Friday Night Cover Up - Quelling A Heart Of Glass

Just a quick Friday night shout out. Here is a wonky rendition of Blondie's 'Heart Of Glass' from London laconic troubadour Eugene Quell. It's quiet and intimate, a slightly inebriated singalong with quaint piano that is punctuated by humming wires, broken guitar leads, basic Casio bleeps...it's wonderfully lo-fi louche. It is something that Stephen Malkmus might do - and has, as he and his Jicks covered the same song at the very first Splendour In The Grass in Byron Bay in 2001. Silly and fun. All proceeds go to Refugee Action, so I suggest going over and giving right now - this track is the perfect reward for your own work.

Carpet Shrapnel Yanked From Sam's Brain

Sydney basement dreamers Shrapnel have released Carpet Yankers, a cool cat cassette from Sam Wilkinson (Day Ravies, Mope City, King Tears Mortuary etc etc, out through his Strange Pursuits label). Shrapnel is Wilkinson letting fly, embracing his inner Bob Pollard, Stephen Malkmus, Jason Lowenstein and Calvin Johnson. From the frayed slacker bilge of chugging opener 'Chicken Fantasy', to the Sebadoh-meets-wasted Lennon in Erskineville warp of 'Floss The Boss' and the Doug Martsch fronting Superchunk in a tin can of 'Face On The Desk' - there are a lot of cantankerous, haphazard, blistering in the shade rock on offer. But there is as much time for cracked reflection, as is heard on the thin synth and crackling vocals wasting away on the title track, or the nascent acoustic dement-folk of 'Procrastinate/Disintegrate'. By eschewing the warm wall of sound of Day Ravies and the lo-fi (S)andpit growl of Mope City, Shrapnel is an experiment in freefall thoughts, allowing everything to ferment and take root, no matter how weird and wild. My favourite tracks (for the moment, the mood shifts like a serpent in the sludge) is the wonky, anaesthetised rock with added Beatle riff 'Duty To Do' and the Breeders cruise closer 'Stewing With You'. Yeah, there are a shedload of references rolled out today, but when listening to Carpet Yankers that is what it feels like - a carefree, bloody talented performer playing with the hits - and winning. Grab it here.

Soldiers Of Fortune Are Tough As Nails

Man, this track kills. 'Nails' is the new song from veritable rock god supergroup Soldiers Of Fortune, whose album Early Risers comes out on Mexican Summer in November. Featuring slayer Kid Millions (Oneida, Man Forever et al) on the drums, and Oneida buddies Barry London and Papa Crazee, Jesper Eklow (Endless Boogie), Matt Sweeney (Chavez), Mike Bones and Brad Truax, Soldiers Of Fortune are built to kill all speakers and pretenders. But that isn't enough for these heavy lifters, asking for the aid of the likes of Dan Melchior, Cass McCombs, and goddamn STEPHEN MALKMUS. Yep, this is a blasted rock testament. You thought you knew your rock and roll? Soldiers of Fortune just put the final nail in its coffin, set it on fire and watched it rise like the phoenix, reborn. I haven't heard anything so unadulterated yet so good in a long, long, LONG time. Pre-order this bad boy here - do it NOW.

New Clearance For Rapid Reward

It's about time that Chicago indie-slack rockers Clearance have a full-length on the way! Content to whip out fried Pavement homages in short-form and with regularity for some years, I was starting to think the four-piece were adverse to tacking an album together. But we have it in the rather poignantly named Rapid Rewards (coming out at the end of the month through Tall Pat Records and Unsatisfied Records - pre-order here). The band seem world worn and a little beaten down - but also are pretty nonplussed and droll about it all. Hence new single 'Nonplussed' I guess. It's a blast of a track, openly spiteful towards the toppers and braggers of the world ("Everybody knows the books you've read"), while still unafraid of throwing the guitar around a bit too. 'You've Been Pre-Approved' keeps a mid-tempo bolt on, jumping into the Delorean to spin the wheels in the mid-90s, but it's the blase attitude that really transplants Clearance in that heady past, and more fittingly than a lot of bands enamoured with that period (and as you can guess, I am also one of those bound to the glories of 90s guitar rock). 'Total Closeout' gives another side, a more jam-focused ramble that is just as if not more infectious than the bite-size hooks we have heard before. It is hard not to hear Malkmus here, not just in Mike Bellis' ghosted vocal delivery, but in the devilish and offhand yet almost effortlessly ebullient way around a riff, a bridge, a breakdown. I've been keen on Clearance for a while - now I have a crush.

Surfing Still

Tonight NZ band Surf City hit The Stillery in Camden Town as a precursor to their shows as part of The Great Escape festival down in Brighton. They have just released their new record Jekyll Island (out through Fire Records), which alongside Melbourne band Chook Race’ s About Time has been the first “summer” record to spin incessantly at my house. The album seems more indebted to reverb wash and psych inflected tangents than their last sojourn We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This (at least in my opinion), it is clear that the four-piece is solidifying this approach and becoming a stronger unit because of it. What I like the most though is that there is unashamed attraction to the traditional pop structure aesthetic, as it is with a country of talent that are consistently indebted to the Dunedin years, and of which I am eternally grateful. When looking for gnarled and diseased subversion of such an approach to an electric guitar led son, it’s easy to forget why guitar pop is popular in the first place. Putting out Dollar Bar’s third album Hot Ones this year (with their avid love of all things Robert Pollard) alongside living with one of the world’s greatest fans of Stephen Malkmus last year has really hammered that home to me – and I warmly embrace Surf City with open arms (plus their penchant for Krautrock aspersions is truly present and accounted for on the album, which everyone knows is one of my many vices). You should too.

Stephen Malkmus Still Wigging Out With His Jicks

I'm not the best person to be writing about Stephen Malkmus. I love just about everything he has committed to tape - even deemed weaker titles, such as his self-titled 2001 album, still has many killer hooks and turns of phrase. And it must be said that latest album with his Jicks, Wig Out At Jagbags, is a tighter affair, more loose in relaxed delivery than musicianship, with spaced jams kept to a minimum (which I always find a shame). But I at first found this album a little too quiet, self-assured in its faux-modesty. Of course, I'd been listening to Blank Realm all week, so the juxtaposition there is always going to be jarring. So today I have kept an open mind, thrown Jagbags on - and guess what? Yep, I'm a fan.

It's nothing overtly new - it's just another Malkmus gem. Im finding more and more that he is something of a Turkish delight amongst music lovers - a sweetly acquired taste. But when you can be so steadfast in your own unique vision, becoming a musical auteur with your skewed euphemisms and wayward approaches to life (I've been tripping my face off since breakfast/Taking in this windswept afternoon as on 'Cinnamon & Lesbians' or referencing ELO in the crooner 'J Smoov'). Malkmus is an icon - one of the greats - and Wig Outs At Jagbags only helps to affirm this. Just listen to the man play guitar, drawl weary rejoinders and witty rambles, and enjoy.

Wig Out At Jagbags is out through Matador and Spunk Records - get it here or here.

PREMIERE: Slonk Donkerson Shape Their Own Faith

America has had a surge in clamorous guitar bands that look as much into the past, specifically the 90s angular rock implosion with off-kilter, charming melodies led by the likes of Malkmus and Brock, as they do into the 21st century and beyond (see Milk Music, Cloud Nothings). Brooklyn isn't replete of slacker noise pop bands (see Parquet Courts for its most recent incarnation). A new act to potentially join these ranks is Slonk Donkerson. The trio know each other well, having played in bands together since elementary school. Slonk Donkerson itself has been around for three years, albeit in sporadic fits and bursts as its members attended college spread out across the States. Nevertheless they have produced two LPs and one EP in this time. Their incoming EP Watching Every Channel At Once should push them that little bit closer to the spotlight. 

Watching Every Channel At Once comes out tomorrow - here is the opener of the EP.

Slonk Donkerson - The Shape Of Faith

Malkmus Is Caught In That Mirror Traffic

The Pavement reunion in 2010 was one of those times when it felt good to lose your shit. For me, iconic, euphoric musical events such as these don't come by as often as they used to. 2009 saw The Pixies play Doolittle in its entirety at Brixton Academy, with B-sides, and they stuck unerringly to that - no best of/greatest hits segue here - and it blew my fucking mind. So Pavement, who were just as God-like in my eyes, should have been the same, no?

Unfortunately, no was right. Same venue, different vibe. With unruly yet laconic frontman Stephen Malkmus off to the side, singing, shimmying and noodling all on his lonesome whilst Spiral Stairs et al partied on the opposite side of the stage, it made for a strange, exciting yet slightly deflating experience. I took solace three days later when my sister went to the Pavement-curated ATP and stated that their set there pissed all over the Brixton show, but still...an iconic moment for me became marred.

Still, I have had me some good Malkmus moments, all courtesy of his current band of operations, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks. There was the time in 2001 where they played the inaugural Splendour In The Grass (back in the days it was only one day, where you could drink full strength anything and it was still affordable) and they did an amazing cover of Blondie's 'Heart Of Glass'. There was the time I saw them play '1% Of 1' in London and the instrumental wigout melted my face. Then there was the time I listened to Real Emotional Trash, whilst really trashed (and not just emotionally)...let's just say that fluids were consumed, tears were shed, and a tiger came out of the moon.

So we come to Mirror Traffic, the Jicks' fourth sojourn with Mr Malkmus. Some of my friends feel that his Jicks stuff is much more scattershot than Pavement - really? Have you listened to Pavement? They are the epitome of scattershot! - but for me it more than just a natural progression. Malkmus will never reach the heady heights that the godfathers of slackerdom inadvertently achieved. Yet Mirror Traffic is further testament that Malkmus is one of the best indie songwriters we have ever witnessed, and his guitar wizardry is still that bizarre double standard of razor-sharp yet fluidly languid - he makes it all look so easy. There are some killer tracks on here - ably aided in production duties by fellow 90s quirkster Beck - that swerve all over the 90s rock music palette, but he saves the best - such as Forever 28 or Share The Red - for that quintessential Pavement sound. And through it all you get the sense that Malkmus is really enjoying himself. That is what I missed on that Brixton show, that I know may have warmed up over the course of their reunions. That's the curse of getting them first, at their rustiest, their most nervous.

So we don't, and probably never will, have new Pavement material. This is the next best thing - and it's pretty damn fine by me. Mirror Traffic is out now through Domino Records.

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Senator
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Forever 28
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Gorgeous Georgie

Nova Scotia's World Is More Than Enough

Brisbane five piece Nova Scotia have been doing the local thing now for near on five years, having collated two great, limited release EPs (Bear Smashes Photocopier and Maritime Disasters) and some stellar support slots, the most recent being Built To Spill. Their brand of off-kilter melodic guitar pop evokes such slacker icons as Pavement (hence the support slots for both Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs) and Guided By Voices. So its exciting news to hear that they are about to unearth their debut LP (about time...) Nova Scotia in February through Lofly Records. And to mark the occasion they have given us their closing track, 'The World Is Not Enough', as well as the news that they will launch the album with a secret show on February 26th! If you want to get to this - which, lets face it, you all do - head over to Lofly for the deets. I dont know about you, but Im hoping this proves to be the first great guitar indie pop album of 2011. Only a month to find out...

Nova Scotia - The World Is Not Enough
Nova Scotia - Maritime Disasters

Album review - Surfer Blood's Astro Coast

Surfer Blood have already been shackled to the 'Next Big Thing' ball and chain, but have also been heralded as the forebears of a resurgence in surf rock. Both of these labels are a little unfair. Surf rock in many respects is a niche genre - what these Floridian boys offer is more akin to slacker guitar rock, having more in tune with Rivers Cuomo and Stephen Malkmus than Brian Wilson and Dick Dale. Furthermore, the 'Next Big Thing' these days is a detrimental rather than a monumental banner to attain - these guys have so much more going for them than a cover of NME and a spread in Rolling Stone's Whats Hot in 2010.

But in some ways they bring it on themselves. The broad sunny anthems inclement in their admittedly infant oeuvre, added to their moniker and the name of their debut LP, Astro Coast, would seem to push them forth into the surf rock arena. And they're from Florida - I mean, come on! And they are clean cut, fun loving boys who are blowing all and sundry away. And they have been namechecked by NME's current 'Next Big Thing' The Drums - I mean, seriously!

But as they say, the proof is in the pudding, and a cursory listen to debut LP Astro Coast accentuates Surfer Blood's propensity for big hooks, bigger melodies, and total domination - in a sunny way of course. What grabs from the outset isn't that we have travelled back in time to a place of sun, surf and longboards, but to one of cardigans, black rimmed glasses and Converse High Tops. Opening tune "Floating Vibes" epitomises this notion - swirling guitars hitting with a one-two beat combo that could drive the most elementary of high school cover bands forward, until the bassline chimes in to remind us why Fountains of Wayne used to be cool. Then vocalist John Paul Pitts starts in. His warm harmonics are as much a driving aesthetic of Surfer Blood's appeal as those swirling, shimmering, beautiful guitars. And shit - are those strings I hear in the coda? The boys have ambition.

The album continues in such a rollicking fashion, but also highlight the highlight of many indie bands at their peak. Single "Swim" has been about for a while, but reaches its zenith here, all reverb in an arena vocals, crunching riffs, sparkling Weezer of Blue Album era finger picking, and anthemic choruses. "Take It Easy" is Vampire Weekend like in its Afro beat and soaring vocals, and yet is not smarmy in its tongue in cheeky artiness (yes, I really dont like Vampire Weekend unless someone else is doing it - so sue me!). Harmonix mirrors Arcade Fire, whilst Pitts' voice reaches the rafters as James Mercer does in some of his best Shins work.

But is this mere aping better bands?

No. Why? Because Surfer Blood have written amazing, classic, rock tunes, that's why. Astro Coast is amazingly crafted, and I dont mean in some elegaic, convoluted, overtly ambitious way. It is simplistic in its notion of what makes a good tune tick. Like their compatriots Japandroids, they are young guys who are enjoying playing their instruments - and whilst that two piece deal out scuzzy guitar rock with youthful zeal, their essence is identical - life is great! So yes, the intricacies of many a modern indie classic have been observed and praised, but its time that we harken back to days when guitars were played, drums were flayed, and everyone had a good time. Thank you Surfer Blood - you've served your purpose well.

Surfer Blood - Floating Vibes