Distracted Youth On The Bridge

Last year London's Sauna Youth brought out an excellent LP in the form of Distractions. Well, I am making assumptions - I still haven't gotten around to buying it yet. But their launch in Hackney last year was bloody great, as is this cut from it, 'The Bridge', which is being released as a clear 7" on the Upset The Rhythm label next week before they tour Europe. They are at their most sinewy, sharp-edged limits here, the sweat flying off frets and fringes, both erratic and meticulous, cantankerous and giddily polite. The double-edged punk that the four-piece always traverse is a hard one to pull off - think here of Metz with a Wedding Present hangover, or The Clean fed piecemeal into a shorting blender. Straddling the punk rock extremes - they are the bridge.



Buy The Bridge here. See below their tour dates, kicking off in Brighton with Soft Walls:


27th January – Brighton, UK – Sticky Mike’s w/ Soft Walls, The Glugg

28th January – Rennes, France – Bar’Hic

29th January – Bordeaux, France – TBC

30th January – San Sebastian, Spain – Lurrazpiko Festa

31st January – Madrid, Spain – Wurlitzer Ballroom

1st February – Zaragoza, Spain – La Lata de Bombillas

2nd February – Barcelona, Spain – Heliogabal

3rd February – Toulouse, France – Le Rabelin

4th February – Antwerp, Belgium – Music City

5th February – Leiden, Holland – CAB03

6th February – Amsterdam, Holland – Pacific Parc

7th February – Rotterdam, Holland – TBC

13th February – London, UK – The Forge “The Bridge” 7” release party

Melbourne Can Handle The Moonlight Malaise

There is something poetic about the way Melbourne Cans construct their music. It’s probably more the nostalgic quality of their sonic tapestry – the way I'm made to think of lazy afternoons, the birth of my love of The Wedding Present, the warmth of the guitar tones and keys on songs like ‘Boys’… There is a deliberate sense of wistful recognition on debut LP Moonlight Malaise (out through Lost and Lonesome) though, especially the shift in vocal duties from the dulcet croon of Ian Wallace (ex-Pageants – whatever happened to this excellent band??? - and the Edwyn Collins affectations are not missed here!) and Nina Renee. It’s like a sleepier, Merseyside-via-Northcote version of The Cannanes – with a hard crush on the Big O. With all the doo-wop pretensions that are thrown about in this day and age, you cannot get more to-the-bone than ‘Fallen Angels’ – I could feel the tears of my imagined prom date soak through my shoulder-padded suit jacket at my graduation in 1965. The fact that such ruminations come to bear, despite the fact I was born some sixteen years later, belies the power that Melbourne Cans hold in their hands. Plus the urgency that penultimate (and lengthy) track ‘Hot In The Head’ holds is the kind of incessant brooding guitar-solo-heavy slowburner that fires up the cockles in this “old” man’s heart. Melbourne Cans are a square peg/round hole proposition in this day and age – but when geniuses like Lehmann B Smith make a living out of crafting perfect melodies that happily sit far outside the common scene denominators, why shouldn’t these guys too? 

You can grab Moonlight Malaise here.

Getting Gruesome And Weird With Joanna

Noise pop can mean so many things. For Cardiff five-piece Joanna Gruesome, though, it is probably the most fitting "label" anyone can give them - they carve out the sweetest sounding tunes before deep-frying them in dissonance, speed and epileptic glee. They have been around for a while, yet Weird Sister is only their debut LP. It's so worth the wait - I put it on being a moderate fan, and four songs in needed them in my life for the rest of eternity. Slumberland records have gone in cahoots with Fortuna POP! to put this one out, and it's the perfect marriage - the soft, lilting vocals buoyed on top of a distorted maelstrom of crashing calamity - The Wedding Present on steroids and sherbet. Its like eating a red-eye pepper chocolate - so sweet and tasty, then the kick has you sweating profusely, your tastebuds freaking out - you are in pain, oh so glorious pain - even as you grab another handful and cram them in your mouth. It swings into straight up punk in parts - 'Graveyard' is the most obvious one there - yet even it flirts with twee plaintiveness before slamming the foot on the gas once more. There have been some electric albums this year, but I'm hard pressed to name one thus far that had me thrashing about with an idiotic grin aching my face muscles. don't get me wrong - some of the subject matter here is morbid and strange - but this is a communal purge, an avenue to let all the bad stuff out. Weird as this sister may be, Joanna Gruesome is without a doubt a cool customer who is a hell of a lot of fun to be around.

You can buy Weird Sister here.

Wedding's Over. Slowcoaches Are In.

OK, so the wedding is over, it's time to shirk expectations and inhibitions. And whilst we wait around for the bridal party to have their pretty piccies, and for the free liquor to flow, we hunker down beside the venue which looks like a fucking Jehovahs Witness kingdom hall, the bottle shop run is complete, and I offer up this gem from Leeds upstarts Slowcoaches. We're So Heavy backs up the promise this trio has shown these past 12 or so months, offering six tracks of scuzzy garage punk that shakes off any misgivings to be exactly what a scuzzy garage punk band should be - a shit tonne of fun. Suits and high heels be damned - it's time kick and flail in the mud people!


We're So Heavy is out through Tie Dye Tapes - get it now. And seriously guys, if I get married in the UK in the next 12 months, can you be my band?

Slowcoaches - We're So Heavy
Slowcoaches - 54

(NB - this is the first of anything that I have done via iPhone. Now, I did vow that I would never update statuses and such from an iPhone and such, and most of this article was ready to go before now. I just had to fill in the small particulars. And it's taken me 50 fucking minutes. So this will most likely be my last mobile post too - seriously, I haven't tweeted since October 2010! Enjoy it, spunks.)

The Wedding Present As A Wedding Present

So it's Saturday. I'm shattered after a mega rad of death Sonic Masala shindig last night. I have to travel for a couple hours to go to a wedding, and I don't have a gift. I think I'll just give them this. I know that I would want it. I would laugh at how funny I was, then play it for the entire reception. Fuck that - it would soundtrack the ceremony too. Not only that, but they are graced with my presence, whilst I drink their booze and steal the single ladies like the floozy I am. They should consider themselves blessed.


(It's fitting that the single from the new album is called 'You're Dead'. I'm pretty sure that the bride and groom have never heard of The Wedding Present. I guess we'll roll the dice and see how we go...)

The Wedding Present - You're Dead

Colour Trips Take You So High

Austin, Texans Ringo Deathstarr are having a massive end to 2010, what with touring with The Wedding Present and all. They are playing a few shows around the traps of London too - The Old Blue Last (Dec 3), Brixton Windmill (Dec 6) and the Buffalo Bar (Dec 7). A great way to see this shoegaze outfit in a cosy setting hmmm? But it doesnt end there. Their new LP Colour Trip comes out through AC30 on February 14 2011 (which I feel for, cos they will be massively overshadowed by the behemoths that are Mogwai releasing their new album on the same day). You've already heard opening track 'Imagine Hearts' here. The track 'So High' precedes this release, coming out January, but you can see and hear it RIGHT HERE! Yep, consider y'all blessed.

Have a little faith in The Lodger

Leeds' The Lodger have been around for 5 or so years, plugging away, letting their James or Blur-infused (although I also hear a lil George Best era Wedding Present in there also) indie wanderings filter through the slipstream of Music's subconscious. Later this year the four piece will be releasing Flashbacks through This Is Fake DIY Records, from which they have released the 7" single "Have A Little Faith In People". Its fun, unassuming stuff, enough to warrant a few listens and some interest in what else these boys will produce. Check it out.

The Lodger - Have A Little Faith In People