New single from this Gothenburg, Sweden-based group, whose excellent album from last year, II, provided a lesson in loud, strident, angst-ridden post-punk.
The band recently unveiled new tour single, “Witness” (backed by an instrumental, jazz noir take on II track, “No Mercy”). While certainly not short on the kind of raw emotion which permeated II, this track feels less like a screamed series of diary entries. The band goes long on the Siouxsie and the Banshees-inspired aspects of their sound – the song could almost pass for a lost b-side from the Hyaena sessions – and it totally works. Swirling guitars and tribal, kinetic percussion are whipped into a frenzy by the matured (but not blunted) vocals of singer Maja Milner, a force of nature in the vein Mme. Sioux herself.
Check out the band on their Facebook page, and be sure to go see them as they tour in the US for the first time – some dates were changed due to visa issues, so be sure to check their page for the most recent itinerary.
Pile, “The World Is Your Motel” (Exploding In Sound)
This little tornado blows through your farm in less time than it takes to scream “Auntie Em!”, so I’m gonna give it a short and sweet write-up. The track bucks and kicks amidst Fugazi-style stop/start pacing and stabbing guitar work, while singer Rick Maguire starts off sounding like Black Francis channeling Lee Ving and ends sounding a bit like Mark E. Smith. Great stuff.
There; you can come out of the cellar now…
From the album, You’re Better Than This, out now on Exploding in Sound (US) and Fierce Panda (UK). Also available on their Bandcamp page. Go forth and purchase.
Flesh World, S/T MLP (La Vida Es Un Mus, 12/18/2013); A Line In Wet Grass 7″ (Iron Lung, 6/24/2014)
A band I first stumbled upon last winter through great Late Riser’s Club program on WMBR, and then again more recently via the MaximumRocknRoll page on Facebook – apparently, the universe was trying to tell me something (or just reminding me that I was going to write this review, like, several fucking months ago – but who’s to say, really?).
Flesh World is a great new(ish) punk band out of San Francisco, whose members are long-time denizens of that city’s diy punk scene (SF Gate went so far as to describe singer Jess Scott as a “scene figurehead”). Their debut self-titled mini-album is a prickly blend of Dead Boys styled punk, the JAMC, C86 distortion-blurred indie pop, Belly-style 90s indie rock (“Reckon and Know” sounds a bit like the Primitives pogoing with the Breeders) and newer “noire rock” bands like Rakta and (early) Raveonettes. One of those great records that manages to pack in the (right) hooks while making your ears ring.
Subsequent single, “A Line In Wet Grass” dials up the goth side of the band’s sound – the ritual drumming and guitar melody reminiscent of early Banshees. Another winner.
Highlights include: Reckon and Know, Sturdy Swiss Hiker, Lost My Heart in Transit Thru the Post, A Line In Wet Grass. Go like them.
Fantastic, debut long-player from Calgary, Alberta’s own Viet Cong, a group featuring former members of Women.
Having previously made some noise with the Cassette ep in 2014, the full length feels a much different beast, altogether. Where Cassette sounded a bit like Television if they recorded on Stiff Records, Viet Cong – having been saddled in many places with the now de rigueur ‘post-punk’ tag, which (while at least partially accurate) seems reductive – sees the band running through a whole host of influences and sounds: here Joy Division or (if you prefer) early New Order, there shards of (um) Television, Wire, The Fall, Killing Joke, kraut rock, new wave and danceable industrial, totally not danceable No Wave, here and there pastoral psychedelia and Syd Barrett vibes; hell, the breakdown around the 7:00 mark of epic closer “Death” sounds almost metal. Singer/bassist Matt Flegel’s vocals are placed in the middle of the mix, themselves a melange of Berlin-era Bowie, Fad Gadget, a less croony Ian McCulloch or Peter Murphy, even the singer from Longwave.
If this sounds like the aural equivalent of a Jackson Pollock splash and drip painting well, maybe it is; however, just like Pollock, Viet Cong have a purpose and a design behind what might otherwise be a total shitshow car crash of styles and tastes. The band’s ability to slither in and around their collected influences throughout (indeed, through the course of each track) is truly impressive – this is a tight sounding unit and, for all the sonic touchstones on display here, they manage to carve out something unique. Highly recommended.
Visit the band here and catch them on tour if you are fortunate enough to reside in a city on the itinerary (I, sadly, am not).
Communions “Cobblestones” ep (4/23/2014, Posh Isolation); “So Long Sun/Love Stands Still” (Tough Love, 11/10/14)
First wide releases by this young Danish band, based out of Copenhagen and comprised of two brothers (Martin and Mads Rehof) and two others (Jacob van Deurs Formann and Frederik Lind Köppen), both released in 2014. A part of the much-discussed “Copenhagen scene” (patent pending), Communions do share similarities with bands like Iceage: drunken vocal phrasing, reverb-heavy post-punk married (on newer material) with travellin’, road-song aspects of older country – but come across as more wistfully romantic (with all of the heart warming and rending that this entails).
Much of Cobblestones takes 60s and 80s jangle indie/college rock (early Smiths, late Joy Division/early New Order), post-punk and even a bit of punk urgency (the insistent drum and bass on the title track are reminiscent of “God Save the Queen”), and buries them ‘neath a heavy coverlet of reverb. A strong effort – particular faves being the final two tracks, “Children” and “You Go On”.
So Long Sun/Love Stands Still shows a good deal of growth in a short period of time. “Sun”, begins with a bright, John Squirely guitar hook, before the bass and drums crash along as Martin Rehof’s vocals seem exhaled through a hookah (the higher register he employs on this single made it almost impossible for me to believe it was, in fact, the same vocalist). “Love” might be my fave of all, though – it is, in fact, quite lovely – Rehof adding a falsetto over a straight ahead rhythm and melody recalling the jauntier moments of The Smiths.
Very much looking forward to more from these guys in 2015 (and beyond). Check them out on Facebook and on their website.
Black Beach, The Youth Is Out There (self-released)
Been a while since I wrote about some good ol’ rock ’n roll, so time to rectify…
Black Beach is a 3-piece hailing from Middleboro, MA, USA. Their two-track ep (is two tracks an ep? we won’t judge), The Youth Is Out There, is music to sweat to – part punk, part garage, all rock; fuzzed-out guitars and vocals washed out to the point of incomprehension, duct-taped together by a manic rhythm section (so many crash cymbals….). The MC5 and Mudhoney in a chicken fight with The Thermals and The Stooges. Brilliant.
Released in July as a free download on their band camp page, which also has a couple of other tracks to sample (spoiler alert: they’re good, too). Since the bandcamp embed is not working, I can’t let you preview the ep, so go get it – it’s free – and, while you’re at it, go see their record release show at the Middle East on December 10.
Running, the Chicago band whose excellent Vaguely Ethnic was previously reviewed here on thegrindinghalt.com, return with a new 3-track single (is that an EP?) – “Frizzled” – due July 22 on the Drag City (Ty Segall) label imprint, God? Records.
“Totally Fired” is track 3 – stream it above and hear samples of this and the lead track at http://www.dragcity.com/products/frizzled. An intrusive squall of feedback stumbles into a roiling hornets’ nest of guitars, vocals, drums and bass clamoring to be heard from beneath a gauzy cocoon of distortion. The song lurches fore and aft until being rather rudely interrupted around the 2:40 by a sound resembling either a fax machine or modem dial (perhaps I’m dating myself with these references?). The remainder of the track is a push/pull battle between this noise and the main tune – who wins is in the ear of the beholder.
The early Nirvana influences from Vaguely are still present, mixed with some Ginn-like guitar work and sounds that wouldn’t have been out of place on records by more outré 80s hardcore bands like Flipper or Government Issue. A welcome, noisy return.
The Horrors’ radical musical evolution is as interesting as it is distracting. True, the left turn away from from the garage-punk of the band’s eponymous EP and subsequent debut, Strange House, to the lush, navel gazing kraut rock psychedelia of excellent follow-up, Primary Colours, was a radical one. What’s been lost, however, in the (over)attention to – initially – their look (‘dangerous outsider punks, or NME-conceived art school wannabes?’) and next, the transformation of their sound (‘what will they do next?’), is the fact that the band has been consistently both interesting and challenging. [Disclaimer – I quite liked both the initial EP and the (now) much maligned Strange House. Sue me.]
Similarly, The Horrors’ new album – the aptly titled Luminous – seems to be discussed more for what it isn’t (i.e., another radical reinvention of the band’s sound) than what it is: a very confident and assured album. While the arrangements and overall composition more reshape than remake those on last offering, Skying, this is a well-oiled machine of a band that knows what it wants to sound like. In particular, the guitar work of Joshua Hayward throughout is fantastic, from Will Sergeant-style arabesque stabs, to wall of effect pedals, it serves as both a compliment and a counterpoint to the rapture.
If Skying nudged aside the curtains to let a bit of the outside in, then Luminous throws open all of windows, unlocks the door, and leaves the band squinting in the morning sun. The sound here is bigger, and the band’s ability to conjure a melody has never been stronger. Of course musically, at least (cough), bigger does not always equal better, and I was initially fearful at hearing lead teaser track “I See You”, which further expands upon the stadium-sized New Wave elements of Skying (think Simple Minds), with a fair amount of bloat resulting. Thankfully, the next track teased – the excellent “So Now You Know” – retains the playfulness and quirky bits that make much of this band’s work interesting. While certainly still “big” (and you can still hear some Simple Minds in there…alas) the sky scraping melody is surrounded by a sold foundation and sonic experimentation, and the balance of the album is in this latter vein.
But, is anything new, you ask? Ok, fine: two things register as new takes on the theme. The first, and most obvious, is a focus on groove. Gone, for the most part, are the straight motorik beats that marked large portions of both Primary Colours and Skying. In their place are are more sprightly, polyrhythmic drum and bass patterns, some bordering on baggy grooves. Luminous feels, at it’s heart, like a kind of dance record – one that might not make you twerk, but will very likely at least make you sway vigorously. For proof, look no further than standout track “In and Out of Sight” – gorgeous, and begging to be listened to cocooned in a buzzing, strobe lit glow.
The second is Faris Badwan’s voice. While always distinctive, his off-kilter croon has largely been pushed to the middle of the mix. Here, though, his voice glides atop of the kaleidoscopic swirl. His vocal range has also expanded into a higher register and seems more powerful than on past efforts. There’s even a ballad here – ! – pulled off quite well (“Change Your Mind”), which should soundtrack cool kid “anti-prom” parties for years to come.
So, no radical reinvention then, just a really good album that deserves to be heard.
Highlights include: “In and Out of Sight”, “So Now You Know”, “First Day of Spring”, “Change Your Mind”.
Eagulls are a Leeds-based quintet whose debut album I’ve been looking forward to for some time, having enjoyed earlier tracks like “Council Flat Blues”. The band is often given the “post-punk” tag, and it’s easy to hear why: their songs bring to mind equal parts early Killing Joke, The Cure and The Chameleons. There are also hints of the more adventurous side of new wave and of early 80s hardcore punk in the vocals.
While many bands these days, it seems, draw heavily from these same influences, Eagulls manage to blend these into something more than merely the sum of their illustrious parts and, on its eponymous debut album, the band has clearly refined its sound from earlier releases into a solid collection of songs.
The band seems to dip a toe or two in the water at first. Opener “Nerve Endings”, begins with swirling guitars, paired with sturdy, sold bass and drums, finally joined by vocalist George Mitchell, sounding a bit like “Seventeen Seconds”-era Robert Smith. While decent enough, it seems the aural equivalent of first few drinks in a pub crawl: the intent is there, but the inhibitions have not yet been cast aside.
It’s during the excellent middle portion of the album that the band conjures the raw emotion and vitality of the full-on bender: Mitchell trades his Smithian yelp for belfry-clearing shouts, which interplay wonderfully with the guitar work of Mark Goldsworthy and Liam Matthews. On this run of tracks, beginning with “Tough Luck” and continuing on through “Opaque”, the music stumbles and lurches blearily through waves of dissonant melancholy – all shades of blue and black – while kept on a (strained) leash by the excellent rhythm section of Tom Kelly (bass) and Henry Ruddel (drums). Proceedings reach euphoric, drunken clarity on twin highlights “Possessed” and “Opaque” – the stuff of raucous sing-alongs, the kind which possibly (de?)evolve into fisticuffs.
All said, a very satisfying debut. One complaint, however, is with the production, which bathes everything in something approaching cotton wool: it seems, at times, as though the band were recorded from the next room. While this does add to the already tense mood, it too often ends up blunting the impact. I look forward to seeing the band – June 18 at Great Scott! – to hear the difference live.
