Ruling The Underworld By Thirds

Adelaide goth punks Rule Of Thirds have just come back home to roost after successive successful tours of the US and their homeland, all to hex the world with their new record (out on Nopatience Records). Their cold and calculating charms are put into effect with opener 'Any War', which is a slow, atmospheric lurker that throws any first-timers off what they are in for for the rest of the album. That said, the six-minute song is beautifully haunting, a cavernous slowburner that ekes out its plodding bassline and sinuous feedback skree in slow motion, and surprisingly remains my favourite track. Surprising only in that I knew where the rest of the album was likely to take me. Sliding effortlessly somewhere between the cold, standoffish guitar lines of Slug Guts, the blue blush synth of Pleasure Symbols, and the effortless echoing cool of Multiple Man, with added punk swagger a la Occults (throw in Gazar Strips, all past and present Brisbane bands, bizarrely), Rule Of Thirds manages to take all elements of the Australian Gothic rock niche and trump them all. Things become a little more unhinged and macabre when the tempo picks up - 'Higher Forms', 'Fingerprints' and 'Blue And Red' take us on the ghost train to Hell. 'Pleasure Hive' takes its time, preferring to drag us kicking and screaming by tufts of our hair. A sinister and seductive listen, you can get Rule Of Thirds here.

Adelaide Blasts From Grid City

Let's finish off as we started today, highlighting the festering brilliance of the Adelaide rock scene, with the compilation from Grid City Itch. Whilst there are only a couple bands I am overtly ofay with (Rule of Thirds/Laiika), I am aware of most of these bands from Adelaidian-at-heart Steph Crase, whose Summer Flake now resides in Melbourne and will be playing our SM Fest in March 14. So the likes of primal spat punk of Men With Chips (a familiar sound in 21st century Australian wastelands), the feverish synth snap of Meat Market (my personal favourite) and synapse meltdown of Kash Konverters ... Elsewhere there are more nuggets to latch on to like the nascent noise of Teen Trash or the lurking synth omens of Deep Red (nice Argento touchstone there too). This is the Adelaide equivalent of the All Day Breakfast compilation that came out in 2012, shining a deserved light on the Real Bad fringe dwellers in the Brisbane music scene (although calling Blank Realm a fringe dweller is a stretch nowadays...).
 

METRO SCHOOL REUNION FOREVER!

(Post written by Fred Savage Beasts)

Adelaide - home of the severely underrated genius. Right where Australia balances between the currents from the Antarctic and the wide, brown desert. Wide streets, trams, Jamie Siddons, Crows and now this… The Metro School Reunion. This is the reason you’ve been looking for to take your beat up VK Holden on its final legendary drive.

Get a load of the bands on the list, dammit! TV Colours alone would make this worthwhile. Like the Crows say, “FAAARK…” All these bands should be in the test team.

TV COLOURS★CONSTANT MONGREL★HIT THE JACKPOT★NATIVE CATS★LAKES★SCHOOL OF RADIANT LIVING ★BITCH PREFECT★PEAK TWINS★OLD MATE★RULE OF THIRDS★WIREHEADS 

On at the city's stalwart Hotel Metropolitan on October 5. Wind down the windows, rubber band your teas towels round your frozen water bottles and get yourself there. Any way you can.

Single Queen Catching The Rays

Those pesky UV Racers don't know how to quit. Nathan gave his view of racism (and Racism) here. They have a 7" coming out soon through No Patience (whose latest releases - 7" singles from Brisbane's Occults and Adelaide's Rule Of Thirds, are commendable purchases also), and if the lurid artwork is anything to go by, it promises to threaten you with physical harm before squeezing your crotch and licking your eyeball. This track off it doesn't play with conventions, nor need it - playing against type is their modus operandi. Look at that title. Ridiculous, right? That's how they lower your guard. Then before you know it your lipstick is smeared, your fishnets are torn, and your hair is askew, bits of straw sticking out like crooked confetti. Yet your mascara stays firmly in place - there will be no tears here, son.

If you are in the US, you can catch The UV Race playing a bunch of shows, the next few under the wing of fellow reprobates Total Control, before they pull up stumps at the Chaos in Tejas festival in Austin.

Thursday Cover Up - Black Lassie Keeps On Dancin

Not as much a review (and moving the cover post from its coveted Friday slot) as a promotion. Tonight there is a goddamn rad gig at the Black Bear Lodge, with the top three bands releasing new material. Gothic sorcerers Occults and Adelaide's punk brood Rule Of Thirds both release 7"s, whilst local maudlin minstrels Keep On Dancins finally give hard copy to follow up their excellent The End Of Everything LP with a pink cassette in the form of Black Lassie (out through Long Gone Records). Seven tracks of Spaghetti Whimsy, opening with an echo-drenched slowburn cover of seminal Brisbane guitar pop band Custard's 'Nervous Breakdance', the "EP" offers every facet of the KODs that makes them such an attractive prospect - the reined in wistful saunter, the occasional brash outburst, soaring vocals, the coyness, the shyness, and the ness-es in between. It's no stretch from familiar ground for the band, but that's not what anyone wants, now, is it?

Rounding out this delectable bill is new-ish phenomenon Screaming Match, who kick everything off at 8.  Ensure you get down there (and that awesome artwork again provided by Sam McKenzie.

Keep On Dancins - Nervous Breakdance (Custard cover)