Clever Kewdi Nightmares

Brisbane noisy nihilists Clever burst out of the gutter a couple years ago, wiping the floor with blood-and-sweat-stained alacrity. They started littering stages in 2014, after I had left, and I quickly lined them up to last year's Sonic Masala Fest - an amazing set, one of my favourites across the two festivals thus far. Their visceral gurning and flailing felt brutal and new, at least in these parts - aside from the dour disintegration of Kitchens Floor and gnashed madness of Sewers, this is the kind of sound more accustomed to the diseased denizens of Melbourne mainstays like Cuntz, Mutton and others that spill from the feedtime wellspring. But it shouldn't be a surprise that such arced anarchy was born out of the melding of dark-matter minds from members Per Purpose, Psy Ants and The Wrong Man. And now they have locked horns with Homeless Records (Cuntz, Spray Paint, Yes I'm Leaving) for their first LP Kewdi Udi. First cut 'Your Eyesore's Sweat' may not be the deepest, but it is infected with acrid angularity and fevered spit. Pre-order this denigrated gem here - first 100 LPs are piss-yellow, of course they are.

Pink, Naked Nihilism

Hobart off-kilter punks Naked have crafted an oddly mesmeric record (on Tenth Court Records) in Pink Quartz, a hard-edged suburban gnashing of teeth. It goes from the impassioned growls and howls of 'Boys In Blue (All Ye Faithful)' to the bristling sparse early Bluebottle Kiss rock of 'Critical Half-Arsed' and the brooding maelstrom 'This Charming Man'. There is a wiry brutalism at work here, at times cathartic, at others bottomless, never content or still yet never offputting - Pink Quartz exists perfectly in its own atonal, shuddering world. The lyrics swing from angry to wry, sometimes moaned, sometimes strangled out (with lashes of humour throughout - the closer 'Paul Walker Overture' in its entirety, like Tyvek playing at being Hank Williams before slipping into Sleep doom). The perfect example of the wonderful weirdness is 'Sprinters Of The World Unite', a day in the life of a delinquent, starting with a dead dog and containing hurled bricks, stolen pizzas, beach arrests, birds catching worms and low-security prison. The vocals is a monotone singsong, punctured at one stage with imploding violin by Sewers' Josh Watson. It's its own thing - go with it.

What do you do with something as unwieldy as Pink Quartz? Chew it up, swallow it down, and through bloodstained lips ask for seconds. Grab this excellent record here.

VIDEO VACUUM - Sewers, The Steady As She Goes, Marville, Julia R Anderson, These Guy

Goddamn, if it hasn't been donkeys' since I did a Video Vacuum! So here is a quick one, highlighting some Brisbane acts that have put out some moving pics to go with the sounds of recent times...

Sewers have done their best to destroy 2015, what with the release of their second LP Weight on Homeless Records and US tour. 'Still Stinging' is the best example, aurally and visually, of what these boys represent, facials and all.

One of the surprise hits of last year was Dangerous & Dead, the debut album from one man goth-noir-Western monolith The Steady As She Goes. A surprise in that it's all one man, Tal Wallace, and that the cavernous, brooding intensity can be sustained in a live setting - easily becoming one of my favourite bands to take in. Now he is prepping to release follow-up Monoliths, and a perfect example of what to expect is 'No One Will Care When You Die'. Johnny Cash if he entered into a never-ending twilight palaver with Michael Gira, overseen by the Ulver chorus and reigning Cthulhu. The Man In Blackest Black. Dark as the limitless depths of your depraved soul - and far better for it.

Grunged-out duo Marville aren't messing around with 'Fickle', a track that oozes, crawls, gnaws and spits at you. Ash (Bottlecock) is now joined by Doug on the skins, and the bulk and heft is evident here. Just as the ink sprays on the canvas, 'Fickle' is an onslaught - one that isn't likely to wash out anytime soon. Break out the bleach.

Let's finish off with two of my favourite Brisbane artists, both of which come out of the very-shortlived band  Tabletop Lamps. First up is Julia R Anderson, whose evolution from a contemplative noise pop maven swimming in Yo La Tengo and Galaxie 500 waters to the art-pop contusions of 'In The Beginning' is nothing short of breathtaking. That performance in the clip, reminiscent of so many things (Ash's 'Girl On Mars' colour palette notwithstanding) is evidence of an artist growing in stature and confidence. Everything I have seen and heard her do has been exciting. Get behind this - in the year we see the further reaches of Julia Holter and Jenny Hval, Anderson deserves to be huge.

And let's end with some quirky yacht pop from These Guy AKA Joe Saxby (now joined by two pop weirdniks in crime). 'That Fucking Guy' is brilliant in every way - the hipster-baiting, the dork embracing, the air instruments and mic, the fly on the burger, and the visceral and violent about-turn in the last minute. Stupid genius is the best kind of genius.

Hellish Highlife Made

I have to say I am a little confused by Making... I was pretty sure the Sydney trio were breaking up. But seems I was (thankfully) entirely wrong, as they release their new LP Highlife next month through Trait Records. I have been a fan of theirs since hearing their excellent self titled EP and this lives up to the long expectations. The first track that really grabs me is the fourth track on the album, 'Come To Me' - it has that My Disco brooding pendulum rhythm and clipped/barked monosyllabic vocal approach, but then it explodes into something altogether more gnarled and corrosive. 'Zs' also fits into this vein, although there is a heavier metallic expulsion here that pushes them into noisier terrain. 'Dream Job' lurches forth, a metallic monster, deliberately unsettled and unsettling, serrated and scabrous, forcing the bile into the back of the throat. Then 'Amazon' has a more sinuous groove inherent, something Battles might produce without all the theatrics; 'Pascal' has moments of reflection in the middle third that allows for the pummelling bookends to smash forth with more controlled venom; and the psychotropic freneticism of the closing title track is the weirdest yet most cathartic song on the album. It does take the foot off the neck a bit, so to speak, and it is essentially what enlivens Highlife and makes those moments of black tension and white-hot release so potent. The production is powerful and precise too, thanks to Ivan Lisyak (Narrow Lands, Tanned Christ) and Lawrence English.


Preorder Highlife here - it's a corker. Making hit the road in Australia to launch the album on these dates (which also features Sonic Masala Records band Danyl Jesu in the mix!):

5th September - Crowbar Brisbane

w/Sewers, Danyl Jesu vs Pale Earth + Nature Trails 

11th September - Black Wire Records, Sydney 

w/Marcus Whale (LIVE), Mere Women + BV (connect the dots)

12th September - The Public Bar, Melbourne 

w/Diecut, CAMP COPE + JAALA

Night Duty Down In The Sewers

Things have changed a bit since gutter gnashers Sewers hoisted themselves out of the muck and mire to bring us Hoisted. There have been band member additions and changeovers (Per Purpose's Harry Byrne tears the guitar from Shan Corrigan so he can spit vitriol without inhibition, while Thigh Master's Matt Ford takes over the drums from a travelling Dan Decsi). Incoming LP Weight (also coming out on the excellent Homeless Records) shows very little has changed however. Lead track 'Night Duty' starts out with an acoustic twang before Corrigan's drawled round-vowelled sneer steers the ship towards the rocks. I've been lucky to have the album for over a month and it's a bit cleaner, a bit easier to discern purpose, but no less decrepit and depraved. A review is in the offing - but for now, start your Night Duty by drooling bile in anticipation. Stop dozing and step in for the kill - still stinging. Pre-order Weight here. Sewers head to the US later this month - here are the dates:

June 29 - NYC at Clockwork

June 30 - NYC at Alphaville 

July 2 - Cleveland at Now That’s Class

July 3 - Columbus at Ace of Cups

July 4 - Detroit at Nancy Whiskey 

July 5 - Chicago at The Burlington + Permanent in-store @ 5 pm

July 7 - Lafayette at Spot Tavern

July 8 - Louisville or Bloomington?

July 9 - Memphis at TBA

July 11 - Austin at Beerland 

July 14 - Tucson at Sky Bar

July 15 - LA at 4th St. Vine

July 16 - San Pedro at Harold’s Place (+Perm in-store)

July 18 - San Francisco at Hemlock 

Nothing Cult Of Death

Deafcult is a new band out of Brisbane who I hadn't even heard of before the other day - but considering it's a new project from Innez (Roku Music, Tiny Spiders, Feathers) and Matt Bach (The Quickening, El Motel, The Gifthorse), it shouldn't surprise me how bloody great it is. Taking the shoegaze shine of Roku and adhering it to the Nothing mould of post-hardcore ferocity, the tracks on the Deafcult EP (recorded at Incremental Studios) are incredible intense, sonorous, intricate and cathartic in their sonic expulsions. I'm blown away by how complete this six-piece already sounds - expect massive things from these guys this year.

Deafcult have a few good gigs coming up - they are supporting Pale Heads (alongside Deadshred and a rare show from the excellent Tiny Migrants!) June 20 at Trainspotters, as well as an earlier show at the Sewers fundraiser as that band prepares to assault the US with their excellent second album on the cusp of hitting the shelves (it's bloody killer) June 6 at The Underdog.

Scrabbled Sewers Are Virtually Cool

Virtual Cool is a new label out of Brisbane that, whilst staying predominantly cassette based, should really reach a lot of people. Why? Because they are intent on putting out records that would otherwise languish in the tinnitus and vagrant memories of hazy booze and drug fuelled nights, a jigsaw puzzle of a sound never to be fully remembered or repeated. The first two releases are cases in point.

An unheralded amalgam of some of Brisbane's best fringe dwellers (members of Dag, Clag, Gravel Samwidge, Extrafoxx and X Wave litter their numbers, among others), Scrabbled's Welcome To Pig City is revving on narcoleptic fumes of disdain at the state of affairs in the Sunshine State and desperation. Everything is slanted and disenchanted - a dissertation to punk politicism in Can-Do Campbell Newman's backwards-leaning regime. Queensland has always had a hard run of it when it comes to forward-leaning politics, hence why the world recognises Brisbane for its punk music of the late 70s and early 80s than any other genre and era. But Scrabbled aren't interested in tapping into old vibes or digging at old scabs - no, these wounds are fresh. The music itself is loose, warped, awkward, defiantly out of step. This isn't a detriment though - Scrabbled have a voice and energy all their own; a purging of pent-up exasperation spilling into abject aggression. You need bands like this - you really do. Get angry and have some fun.

The other release is something altogether different - diseased and snarling, more malevolent, and much less serious. Sewers and Rat King split the shit right down the middle on Leather. The Brisbane contingent stomp the fuck out of any nuance anyone thought they might have had on new cut 'Chinese Tommy', a short shotgun blast to the gut. Their dirge-drivel take on Grong Grong's 'Japanese Train Driver' sounds like the best Sewers song they never wrote - the irascible energy is finally unleashed in a more rampant speed, and the whole thing falls apart in a rust-hollowed heap. Brilliant. Newcastle's Rat King don't offer the yin to Sewer's yang though - 'Sick Pills' and 'Browood' somehow slow things down with embalmer treacle yet up the ante with their seething vitriol. The feedback on the former track is still ear-splitting even in recording, a harsh reminder that the imperfections are deliberated, serrated and antagonistic; whilst 'Browood' is a pitch-dark march into the nether regions of listlessness leading to evil transgressions. Hanging out with these clowns will get you killed - if they don't kill you first.




You can get both of these here. There is more to come from Virtual Cool, including a release from Bent, so you will be hearing more from me too.

Rancid Mutton

I somehow missed commenting on this brutal bile-fuelled band at the beginning of the year, then again when they supported Sonic Masala Records' own Gazar Strips on their Sparkling EP tour in May. Well I'm sure these guys don't need much of an introduction if you are into gutter noise punk rock outta Melbourne. To the rest of you - introducing Mutton.

I first heard 'In Between The Dirt', the last track off their self-titled EP, and thought of fellow trash Batpiss (one of my favourite breakout bands of last year). But this is even more indebted to Yow and his acolytes than most of the pricks running around Brunswick, and that alone makes them an exciting proposition. you can't state that this is particularly "new" - but what's original when you are flailing on the floor trying to gouge your eyes out with a broken pool cue? Plus they have a band T-shirt of Sam Kekovich being torn apart by rabid sheep - an in-joke for the Aussie AFL/lamb-eating crowd, sure, but that imagery alone buys them miles of shit-stained cred.

Mutton are already aligning themselves with some of the gold-flecked detritus of the Australian underground, playing shows with the likes of Sewers, Cuntz, White Walls, Scul Hazzards, Worm Crown, Bone and the excellent DEAD - but these guys are flaying themselves to the front of the pack. Join in on the flagellation.

Digging Shovels

I lied - here's ANOTHER post for the day. Melbourne ex-pat in San Fran Michael Beach has landed in the land of Oz for Sound Summit, and is playing a bunch of solo shows as well as a great number with his newish band Shovels. I feel it would be remiss of me, seeing as I'm hosting his solo show in Brisbane on Thursday November 14 (supported by Tape/Off, Tiny Migrants and Soda Eaves), to not list his other shows. And Shovels themselves? Have a listen below. Ill leave it at this - they played at Maggot Mess at Northcote Social Club today alongside Sewers, Gentlemen, Terrible Truths - and Cuntz. And you know by now how much we love Cuntz. If you're from Brisbane - this is like old Turnpike, if they were a little more in check with their flailing feelings, and a little more about deliberately bludgeoning you to death. So yeah - fucking awesome then.

NEWCASTLE – NOVEMBER 7 – WHITE’S RECORDS

SYDNEY – NOVEMBER 10 – SOUND SUMMIT 

BRISBANE – NOVEMBER 15 – GREENSLOPES BOWLS CLUB w/ TYVEK (USA) + BLANK REALM + THE REAL NUMBERS + HYDROMEDUSA + GERALD KEANEY & THE GERALD KEANEYS + EGGVEIN + DAG + THE ADULTS (put on by 4ZZZ A Guilt Retreat - this is going to be fucking amazing...)

HOBART – NOVEMBER 23 – GRAND POOBAH w/ NATIVE CATS + MESS O REDS

In The Treehouse Zone

Tasmania's Treehouse came on my radar back in August when they supported Per Purpose on their 'Eureka' single launch. The fact that a goon sack and discordant guitar flailing complemented each other in their set meant I had connected immediately with Treehouse and their fuse-blasting fare. Now Vacant Valley are reissuing the band's debut Interzone on luscious 12" vinyl. This is loud, scuzzy, droning pop that is as ardent as it is flippant - throwaway nuggets of digestible, discernible knowledge, bashed out by dudes with too much time on their hands, for better or worse. Their live shows a set on a knife-edge, either elevated into an effervescent maelstrom of noise and light, or nosediving into a chasm of unrelenting chaos and despair. Well, I say despair - things are never that bad when there's an inflatable pillow of piss-yellow grape juice around... Luckily the trio come prepared with tracks made for either outcome. Interzone then stands as a shapeshifter of a record - setting the mood as the mood sets you. Corruption of two halves.

Pre-order the Interzone vinyl here.



And here is a clip of another Treehouse track, 'Dead Weight', recorded by Josh Watson (Sewers) at Matt Ford's Puerile Palais (I'm sure his slap-up den of dankness has a name much more suited to the house shows he throws, but this'll do for now) the afternoon before the aforementioned Per Purpose show. Good times.

Hoisted Out Of The Sewers

(photo by Glen Schenau)

Nihilistic nightdwellers Sewers have been slaving away in the darkness for some time now. They fit into some of the seamier, leerier cracks of the Brisbane scene, but regardless of whether they are flaying the locals at Chardons Corner, spitting venom at Crowbar or bleeding into the cement underneath a dilapidated house, they always managed to be cut from much coarser stuff than those around them. It's been captured to some degree of success on a couple of cassettes, but leave it to Homeless Records to pour some acetone on the festering wound and produce their first LP, Hoisted. Things are still as diseased as you'd expect - Shan is growling through decimated chords and depraved drums, dead eyes and hateful lullabies all present and accounted for. But there is just the right amount of cleanliness applied to the recordings that wipes away the grime and gives off enough light to peer through into the belly of the beast - which makes these songs that more terrifying. Sewers often feels displaced - they should be in the bowels of Brooklyn, or even the back alleys of 1980s Sydney - but Hoisted more than effectively smashes such notions (and seven shades of shit) out of all naysayers. Drive the nail.

You can buy Hoisted here - I can hear your palms sweating already.

Australian Noise

Finally let's ride this tsunami of Australia sound out with a cataclysmic tremor of noise, starting with ebullience and ending with apocalyptic destruction.

Brisbane's Velociraptor are about to launch into an overseas onslaught that will leave every pundit in their wake feeling sucked dry from over-drinking, over-dancing and over-rejoicing (I have actually heard someone say they "rejoiced" when Velociraptor came on stage...) To get the European hordes well and truly lathered up, they are releasing this cassette through Heart Throb Records. Set out just like a Streetfighter video game - nice. Get your twinkle toes in order, because this twelve-headed beast won't KO you with a flurry of punches, but an overload of cocky swagger. Preorder the cassette here.

Melbourne duo Super Wild Horses have followed up their attention-grabbing debut Fifteen with an even more confident showing in Crosswords. Still showcasing the spiky, effervescent garage rock Amy Franz and Hayley McKee have become renowned for, the album nevertheless takes us to places hitherto unthought of - slower jams, country twangs, boys' germs, and Smokey Robinson. You thought they had arrived before - Crosswords truly heralds their arrival, slightly eschewing the garage they were inadvertently placed in for bigger, comfier, more kick-ass digs. A great live band finally has a truly befitting album to back it up - you can get Crosswords here.

Super Wild Horses - Memphis
Super Wild Horses - West Coast
Super Wild Horses - Alligator

Next up we have the ever evolving instrumental band Making. Initially following in the vein of minimalist angular titans No Disco, Making have added colour and verve to the industrial edges to become an altogether different beast. 'Stay Stil' is the newest example of this evolution - finding a middle ground between the aforementioned band, Whizz-Fizz contortionists Fang Island and the earliest math-rock leanings of Foals before they disappeared into their emo stadium shoes. Making's live shows are incendiary too; make sure you catch them in their volatile element. Listen to the new track below, head here to hear what else they have to offer, and see their version of 'Pascal' that they let loose on revellers at this year's Camp A Low Hum festival in NZ. Amazeballs.

Making - Stay Stil

MAKING / PASCAL / LIVE AT CAMP A LOW HUM 2013 from jackyp on Vimeo.

Back down to Melbourne and some incessantly loud yet drunkenly amenable punk in the form of Bad Vision. Their 112/VISIONS 7" is goddamn killer (you can grab it here), as were the shows they pulled off up in Brisbane late last year. The bassless quartet are carving their way through Europe as we speak, having a blast, and so should you...be (that doesn't sound right, does it?). Suffice to say that this kind of racket is impervious to pain and boredom - it charges on, and leave you with an empty wallet, a sense of wanton abuse and a sloppy grin plastered on your face. Win win.

Bad Vision - 112
Bad Vision - Visions

From the unholy bowels of Wollongong spews forth Bruce!, a four-piece enraptured by beer, weed, souped up cars and rocking out. A heady mix of balls to the wall rock and Josh Homme man love, Bruce! don't cop airs and graces, and will batter such bullshit into the ground with a maniacal quivering tic the only movement on the stony faces, before necking a tallie and screwing your mum. The thing is, you will all laugh about it in the morning. I saw these guys play the Record Store Day show at Tyms Guitars on Saturday - and man, they were fun. Booze very much needed to appreciate this - no dry runs here. Grab Bruce! here for a good time...

Bruce! - Hell Gig
Bruce! - Bottle In A Brown Paper Bag

Getting even dirtier, we head into the demonic depths with Sewers, a diseased squadron of cellar dwellers dishing out acid reflux and refuse, an atonal IV into the core of you're basest instincts. At one time playing every second show, Sewers are being more selective, preferring to slink in the shadows, all the more potent because of it. Their show on Saturday with Living Eyes was as depraved and nihilistic as ever. They've got a few releases out, I only picked up this cassette the other day, and my ear canal developed eczema. Can you smell the human roast? Feedtime.

Sewers - Human Spray
Sewers - Grease My Chain

Dastardly downer improv instrumental misanthropes Die On Planes have a new album called Our Work Matters, and it's free. Yep, all free. You want such brutality as a handout. Such cerebral cleansing. Such follicle annihilation. There is no hatred here - just cold, emotionless being. Feel your fears and anxieties sucked into a black hole at the pit of your even darker soul. Everything will be all right. You are already on the other side. (Seriously though, heavy shit, belting sandpaper noise, good good times).

And to finish this gargantuan undertaking, we have the new LP from Sydney's excellent Yes I'm Leaving. Mission Bulb (out on Tenzenmen in May) finally captures how brilliantly unhinged these noiseniks can really be. I only got it yesterday, so I'm still ingesting it. But I'm pretty sure Ive got something insidious growing inside me as a result. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, then I might very well have metamorphosed. Ah well - when it's this delectably ear-shattering and deliciously visceral, scurrying up the walls is the least of my concerns. Or going all Michael Shannon from Bug. You seen that movie? It's damn good I reckon. Small, but good. And it's a William Friedken piece! Precursor to Killer Joe. So you can see what kind of twisted hole we're hurtling down here... These guys played with God Bows To Math and Lennon Lenin the other night in Newcastle. Jesus, what I would have done to be at that show, you don't wanna know. Here's a track from it - you're welcome.

Yes I'm Leaving - Song For You

...and I'm spent. Night.

All Day Breakfast comp

 

Midday Music is a compilation showcasing much of Brisbane’s underground music scene was put out last year on cassette. Handcrafted (featuring tactile “fried eggs” – white and yellow Blu-tac, on the outer sleeve) and collated by 4ZZZ presenter Makeda Zucco and her project All Day Breakfast, outlet for the documentation and exploration of music and that which pertains to it, the 25-track compilations covers the gamut, from experimental synth pop (Shooga, Brainbeau, Scraps), nihilist rock aggression (Per Purpose, Sewers, Slug Guts), avante-garde noise (Cured Pink, Sky Needle, Multiple Man), unhinged guitar pop (Blank Realm, Heart Flew, Old Growth Cola), slacker malaise downers (Kitchens Floor, Martyr Privates)… In fact, although there are a few bands on the release (X In O, Fig, Perpetual Nervousness) that I haven’t actually caught or even heard much of, the cross section of bands here is pretty indicative of what I immerse myself in here. It is all lo-fi recordings, as you can imagine, but if ever there was a document detailing much of the diversity of the scene (without going into the Long Gone, Lofly or Lost Race crews), this is a mighty fine one.

 

Unfortunately all the cassettes are sold out, but you can download the compilation for free here. Do so – there are some artists here that never get exposure, either because of their standing, their sound or because they never put out that much music for private consumption – then get out and about, supporting these bands in the live arena.

Knee Chin – Thrall Of It All
Greg Boring - Tomb
Cannon – I Should Be In A Fucking Museum