AA Roman Typo

Another of the acts we have on Tuesday's Sonic Masala showcase, Roman Typo is a new London band that have me champing at the bit. It's clear the trio have that post-punk angularity etched into their DNA, but rather than the Joy Division route, or even the Wire route, we have a cross-Atlantic reference that we don't hear too much these days - that of seminal band Fugazi. Sure, the vocals share a tonal affinity with Mackaye and Picciotto, but there is a languid fluidity to the grooves that are laid down before things blast through the breakers. The inflections, the dragged notes, the melodies that feel ominous - it is all there, fermenting.

Many Ways In To Europe For Fraudband...One Way Out

On Tuesday is the next Sonic Masala showcase at Power Lunches. Joining us all the way from Melbourne is powerful, sinuous instrumental duo Fraudband, on their European tour launching their album Many Ways In...One Way Out. It's a great record too - there are moments of sparseness, and the entire album floats in its own fermented space, even when things get loose-limbed and frenetic. It reminds me of Dirty Three, without Warren Ellis but with his ghost infiltrating the elegant mass left behind, filtered through by crossroad blues, cathartic caterwauls and genuflecting nuance. It's a nebulous work that feeds off impulse and intuition, knowing when to slip into and out of a rhythm, when to stay clean and run roughshod over a build-up, when to hold back and when to purge. It's a classy yet rambunctious affair, and I cannot wait to see it heat up that small mirrored room next week. Buy Many Ways In...One Way Out through Kasumuen Records here.

Holding On To The Briggs

Jackson Briggs used to tear up the guitar in Brisbane's unique Outback Gothics Nikko. He is now out on his own, chucking his middle name in there and has an equally ramshackle band behind him as Jackson Reid Briggs & the Heaters, and is preparing to release 7" Holding On. It's loose, rambunctious, rough around the edges rock and roll, tired yet desperate to dispel the demons, or drown in amber trying. It's the kind of singalong that has a whiff of hope come from the cracked lips of a broken man that refuses to lie down. Holding On is coming out through Kasumuen Records (home to SM faves Fraudband) - get it here. Jackson is a bit of a restless shaggy soul, traipsing all over Australia and Japan in the past, and he is coming to Europe in July. He will be playing the next Sonic Masala showcase here in London alongside Hygiene, Primetime and Tense Men. Splash some amber sods and let him know that he's holding on - he will get there.

What's Mine Is Yaws

One of the highlights of the first Sonic Masala London show the other weekend was witnessing the first set by noisetronic wunderkind Yaws. His sense of incremental coalescence, whether it be in sinuous percolating undercurrents or more garish buoyancy, manifests into a trancelike euphoria, combining with a vintage television flickering with white noise in that dark room of mirrors that is Power Lunches, provided a magnetic performance that had the crowd in full thrall. Having heard his EP-in-progress, its clear that Yaws (AKA Dom Stephens) is beguiled by synthetic repetition that walks in the shadows as much as the light. The noise and static is measured yet always pregnant with acidic purpose, whether menacing or acerbic. The Coil reference has been coined, but its the word itself is the clearest connection yet, especially in relation to 'Seventh Continent', the infinitesimal additions of hiss and hum that takes you further down the rabbit hole. I can't wait to see what Yaws brings forth next.

Soft Grimacing Waves

Irish label Soft Power ended 2014 and started 2015 in strong fashion with a pair of releases that really impress. In December London duo/trio and SM faves Witching Waves released their debut LP Fear of Falling Down (which is almost sold out already - get one of the last 35 here), which is an absolute corker of a record that broods within garage rock circles yet are more indebted to the Fortuna Pop crowd, and are more reminiscent of Sons & Daughters than their angular brethren. Going from DIY bludgeoning to a label that has coaxed the likes of September Girls and The Spook School into the limelight hasn't changed Witching Waves' gritty-yet-hook-heavy approach one iota. This is an excellent release, and damned if these guys won't be doing something special by year's end. Get along and see them play Power Lunches this Friday.

Then there is I Am Material, the six-track cassette EP from fellow Londoners H. Grimace, which goes even further into the dark, yet hushed, corners. The lurking ambiance is always imbued with unkempt portent, so that when a song like 'Royal Hush' starts out a languid pop malaise (something akin to Melbourne's Summer Flake), its facade cracks and the true beast is unleashed. 'To The Shaggerston' is a punk gnarl of the Seattle backwater variety (and all the greater because of it). To my ears, there aren't many bands in London doing this kind of ragged, languid rock, which makes them all the more important to get behind. Not that we will see them much in March, as they do a frantic tour across the US aided in part by SF label 20 Sided Records.