Back And Forth With The Skull Defekts

It really is a psych-tastic day, what with the awesome local flavourings of Dreamtime and the incredible, INCREDIBLE Vision Fortune paving the way before us. But Im not finished there, no way Jose! For Ive received an suitably eclectic but altogether radtastic release from the Thrill Jockey stable, for my friends in haze, The Skull Defekts.

The Skull Defekts have a new 12" EP coming out next month. Recorded during their US tour earlier this year, The Skull Defekts for this recording includes Daniel Higgs and Zomes (Asa Osborne). 2013-3012 features three new tracks; the B-side presents those songs played in reverse and reverse-cut, starting from the inner-most groove and playing out toward the edge of the record. United by a common belief in the power of music and sound, The Skull Defekts and Zomes soon found themselves performing together, and when a show was cancelled during the tour, recording together for an explosive and extremely creative one day session. The cover features artwork by Daniel Higgs.


The track below is actually an amalgam of the track 'Children of the Skull Defekts' and its mirror image 'Stkefed Lluks Eth Fo Nerdlihc', which gives you an amazing idea of what this release entails. I love these guys, and Higgs' involvement with them - their album Peer Amid is one of my favourites of the year (check out my thoughts here). The band are joining many of my favourite bands at the inimitable Supersonic Festival in Birmingham tonight for three days - Barn Owl, White Hills, Eternal Tapestry, Part Chimp, Mike Watt, Bardo Pond - fucking incredible, right?

The Skull Defekts - Childrenerdlihc

*Exclusive* - Tyvek to hit Euro shores Feb 2011!!

Yep, you heard right, the Detroit garage punk toerags flying the Siltbreeze flag, Tyvek, will be touring our fine land come February 2011. How does Sonic Masala know this? Well, pretty much from the horse's mouth. One of the members of Tyvek is in the touring band of Demons, Wolf Eyes' Nate Young's visual arts mindfuck menagerie, who are currently playing Supersonic in Birmingham. One of my friends got talking to him based on the coincidence of wearing a Tyvek shirt that he himself had made, and he then dropped the bomb. He also gave my friend a Tyvek demo cassette - a brilliant run-in if Ive ever heard one! (AND our first exclusive...)

And why are they touring? Well, just in time to promote their new LP of course! Nothing Fits, out on In The Red, comes out in November 9, promising to be as breakneck, messy, and addictive as their self titled effort of last year. Here's a new taster of what to expect...

Tyvek - 4312

Friday Cover Up - Europop and Dirge Put Through The Supersonic Wringer

What a week, eh? And now its time for the weekend. I have nothing planned other than to chill out and spend the time at home, maybe get my hair cut, watch movies, and mentally prepare for the musical onslaught of another week, with Nisennenmondai, Screaming Females and Pontiak all doing shows this week. Plus, for those of you fortunate enough to be heading to Birmingham this weekend, Supersonic is going to wreak all kinds of awesomeness, with the likes of Swans, Hallogallo 2010, Godflesh, Napalm Death and many many more gracing the various stages.

So, in tribute to Supersonic, AND to a little post I did earlier in the week about, erm...a-ha, I have chosen a couple of covers that highlight them both. Drone merchants Nadja put out an amazing record early this year with Pyramids, called, funnily enough, Pyramids With Nadja. But before this they put out an amazing dronecore album made up of covers called When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV. The covers, ranging from Slayer and My Bloody Valentine to Elliott Smith and Codeine, are drone metal crossover gems, every one. SO today, I have chosen Nadja's reworked version of a-ha's 'The Sun Always Shines On TV', plus their toned down into the ground version of Swans' 'No Cure For The Lonely'. Have a great weekend!

Nadja - The Sun Always Shines On TV (a-ha cover)

Nadja - No Cure For The Lonely (Swans cover)

Droning Hootenanny

Another band from the Thrill Jockey stable (via Not Not Fun) is Barn Owl. I have only just come across this clip of their track 'Light From The Mesa', and its pretty damn greasch. Languid droning music that fits right alongside stablemates White Hills (also mentioned on Sonic Masala today - yep, Im in that kinda mood) more elegaic tones, the San Fran outfit have been infiltrating the underground scene since 2007, putting out myriad releases under all kinds of guises (most of them handmade and limited editions). They are also on their way to the UK next month, where they will be playing Supersonic in Birmingham (which is a unique and most definitely awesome festival, showcase the harder, darker edge of the rock abyss - headlining are Godflesh and Swans...), whilst also managing to squeeze in a London gig at Corsica Studios with Master Musicians of Bukkake on October 25th. If the Moon Duo gig at Corsica is a precursor of the quality of performance this venue elicits, then this will be something special.

Barn Owl - Light from the Mesa from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Confession - Someone's Stole My Gold!...and a Supersonic surprise connection

Damn Stereogum! Ive been excited about The High Confessions releasing their album Turning Lead Into Gold With The High Confessions ever since I posted about the album some months ago. Sonic Youth's drummer Steve Shelley combines with a number of high-profile noiseniks to create something quite impressive - and Stereogum have the drop, streaming it over here.

And in some related news, Shelley will be gracing the hallowed grounds of...Birmingham (?) at this year's Supersonic festival as part of Neu! tribute collective Hallogallo 2010 (also consists of Neu!'s Michael Rothner, Benjamin Curtis of Seven Schools of Bells, and Tall Firs' Aaron Mullan). Supersonic is going to be massive - a post is coming soon for that! Nice...