Major Speedy Deals 90s In The Arcane

This week I'm finding myself posting about bands that were sending me stuff when they were but minnows in the pond, likeminded souls scratching each others' backs (see: FIDLAR, Tape Deck Mountain, Weekend, Forest Swords...). And to see these artists blooming and getting deserved praise and adulation whilst Sonic Masala plugs away - it brings a tear (of pride) to the eye. Run forth and prosper, you crazy kids...

One such outfit is Boston-via-NY's Speedy Ortiz. After a lil email to-and-fro with the lead Sadie Dupuis I finally got round to taking in their Sports EP and really dug it, especially songs like 'Indoor Soccer' which took me back to my childhood (90s angular indie rock when it was still indeed independent). Now Speedy Ortiz are riding high after the successful release of their debut album Major Arcana (out on Carpark Records), and the fleshed-out production has done nothing to hide the raw aggression in the compositions, the sardonic sneer in Dupuis' lyrics, the mirrored image of Liz Phair and Louise Post, sanctioned angst. The deliberate wonky nature of songs like 'Plough' (the fact they have a song called 'Plough' feels very 90s too...) They even have an elongated spiked meltdown closer in 'MKVI' that stretches almost over double the playing time of their other songs! As if I wouldn't be a fan of this. So many great tracks... Hurry up and come to Australia guys!

You can buy Major Arcana here.

Tape Deck Mountain Holds Sway

I had ideas for posts for today. Honestly, I did! But they all fell out of my head the moment I put on Tape Deck Mountain's latest tracks from his upcoming LP Sway (out in October on principal TDMer Travis Trevisan's own label Nineteen98, which also houses the great WRITER whom we wrote about only last week). I loved loved LOVED their Secret Serf EP back in 2011 - but something tells me the year Trevisan spent in Austin, Texas is going to channel something brilliant into his sonorous shoegaze shtick. You probably have already partook in 'Always Lie' the first cut off it - and seriously, it's a goddamn killer of a track. Trevisan's vocals/lyrics are at times uplifting and weighty, the gravity that pulls you down before you soar into the stratosphere. But it's his guitar that will be the focal point - and with good reason. It's hard to truly explain how glorious the guitar is on this track, and yet so loud. Shoegaze done so right, Kevin Shields should be taking notes. An opiate for the masses. Then there is the more instrumental leaning 'Mystics', which is a much more subdued affair - feeling underwater, 20,000 leagues under the weather, weightless, wondering, always wondering. Its ponderous tone echoes the restrained fare of Mogwai's latter works, albeit with that familiar shoegaze wash, and it seems like a masterstroke after the overt excellence of 'Always Lie' - like a rebuff, 'Mystics' dampens the rampant anticipation, the curveball that only serves to heighten anticipation for those in the know. Sway is now in my top five most hotly anticipated releases in the back end of 2013.

Stay tuned.

A Tape Deck's A Slow Salvation On Top Of The Mountain

My final post for the day is about yet another way I tend to discover music. And that is through the blog itself. Sonic Masala attracts in excess of forty emails a day. Now, compared to the big cats, I'm sure that’s a piffling amount. But for a one man band who tries to write three posts a day on top of organising shows, interviewing artists, writing up articles/gig/album reviews, going to shows, and then my “day” job – it’s a hell of a lot. Plus, I give each and every one a cursory glance. Granted half will be tossed after said cursory glance, but it also means that there are twenty emails of interest, thus twenty emails to read, twenty artists to listen to, twenty emails to reply to stating either the likelihood of posting about the music or not. Whinge whinge etc. And there are always good ones. Some are great. But there is at least one a month that blindsides you, you connect with it so much.

One such band was Tape Deck Mountain, whose Secret Serf EP back in 2011 absolutely floored me. Granted, it wasn’t an epiphany moment, a watershed suite of sound, but I felt an immediate connection to the title track that it became ingrained into all playlists and conversations for the next few months. Funny thing is, many of said bands disappear off the radar, and you are left pondering what might have been… We don’t have to wait any longer for these guys. Next month the Brooklyn via San Diego trio are releasing EP Slow Salvation. Its another slowburner that curls up darkly at the edges, a smoky ethereal elixir that has a fiery aftertaste, Bauhaus codeine.

Pre-order Slow Salvation through Lefse here.

Tape Deck Mountain - Kellies

Getting The Kellies In The Woods Of Tape Deck Mountain

I posted about San Diego's Tape Deck Mountain earlier this year, waxing on about their EP Secret Serf (check out our thoughts here). It was ace, still is, and now they are touring with a new track to boot. 'Kellies' is on a cassette that is only availbale from the band on their US tour, which is massive, starting in Los Angeles on the 2nd of June and continuing on until they reach Phoenix in July. Along the way they will tour alongside Grooms for a bit, and play a show with Keepaway in New York, but its the first leg we are excited about as they will be joined by the excellent Woodsman. The Denver outfit have some new stuff to back up their great Rare Forms album too (which I lost my shit over here) - this track, 'Tone Cloak', is eight minutes of classic psych sprawl. Anyway, check out their respective websites to ensure you don't miss em, ok?

Tape Deck Mountain - Kellies
Woodsman - Tone Cloak

The Swell Of The Secret Serf

I missed the boat on Tape Deck Mountain first time around. The San Diego band's debut Ghosts hit back in 2009, and it was an impressive if somewhat disjointed affair. Well now they are back with Secret Serf (out on Lefse Records), a four track EP that is not just impressive, but pretty damn great, and properly showcases the duo's penchant for spacey dreamgaze. Sure, every boy and his Stratocaster is aping My Bloody Valentine these days to varying effect - but when it is simply one of the best sonic sounds ever, there is always room for another act to jostle for recognition. The thing is, if this release is anything to go by, Tape Deck Mountain are primed to be leaders of the pack. Opener 'P.I.' is the only clear vocal track present, the rest being swept away in the sunkissed fuzz like many of its beach pop oriented brethren. But the key here is that this is not a Spector-worshipping summer play - it at its heart is a tape pop record, with a huge expansive sound propelling the tracks forward (the melancholic 'Trevor' sounds like a rockier Low covering Pixies' 'Silver', whilst the all-encompassing title track begs to be listened to whilst stuck in a pea soup mist). Tape Deck Mountain have given the world their take on skewed dream noise pop, done at a languid pace, and its admirable stuff. I know we are early in the year, but this is my favourite EP - nay, release - thus far. (Actually that is a big call, but its my favourite this week, ok???)

Tape Deck Mountain are currently embarking on a tour of the West Coast of the US - if you are around, I strongly suggest you make it a priority to catch these guys - they're only getting started.

Tape Deck Mountain - P.I.