Mermaidens In The Undergrowth

Another New Zealand band to finish off the day is Mermaidens, a Wellington trio whose debut album Undergrowth is a dark psych delight. I have heard a few people refer to them as being like Warpaint (and a track like 'Haz Song' does follow a similar trajectory). Now I can see certain familiarities throughout this album, but this seems to come from the atmosphere generated by the music with breathy female vocals piercing the mist. Undergrowth shows something more - a band who aren't afraid to get dirty. The guitar growl that punctuates 'Seed', or the overt Black Angels psych-blues groove of excellent opener 'Under The Mountain II'. The songs all evoke garish otherworldly images of nature, the percolating, fermenting growth of organisms in their myriad organic forms, yet the muscularity of the bass and the metronome surety of the drums manages to keep things more on the sinister side. The mood is built on and maintained throughout, so that by the time the ambitious 'Splinter' arrives, the band at its most sonorous even as they fade out in disintegration, you are not only fully invested in Undergrowth, you have become a part of it. Mermaidens launch the album this Friday alongside Kane Strang (more on him shortly) in Auckland; you can pick up Undergrowth here.

Rotting Pits

Sub Pop are making some major plays in the past eighteen months that have me reinvigorated in their utmost relevance as a label. I have always held faith of course, but with their signing of Mogwai and excellent new records from Deaf Wish, Metz, Pissed Jeans and Sleater-Kinney, their cache is bolstered. Add to this incoming desiccated salvo Neo from Seattle nihilists So Pitted. The name threw me, so when I heard 'Rot In Hell' I was punched in the face with the raw racket blasting forth. The trio manage to spew bile in tetanus-coated fury with a sense of banal diffidence that is almost offensive if it wasn't so dead-eyed brilliant. The band play out as if Pop. 1280 were electrocuted on-stage and zapped back into a parallel corduroy-and-flannel 90s cesspit, thankfully landing on and killing Green Jelly and taking their place. The orange-and-black cover art for the album (not due out until Feb next year) is stark and arresting - the colour coordination reminding me of SM band Cobwebbs, with a similar sense of gutter noise melding with slack-jawed indifference. Pre-order Neo (in white vinyl) here.

Making Childbirth Bad

Seattle punk trio Childbirth are doing all they can to skewer gender bias and to kick arse with their upcoming LP Women's Rights (out through Suicide Squeeze Records later this month), all while pissing themselves at everyone else's expense. Their songs are often cheeky and outlandish, from 'Tech Bro' to 'Baby Bump' (about someone who brings cocaine to a baby shower). Even the seemingly dark grunge howl of 'Let's Be Bad' is a tongue-in-cheek look at what's expected of women who "let their hair down". But the violence inherent in the music isn't entirely anachronistic - the girls are here to rock as much as they are to take a stand - consider them Sleater-Kinney's irreverent younger siblings. You can pre-order Women's Rights right here - in Dish Glove Yellow, no less.

Julia Wheel

I’ve written about Sydney trio JuliaWhy? before, and have even reviewed their album Wheel a few months ago (you can read that over on The Music website here), but thought I would give it a little lip service today seeing as the band are really getting some strong footholds this year, what with their Canadian Music Week shows and supporting hyped degenerates Fat White Family.

Anyway, Wheel is pretty solid. Maybe it’s the main riff throughout opener ‘Turntable’, but I am reminded of Joy Division, although the sound is more akin to fellow Sydneysiders Mere Women (with a few extra streaks of sunlight and a few extra tears of gutter punk). The gritty riffs that kick off ‘Bride To Be’ are certainly at the forefront of Aussie rock circles thanks to Courtney Barnett’s garage conflagrations, yet this is more aggro in the rolling drums and shouted vocals, which slides into the pastel abrasion of ‘Painkiller’. To flail from post-punk machinations to garage chugging to raucous punk implosions over three songs and five minutes may seem schizophrenic on paper, but the sonic throughlines are held firmly together by Julia's energetic vocal delivery and a tight engine room. ‘La La Love’ fucks with the formula some, highlighting a proclivity for doo-woop garage that explodes into more serrated fare without a second glance, whilst ‘Just One Night’ is the closest the band comes to a straight-up mainstream hit, a power-pop trip that keeps it strong and simple, stupid. ‘Flowers’ is the kind of song Frente would have thrown out if they were more hedonistic; ‘Im Not Gay But Your Boyfriend Is’ grunges things up and brings the tone down even further. Yet for me the propulsive closer ‘What You Want’ is the clincher, a Sleater-Kinney echo down the line, showing serious chops amidst the gurning. A lot of fun indeed.

Get Wheel now through Exxe Records.

Too Many Cassettes For This Sad Horse Town

I was not expecting to hear an album like Purple On Purple Makes Purple come out of the Field Hymns stable, but then again the label aim to surprise, forever throwing curveballs at the ears. Sad Horse may not fit the nebulous electronic weirdnik mold that Field Hymns often champion - this kind of slacker punk maelstrom is more suited to angular destructions than 8-bit eargasms - but on the strength of this album anyone would be stupid not to have put this out... The Portland duo have been compared to some heavyweights such as The Stooges, Pavement and Sleater-Kinney - all with misnomers of course (on Ritalin, with a sense of humo(u)r, etc etc), but the label itself gets the one-two punch combo right by saying that Purple On Purple Makes Purple has shades of Pussy Galore in its garish DNA, exploding in a "controlled sense of fuckall and abandon." Now before you start to throw the lazy writing what the bio states flag at me, I will say this - Sad Horse slay me, with fourteen sub-two minute slabs of barb(ed)iturate wails and loose-limbed flailing and laughing - on the inside and in your face. 'You Are Idiots' is probably my favourite slice of Sad Horse pie, but it is all delicious, if somewhat destructive to your health and sense of well-being. I'm heading back for seconds.




Purple On Purple Makes Purple is cassette only - put out for Cassette Store Day - and limited to 100, which is frankly dumb - this should be littering everyone's bedroom floor, preferably by the thousands. Get it here while you can - and put it out on vinyl already.

Corin Tucker - rock goddess extraordinaire prepares 1st solo album

I mentioned earlier this year some delectable Sleater-Kinney news, such as Carrie Brownstein's Quasi side project, blog, and the explosive news that SK may get back together in the next so long. Now Corin Tucker is prepping her first solo album, 1,000 Years. I have heard all kinds of rumours about this record - the Twilight: New Moon offcuts, the acoustic guitar, the total un-Sleater-Kinney of it all - but first, take a look at her band - it features Sara Lund of Unwound fame! Then the clincher - the first taste of the album, 'Doubt', features some awesome guitar and Tucker's hair-raising voice. I love her, and am so so glad she is back...

Corin Tucker - Doubt

Album review - Broken Water's Whet

I know Ive posted about Broken Water before. The Olympia, Washington three piece rose out of the ashes of Sisters to create something that held onto the Sonic Youth noise, but brought to the fore the elegaic, raw and ghostly vocals of drummer Kanako Wynkoop (such a juxtaposition will be explained shortly). They are still a relatively unchampioned band however, which is a massive shame, for if their debut LP Whet is anything to go by, these guys are a force to be reckoned with.

There is no doubt that Whet showcases a sound that is steeped in the late 80's to the early 90s - heavily distorted drudging guitars, echoed vocals, sharp sparks of noise - everyone of that era, from Kim Gordon to J Mascis to Kevin Shields, have had their playbooks scrutinised, with Broken Water using it all to their own nefarious means. Opener 'Say What's On Your Mind' opens with a white noise blaze before settling down into a Dinosaur Jr wail of guitar - even guitarist Jon's voice has the affected tones of J Mascis, which is in fuller effect in 'Memory'. Kanako is the mainstay vocals wise here though, and second track 'Hear' has a slower grind to its pulse, the echoey chamber of the guitar slowing things right down, before amping up in a Raveonettes circa Whip It On scrawl. The vocals evoke Corin Tucker, a bit of grrl riot to go with your grungey squall. Elsewhere on the album, 'Web' has a more lo-fi styling a la Vivian Girls, yet with a sunnier disposition (a la Best Coast?), whilst 'Kamilche House' drawls away hazily, Kanako et al sounding like a disaffected Sub Pop cast off (in a very good way). Therefore experimentation is very much the key here style-wise, yet is all firmly entrenched in pre-Seattle explosion era, and yet somehow sounds both new and vintage. A constant juxtaposition that enhances the album rather than hinders it.

Overall though Whet is refreshing in its use of noise to harken back to the days when it was ceremoniusly linked to harmony. Broken Water have constructed songs that are both abrasive and sensuous, joyous and melancholy - with their eyes nailed to the floor and their hair in their eyes one minute, their instruments in a pile and a maniacal grin on their faces the next. Its nothing new per se - but it is something that is done impeccably well. Whet to be in the running for my top ten list come December - yep, its that good.

Buy it! Vinyl via Night People; Cd via Radio Is Down. The pic above is the vinyl cover sleeve.

Broken Water - Say What's On Your Mind

Three Pieces of Sleater-Kinney Gold!

Last week I told you about the new album by Quasi, American Gongs. I even gave you two songs to sample. Have you bought the album yet? You should have - its fucking awesome.

Well, it was also brilliant to hear Sleater-Kinney's incendiary drummer Janet Weiss (and her beautiful harmonies!) on record again.

So I thought Id share three tidbits of Sleater-Kinney info that is likely to have you salivating.

First of all, Carrie Brownstein has her own blog, Monitor Mix. Its a goodun - check it out.

Secondly, Brownstein is in a movie! With The Shins/Broken Bells' own James Mercer! And its supposedly very good! Its called Some Days Are Better Than Others. Check the trailer below and make up your own minds - Im intrigued enough to check it out, even though it does smack a little of trying too hard for indie cred - but as I said, Brownstein + Mercer = must see.

Thirdly (and most importantly), Brownstein mentioned in an interview with IFC that a Sleater-Kinney reunion is definitely a possibility - and that she has hopes that in the next five years they will be firing on all cylinders again! This is great news indeed. Time to dust off One Beat and The Woods and have a Sleater-Kinney playlist today methinks!

Some Days are Better than Others (trailer) from matt mccormick on Vimeo.

Sung Gongs

Quasi have been around for quite a while, having put out various sized and themed releases through Kill Rock Stars and and Touch and Go. They are also the "side project" of Heatmiser's Sam Coombes and Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss, ably supported on this album, American Gongs, by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' Joanna Bolme. Of course Quasi has outlasted both of those outfits (especially regrettable in Sleater-Kinney's case), but they have remained a niche oddity rather than a supergroup of sorts.

This is all about to change with this album. And they are actually touring it rather than sticking to Portland gigs, which will do much for their rotation. The album finally showcases Coombes' supreme axemanship and Weiss' authoritative drumming, and is further augmented by the fact that American Gongs is a proper album, with well constructed and cohesive songs. The Lee Ranaldo sounding "Little White Horse" and bluesy barroom glitter of "Rockabilly Party" show the band at its best sans the long workout jams (which are a treat live), whilst "The Jig Is Up" and "Everything And Nothing At All" denote their mournful, whiskey-soaked side. Quasi are a band that deserve to be noted - not just due to the superior musicianship of the parties involved, but to the fact that they are a fucking good band.

Quasi - Little White Horse
Quasi - Rockabilly Party