VIDEO VACUUM - Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Morning Harvey, Bleached, Gravel Samwidge

Wow, so we are having possibly the sunniest day in Brisbane since - well, I can't remember. I've mentioned before that the rain hasn't bothered me, that I've enjoyed it in fact, but maybe I'm just lying to myself. Before I go outside with my shirt off, I thought Id give you chumps who are stuck indoors something worthwhile to look at. OOO LOOK AT THE MOVING PICTURES...

I've mentioned already that Portland-via-Auckland psych dreamers Unknown Mortal Orchestra's sophomore LP II hasn't grabbed me as much as their eponymous debut. Nevertheless, the more I hear 'Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)' I think that this is the best song they may have crafted, a real sleeper gem that floats along, and takes your grinning ass with it. Now there is this amazing puppeteer-driven video for it, which features masturbation, humiliation, USB STICK graffiti, horse laughter...and more masturbation, with a laugh out loud ending. Think stop-motion Wes Anderson by way of Todd Solondz - dark yet breezy brilliance.

The first of two music vids from my fair city of Brisbane comes from mood ramblers Morning Harvey. 'Sundown' is a typically haunting guitar driven track, driven by young adult malaise and hedonism, further augmented by the equally evocative film that oozes sensual desperation and vice. It's a classy effort all round, and has me mightily excited for their upcoming debut record, due out sometime this year.

LA sisters Bleached have shown a lot of promise, releasing some great 7" (especially Carter on Art Fag) and next month will finally be launching their debut record Ride Your Heart through Dead Oceans. Attractive yet highly stylised girls playing rock - it could be bland and unadventurous yet successful due to hipsterfied saturation (think Dum Dum Girls), but sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin manage to lend their pastiche on late 70s punk the right mixture of sweet vocals and bitter issues and pills to swallow, that attitude and ambition often equals their actual output. In short, Bleached often hit the spot with a raw rock sound that doesn't sound half-assed - unblemished by outside influences. 'Next Stop' perfectly captures this attitude, and bodes well for the LP.

Can you believe Gravel Samwidge are still going, let alone this good? This is the same band that formed in 1989 and played opposite the likes of Lubricated Goat, King Snake Roost and pre-Cruel Sea Tex Perkins, after all. With a forthcoming cassette release imminent through Long Gone Records, the now Brisbane-based slimy guitar riff band have put together a black and white vid for the track 'Ferris Wheel' starring ringleader Mark Spinks and cameoing the inimitable Gerald Keaney (from Gerald Keaney & the Gerald Keaney's) as a tortured unloved gimpish guitar pedal.

 NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!!

Getting In The Huddle!!!

Words can't describe how excited I am about tonight. 2013 is already brimming with highlights - Godspeed, Swans, Drones, Wedding Present, Deerhoof, plenty of great local stuff - yet to see one of the true rock gods, ol' Shakey himself, Neil Young on his Crazy Horse is like a dream come true. Crusty guitar solo nirvana.

Thought I'd leave you a couple of newer cuts from last year's Psychedelic Pill. Its as great as any CH release of the last thirty years.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ramada Inn
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Twisted Road

A One Track Mind Makes A Psychic Ill

New York's Psychic Ills have released One Track Mind, their fourth LP proper and their second on Sacred Bones. Sounds like the trio are stepping further away from the swirling cesspit they spawned from. It is still there, fused to their DNA (and explicit in motorik floater 'Western Metaphor'), yet here they have never sounded more defined musically. Each song is exactly that - a song. The smoke has dissipated, and rather than a wasteland, the view is clear - the languid groove and Warren Tres' drawl a transparent foil to the more deliberate approach. 'Drop Out' reminds me of early, "poppier" Warlocks (and seeing that one of my all-time favourite albums is Rise & Fall, this is meant as a big compliment). The album's title is relevant, as despite the space and shape of the approach, for the most part it's business as usual here. Added bonus is that One Track Mind gets tastier with each listen, like a snake biting its own tail - there is no end in sight, nor does there need to be one.

You can get One Track Mind here.

Psychic Ills - One More Time
Psychic Ills - Tried To Find It

Unknown Smelly Tongues

I'm not sure what to say about Smelly Tongues, the Californian deviants named after a great Residents song, who are dissonant, dirgey, pagan aping slopcarts who harbour an Intelligence-ia. Accomplished ramshackle evil? It's possessed me anyway. Any more info on these guys would be greatly appreciated! In the meantime, listen to these killer tracks...
 

Mexican Knives Kill

Man, this EP Weird Beard (if that's what it is - I cant find much info about it anywhere), by Detroit miscreants Mexican Knives, fucking rocks. This is Dirtbombs territory, yet dirtier, more obnoxious and a little diseased. Definitely a byproduct of the Motor City, Weird Beard swings back and forth between ebullient, drunken garage swagger and more ominous cracked blues crawlers, with a stirring frontwoman in Ruth Synowiec. I doubt you can buy this anymore, but try over at Lifelike here. I really want a longplayer, and apparently there is one in the wings in the not so distant future.
 

Hits From The Box #62 - Working Overtime In Overcast Times

God I'm tired. Started work at 6.30am today, don't finish til 10.30pm. Using my lunch break to write this. And it's still raining.I know a lot of people are over it - and I understand, because people have been flooded and everything - but I love Aussie rain. Maybe it's the fact that it isn't freezing cold, and it has that fresh smell. Although I don't love it today - the overcast weather just makes me want to sleep. That's all Ive got today - sorry. So time for some Hits From The Box, see what'll revive me...

Speedy Oritz AKA Sadie Dupuis released the EP Sports ages ago, and slack ol me am only getting to it now. It's a complete 90s throwback, reminding me of hanging out at my friend's place after school and watching his sister jump on the trampoline listening to Veruca Salt. It's much more innocent than it sounds, actually... The grungey, distorted haze reminiscent of those times is well and truly at the fore of these five tracks. That juxtaposition between the sweet vocals and abrasive lyrics, pop transitions to aggressive explosions of sound, are elements that were rife in 90s bands from the Pixies to the Breeders (and lots of bands without Kim Deal in them). You've heard it before, but the inherent verve and attitude, accompanied by sharp musicianship, means it's a winner. Sometimes you've gotta look backwards to look forward - and hey, this sound never gets old.

Speedy Oritz - Curling
Speedy Oritz - Indoor Soccer

Portfolio is an improvisational instrumental band from Italy, whose album The Standing Babas seesaws between ambiance and defiance without disappearing or bubbling over - a controlled medium. It bears some resemblances to local Brisbane band Ghost Notes, especially with the spectral presence of the trumpet. Portfolio at times feel a little too ephemeral, lacking the punch needed to sustain a languid, mood-building exercise, but there are many moments on this record that really shine. Laura Loriga's vocals swims over the top, or sometimes through the compositions, enmeshed within the melodies.
Portfolio - Beth Gibbons
Portfolio - Latre

Another ambient daydreaming act is Cliff Dweller, who is classically trained violist, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer whose strong predilection for soundtracks have led to an intriguing body of work. His latest record is Emerald City, a cinematic kaleidoscope that utilises a mix of orchestral instrumentation and electronic sounds across its nineteen tracks. There is an understated sense of desperation and unease throughout, giving it a noirish undercurrent that belies some of the sunnier moments such as 'Peace In The Valley'. Its the kind of art concept that can uproot and transport you even without the aid of visual cues, no easy task.

Cliff Dweller - Peace In The Valley

Last week's HFTB I spoke about Kiki Pau. Their Pines record was the second release from Brooklyn label Beyond Beyond Is Beyond. The first was Prince Rupert's Drops
' Run Slow EP, and it's a cracker. Straddling genres that sees them eat up garage rock, psychedelic malaise, alt-folk Americana and countrified truisms, and the result is electric. I've only sat down with this album for a bit, but it really got me the first time and continues to grow on me with repeated listens. I expect to make more hullabaloo about these guys before the year is out...

Prince Rupert's Drops - Almond Man

I have to admit that Younolovebunny is a strange name. The Danish artist is an overtly prolific songwriter, allegedly with more than 700 recorded songs under his belt. The latest release he has is Happy Nation II, and its quirky lo-fi sensibilities belie a rocky core that often lends the songs more gravitas than they probably would have otherwise. The record is out through Almost Musique (home of Shimmering Stars and Hhappiness) and is well worth checking out.

Finishing up is Radar Brothers, a Los Angeles rock band that have been doing the traps for almost twenty years now. The latest record Eight is a cracker. They are probably a little better know than most bands that first sweep through HFTBM, but I wanted everyone to discuss this song and band.

Radar Brothers - If We Were Banished

Sorry that's it. I'm falling asleep. I hope you enjoy. Happy Tuesday people!

...Primitive Motion...

There are some bands that surprise you with their sudden rise in popularity. I'm excited to say that one act that has had light shone in their general direction has been the off-kilter experimental synth pop of Primitive Motion. Made up of ex-Deadnotes members Sandra Selig and Leighton Craig, the duo, much like another underground explorer from Brisbane, Scraps, delve into ethereal melodies and sonic manipulations, loops and echoes, repetitions and monotones, all within some semblance of a traditional song format. Selig's musical dexterity - she often swaps between saxophone, flute, tuba and keys, as well as singing - is the drawcard, whilst Craig's flat vocals are often discordant notes in themselves, all the while the ephemeral oscillations swirl around the elegantly wasted chaos. It is something that teeters on the precipice of destruction, such is its fragility and awkwardness, and it sometimes does. But when listening to the excellent Two Ellipses, their latest cassette (out through Room40 offshoot A Guide To Saints), the magic is indelibly strewn throughout the seven songs' DNA. Admittedly more ambient and drone-oriented than a lot of their stuff, the fact that it sees the duo truly take flight speaks volumes of Primitive Motion's promise. They have enthralled many, and in the past few weeks have picked up support slots for Deerhoof and (most importantly) the coveted opening for Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

You can get Two Ellipses here. Primitive Motion are the headliners in local collective Lofly Records' monthly Hangar showcase this Saturday March 9. Supports are Melbourne's Faspeedelay and locals Ghost Notes. Its at the Waiting Room, $10, BYO. BE THERE.

Primitive Motion - Two Ellipses
Primitive Motion - Unchanging Light

More Disciplined, Less Desirable

It's been a while since I've spoken about Heather Fortune, the San Francisco punk diva who has made an impressive mark in what is arguably the garage rock capital of the world right now. There was a time last year where Fortune seemed to be everywhere, what with Blasted Canyons' insane excellence and Wax Idols, her "solo project" which fleshed out into a band and saw the release of the strong hook-laden punk almanac No Future.

It's with Wax Idols that she is making waves with first in 2013, as their sophomore LP Discipline & Desire hits the shelves at the end of the month (through Slumberland Records). It's sure to surprise some, with the usual scuzzy riot rock shaved away to provide something starker and with lashings of New Wave and post-punk - almost the antithesis of No Future, to be honest. It's evident from the album title and cover art - Fortune is still at the forefront, the alpha-Idol, yet there is a sheen and flamboyance evident throughout. Plus the move from the scuzzy home of Hozac Records to the dreamy revivalism that many of Slumberland's roster inhabit lays some implicit knowledge down. 'Cartoonist' is like an OTT Gothic Blondie, for crying out loud! Such a contradiction to Fortune's prior output could be a struggle for fans to overcome, but is also likely to win Wax Idols many more fans in the process.

For me personally, the jury is still out on Discipline & Desire. Whilst some of the tracks are invigorating ('AD RE:IAN', 'Cartoonist') there are as many mid-tempo numbers that lacks the attitude and spike and ultimately slows everything down. It could be a grower though - what do you think? You can pre-order it here.
   

Evil (Black) Angels

The countdown is T-minus one month until Austin psych lords The Black Angels release new LP Indigo Meadow, and here is another taste. 'Evil Things' is an absolute belter, a true classic Black Angels track - exploring the human conditions in the form of two people facing the plight of human existence over a decimated war-torn battlefield. Dark, heavy, a little feral - just how evil things are. There is no comparing that organ, that bass, that monster riffing, that vocal, an ominous force of nature driven by the pummeling of the drums. Bring it on.
   

Troublesome Noises of Dystopia

I'm not expecting everyone to like the churning free-jazz psychotics that take free reign on Distopia, the latest record by Italian trio Noise of Trouble (out through Brigadisco Records). In fact, there will be some of you that hate this, casting it off as either nascent pretension or bilious noise. I will respectfully disagree however - the saxophone/bass/drums onslaught is a free-range excursion into off-kilter dynamics, crafting some amazing instrumental experiments in the process. I like the most formed tracks the most (the feverish 'Genoa', whilst 'Diaz' is Shellac-like dirge tension - with horns), yet there is merit to be found in the more out-there numbers, such as spoken words 'Go Ghost Boy' (with the Italian narrator so close to the microphone you can hear his lips smack) and the lengthy minimalism of 'Dystopia #1 (interview with Giovanna Marini)'. The album reflects on a tumultuous decade, culminating in the killing of Carlo Giuliani during the manifestation of the G8 summit in Genoa. With such knowledge laid out in front of the listener, and naming the album Distopia, it is clear that this is an angry record, despite the occasional (and possibly unintentional) quirk of the slap bass becoming parodic (like on 'Ode To The Impatient').

Regardless, Distopia is an intriguing, groove heavy, heavily executed record that is incredibly well put together. Definitely check it out - you can get it here - you don't get experimental rock much like this (and to this quality). 

Noise of Trouble - Genoa
Noise of Trouble - Diaz

Mining Calls In The Dining Room

Last year I mentioned a newish band down in Melbourne (via Perth) called Mining Boom. Their track 'Craigie' was the kind of blase, laidback, wasted guitar pop that was endearing and infectious, even though the threat of a punch, accentuated by the c-bomb, confronts and amuses in equal measure. It is a great track. Since then, the four-piece (which mow also features Snowy Nasdaq from The Ocean Party on keys) released a follow up to their Dining Room EP, a cassette imaginatively titled Dining Room II, back in December, and it had this delicious little track on it. 'Telecom', for those not up to speed on the Australian telecommunications industry of yesteryear, was the state owned Telecommunications network, which ran a virtual monopoly on Australian Telecommunications from 1975-1992, and as Telstra are still very much the top dog. More importantly, this song is great. The 80s reference, theme of wanting to get out of work, smoky keys - its a lo-fi winner.

Mining Boom - Telecom

More importantly, the band are about to embark on their first national tour, and are bringing along Adelaide's excellent Bad//Dreems and Sydney's Palms in what they are coining the "Neapolitan tour". I bet Mining Boom is the chocolate. They drop into Alhambra Lounge here in Brisbane on Thursday March 14 - buy tix here. Really looking forward to this.

Looming Over The Burning Mountains

Further down the rabbithole I go...Here's two more albums to soundtrack your loss of touch with reality, your fragmented brain, your wasted elegance.

New York noisemakers Oneida released A List Of The Burning Mountains through Jagjaguwar last year, a two-track odyssey that roils over you like a burning sea, wave after wave of sonic menace flowing through you, an unrelentlessness that somehow evokes tumorous beauty. The doom elements draws you to the edge of the abyss, the stark coldness is like Nicholas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising, brutal grandeur. The press release says of Oneida here as "drunken-master drumming, howling guitar and scouring drones." Shit yes.

You can grab A List Of The Burning Mountains here.

Oneida - A List Of The Burning Mountains 2

Just so you can punish yourself more, here is Looming, the debut record from Brighton three-piece Negative Pegasus. Taking the aforementioned Oneida as well as Ex Models, Can and especially Knyfe Hyts as musical cues, Looming represents a tonal shift that plays more like schizophrenic motorik, if Battles were less about glossy oddities and more about aggressively euphoric mantras. Blasts of noise interspersed with echoes, warbles and abrasive electronic emissions. Evangelical, puritanical, diabolical - Looming is a joyous purging of the senses. Brilliant.

Buy Looming through Smalltown America here.
 

Laying Down In Space With Llamas

The second psych earworm of the weekend comes courtesy of Italian one-man project The Lay Llamas. He's just released a cassette through Helsinki based Jozik Records, and its a scorching mind melt. In the man's own words:

"the LAY LLAMAS is a tribe that in the year 2092 AD starts a trip from an unknown region of Nigeria on a self-built spacecraft (track A1) to reach a planet that they continued to observe every night from the earth and inexplicably attracted them. Once there, explore the planet (track A2) until they meet a totem called the Big Snake (track B1) who will point the way for the purification and elevation to a higher state of consciousness (track B2)." 

 And you thought Radar Men From The Moon were out in the ether... This is deliciously warped stuff, occasionally borrowing from kosmiche tensions and avant-garde electronica, liberally dosed in PCP and the dust of angels. My eyes are bloodshot from just listening to this. Pretty solid, if I say so myself...I need to go lie down.

Buy The Lay Llamas here.
 

Radar Moon Echo

Good morning, rise and shine! There are radar men on the moon!

Maybe there are, not sure. But as it's an overcast, rainy day in Brisbane on this Saturday, I'm getting psyched out, and the Dutch spaced out instrumental rockers Radar Men From The Moon are the guys to set me on my way. Named after a 1952 sci-fi serial - which is already pretty rad - the Eindhoven trio intercut B movie dialogue with their heavy grooves, this is interplanetary brutality. Echo Forever is insidious, worming its way inside you... Get ready to drop out on this one.

 

You can pre-order Echo Forever here through Fuzz Club Records - Radar Men From The Moon are also playing Roadburn Festival this year, which will also be the official launch of this record, so if you have a chance catch them, you won't be disappointed.

Radar Men From The Moon - Echo Forever
Radar Men From The Moon - Heading For The Void

Friday (Night) Cover Up - Zoo Fallout Leaves Me Joed Out

Late in the night. Just went and saw Deerhoof tear the Zoo apart, supported by the elegantly eclectic Primitive Motion (bought their cassette to boot) and one of the best young bands in Australia, Blank Realm (inexplicably short set, yet was pretty damn great nonetheless). After many beers, found it hard to fight the urge to smoke - but I did it. Seriously, quitting anything is hard and pretty bogus, health risk or no. Anyway, I forgot a Friday Cover Up, and in lieu of missing out on Veronica Falls' current covers EP (at only 300 copies it was going to be hard to get it, yet Rough Trade's website did me an injustice by telling me there were copies, to go through to checkout, put my details in, then be told it was sold out - grrrr...) I'm listening to the equally rare Veronica Falls covers EP from last year. Especially their Verlaines cover - 'Joed Out' is a great song anyway, so it's a great way to wind down the wee hours. Good night kids.

  Veronica Falls - Joed Out (Verlaines cover)

Hits From The Box #61 - Leapin' Lizards!

There is a large lizard running around my building. Or so I've been told. I'm yet to see the scaly critter. But judging from the reactions from the people around here, it probably looks like the thing above. If I don't finish this blog, you know I've been garroted by some lizard-orc hybrid that wears hubcaps...or something. Seriously...people are dumb.

It's Hits From The Box time, yo!

  

I'm gonna kick things off with Austin ragamuffins Tiger Waves. This four-piece has been making a splash in their hometown (which in many ways, due to the zeitgeist-y nature of the place, means ripples globally), playing alongside the likes of Youth Lagoon, Neon Indian and The Strange Boys. 'Fields' is fairly indicative of what they are capable of - a dreamy, soporific effort that floats along like the best moments of Lockett Pundt's efforts. This is such a killer track, and with an LP on the way, Tiger Waves should be making...well, waves. (Sorry about the lack of lyricism - the killer lizard is really getting to me - and a lack of sleep. I apologise in advance). You can get the Fields 7" here.

Tiger Waves - Fields

Wild Wild Wets got in touch with me due to previous posts about Mrs Magician and Wet Years (where are THOSE guys? That 'Catch A Wave' song was so goddamn good!), and I'm glad they did. The San Diego group are doing their darnedest to melt the faces of all and sundry into one heaving amorphous being, grinning from ear to ear and losing themselves in the black hole of their psych-flecked jams. They have played alongside SM faves The Growlers, Thee Oh Sees and Moon Duo, have an opening support slot coming up for the Black Lips, and their first 7" Vinyl is on the way from Grizzly Records in the upcoming months. Get inside these thumping swampy songs, throw down and get melted.

Lid Emba, AKA Sean Moore, experimental soundscaper, is completing a trilogy of releases called Terminal Muse which have explored the idea of isolation in his music. The third instalment, Yellow, came out this week (the first two called Red and Blue respectively). His beginnings in recordings came at an early age - an inadvertent recording of his dog getting run over when he was a child. The tangle of sounds enveloping an ordinary neighbourhood, eclipsed by a childhood horror. Fast forward to now, where Moore created the Terminal Muse triad to come to terms with coping with a year of Hepatitis C treatment which has thankfully worked. The utilisation of sounds that blend together yet seem distinct, fuse to each other's core so that they become undetectable - it can be dense, cruel, lonely - but above all else there is a cathartic liberation in these tunes, a sense of shrugging off the shackles. The Terminal Muse stuff is through Stickfigure Recordings - if you like experimenting with wholesale the breadth of sound encapsulated by personal experience (which, whether you are aware of it or not, most of you do), this is well worth exploring further - head here for more.

Lid Emba - Vow Of Owls
Lid Emba - Third Rail To Paradise

 

From Finland's capital Helsinki we get Kiki Pau, a band that eschews guitar pop for something akin to spectral jams, preferring to subliminally incorporate various genre tropes and fade them out before they can be fully realised. This is evident on their 3rd LP, Pines, a record that holds sway despite (or because of) its insistence to meander, before crashing down like a glacial waterfall. Pines grows on you, and is more indicative of the Scandinavian nation and its otherworldly beauty than most of the eclectic folk that it exports. Well worth checking out, Pines is available here on emerald vinyl through Brooklyn label Beyond Beyond Is Beyond.

Kiki Pau - Tomte Mars

 

The Palace Of Justice released a self-titled EP back in May last year - the opening track 'Breathe A Word' was quite good off-kilter alt-folk fare with a roll that feels like Beirut if Zach Condon was more inclined to take the piss, but the other two were a little undercooked. The London-based trio started out with 2010's The Album of Justice, a live, stripped back list of tracks that both benefits and suffers from the lack of production values. The iPhone-like recordings sound immediate, like an inebriated night at the local pub with a bizarrely adept "originals band" taking the corner in between the jukebox blaring out Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers; but knowing the strength of a polished 'Breathe A Word', you know better renditions of these songs should also see the light of day. This isn't usually my thing, but there is enough irreverence hinted at that could make this a strong musical endeavour. Colour me intrigued.

The Palace Of Justice - Breathe A Word

 

Finally we have Baltimore's Secret Mountains who released their debut album Rainer through Friends Records on Tuesday. Their sound covers a wistful, elegiac stance on psychedelic pop that feels like a more feather-light version of Heartless Bastards or Wye Oak, yet belies the cacophonous caterwaul that takes place at the rear end of many of these tracks. The tenderness is lent from the vocals of Kelly Laughlin, who like the instrumentation around her commands the aural space around here just as much as she caresses it. I haven't had as much time with this record as I would like to - yet there is something here that suggests that unlike Dorothy, once you get into Secret Mountains' world, you won't want to leave. Grab Rainer here.
 

Happy Friday!

OBNIII's Vs The Walking Dead

The 21st century has really turned up the heat in TV land. I don;t watch TV per se - my television has been sitting in the back of my car for the past five weeks - but I DO watch TV series. Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Parks And Recreation, Community - these (and quite a few more) are my go to's, to the point where I lose large chunks of time and a film or book rarely suffices (the book mainly because I'm lazy, and the last book I attempted to read A Pretty Good Read, an unofficial "biography" of Modest Mouse - was the biggest piece of shit Ive ever attempted. Seriously, Alan Golsher should have disappeared up Isaac Brock's arsehole in the first five pages. There's a good story in there, if you could past all the blatant cock-sucking...). Currently, my poison of choice is The Walking Dead. I'm just finishing season 2 and beginning season 3. A lot of people had complaints about the elongated farm sequence of season 2, but to me there was something 'real' about that - the stalling and scrabbling for normalcy in a apocalyptic wasteland, the core human emotions still struggling for a place in such a dire landscape... But yeah, the prison can't come quick enough.

ANYway, so this week Ive been watching that, and listening predominantly to last year's self-titled record from Austin TX reprobates OBNIIIs. I actually chose to pull this one out again solely because of its tenuous connection - what with the black spectres in front of a blood-red background on the cover. But the straight up, balls to the wall rock and roll that tumbles out of the speakers is primal, vintage stuff - if the world turned to pot, with everything degenerating to the basest of terms where survival is key, this would be the perfect soundtrack. There are elements of Death right through to Fu Manchu in these rollicking tracks, with some blues and psych mingling at the edges. But the attitude that pervades this record - confidence to burn - is infectious and ridiculously true to form. Many bands attempt this - very few nail it in such a pure fashion. If the shit went down tomorrow, this would be in my sweaty palm as I fled for high ground. Get OBNIIIs through Tic Tac Totally here. Trust me, it's worth it - even if it is saved for a zombie infestation.

OBNIIIs - You Wanna Bitch 
OBNIIIs - Stick and Move
OBNIIIs - People Are Afraid

Hungry Spectres

If you think back all the way to 2011, I raved about Family, the debut EP from Bristol miscreants Spectres. So many bands adhere the Sonic Youth school of rock to their own ends, yet Family felt original, something visceral and ebullient, harrowing and energising in equal measure. Their live shows are understandably widely-renowned, few new young bands brandishing such clout and noise with such aggression and abandon without it falling into an implosive mess. I've had the new EP Hunger for a couple months again, and it furthers the rabid excitement, and hopefully gleans them a much larger fan base. Essentially four songs (opener 'Pull' is 47 seconds of ambient noise), Hunger is a ferocious package, each song more explosive than its predecessor. Controlled tensions, squalled aggressions. Excellent stuff.

 

Get Hunger from Howling Owl Records here.

Screaming For Cute Mutants In Skimasks

On the 12th of the 12th of 2012, Sophomore Lounge (alongside Infinity Cat and 100% Breakfast) put out Cute Mutant, the LP from Boston noise terrorists Skimask. Voice terrorists, more like it - the two vocalists (one spitting lyrics that are so distorted that it feels like Jon Spencer ate a supermarket intercom, the other manipulating guttural noises) are the instruments, with the only other common denominator is the drumkit. That's right - no guitar or bass, the incessant noise is all from a dude's throat with effects pedals a-go-go. It makes for something wedged between Foot Village or Lightning Bolt - sure the drumming is nowhere to the same level frenzy, but the seemingly ad-hoc (and definitely crazy) song structure and feverish compositions are akin. The end result - Cute Mutant is a quivering swamp monster, fuelled by electricity and madness, feasting on dubious souls and spitting them into the converted masses' open mouths. That's not so cute, now, is it?

Grab Cute Mutant here. I have no idea what it means, but it somehow rocks, and is replayable. You've gotta fucking love that then. And if you are in Boston, and these guys are playing, put your riot gear on and GET THERE.

Skimask - Tempurpedic Mattress
Skimask - Slap Me Silly

Regretfully Depending On Hazels Wart

As you may have noticed I occasionally whinge about how I sometimes miss out on great new music, either because it slips through the cracks of my ever-overflowing inbox, because I'm overworked, because I drank five thousand beers and woke up in a strange bed. Whatever. It happens. There's lots of good stuff that hasn't graced this hallowed hall. But I always hope that when one of these bands bring about a new release, I can smash that one to the bleachers for all and sundry to scrabble over.

Today, that band is Hazel's Wart, a San Francisco trio whose sloppy emotive noise-pop has really struck a chord (three of my all-time records being The Lonesome Crowded West, Perfect From Now On (the dude sounds sooooo much like Doug Martsch!) and Dancer Equired!, it kinda makes sense). Back in 2011 they brought out a great scuzzy guitar pop album in Together We Didn't - not in the garage, throwaway sense, but more in tune to the early 90s alternative rock that pre-dated the "grunge" push, fuzzed-out guitars with slightly underdone production because that's all they knew how to do. But they are now onto a softer vibe that is akin to early Modest Mouse (which was always there from the beginning), if new cassette Regretful Dependencies is anything to go by - and the even lower frequency production actually makes this slight shift in sonic direction even better, steeping it in the era that its definitive influences come from. Hey, does that guitar on 'Checked' sound like a J Mascis-worshipping dip of the cap? I believe so!

 

Seriously, Hazel's Wart are a damn fine band, playing damn fine music that people seem to be a little adverse at taking on as their own anymore. I know, I know - trends and tastes shift etc etc. But that's for fools to embody - if it's this good, just like it already! You can grab Regretful Dependencies here, and I strongly suggest getting into Together We Didn't also - you can pick that up here.

Hazel's Wart - Cheap Thrill
Hazel's Wart - Checked