new estate - out of the ground
sorely underrated melbourne band (not even the jerks at mess and noise are giving them much love these days). and it's not like the individual members aren't otherwise vaunted in their own projects (marc is popolice, mia and chrissy g in a dozen other pop bands like sleepy township, huon etc).
the new album (their 3rd) is less spazzed out than the earlier records, but no less frenetic, energetic and highly skilled, this is noise pop at its best. all 4 band members share songwriting and singing duties and yet still sounds pretty cohesive, though my favourite is marc regueiro-mckelvie's stuff because i like his singing the most. one of his tracks 'on your side' is an absolute killer, i can't get enough of it. very distinctly antipodean too, with the imagery of australian suburbia through all their artwork and band photos. myspaz delights
Friday, July 18, 2008
+ i'm on your side
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
+ celebrate the body electric
have decided to track another day's worth of listening, since the last one felt so cathartic.
11.31am ryland bouchard myspace
he used to play as "the robot ate me". i haven't listened to robot in a good couple years or so, but i still like it. now he performs under his own name, and a nice name it is too. but that's beside the point. introspective acoustic pop, as they all are really. warming sounds for chilly climes. sounds just like portland yknow?
11.36am aktion unit cd-r
i had a weekend full of aktion unit and i want more! my favourite improvised noisemakers from melbourne, featuring my birthday twin dan and the always lovely rene. it was great to see both extremes of aktion unit - the saturday night set at static age festival (in the freezer that is the dirty shirlows warehouse) was chaotically brilliant - dan going nuts with the water container full of screws, taking to a shopping trolley with a crowbar, and his other usual pedal gadgetry, all the while kept in check by the droning bass of rene and rhythms of guest drummer kate (of the bands null set, tides and more recently, the laurels). it was an incredible sight to behold.
sunday night followed with the most beautiful softly stirring set in the confines of the warming, shag-piled bohemian grove warehouse. an electric toothbrush and handheld massager played through the guitar pickup, a fork scraping the insides of a large cooking pot looped to perfection and the gentle tapping on the neck of the bass. fine stuff for wintry evening.
the cd-r is a collection of live recordings from dec 07 to may 08, which is almost the only way you'd want to hear them as the room ambience that comes with the recordings works so well with the found-sound nature of the band. sights and sounds abound.
1.32pm abe vigoda - skeletons
just 2 minutes in and i'm liking it lots already. give me another minute and i might even say i'm loving it. it's got spunk for sure. my favourite to date of all these bands coming out of this LA noise punk scene (no age, health, mika miko etc). i like the tropicalia-skewed sounds, bit wonky, bit mathy. i could even draw a tiny comparison to maps and atlases (or at least why i like them for the same reasons).
2.30pm ponytail - ice cream spiritual
one of those bands that doesn't kick in my brain until the second listening of the album. totally hated it the first time, for some reason the second time, it just clicked into place. i like them more than deerhoof for sure, more fun, less esoteric. but i'm slowly worn down by the high energy, so although i want an element of noise buzz, i also want some space in between. the perfect answer seems to be...
3pm thee more shallows - book of bad breaks
have listened to this in a good half year. sounds good. i always wish there was a bigger bottom end sound to the album though. i think boomin bass is what sets aside noise records.
3.50pm vampire weekend - self titled
4 songs on this album are absolute guilty pop pleasures. can't stand the rest.
4pm a hack and a hacksaw - darkness at noon
cut n paste gypsie freakfolkdronica. that's a portmanteau of styles (and words) if ever there was one. i can hear the jewharp in my right headphone - it's a reminding me of rolf harris a wee bit much.
4.17pm guapo - elixirs
oliver laing from 2ser's night flight program got me onto this band, after i told him how much i've been loving justin broadrick and his band jesu, lately. not that they really sound like jesu at all, but perhaps they share roughly the same circle of friends, sensibilities and ambience. good god, i can barely begin to describe the sound though. (with a bit of help from boomkat), i'd take a stab and say something like doomy post-folk progressive psychedelic jazz? yeh sounds about right. 'the planks' is 3 minutes of of swirling frenetic psychpop deliciousness. btw, oliver is rad and so is his show. he likes mice parade, unrest and liquid liquid and that's good enough for me.
4.36pm alias - well water black
new album, resurgam is due out soon. this is the "single" from it, featuring the most awesome yoni wolf (aka why?) on vox. you think its gonna start as this totally banging dance song but then the twinkle of the glockenspiel kicks in and yoni starts singing like an angel and it's actually becomes a 6 minute heartbreaker (still with a kickin beat and other cool percussive stabs)
other favourite sounds of the moment...
gang gang dance - god's money and the rawwar ep. tribalist minimal dance punk. lee recommended them months ago but i'm only come into them now after slowly getting over my hipster complexes.
sally shapiro - disco romance. been playing this one in the car a lot. pretty self explanatory title for a change. pop songs about love set to a 4/4 disco beat.
lindstrom & prins thomas - reinterpretation. norwegian italo-disco house producers remixing their minimal techno selves for an even dancier, catchier affair.
11.31am ryland bouchard myspace
he used to play as "the robot ate me". i haven't listened to robot in a good couple years or so, but i still like it. now he performs under his own name, and a nice name it is too. but that's beside the point. introspective acoustic pop, as they all are really. warming sounds for chilly climes. sounds just like portland yknow?
11.36am aktion unit cd-r
i had a weekend full of aktion unit and i want more! my favourite improvised noisemakers from melbourne, featuring my birthday twin dan and the always lovely rene. it was great to see both extremes of aktion unit - the saturday night set at static age festival (in the freezer that is the dirty shirlows warehouse) was chaotically brilliant - dan going nuts with the water container full of screws, taking to a shopping trolley with a crowbar, and his other usual pedal gadgetry, all the while kept in check by the droning bass of rene and rhythms of guest drummer kate (of the bands null set, tides and more recently, the laurels). it was an incredible sight to behold.
sunday night followed with the most beautiful softly stirring set in the confines of the warming, shag-piled bohemian grove warehouse. an electric toothbrush and handheld massager played through the guitar pickup, a fork scraping the insides of a large cooking pot looped to perfection and the gentle tapping on the neck of the bass. fine stuff for wintry evening.
the cd-r is a collection of live recordings from dec 07 to may 08, which is almost the only way you'd want to hear them as the room ambience that comes with the recordings works so well with the found-sound nature of the band. sights and sounds abound.
1.32pm abe vigoda - skeletons
just 2 minutes in and i'm liking it lots already. give me another minute and i might even say i'm loving it. it's got spunk for sure. my favourite to date of all these bands coming out of this LA noise punk scene (no age, health, mika miko etc). i like the tropicalia-skewed sounds, bit wonky, bit mathy. i could even draw a tiny comparison to maps and atlases (or at least why i like them for the same reasons).
2.30pm ponytail - ice cream spiritual
one of those bands that doesn't kick in my brain until the second listening of the album. totally hated it the first time, for some reason the second time, it just clicked into place. i like them more than deerhoof for sure, more fun, less esoteric. but i'm slowly worn down by the high energy, so although i want an element of noise buzz, i also want some space in between. the perfect answer seems to be...
3pm thee more shallows - book of bad breaks
have listened to this in a good half year. sounds good. i always wish there was a bigger bottom end sound to the album though. i think boomin bass is what sets aside noise records.
3.50pm vampire weekend - self titled
4 songs on this album are absolute guilty pop pleasures. can't stand the rest.
4pm a hack and a hacksaw - darkness at noon
cut n paste gypsie freakfolkdronica. that's a portmanteau of styles (and words) if ever there was one. i can hear the jewharp in my right headphone - it's a reminding me of rolf harris a wee bit much.
4.17pm guapo - elixirs
oliver laing from 2ser's night flight program got me onto this band, after i told him how much i've been loving justin broadrick and his band jesu, lately. not that they really sound like jesu at all, but perhaps they share roughly the same circle of friends, sensibilities and ambience. good god, i can barely begin to describe the sound though. (with a bit of help from boomkat), i'd take a stab and say something like doomy post-folk progressive psychedelic jazz? yeh sounds about right. 'the planks' is 3 minutes of of swirling frenetic psychpop deliciousness. btw, oliver is rad and so is his show. he likes mice parade, unrest and liquid liquid and that's good enough for me.
4.36pm alias - well water black
new album, resurgam is due out soon. this is the "single" from it, featuring the most awesome yoni wolf (aka why?) on vox. you think its gonna start as this totally banging dance song but then the twinkle of the glockenspiel kicks in and yoni starts singing like an angel and it's actually becomes a 6 minute heartbreaker (still with a kickin beat and other cool percussive stabs)
other favourite sounds of the moment...
gang gang dance - god's money and the rawwar ep. tribalist minimal dance punk. lee recommended them months ago but i'm only come into them now after slowly getting over my hipster complexes.
sally shapiro - disco romance. been playing this one in the car a lot. pretty self explanatory title for a change. pop songs about love set to a 4/4 disco beat.
lindstrom & prins thomas - reinterpretation. norwegian italo-disco house producers remixing their minimal techno selves for an even dancier, catchier affair.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
+ daily news
ampersand and exclamation alert! The new Maps & Atlases EP 'You & Me & The Mountain' is excitingly awesome! When a band heads in a direction that you totally hope it would, it's really fucking satisfying. The Chicago-based mathrockers have harnessed their noodle off kilter ways into these sweet sounding pop songs and I honestly cannot get enough of it. The squawk is not so prominent alas, which I actually found really endearing on my most favourite track from the last record ('The Ongoing Horrible' from the Trees, Swallows, Houses mini album) but in return, every song on this new ep is killer, and so sweet and loveable yet fierce and still tight. more here
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