Carpet Shrapnel Yanked From Sam's Brain

Sydney basement dreamers Shrapnel have released Carpet Yankers, a cool cat cassette from Sam Wilkinson (Day Ravies, Mope City, King Tears Mortuary etc etc, out through his Strange Pursuits label). Shrapnel is Wilkinson letting fly, embracing his inner Bob Pollard, Stephen Malkmus, Jason Lowenstein and Calvin Johnson. From the frayed slacker bilge of chugging opener 'Chicken Fantasy', to the Sebadoh-meets-wasted Lennon in Erskineville warp of 'Floss The Boss' and the Doug Martsch fronting Superchunk in a tin can of 'Face On The Desk' - there are a lot of cantankerous, haphazard, blistering in the shade rock on offer. But there is as much time for cracked reflection, as is heard on the thin synth and crackling vocals wasting away on the title track, or the nascent acoustic dement-folk of 'Procrastinate/Disintegrate'. By eschewing the warm wall of sound of Day Ravies and the lo-fi (S)andpit growl of Mope City, Shrapnel is an experiment in freefall thoughts, allowing everything to ferment and take root, no matter how weird and wild. My favourite tracks (for the moment, the mood shifts like a serpent in the sludge) is the wonky, anaesthetised rock with added Beatle riff 'Duty To Do' and the Breeders cruise closer 'Stewing With You'. Yeah, there are a shedload of references rolled out today, but when listening to Carpet Yankers that is what it feels like - a carefree, bloody talented performer playing with the hits - and winning. Grab it here.

Video Vacuum Post Halloween Special - Nobunny, GHXST, Sweet Apple, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Flying Lotus...and Dizzee Rascal?

One last Halloween nasty. Some great specials here. Gory Nobunny, VHS nasty GHXST, silly Silver Apple (with added GBV goodness), some viral V/H/S manipulation from Roadkill Ghost Choir, a love of Salad Fingers emanating from Flying Lotus...and Dizzee Rascal? Really? Yep, I love this video. I don't think I have to tell you though - this is all VERY NSFW. Enjoy, gorehounds.

Dollar Bar (NOT At Paddington Workers Club...)

Brisbane's premier purveyors of sardonic yet whimsical guitar pop Dollar Bar have returned like the fabled phoenix. It seemed that you couldn't step out your front door in the early 2000's without falling over the band. Yet after a series of slick releases and a debut eponymous album, the boys left us in 2004. But the last three years has seen the fire back in the bellies of the four-piece - there is no sense of purpose here other than for the band to get back together again, hang out as mates, just like you're supposed to. Why be in a band if you hate everyone unless you are 90s Lou Barlow, amirite?

Dollar Bar are launching 2nd album ten years on from the debut, and it's called Paddington Workers Club after the now sadly defunct establishment that many a Brisbane band of the 90s and early 00s cut their teeth and drank their weight in the amber stuff. Its fitting that as their "comeback" record, unlike Farnesy, actually means something - its self referential as always, but is looking forward as well as looking back, and what made things tick. The boys are older, worldlier and (assumedly) wiser, yet the cheek, wit and cagey shambolism remains intact. Tattooed hipster Canadian girls on bikes, sterilised currency, overdue bills, people from Brisbane moving to Melbourne to hang with people from Brisbane, Pollard and Salter references - these things only skim the surface of why this album is the shit. And it's short, so it's a bliss bomb as well.



Dollar Bar launch Paddington Workers Club tonight in Brisbane at the Beetle Bar. The supports - Roku Music, Tape/Off and Undead Apes - is outta this world too. This is seriously going to be one of the most fun music nights of the year, so you better be there, fools. Here's their great new video too. It's good to have you back, lads.

Friday Cover Up - Songs In The Key Of Bob

To finish up the week, I'm looking at a 7" compilation that isn't exactly a covers release, although it fits tenuously within the mould.

Hear me out.

Songs In The Key Of Bob is the first official release from Charlottesville, Virginia label Hibernator Gigs Records. It features seven original songs from seven bands (a couple, such as Invisible Hand and Naked Gods, having graced these hallowed halls), all written and recorded in the style of DIY legends Guided By Voices. As you would expect from such an approach, the songs vary in fidelity and ambition, yet all achieve the purpose they set out to reach. Te idea stems from a moment when Adam Brock (Borrowed Beams Of Light/Invisible Hand/Weird Mob) started to re imagine the titles of theses and journals (some included Cream of the Jesters and Popular Dogs) he was sorting in a library warehouse into GBV titles. Brock held onto the best titles he found, circulated them to some of his fave bands to pick one and write their best GBV interpretation, and voila, this bizarre ode to the Dayton, Ohio gods was born.

Rather than pick a favourite, I'll let you dive into the entire thing, see what tickles your fancy. I do like Borrowed Beams...'s 'Stone Cutters Journal' though (couldn't help myself). You can pre-order this (on blue vinyl, no less) here.

The Pond? Michael's In The Pond!

Ah, I've always wanted a legitimate reason to quote that here on Planet Masala, and thanks to Brooklyn's resident rust-edged slackers Shark? (who I've spoken of before when they released True Waste in 2011), it has been handed to me on a platter like the head of John the Baptist.

But we aren't here to talk about Amity Island OR gruesome moments in biblical history - we are here to get excited about California Grrls, Shark?'s debut single release (out through Old Flame Records - responsible for putting out Total Babes, The Pharmacy and early Cloud Nothings - earlier this month on blood-red cassette), which is in itself a taster of their incumbent LP Savior. What impresses me about this band is their cross-sectional sound - the off-kilter surf rock that Black Francis and his Pixies were guilty of, the loose DIY blueprint embedded in the compositions a la Robert Pollard at his most acerbic - yet there is nothing truly malicious here - its four dudes getting rolling drunk on rocking out. Which makes the question mark that signifies their band name so poignant - sharks are fucking cool, the king of their domain, but they are also pretty damn dangerous, which doesn't fit - or does it? Confusion reigns. Much like 'California Grrls' - a quiet intro leads to some skronky shambling garage rock that holds all but disdain, which would have David Lee Roth rolling in his grave, such is his love for the West Coast ladies (what do you mean, he isn't dead?)

California Grrls can be bought here.

Guided By Voices Make A Lunch Out Of Bears (And Everything Else)

 

So Guided By Voices have another record, The Bears At Lunch, coming out tomorrow. Surprise surprise. I haven’t heard it, yet as always I am curious. Will it be brilliance from start to finish, will it hold curveballs, will it be top heavy and die away at the end, will I have to mine deep for the gems? Because there ARE gems in every GBV and Pollard-related release – he is incapable of not crafting at least one gold riff or stellar throwaway line. Which is nothing to take away from Sprout and Mitchell either… But 2012 has been unseasonably good – their previous two albums Let’s Go Eat The Factory and Class Clown Spots A UFO were a resurgence to form, Pollard’s two solo records were solid to good, and you can’t knock a Boston Spaceships Best Of ever. ‘She Lives In An Airport’ will be on The Bears At Lunch, and it is pretty damn good. Not brilliant, but if this is a reasonable indicator of what is to come, then we could have something special on our hands. It refuses to fit the pop mould – there isn’t even a chorus! Yet it is addictive as hell.

 

Preorder The Bears At Lunch here. Or, grab one of the special limited edition series of 7" singles that Fire Records commissioned (or all three as a bundle), all of which features a track from the album as well as previously unreleased, brand new b-sides spanning the band's varied writing styles. "Hangover Child" includes non-LP b-side "Urchin Promise" written by Tobin Sprout; "Everywhere Is Miles From Everywhere" includes non-LP b-side "The World's Getting Smaller" written by Mitch Mitchell; and "White Flag" includes non-LP b-sides "Casino Model" & "Zebra Film Negative" written by Robert Pollard.

Sweltering In The Dusty Heat

 

New Orleans based band Heat Dust throw a lot of shit into the industrial mixer – noise rock, punk snot, fuzzed rot, rhythmic flot(sam) – all while ring-a-ring-a-rosying around a maypole devoted to J Mascis and Robert Pollard. The five tracks on their self-titled cassette EP are fizzing with hooks embalmed in 90s sepia-tinged euphoria, a pertinent dynamic in 2012. Strident hooks and melodies are rife, culminating in tracks that are impossible to ignore nor dislike. Having jumped on board San Antonio based Texas Is Funny Records (home to SM faves God Townes and Grasshopper Lies Heavy), Heat Dust are red hot.

Heat Dust – Sleeping Call
Heat Dust – Thick Distance

Pollard's Off The Reservation, Out Of The Factory, Back On The Ranch

Guided By Voices have always been prolific, but 2012 has been especially so, what with three records (all of varying levels of good value) and some re-issues. But ringleader Robert Pollard hasn't stopped there, with some Boston Spaceships action and two solo records, the latest of which, Jack Sells The Cow, came out in vinyl form last week. I admire his voracious attitude towards making m

Making music, but it can admittedly be scattershot, and sometimes you just want him to settle down and write consistently. But his inconsistency, his swerves and twists in creative flights of fancy, is his major trump card. So it goes with his solo work. Still there is always gold to be mined, so it’s worth the time and effort combing through these records for that Pollard gem. I tell you, if someone were to make a definitive GBV/Pollard best of compilation, it would be three LPs of the best music you have ever heard. Until then, you will have to do the hard work – and it will reap its rewards.

Most of these releases, including Jack Sells The Cow, can be found through Fire Records - check em all out here.

Robert Pollard - Who's Running My Ranch

Deceptive TANK All About Nostalgic Slack And Minds On One Track

Bands choosing simplistic monikers to disappear in a Google camouflage is a double edged sword. On the one hand it means you aren't pandering to the man. Yet for those genuinely interested in finding more, it's a massive flipping of the bird. Brooklyn band TANK certainly stay under the radar, but this is an absolute shame as their six-track self-titled EP is pretty killer, and deserves to be picked up by all and sundry.

Let's start off with 'Assorted Reactors.' TANK cast their Pavement pogs into the ring from the get go. Yet there are other connections here that Im sure these dudes didn't even see coming. Second track 'One Track Mind' reminds me so much about the jangly guitar pop of underrated 90s Aussie heroes Gaslight Radio (or any number of Aussie bands from the mid to late 90s) as well as some of those Flying Nun gurus that it spins me into a nostalgic whirl everytime I hear it. There are GBV vibes throughout this EP too - Robert Pollard's essence runs deep on a track like 'Donna', that's for sure. It's loud yet incredibly melodic, just as the slacker gods proclaim it should be. Pick it up for free over here.

TANK - Assorted Reactors
TANK - One Track Mind

Bearded Spaceships From Boston Guided By Voices No Longer...

Last week I gave out a taster from the new Guided By Voices record. I also stated in that post about an interview where fellow Columbus, Ohio band Times New Viking felt that they may have to call it a day as they were "growing up". Well, if that GBV incumbent LP isn't enough to shake the youngsters out of their doldrums, they should look to Robert Pollard's other projects, one of which is Boston Spaceships. They put out an album a month or so ago, Let It Beard, a simple play at the Beatles album. If people doubt the validity of elder statesmen rocking out to original tunes, Let It Beard should cast those aspersions into the fire where they belong. This trio have put out some fine releases in their time, and although this ambitious 2LP affair doesn't always hit the bullseye, the quality ratio is substantially high, and Pollard kills.


Sadly this is said to be the final release, so if you like what you hear (and you bloody well should!) get to buying the back catalogue. Start here, then in my opinion take on Planets Are Blasted first - but they are all ace.

Boston Spaceships - Blind 20-20
Boston Spaceships - Tourist UFO
Boston Spaceships - Let It Beard

Thos Voices Will Guide Us To The Very End

I saw Times New Viking play earlier this year in what was one of the best shows of 2011. However one thing they mentioned struck me as a little...well, sad, although I understand the idea. The band mentioned that now that they are in their thirties, they feel a bit silly from time to time creating noise and thrashing about, and are considering their options for the future. The Columbus Ohio trio are fantastic, and self-confessed Guided By Voices fanatics (no less due to the hometown connections), so I hope they look to Robert Pollard to see how it can be that they make it work.

Guided By Voices go from strength to strength, and have just released the below track off the forthcoming Let's Go Eat The Factory LP (featuring the classic line-up that includes Tobin Sprout - and he's writing songs again!). Pollard has also released an awesome album with side project Boston Spaceships which will be here very shortly. These guys have been around much longer than TNV, and are still finding ways of being inimitably awesome. Hopefully some of that Columbus mojo will rub off on them...

Let's Go Eat The Factory will be out New Year's Day - what a way to bring in a bleary-eyed 2012! Actually, maybe the world cannot handle this record - this is what the Mayans warned us about! Ah well. In that case, I guess there is no hurry in keeping TNV together...

Tracklist below (the amount and brevity of tracks also heralds TNV - come on guys, stay on for the good of humanity!!!)

Laundry And Lasers
The Head
Doughnut For A Snowman
Spiderfighter
Hang Mr. Kite
God Loves Us
The Unsinkable Fats Domino
Who Invented The Sun
The Big Hat And Toy Show
Imperial Racehorsing
How I Met My Mother
Waves
My Europa
Chocolate Boy
The Things That Never Need
Either Nelson
Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)
Old Bones
Go Rolling Home
The Room Taking Shape
We Won't Apologize For The Human Race

Guided By Voices - The Unsinkable Fats Domino