Corralled Together On This Pale Earth

(Photo by Ian Rogers - taken @ Sonic Masala Presents Campfire Tales #3 - Sept 12 2013)

Celestial beat explorer Pale Earth is bringing Christmas early with a burbling miasma of sounds in the plastic 3D rectangle that is a cassette. Coral Corral is its name, and its three tracks that showcase how far out of the comfort zone he is  nowadays; in fact, the glass ceiling has been well and truly shattered. 'Skip Peg Marker' is a three minute excursion into the nether regions of a neon-streaked night, all inky shadows and silhouettes, simultaneously sensually inebriated and sated - these lethargic grooves hitting a submerged dancefloor near you. 'Coral Skulls' starts briefly like a night ride into the mainframe, before the trumpet takes us deep into the downward spiral of Mooged chagrin. The B-side track 'Bare Mountain Picnic' offers a prismatic high, sun motes floating through refracted light, yet imbued with a fluidity that hits like languid waves of weightlessness - floating on a hypnagogic Dead Sea.

I'm babbling, I know, but I'm truly floored by these tracks - I cant stop listening. Bypass that cassette prejudice and buy Coral Corral here - its incredible. The inserts are handprinted by 7th Disaster (AKA Matt Deasy of Do The Robot/Ultra Material - he does quite a few of Sonic Masala's gig posters), so it's all quality. Pale Earth is playing a night of chilled greatness this Saturday at The Waiting Room called Melody Beat, alongside Andrew Tuttle, Cedie Jansen, White Palms and Hether.

Ladies Night

Poster by Joanne Thies

Tonight Sonic Masala combines with Ladyfest to celebrate the girls - in particular, some female-oriented acts that I think are truly stretching the boundaries of music and the Brisbane music scene. Only three acts tonight...

Shooga, a (currently) five-piece that conjure sonic palpitations of multi-coloured noise, fits and bursts of rayon craziness, and a wash of effervescent grotesquerie...

Ultra Material, an amalgam of Do The Robot and Sunshine State, who offer glacial pop hidden amidst shimmering guitar, an experiment in studied unease held in check...

X In O, a pagan goddess who uses electric eccentricity to communicate across dimensions, warped circuitry to warp your circuits...

All tied together by tunes from DJ Neko. $10 entry, BYO. Doors open at 8pm, with X In O kicking things off at 8.30. This is going to be a true exploration of what some of Brisbane's finest are blissing out on - you'd be a fool to miss this.

Poster by Matt Deasy

Surf Rolls Happily Over Gaza(r) Strip

Local trio (via Whitechapel in London - yep, the band gestated right across from the mosque) Gazar Strips brought out an EP Happy Valley for digital release about a month ago. At the time I was frustrated because I really wanted to put this out myself, to kickstart Sonic Masala Records with this Bauhaus-baiting, atmospheric gnashing of teeth. These guys are dark and brooding, and confrontational (not in a racial profiling way, a religious hazing way, or even a base amoral way - they just don't like you). It's really good. Most tracks are named after famous surfing spots due to the bassist's predilection for the blue stuff, a tidbit at odds with the dark squall that they manufacture. I'm a massive fan of these guys, and their new stuff (being recorded as we speak with Tape/Off thumper Branko Cosic) is taking things to the next level.

Gazar Strips - Spookies

You can get Happy Valley here. The guys played at my last Sonic Masala show and killed it. Their next show is tomorrow night at the fourth instalment of Eucalyptic Electrodes, the excellent little night run bu Angstrom Space. They will be playing alongside SM faves Nite Fields and Ultra Material (who are playing my next gig on Friday April 26), as well as unknown entity Heavy Toll. It's at the Brunswick Hotel, and I strongly implore you head along. There is exciting news ahead for Sonic Masala/Gazar Strips fans too - stay tuned...

I'm Totally Mild

I mentioned earlier today And So I Watch You From Afar, and how the discovery of one track on the internet led to checking them out in a so-so musical establishment in Kilburn, London, and becoming an instant fan. Another is to walk in off the street to find something that really rocks your boat. Totally Mild was that band for me on Sunday night. Bizarrely hungry for more music after two days of ATP in Melbourne (and seeing Einsturzende Neubaten close things out), I travelled into Collingwood to Bar Open. Maybe it was the beers, the slight pretense of air conditioning, the comfy chairs – but the Melbourne four piece really impressed in their own shambolic way. It’s Liz Mitchell’s baby (she of Tequila Mockingbirds fame), alongside ex-TM drummer Zac, Lehmann B Smith (Kes Band, as well as his mightily prolific solo material – I brought him up to Brisbane earlier this month for a show opposite Seaplane and Ultra Material) and Yuko Kono. It shuffles between shoegazing (as in the gazing at shoes), tweeing, laconicisms and sudden bursts of melancholic rock. Is that a true indicator of what they sound like? Of course not. But I was shitfaced. And they WERE awesome. Promise?

Here are some old tracks. Hunt them down. They are worthy.