The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.
NEWS
Steel for Brains is closing at the end of the year.
In a Facebook post earlier this week, music critic Jonathan K. Dick revealed that he’ll be shuttung down the amazing metal publication he started three years ago. Dick — whose writing credits include NPR, Pitchfork and SPIN — suffered a setback with his work earlier this year following the health problems of a family member, slowing down Steel for Brains’ production schedule in the process. There’s also a Steel for Brains book in the work, combining interviews from the website as well as unpublished material. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some heavy weekend reading, head on over.
READ
Dave Hill Talks High on Fire and Keeping It Goddamn Heavy | The Talkhouse
“For the uninitiated/fucking stupid, High on Fire has been a 100% reliable resource for Viking-worthy heavy metal Armageddon played by goddamn men since 1998, when main High on Fire dude Matt Pike rose up from the ashes of his other awesome band Sleep like some sort of shirt-hating phoenix to form yet another one of the greatest bands of all time. Ever since then, I and a lot of other people have turned to them for our recommended daily allowance of face-melting heavy music that makes you want get on the back of a horse with a torch in one hand and the reins in the other and give everyone in the nearest Burger King parking lot a fucking night that will haunt them for weeks. In short, they are the best.”
What Went Wrong at Mess + Noise? | The Daily Review
“Mess + Noise covered all the music that the rest wouldn’t touch. Along the way, it provided an important early platform for some of Australia’s best music writers — including Kate Hennessy of Fairfax and The Guardian Australia, and former M+N editor Doug Wallen, who has more bylines than you can poke a stick at. Anwen Crawford, pop music columnist at The New Yorker and The Monthly, once wrote for Mess + Noise under the pseudonym “Emmy Hennings”.
Moreover, the magazine (Mess + Noise began life in 2005 as a bimonthly print publication) nurtured a vibrant grassroots community — one that most Australians are probably unaware of, but which is celebrated the world over.
That’s probably the most staggering thing about the website’s sudden halt: Australian music has never been so healthy, nor so popular — from the DIY and punk scene in the nation’s capital to Sydney garage, Perth psych pop and the extraordinary energy coming out of Brisbane and Melbourne. Our underground artists feature on some of the most forward-thinking music websites across the net. Perhaps a savvy, homegrown, youth-focused publisher could find a way to exploit that kind of cultural capital …”
It’s Time to Put our Cameras Away | Pitchfork
“Sadly, memory-making as visual bootlegging is now wholly a part of the live music experience and it has been since the advent of smartphones. Watching people not watch, or watch through their screens, or simply hit record and clumsily loft the phone above them—what’s the purpose? To remember for all time? To share the experience? What friend is going to be impressed or even have the patience to watch a barely focused video shot from hundreds of feet away, the audio blown out, the shouted-along chorus of the superfan in seat 78JJ muting the band itself?
It’s time we stopped being so tolerant of these serial snappists.”
LISTEN
Black Wing — Death Sentences
Black Wing is all bombast and cascading synths on the second cut from …Is Doomed. Dan Barrett opts to let his voice sit low in the mix largely untouched by effects in the track’s earlier moments as he deadpans about heartbreak and words unsaid, before reverb consumes everything as the song climaxes. Black Wing Is Doomed is out through The Flenser on September 25.
Dumbsaint — Panorama, in ten pieces.
The new Dumbsaint is out today and is now streaming in full on Bandcamp. As with their past releases, the album features an accompanying full-length film component, a portion of which is also viewable on their Bandcamp page. Dumbsaint sound more confident on Panorama, embracing the anthemic and imbuing their sound with more cathartic, explosive post-metal tendencies than their past releases. It’s a kinetic and frenetic record that progresses from movement to movement without warning, and sure to be a hell of a trip live.
WATCH
Fridey at the Hydey
The 2013 documentary on the grimy North Perth haunt the Hyde Park Hotel is now available online. Now a swanky restaurant-and-bar, the Hydey was a rock ‘n’ roll institution for grimy punk and rock ‘n’ roll up until it closed for renovations and a rebranding in early 2010. Fridey at the Hydey interviews the people behind the venue and the scenes in a eulogy to one of Perth’s most beloved live music spaces.
Battles — The Yabba (live)
Battles continue their hype for record #3 La Di Da Di with a live performance of The Yabba, a nervous and jaunty cut from the new record. This panoramic video is excerpted from a larger performance the trio recorded and broadcast on YouTube for 24 hours earlier this week. La Di Da Di is out September 18 through Warp.
