Killing With A Choke Chain

I am listening to this Choke Chains record in my lunch hour before I head back into the heady pit of hell that is high school teaching. A fellow teacher (one that is on the right side of nihilism in that she does a great job in front of the class and vents like a Banshee at the end of it) came in and said “Jesus, are you OK? This is aggressive shit, you aren’t going to do anything are you?” She was only half-joking…

Michigan has a lot of reasons why furious pummelling punk would be a perfect outlet, and Choke Chains latches onto the lot, a vise like grip on avarice and puerile pestilence (why else call songs ‘Let’s Try Suicide’ or ‘Rock Paper Rapist’? You aren’t going to name soft ballads such provocative titles without backing them the fuck up). And of course there is a background to such devilishly demented mayhem – members of Dirtbombs and No Bails litter the stage. You can hear both in the mix – the ballsy, bluesy, party rock vibe of the former, and the hardened snot punk of the latter. So sure, Choke Chains could induce wanton acts of atrocities on most-likely-deserving teenagers – the gnashing of teeth can be heard just over the crushing of glass and gouging of skin, but… – actually, yeah, I need a “safe word”. Grab Choke Chains through Slovenly here.

Mexican Knives Kill

Man, this EP Weird Beard (if that's what it is - I cant find much info about it anywhere), by Detroit miscreants Mexican Knives, fucking rocks. This is Dirtbombs territory, yet dirtier, more obnoxious and a little diseased. Definitely a byproduct of the Motor City, Weird Beard swings back and forth between ebullient, drunken garage swagger and more ominous cracked blues crawlers, with a stirring frontwoman in Ruth Synowiec. I doubt you can buy this anymore, but try over at Lifelike here. I really want a longplayer, and apparently there is one in the wings in the not so distant future.
 

Friday Cover Up #1 - The Horrortones Souled Out.

Leave it up to rock'n'soul cover behemoths The Horrortones to put out something as irregular yet delectable as a triple 7" box set. These guys only play like twice a goddamned year! Seriously though, it's great to have these consummate pleasure machines put tracks on wax, and the six songs on display will have you greasing your hair back and shimmying in no time! Just try to resist the decadent, blitzed charms of 'W.A.S.T.E.D' or the swinging frenzy of 'Mojo Hannah'. None of the band members even know where 'They Don't Know' comes from, but the tune does James Brown and hootenannies proud (trust me, such extremes can co-exist). And it wouldn't be The Horrortones without a Dirtbombs cover - or at least a cover of the Dirtbombs covering The O'Jays ('Living For The Weekend').


Courtesy of Mere Noise, there are only 150 of these suckers on planet Earth, so pre-order this diamante delicacy here. The launch is on Friday June 1 at The Beetle Bar, where they will be joined by Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side, Cannon and Lovely Legs (who have just finished recording tracks for an upcoming cassette - I've heard the unmixed tracks and they are special!) And look at that poster! The caricatures are more life-like than the band members in person!

Backwards Looking Forward - Acid Kicks/Different Skeletons

Another couple releases that should have been at the forefront of your minds before you were lobotomised by Watch The Throne last year...


Acid Kicks are a Philly quartet (three of which play bass, and seeing as I have a distant connection to that instrument I am already enamoured) who put out this EP Life Dreams last year. I have had it floating around for months, and thought that seeing as it plays with me a bit, it should play with you too. It's the typical psych fare that I lap up like alcoholic milkshakes, yet there is a sweaty urgency underneath it all that shakes and rattles the bones. Noisy psych punk with a severe bottom end. Buy the 7" here.


Acid Kicks - Pyramidic Valley


Different Skeletons are a garage rock band from Canada's largest city, Toronto. Their album of last year Secret Jeers was one sloppy, jangly, irreverent jam, Black Lips and the Dirtbombs would be proud.Different Skeletons are delightfully jangled, chanting, and surf-tinged. For all the same reasons I recommended the Bleed Whites I can suggest these guys, especially if you're looking for something quicker and rougher. All and all, a sweet debut album. Plus, it has a great cover (see below) AND is a free download here! Imminently cooler.

Different Skeletons - All Going To Die
Different Skeletons - Samsonite

The Horrortones

The next band to come off the Mere Noise Meltdown honour roll is...

The Horrortones. This behemoth of a Brisbane supergroup slash institution slash intermittent rockabilly raconteurs are currently working on a triple 7" box set, which is hugely exciting. The band revolves around ex-Vegas Kings frontman Pete, with a steady backing band and a revolving door of hangers on. The bands cover the gamut of ace Brisbane band - the aforementioned Vegas Kings, The Grates, Texas Tea, SixFtHick, The Stress of Leisure, Wiseacre, The Tremors, Gin Club, Giants Of Science, Butcher Birds...the list goes on and on. The membership is fluid, its all about drinking with buds and having a good time (space permitting). The M.O. is to funk the fuck out, have a hell of a time, systematically destroy everything and everyone in sight, and wake up the next day in a perpetual state of amnesia and pain. And seeing as they list King Khan, The Dirtbombs and Reigning Sound as influences, there isn't much else to do than ensure you catch one of their shows... (And due to their reticent nature to get things down, all I have is this not so great video of them covering King Khan & the Shrines' 'Saba Lou' from back in 2009. Still, as more about the box set comes through, I will let you know).

Flippin' Through Some Old School Charts

Let's start afresh, shall we? Its been a few days since we posted, I apologise. So let's get reacquainted over a new band that revels in the old school house of rock, shall we?

Charts are from Portland, a rock trio that love their rock pretty olde. And their EP Birds And Bees is as indebted to Buddy Holly and the Modern Lovers as it is to Thee Oh Sees; to Eddie Cochran as it is to Black Lips; to to Arthur Lee as it is to The Dirtbombs. This is moreso a garage rock revival sound than most of the current movement, and is refreshing because of this. Six slices of 60s inflected chugging rock n roll - its a hell of a lot of fun, I highly recommend it!

Grab Birds And Bees here.

Charts - The Birds & The Bees
Charts - Slow Down Tiger

A Unitopian Since The Womb

Hey guys and gals! Yep, Yep, it's been a week between drinks, and I apologise heartily. Sometimes that bullshit known as LIFE gets in the way of a good time. So I am back and ready to make it up to y'all, and starting with this absolute gem that me and my friends have been smashing the past fortnight. They are a band called Wombs - a tough Google search that one... Their album, Unitopians, has been out for a year, yet its likely you haven't heard it - and it is fucking amazing. Consisting of Jayson, drummer of noise sugar rush Cloud Nothings, Wombs have taken their skewed brand of noise pop and added a helluva lot of drone, garage rock, and lack of meds. The result is wicked glory, something akin to a deranged summer afro jam between The Dirtbombs and Wolf Parade. Its a bizarre concoction, and yet it's like drinking for the first time - bitter, a little sordid, but goddamn if I dont wanna do this for the rest of my life...


Grab Unitopians here. How awesome is that cover art? How awesome is that vinyl design? How awesome is their sound? How awesome???

Wombs - Protein Shake
Wombs - Hearts & Lungs

Bomb That Dirty Party Store!

Hello crazy kids! Its Uncle Brendan Masala, all the way from Brisbane, Australia. The place is a bit of a shambles with that pesky flooding business, but its business as usual here on Planet Sonic.

So the first thing on my desk (other than those pesky Glaswegains Mogwai, that you can read about below) as a newly reacquainted Australian is not an Antipodean noise merchant, but perennial Detroit garage rocksters The Dirtbombs. Their Party Store (on In The Red) is essentially a covers album, albeit an obscure one, as they do their thang over the top of old local techno tracks - huh? Listen to 'Shari Vari', 'Good Life,' the happily repetitive 'Strings Of Life' or even the mammoth 21 minute 'Bugs In The Bassbin' and you'll see that this is just another brilliant move by a band that have been quietly infusing rock and roll with dirty sleazy injections for over a decade now. Its whats beautiful about the Dirtbombs - no matter what they do, it is filled with such reinterpretation and verve that everything they touch becomes inherently cool. The Dirtbombs have here incorporated the groove the originals would have had into their own DIY aesthetic, in what becomes a incredibly addictive and cohesive album. I have to say, I have really liked January 2011 - what with Sic Alps, Tape Deck Mountain, Young Prisms, Disappears, Creepoid, Lubec, The Beets, Action Beat, Bardo Pond - and you can firmly place The Dirtbombs in this heavily crowded higher echelon.

Party Store is out now.

The Dirtbombs - Shari Vari

The Dirtbombs - Tear The Club Up

What Happens If Doc Had Used A Flux Pentaphile...

Got this over the wire on the weekend and am suitably impressed. NZ trio Transistors have just released EP Flux Pentaphile (you can grab it over at their Bandcamp site) and its a nice intro to the band's take on garage rock. Having been a band in some form since the beginnings of high school, Transistors have created a fast and noisy snot-nosed sound that encapsulates their musical mores (AKA 60s garage, 70s powerpop and punk, 80s hardcore) and firmly places them in the realms of the Dirtbombs and compatriots Mint Chicks (both of which they have toured with, as well as Crocodiles and B.R.M.C.). They released an LP from last year too - Shortwave - which would be good to chase down. Overall though, Transistors do exactly what they say on the tin - fast, loud, noisy, obnoxious, garage rock. Which I absolutely love!

Transistors - Details
Transistors - Reception To Porter (Both tracks from Flux Pentaphile EP)

And...

Transistors - Two Shadows (from Shortwave LP)