Mega Aussie Video Vacuum Of Death

It's been far too long since I've done one of these. So take an hour off from work, and revel in the beauty of the moving image - coupled with killer songs. Ill try to keep a Sonic Masala thread through this too...

Dollar Bar kick us off with 'Half The Battle'. Love how Pat rides around Tokyo, giving the 'cool' one-finger wave. This is definitely a highlight right now. The band play the Ela Stiles (Songs/Bushwalking) show that Sonic Masala is putting on alongside Bedroom Suck Records in what is an amazing joint venture. Also supported by Primitive Motion and J. Francis, this gig is on at Electric Playground this Friday!!! COME!

I'd be remiss if I didn't have two of my label roster's videos here. First up is Roku Music, who are finishing the first half of their massive national tour tonight in Melbourne (playing Monday Night Mass alongside Bored Nothing, Barbiturates (the great little Brissy band/dude now stationed in Melbourne),Vowel Movement and the J. Arthur Keenes Band from Canada - if you are are around I suggest you head there right now.  Anyway, this is 'Ended', a great shoegaze track with mirrored languorous footage from Helena Papageorg.

Tape/Off will be releasing their first album Chipper on Sonic Masala Records in June. Here is the first single, 'Pedestal Fan'. Sub two minutes of the band smashing the track out in the back of their now sadly departed tour van, it's fun, frenetic and a great taste of what is to come. These guys have a good bunch of shows lined up for that tour too, so stay tuned.

One of the tracks on Tape/Off's upcoming album features vocals from none other than Tom Lyngcoln, the rugged genius behind The Nation Blue and Harmony. It's the latter band that he is pouring everything into 2014 with the brilliant Carpetbombing album, and the clip for 'Water Runs Cold' could also be the best of 2014. Haunting, haunted, heartrending, and rustically beautiful. Harmony play Black Bear Lounge this Thursday with excellent support with Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side and Per Purpose.

Back to Roku Music. When I joined them with their Sydney/Newcastle leg of the tour the other weekend, we agreed that the only record better than their own was Jersey Flegg, the debut album from Sydney band You Beauty. The album is a concept album based on a fictitious rugby league player whose rising star fades as he hovers in NSW metropolitan obscurity. Seriously. But the brilliance of this record isn't just the silliness and brilliant Ocker one-liners ('you could have had Whispering Jack play at your wedding' being a definite watershed lyric), but that the songs themselves are inimitably listenable. The four band members of Roku knew much of these tracks off by heart, and with good reason. Here is 'Healin' Spirit' - if you don't like it, you don't know music.

One of the dirtiest excuses for a garage band, Thee Hugs brought out this little chestnut last month. The demented genius of 'Bashar Al-Assad' is in the blatant ridiculousness of the headdresses and the terrorist overtones, yet it still lending the track the requisite amount of sweat-stained tension. Donnie from Roku recorded this malignant mess - and we should all be proud of this unholy birth.

Yuri Johnson filmed the above film clip, and here he is playing guitar in his band Keep On Dancin's. The four-piece's loooooong-awaited sophomore album Hunter is on its way, and 'Grey Ghost' is the band at their most powerful (albeit measured - nothing is ever thrown to chance here). Yes, this has been out since last year, but I forgot to show it. And I need to extend this tenuous link (other than the Australian connection, which will break too I'm sure). Can't wait for this album guys!!

Local ratbags done good DZ Deathrays get slicker and  louder, and 'Gina Works At Hearts' is the perfect embodiment of that. It isn't their strongest song, but you have to support these rad dudes who continue to do their thing, strongly influenced by DFA79, and continue to slay it. They are also in Velociraptor that includes the Thee Hugs and KOD heathens, so keeping the love alive.

One of the most excellent and eccentric acts that graced the Sonic Masala showcases last year was the last show of the year, when Melbourne "guy" Orlando Furious brought his woozy, crushed percolator pop to Brisbane. It was a captivating performance (and chunky chunky chains) that has stuck with me, even now. His cassette Popular is great. 'Nu Body' is the perfect example of what to expect from this charismatic enigma. i wish he lived up here so I could put him on a whole bunch more shows. Guess Ill have to live with Orlando Furious through his hop-hip cracked muzak.

Possibly my favourite show that I've put on was the second anniversary of Sonic Masala shows last October. We had the debut performance of Landing In The Presence of Enemy Jaguars, Advanced (or just Landpres), the gritty punk stylings of Big Richard Insect (and their Neil Young cover!), and FINALLY getting my favourite Brisbane band EVER Turnpike to play a set. But it was getting Melbourne rustic monsters The Spinning Rooms to play not one but two shows. I cannot stress enough how good this band is, and their two albums are underrated gems of the modern Australian music era. Here is a clip for 'It Can't Not' - seriously brilliant band.

Up here that particular day to play alongside The Nation Blue (there's that Lyngcoln again...) were another excellent, raucous pack of bastards, Batpiss. And whilst this isn't their video, the trio do make a cameo as the druggos in the shitters for King Parrot's "seminal" video clip for 'Dead End' - throwing off at The Shining with enough Melbourne degenerates that prop up the scene there to make this a veritable who's who. But who cares when the track is this bloody great.

A couple weeks ago I put on a little show for Matt Banham (No Through Road). Good friend Stephanie Crase was up here too, playing her Summer Flake material solo at one of the final shows to be played at the Hideaway. Here she is again, playing guitar in her good friend Ellen Carey's outfit Fair Maiden - they shot the video too. It's a great song from what is likely to be a great record (out on Bedroom Suck - see the connections continue to flow!)

Fair Maiden - Lady of Fortune from BSR on Vimeo.

The next few tracks are here because they have or will be supporting Sonic Masala Records bands in the next few months. Doctopus will be playing in Western Australia alongside Roku Music; Milkk will join Gazar Strips in their Sydney shows in May; and Bad Vision and Cull will (hopefully) help Tape/Off launch their record in June. They are great bands in their own right, of course - Doctopus surprise, not being a third-tier NZ dub band instead being a psychy garage mish-mash of gargantuan proportions; Milkk's woozy weirdness is mirrored by this lo-fi tackfest; Bad Vision play their straight-up rock, well, straight up; and Cull conitnue to explore the outer realms of delay-altered realities. Keep marching forward, fellow harbingers of noise!

One of my favourite 00s bands was Melbourne two-piece Sodastream. Here is songsmith Karl Smith and his very cute video for 'Slow Short Story'. You all need to listen to his solo record, Kites, right now.

Slow Short Story - Karl Smith from Karl Smith on Vimeo.

Let's finish up with THE band I'd like to play a Sonic Masala show. Melbourne crackpots Ooga Boogas. Im gonna try, I promise...

NOW GET BACK TO WORK?

Hug Thee Drugs & Alcohol

I may as well talk about the Brisbane scene in relation to actual Brisbane bands, that'd make sense wouldn't it?

Thee Hugs are three stupid fucking idiots that occasionally step up and play something that resembles music, but isn't quite. That sounds like a terribly mean and rude way to speak, but seriously, it's why I like Thee Hugs. There is zero pressure, zero expectation other than you will drink a lot and laugh your arse off to these guys. It might come as a shock, but the trio have put out an album on Long Gone Records. Unsurprisingly, it's called Drug Use & Alcohol Abuse, and it's some of the trashiest, brazen, pissing into a fan style of garage rock you are likely to have invade your orifices. They sing about someone pooing in the pool - you know this is scraping the bottom of the tetanus-infested barrel with nail-less fingers. But, like licking rusty spoons, it's a perverse pleasure. As if you don't want these guys violating every fruit in your fridge, freebasing your salt sachets and flinging feces at your sleeping children. Hell, they'll have you doing it too soon enough. Come lose your mind with us...

Buy Drug Use & Alcohol Abuse here - it's only $15 for the 12"! See - they're crazy! That artwork from Occults' Sam McKenzie is goddamn killer too - the complete depraved package.

VIDEO VACUUM - Mark Of Cain, Thee Hugs, Bad Dreems, Ghost Wave

Everyone loves a good comeback story. If you are into your sport (and I'm sure most of you aren't), there have been some good ones (and in the case of the Ashes Test, an incredibly almost-ran...). Two weeks ago in the national AFL competition, the struggling Brisbane Lions faced the might of the Geelong Cats, and at one stage were down in excess of 50 points. Yet somehow in the final exchange they opened the floodgates to the point where they had the opportunity to steal victory after the siren. The task fell to Ash McGrath, who was playing his milestone 200th game. And he slotted it - miracle victory. And in some ways that's how I see today's Video Vacuum. One of the favourite segments of Sonic Masala, it's been away for a while, but here comes out of nowhere to nail it again, providing us all with respite from our dull and inane lives with a few minutes of AV ecstasy. (Can you smell the tenuousness???)

The Mark of Cain thundered back into our lives (and to be fair, the brutality and excellence of Ill At Ease shaped my teenhood so they never really left) last year with new record Songs Of The Third & Fifth. 'Milosevic' is one of the best cuts on there, and here it is as their new single. The video is pretty straight up and down, albeit with a sizable slick production, yet that has always been the way for this trio - no flamboyance, pretention or accoutrements - it's all about the slay.

 

One of the many diseased garage bands floating in the underbelly of Brisbane, Thee Hugs don't play as often as we'd all like. Then again, there is only so much corruption one can take before it becomes too much. The trio realise this, so they are going for a full frontal assault in the form of 12" LP Drug Use & Alcohol Abuse. 'Somebody Pooed In The Pool' is the perfect precursor - puerile, insidious, feverish - a downward spiral into the wormhole of no return. And its pretty fun too (Yuri Johnson's video is great - check out his other stuff, its all champagne). Long Gone Records, you've done it again.

 

Bad Dreems are embarking on a lengthy Australian tour. The four-piece's penchant for off-kilter slacker segues has slipped even further into uncharted, surreal territory on incumbent EP Badlands, playing like a laidback saunter through Dali's nightmares. If Batpiss and The Spinning Rooms are all abrasive counterpoints to Kenneth Cook's Wake In Fright nightmare, then Badlands is more the morning after, the sun filtering through the blinds, dust motes floating in the air, and you are struggling to work out where you are, why you are drenched with sweat with another person's blood on your hands, and yet are vaguely happy. C'est la vie from the Snowtown moors. Get this tapeworm of a track in your earhole, and guaranteed it will suck the life out of your insides all day, something you will be eternally grateful for even as your molars drop into your coffee and you lose the sight in one eye. Bad Dreems are becoming a reality. (The band are playing in Brisbane Thursday night as part of the Hand Games Zine launch - alongside SM alums Black Vacation and Peter Bibby, it's all happening at The End for free).

 

Finally we have Ghost Wave from across the Tasman, who have just launched their Ages LP on Arch Hill Records. It will also be released globally under the Flying Nun banner - a name that still rings soundly across the world (and through connecting with the excellent Captured Tracks in the US and Secretly Canadian in Canada, Ages will get a strong push). 'Here She Comes' is pretty emblematic of the rest of the record - awash with distortion, a shoegaze template tempered with a Morning After Girls-like penchant for psychedelic flourishes, its toes pushed firmly into the sand, sun-kissed minds and sugar-rush melodies. Their trick is to overload you with sweetness whilst undercut with blasts of aggression - a two-faced razorblade candy trip. Be blase with Ghost Wave at your peril.

 

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Running Guns At Tiny Migrants - They're All Friends Though!

I was going to write about these Brisbane bands separately, but seeing as they are interrelated, what with sharing band members and all, it made more sense to join them together, like re-attaching Siamese twins (?!).

 

First up is Tiny Migrants. I have spoken extensively about these crazy space-garage tweaks on many an occasion – they supported Mark Sultan in 2011 in what was the first gig Id been to in Brisbane for almost four years, when on returning from Europe I thought I might be doomed to a dire music scene, just to find it stronger than ever; and they also played Sonic Masala Presents… and The Waiting Room’s 1st Year Celebrations. Now, they haven’t been overflowing with releases, so it’s very exciting to see we are close to seeing their debut 7” EP come to life (thanks to Mere Noise Records). This band has improved exponentially over the past two years, so it stands that this first proper release is going to slay potato chips (I don’t know what that means either – I've just come back from my first day of work in two months and am currently on painkillers and beer). Apparently the record is “a collection of western movie tunes, spazzed out psych and reverb trenches”. They are currently mid-celebration – having supported Nobunny on his ad-hoc party annihilation, and will also support Day Ravies in March (the excellent Nite Fields round out that amazing bill). Who know when we will actually see the thing – Tiny Migrants are predictably slacker than a sack full of sloths – but in the meantime, here is this track. Control yourselves now…

Tiny Migrants – Uncontrollable

 

Wild leading beer monkey Julien James then jumps over to his “other” band Running Gun Sound – he is also in Thee Hugs, Woodboot, has a bit-part in the Shiva of garage gods Velociraptor, and other acts that take his fickle fancy. The rest of his band don’t sleep easy at night either – all in Velociraptor and in bands such as Tiger Beams, Lovely Legs, and The Majors, with some solo endeavours just for shits and giggles, RGS fleshes out with Jeremy Neale, James Boyd, Michael Fletcher and Lauren Jenkins. They have an album coming out, called Friends. Because they are friends, you know? Aren’t we all? Maybe. I haven’t made my mind up yet – are you looking at me with the evil eye, or you just need corrective surgery? Either way, this so-laconic-they-should-be-played-on-higher-speeds-and-on-a-slightly-warped-turntable just so that you are leaning in the right direction. Great, jangly, discordant pop that leaves the tracks because they sold them for scrap years ago. Listen if you like sitting next to an open window which is always open in your house because the rains warped the hinges, drinking from a tallie (or regular stubby – I wont push you into new frontiers if you aren’t ready), watching the neighbours’ weed garden bearing fruit, the sound of lawn mowers and verbal domestic abuse flicking your earlids, and faintly remembering that you owe your housemates money but bought this record instead. Everyone’s been there.

Running Gun Sound – Best Of It All

You can buy Friends (the record, not real friends – although I'm sure if you slip them an extra tenner, some flakes of weed and the pretension that there’s more where that came from, they’ll be friends forever!) here. They are touring next week too – Julien is busy when he gets his shit in rollerskates - Oxford Arts Factory in Sydney and Gasometer next weekend, then Brisbane’s Crow Bar on the 28th. UPDATE - After 5 years of recording, playing shows, and pal'ing about, Brisbane's RUNNING GUN SOUND are calling a hiatus. To celebrate singer Michael Fletcher's big move to Germany the band have recorded Friends for one last hurrah (well, until the next time - Fletcher is considering taking the moniker to Deutschland with him). That means this tour is crucial. Make these shows, or you're jerks! (Unless you have seriously legit reasons - you may still be a jerk, but not because you didn't make it).