Video Vacuum - Liars, Sigur Ros, Vaadat Hitigam, Crows

I have the stiffest shoulders today. I'm so tired. I have no idea why. All I want to do is crawl into a cave and hibernate. But instead - let's see if some A/V multimedia will do the chiropractic trick!

This is the first track off the ranks, and it's not doing much to alleviate stress levels. Then again, it's a Liars track, a band not overly known for their soothing wilderness collages. It's for the second single of latest record WIXIW called 'Brats'. Man, it's more than a little fucked up (again, this is Liars...). A deliberately amateurish animation by Ian Cheng, the video looks half rendered and combined with early '00s GIF level of stop-motion. It's a bizarre rendition of the Elmer Fudd vs Bugs Bunny tale. The trio make a cameo too. You might want to have some paracetamol on hand though...



God, I think we need to cleanse the mind after that, and Icelandic nymphs Sigur Ros have just the thing. Directed by Ryan McGinley, the video for 'Varúð' is as glorious and spine-tingling as we have come to expect from these otherworldly gods.



Next is a true curveball. The band is a "side project" sprouting from Israeli punks TV Buddhas (check out their excellent Band In The Modern World EP) called Vaadat Harigim. It means Exemption Committee in English. The song, 'The World Is Long Gone', has a community television vibe that mirrors local public tv channel in Israel – channel 1, which produced a lot of crappy green screen videos in the late 80s for local new wave bands. It's in Hebrew, but band member Varul has kindly translated it for me:

Let's lie on the beach
Let's lie on our stomach
The deeper
the better
If we fall in love it's OK
'Cause there's no tomorrow,
And The world is long lost

This is the kind of sonic wavelength American slowwinders Real Estate like to traverse, so it comes with a seal of approval. Good track this one.



Finally we have 'Glamour Of The Gods' from London crew Crows. I had never heard of them before, and all they have sent me is this video, but it's slick and pretty enjoyable. Apparently it's set in my old stomping ground of Kilburn in London, which suits its slightly greasy, slightly dirty blues stomp crawl crunch (insert other onomatopoeia here). More please.



POP! And there is that knot forcibly worked out. Feel good? Yeah...NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Little Dreamers #4 - Nitzam, Fierce & the Dead, Sleeping In The Aviary, TV Buddhas

Here are some belated releases by bands I've featured in the past that I thought warranted a quick mention...


First up, Brighton psych folk rock hybrid Nitzam put out a self-titled EP last year that I quite liked, and since have pumped out two more - called Nitzam 2 and Nitzam 3. They also opened The Great Escape festival this English summer (not sure if that's even a term anymore...) All three releases are free and can be got here. Get got, good.

Nitzam - High Tide (from Nitzam 2)
Nitzam - Answer Phone (from Nitzam 3)


Another UK band, London-based instrumental quartet The Fierce And The Dead impressed with their long-and-amusing-titled debut If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe. They followed this up earlier this year with EP On VHS (which you can grab here), which they also recorded videos for the four tracks onto VHS tapes for special purchase - nice. The EP has some great moments, and with titles like '666...6', still haven't lost the sense of humour.

The Fierce & The Dead - 666...6


Now across to the US, Minneapolis to be exact, to check in on Sleeping In The Aviary. The five-piece put out a fun LP last year called You And Me, Ghost and last month re-issued their sophomore album Expensive Vomit In A Cheap Motel on vinyl. More lo-fi, steeped in tragedy but run through with hope, the album is a ragged rush at the sun - no lollipops here, just soldiering on with a glint in the eye. Good stuff. You can grab it (and their other stuff) through Sound of Science here.

Sleeping In The Aviary - Write On


Finally we are trekking way over to Tel Aviv via Berlin for post punk gurus TV Buddhas. The latest EP Band In The Modern World (out through Austrian label TROST Records, produced by Steve Fisk) sounds anything BUT modern, like its a lost tape from the 70s London era. I'm really tired, so all Ill say is this is a great release - GREAT release - that you should get right now. RIGHT. NOW. Here. Do it.

TV Buddhas - Don't Tell Me It's Gonna Be OK
TV Buddhas - In The Shadow Of A Wave

Here's the whole thing...

Hits From The Box #33 - Family Circles

Family. Gotta love em, hey? The past fortnight has been filled with family get-togethers - chewing the cud with the Ma and Pa, rockin and drinkin with my cousins, and my sister getting married (in London - I couldn't make it - gutting). They are blood, you can't walk away from em - lucky mine are all right. No Huxtables - who is? - but at least it's not the Kelly residence either...


Today brings the newest release from Olympia, Wa. indie rock experimenters, Letters. Released on Yoyo Records (former home of Mirah, The Mountain Goats, and The Microphones), All the Adventures to See Them I Will is a languid sonic journey. Not adhering to any genre, this is an album as experimental as it is infectious. Below are the first two singles off the album...

Letters - Musk Of This Ink




Let's fly over to Berlin (via Tel Aviv - racking up the frequent flyer miles) now to have a quick toe to toe with TV Buddhas. They listen incessantly to Husker Du, The Wipers, The Ramones, and Modern Lovers, and the two tracks from their current 7" certainly showcase these influences. The 7" is out through Staatsakt Records, and can get got from Rough Trade.

TV Buddhas - Hello To Loneliness
TV Buddhas - Just Another Day In My Head


I do like me some slightly hokey yet generally awesome band names, and Shitty/Awesome fits the bill on many levels. Their statement that they straddle the paradoxical line between farcical and substantive sums it up nicely. Having formed on a road trip to the 2009 SXSW does add some credence though - hell, that's pretty much the same circumstances behind which Sonic Masala came to be! Now having played alongside the likes of Lightning Bolt, Nobunny and Abe Vigoda, their love of the amazing Tyvek, and with their debut LP coming out through Guestroom Records, Im thinking that the throwaway banter won't distill the notion that there is a good garage band bubbling away here. At the end of the day its all about having stupid, decadent fun, and Shitty/Awesome intend to provide it all in spades.

Shitty/Awesome - Hang Up


Bloomington Indiana based band Hypocrite in a Hippy Crypt must have one of the shittest names of 2011. Im sorry guys - but seriously? I much prefer the name of your album, Tweaker In The Park. Out through Gulcher Records (Kurt Vile's first label), Tweaker In The Park is pretty lo-fi and unassuming, yet has a couple of cracking tracks on it, especially the lazy easiness that oozes from 'The Town Crazies' (another good (or at least much better) name for a band guys...) Don't judge this band by its title - give the below track a listen first, you should be pleasantly surprised...

Hypocrite In A Hippy Crypt - The Town Crazies


Now I can't pretend to know much about Italian duo M+A, but this track really hit me. Not really like The Books, or Cornelius, yet infused with some of the same glitchy spirit, with a slight Akron/Family effusiveness, 'Liko Lene Lisa' is a great track, and worth the time to delve further - or at least checking out their forthcoming LP Things. Yes that comes out in November...

M + A - Liko Lene Lisa


The second HFTB to have an album out on Guestroom Records, Tulsa's very cool Broncho. This track is delightedly tripping the light fantastic insofar that they effortlessly sound like Greasers from the 60s and modern-day flannel garage rockers at the same time. 'Pick A Fight' as a signature tune couldn't be any more perfect. This is hook-laden rock at its most devilish, with enough attitude to scare hipsters into ditching their black-rimmed unprescripted glasses and see the light. The Fonz wouldn't stand a chance with these guys. This is my soundtrack for the rest of the day - Im now off to go drink some Bloody Mary's with my bud Dan C.

Broncho - Pick A Fight

Happy Sunday!