Droning Darkly For Our Future

I put on a great show a couple months ago headlined by No Anchor, supported by O and Vassals. It was fucking rad - and fucking loud. One band I wanted to fit on the bill but couldn't was Hope Drone. Their four track eponymous EP is brutality squared by concrete in the face. This is the kind of scathing atonal fury that grinds junkies' teeth into chalky stumps. It's amazing that we have so many bands of this ilk in our fair city of Brisbane, hiding in the cracks, waiting to bubble forth, the black cleansing oil of the apocalypse. There's no place like home...

The band have a couple of new releases in the wings, including a physical 12" of the EP out through OSCL, but until then, let this obliterate you...

Campfire Tales w/ Tutts, Ceeds and Uncle Sonic

Last weekend was incredible for Sonic Masala Presents. It was the first time we have (officially) gone back to back with SM Presents... shows, plus the first time we had (officially) moved away from the hallowed ground of The Waiting Room - and it was a huge success! A sellout crowd came to see No Anchor smash out yet another stellar set, ably backed by the brutality of O and Vassals, and the proceeds went into funding NA's trip down to Sydney the following night. I would have booked a ticket with them (seeing as I was partially responsible for the windfall) but instead I handed over all the dough and moved on to Saturday night, where the first official SM curated Trainspotters night took place at The Grand Central Hotel. Dreamtime's first show since their triumphant return from playing the Austin Psych Fest was incredible, with Multiple Man killing it (despite, or maybe because of, Chris' disdain in proceedings ha) and Gazar Strips ripping apart the place with new songs. The venue was packed, easily the biggest SM show to date, so thanks to all who came.

But this week is still rollin', and I have one more surprise in store. This Thursday we travel back to West End, this time the intimate surrounds of The End on Vulture St, for what I'm tentatively calling Campfire Tales, a night of two solo artists doin their thang. It's Sonic Masala though, so it isn't straightforward. The first show is the EP launch for Andrew Tuttle (the artist formerly known as Anonymeye). He will be assisted in the wings by the dulcet tones of Naked Maja frontman Cedie Janson. I'm really looking forward to this one, and you should be too. It kicks off at 8.30 and is free entry, so come have a boutique beer and turn this 3-day weekend into 4.

Off With Hibou In The Dunes

I'm a little seedy this morning, for a number of reasons. I missed out on a job opportunity that, whilst not the end of the world, is always a little gutting. Nevertheless, last night's Sonic Masala show (featuring No Anchor, O and Vassals) was a massive success, selling out and allowing me to pay the bands top dollar (with a little extra to help NA on their tour down the coast). I met up with Jon from Gazar Strips who is playing my next Sonic Masala show tonight (also featuring Dreamtime and Multiple Man), and we shot the shit about possible future collaborations (but mostly about shit). I got home at 2am, then up at 6am to get ready for work, which is where we meet now.

So I need something that will get me out of this messy headspace, and Hibou (I believe pronounced ee-boo, but that could be my addled brain at work) is doing the trick. The one time drummer for Craft Spells has been doing his reverb-heavy guitar pop for a little while now, and finally his Dunes EP is about to brighten up our lives. The beach theme fits well, as Hibou isn't far removed from Dustin Payseur AKA Beach Fossils. Silky gossamer guitars, disembodied vocals, and the crisp air of nostalgic, grainy Super 8 Puberty Blues.

Here is the first track of Dunes (which will be out June 13), 'Sunder', which you can grab now as a free download!



And because I feel like it, here are a couple other tracks Hibou has floating around - keep the good times rolling.

Sonic Masala Presents A Double Whammy Of Shows!! EXHIBIT A

The last couple of Sonic Masala shows to grace the Waiting Room have been niche, minimalist/maximalist affairs - there was the Ladyfest-affiliated show featuring neon coven Shooga, gauzy washouts Ultra Material and human sonic playground X In O; and an intimate affair that heralded the first Brisbane outing for Melbourne's idiosyncratic soundscapers No-Way Sweden, backed by improv beatniks FEET TEETH and the first (and possible only - let's hope not) show from Blank Realm offshoot Financiers.

This weekend is changing all that, with some firsts for Sonic Masala. First up, metal Lokis No Anchor are playing a rare show since IKR travelled south of the border, to air some tracks off latest album The Golden Bridge. And seeing as I have already slaved over the presser for this, I'm going to post it relatively verbatim...

Keeping with the shifting sonic sands of what constitutes a Sonic Masala show, we are seeing out the last night of autumn with a biting brace of brutal noise, searing your aural glands for the winter.

No Anchor – the cantankerous sons-o-bitches with disdain for everything (especially guitars) followed up the acclaimed Real Pain Supernova with more eclectic (and in some places, very amusing) The Golden Bridge, and continue to obliterate the line between metal and other modes of sonic voice. Expect some shredded larynxes, some serrated eardrums, and a whole lot of contemplation of where the world is heading after all this comes to an end. 

O – another band defying easy metal categorisation, O melds black metal tropes with more melodic, jangling guitars and brooding, dystopian drone to create something that feels truly emblematic of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. This is the real music that should be pumping out of the stereo of the last of the V8 Interceptors. Abrasive, anarchic, adrenal overload.

Vassals – post-rock for the have-nots. Vassals tramples roughshod over the heaving corpse of the quiet/loud dynamic, cathartic in its wanton hedonism. No rest for the cranial membrane here…

So there you have it, Part 1 in a two parter...