StaG Meekly Floats Past The Rifle

This week you will see a few albums that I've received from small bands over the last month and, although its taken me forever to get to them, they are ace. First one of the shelf is Rifle Meeker, the debut album from Los Angeles-via-Boulder, Colorado band StaG. StaG. It shimmers with so many Panda Bear references it would be overpowering, if Panda Bear wasn't one of the greatest solo artists out there at the moment. And the thing is, it transcends the comparison (if not Panda Bear himself) with the production values. The summery haze that permeates this dream-like existential drifter is so clear and beautiful that it is incredibly easy to find yourself lost in the sound, having inexplicably strayed from the path, and never wanting to find you way back to the real world. What's even more impressive is that this cacophonous beauty has been carved out by two guys who sound like a cross between Lockett Pundtt and Noah Lennox - if that doesn't make you weak at the knees, you aren't a sonic romantic...) And also the auxiliary percussion in tracks like 'Everyone Is Plaster' is warranted, not superfluous, and helps to buoy the soaring vocals. A very effective debut, and one I hope kicks StaG into the outer consciousnesses of all of you...

In their words, Rifle Meeker is about "living in a city I didn't think was right for me. It's about missing California and feeling like I was stuck along the seventeen-hour drive between Boulder and Calabasas, CA, constantly seeing road signs for places like Rifle, CO and Meeker, CO. It's also about going through a few months of constant panic attacks about issues that were way over my head. I think overall, though, it's an album about accepting that life in my early 20s comes with a lot of transitions and that relying on the constants in my life, that I care about, will make things a bit more manageable." Lofty? Maybe, but easily achieved.

Rifle Meeker is available at their Bandcamp here.

StaG - Whatapity
StaG - Everything Is Plaster

Video Vacuum - School Knights, The Grates, Civil Civic, Ty Segall

Ive been a bit lax on the video front in the past weeks, and we all need some musically-minded procrastination from time to time, am I right? Yeah of course I am. Uncle Braedog is always right... So here is what you've all been praying for...

I love Ty Segall. No seriously. This guy is one of my faves right now. And the fact that in a month's time he's going to be tearing Woodland apart is more than a little exciting. His new album Goodbye Bread is amazing, already a contender for favourite album of 2011. Here's a track off it, the title one even, in what appears to be a toilet...



It was sad when Denver's Weed Diamond called it a day despite hinting at their potential brilliance when they released Carry On + Sweater Kids last year. Still, all is not lost. Offshoot duo School Knights are out and about, and their little release of last year Rush SK was also killer (and you can download it for free at their Bandcamp - do it!). Here is their track 'Fuck The Beach' - its great. Now who wants to see these guys beat the piss out of Nathan Williams? Or at least distract him whilst I snatch Bethany Cosentino off him - that shit still baffles me...



Now this one kicks arse. SM faves Civil Civic are preparing to release their debut LP later this year, and have released an 80s-tastic video for their first track off it, 'Airspray'. If you pick every show/film used in this mashup...well, you won't win a prize, cos I have nothing other than dirty jocks to give away, but you win nonetheless...



lastly is Brisbane based indie confectionary The Grates, whose video for 'Turn Me On' is fucking rad. Its not the kind of music we normally have here, but Im biased as I know these guys and its a fucking rad video. Oh yeah - AND ITS MY BLOG! Ahem. Sorry. Just watch, even if with the sound down - you will enjoy it.



NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

A Chelsea At The Door

I must admit Ive been behind the eight-ball on this one. By about four or so months I reckon. I first heard some stuff by Chelsea Wolfe a few days before I left London, back in January this year. My sister and her fella were gushing over her, saying that she held a style and sound very similar to Zola Jesus. I have to say that there are slim similarities, but Wolfe's oeuvre is somewhat darker - yet it is bubbling under the same gossamer sheen that Zola and other artists like Glasser utilise, thus making it even more menacing and captivating. That was The Grime And The Glow. If you haven't heard it, fucking hear it. It is dark, disturbed, and altogether beautiful. I am in its sway and thrall, like a voodoo curse. Be careful with this - its a narcotic you may not be able to return from...

Chelsea Wolfe - Advice & Vices

Mercy Beating A Shampooed Yak

A few weeks ago I went along to the Step Inn here in Brisbane to watch Front End Loader. As always they were impressive - really got off on the new track 'Decisions Decisions Decisions' - but was equally enamoured with the support acts, one of which was locals The Mercy Beat. They didnt really appear to fit in on this bill - their modus operandi is aggressive stoner rock stylings that straddles both Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age - if Josh Homme took over the creative duties whilst John Garcia still ruled the mic, so to speak. That's a lofty summation of their sound, but they pulled off an electric show, really balls out rock with enough meat hanging off the bones to choke the vegans of this world.

The Mercy Beat arent new to the scene though, having released debut album How To Shampoo A Yak last year after playing incessantly all over the shop. They supported The Bronx, Trash Talk and H2O earlier this year, and with these touchstones the ferocious engine room that propels and pummels in equal measures will only rise in strength and (hopefully) arrogance. This is the type of sound that deserves to be flaunted with a recklessly flailed fist, raising a smile to your face even as they successfully pulp it to bits.

The Mercy Beat are off on a national tour later this month, playing in Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Woolongong, and (R)Adelaide, and then doing a few coast shows as well - get out and see what they are dishing out.

Latest tracks by The Mercy Beat

Hits From The Box #21 - Standing On Queen's Land

For those of you not in the know - and that would be over 5 billion of you - it's Queensland day today. Where the Australian state of Queensland celebrates all things Queensland. Im not sure what that is - drinking profusely, searing some red meat and offering out some latent racism? I jest, of course, as I am a proud parochial Queenslander, yet I feel rather idle on a day that feels like it should be celebratory. Maybe Ill go eat a lamington...


I know what Ill do! Ill start this week's Hits From The Box with a Queensland band! The Keep On Dancins are a four piece from Brisbane that delve into the doo-wop surf garage thang with a heady dose of Twin Peaks fanaticism to boot. They have just released their debut album The End Of Everything which is a solid release, the weird contrast between the jangly instrumentation and the maudlin, morose themes at play a nice alteration to the sound. They play around a lot, are a likable bunch, and love Twin Peaks. Nuff said.

The Keep On Dancins - There Goes Your Guy

You know what? Listen to the album too!




Electroluminescent is the aural pseudonym for Ryan Ferguson, who has been a staple on the Hamilton, Canada scene for the past 15 years. His sound is best described as calming guitar workouts drenched in droning ephemera, synth explorations and Cluster-like ambiance. Very delectable then... He has just released Bleeds Light, which is a compilation spanning his recordings from 1998 to 2011 - and its fucking amazing. Seriously, I am in love with this album! You can get a free download of the album on his Bandcamp here - WELL worth your time...

electroluminescent - Atala & Rene
electroluminescent - Hidden In Books


Hailing from the stereotypically lambasted shores of Southend-on-Sea in England (ever heard of Essex Boys/Girls? This is apparently the capital...), CLOUT! are an intriguing experimental five piece who are mashing a variety of styles together to create something otherworldly. They have a debut EP out through new label Dirty Bingo Records, and I was especially taken by opening track 'Maxwell's O' - a distinctive PVT-like sound with the right level of dubstep invoked therein. They flirt with reggae and hip hop as well, and it is all very beat driven - We'll keep an eye on em to see what they flower into. Until then...

CLOUT! - Maxwell's O


Sheep Dog & Wolf is 17 year old Aucklander Daniel McBride - no shit. When I first listened to his first EP Ablutophobia I was reminded of Jose Gonzalez if he was more familiar with Sufjan Stevens, Les Claypool and Boyz II Men. This is some weird, yet very well rendered freak pop - and I think its amazing. The entire thing has been recorded by McBride himself - all instruments, all vocals - in his bedroom. Holy fuck, right? Its taken 9 months to complete due to schoolwork... He is first and foremost a saxophonist, but has taught himself a whole lot of other instruments, like guitar, drums, piano, and euphonium, most of which feature on this EP. Be afraid, be very afraid... Grab the EP here.

Sheep, Dog & Wolf - Ablutophobia
Sheep, Dog & Wolf - Tamefires



Describing themselves as a slow, quiet band, Brooklyn's Villa Venus traverse the same sonic terrain as Low, Bedhead, even a little bit of Galaxie 500. They are just starting to step out into the roiling waters that is NYC, and I think they will do all right. They remind me of a great band we have here in Australia called Art Of Fighting - sweeping, ethereal melancholia that is esoteric in its vocal stylings. This is burning the midnight ruminative oil soundtrack material if Ive ever heard it... Villa Venus have a self-titled EP out now - you can get it here.

Villa Venus - Slow Collapse


We finish in Buenos Aires, Argentina today as Dead Berlin, an independent duo drown us in their minimal psychedelic rock. The Dead Will Come is their first proper EP release, which you can get from their Bandcamp here. They are still very much developing their sound, yet there are elements amongst The Dead Will Come that offers very high hopes for the future. Keep at it guys...

Dead Berlin - The Sun
Dead Berlin - Upstairs

Happy Sunday!

Those Black Lips Have No Bloody Direction

Its been a fast-rising love affair between Atlantan garage punks Black Lips and me. And it seemed doomed for failure when I found out that Mark Ronson was producing their new album, Arabia Mountain. Mark 'Lily Allen' Ronson? Mark 'Im responsible for Amy Winehouse' Ronson? Mark 'my sister has Lindsey Lohan's pubes stuck in her teeth' Ronson? I turned up on the doorstep in tears, ready to throw their chocolates and flowers in their face and deem them bastards and arseholes and that I never wanted to see them again. But they took me into their arms, dried my tears, assured me that Ronson's involvement was purely platonic, he didn't fuck anything up, and that Deerhunter's Lockett Pundtt was always on hand when need. Finally they played me some tracks off it, including this new one 'New Direction' - and the waterworks stopped. I apologised profusely. We got wasted and revelled in each other's company once more. Now Im just waiting for the rock...


Arabia Mountain is out on Tuesday through Vice Records.

Black Lips - New Direction

Brainstorming The Flat Earth

Came across this sweet digital EP by Brainstorm (not the terrible "metal" band, but two dudes from Portland who take killer band photos). What we have are songs with a decidedly garage tinge yet infused with a myriad strange instrumental flourishes, that it is difficult to work out what is actually going on ("Is it punk? Is it Calypso? Is it Vampire Weekend without their own fists up their arses?"*) It is also hard to fathom how audacious these tracks actually are, let alone that they make it look easy - because this all should be a steaming pile of failure and broken dreams. There's fucking tuba in there, for Gad's sake!


Buy Flat Earth for $2 over at their Bandcamp here.

Brainstorm - Flat Earth

Im Hella Trippin!

Another update on the 24 hour coverage on the new Hella album, their first in 4 years. Seems they have the album and song titles all sorted - guess it doesn't take long when one of them is named after modem paraphernalia... The album Tripper will be out August 30 via Sargent House, over which 'Headless' (originally known as 'Track One') has two fan-made clips chosen by the Hella duo as their 'official' music videos. You can watch them both below, after you have a gander at the tracklist of course!

01 Headless
02 Self Checkout
03 Long Hair
04 Yubacore
05 Netgear
06 Kid Life Crisis
07 On The Record
08 Furthest
09 Psycho Bro
10 Osaka





Hella - Headless

Pajama Party At The Finn's House!

One of the best bands ever was the Australian and New Zealand collective otherwise known as Crowded House. A trans Tasman treasure, the band got back together recently (sadly without original drummer Paul Hester who tragically killed himself back in 2005) and it was like they had never left. Unfortunately that was a shortlived affair, but that doesn't mean they are sitting idle. Chief singer and songwriter Neil Finn has joined with wife Sharon, ex-Grates drummer Alana Skyring and Auckland singer/songwriter Sean Donnelly. They call themselves Pajama Club, due to the attire the Finns were wearing when they were first jamming and recording the skeletal foundations that their music now sits atop. What do they sound like? Well, sample for yourself below - it certainly promises to be something special though. I love the reference to a Holden Commodore in the opening salvo too...

Pajama Club are doing a quick Australian tour mid June before they shoot over to the US for some support shows for Wilco. They will be playing in Brisbane at The Zoo on Saturday June 12.

Can't Put It Down Until It Ends by Pajama Club

Golden Child by Pajama Club

These Are Conditions by Pajama Club

Hunkering Down With Rustic Rodents

I can safely say I wasn't expecting such a down home, blues rock band like Country Mice to call Brooklyn home. But as with 99% of acts coming out of that melting pot, they come from elsewhere, with lead Jason Rueger coming all the way from Kansas. Their affinity with the likes of Neil Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Wilco are fully in affect on their upcoming debut album Twister, yet it is infused with the love of 90s slacker rock which gives their sound a bottom end that distorts as much as it cajoles nostalgic whimsy. They have been busy too - having banged out a couple of 7 inch recordings, the currently-obligatory cassette and recordings on Daytrotter, plus some impressive shows at South By Southwest. They may be laconic, but they are not taking prisoners.

Twister is out later this month through Wao Wao Records - preorder it here..

Country Mice - Morning Son

Friday Cover Up - Sweet Lights, Its Daniel Johnson And His Monkey!

Well, this is a special way to see out the week. We have spoken many times about the sweet autumnal nostalgia that is Sweet Lights - but never in a million years did I expect to have four Beatles covers ('A Day In The Life', Cry Baby Cry', 'For No One' and 'Too Many People'), from the man recorded backstage with none other than the inimitable Daniel Johnston! Of course it should be known that Sweet Lights is Daniel Halperin, who's one of the Capitol Years, Johnston's backing band - nevertheless, these videos are a beautiful snapshot. Not much else needs to be said. Its very ad hoc and lo-fi - thus making it something else altogether to behold. Enjoy, and have a stellar weekend ok!

Dialling The Number of the Beats

Seattle's Night Beats have been on our radar ever since Chicago's Trouble In Mind label put out their EP last year. And they are heating up for another aural obliteration with 'Dial 666', the single from their forthcoming longplayer that will also be put out by Trouble In Mind. Its more of the same lean as fuck blues rock ephemera, which is more than we have the right to ask for.

Night Beats - Dial 666

Cast In The Middle

Can you believe that The Appleseed Cast have been around since 1997? Yeah, a long time. I heard a track of theirs back in 2003 when I was stranded in Roma, a small town in the middle of Queensland, Australia. I was starved for music, and it was that experience that started my journey of searching further and wider (via the internet - podunk cowpoke covers bands dont cut the mustard with me) for that next sonic fix. It reaped its own dividends - Explosions In The Sky being the biggest "discovery" - but I also came across TAC's 'Max' on Deep Elm Records' The Emo Diaries No. 2 (seriously, that's what the compilation is called!) and really enjoyed the complexities of it. They have ebbed and flowed as far as musical prowess goes, but there have been moments on albums such as Low Level Owl and Peregrine that they have courted true excellence.

Its kind of fitting that I was in the middle of nowhere when I heard TAC for the first time, as they themselves are from a similar clime - Lawrence, Kansas to be exact - and their new EP, Middle States, is pretty much about that experience. Its an addictive little 4 song player, one which has been going around and around here since receiving it a couple weeks ago. It holds onto the warmth that has been creeping into their post-rock sound over the past few years, and gives us a little insight into where they and we are heading for their eighth album due next year.


Middle States is out in June via Graveface Records.

The Appleseed Cast - Middle States
The Appleseed Cast - End Frigate Constellation

Wearing White Denim In The Key Of D

White Denim have always owned - their unbeaten run of SxSW's Best Live Act over the past 3 years attests to that - and we here at Sonic Masala certainly are in their court. Yet the universal jizztastic mangasms that should have showered on these guys has so far failed to rain down. Hopefully this is all about to change...

Opening up with 'It’s Him!' – a track that in three minutes presents a laidback country jam, some jazz flourishes in the middle third before exiting via crunching its way to a rustic Led Zep finale – the Texans waste no time in stating their intent on D, their fourth studio album. Having made a name for themselves as a an incendiary live act, the quartet have spent the last five years burning up stages and producing a gamut of material that ticks off almost every benchmark of 60s and 70s Americana, blues and garage that has ever existed. This suggests that White Denim on record are messy and hard to reign in – on the contrary. D showcases a band that for all intents and purposes is an exemplary jam band with an endless supply of energy, emotion and rock nous, yet is intent on presenting their entire oeuvre in bite-sized pop song chunks.

Following 'It’s Him!' is 'Burnished', a incessant yet languid psych groover that segues into 'At The Farm', a brilliant psych jam outro that is obligatory on a WD release, yet feels more satisfying than its four minute running time would let on. 'Street Joy' is a euphoric rambler that Bon Iver would be happy to carve out, whilst 'River To Consider' spews forth a legitimate Jethro Tull-esque flute solo and 'Bess St jumbles' it all together into a concise rocker that embraces all these touchstones in a track that barely breaks a sweat.

In fact that is one of the biggest features here – that no matter what idea these boys try to convey, it is kept within a succinct, structured framework. D shows that White Denim aren’t fraying with age but strengthening, gaining colour, and effortlessly defying the wear and tear that others of their ilk are likely to take on.

And the nerdy guy still loves getting his shirt off in promo photos.



White Denim - Burnished
White Denim - At The Farm
White Denim - Drug

Barn Owl Reissue A Lot Of Fun

This is such an amazing release! I mentioned briefly last year that San Fran psych droners Barn Owl had brought out a mega rad of death album on Thrill Jockey called Ancestral Star. Now at that stage it was all I knew of the band. Not anymore, as the fine folks over at Not Not Fun Records have decided to reissue their 2008 album From Our Mouths A Perpetual Light - and its a stellar move on everyone's part. I know I whinged about how This Will Destroy You's album Tunnel Blanket didn't bring the goods, and as a postscript said that my expectations were very high. Well, after getting my mitts on this, then listening to Ancestral Star again, I hate to say it but this is miles ahead.


Not Not Fun have put it out on lovely creamy white vinyl. I think it remiss of all of you if you aren't feverishly hunting this down - so here is the link straight to the source! Get it - these guys, whilst rising in popularity, are still incredibly underrated in their own field, and this album will tell you way. Fucking amazing.

Barn Owl - The White Mountain Filled With Light
Barn Owl - Teonanacatl

Someone Laced The Horseshit!

It truly is the week whereby bands bring out albums Ive been hanging out for for a while, just for expectations to be blasted away. Not that you can ever be sure what Psychedelic Horseshit will throw at you. The Ohio band (now a two-piece) have always been a shambles, embracing their crap nature, even coining their own genre as "shitgaze". So the fact that new LP Laced has them changing tack, and even offering an album that has a slightly more clear focus and production, is both a shock and par for the course.

But dont be dismayed - the common PH levels are here. Song structures are evident yet melted to a viscous liquid form that is both reptilian and svelte to the touch; Matt Horseshit's languorous vocals are here so lethargic as to be slurred through a vat of cryogenic goo. Its the electronic bent that might through some, but the synth skewers served up here actually heighten the band's modus operandi. Psychedelic Horseshit are still a mess, its just that they now have endeavoured to make this a more coherent mess, of which I am truly grateful.


Laced is out now on Fat Cat Records.

Psychedelic Horseshit - French Countryside
Psychedelic Horseshit - Laced

Jeff Is The Champion

Nashville irreverent psych pop rockers JEFF The Brotherhood have been mining the the predictability of their innate unpredictability for some eight or so years now, and its very likely that most of you haven't amply sampled their wares. Well, this year's We Are The Champions is probably the best chance you will get to understand what this duo - brothers Jamin and Jake Orrall - are all about. And what they are all about is creating imminently catchy psych punk soundbytes with errant speed and mania that invoke the gamut of bands of their ilk, from Ratcat to the Ramones, and then infuse it all with more than a dollop of pop writing acumen. The good Weezer references have been rife, and admittedly fair enough, yet I can't get over how addictive this whole shebang is. The duo are clearly all about the rock out - check out 'Bummer' or 'Shredder' for instance - but then get a load of 'Diamond Way' and you will be happy that if you like your rock, and you like your smart pop, here's a way you can have your cake and eat it too (which is a fucked reference by the way. Why else would you have the cake? Unless you are obliged to give it to a bake sale, or you have inserted a file in it with the sole purpose of breaking your lover out of the pen. In which case, make extra fool!)


We Are The Champions is available on the brothers' own label, Infinity Cat - also home to ace bands Natural Child and HAM1. June also sees them doing some dates Stateside with Fucked Up, and one with iceage - awwwwww yeah!

JEFF The Brotherhood - Shredder
JEFF The Brotherhood - Diamond Way

The Feelies Have Been Here Before

The last twelve months really has been a throwback safe haven for fans of fun, slacker pop. With the Clean still powering on and Superchunk rearing their beautiful heads, it was a pleasant shock to have a new Feelies album come across the waters. Here Before has been 20 years in the making, but well worth the wait. The thirteen tracks on offer have a real vintage feel - this really feels like the New Jersey quintet just hanging out jamming. So many references to the time in lieu since releasing an album, to still be playing, to be pressured to be "part of the crowd" - its almost revisionist. That said, there are moments where the good times flag, as is wont to happen on any album that feels very "you had to be there". yet it is warm and cruisily propulsive, and the warmth that is exuded through the sheer effortlessness of these sunny tracks is what you'll take away with you, and will inexorably have you coming back.


Here Before is out through Bar-None Records

The Feelies - Nobody Knows
The Feelies - Time Is Right

Tunnel Blanket Will Destroy You

I have been a massive fan of instrumental rockers This Will Destroy You for a few years now - their show alongside And So I Watch You From Afar at Underworld in Camden back in October 09 was something to behold. So to say I was excited about the release of their new LP Tunnel Blanket was a wee bit of an understatement.

Well, I am a wee bit disappointed.

Whilst there are some amazingly rendered sonic textures throughout the album, especially on tracks like 'Communal Blood', I don't really know what the band are trying to achieve here. They were much more bloodthirsty and oracular in their self titled album - I feel that their decision to go down a more doom-laden path was a admirable one, but without the nous to actually infuse it all with readily definable ideas.

Also they call themselves "doomgaze", because they hate being referred to as post-rock. Now the Texans are nice guys - met them that night back in 09 and they were a timid bunch - yet the derivation of such a genre "choice" is pointless. Just play the music dudes.

Ok, ok, I will readily admit that I came to this with very, very high expectations. There are moments here that are brilliant and truly transcend. And many of the tracks will be great in a live aesthetic. Its just that I wanted something else from them, and its not what I got. Sure, we dont always get what we want from our beloved artistes - and that is invariably a good thing. Ill just suck it up, I guess...



This Will Destroy You - Communal Blood
This Will Destroy You - Powdered Hand

The Weekend Signals End Times

I certainly loved the shit out of Weekend's Sports album of last year - it made my top ten even. So when these crazy kids claim the end of times, its time to take note. Even if its only their new 7" single. This offers a more indie rock element to their scuzzy, wall-of-offensive-feedback post punk malaise, yet is all the more infectious because of it. The San Fran trio are intent on owning this godforsaken bit of rock before the Rapture arrives - whenever the hell that will be - and I for one couldn't be happier.

Weekend - End Times