I'm having a paper-heavy couple of weeks, which is why there was no post this weekend. Finger is off the pulse for the moment. Bear with me - will have a post up this weekend once the dust has settled.
To celebrate one whole month in which I haven't totally messed this blog up, I just opened up an e-mail address for the site. If you're going to send me your demo, please take a look at what I write about before sending me dubstep remixes (which I'm sure you worked hard on, but c'mon):
newnoisenow@yahoo.com
Before it vanished entirely from their bandcamp, I was fortunate enough to download 6666 from the garage-punk quartet Ghetto Ghouls back in November. While the production on that release was coarse around the edges, "Peepshow" suggests that the group is moving to even grittier, heavier pastures. No energy is wasted here on introductions or legible vocals. Instead, the group
immediately starts burning down the barn with a cloud of distortion over
catchy, quicktime drumbeats. Amid all the guitar thrashing and snare
rolls, Ghetto Ghouls somehow find time in this two-minute window to
break things down at around the 60-second mark, stretching out their
legs for a moment before swelling the song up to an abbreviated climax.
"Peepshow" is a promising first taste for what will probably be a
fantastic album of blown-out, taut rock'n'roll, played with an economy
so refined that The Minutemen would surely nod their heads in approval.
LISTEN: Sewn Leather - "Unclear War"
WHERE: Los Angeles, CA
FROM: Freak On Hashish/Longboarding is a Crime on Hundebiss
AVAILABLE: Sometime in April
"I am not a graffiti artist, I am a graffiti bomber," proclaims Cap in the documentary Style Wars and in the intro to Sewn Leather (a/k/a Griffin Pyn, a/k/a Skull Katalog)'s new single. That line alone should give you a pretty good sense of what you're about to reckon with here - destructive punk shit, no filter. A distorted, industrial dance beat that repeatedly slams itself into a wall meets relentless sub-bass throb meets swaths of static, all cutting through Pyn's weird, cancerous snarl. "What's nuclear's worth fighting for / Unclear war," he chants and chants in a sewer-drenched vision of the apocalypse. The whole deal combines into something that could drive you to break windows and/or bust a move, pick your poison.
LISTEN: Vulture Shit - "Sweat Lodge"
WHERE: Brooklyn, NY
FROM: The Joys of Employment on Money Fire
AVAILABLE: 2/20/14
Last year, Vulture Shit jumped onto my radar with their lurching noise-rock jam "Dinnertime," the B-side to their Adult Hits 7". What a bizarre track - while the bass and drums are imposing beasts, the first thing that Randy Vandal spews out of his mouth is, "Put your fork in the mashed potatoes / Put your spoon in the beans, UH-huh." That brand of absurd humor permeates Vulture Shit's aggressive bass-and-drum assault and puts this group in (more or less) a league of their own.
On this lead-off single from their new 7" due out in a few days, the group sticks to those guns that made "Dinnertime" such a strange and memorable listen, but here they kick the speed up a few notches and plow through three verses and refrains in 76 seconds. Here, the filthy, breakneck playing is as uncomfortably hot and claustrophobic as what Randy Vandal's howling about: "I can't stand it it's too hot in here! / It's like a sweat lodge, baby!" he shouts with all the unhingedness of a young David Yow. These guys are confirmed to be as good as Warthog in figuring out exactly what my anxiety problems sound like.
LISTEN: Thee Oh Sees - "Penetrating Eye"
WHERE: San Francisco, CA
FROM: Drop on Castle Face
AVAILABLE: 4/19/2014
Once you're strapped in for the ride, trying to keep tabs on Thee Oh Sees is a head-spinning trip. The garage-rock collective first grabbed my attention with their 2011 opus Carrion Crawler/The Dream, left me a little bit cold with the lighter and fluffier Putrifiers II in 2012, renewed my faith with last year's heavy-as-fuck Floating Coffin, and may or may not have broken my heart when they hinted at an indefinite hiatus at the turn of 2014. Phew. Well, like clockwork, they're back again with a new ripper in advance of yet another new record. The cacophonous layers of synth all over "Penetrating Eye" hint at a new direction (perhaps informed by John Dwyer's new homemade-electronic side project Damaged Bug), although the mountainous riffage, pounding rhythms, and androgynous Dwyer/Dawson duet at the center of the proceedings signify that this is indeed the same Oh Sees I've come to know and love. Get your fix of pure electricity below.
LISTEN: Downtown Boys - "Callate"
WHERE: Providence, RI
FROM: Downtown Boys 7" on Sister Polygon
AVAILABLE: Now
Last week, I wrote about a track from the newish EP by Malportado Kids, a blaring tropical-punk side-project from two members of Downtown Boys. The folks in this outfit must not sleep, because they've got a brand new 7" out on Sister Polygon (run by the excellent punk group Priests). Opener "Callate" is a fiery minute of hardcore ska-punk fit with a wailing horn section that buzzes in and out on a whim, battering drums, and Victoria Ruiz's trademark tantrum at the fore. This is just one of several great minutes on this 7" - do not hesitate to listen to the rest (and catch them live too, because it's a total dance party with plenty of political rants and cop-hate).
WOODY ALLEN IS SCUM AND HERE'S THE RUNDOWN, YOU CRAZY NIGHTMARES:
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PICK OF THE WEEK:
"Priest In The Laboratory" by White Suns
WHERE: Brooklyn
FROM: Totem on The Flenser
AVAILABLE: 3/10/2014
When I saw White Suns a few months ago, their lineup had briefly reduced to a duo (after their drummer had mysteriously gone off the grid), looming behind an array of electronics that frothed out hellraising noise, effectively disturbing every single resident of Vassar's main building in the process. With their follow-up to 2012's Sinews on the way, the reformed trio have turned back to drums, guitars, and microphones to rip it up with a more traditional setup. The first taste from their album, "Priest In The Laboratory," finds the group barely holding it together amid their cathartic, postindustrial roar, freely oscillating between movements as frenzied rhythms sputter like a choir of broken engines. A nervous yell sounds off intermittently: "Melancholia: / Is! / Is! / A cancer! / That waxes and wanes!" Repeated listens will drive you to the brink. This track is a carnival made from a rusting scrapheap.
LISTEN: "Land of Nod" by Permanent Ruin
WHERE: San Jose, CA
FROM: San Jose EP on Not Normal Tapes
AVAILABLE: Now
At the bottom of Permanent Ruin's tumblr, there's someone wearing a shirt that reads "It's only going to get worse." As "Land of Nod" prepares to enter its half-speed second movement, Mariam Bastani (formerly of Condenada) maliciously growls, "It's a waaaastelaaaand." I sure hope you find solace in hopelessness. "Land Of Nod" is the closing standout from this group's most recent EP - a prime cut of hardcore played as noisily and heavily as possible. Rapidfire trash sounds give way to a slower-moving death knoll that announces the deadened American landscape.
LISTEN: "Mi Concha" by Malportado Kids
WHERE: Providence, RI
FROM: The Mi Concha EP, self-released
AVAILABLE: Now
Malportado Kids is Victoria Ruiz and Joey Defrancesco of Downtown Boys, a rising political punk sextet based out of Providence, RI. Much like their main project, this duo attacks with a noisy, confrontational approach that entails blown-out production and a lot of bilingual shouting. "Mi Concha," the opening track from their new tape, is a battle cry against dudes who view only conventionally beautiful white women as viable partners. Ruiz, of course, words it more bluntly and eloquently: "Mi concha no es bastante blanca para ti (My c**t is not white enough for you)!" she chants above a four-and-the-floor thud and a tropical synth line that pinches your nerve endings. "Mi Concha" is an aggressively danceable celebration of sexual liberation for women of color that cannot, will not be ignored.
LISTEN: "Boom Pow Awesome Wow" by The Traps
WHERE: Providence, RI
FROM: Boom Pow Awesome Wow on Castle Face
AVAILABLE: Now
John Dwyer says simply of The Traps, "COACHWHIPS PLAYED WITH THEM, THEN I CAME HOME AND TRIED TO RIP THEM OFF." For sure, in considering that The Traps disbanded about a decade ago, a listen through "Boom Pow Awesome Wow" leads one to realize that most garage-punk groups from the past ten years can only dream of making rock'n'roll as simple and pure as these guys did. This opener from the group's unearthed collection of rarities is a tonesetting lo-fi explosion that matches a surf sensibility with sludgy, barebones thrashing and hoarse, mostly incomprehensible shouts (aside from, y'know, "BOOM POW / AWESOME, WOW"). These dudes just don't seem like they ever learned how to give a fuck, and I admire 'em all the more for it.
Good luck finding anything about Failed States at this point in their history. I sure as hell couldn't, just a lot of unwanted hits about Propagandhi's last album. The only thing I've taken away from a lone event page is that the group features members of Nuclear Spring, who put out a 12" that I heard once on a friend's record player and loved. The overall vibe on "Life of Leisure" leans towards an aggro-brand of post-punk, what with the tight, quasi-technical playing and those catchy, spiny guitar hooks. It's an in-and-out punch - bristling with energy, always shifting around in its seat, and with an awesome chorus that essentially demands that an audience sings along to it. I'm way into what this band's doing, I'm excited to see what they're up to next, I want to get my grubby hands on this demo of theirs, and you should totally give this track a listen. Fin.
Superbowl. Football. Sports. Finger pressed firmly on the pulse of popular culture. Et cetera.
Below is a motley playlist for you to eat, composed of all the songs and clips I've been jamming on this week. As my mom would say, I made it up all nice and fresh for you:
WATCH: Wolf Eyes play 285 Kent
Chances are that if you're reading this, you probably know what a 285 Kent is, you've probably heard about it closing, and you probably know what that closure means to many DIY musicians and music fans down over in Brooklyn. Sad days. To celebrate the end of it all, there was a massive procession of bands and artists who filled up the space for a two-weekend-long last hurrah. While most of these farewell shows were stacked with rising stars in indie rock and electronic music, the venue's final Saturday show saw noise and avant-garde acts taking the stage for much of the night, names like Alberich, MV Carbon and Wolf Eyes all sending off the venue with a bang and a clatter and a screech. Pitchfork captured some footage of Wolf Eyes powering through an unreleased track, "Enemy Ladder 1 & 2." Check the video below for eight minutes of Nate Young screaming his brains out, free-form stoner riffs, blown-out drum loops, and John Olson holding some sort of magic noise box whilst letting loose an intermittent fistpump. Chaos. I honestly can't wrap my mind around the fact that they've been at this since I was four.
WATCH: The Soft Moon premieres video for "Hunger"
Following up on the release of a brand new 7", Luis Vasquez of The Soft Moon has posted both tracks from the record onto YouTube. While I dig A-side "Feel" just fine, what with its driving groove that transports one to the halcyon days of EBM and post-punk, I prefer the sinister synth-drone going on in the B-side, "Hunger." I wanted to post the video here because despite its static aesthetic, the clip enhances the claustrophobia of the track to an uncomfortable degree. Warped, copied, and pasted dozens of times across the screen, the title of the song flickers and wanes as a pitch-shifted voice mutters endlessly, "I want to be happy." Thoroughly spooky, and a prime video to project onto a wall during your next sparsely-attended Halloween party. Check it below.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Timber Timbre - "Hot Dreams"
Where: Toronto & Montreal, Canada
From: Hot Dreams on Arts & Crafts
Available: 4/1/2014
Timber Timbre is a rarity in indie rock in that they've been crafting their sound around a character, effectively turning their most recent efforts into a bizarre yet engrossing narrative. While the group's first two efforts were steeped in blues and folk tradition, the quintet has since branched out with a tryptych of albums - the self-titled, Creep On Creepin' On, and forthcoming Hot Dreams - that feature foreboding, neo-noir arrangements with plinking piano, slinking basslines, and saxophone that can change its temper from velvety to horrifying skronk on a dime. At the center of this revised sound is Taylor Kirk's newfound croon, who changed his affect from a somber woodsman's sigh to a ghoulish baritone between the group's second and third albums. To match that shift, the lyrics darkened as well, transforming Kirk's persona into that of a preying, lusting villain, indie rock's most unsettling anti-hero.
"Hot Dreams" is the first taste from the new album, a neon-lit closing-time ballad that rises and falls in a manner that can only be described as sexy. But there's something off here, as one might come to expect from Timber Timbre. Kirk (and I should really say 'Kirk's character') kicks off the song by flatly singing, "I want to dance with a black woman," an exoticizing problematic that leaves an awful taste in the mouth. Later, the antagonist's underlying violence slips subtly through the gauze, "I want to follow through / follow through / on all my promises and threats to you, babe." With Colin Stetson's sax work to round out the track with a smooth riff that crescendos into a quasi-dissonant blare in its final moments, the portrait becomes complete -- this is not a love song as much as it is a good reason for his muse to telephone the police. Unnerving as it is addictive, this is easily my favorite track of 2014 so far.
LISTEN: Ruined Fortune - "Black And Red"
Where: Sydney, Australia
From: Forthcoming LP on Hozac
Available: TBA
I found myself first digging through the current Australian underground by way of Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, whose infectious slacker jam "Any Day Now" snuggled into my headphones on the regular this past spring. The bassist of BWBB and RIP Society labelhead Nic Warnock has teamed up with Angie Garrick of Circle Pit to form Ruined Fortune, a self-described "heavy freedom rock" group. "Black And Red" is a new taste from their soon-to-come debut LP, and it finds the duo singing in bleary-eyed unison amid a clouded wash of distorted guitars and punchy drums. This track toes the line between a fun, sunglasses-required punk tune and a major downer -- I can't conclusively figure out whether they'd want me to dance around or stare at my shoes during a show. Probably both.
LISTEN: Glow God - "Outside My Mind"
Where: Oklahoma City, OK
From: House of Distractions on Play Pinball!
Available: now
I, for one, am pretty stoked that grunge aesthetics have been making a comeback in the underground, because now we can pretend that early 2000s post-grunge never happened -- a period which rained hellfire upon the earth and damaged the mind of poor, impressionable 10-year-old Jay as he would voraciously watch VH1. Rest assured, Glow God is here to revise history for the better. For proof positive, check "Outside My Mind," arguably the most killer cut from the four-piece's recently released LP. Swampy, bass-heavy guitars (evocative of "bunge"-minded contemporaries Roomrunner) and crashing drums bash up against one another over a lazy vocal pleading, "Help me / get outside my mind / Help me / Disappear from time." It's a simple, satisfying rocker -- if you've been growing your hair out for the sole purpose of looking awesome while headbanging, well, today's your lucky day.
Opening for Destruction Unit and getting a nice nod from WFMU, the Oklahoma boys behind this track have been doing well for themselves as of late. Keep your eyes out for 'em.
LISTEN: Limbs Bin - "39 Songs"
Where: Western Massachusetts
From: Total Anguish on No Lights Tonight
Available: now
First, there was the minute-and-a-half long session recorded in a laundromat. Now, we have another 39 songs in 5.5 minutes. The madness speaks for itself. One-man noisecore wrecking ball Limbs Bin (who lives under the pseudonym Josh Landes) returns with another release that physically hurts to listen to. It's great. Songs start and stop within seconds; squelching synth tones and manic, distorted shouting pierce through programmed blast beats that never drop below "jackhammer." Over and over and over again. Until you feel sick. Although it all might sound silly in text, "39 Songs" is a beautiful exercise in extremes. You'll cherish those brief moments of silence before being thrown right back into the thick of it - 39 times over.
LISTEN: Goosebumps - "Best Friend"
Where: NYC
From: Scared To See A Doctor on Katorga Works
Available: TBA
In a recent interview for Distort Jersey City on WFMU, NYC quartet Goosebumps discussed the ills of being in a hardcore band: "Being in a band is sick: getting paid 10 bucks... not being able to sit at home and be alone. Being around people you hate, that's like so great." Although it sounds like playing gigs isn't really to their taste, this new track from their forthcoming 7" suggests that they're more than happy to fuck shit up in the studio. Over the 53 seconds of "Best Friend," Goosebumps sear through two verses and an outro played hard and fast, with a wall of slack, drugged-out guitars and all the fury of a pissed off snake. Ray has a vitriolic scratch to his voice that calls to mind Hank Wood's lovable-uncle-chasing-you-around-with-a-kitchen-knife delivery. There's only so much to say about a hardcore track that charges in and out of the door in less than a minute, but I'll leave it at this - like the best NYHC, "Best Friend" will throw you for a loop. Look out for that upcoming 7" on Katorga Works, as well as an LP that they were teasing in the WFMU interview.
