Downward Synth Spiral With The French Police

Today seems to be a day of downward synth spirals - first Stress Waves, and now this split between Montreal bands Police des Moeurs and Essaie Pas (out through great French label Atelier Ciseaux). This is much more frantic in its delivery though, more evident of its post-punk origins, but still decidedly cyberpunk in fifty shades of black. Atonal vocals, stark percolating beats, spider-run synth, all creating a melody that jerks and twitches, seduces and shudders. If you have been a fan of the Dark Entries label reissues, or just love your underground early European electronic music with minimal/maximal cool, then this is absolutely for you. Burning in the shadows, giving into desires, freezing out the lesser-thans, indulging in the new flesh.

Rise On The Stressed Waves Of Ruin

It's amazing to think of the bands that I tried on numerous occasions to get on a Sonic Masala bill to no avail. Blank Realm has probably been the biggest one to date to slip through the fingers (although both Dan Spencer and Luke Walsh have played shows in weirder forms), whilst Per Purpose was meant to play the first ever Sonic Masala showcase - the honour went to Glen Schenau's then other project Psy Ants. A much smaller band that I tried a couple of times to get on a lineup was Stress Waves. The lurking synth broiling brilliance comes from the mind of Errol Hoffman (To The North, Make More) with Nick Williams (Throes) on discombobulated vocals. Whilst Errol graced a Campfire Tales show as his solo guise Perfume Garden (which was great by the way), the Stress Waves shows have been few and far between, with Josh Strange (To The North, Quiet Steps) playing bass to beef these wrapped-in-plastic warbles to arrhythmic life. Lost Lustre, their three-song introduction to the world, floored me and made it onto the excellent Wood & Wire roster, whilst another EP in the shape of Lurid Abyss surfaced briefly like a bloated cadaver wrapped in black rose petals last year.

But now we have Orphic Ruin, their first proper album, out on cassette through Second Empire Media (You Beauty, the aforementioned Perfume Garden). This kind of coldwave regression doesn't come from Brisbane, the city of sweaty squats and necessarily bared flesh. Tracks like 'Selenic Visions' and 'Elemental Decline' feel much more suited to the nocturnal black-on-white netherscapes of northern Europe, complete with dark apparel and glazed, disdainful stares into the middle spaces, hair combed vehemently to one side, efficient fetishism. The fact that is is so effortless gives Orphic Ruin a sense of realism that defies the geography of its conception - an anguished gnashing of emotions, deliberately throwing back at expectations. Toneless moaning, distant laconic beats, all switched into other unexpected gears by the synth lines that can suddenly tear rays of light into the moping mix.

Maybe Stress Waves could play a certain festival in 2015, what do you say guys?

Sonic Masala Presents - Perfume Garden/These Guy - TONIGHT

Sonic Masala holds its fourth Campfire Tales solo session at The End tonight at 8pm. Tonight's collaborators are Perfume Garden (Errol from Stress Waves) and These Guy (Joe, formerly from Tabletop Lamps). Perfume Garden has been crafting some insidious looping dark-pop that Im keen to see in the public realm, whilst These Guy's electronic genre leaps are inventive slices of eclecticism (as can be witnessed on his reworking of one of Andrew Tuttle's songs from his Brisbane Rezoned remix album). Come.

Glazed Haze On Our Black Vacation

I meant to get this out sooner, seeing as their first two shows (in Newcastle and Sydney) were this weekend. Better late than never I guess... Local woozy amblers Black Vacation have just released new single 'Glazed', and its a suitably excellent track that doles out nonchalance and whimsy in equal, chiming measures. Its the most concise, crystalline effort that the Ford brothers have slapped their name to thus far (Daniel and Matt are also in Kids Cryptic and Thigh Master), whilst the added gravitas of Helena Papageorg (Feathers) and Michaela Chin (Marl Carx) helps to anchor Black Vacation's sound somewhere between the Australian slacker pop revelation and the Stateside introspective fare that the likes of Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing delve in. Excellence par none.



Black Vacation travel down to Melbourne and the Gasometer on Friday July 5 (with support from SM faves Velcro as well as Legendary Hearts and Aktion Unit), before finalising their launch in their hometown (and a Sonic Masala Presents!) at Trainspotters on Sat July 13. Supports for that one will be Cobwebbs, Stress Waves and Dag.

Losing Stress In Waves

It seems like the port of call nowadays that when a hardcore or post-hardcore act implodes or reaches its final stages, various members branch out into realms totally unbecoming of their past output. Acoustic balladry; obnoxious house; ambient soundscapes - there is no limit to the tangents that have been taken. This is somewhat true for Brisbane act Stress Waves too, seeing as its members converge from the embers of To The North, Quiet Steps and Throes. Yet these bands haven't necessarily been obvious poster children for the hardcore throngs, what with To The North's sonic balleticism and Quiet Steps' evolution from a bile-spitting maelstrom to something more poetic, more refined, yet always potent. Stress Waves feeds off these creative juices, and the three tracks that make up Lost Lustre perfectly frame this. There are elements of coldwave isolation here, as well as more than a bearing resemblance to post punk's melancholic Manchester origins (Errol Hoffman is also in Make More, so that kinda makes sense too). These tracks are almost archaic, however - steeped in Casio simplicity yet awash with ideas, either the product of out-of-time pioneers or a concerted effort to leap into icy waters without reservation. The trio also reference The Cure, Final Fantasy XII and Akira as their influences, and with the blue-tinted urban cover art, the sparsity of the production and the otherworldly textures this approach creates, such disparate touchstones are actually warranted (if a little tongue in cheek).

You can grab Lost Lustre in name-your-price digital here. Hopefully we'll see Stress Waves playing live shows in more regular bursts soon.