Sonic Masala Presents - Twin Haus' Nothing Lavish EP Launch and Australian Tour

Keeping the sporadic posts yet the more together premieres rolling, we have a release here that Sonic Masala is promoting. Nothing Lavish is the second EP from Brisbane band Twin Haus. The four-track release kicks off with the 9 minute long Radiohead-meets-cracked-Cordrazine 'Synthetic Egg' - the building atmospherics buoyed and pierced by the horns is both haunting and hedonistic, a swirling miasma of widescreen asceticism that is breathtaking in its audacity - the final euphoric moments evoking ()-era Sigur Ros. Lofty comparisons there, I know - but this opening track really slapped me in the face with how lavishly confident these boys are. It bleeds into the brooding ASDL stutter and Tortoise sharp sputters of 'Self-Love', spiralling outward into a distorted whitewash at the end of its meticulous two minutes. 'I Used To Think', the lead single, is the most "palatable" of the four tracks - the most obvious signifiers of Twin Haus all present and accounted for. It flitters on the edges of much-missed Sydneysiders Parades, while also offering the slight-psych sheen of early Temper Trap, while closer 'The Revue' is a serpent, slinking through the shimmering confines of their glossy aesthetic, again playing with artistic reverence (Holy Fuck combine with more prosaic psych rock touchstones) and aired avarice, in a double-digit-minute monolith that sounds like the record skips from 33 to 45rpms in the final third. Some seriously awe-inspiring moments on this record - Twin Haus have taken some recognisable, somewhat staid mainstream signposts and woven intricate, somewhat aggressive segues and flourishes around them. These tracks will sound brilliant live, and most of Australia will get the chance to experience this in April and May as they launch on a massive tour, taking in most of the country including plenty of rural outlets. See the artwork and full run of dates below.

Friday, April 1: Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane

Saturday, April 2: Grand Hotel, Bundaberg

Thursday, April 7: Soundlounge, Gold Coast

Friday, April 8: The Helm, Mooloolaba

Saturday, April 9: The Northern, Byron Bay

Thursday, April 14: Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Sydney

Friday, April 15: The Small Bandroom, Newcastle

Saturday, April 16: Blurst of Times Festival, Brisbane

Wednesday, April 20: Rad Bar, Wollongong

Thursday, April 21: Hotel Steyne, Manly

Friday, April 22: Basement, Canberra

Saturday, April 23: Family Hotel, Katoomba

Thursday, April 28: The Workers Club, Geelong

Friday, April 29: Shebeen, Melbourne

Saturday, April 30: Major Tom's, Kneyton

Thursday, May 5: The Loft, Warrnambool

Friday, May 6: Pririe & Co Social Club, Adelaide

Wednesday, May 11: Four5Nine, Perth

Thursday, May 12: Highway Hotel, Bunbury

Friday, May 13: Dunsborough Hotel, Dunsborough

Saturday, May 14: The Carine, Duncraig 

Nothing Lavish is out today via Bedlam Records.

Pinkultrashinykiddypooldreams

Russian shoegazers Pinkshinyultrablast are back in the swirlpool with new track 'Kiddy Pool Dream'. There is a math rock freneticism at play under the surface here that I find quite interesting, keen to see if this swells into the foreground more on their new releases ( the single will be out on a multicoloured 10" through Club AC30 in October - preorder here). Also the title is pretty great - it marries well with the lost-in-a-luminous-subterranean-cavern vocals, shimmering synth sparks and jangling spike of a guitar that permeate the song when the distorted curtain parts - and it evokes a weirdly nostalgic warmth to proceedings. And when that wall of noise comes back in force in the last minute, it plays out like a Sigur Ros/And So I Watched You From Afar hybrid - something I never thought could possibly be conceived, let along coexist - but these guys are doing something alchemical here.




Pinkshinyultrablast are in the UK late September for the Liverpool Psych Fest and will do a brace of shows on the island. They hit London's XOYO October 6.

A Communal Late Night At Gaza

I thought I would end on this piece of ambient brilliance tonight. I'm physically and mentally drained, and 'Nablus' from NY's Ajnabi (the song is one of two abstract reflections/meditations on the situation in Palestine crafted after spending a time volunteering in the West Bank) has me close to tears. I had a conversation only yesterday with James, the guitarist from Violent Soho, about those moments where music moves you in such a way, and that those moments don't appear as often as you get older, or wiser, or more cynical...I don't know. I still remember when I saw the emotion on display at the 2009 Glastonbury when Blur reformed. I didn't get it, that much invested emotion into one thing... But songs like 'Nablus' pulls me back. Ive been looking over the twinkling lights of Brisbane, this plugged into my cerebral vortex, and I started to remember all the moments when it DID mean something: dancing to Mogwai by the side of the road at 4.30am, the fog starting to lift, the sun starting to rear its weary head; listening to Sigur Ros as the sunset lit up Mt Cook in New Zealand in various pastel hues; Radiohead causing my breath to catch when 'Like Spinning Plates' staggered over an awestruck Melbourne crowd. The list kept spooling forth - listening to My Father My King for the first time, or Raveonettes' Whip It On ad nauseum one heady evening, or when Source Tags & Codes first came out...then there is the first time I heard The Who's 'The Seeker', or Led Zep's 'When The Levee Breaks'; Alex Maas sing 'The Sniper', or Dad playing Born In The USA. All of these things are me, they make me who I am. And at this very moment, at this core second within the miasma of infinite seconds, I am Ajnabi too.

Ajnabi - Nablus

Video Vacuum - Liars, Sigur Ros, Vaadat Hitigam, Crows

I have the stiffest shoulders today. I'm so tired. I have no idea why. All I want to do is crawl into a cave and hibernate. But instead - let's see if some A/V multimedia will do the chiropractic trick!

This is the first track off the ranks, and it's not doing much to alleviate stress levels. Then again, it's a Liars track, a band not overly known for their soothing wilderness collages. It's for the second single of latest record WIXIW called 'Brats'. Man, it's more than a little fucked up (again, this is Liars...). A deliberately amateurish animation by Ian Cheng, the video looks half rendered and combined with early '00s GIF level of stop-motion. It's a bizarre rendition of the Elmer Fudd vs Bugs Bunny tale. The trio make a cameo too. You might want to have some paracetamol on hand though...



God, I think we need to cleanse the mind after that, and Icelandic nymphs Sigur Ros have just the thing. Directed by Ryan McGinley, the video for 'Varúð' is as glorious and spine-tingling as we have come to expect from these otherworldly gods.



Next is a true curveball. The band is a "side project" sprouting from Israeli punks TV Buddhas (check out their excellent Band In The Modern World EP) called Vaadat Harigim. It means Exemption Committee in English. The song, 'The World Is Long Gone', has a community television vibe that mirrors local public tv channel in Israel – channel 1, which produced a lot of crappy green screen videos in the late 80s for local new wave bands. It's in Hebrew, but band member Varul has kindly translated it for me:

Let's lie on the beach
Let's lie on our stomach
The deeper
the better
If we fall in love it's OK
'Cause there's no tomorrow,
And The world is long lost

This is the kind of sonic wavelength American slowwinders Real Estate like to traverse, so it comes with a seal of approval. Good track this one.



Finally we have 'Glamour Of The Gods' from London crew Crows. I had never heard of them before, and all they have sent me is this video, but it's slick and pretty enjoyable. Apparently it's set in my old stomping ground of Kilburn in London, which suits its slightly greasy, slightly dirty blues stomp crawl crunch (insert other onomatopoeia here). More please.



POP! And there is that knot forcibly worked out. Feel good? Yeah...NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Crystallised Glass Vaults

Last year I really dug the Glass and Into Clear EPs from Wellington, NZers Glass Vaults. So when this track 'Crystallise' dropped in my inbox late last week, I was pretty excited. And as it pans out, that excitement was duly warranted. The track slips around from sonorous lullaby to syncopated shudder with nary a shrug. Richard Larsen's voice wafts over the mix much like Sigur Ros' Jonsi - in fact this track is mirroring their landscape as much as any mere mortal can, until three and a half minutes in when everything slips into molten fissures and the world enters a fracturing of symmetry, percussive blasts leading us through another wormhole entirely. It is, quite simply, exquisite - one of the best standalone songs of the year.

'Crystallise' is a precursor to WHAT WE CAN ONLY ASSUME WILL BE A BRILLIANT LONGPLAYER (note the capitals is me imploring, rather than an actual fact). They are currently touring around the US over the summer period, so get in there if you are around (check dates here). Head over to Jukboxr to pick up the EPs, or head here to pay what you want for the downloads. Trust me - these babies are worth some of your bread.

Glass Vaults - Crystallise

Sigur Ros Drop Another Gem Of Brilliance

I don't often post what everyone else is probably posting, but I had to put this up. One of my all-time favourite bands is Icelandic moodsters Sigur Ros, and their music has so many indelible notches along my historical spine (many of them quite emotional) that to say they shaped a heft sum of my musical parts would be an understatement. So amazing news then that they have a new album, Valtari, coming out in May. I'm pretty sure it isn't named after Alias "alumni" Michael Vartan - they have different names after all - but imagine if it was, right? Anyway...here is their typically evocative single from it, 'Ekki Mukk'. I'm a big fan. Even bigger when sitting on the balcony at night, headphones strapped on, a red wine in one hand and a spliff in the other. Just try not to get all epiphanous then...

VIDEO VACUUM - Tiny Spiders, Sigur Ros, Warm Brains, Flaming Lips ft. Lightning Bolt (again)

Its music video time, music video time, music video time, waaaay back, waaaay back, waaaay back, waaaay back...

1st up is Brisbane band Tiny Spiders for their track 'Shadows'. Recorded at the Waiting Room (which is a new venue in West End in Brisbane - expect a very, VERY special announcement about that place in the very near future!), its garage psych rock at its most concise. Its a healthy dose, then.



I don't know about you, but for me Sigur Ros is one of the best live bands EVER. Ive seen them three times in three different countries, and every experience was different yet extremely moving. Their live DVD Heima is easily one of the best music docos ever committed to tape. Basically, these Icelandians dont do things by halves. So the news of another film on its way is suffocatingly exciting. Its called INNI, and here is the trailer for it...

SIGUR RÓS - INNI from Sigur Rós on Vimeo.

Rory Attwell has an acute musical ADHD going on, what with his myriad production duties for acts and his growing reputation of current "solo" outfit, Warm Brains. This shows no signs of slowing down either, as this incredible video for 'Worried Seed' attests.

Warm Brains: Worried seed (2011) Official from Craig Murray on Vimeo.

Finally, here is another video from that heady collaboration between The Flaming Lips and Lightning Bolt. This track is a real hybrid, with the languid Wayne Coyne-led psychedelia bookending a mental LB classic spazzout. I hope that the two Brians (Chippendale and Gibson) are aiming to come to Australia in November, because a chance to watch this shit live would be mind-melting...

Clear Skies, Bombs Fly

Whilst not enamoured with the name (despite being an English translation for an amazing Sigur Ros song), Good Weather For An Airstrike has wooed me with its sweeping cinematic take on post rock. Londoner Tom Honey has, in EP Signals, created a suite of achingly beautiful music that I can't help but think of a beautifully shot and heartbreaking indie Scandinavian film score. This is the kind of music that you put on, turn it up as loud as it goes, then close your eyes and let it wash over you. The sparse physicality of the strings in particular are what drives each song into another realm. Its reminiscent of the instrumental tracks on Sigur Ros' Heim in some areas (so the name is prevalent), and that is an amazing thing to achieve.

(NB - apparently GWFAA was born after Honey needed a way to overcome the effects of succumbing to a bout of tinnitus. A nice piece of trivia to go with this ethereal sound...)

Good Weather For An Airstrike - We Fall Back Into The Ocean

Portuguese Lil Explosions

And the love rolls on...

Norton are a band out of Portugal. I love Portugal, and after hearing this song I kinda love Norton. I have little to no information on them, other than this track that they sent me a couple weeks ago. Its on the soundtrack to the film Um Funeral a Chuva. I think it is quite good - reminds me of The Rescue, Explosions In The Sky's experimental EP, or even Sigur Ros' contributions to the film Angels of the Universe. Ill let you make up your own minds. Feel free to leave comments on your thoughts here - Norton are a band who need support, especially so they can do a tour to the UK I reckon!

Norton - Make It Last

Let the Leaf Tell the Story

The Album Leaf have been a stalwart of the post-rock/folk/art trail for many years and many releases now. The brainchild of Jimmy LaValle, Album Leaf have been very prolific, releasing all kinds of LPs, EPs, singles, remixes... Their latest, A Chorus of Storytellers, continues their journey of folktronic introspectiveness. Whilst he has carved his niche into the sonic specturm and doesnt have to offer anything new, the album still strives to offer more, with Sigur Ros-consigned swirling etherealness and Explosions in the Sky-like spidery guitarwork transcending the simplistic compositions on display.

They are also playing at the prestigious Bush Hall tonight - hope you have some tickets burnt into those clammy hands of yours! (Unless you are going to Thee Mt Silver Zion at the Electric Ballroom - in that case, more than fair enough - if not, then any excuse is no excuse!!!)

Album Leaf - Stand Still

Jonsi breaks away to Go Do

Jonsi, angelic songsmith/language maker-uperer of incendiary Icelandic outfit Sigur Ros, has been indelibly busy since the boys brought out their last album some years ago. He has most notably teamed up with boyfriend Alex Somers to produce album Riceboy Sleeps, and is just about to drop his first solo LP, Go. It holds on to all the hallmarks that make Sigur Ros one of the most amazing bands to ever have come into existence, but is more compact and 'experimental' (if you can call anything these Icelanders do as anything BUT experimental) than his band. Furthermore, we get a few more songs sung in English! What, we can sing along for real instead of making shit up that sounds vaguely like a high-pitched baby's banter? Seriously though, anything Jonsi touches is golden in my opinion, and Go does not disappoint - its, for wont of a better word, beautiful. Jonsi plays HMV Forum on May 26 and 27, with other UK/European dates to follow. The 1st show is sold out, but there are still tickets for the 2nd show - get excited to see something that will be truly magical.

Jonsi - Sinking Friendships

The Glove Fits #2 - Mogwai

It was only a matter of time before I devoted some time to these guys. I fucking love them. I traveled to Luxembourg just to see them. I would have seen them at Field Day but I had a wedding - how rude! I love everything about them.

Mogwai are genius, gods of their realm, blah blah fuckitty blah.

But there was no natural progression to my discovery of them. I wasnt into post rock and was ushered into their world via association. Hence Mogwai being in my Glove Fits column. I will put Mogwai into all my themed columns - Ill shoehorn them in if necessary! - but this one is a natural 'glove fit'.

Last week was about the Warlocks, and although I didnt mention it, it was through them that I began to embrace bands such as Black Angels and Dead Meadow. Mogwai opened up the sonic landscapes of instrumental rock bands, and have led me to (directly) Sigur Ros, Red Sparowes, Mono, and (indirectly) Explosions in the Sky (another of my all time fave bands).

But back to Mogwai. Again, like my 'discovery' of the Warlocks, I was in Rockinghorse Records in Brisbane. Again, just twiddling my thumbs, whiling away the time whilst I waited for my bus to arrive. This time they were having a massive sale, as they were leaving their smaller (and, in my opinion, much better) venue for a big store around teh corner. Many sales were to be made, and I was scouring the CDs and posters, trying vainly to look with disinterest but knowing fully that I would leave with an armful of goodies that I could barely afford - but thats what 2 minute noodles are for, right?

So Id picked up a Spain and a Morphine album, then my fingers brushed over a white CD cover. The sticker said $AUD2. The CD - a 1 song EP as it turned out - was all white, with one black and orange word emblazoned in capitals across its middle.

MOGWAI.

It drew me in, and I added it to my growing pile of purchases. The only reason I can fathom for me grabbing it is that Gremlins is one of my all time favourite movies (and still is - watched it at Christmas - Joe Dante is brilliance personified - have you ever seen The Burbs? Oh My God - but thats another story...) So how can a band that names itself after the furry creature be anything but awesome?

How right my instinct was.

When I got home, I went straight for the one CD that I knew nothing about, and put into the CD player. You know how I said that I shat myself when I heard Warlocks' Rise and Fall? Times that by about one million, and that is what happened next. For 21 minutes I was transfixed. And when the epic finished, I played it again. And again.

My housemate Sean came home. I made him sit down and I played Mogwai again. And another follower was born.

In fact every person I introduced to this, they fell under its thrall just as heavy as I did.

Since then, I have seen Mogwai quite a few times, and their gig back in 2006 at the Zoo in Brisbane is still my favourite gig ever. I am a rabid fan. And I hope that after listening to this song, you will be too. So here it is...

Mogwai - My Father My King