Whacked Beauty

I have made no bones about how great I thought Sydney outfit You Beauty's NRL concept album Jersey Flegg was last year. Some of my choice words about that amazing record is here. It's perfect in every way. But you also got a sense that the concept may have maketh the band - that unless we heard more stories about washed up rugby league stars who rise above the ruin of suburban malaise and faded glories to find their own belated redemption, there would be no more You Beauty.

With 'Illywhacka', all fears are put to rest. Opting to sidestep the grassroots footy dynastic saga (it is a perfect tome as it stands), the band have come out with a new story that needs unearthing, something darker in the terms of a stalker... While the details aren't yet forthcoming, I am nonetheless on board. And the track? It is crystalline, punchy, tongue-in-cheek yet deliberate - what is becoming a quintessential You Beauty trait, then. While in a different realm, there could be parallels made to Brisbane's The Stress of Leisure, what with the enthralling stories, evident swagger, addictive grooves and a propensity to walk very much in their own style without input from any other touchstone or influence.The album will also be called Illywhacka, and is again find its way out into its own skewed world with help from Rice Is Nice in the upcoming months.

Achieving Next Level Leisure Stress

The inimitable Brisbane outre rock outfit The Stress Of Leisure released their new album Achievement recently, and it is an absolute corker. It isn't the kind of thing you see up here on Sonic Masala that often - probably because Ian Powne and his fellow art apothecaries are such an idiosyncratic proposition. There is no outward impression on or acknowledgement of trends and musical cycles; no desire to slot into a scene or movement. Sure there are whiffs of touchstones - the prickly yet mischievous Graney twirl of 'No Idea Is The New Idea' or the Flying Nun guitar-spangled banner that flutters from 'Goodyear Blimp' - but in the main Achievement slinks along in its own inimitable slipstream, an eternal silent disco that only those embracing the Stress Of Leisure's mode of entertainment can fully appreciate. Powne is a laconic, devilish lyricist, striving to be both self-deprecating and absurd in the same breath, a Pied Piper of abstract angles, taking the edge of accepted norms and living in the wonderful world inside his own head. How often is it that you can chow down on sparkling gems called 'Sylvia Plath' without feeling entitled, overtly literate or dour? Sometimes shirking expectations and enjoying yourself unashamedly is the real achievement of life - and The Stress Of Leisure are here to show us the way.

I'd Sleepwalk Into A Dry Gulch For A Kingdom (WORLD EXCLUSIVE)

(sorry about the cut-off, Kev)

Tomorrow night we have yet another Sonic Masala showcase at the Waiting Room happening, with pop quirk masters The Stress Of Leisure, doom soothsayers Barge With An Antenna On It and spoken word impresario Mr Ocean making it an eclectrifying night. Smack in the middle of the melee will be the instigators of the mayhem, local agitated rockers Sleepwalks, whose debut LP The Milk Has Gone Sour (recorded by Steve Albini in his Chicago studio) was the epitome of angst-ridden maladies. They have been pretty reclusive thus far this year, so it's been a bit of a coup to get the trio on board for Friday's show. That alone should have you camping in the carpark with a goon bladder for this show...

But wait, there's more! The boys have finished recording what will end up as Kingdom, their sophomore record and first under their own label Breev Records (an excellent and possibly illegal rip on the excellently warped comedy series Delocated). Recorded under guitarist/vocalist Kev's house, the nine tracks promise more variety (yet still a lot of brevity - Sleepwalks aren't about to noodle off into the sunset with a Godspeed cover - yet...) yet the same lackadaisical drive. And today we have a world exclusive taster of what is to come in 'Dry Gulch'. Wonky yet more melodic, its a little pared back from what we are used to - and it promises to be one of a few curveballs. But where they have bled out the flayed aggression, we have the sense that this is a watershed moment here - the discovery that there is unparallelled horizons opened up at the shift of speed, the altering of perceptions.

It (and Kingdom) aren't likely to be out until next year though, so come down and check this shit out live.