Splashing Water On Walter And Steve Jr's TV

Feel like the most tenuous link ever? OK. After the excellent news that Tonstartsbandht are making their way to Australia (a fact that I never even bothered to believe could be a reality), and the expanding wonder that is Mac DeMarco's globe-conquering ways these days, I thought I would delve into something even more left field - that is, their other endeavours.

Steve Jr (featuring Amen Dunes' Gleb Wilson on drums and Corbin Ordel up front and flailing) is a self-titled EP out through Water Records, recorded in part by Alex Calder and mastered by Tonstartssbandht's Andy White, that perfectly encapsulates the duo's propensity for imbuing narcoleptic slow jams with rawness and power ('Guru') while still gripping tightly to the power of pop melancholy ('Cool'). Some of it can be quite breakneck and loose, and there are (possibly unwarranted) parallels with Japandroids in the full-speed bashing and blasting that still upholds the virtuous vice of pinning down melody. Even the drawled crawl and harvested blast of 'Cabbage' hovers just above the psych waters due to the effervescence that has come before it. A great little release this one - grab it here.

And then we have Walter TV, a warbling pop-spazz blast of a band that features deMarco and is made up of and driven by his touring bandmates. This album Appetite came out in 2012 on - yep - Water Records, and it is incredible! So incredible that it has been reissued on vinyl, and is something we all need in our lives. Cracked, maniacal genius.

Video Vacuum - A Place To Bury Strangers, Tonstartssbandht, Julia Why?, Love Buzzard

Ah 2015, you bastard. Lets see what you throw at us. The more things change, the louder things get. Let's hope this world takes us beyond the black rainbow.

A Place To Bury Strangers are back and are intent on taking us down into the murk and the mire with them. 'Straight' plays with the VHS strafe attack that most bands are doing these days. What I love about this video is how creepy and stupid it is at the same time. Sometimes I felt like I was watching offcuts of V/H/S, or Japanese horror 'documentary' Noroi (if you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favour and watch it now - incredible); other times I felt like I was watching Takeshi's Castle or Jackass. The finely calibrated idiocy and unease works well with what is something of a tempered track for APTBS.

Tonstartssbandht are making the hard-to-believe-is-actually-happening tour to Australia and New Zealand this month. I have been a fan of these guys since 2011, and although they have gone through some aesthetic shifts, they are the same cerebral meltdown that I knew and loved. Here is what to expect at their shows over the next few weeks...

Julia Why? came to my attention through the Exxe label sampler compilation last year. Here is their new song 'Just One Night' which has the Night Of The Living Dead crossed with Carrie crossed with Night Of The Creeps mixed with The Loved Ones, all undercut with a huge dollop of playful heart (and a mouthful of tongue). These guys are a hell of a lot of fun.

And then there is Love Buzzard's 'Passion'. It is as blasted, raucous and ridiculous as you can expect from these vaudeville garage schlockers, and helps to up the anticipation of seeing these bastarderos live. They are playing The Old Blue Last on Thursday night alongside Witching Waves and Feature amongst others, so get along to that one if you can.

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

With Hymn, Now I Become Tonstartssbandht

Not one but two Tonstartssbandht releases to bring to you today. Who? And how do you say that? Ive got no idea - phonetically? Ton starts bandit? All you really need to know is that they are brothers, Andy and Edwin White, originally from Orlando, Andy's in NY, Edwin's in Montreal, and they have put out this cassette Hymn as well as an album Now I Am Become through Arbutus Records. Now if you are familiar with these guys, you'll probably know that these two releases differ a fair bit from each other, as they dont like to do the same thing in a consecutive manner - but whatever they hit you with - it is gonna be pretty damned weird...

Hymn is an undulating beautiful mess of lo fi burnt psych-rock and beautiful ambient passages, all melding together into a blathering calamity that still remains poptastic. Now I Am Become is more cohesive, with a stronger focus - more akin to their sonic abrasive experimentation that you get in the live arena (yet no less lofi). Sometimes I want them to pretty it up a bit, just to see what could happen to those warped harmonies...maybe I can put the order in for next time?

Hymn is available for a fiver on their Bandcamp. You can purchase Now I Am Become here.

Tonstartssbandht - Jesse (off Hymn)
Tonstartssbandht - Orange Miss You (off Now I Am Become)

The best song Ive heard in months - by Justin Beiber

Paul is going to kill me, like he wanted to after my Beyonce post - but first of all, that girl can actually sing and is anatomically correct like no one else on this planet, and secondly it was a crafty cut and paste clip to coincide with that Tonstartssbandht song 'Midnite Kobras', which was pretty cool (And I keep promising to post about them! Sorry, there is so much to do and so little time...).

But this one even has me in a constant state of conflict.

You see, I fucking hate Justin Beiber and everything he stands for. He has superseded Paris Hilton as the one person I would happily kill, hand myself in and let them do what they will, as I will have changed the future irrevocably for the better.

Nevertheless, cruising over to The Decibel Tolls yesterday, and damn it all to hell if they arent showcasing a 35 minute slow burn epic of Beiber's 'U Smile', slowed down by 800% and complemented by surf-swelling ambience and shimmering effects. Shamantis (AKA 20 year old Nick Pittsinger) is the cracked mentalist behind this slab of pure heaven. I never thought I would say this, but...thank you. Now all we need to do is subject the Beibs to some heavy duty psychedelic music and media a la Alex from A Clockwork Orange, and we might have a chance of turning the Devil's bastard spawn into the saving grace of musical space gallantry...

So Im off now to Ireland for a few days of obscurity. There's still some killer posts coming up on the likes of Megachurch, Ovum and 20 Sided Records, but I wont be monitoring anything - Ill be harnessing my inner James Joyce or DBC Pierre, either drinking myself to death or conning my way across teh Emerald Isle, either way coming up with something literary-sounding, and drunken. Oh, and to go into hiding until the rest of Sonic Masala settles down from this post...

Have an great week people!

Justin Bieber (via Shamantis) - USMILE (800% Slower...)

All the single Tonstartssbandht's...

So...this is what Beyonce should sound like...



We'll be posting about Tonstartssbandht very soon - just needed to get this one in!