The next instalment in our end-of-year wrap-up comes from Alex Gillies, of No Anchor, Grieg and A Savage God.
1. Baroness – Purple
Very few bands in the world that can make heavy and beautiful mix seamlessly. The newly rebuilt Baroness have done that refining the melodrama and further defining the possibilities of their brand of metal.
2. Sumac – The Deal
Old Man Gloom/Russian Circles/Baptists all rolled into one lumbering mental-case of musical gristle.
3. High On Fire – Luminiferous
Returning with an even better dosage of the riff-filled metal that brought them this far.
4. Deafheaven – New Bermuda
A stronger, tighter and more ferocious blend of blasts and atmospherics. The old guard still hate it but this sounds like the future.
5. Drowning Horse – Sheltering Sky
Doom metal done right. Bleak and barren songs pushing you along like a slow march to hell.
6. Hope Drone – Cloak Of Ash
Like Deafheaven, a new generation pushing the boundaries of metal’s blackness and sophistication.
7. Built To Spill – Untethered Moon
The indie stalwarts’ latest incarnation of Neil Young-styled guitar squall. Made more so by singer Doug Marsh’s unique cathartic philosophical meanderings.
8. Torche – Restarter
Metal that makes you feel a million bucks! Crushing riffs, caustic melodies and a beautiful taste for the absurd.
9. Last Chaos – Only Fit For Ghosts
Raging Japanese-style hardcore punk from Brisbane that’s kicking teeth in left right and centre.
10. Yukon Dreams – Little Worlds
Dark twilight songs from Pall of Black Heart Procession, filled with musical saw and sung from the bottom of a whisky glass.
Regular LIFE IS NOISE contributor Matthew Stoff shares 10 of his favourite releases from the year that was.
Ten albums seems like way too few for a year as packed with great releases as 2015. Because of that, I wanted to talk about the albums that I keep coming back to, rather than trying to come up with a more definitive list of albums of the year. You might not think of these as the best releases of 2015, but they’re the ones that spoke to me the most. With that in mind, here’s my end of year list:
1. Algiers – Algiers
Cold wave, Marxism, and soul might seem like a funny combination, but after Algiers self-titled album I can’t imagine what my life would be without it. This is one of most innovative albums of the decade, and its hard-hitting, courageous, and challenging political commentary is the icing on the cake.
2. Gold Class – It’s You
I can’t get enough of Gold Class. They’re smart, passionate, and totally authentic. Their live show is amazing too. Gold Class are indisputably the best traditional-sounding post-punk band in Australia at the moment. Maybe even in the world.
3. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
Sleater-Kinney’s revival album could have been a lot of things. It could have been out of touch, or lacking energy, or just a simple rehash of their old material. What it was, was nothing less than a masterpiece. It feels as though they’d never left at all.
4. Ought – Sun Coming Down Sun Coming Down is a weird album. It’s post-punk, but it isn’t really post-punk, with atypical vocals, rambling song structures, and pop-but-not-really-pop-at-all melodies. A singular experience.
5. Heat Dust – Heat Dust
Heat Dust play traditional post-punk really hard and really fast, and I liked this album a lot more than the similarly inspired recent release from Protomartyr. Your results might vary. They’re both incredible, high-octane albums, even if this is the one that made my final list.
6. Ceremony – The L-Shaped Man
Some people might see this album as a contentious choice. It’s pretty generic, and looking at reviews after the fact, it feels like mine is one of the only ones that presents the album in a positive light. But nostalgia is powerful thing, and my nostalgia for the indie pop-infused post-punk revival of the early 2000s is very strong indeed. The mix of that and Ceremony’s lingering hardcore influences gives this album a novel sound that keeps me coming back for more.
7. Deafcult – Deafcult
As far as dream pop goes, these guys are the reigning kings. Dense, melodic shoegaze with great production, played at ear-shattering volume from a Brisbane band. What’s not to love?
8. Mourn – Mourn
Everything about this band is so unlikely. Their place of origin, their age, their musical inspirations: everything that makes them who they are. But that’s why this release is so important. It’s got a youthful sound to it. A sense that anything is possible. And it largely succeeds at all things it’s set out to do. A truly inspiring album.
9. JuliaWhy? – Wheel
I reviewed this album once for 4ZZZ and never mentioned it again, probably because it falls between the lines of various genres, and was hard to compare with anything I wrote about for LIFE IS NOISE this year. But I wanted to mention it here, because it’s a fantastic album, combining high energy delivery with lo-fi production, and subtle feminist politics. My choice for sleeper hit album of the year.
10. Metz – Metz II
Sure, it’s a little shallow and not too different from the first Metz album, yet the brutal but fantastically melodic noise rock of Metz still brings a smile to my face whenever I hear it, and that’s enough for me.
The Elder guitarist gives us the next in our series of end-of-year lists.
1. Anekdoten — Until All the Ghosts are Gone
Mellotron heavy, brooding, melodic and emotional progressive rock from this long-running Swedish group. I love every album but have waited so long for a new one from them that it immediately made it into the heaviest rotation on my stereo.
2. Hills — Frid
I love this band for their unique brand of droney, analog psychedelic jams. They’re also from Sweden so it’s easy for me to picture a blissed out acid jam session happening in a farmhouse in the picturesque countryside, so that mental picture always makes me enjoy it even more.
3. Spidergawd — II
Members of Motorpsycho play in this relatively new and totally kick ass rock and roll group. Pretty straightforward but totally killer songs all the way through on this one.
4. Eternal Tapestry — Wild Strawberries
Another droney psych band, this time from the States, who has been putting out music for a while but this is the first I heard of them (thanks Dave Cutbush). This is exactly the kind of stuff I’m listening to a lot these days; very lush and hypnotic music without the riffs that saturate a lot of heavy music I’m surrounded by.
5. Dungen — Allas Sak
I am always listening to the entire catalog of Dungen and this album is no different. It’s jazz, psych, and folk all wrapped up into a totally unique package.
6. Dreadnought — Bridging Realms
I think this band is relatively new, but I really enjoyed this totally eclectic and very heavy release. Dreadnought mixes Graves at Sea-style doom with classical instrumentation in all sorts of interesting ways. Our own Lore got compared in a side-by-side with this album and I see some interesting parallels.
7. Kind – Rocket Science
Matt from Elder drums in this band but I really dig them for their unique take on stoner-y rock. Honestly I haven’t listened to the album as much as I’ve seen these guys jamming in their space and playing live, but I love the way they mix krautrock and freeform space jams with heavy riffs, and none of it is stock material.
The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.
Neurosis have announced a return to Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio to record their eleventh full length, and added more dates to their US and Europe tour schedule for 2016. Founding member Scott Kelly is also setting out on a string of solo dates with Colin H. van Eeckhout of Amenra in Europe in January.
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Speaking of Steve Albini – listen to the man himself in a wide-ranging conversation with Woody McDonald at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre last week. Great stuff.
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File under: quirky xmas presents for the hirsute metalhead in your life (see also last week’s Weedian figurines) – Norway’s Borknagar have launched their own line of beard oil. Made up of “a blend of 100% natural and highest quality jojoba, sweet almond, hazelnut, castor and hemp seed oils” Borknagar’s beard oil will be no doubt be filling stockings all over old Norse territory.
Stage fright hasn’t sidelined singer Chelsea Wolfe | CNN
“Performing was something that I had to learn. I could barely handle being onstage for the first few years, and it’s the reason it took me so long to start my career as a musician,” she said. “I started writing songs when I was 9 years old but didn’t release an album or do a tour until I was 25.”
Streaming War Pigs: Apple, Tidal, Spotify, & The Year In Music Services | Stereogum
“And with that, you’ve got the story of streaming in 2015: artist as product or artist as propaganda. Like Zuckerman’s Famous Pig in Charlotte’s Web, musicians today are being fattened either for slaughter or for show, but make no mistake: The beneficiary of all this shiny pink flesh is Zuckerman.”
The Near-Death Of Raves: The Fate Of Independent Music Venues In 2015 | The Quietus
“The pressures on independent musical and cultural spaces are also symptomatic of more fundamental threats to under-represented and marginalised groups within society. There’s the soft bigotry of rhetoric around “British Values” and the like, implying that cultural worth is singularly-defined and divergence fundamentally suspect.”
LISTEN
Baroness – Purple
Out today, making a late entry on a bunch of end-of-year lists, and streaming in full for you here.
Primitive Calculators – ‘I’m Fucked’
More snarling synth-punk from one of the originators of the genre – their trademark misanthropy and willingness to tell it like it is on display once again.
Black Tusk – ‘God’s On Vacation’
The seasonally appropriate first taste of the Georgian trio’s final release recorded with founding bassist/vocalist Jonathan Athon, who died in a motorbike accident last year. Equal parts stoner sludge and hardcore crossover.
WATCH
Deaf Wish – Live on KEXP
Melbourne’s Deaf Wish making an unholy racket on the Seattle public radio station on their recent US tour.
Baroness – Making Purple
A 11-part making-of video series in case you want a bit more release-day hype.
Brian Cook of Russian Circles and Sumac (among others) kicks off LIFE IS NOISE’s end-of-year countdown with some of his faves from 2015.
There was a lot of good stuff happening in 2015. But whenever I start making these year-end lists I gravitate towards the stuff made by friends and colleagues. My top ten albums for the year should probably include the excellent records made by Metz, Chelsea Wolfe, Deafheaven, Mutoid Man, Marriages and Coliseum, but I wanted to pick albums by artists that I hadn’t toured with, so here’s what I was left with (in no particular order…)
Alcest – Shelter
Alcest shed all vestiges of metal on this album and wound up with the kind of lush melodic record all these new shoegaze bands are trying to make. I know this record was kind of a tough sell for Alcest’s old school fans, but I would think that anyone that dug the Manchester sound of the late 80s/early 90s would eat this up.
Jackson C. Frank – Remastered & Unreleased
Life isn’t fair. And poor Jackson C. Frank was dealt a particularly bad hand. And while a few sad bastard audiophiles have long held his minor hit ‘Blues Run The Game’ close to their hearts, his recording career was pretty much forgotten by the time he passed away in 1999. Childhood trauma, schizophrenia, and poor health plagued his life and kept him from releasing any proper full-length following his debut. Ba Da Bing Records managed to cobble up 67 tracks from his career, from early traditional standards to a set of sparse demos for a comeback album that never materialised. For me, the most engaging songs are from those final demos, where Frank manages to craft a handful of songs out of the same few chords and one fingerpicking pattern. The guitar work across ‘Bull Men’, ‘Maria Spanish Rose’, ‘Singing Sailors’, and ‘(Tumble) In the Wind (Version 2)’ is almost identical, but Frank makes each song heartbreaking in its own way.
Mára – Surfacing
Over the course of several years, Faith Coloccia of Mamiffer recorded piano and vocal demos in her home on Vashon Island when winter storms would knock out all the power on her property. Maybe they were going to turn into Mamiffer songs. Maybe they were just little creative exercises. But after being tucked away for a couple of years, Coloccia dug up the songs and released them under the moniker Mára. Try and listen to ‘Love and Infinity’ and not tear up.
Mount Eerie – Sauna
Phil Elverum’s work has always been an exploration of music that operates on the periphery of pop culture. And yet these eclectic elements always somehow make sense within the context of his soft-spoken experimental folk music. Sauna is a particularly diverse record for Elverum, with nods to drone, black metal, and Terry Riley-esque arpeggios all sitting nicely together.
Napalm Death – Apex Predator – Easy Meat
I stopped following Napalm Death after their 1996 album Diatribes. But I checked out Apex Predator on a whim and was hooked right away. I guess I thought Napalm Death had settled into some fairly safe mid-tempo territory back in the mid-90s, but Apex Predator sounds like the kind of vicious, discordant stuff that could’ve found a home on Hydra Head. Brutal and smart.
Native North America (Volume 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985
Back when Myspace was still the primary way musicians were presenting themselves on the internet, I used to investigate bands based on their location. I remember wondering if there were bands in Greenland, and, sure enough, there were a handful of young’uns with electric guitars cranking out some really weird permutation of rock music out in the coastal towns with names I couldn’t pronounce. I’ve always been intrigued by bands that come out of remote or isolated regions. What kind of sound comes out of those cultural bubbles? So when I stumbled across this vinyl boxset compilation, I was intrigued. What exactly was going on in the northernmost inhabited areas of North America? Turns out, there was a lot of Neil Young and CCR worship. But there was also some gloriously sloppy garage rock by some Inuit kids in a band called Sugluk, some devastatingly sad protest music from Willie Dunn, some kitschy surf rock from The Chieftones, and a slew of other strange variants on pop culture. The opening track by Willie Dunn, ‘I Pity The Country’ is worth the cost of the collection alone.
Royal Headache – High
Good songs. No frills. These guys sound like someone else. Maybe it’s The Small Faces? I dunno. I’ve never really delved too deep into The Small Faces catalog, but whenever I hear High, I feel like I’m listening to a classic record from yesteryear. I feel like I should have a really perfect reference point for this band. But they’re not flashy enough for a Stones comparison. They’re more gritty than The Kinks. Maybe that’s what these guys were trying to do—they were trying to fill that gap in rock history, before punk slathered everything in distortion but after all those soulful garage bands started slashing up their speakers.
Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last
I included this mainly because I think ‘Web’ is one of the best songs of 2015. I mean, the whole record is great, but they could’ve rocked that krautrock beat and psych guitar lead for an entire side of the LP and I would’ve been totally fine with it.
Turnstile – Nonstop Feeling
I should not like this record. Imagine a combination of Snapcase, 311, Gorilla Biscuits, maybe even a little gloomy western twang on ‘Love Lasso’, and filter it through 80s thrash metal production. Then slap some artwork that looks like a Spin Doctors demo on it. It’s so absurd that I kept listening to it. I couldn’t figure it out. What were these kids trying to do? What were they listening to and why did they think these sounds worked together? Granted, there are a few moments where it doesn’t work (I can’t handle the 311 moments in ‘Can’t Deny It’), but as a whole Nonstop Feeling sounds like a bunch of kids who didn’t care what was cool and made something genuinely interesting out of their disparate interests.
Xibalba – Tierra Y Libertad
It sounds like Covenant–era Morbid Angel decided to form a hardcore band. So good.
Wilco – Star Wars
When you’re a band that’s been around as long as Wilco, and you have those records that have entered into the canon of classics, it can be tricky to write a new album that can rival all the warm fuzzy feelings we’ve attached to Summerteeth or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or A Ghost Is Born. So forget that those records exist for a moment. Now put Star Wars on. Give it a few spins. See? It’s an amazing record. Stick with it long enough and you’ll get all those warm fuzzy feelings whenever you hear ‘Taste The Ceiling’ or ‘Where Do I Begin’ or ‘Magnetized’.
The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.
Wondering what to get for the Sleep fan who has everything this Christ-myth? How about one of these incredibly detailed Weedian figurines? Dopesmoker cover artist Arik Roper worked with Unbox Industries to get every last detail right, down to the vape tanks. They might not ship until January, but who actually cares about christmas anyway? Meanwhile, Sleep keep adding dates to a Summer 2016 Europe tour which now includes Roskilde, ATP Iceland and Les Eurockeennes Festival in Paris in July.
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Speaking of the European Summer (almost), the mind-boggling Roadburn line-up just got a little more insane with the announcement that Converge will perform their 2001 masterwork Jane Doe in full at the 2016 festival, “for the first and last time”, as well as a special collaborative set Blood Moon “focusing on the band’s slower, more ambitious work”. They join Neurosis, Paradise Lost, Cult of Luna, Black Mountain, G.I.S.M., Full of Hell and a ton more at the festival in April.
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It’s that time of year – the lists keep coming. Spoiler alert: Windhand taking top spot on Consequence of Sound’s Top 25 Metal Albums of 2015 list; LA’s Volahn getting top spot on LA Weekly’s Top Ten and you should probably just read The Quietus’ 100-strong best of 2015 list. We’ll be rolling out our own lists from Thursday.
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READ
Enduring Love: Why Swans Are More Vital Now Than Ever | The Guardian
“Speaking as a journalist, it is difficult to ignore the amazing stories that have built up round the band over the years. Once, for example, an unfortunate sound guy made the mistake of asking the singer what he wanted the band to sound like. He replied: “Like this” and punched the hapless engineer in the chest.”
Phil Anselmo And The Business Of Heavy Metal Horror | Forbes
“A revered figure in metal who continues to draw live audiences, Anselmo gladly leverages his own brand to promote his Housecore artists by having them open for headlining tours with his own bands like Down and The Illegals. Fully aware of the effect his name has on his business, he actively strategizes how to use it to serve the label’s agenda.”
A Crushing Embrace With The Earth: Ecological Sound In 2015 | The Quietus
Sound and music also have key roles to play in this process, through highlighting the complexity, intimacy and emotional texture of the relations between ourselves and the rest of nature. In her 2015 paper Geopolitics And The Anthropocene: Five Propositions For Sound, political geographer Anja Kanngieser argues that sound makes visceral, even comprehensible, aspects of the world that normally lie beyond our perception.
LISTEN
Sunn O))) – Kannon
It’s here. And it’s immense, as you’d expect.
Extreme Misanthropy Crew – Revelations One
Featuring members of Sydney’s Making and Tanned Christ – nasty, noisy improvised post-drone.
Florian Schneider – ‘Stop Plastic Pollution’
The Kraftwerk co-founder samples a dripping tap as part of his bit to stop the Great Pacific garbage patch as part of the Parley for the Oceans campaign.
WATCH
Dinosaur Jr. – ‘Forget the Swan’
As part of a seven-night stand at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut LP Dinosaur. Guests each night have included Kevin Shields, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Watt, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Kurt Vile among others. Can we have a Deep Wound reunion next please?
Oneohtrix Point Never – ‘Sticky Drama’
All the end-of-year lists can be overwhelming, then you catch something you somehow slept on. Daniel Lopatin’s ‘Come to Daddy’ comes with its own prologue video.
Every fortnight, we check in with all things heavy on RTRFM’s Critical Mass show.
DANZIG — SKELETONS
It’s been a rough couple of years for Evil Elvis himself, Glenn Danzig. He’s been the brunt of many a joke or meme and various ongoing legal dramas surrounding The Misfits. But underneath it all there is always the music, 2010’s Deth Red Sabaoth wasn’t too bad and Tommy Victor (Prong) is riffing and harmonic pinching like it’s going out of style, so it was with great interest that we listened to his latest effort of cover songs Skeletons.
With a list of bands covered including ZZ Top, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Troggs and yes, Elvis Presley, Skeletons seemed like it would be a good time if nothing else. Sadly it is hindered by a lousy production job: a lot of the tracks sound like the product of a first take in the studio, a sub-par demo recording at best. I get that the early Misfits albums were rough and maybe the style they were deliberately going for was Garage Days–era Metallica, but it really is a poor effort.
Black Sabbath’s ‘N.I.B’ is woefully flat (not that Ozzy has ever been a vocalist known for his range) – its a damn shame. The one shining light is the Elvis cover ‘Let Yourself Go’. Danzig NAILS it. Get the Elvis cover, skip the rest.
GRAVE — OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE DEAD
There is something endearing about Swedish death metal veterans Grave – Ola Lindgren and clan have been churning out old-style death metal since 1988. Despite having a large discography and some killer tracks (e.g. ‘Souless’, ‘Into The Grave’) they never achieved the success that many of their contemporaries did (e.g. Dismember, Entombed or Unleashed).
Grave were never really going to outblast a band such as Nile, or be super technical and dissonant like Gorguts, but they have stood the course (aside from a brief flirtation with a slightly more accessible style with 1996’s Hating Life, which for lack of a better description was a death metal version of Helmet) and turned the Boss HM-2 pedals all the way up for that buzzsaw guitar tone. They also have some interesting song titles that have really been at odds with the sounds and made me enjoy them more (‘Lovesong’, ‘In Love’, ‘I Need You’).
Out Of Respect For The Dead offers little in the way of surprises or new sounds. Everything is bordering on being in the red and that Swedish death metal tone is loud and clear – possibly the best-produced album they’ve done. That said, Grave offer some great songs here, with tracks such as ‘Deified’, ‘Mass Grave Mass’ and ‘Plain Pine Box’ all getting the head banging. Grave seem content here, in ‘Mass Grave Mass’ Ola sings “Can’t Believe I’m Still Alive”. The world is better for Grave still being Grave.
HORRENDOUS — ANARETA
Writing album reviews and presenting radio is great fun. Inevitably though, lots of worthy albums slip through the cracks due to time and lack of knowledge, sometimes though you find great stuff unexpectedly. I found out about American death metallers Horrendous through the sheer amount of support and praise they were getting, topping several best of 2015 lists as early as November. So, curiosity piqued, I checked out the band’s third album Anareta, knowing only that the band played something of an old school brand of death metal.
Although definitely inspired by the old school Anareta is so much more, taking many twists and turns. The vocals are a bellowed howl that remind me a bit of a cross between Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer and Chuck Schuldiner. The songs twist and turn in a way that would make ‘Evil Chuck’ proud. There are some epic moments on here that are indebted to the likes of Gojira and even some post-metal bands (check the closing five minutes of ‘Acolytes’). Phenomenal stuff. Worth your time and the hype.
NIGHT VIPER — NIGHT VIPER
A new five-piece band blasting out of Gothenburg, but eschewing the more common Gothenburg-style melodic death metal of In Flames and At The Gates (among others) for an older pre-thrash style of metal. Night Viper play old style heavy metal that mixes a bit of Judas Priest, a dash of Iron Maiden and some Megadeth-style soloing with just a touch of doom heaviness (guitarist Tom Sutton having played with Japanese doomsters Church Of Misery for a spell).
Vocalist Sofie-Lee Johansson has a style that mixes a bit of Joan Jett and Joey Belladonna with Paul Di’anno but is all her own, a unique voice that stays low and doesn’t try to reach the falsetto highs that dominate the genre. There’s some great stuff here, especially the faster tracks such as ‘The Hammer’ and ‘Faces In The Mirror’. Like ALL the good bands they have a song named after themselves (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Voivod, The Devil Rides Out etc).
UR DRAUGR — WITH HUNGER UNDYING
I haven’t listened to this release that much, but it’s still found its way into my top ten for 2015 (more on that in the coming weeks). That’s how good Ur Draugr are. The band’s follow-up to the The Wretched Ascetic EP, released in January, was apparently plagued by a major hard drive crash that resulted in the loss of a lot of material. The wait was certainly worth it though as With Hunger Undying is an amazing album.
A mix of dark black metal and death metal, the band have created some epic songs here that invoke Enslaved, Gojira and many more upper tier bands. Riffs weave in and out hypnotically (check the dizzying rollercoaster ride that is ‘Augur Incarnate (Distended Crown)’). Some phenomenal drumming from ‘drum machine for hire’ Dan Grainger and some pleasingly complex bass from Drew Griffiths make this all the more enjoyable.
Critical Mass airs every Wednesday from 9PM (GMT+8) on RTR FM 92.1 in Perth, Australia.
In an honest world, you wouldn’t be able to escape a band like Deafcult. They’d be played in supermarkets all over the country and they’d be interviewed on Sunrise as the newest darlings of booming, national shoegaze scene, widely recognised as our most distinctive cultural export, and the populist extension of an equally well-regarded avant-garde Australian underground.
But we don’t live in an honest world, so it’s possible you haven’t heard of Deafcult, a Brisbane shoegaze band whose devastatingly loud, but blissfully melodic self-titled debut album – released digitally in May – is set for a vinyl release on Sydney label Black Wire this month, just in time for their recently announced east-coast Australian tour. The album is melodic enough for almost anyone to enjoy, while still offering the musical depth and authenticity craved by the modern indie scene. It’s heavy without being challenging, dark without being depressing: an overwhelming and instantly gratifying addition to the sunny side of local shoegaze. It feels like flying through a kaleidoscope of coloured clouds, relaxing and powerfully psychedelic, while the force provided by the band’s four guitarists creates unparalleled feelings of immersion and intensity that set the band apart from everything else that’s happening in Australia at the moment.
It’s world-class, anthemic alt-pop, and the vinyl release will allow you to enjoy it in greater detail than you ever could have done before. There seems to be a lot of awesome music coming out from Brisbane at the moment, but as far as dream-pop goes, Deafcult make some of the best. If you missed out on the band when they made their debut in April this year, now’s the perfect time to check them out. In an honest world, you wouldn’t have a choice. This is powerful, novel, and emotional popular music, that represents the best of the Australian shoegaze scene; it demands your recognition and support. Check it out if you’re a fan of local acts like Flyying Colours, Day Ravies, or Forevr, and prepare to be blown away.
The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.
NEWS
It’s one of those so-crazy-it-has-to-work ideas: British grind legends Napalm Death, Washington sludge pioneers The Melvins and Japanese noise weirdos Melt-Banana teaming up for a six-week, 35-date North America tour, fittingly named the Savage Imperial Death March. The latest iteration of The Melvins will feature Steven McDonald (Redd Kross, OFF!) on bass, with a planned 10? War Pussy in the works ahead of the tour. King Buzzo and Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Danny Herrera have previously collaborated as Venomous Concept – who’ve just released a new single from forthcoming LP Kick Me Silly; VC3, though without Buzz in the band this time around. Got all that? Good.
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With the trademark dysfunction for which they were often known, Texas post-hardcore giants At The Drive In are reportedly reforming for Rock On The Range festival in Columbus, Ohio in May 2016, though original member Jim Ward claims the line-up announcement is the first he’s heard of it. He ran a similar line prior to ATDI’s previous reunion for Coachella in 2012, so there’s hope yet.
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A cavalcade of punk icons have pledged support of US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, with Jello Biafra, Wayne Kramer and Mike Watt all endorsing the the self-proclaimed socialist candidate. A lengthy list of ‘artists and cultural leaders’ have come out in support of the plain-speaking Vermont senator, whose policy platform includes an end to the federal prohibition of marijuana, fairer income distribution and a less-trigger happy US foreign policy agenda. With policies like that, it’s clear the Democrats and US media will never let him get elected, but it’s a nice idea.
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Finally, Radio Adelaide – Australia’s oldest community radio station – is seeking support in the form of a petition, after news that licensee the University of Adelaide is considering selling or closing the station. The decision comes after the university sold the CBD property that houses Radio Adelaide’s studios. Show your support by heading to www.saveradioadelaide.org. #SaveRadAd
“The most refreshing thing about Le Guess Who? is how it gives a platform to more experimental strains of music without any of the associated loftiness. Faust were first to marry a challenging approach with humour. Sure, their sound was a heavy, delirious mix of magnificent acoustics punctured by industrial crashes, gas canisters and hurdy-gurdies, but Jean-Hervé Peron was yelling, “Pinochet! Stalin! Kartoffelsalat!” and three women were seated front-and-centre stage, nonchalantly knitting for the entire set.”
“For over 40 years, Rob Halford has been one of the most singular figures to emerge from the metal scene, and while some of his contemporaries have struggled to age gracefully, Halford is still out-performing many singers a quarter of his age, and his recorded output is as vital now as it has ever been.”
The Sober Proprietor Of A Bar On Avenue B | New York Times
“He started out as a roadie, which eventually turned into a job singing for the Dictators, in 1975. After the band disbanded in the early ’80s, Mr. Manitoba was part of various groups that included various iterations of The Dictators. In the early ’90s, he found himself driving a cab, addicted to heroin. He attended meetings, got clean and ripped up the hack license.”
LISTEN
Miles Brown – ‘Space Cadet’
The first taste of The Night Terrors’ theremin genius Brown’s forthcoming solo debut LP Séance Fiction blends Carpenter-esque gloom with 80s synth-pop sensibilities.
The Rival Mob – ‘Speak With Power’
Boston’s The Rival Mob carrying the mantle of classic Clevo/NYHC on this tape release being put out by Adelaide’s Nopatience Records.
WATCH
Tommy Iommi talks about his origins as a guitarist and what keeps him on stage after taking out the Q/Gibson Les Paul Guitar Award back a little while ago.
Peaches – ‘Rub’
Probably the most NSFW video since Rammstein’s ‘Pussy’. Enter at your own risk.
The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.
NEWS
The inevitable torrent of end-of-year lists begins in earnest, with Rough Trade first out of the blocks with their 100 best LPs of 2015. Bjork’s epic Blood on the Tracks break-up album Vulnicura took out the top spot, with Australian acts Courtney Barnett and Royal Headache both in the top ten at #3 and #8 respectively. British/German composer Max Richter’s eight-hour-long classical lullaby suite SLEEP surprisingly taking out fifth place, alongside more predictable fare like Father John Misty’s I Love You, Honeybear, Kamasi Washington’s The Epic and Jamie xx’s solo debut In Colour all among the top ten. Keep a look out for LIFE IS NOISE’s end of year lists in the next few weeks.
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Good news for a number of Melbourne’s favourite venues this week with the state government giving out $250,000 in soundproofing grants, with Cherry, Ding Dong, 1000 Pound Bend, Revolver, Bakehouse Studios and the Bendigo Hotel all sharing the spoils for soundproofing works undertaken between 2010 and 2014, The Age reports. The grants are being welcomed as another step in protecting and nurturing the city’s vibrant live music scene after the enactment of last year’s ‘Agent of Change’ principle in planning regulations, which shifts the expense of soundproofing works on to new developments where a dispute arises, rather than existing venues. In other words: we were here first, you deal with it.
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Synth nerds frothing over the collection of vintage analogue gear amassed by the newly established Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (M.E.S.S.) will soon get their chance to tinker with one of the largest and most comprehensive catalogues of modular synths, drum machines, samplers and other rare and obscure instruments, with M.E.S.S. opening to subscribers in early 2016. Established by local sound artists Robin Fox and Byron J Scullin, M.E.S.S. will offer 500 spots in its inaugural annual subscription program, with plans for training courses, workshops and live performances later in the year.
“Even more than Xen, which Ghersi now calls a “fragile” album, Mutant is made up of great extremes—the crushing bass of “Mutant” versus the viscous bliss of “Vanity”, or the metal chug of “Anger” versus the neo-classical strings of “Extent”. And one of the things that is so exhilarating about the record is how it’s constantly negotiating between two opposing poles. Tension is the air that Mutant breathes, and that is because Ghersi himself thrives on what he calls “those in-between states where you can talk to people about things that maybe aren’t OK to talk about otherwise—things that are taboo or repressed within us, things that we would never admit to ourselves.””
“In the studio, there’s an undertone of serenity and also of composition that emphasizes the movement’s themes, of compression that builds the climaxes of a solo into repeated motto-like phrases or quick outbursts that soon resolve into calmer and more songful perorations. By contrast, the 1965 concert performance from France is full-throated, uninhibited, frighteningly wild and frenzied. It leaves a listener thrilled, shaken, drained; it’s a holy terror and a holy wonder.”
“Our commitment or continued long-term participation to putting out vinyl records is largely based on our own emotional connection. Many of us who have been here for a while came of age listening to records even before the resurgence of vinyl that has happened over the course of the past five or six years. I talk to a lot of people I work with about this, but vinyl is freighted with this memory of the way you would listen to music. It’s less about what people talk about with the warmth or audio qualities of vinyl. It’s just about attention. If you can only fit 22 minutes of music of a side of vinyl, you’re doing little else during that time, and that’s kind of nice. So it’s definitely an emotional connection.”
LISTEN
Fourteen Nights at Sea — Minor Light
Get acquainted with the Melbourne post-rock mainstays’ latest release ahead of their shows supporting MONO in Melbourne and Sydney next week.
Roundtable — Dread Marches Under Bloodied Regalia
Yet another solid release recorded and mixed by Jason Fuller at Melbourne’s Goatsound studios, the trio’s debut full-length mines doom, stoner and classic prog and offers a contemporary take on the lost art of the narrative concept album.
WATCH
Sunn O))) — Boiler Room
Club kids the world over are scratching their heads as to what the fuck just happened, with last week’s Berlin set from Sunn O))) featuring on the hugely popular Boiler Room channel. There’s form there – they’ve featured Earth and Boris previously, though for the most part it’s about pretty young things dancing behind (read: annoying the crap out of) superstar DJs.
David Bowie — Blackstar
For those who’ve been in a coma for the last week: The first single and title track from the ageing iconoclast’s forthcoming LP shows he’s still capable of the reinvention that’s defined his long and storied career. Apparently he’s been listening to lots of Kendrick Lamar and Death Grips, though long-time collaborator/producer Tony Visconti says it’s not going to be a hip hop record (in case you were worried).
