Review - Beast & Flood's Lanugo and Tour Dates

Sydney trio Beast & Flood have graced the pages here a few times over the past twelve or so months, ever since I saw them play an energising set at Blackwire Records supporting Roku Music on their national Collider tour. The band are finally bringing out debut LP Lanugo and it's as chaotic, guttural, twitchingly melodic and fearlessly verbose. Opener 'Gold Maids' is indicative of the piano-wire strikes and emotive strangulation that these guys deliver in sonic cyanide capsule form. There is an affinity with Adelaide's Sincerely, Grizzly and Texan titans At The Drive In and ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - the frenetic fretwork, the bearing of sinew and soul, the anguish, ambiguity and absurdity of life. Adam's vocals will be an acquired taste to some - each word is ripped from the throat, an involuntary expulsion of pent-up existentialism and ennui. but there are moments of synchronicity amidst the gnashing and gurning.

Lanugo is out June 22 on No Safe Place Records. They tour the album through June/July/August - see below for dates and supports:

25/06 - RAD, Woollongong w/ Milkk, Solid Effort
26/06 - Blackwire, SYD w/ Hannahband, Polyfox & the Union of Most Ghosts

09/07 - Rics, BRIS w/ On VHS

10/07 - The Bearded Lady, BRIS w/ Ghost Notes, Draining Pool, Low Season

11/07 - Beatdisc, Parramatta w/ Carb On Carb + Bare Grillz + Sweater Season

16/07 - Phoenix, Canberra w/ Primary Colours + Mind Blanks

17/07 - The Metropolitan, Adelaide w/ No Action + Great Oceans + David Crosby's Sinus

18/07 - Vice Bar, Melbourne w/ Worm Crown + Nun of the Tongue

24/07 - The Brisbane Hotel, Hobart w/ Naked + All The Weathers

01/08 - The Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle

07/08 - The Old Manly Boatshed, Sydney w/ Ruth Carp & The Fish Heads

PREMIERE - Primary Colours Keep It Basic With Compact Disc (VIDEO)

Today I kiss the ground of Australian soil for the first time in nine months - AND IT FELT SO GOOD. Ill be offline for a few days as I lose myself in the Victorian countryside (and head to Golden Plains too), so let's welcome each other into a warm embrace by premiering the new Primary Colours video, 'Compact Disc'. It's their scrappy post punk nonsense, which gets heady and serrated if suitably loose, but the looped, VHS faded, cartoon cigarettes, smiles and starts-imposed clip is its own streamlined beast.

Primary Colours are about to embark on a tour to launch their Compact Disc/Services Rendered 7" release:

March 14th @ The Phoenix Pub Canberra w/ Bare Grillz 

March 20th @ Black Wire Records w/ Sadfaces + Twin Rover 

March 22nd @ The Grace Darling Hotel for Minimum Wage w/ Orlando Furious.

Seeing Primary Colours On A Compact Disc

Let's finish off this Australia Day with Canberrans Primary Colours who are prepping their Compact Disc/Services Rendered 7". The bass/drums punk/dance noiseniks (Wives' Gus McGrath (also of California Girls) and Jordan Rodger (also of TV Colours)) construct and destruct simultaneously, playing out like the Faint if they hung out at the Jamison Centre. It's raw enough to appeal to the punk aesthetic that permeates the richest seams of the Australian underground, while danceable enough for white hipsters to move their hips a quarter of an inch at a time without breaking a sweat or their crossed arms. There is a lurking menace to 'Services Rendered' though that I would like to become more fully realised - that swing from a more raucous level to something approaching synthetic danger.

Grab the 7" here.

Electrified Relaxation

I have debated with my good friend Luke for over a year now as to whether the name of the below featured band is tongue in cheek brilliance or just plain shit. Regardless of the outcome of this rostrum, Ive been a massive fan of Eddy Current Suppression Ring for some years now. The Sydney, Australia four piece have been relentlessly touring their brand of skitterish turn of the '80s visceral punk circa Tom Verlaine/Television all over Down Under, and although they are yet to crack international fame they keep plugging away - and with their 3rd album, Rush to Relax, I hope they succeed...

The album finds them equally in 'if it ain't broke...' and 'the grass is greener...' modes. How can such a juxtaposition exist on one record? Simple. The short songs - like Anxiety, Walked Into A Corner, I Got A Feeling - are pure classic ECSR, short sparks of ranted/chanted/spat vocals, punchy guitar, simple yet energetic rhythm section. Anxiety seems a natural extension of vocalist Brendan Suppression's state of mind (at least on stage), his frenetic swaying and jerky movements belying a tortured soul, a musical schizophrenic. Yet the departure doesnt come so much from a different style so as a jamming headspace that sees songs like Tuning Out and Second Guessing extend over the 6 minute mark. The songs themselves are self contained ECSR songs, no question - but it also allows for the band to provide a more sonic, improvised sound. Some pundits have argued that this takes away from the inherent bluster and beauty that is Eddy Current, but I disagree - especially with Tuning Out, which provides a languid spacey jam in between Brendan's anxious ravings. It all ends with the title track, with rumbling drum and bass, insistent strumming and desperate vocals telling us to calm down and relax, the very antithesis of the sound invading the airwaves...before 20 minutes of crashing surf closes out the album.

Rush to Relax proves to be a great follow up to their first two albums, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and Primary Colours (both having garnered release hear through Melodic Records), a true testament to this garage punk band. And whilst they continue to garner plaudits in Australia (having won the Australia Music award in 2008 for Primary Colours; past recipients include the peerless Drones), the hard work and high-octane energy exerted at their live shows appears to be (finally) bearing fruition, as they have scored a support slot for Pissed Jeans for their US tour in July! So its time to get electrified...

NB. Ill be returning to Australia for a brief holiday in April, and ECSR just so happen to be playing - a review will be in the works...

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Anxiety