Giving A Shandy Toast To The Stranger Nallo (PREMIERE TRACKS)

It's a matter of hours now before Minneapolis four-piece Nallo releases Breather, their follow up LP to 2012's Mechano & The Trees (that I took a shine to). Breather comes out tomorrow, and it is a gold nugget of an album for those lucky enough to discover it - and now that I've blabbed, I hope the stocks rise by one or two people (I think that readership still exists???)

We are pretty stoked to be giving you an exclusive taste of the album with the one-two gullet punch of 'Shandy' and 'Stranger', a diptych that are entwined in their country twang, slow burning elegance and rugged expulsions of noise. The last two minutes of 'Stranger' has me thinking of the Spook Houses and Piles of the world - bloody good company to be keeping I reckon. Pre-order Breather (and listen to a few more choice cuts off the album) here.

Swept Away In Swift Armour

With a name like The Sweeps, I was in danger of immediately writing off this Chicago trio. I have made a habit of poring over every possibly decent release that comes my way though, so I dipped my toe into the waters that is their debut LP Swift Armour - and whilst it may be winter still here (albeit an Aussie winter, particularly a Queensland winter, doesn't often call for layers of clothing), rather than being frozen out, the temperature was just fine. This is raucous, edgy, yet edifying guitar rock - think the more rambunctious fringes of Built To Spill, the dingy breakdowns of Desaparecidos, the sonic sleekness of (dare I say it) early era Arcade Fire, with a lashing of the cantankerous scourings that likeminded bands Pile and Spook Houses to fill out the boisterous recipe. But Swift Armour is emblematic of the trio, staunch Chicago kids, who although not always hitting their mark, spray the speakers with gusto that most of their efforts indelibly stick. When everything explodes is when the band finds traction - a growl and expulsion of emotion that feels visceral and real. I still find it difficult to warm to the name - but dive into this album. It's fine, once you get in...

You can pick up Swift Armour from here.

Beware The Idea Of Cats

A fortnight ago I mentioned British gal Ides' amazing track 'Prisms' - if you can't remember, head here - it's one of the best tracks of the year. Ides (AKA Alanna McArdle) is putting out a split 7" next month, I Like What You Say, out through Reeks Of Effort Records with Brighton's King of Cats, another nom de plume for Maxy Levy. Levy's solo (and sometimes band) venture is a bit more cantankerous, a bit more obtuse, a bit more cacophonous - a grumpy moggy sitting in the sun, swatting at dust motes as they float in and out of sight, distracting it from stalking another pesky squirrel in the backyard. Self-described as "screamy folk", Levy's vocals come across as harsh, sawblade grinding, screeches into the open fins of a pedestal fan, before they settle into the swirling clatter and din to feel at home. This has a chug and distorted groove that the Boston bands I've been into of late (Pile, Spook Houses, Grass Is Green) harbour, which is also great. It's all a little unhinged, and there is something joyous in all that. 

Yin and yang? Maybe - but these deceptive troubadours are drenched in the emotive, tearing out your hair, heart and lungs - soulmates in lopsided chagrin. Pre-order I Like What You Say here.

Eating Krill in Spook Houses

I decided to jam these two releases together fairly tenuously (and what's with my needy penchant for East Coast rock bands at the moment?). Lucky Leaves is the new record from trio Krill, and its goddamn rad. It has the Jawa-esque cover art; the band have their own theme tune ("Krill Forever" indeed); Jonah Furman's vocals, whilst quirky and off-kilter, are alluring in their feverish imploring ways; perfect placement of noise and space, time changes and fades, air to breathe and cement to suffocate in; and the basslines are crystal, something you don't always have in these days' records. The drumming serves the songs, not as a driver or a destroyer, but as a guide, showing the guests in the right direction. I'm clearly a sucker for this slightly downer, brooding, off-kilter rock (see - Spook Houses, Pile, Ovlov, Fat History Month...); the Boston region has an abundance of them; and Krill have quite rightly risen to the top echelons of the pack. You can buy Lucky Leaves here (out through Sippy Cup Everything) - I know I am.

One of the surprise albums of last year was the aforementioned New Jersey band Spook Houses' Trying LP. Well the four-piece have some new stuff on the way in the form of a split with the also-aforementioned Fat History Month through Double Double Whammy Records (you can pre-order it here). Here there is a bit of a switcheroo though, with Spook Houses heading down a fuzzier, cozier, quirk-pop spin-out. It's bare, Robert Pollard/Jeff Mangum coaxing stuff - and whilst it doesn't have the hooks in abundance that 'American' used to slay me, it is the perfect curveball that this kind of 7" allows a band to throw. The static intro and the incessant fuzz throughout sits beautifully too when you put the headphones on. Thanks guys.

Hits From The Box #64 - Will You Still Need Me?

Yep, Beatles reference. I don't know - it was my dad's birthday today. He's 59, not 64, but he's the raddest guy I know, so why not link him in? I don't have much to say really, so let's get into some worthy bands that are clogging up the inbox, shall we?

Raucous, snotty pop from NY? Yes please! Welcome LVL UP,  a band of young games-obsessed dudes who initially got together to do short stabs of lo-fi gems intercut with lengthy guitar solos. Things have moved on since then, and the quality of their Extra Worlds 7" (out through Double Double Whammy, who incidentally were responsible for putting out one of my top 10 releases of last year, Spook Houses' Trying, which you can also get here) speaks volumes. Can't get the excellence of this power pop outta my head. There is a bit of Superchunk, a dash of Built To Spill (not the last I can hear Doug Martsch in this post...), a dollop of Pavement, a smidgen of downer pop ('Totally Ruined' is a killer track), a pinch of The Thermals... It's just an amazing little offering. Very happy about this one.

LVL UP - Graveyard

'Tie Or Die' is obnoxious, bratty, catchy and loud. Makes sense really, seeing as the 7" is from Manchester duo Bad Grammar, who have been picked up by Gravy Records (Bitches, Divorce, Fever Fever). The band deals in noise pop that is visceral, insistent and hypercolour, to the point where you can headbutt a wall without fear and see rainbows flow from the wounds. This kind of frenetic, fun riff-raff is always up my street, as is a B-side called 'Ace Adventura'. These kids are alright (and see the cover art for the 7" below - seriously rad).

  

Shark Week are a quartet out of Washington DC whose three-song eponymous EP last year blew all and sundry away with their short, effervescent slabs of bluesy garage pop, think glory days of 70s and Johnny Thunders in his swaggerific prime (pick it up here). It was the energy that sizzled through these tracks that really electrified, and the band went on to mesmerise audiences at SXSW last month. They are all about having a good time, ensuring that everyone else gets groovin' too, and their new song 'Baby Maybe' continues the trend. Goddamn if I wouldn't have a memorably debaucherous (yet good natured) night at one of these shows. Bring on the good times.

Shark Week - Get High

Einar Jullum is a dude from Oslo, now based in Montreal, that has crafted a pretty chill record on Hjerteknuser - og andre blues. Jullum sings in Norwegian and it swings from Devin swagger blues, to Elliot Smith melancholia and weary chagrin, to quirky folk about-turns. It's a eclectic trip that, to me at least, suits the Montreal climes - I can envision this killing in a small bar in the dead of winter. It's very iconic, and deserves to be heard. See what you reckon - you can get it (via the great Kinnta Records) here.

If I told you about a cool surf-indie-pop band called Tough Guys Of America, with a song called 'Jersey Shore', where would you assume they come from? I'm pretty sure your last guess would have been Belgrade, Serbia... Yet this band, much like VVhile that I came across earlier this year, inherently hold an electric undercurrent to this band, infused with a playfulness that is leagues apart from their Stateside brethren, and makes them inimitably more interesting because of it. There is a definite Real Estate vibe, but I imagine they are swinging their feet from a li-lo and drinking beer on Ada Ciganlija Island (I had a rad time there back in 2009 - still, it ain't Big Sur...). I hope we hear more about these guys in the near future.

Tough Guys Of America - Jersey Shore 

Brooklyn's Field Mouse embody a 90s indie sound that was massive (and therefore not really 'indie' in the true sense) but with more feedback. Rachel Browne's vocals have that same drawl too. But there is something about these guys that promises something special. 'Tomorrow Was Yesterday' has a hint of poppier Built To Spill with its construction too, which will always strike a chord. Time will tell, yet it's clear that they are workhorses too, going on a massive tour starting next week. I'm willing to wager they will come through it A-OK.

4/19/13-PA, Philadelphia @ MilkBoy

4/20/13-DC, Washington @ Rock N roll Hotel

4/21//13-NC, Chapel Hill @ Local 506

4/23/13-FL, Gainesville @ The Atlantic

4/24/13-FL, Orlando @ The Social

4/26/13-GA, Atlanta @ The Masquerade

4/27/13-TN, Memphis @ Crosstown Arts

4/28/13-TX, Dallas @ The Prophet Bar

4/30/13-TX, Houston @ Rudyard's

5/1/13-TX, Austin @ Mohawk

5/3/13-TX, El Paso @ Gallery 127

5/4/13-AZ, Scottsdale @ Pub Rock

5/6/13-CA, San Diego @ Soda Bar

5/7/13-CA, Los Angeles @ Echo

5/8/13-CA, San Francisco @ Bottom Of The Hill

5/9/13-OR, Portland @ Doug Fir Lounge

5/11/13-WA, Seattle @ Sunset Tavern

5/13/13-UT, Salt Lake City @ Urban Lounge

5/15/13-CO, Denver @ Larmier Lounge

5/16/13-KS, Lawrence @ Jackpot Music Hall

5/17/13-MN, Minneapolis @ Triple Rock

5/18/13-IL, Beat Kitchen @ Beat Kitchen

5/19/13-MI, Lansing @ Mac's Bar

5/20/13-OH, Cleveland @ Beachland Tavern

5/21/13-ON, Toronto @ The Drake Hotel

5/22/13-PA, Pittsburgh @ Club Cafe

5/23/13-MA, Cambridge @ TT the Bear's Place

5/24/13-NY, New York @ Bowery Ballroom 

Field Mouse - Tomorrow Was Yesterday

We finish up in Italy, a country not overly renowned for their elegant post-rock. Yet in Soundtrack For A Quiet Place, Elara have something quite special to offer. Recorded in the Republic of San Marino (I'm pretty sure this is the first record I have ever listened to - definitely owned - that is from this region...), the three-track EP valiantly attempts to create a score for the warmest memories of the soul - those places that are indelibly burnt into your mind, filled with love, warmth and glory.  Lofty ambitions, but the classical touches that colour the edges of tracks like 'We Are Infinite' proves that they are on the right track. You can get Soundtrack For A Quiet Place through Fluttery Records here.

Elara - Me & You Under The Aurora Borealis

Happy Wednesday!

Haunted Party Tapes Will Catch You A Ghostly Death

 

Whilst Death Cassettes aren't the first band to send me something to listen to in 2013 - I'm still trawling through 700+ emails - they were the first ones to grab me. Their Ghost Party EP is six songs of solid gold. The Viriginian band have a an immediacy, inhabiting the garage rock format that SF alumni Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall make their bread and butter, yet with a laconic, slacker vibe that bands closer to home can identify with. So where faster paced tracks like 'I Don't Care' are great albeit interchangeable with any number of great garage rock bands of 2012, the slack-jawed amble of 'The Fool' and 'Upset' offers another sardonic edge. Usually when bands of this ilk take their foot off the pedal their focus shifts - with Death Cassettes, you feel even more at home. They claim Jay Reatard and SM faves Spook Houses as reference points - enough said. A promising introduction indeed.

Head to their Bandcamp to get Ghost Party - it's free, and really really good.

Death Cassettes - Stereo Spell
Death Cassettes - The Fool

A Dripping Sex Pile

 

Wow. Talk about an Internet-baiting headline...

There are moments when you discover bands that are good from the first note, and after living wit the music for a few days, or even hours, it becomes ingrained in your sonic psyche for forever more. Then there are bands that are insidious, their pull imperceptible, worming its way into your central core until your dreamscapes and nightmares are scored by their apocryphal affectations.

But occasionally there comes a song or album that blows you away so unexpectedly that everything changes. We all have at least one of these transcendental moments in our lives, where a song, a voice, a riff, a roll, a drone, a scream, smashes its imprint on your soul, and you spend the rest of your life reliving that moment. It would certainly be rash to put a small band from Boston into my list, but Pile's 3rd record Dripping blindsided me so completely that I had gravel rash underneath my chin AND my tongue. It’s probably futile to describe this album, but I’ll briefly try.

From the raw energy of opener ‘Baby Boy’, this record never lets up, incorporating the indie rock of the 90s (when it truly was independent) with a crunchier, heavier edge and hair-on-your-chest yowls from frontman Rick Maguire that evokes a simpler, grungier Modest Mouse who are most definitely still on the self-flagellation and sauce downward spiral.

Dripping comes from recording the album in Philadelphia in the middle of summer, and the heat, sweat, anguish and ephemeral base emotions comes bleeding out of these tracks. Even when things slow down (‘Prom Song’, ‘Bubblegum’) there is a feverish itch that pervades, albeit one that has you grinning maniacally. And when they kick it into an addictive rhythmic gear as they do with ‘Bump A Grape’, ‘The Jones’ and the acidic ‘Grunt Like A Pig’, it takes all your might to stop from tearing your own face off with glee. This may sound all perfunctory and stupid, but that is the power of these songs over me. I struggle to comprehend the power that these guitar lines, insistent bass and rumbling drums have over me. And that wail…

When you wake from a dream where your band was playing these songs, and they killed – thus its your subconsciousness telling you that your band will never make songs as good as these in real life – then you know you have something pretty great on your hands.

There have been quite a few bands that have stirred me in this fashion this year – Spook Houses, Tiny Spiders, Dikes of Holland, Grass Cannons, Plateaus, Iowa, Looks Like Miaou, Invisible Things, PAWS, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, Post Teens, Sleepies, and I'm leaving a few out – and it’s these moments, just as much as when a feverishly anticipated release like GY!BE, Ty Segall or Swans slays mightily, that keeps the faith burning bright.

A glowing review? Sure. Dripping isn’t perfect by any means – but that makes it even better, because the next album could be bullshit good, and that’s worth living for.

 

Pile’s Dripping can be gleaned via Exploding In Sound Records here.

Trying Spook Houses

I showed a lot of love for 'American', the first track to come off New Jersey band Spook Houses' new LP called Trying. Well the album is out to the public now, and it is so good, something akin to Jeff The Brotherhood trying to reimagine Modest Mouse's The Lonesome Crowded West, but they are wasted, making way too many mistakes but really don't care either way. It is an incredible slacker record amidst a morass of slacker albums, and deserves to have a golden effigy made to it. Fuck the Rivers Cuomo renaissance, get behind kids who actually know what it feels like to be disenfranchised and not really care.

You can grab Trying here - please do, you deserve it.

Spook Houses - American
Spook Houses - Witching Hour

Splendid Spook Houses Of America

This song has saved my life today. After a heady weekend at Splendour In The Grass (working on reviews and publications, seeing some great sets from Explosions In The Sky, Father John Misty, Mudhoney and Dirty Three, but mainly having a hazy blast with friends and "acquaintances"), travelling back to Brisbane from Byron Bay at 6am wasn't conducive to a happy Uncle Masala. Then I stumbled across New Jersey quartet Spook Houses and their track 'American' that is on their upcoming LP Trying. That flat vocal when he drawls "I'm drunk and I feel like shit" says it all, let alone the fat bass line and the explosion of happy noise halfway through the blistering track. It's an anthem towards the inane beauty inherent in being young and dumb, which is usually what going to a festival is fuelled by. I know nothing else about this band AT ALL, but this is enough. They saved my life - now I am indebted to Spook Houses.


Trying is out soon on Philly label Evil Weevil. You can pre-order it here.