Yo. Here's what's good this week:
PICK OF THE WEEK: Blotter - "Gunboy Rover"
WHERE: Austin, TX
FROM: Under Armour '77 on Katorga Works
AVAILABLE: Spring 2014
I wonder what Blotter thinks of SXSW. Hardcore punk locals and invasive corporate sponsors must get along very well this time of year. I'm sure "Gunboy Rover" would go over particularly well at, like, a college radio mixer with non-alcoholic beer and indie muzak humming over the bar speakers. Honestly though, this is straight-up disruption that could wipe a conference room clean in its opening seconds. After a moment of square feedback, the group opens up into a confrontational, full-band seizure that sounds off like a series of disgruntled exclamation points. All the incessant grunt-raving and stop-start mayhem ends before you can really attempt to gather your bearings. Recommended for looping at a party filled with people you really, really hate.
LISTEN: Good Throb - "Acid House"
WHERE: London, UK
FROM: Fuck Off on White Denim/Sabremetric/Super-Fi
AVAILABLE: 4/2014
In the forthcoming edition of the first-ever VCPUNX zine, an anonymous scribble towards the back beckons: "LISTEN TO GOOD THROB." Start listening to that anonymous scribble now, because Good Throb rules and doesn't give a fuck about what you think of neither their "sloppy" playing, nor their shit-and-piss humor, nor their feminist thematics. Deal with it, cad. "Acid House" is one of three teaser tracks from their forthcoming LP - a sparse, furious blast that evokes the ghostly spirit of first-wave no-wave with its exceedingly simple and confrontational approach to punk. Check it below.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Blotter - "Gunboy Rover"
WHERE: Austin, TX
FROM: Under Armour '77 on Katorga Works
AVAILABLE: Spring 2014
I wonder what Blotter thinks of SXSW. Hardcore punk locals and invasive corporate sponsors must get along very well this time of year. I'm sure "Gunboy Rover" would go over particularly well at, like, a college radio mixer with non-alcoholic beer and indie muzak humming over the bar speakers. Honestly though, this is straight-up disruption that could wipe a conference room clean in its opening seconds. After a moment of square feedback, the group opens up into a confrontational, full-band seizure that sounds off like a series of disgruntled exclamation points. All the incessant grunt-raving and stop-start mayhem ends before you can really attempt to gather your bearings. Recommended for looping at a party filled with people you really, really hate.
LISTEN: Good Throb - "Acid House"
WHERE: London, UK
FROM: Fuck Off on White Denim/Sabremetric/Super-Fi
AVAILABLE: 4/2014
In the forthcoming edition of the first-ever VCPUNX zine, an anonymous scribble towards the back beckons: "LISTEN TO GOOD THROB." Start listening to that anonymous scribble now, because Good Throb rules and doesn't give a fuck about what you think of neither their "sloppy" playing, nor their shit-and-piss humor, nor their feminist thematics. Deal with it, cad. "Acid House" is one of three teaser tracks from their forthcoming LP - a sparse, furious blast that evokes the ghostly spirit of first-wave no-wave with its exceedingly simple and confrontational approach to punk. Check it below.
LISTEN: PyPy - "New York"
WHERE: Montreal
FROM: Pagan Day on Slovenly Recordings
AVAILABLE: Now
To give you a sense of what you're going to be reckoning with the track below, there's another song on this album called "Too Much Cocaine." Yup. "New York" is an oozing urban nightmare in the form of an out-of-control psych-punk jam. When the song isn't barreling forth at full-speed to ram into any unsuspecting East Villagers in its path, the band steps back to build tension with quiet calculation. Over thudding drums and creaking guitars, Annie-Claude Deschenes prowls and lolls her tongue over the proceedings with a Vanessa Briscoe-Hay (Pylon) or Katie Alice Greer (Priests) level of cool. Freak out the neighborhood with this.
LISTEN: After Argument - "Venice notes (world in his eyes)"
WHERE: Beijing
FROM: Furs of Time on Tenzenmen
AVAILABLE: Now
My first exposure to the contemporary Chinese underground happened a couple weeks ago when a friend of mine told me about the band Pairs. They released a split on Tenzenmen, which led me to this excellent post-punk duo After Argument. This is the first track from their most recent release, a tightly wound rocker with yelped vocals and wending guitar work that kinda smacks of early-era Fugazi. "Venice notes (world in his eyes)" feels like a response to that glorious strain of independent rock that spanned from like Spiderland, running through Today's Active Lifestyles, and ending around The Lonesome Crowded West - but these guys are creative in how they progress this opener, entirely avoiding the "rehash" label through some seriously telepathic interplay. Excited to see what their next move is (US tour would be v cool).
LISTEN: Odonis Odonis - "Angus Mountain"
WHERE: Toronto
FROM: Hard Boiled/Soft Boiled on Buzz Records
AVAILABLE: 4/15/2014
"She never loved you anyway," sighs the sad chorus at the center of this new piece from the post-everything Canadians of Odonis Odonis. I had these guys pinned as somewhat-aggro industrial/noise-rock up to now, but "Angus Mountain" throws a curveball into their oeuvre, here offering up a melancholic, dreamy soundscape that could almost pass as chillwave (chillpunk? kill me). A sunlight-decayed melody floats atop an acrobatic drum machine pattern held together by sixteenths rattling off on an icy high-hat. This one definitely errs on the side of Soft Boiled. Haven't been stoked for too many full-lengths this year, but HB/SB is set firmly on my radar.
---
END
No comments:
Post a Comment