Whirling In A Nameless Grave

I saw London band A Grave With No Name at the Lexington in London back in 2009 - the only time I have seen them, actually. The fact I remember nothing about the set is telling. I had gone in being a fan of their new debut record Mountain Debris, and left underwhelmed. But then again, this happens; I saw Yuck play the same venue, and Real Estate, and have since seen them in totally different circumstances (and more performance time under their belts). So it seems with the duo; four years and three albums in, they appear to be mining deeper into the vein of shoegaze minimalism (that sounds impossible, right?), drifting into the slipstream of the likes of Dignan Porch and Youth Lagoon (who they're currently touring Europe with). More dream pop than wall of distorted emotion, yet the crescendos still lick at the corners here. There is enough here on initial listens to ensure that A Grave With No Name rises from the dead - at least for me.

Whirlpool (on Lefse Records) is out now, get it here.

A Grave With No Name - Aurora
A Grave With No Name - Dig Me Out

Friday Cover Up - Future Primitives

 

Ah, another Sonic Masala staple is back!

I missed out on telling you about The Future Primitives, a South African garage rock band that put out a great little record in This Here's The Future Primitives last year. Well, after the world neglected to go to hell in a handbasket last December (it's still doing that, just a lot more incremental than the Mayans thought), the trio decided to hammer out a bunch of tracks that they like to listen to. The aptly titled Songs We Taught Ourselves features thirteen covers from the likes of Link Wray, Captain Beefheart and Bo-Weevils amongst many others, and they are suitably lo-fi shambolism par excellence. It’s a lot of stupid fun – and what else would you expect. Head over here to download the album, listen to it below!



Enjoy the weekend crazy kids! Ill have singles from Youth Lagoon and Mikal Cronin for you, plus my two-part ATP playlist, over the next two days – listening paradisio!!!

Gayzeing On A Black Soul

 

One of the better random “discoveries” that Sonic Masala has made in the past eighteen months has been Idaho outfit TEENS (see my post here). And although they haven’t produced anything for a bit, leading member David W Wood has released a pretty damn fine EP under the guise of Gayze.



The seven tracks on Black Soul EP delves deeper into the mythology of the garage rock sound, injecting the squall and swagger that is often missing in today’s carbon copies. As such, songs like ‘Ain’t It Brave’ have that heady mix of hard-edge and desert psych that Roky Erickson excelled at and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club used to nail to the wall. Again, the lo-fi aesthetic suits these tracks, especially the reverberating isolation that informs plaintive (and surprisingly upbeat, considering the grimly excellent music video by the growing talent of Tyler T Williams (remember Youth Lagoon’s ‘Montana’?) that accompanies it) track ‘Done To My Love’ – although sometimes Wood’s drawled vocals are lost. That is a minor quibble though – Black Soul is an epic sounding 7”, tapping the seamier side of garage rock that was encapsulated by the leather-clad motorheads of the psych-fuelled 60s, and such a down and dirty sound is a welcome return. I hope this becomes more than a “thing” for Wood – there is an exciting electricity riding through these songs that alludes to something bigger (and darker) just around the corner…

You can get Black Soul through Bleeding Gold Records here.

Black Soul – Ain’t It Brave
Black Soul – Done To My Love

Cascading Beach Weather Within A Room

 

I finished reading Room by Emma Donoghue today. An intriguing novel that doesn’t quite live up to its premise, yet its look at how solitary confinement, isolation and abuse can affect everyone directly or indirectly was commendable. I’ve been reading it for almost two months, and I waylaid writing this post just to put it to bed.

Why am I telling you this? Because I was listening to Cascadia, the debut EP by Beach Weather AKA 20 year old Henry Armbrecht. The melancholic existentialism and sepia-tinged fleeting memories that waft off the music is akin to that of Youth Lagoon, a clear influence here, further augmented by Armbrecht’s assertion that each song was conceptualised after having a particularly vivid dream. I think it’s quite impressive (although the way Armbrecht says “ghosts” in Autotune on ‘Ghosts' inexplicably irks me), and is a mesmerising listen that you can easily lose yourself in.

And as the poignant, bittersweet ending of Room came to a close, it lent a certain level of gravitas that I wasn’t expecting. And this is why I love music – when it encapsulates a feeling or emotion to the point that they become indelibly entwined. A very impressive debut.

You can grab Cascadia here.

Don't Hibernate In Lagoon Of Youth...

Ive mentioned Idaho resident Trevor Powers AKA Youth Lagoon before. His track 'Montana' (and brilliant accompanying video clip) is jaw-droppingly good, and I was highly anticipating his debut record, The Year Of Hibernation. And its pretty damn great, with the elements prevalent on that track - lush instrumentation, deeply echoed vocals that sit on the precipice between wide-eyed, youthful hope, and a tensely growing storm of fear and anxiety about the world at large. The problem is that these are in place on EVERY song, so the effect dissipates over the album's entirety. Nevertheless, these tracks on their own are amazing. Personal favourites include the first two, 'Afternoon' and 'Cannons' - but this could also be because they are the first two, before the familiarity of the construction breeds contempt. Powers is a talented guy, no question, and the fact that this discards much of the lo-fi obscurities that most bedroom wanderers insist on utilising is definitely worthy.


The Year of Hibernation is out through Fat Possum - get it here.

Youth Lagoon - Montana
Youth Lagoon - The Hunt

VIDEO VACUUM - Trash Talk, Gross Relations, Youth Lagoon, Thralls

Ah, not long now til its holiday time for me. Two weeks of doing sweet f-all - other than more of this, and finishing up my novel. And seeing Sebadoh. And drinking with Akron/Family as Ill be their gracious host. And seeing Moon Duo. And watching Breaking Bad. And eating awesome breakfasts. And playing "old" Xbox games. And buying a suit. And buying a bed base and a chest of drawers - cos living like a smack addict, whilst having many perks, is getting a bit old... I guess I wont be relaxing too much then. But it will be 14 days of boozy malaise, so cant complain really...

Which is why Im starting off today's Video Vacuum with those crazy Sacramento kids Trash Talk and their video for 'Awake', off their new EP out next month through True Panther Records. Its typically balltearingly awesome...



We posted 'Blame The Records' earlier in the year, and now Brooklyn upstarts Gross Relations have just launched an EP, Come Clean. Its a fuzzy dream of garage pop, the hooks deceptively hidden yet razor sharp. This is the video for the eponymous track. Suffice to say, it's bloody good.

Gross Relations - Come Clean / Official Video from grossrelations on Vimeo.

Now, I thought about putting this video first. Not necessarily because the song is better than the others on display here - all tracks here are worthy. But this video for Youth Lagoon's 'Montana' (as done by Tyler T Williams) is fucking fantastic. Youth Lagoon is actually one hell of an exciting artist, and his forthcoming LP The Age Of Hibernation (out Sept 27 through Fat Possum) promises to be something special.

Youth Lagoon - Montana from Tyler T Williams on Vimeo.

Finally we have San Franciscans Thralls, whose 'Fogger' single follows up their nice Pomegranates 7" from earlier this year. It shows a nice natural progression for the band, and is a languid way out into the ether.



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Youthful Montana In The Lagoon

Youth Lagoon is Idaho's Trevor Powers, a 22 year old multi-instrumentalist who has been bubbling under the crust of washed-out experimentalism for a little while now. Fat Possum have seen his promise and snapped him up. The debut release of Youth Lagoon, The Year Of Hibernation, hits us with both barrels next month, and if 'Montana' is anything to go by, it's going to be a very exciting release.

Montana by Youth Lagoon