Twelve Courses? Your Point Being?

Just a short post about Point Being, a new band out of Sydney that features Nite Fields' Liza Harper (yes, they are still very much alive and kicking - more on that very soon...). The four piece is much more agitated and raucous than the gossamer crawl of that band though, as 'Degustation' clearly displays. The lines "You're not invited/But you come anyway" is pretty great, delivered in a tone that makes it almost impossible to work out if he is pissed off or laconically cheering the usurper along. That kind of ambiguity lends the song a buoyant edge - irrespective of whether the intrusions are wanted or not.


Point Being recently supported Day Ravies alongside Bare Grillz, and their next Sydney show is supporting Bearhug and Step-Panther - a regular Sonic Masala love-a-thon.

Step Panther to the Jugular

(Post by Fred Savage Beasts)

The guitars in this new Step Panther single are so shiny. SO shiny. They sound a bit like they came from outer space, or, at least, got reflected back from some satellite picking up stray laments pouring out of a drive through speaker box somewhere near your place. Metallic beams, straight from the heart. There is a mention of some kind of swamp thing, but there’s no swamp here. Apart from the swamp in your home town - the one you  get caught in when the person you love moves somewhere far away and you’re left ordering fast food for the third night in a row.

Video Vacuum - Step-Panther, Spoon, Bo Ningen, Gum Takes Tooth

It's been a while since we dived headlong into the moving image here, so let's go for it! First cab off the rank is Sydney's snots Step-Panther and their great new track 'Nowhere'. Animation at its most simplistic, devilish and stupid - my kind of fun.

Spoon are back! I must admit that I have a soft spot for these guys - Kill The Moonlight is still one of my favourite albums of the last decade. The band have rushed this little clip up of new song 'Rent I Pay' on the interwebz - not sure why it's "unofficial", it's a pretty straightforward affair, all shadows of Britt Daniel performing, but I don't care - it's just good to have the boys back.

London-via-Japan psych acid rockers Bo Ningen have a third place to call home - namely Australia, what with good friends Black Night Crash Records signing the guys up for their distro over here. And it's great to see things haven't gotten any saner with the band - the time they melted my face off at 100 Club in London in 2009 will not remain a distant memory. The film clip by Marie Schuller is incredible, let's go lose our minds.

And whilst still in the land of the United Kingdom, the land I started this fine blog in and (spoiler alert!) the land I will be returning to shortly, I thought we would look in at another band I remember fondly - Gum Takes Tooth. Here is an experimental live recording they did with Jaxson Payne - not as straight up deconstructed punk, but aberrant noise philandering nonsense nonetheless - so of course I think it is great. I'm off to see some bands in a Bearded Lady - enjoy...

Big Sound stuff

And so it begins...The 2012 Brisbane Big Sound conference and live showcase promises to be the biggest yet, and already is touted as the Southern Hemisphere's fledgling answer to SXSW. Big shoes to emulate, but there is credence in such claims. With the likes of Steve Earle and the like taking part in Q&As, panel discussions and masterclasses, it has the potential to be an industry icon - as far as that goes, I suppose. I for one can see why some people consider these kinds of things a bit of a wank, but it gets people interested in all facets of music, which can't be a bad thing.

But the most exciting thing about Big Sound is...the sound! Big Sound Live showcases 120 bands within a two block radius all playing over the next two nights. There are some amazing bands that are playing, some of which I have spoken about at length in previous posts (Violent Soho, Transistors, Kirin J Callinan, Velociraptor), but there is a huge list of great acts doing the rounds. Below is a "hitlist" of artists to try and check out. Have a listen, then if you are on the ground check out where/when they are playing here. Ill be around and about reviewing, taking snaps, and other things I won't dare to mention here. See you on the beach!

Straight Arrows



Super Wild Horses



Step-Panther



King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard



Courtney Barnett



Bearhug



Drunk Mums



Go Violets



Geoffrey O'Connor



Jeremy Neale



Shady Lane



The DC3



The Gooch Palms