Bargain On Rangda Melts

Rangda are back! The face-melting trio (Comets On Fire/Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny, Sun City Girls' Sir Richard Bishop, drummer extraordinaire Chris Corsano) are releasing another slab of frenetic, feverish instrumental rock February next year in The Heretic's Bargain (again through Drag City), and 'To Melt The Moon' is the first salvo. It's a warped Mexican Western jam smothered in macho muscularity, stretched sinew and spasmodic Spaghetti stand-offs. Whenever these guys get in the ring, tightly calibrated carnage ensues. The album has a song called 'Spiro Agnew' and the closing track goes for nineteen minutes. Mind blown already! There is no one out there like this. Pre-order the record here.

Stalking An Androgynous Mind Throughout the Night

Avid readers of Sonic Masala (I think there are four of you?) might remember that we started out as a duo, myself and the enigmatic Paul M. We were (and still are) mates that revelled in scouring for and discovering new music, basking in the glories of old classics, emerging from the fiery waters of noise newly cleansed. That first year, 2010, was an exciting one. Albums like Liars' Sisterworld, Emeralds' Does It Look Like I'm Here? and Rangda's False Flag fuelled furious, likeminded debate, amorous adoration, and weekly excuses to go to shows and get wasted.

One band we both fixated on was Canadian killers Women. I still get a catch in my throat when I listen to 'Eyesore' off their second album (and our favourite of the year) Public Strain. Unfortunately I never got to see them play live before they went on hiatus, and even sadder was the news that guitarist Christopher Reimer passed away in 2012 due to complications from a heart condition. So it’s with great pleasure (and more than a little soft lense nostalgia) that I have welcomed Androgynous Mind, the new project for Women frontman Patrick Flegel (joined by Morgan Cook).

Nightstalker (out on the rad Faux Discx label) has had some pared back comparisons to Harry Pussy - wow indeed. The first two tracks are certainly indicative of such maniacal nihilism. But 'Knock On My Door' is something else, a languid, dead-eyed pop confectionery, a replicated artefact from Manson's Laurel Canyon, all sworling sepia, brown-tainted shadows, echoing eloquence and that iconic Flegel sharp jangle, a knife's-edge piercing of the dark. Fucking exciting.

You can buy Nightstalker here.

Horsing Around In Palo Verde's Zero Hour

These guys are pretty damned ace. I was approached a little while back by Phratry Records (Swear Jar, Mala In Se) about this sludge-metal improv duo called Palo Verde that they thought I would dig. Well, as happened at the end of last year, things got a little hectic, and they fell through the cracks. I've been listening to their Zero Hour record - and it fucking slays, especially opening track 'Dark Meadow For Long Night'. Seriously if you liked my Die On Planes post the other week, or love your music to fall somewhere between Rangda and Shellac but without those troublesome lyrics, then you will love this. Loud, deliberately abrasive, bordering on offensive, ballsy, and definitely rock. The best part? That it is also catchy - the band don't stray from dynamism, so in the end it inexplicably remains about the sum of its parts - this is soooooo tight. These girls (yes, the ladies can flay your eardrums too...) are amazing. If you get to see em, I envy you - seriously.


Grab Zero Hour here - NOW.

Palo Verde - Dark Meadow For Long Night

Sun City Girls Chew Over The Past

Those ethno-improv ethereal trippsters Sun City Girls wove a dense and intricate musical tapestry over the 26 years they were together, but out over 50 albums and myriad other types of releases before drummer Charles Gocher lost his battle with cancer in 2007. The Bishop brothers have banded together to release Gum Arabic, eleven tracks reaching as far back as 1983 to look at some of the more esoteric covers the band put to tape, and reinterpreting them. From the Morricone rumble of 'Sev Acher' to the Indian dirge of 'Helwa Shak' and the drunken psych blues ramblings of 'Night In Malta', their skewed jazz improvisational stylings permeated every noodle, strum, treble and beat. Hell - listen to 1988 track 'Esoterica of Abyssynia' and tell me that isnt a direct influence on Deerhoof! Whilst the Bishops have spread their wings to other ventures - notable Sir Richard's part in sludge instrumental supergroup Rangda -the legacy of Sun City Girls will always live on.

Sun City Girls - Sev Acher
Sun City Girls - Space Prophet Dogon (fucking amazing...)
Sun City Girls - Theme of Wild World Of Animals

Sonic Masala's Top Ten LPs of 2010

So this is what it all comes down to, the most important list of them all, Sonic Masala's Top Ten LPs of 2010. So in reverse order...

10. Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal

This album took time to grow on me, in fact I think Brooklyn based Daniel Lopatin's beautiful drone masterpiece is still growing on Brendan, but in time I'm sure he'll be won over. From the chaotic noise opening of Nil Admirari to the dense shimmer of Describing Bodies and even its blissed out drone wanderings of Stress Waves - this is a sublimely gorgeous abstract work.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Stress Waves

9. The Young - Voyagers of Legend

Out on Mexican Summer, this Austin rock four-piece seems to have been overlooked by many this year - but not Sonic Masala. The most considered raucous pop-punk album of 2010, jagged and rough but touched with a solemn emotive mood, this is like fighting with tears in your eyes.

The Young - Bird In The Bush

8. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?

Simply this years most beautiful album. The Cleveland trio really have captured something timeless in Does It Look Like I'm Here? With its delicate variations of mood and intensity each track seems to build its own momentum. Something I'm sure this album's reputation will do also, building momentum to be regarded as a modern classic.

Emeralds - Double Helix

7. Drum Eyes - Gira Gira

If there is one album this year that relentlessly pushes the totally insane card, then Drum Eyes' Gira Gira has to be it. Brooding, maximalist sonic expressions of the most warped minds. One minute sci-fi futurisms, the next driving trash insanity. A scarily fun riot of epic soundscapes.

Drum Eyes - 13 Magician

6. My Disco - Little Joy

My Disco is yet another band from Australia I wouldn't have found without Brendan's guidance. Criminally overlooked this year, Little Joy is the Melbourne trio's third LP. Pounding but calm, it is a work of rhythmic subtlety and relentless drive.

My Disco - Sunray

5. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

Right from the start Brendan has been telling me that My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky is one of the albums of the year, and just like the 13 year long road its taken Swans to reach this point, it took me a little while to see the true genius of this album. More approachable than the Swans' earlier brutal work but no less uncompromising. Swans with humanity and beauty? Maybe. Epic? Yes.

Swans - You Fucking People Make Me Sick

4. Liars - Sisterworld

Even with its early release Sisterworld was always going to be up there for Sonic Masala. The fifth Liars album is relentlessly tense, full of surreal imagery and anxiety. Strangely it didn't make the impact on the year we thought it would, but for us its the Liars at their most contagious.

Liars - Scissor

3. Zach Hill - Face Tat

Zach Hill is a sticksmith genius, that can't be denied. But Face Tat, his second full solo LP, underlines his credentials as a truly innovative musician. Astrological Straits was truly a bizarre and mesmerizing album, but Face Tat really takes Zach's solo work to a new level with the ferocious style with which he assaults his drums underpinning it all. Intense, deceptive, challenging, Face Tat sounds disorienting and alien at first, thanks partly to Hill's bizarre sound sources - but the more you delve into this 40 minute frenzy the more you are rewarded.

Zach Hill - Memo to the Man

2. Rangda - False Flag

Super groups are a strange thing. Whilst the depth of talent that makes up the Rangda trio is eye wateringly impressive - guitarists Sir Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and drummer Chris Corsano - it can be hard for the end result to be greater than the sum of the parts. However, Rangda's False Flag so is. An uncompromising beast of a record, it is simultaneously brutal and dynamic, subtle and beautiful. Rangda landed and took our breath away.

Rangda - Serrated Edges

1. Women - Public Strain

So here it is, the Sonic Masala best LP of 2010. Surprised? Maybe, but its not a compromise. In fact we really didn't want our end of year first to be just what we agreed upon, this choice has got conviction behind it. Some may have dismissed this album at first listen. In fact I almost did, such was my love of Woman's self titled debut. But give Public Strain repeated listens and its infectious off key claws and howls work their way into your soul. We're not calling Public Strain a grower - oh no, it much more deadly than that.

At first Public Strain's sunny rhythms might come to the fore, but as the drone driven aesthetics build from behind the scenes it becomes a different beast, sweet but sour, bleak but beautiful, crisp but soaked in reverb. Those chirpy tempos hiding its dark noise underbelly waiting to leak into your consciousness. With Women's first outing pop sweetness was kept separate from dark drone noise, but here Women have spawned something of frightening beauty. Public Strain is Sonic Masala's record of the year and its been quality gaining ground since August - now we can't let it go.

Woman - Drag Open

So there you have it, we left the list late so we knew we had everything. There's nothing more annoying than an end of list that drops in early November, we're the polar opposite. So what do you think? Have we missed anything? Is there a gem you'd push to the top? Let us know.

Best Gigs of 2010...by The Luminaire

The people behind the best venue in town, The Luminaire, pondered long and hard over what they thought were the best acts to pass through their hallowed halls this year, and have succinctly stated their top ten of 2010...

Best gigs at the Luminaire in 2010:

Malcolm Holcombe
Xiu Xiu
Dick Dale
Warpaint
Dum Dum Girls
Part Chimp
Pokey La Farge
Jonathan Richman
Hanggai
Rangda

Im gutted that I didnt get to see Dick Dale, Warpaint or especially Rangda (how did I miss this one?>!?!?), but can attest to the brilliance of the Part Chimp show, where they were more than ably supported by Sloath and Gum Takes Tooth (after Todd sadly pulled out). Make sure you get to some of the last ever gigs at this brilliant arena before they shut their doors on a self-made legacy...

Malcolm Holcombe - Sparrows and Sparrows
Xiu Xiu - Bishop, CA
Dick Dale - Hava Nagila
Warpaint - Set Your Arms Down
Dum Dum Girls - Bhang Bhang, Im A Burnout
Part Chimp - 30 Billion People
Pokey La Farge - (couldnt find any tracks, sorry!)
Jonathan Richman - Road Runner
Hanggai - My Banjo And I
Rangda - Serrated Edge

Old World Vulture Create A New World Order

Toronto four-piece Old World Vulture blew me away with their self-released, self-titled EP of earlier this year. What hit me about this instrumental act is their simultaneous adherence and abhorrence to the tropes of instrumental rock, or post rock. There is the sweeping cinematic nature of the building dynamics of sound ('Destroyer'), the relentless balls to the wall ferocity of guitar wails ('Benny') - but not only does the added loops and synth add another dimension, there is a particular styling to each song that ensure that all 6 tracks stand out. 'How The West Was Lost' felt like a dystopyian Western scored by Texans Zombie Western - and Vangelis... whilst the sweeping charm and slight shadow of Holy Fuck esque disco on 'Bastard Engine' and the dreamlike synth lines undercut by rumbling bass of 'Too Much Eye Makeup' heralds a brooding menace to come... Not only is Old World Vulture an assured release, it showcases a band not afraid to play with their boundaries, and to do it in concise cuts. I havent been able to get these tracks out of my head for a week now. I havent been this excited about a new instrumental band this year since Rangda released False Flag, and although it isnt the same brutal bludgeon that they push forth, Old World Vulture are a world unto themselves. A great seal of approval.

Old World Vulture are recording material for their debut LP due out next year.

Old World Vulture - Benny

Old World Vulture - Too Much Eye Makeup

Baby-eating radness

Do not go to Bali.

Wow, a rather strong statement to make, even if Sonic Masala does not have the clout to bring down the entire Indonesian tourism industry...yet...

But the statement is not meant to be literal. For no one in the world is safe from Rangda, the new collective 'supergroup' that is eviscerating eardrums everywhere via their latest LP, False Flag. Made up of Comets On Fire/Six Organs of Admittance dynamo Ben Chasny, percussion master Chris Corsano and Sir Richard Bishop (of Arizona noise wizard trippers Sun City Girls), Rangda (monikered after the Balinese witch doctor both reviled and adored for her chaotic veagence - see, I was leading somewhere with all this) are a full throttled noisefest, sludging guitar rock of monumental proportions. And they are not trying to paint their wagon in any other fashion - from their own name to song titles such as 'Bull Lore', 'Fist Family' and 'Serrated Edges', these boys are here to tear your being to the ground and devour the child within. Seriously scary stuff then - and immensely satisfying.

But that little grab of words doesn't do False Flag justice. Ive had it in my possession for over a week now, and every time I listen to it I am drawn more and more to it. Its not just the volcanic fury inherent in every bludgeoning sound that makes me salivate - it is the innate intricacy, the soul that writhes within each track, that is equally if not so more enchanting. It is a fucking awesome record, especially for the incendiary drumming of Corsano - what a fucking god! - so imagine catching them live? It would have you throwing your own child into the blender just to appease them.

False Flag is out through Drag City now. They played in London last Thursday, same night as Liars, Male Bonding and my book launch. Suffice to say that last Thursday was not particularly fair to all those bands, what with the hordes of avid readers keen to get their mitts on my grubby novella - but hopefully Rangda will (dis)grace us with their presence in the very near future - including the Godspeed You Black Emperor-curated ATP in December...

Rangda - Bull Lore
Rangda - Serrated Edges