping brilliance and a machine gun delivery in the middle third that decries I’m losing hope in my body; Noonan’s fizzing energy belies a tiredness as Stern implores Don’t you want to be somebody?/And you kept on bringing me down; the kaleidoscopic singsong of Nothing Is Easy underscores Stern’s proclivity for soldiering on. This continual tug-of-war is what electrifies Stern as a person and an artist, and The Chronicles of Marnia has perfectly captured this in all its effervescent glory.

And the pendulum continues to swing – the one-two punch of closers Proof Of Life (with Stern imploring All my life, it’s based on fantasy/And all the gods, they’ve stopped talking to me offering lows which seem bottomless) and the feverish Hell Yes (which quivers and jitters uncontrollably, and purred vocals I won’t give in/I won’t give up/All I’ve got is time). Marnie Stern may feel torn, yet there’s no need to be – her musical legacy continues to energise and impress.

You can get The Chronicles Of Marnia through Kill Rockstars here.

Marnie Stern - Year Of The Glad

Marnie Stern - You Don't Turn Down

Flamingods Dance Towards The Sun

 

On Friday I showed London band Darkstar's filmclip for 'Amplified Ease'. It's good, don't get me wrong - that's why I included it. But if you want to be honest - I think that it's all in who you know. Because there is another London-based band that have really killed a record that are in a similar vein, and I haven't heard much about them - despite Dustin Wong (Ponytail) having some involvement in their record (playing guitar on single 'Quessa').

The record - Sun. The band - Flamingods, a five-piece made up of Kamal Rasool, Charles Prest, Sam Rowe, Craig Doporto, and Karthik Poduval. They have an amazing genesis story too - 4 of the 5 members (Kamal, Sam, Craig, and Charles) met in Bahrain before moving to London and becoming friends with Kartik. As early gigs go, Flamingods’ couldn’t have gone much better. Having all bought tickets to the Animal Collective-curated ATP festival, they decided to take along a selection of their huge instrument collection and embarked on an 8 hour set in a chalet on-site – with up to 60 people crammed in to try and grab a view of their constantly changing line-up and enchanting tribal rhythms, and those who couldn’t squeeze in danced outside or tried clambering through windows.

Sun is a hypnotic melange of African inflection, tribal rhythms and quirk, all centred around discovering a loop or beat that serves as an electric bolt down the spine. Animal Collective, Boredoms, and Sun City Girls are cited as influences, with the former’s irreverence and innate sense of fun most evident in these tracks. This is dance music for those who don’t like dance music, and don’t hate Vampire Weekend enough to turn their backs on the brilliance Afro rhythms. Rave on, you crazy hipsters.

 

Sun is out now on the ever-excellent Art Is Hard Records - head here to get it in sexy green vinyl.

Flamingods - Quesso

And here is a stream of Sun in its entirety - it'll get you moving, even if rigor mortis has set in.

Dustin Wong's Album Of Verbs

Ponytail may be on hiatus, but the musical magpies are anything if not prolific. Guitarist Dustin Wong has been putting out a plethora of wild and wonderful releases, and is now priming a new album - Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads - coming out on Thrill Jockey tomorrow. Unsurprisingly, it takes listeners on another trip through the intricately colourful wonderland that he creates with only his guitar and a bank of effects pedals. I've only listened to the album once all the way through (this morning whilst driving to work with hot coffee in between my legs), and whilst it cements Wong's overall fingerprints in the Ponytail aesthetic, it also highlights the Baltimore artist's penchant for pushing the envelope into technicolour realms, something that other artists from the region (eg Dan Deacon, Future Islands) have undertaken for the past decade now. I think this will help to cement Wong's capabilities firmly in a positive, rather than a throwaway, light.


Furthermore, Wong has set up something interesting that YOU can be a part of! Fans and friends can tell him about a dream that was significant or surreal, recurring or unusual, by recording a description of the dream to his Soundcloud page (or describing it in a written message sent to his page). He will then create an original piece of music inspired by each of these dreams. specifically incorporating their description, and post a selection of these recordings to his Soundcloud page during the week of the release of Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads, beginning on Monday, February 20 (TODAY). He says about the project, "I thought it would be a really neat idea to be able to contribute some of my music to people's dreams, not only would it be a good challenge but it would also be a very loose non-verbal way of interpreting a dream. By reflecting the mood of what the dream is it could bring something out of the dream that the dreamer never noticed, like a glaze that brings out the colors of a painting." Head here to check it all out.

Dustin Wong - Pink Diamond
Dustin Wong - Ice Sheets On Feet Prints

Dustin Wong - Pink Diamond from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Double Baltimore Magic

It was sad news indeed that two Baltimore acts, Double Dagger and Ponytail, have hung up their chaps in 2011. Both bands were up in my top ten live acts of all time (as witnessed by me - that's how these things work, right?). But two other B-more acts continue to ply their trade with excellent results.


First up we have the electro-shock artist and dance-party authority Dan Deacon, renowned as one of the world’s funnest and most epic live performers. I saw him play at London's ULU in 2009 - such an amazing show, it had all the funky white kids shuffling (they are too hip to dance). The Dr Marvin Monroe maniacal yet lovable alchemist, is equal parts crazy and inspirational, participatory and energetic, and his intense live show breaks down audience inhibitions to enable mass mayhem and fun. He has just signed onto Domino Records, and is making his way to Australia in January 2012! What's more he is bringing his ensemble - sop full band awesomeness! AND one such member is Denny from Double Dagger! Wow.

But the excellent times do not halt there, as he will be supported by one of 2011's most lauded artists in John Maus. His groundbreaking new album We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (released on one of our fave labels ever, Upset The Rhythm (as if you didn't already know!!!), distributed locally through Inertia) has been one of the iconic records of 2011. The confrontation of punk, the fleeting poignancy of 80s movie soundtracks, the insistent pulse of Moroder and the spirituality of Medieval and Baroque music all find salvation in John Maus.

The show is rounded out by locals Toy Balloon, whose sound is a collision of shambolic noise, plump dance grooves, brother / sister vocal harmonies and rigid polyrhythms. The result is a brilliant and confounding bastardisation of pop music that few people can resist. With one foot in a world occupied by new wave, cosmic disco, early hip hop and acid house, and the other foot firmly planted in the introspective, experimental indie rock world, the four piece has built a scene-busting following through their dynamic and diverse live shows. It all happens at Woodland on Thursday January 12 - grab your tickets here. AND A NEW ALBUM IS ON ITS WAY!!!

Dan Deacon - Red F


Then we have Future Islands, who also played that titular ULU show. Their new album, On The Water, is every bit as great as was hoped, and whilst they aren't known to be touring Australia soon, this album is more than enough to keep you afloat! Grab it here.

Future Islands - Give Us The Wind
Future Islands - Before The Bridge

With these two acts in business, the world is not a cold, dead place...

Big A Said To Little A - Get Louder!!!

NY percussive miscreants Aa (pronounced Big A Little A - hmmm) are re-releasing their 2007 album gAame, plus a couple other little pressies, as a new album of sorts called mAate (through Sensory Projects Records), and are following that up with a tour here in Australia, playing at Woodland on May 5. This promises to be something else - a cataclysmic sound that owes much to the likes of Ponytail, Black Dice and Battles amongst many more (Foot Village also comes to mind) for paving the way to making crazy noise montages a more viable sound, thus allowing them to come our way! They were involved in The Boredoms' drumming revolution Boardrum last year - so they are at THAT level...

Oh, and their artwork is fucking amazing. Aa's Aron Wahl is responsible for the above piece, plus all their cover art and most of their post work - seriously, hunt it down, its really impressive - look at some more here!

Aa - Crass

Broken Water - Stars On The Peripheral...

I think that one of the most underrated bands of the past twelve months is definitely Olympia, Washington's Broken Water. I love love LOVE last year's Whet LP - it was one I didnt put in my top ten much to my chagrin, and should have been in there, not enough people havent heard it and should! (Here are two instances last year that I talked about this stellar album (count em, one...two...; plus a piece on their Nothing Normal Happened EP is here). Well they have brought us another release called Peripheral Star (out on Perennial Records) and it is fantastic! Opening with the title track, these tracks ebb and flow along the faultlines of grunge, no wave and pop, mining territory that early Blonde Redhead harvested before glamming up their production and arting up their vision - and the trio are producing far more impressive results. I cant even decide on a favourite track. Ive listened to this pretty much non stop since getting it last week. Its been the punctuation marks between all the other albums and releases that have set down on Planet Masala (and that's including the new Panda Bear, Ponytail, Young Widows and Lil Daggers albums).

I implore you - please get into these guys ASAP and buy this! They're a must!

Broken Water - Peripheral Star
Broken Water - Kansas

Ponytail Find Having Fun Easy Peasy

The indefatiguable Ponytail have just released a track from the upcoming album Do Whatever You Want All The Time (out on We Are Free). 'Easy Peasy' is just over six minutes of beautifully quirky spazzpop, as only the Baltimore crew know how to do. Its giddy, breezy, intricate, whacked out, and blissfully energising - that obnoxious pink bunny doesnt stand a chance when Molly Siegel and co are champing at the bit to pogo around ad nauseum. Its listening to this though that gives one an uneasy feeling - with a track this good, and a potential killer album just around the corner, will we ever get to see it be played in the live arena? Dustin Wong has been adamant that Ponytail is being put to bed - but we can all hope, right?

Ponytail - Easy Peasy

And get a double dose of the easy peasies, with this very cool music video - Im puttin my shades on...

Ponytail || Easy Peasy from Ray Concepcion on Vimeo

And finally, go visit the We Are Free website - the opening page is pretty funny, yet also optimistic.

Ponytail's Last Chance To Do Whatever They Want

One of the saddest pieces of news last year was that Ponytail had called it a day - for the time being. We have since seen guitarist Dustin Wong release a solo album that gathered some critical kudos. Well, we Ponytail fans can rejoice in the knowledge that we will at the very least get a new album out of them, even if they arent necessarily going to tour it. Do Whatever You Want All The Time was recorded before/during/after the breakup, and is being released April 12 by We Are Free. Below is a nice little mashup of the album song's

Do Whatever You Want All The Time from WEAREFREE on Vimeo.

And here is a track to reminisce of times gone by...

Ponytail - Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)

Best Bits of 2010...by Tunabunny

So, we are a bit slow off the mark here, but it is December! Exciting times for the most part, due of course to the upcoming festive season, the parties, the presents, the drunken mishaps - but also because it means its the impending end of 2010. This is always interesting in music circles as everyone huddles over a drum fire (or a kiddie pool filled with ice and beer if you are south of the Equator) and discuss your favourites of the year. We love lists - they are endless sources of comment, debate, outright outrage, and sometimes a gift of their own (as in 'Shit, how did I ever miss that? Ive gotta go chase that up stat!')

So not only are we going to be giving a bevy of debatable lists of our own (best songs/live shows/albums/EPs/new bands etc), we thought we'd rope in some outside influences to put their two cents/pence/pesos in. So this month, be prepared to hear from diverse corners, just to allow you to get into the mindspace of some of the people we think really made our 2010.

First up is one of my favourite 'new bands', Athens Georgia messups Tunabunny! Their debut LP Tunabunny was a nice mashup of lo-fi dirtiness and Ponytail-esque spazzouts - a worthy release indeed - so I thought Id ask them what they liked most about the year that has seen them rise up like a burning pile of rubbish shot out of a cannon...

Tunabunny’s Top Ten of TwoThousandTen: a Tribute To Terrificness

1. The Fall – Your Future Our Clutter

2. Brigette got a 25-cent raise at the video store where she works

3. Toy Story 3

4. David Mitchell – The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet

5. David Shields – Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Actually, pretty much anyone named David. Did David Lee Roth write a book this year?)

6. Reading Katy Perry’s wikipedia entry out loud

7. Brian Eno – Small Craft On A Milk Sea

8. American Profile – In the early part of the 20th century Alexis d’Toqueville wrote, ‘In order to understand America, you have to undestand baseball.’ In the early 21st century, you have to understand American Profile, a weekly insert in most newspapers—a clusterfuck of feel-good americana, celebrity profiles, and shameless advertising.

9. Kristen Hersh – Rat Girl: A Memoir

10. Vampire Weekend – Contra

Interesting guff indeed! From today onwards, look forward to a new list as we close down 2010, and also celebrate the end of the 1st year of everything that is Sonic Masala...

Tunabunny - Gasmasks

Divisive percussive maelstrom do the do for 'The Boys'

Foot Village are amazing. Foot Village are vile. Foot Village are fun. Foot Village are obnoxious. Foot Village are noisy. Foot Village are just noise.

Many opinions juxtapose what it means to listen to Los Angeles percussion and vocal nihilists Foot Village. I came in on them with second LP Friendship Nation, and whilst last year's Anti-Magic did the best to harness the myriad gleefully malevolent energies zipping around the nucleus of this group, its that album that epitomises what its like to try to listen to them unheeded. Ever tried to grin, grimace and growl? This'll do it to ya.

And that juxtaposition continues, when follows of the band are whipped into a frenzy by the schizophrenic propaganda espoused by this self-titled 'drum nation', their philosophies buffeted on the sea of sound of their own making alongside advocations for public urination. Put the fun musical aberrations adn vocal screeching of Deerhoof, the demented thrashing, rhythms and vocal screeching of Lightning Bolt, and the effervescent energy and vocal screeching of Ponytail into a blender, add a massive dollop of vocal screeching, freeze it and then smash it with a 5 iron. They are a difficult listen, my acolytes - but once you get it, you really get it.

And they are abusing/balming our ears once more with the release of a new track, 'Lovers With Iraqis' (out through How To Fight Records; the rest can be hunted down via London's biggest and brightest Upset The Rhythm). Ive tried to explain it, but just jump in head first - it IS abrasive, it IS obnoxious, but it is also fucking amazing.

What's more, the 500-strong 7" boasts the above cover art that doubles as temporary tatts! Now who hasnt wanted a pixellated George Clooney emblazoned on their lower back? It also comes with B-Side 'Totally Tween' as well as remixes from Best Coast, Yip-Yip and Universal Studios Florida.

Foot Village - Lovers With Iraqis

NB - this is the MP3 version, not what you get on the 7". How do I know? Because Foot Village ensure to tell us, in the song, that it is the MP3 version. So...there.

Livin For The Weekends

Weekends are a band I heard about a few months ago from a friend who had been to South By South West and did a bit of a scout around. From all intents and purposes the 2 piece from Baltimore have drawn not unwarranted comparisons to the likes of Ponytail and Lightning Bolt, probably due to the fractured time signatures, guitar weird wizardry and shouty vocal interplay. Both members of the band write songs and play both instruments, which is always a plus when seeing them live Id imagine. I havent really got anything else to go on - except that they kicked off Impose Magazine's Cassette Series a couple months back - its a cracker! I like it more than the next two incarnations (although i do like both, as yesterday's post about Blissed Out and tomorrow's about Birthdays can attest), particularly title track 'Psychedelic Mice'. Reminds me of that show, 'Biker Mice From Mars', remember that? NO? WHAT??? Anyway, they also rock a mean cover of Future Islands' 'Little Dreamer' too. Their latest LP Strange Cultures (through Friends Records) came out earlier this year, and Im making it a perogative to hunt it down (the vinyl has an exclusive 7 minute version of 'Raincoat' - you should too...

Oh yeah, and its a hell of a lot of fun too.

Weekends - Psychedelic Mice
Weekends - Little Dreamer (Future Islands cover)

Growing Out Of A Ponytail...

Ive been waiting for Paul to drop this bomb, but cannot wait any longer...

After a hecticly interesting six or so years and a number of special releases underscoring their phenomenal firebrand live aura, Baltimore art spazzouts Ponytail have called an indefinite hiatus, citing various creative avenues that is seeing them drift apart (more geographically than anything I gather). The only thing I know for sure is that Jeremy has been kept very busy drumming for the Boredoms of recent times. It is impossible to find a replacement for any band member - Ponytail are an ever coalescing organism where every element is intrinsic to its evolution and survival - take one away and the rest dies. This is incredibly sad news, as these guys managed to create the kind of manic energy that can supersede Deerhoof in a support slot - DEERHOOF! So yeah, sad indeed. However, band member Dustin Wong has mentioned that whilst they are off doing their own individual projects, they may gravitate towards one another to begin 'another interesting experiment'. For the love of music, we can only hope so.

So, rather than start our weekend crying over split Ponytail, have a listen to one of their seminal tracks, jumping off the walls like a jellybean-riddled ADHD sufferer, and celebrate the body electric!



Ponytail - Celebrate The Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)