Hi-Tec Emotions - Hard to Handle

Melbourne's three-piece Hi-Tec Emotions offer a satisfying musical club sandwich with punk, grunge, and new wave layers.  I don't care whether a band's members are male or female, and often don't even mention it, but Hi-Tec Emotions tells their tales with a female perspective, so the information is relevant.  The ten tracks on their new album, Hard to Handle, share a palpable sincerity and high energy.  There is rage, and outrage -- this lot doesn't flinch from identifying the bad guys and telling their story.  And it all rocks fast and rough, just like it should.

The album kicks off with the punk fury of "Look Around".  By track three, "Heart Line" we are in heavy rhythm new wave territory.  Other highlights are punky "Evil", the new wave anthem
"Mirror Mirror", and the glittering "Tess".

Hi-Tec Emotions are Ema Dunstan (vocals/keys), Jess Lakatosh (bass), and Mackenzie Randall (drums).  Hard to Handle is out now via Listen Records.







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"It's Tomorrow Now" by Flyying Colours

For five years Melbourne's Brodie J. Brummer, Gemma O'Connor, Melanie Barbaro, and Andy Lloyd Russell have been delivering satisfying chunks of well-crafted, pop and psych-glazed shoegaze under the name Flyying Colours.  September will bring Mindfullness, their new LP for Club AC30.  The lead track has just hit the airwaves, and you can stream it below.  To our ears it is big and rumbling head-banger, and it suggests that Mindfullness may be the band's best work to date.


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Teardrop Factory - Trash In The Heart

Trash In The Heart from Teardrop Factory offers sweet shoegaze dressed up in gloriously grungy slabs of guitar and pounding drums.  There is nothing slick here -- this Brighton duo of Tina and Andy is so-committed to lo-fi and DIY that they record in their bathroom.  And while the energy and big riffs and dirty bass underscore the truth of the album's title, the little secret is that these songs are good enough that they'd work as an acoustic set as well.

With a bit of scuzzy menace, solid melodies and an intelligent spin on '90s alt rock, this is a gem of a debut album, a celebration of rock swagger, blasting guitar noise and with shouted lyrics climbing over the riffs.  While pop stars sing team-manufactured, corporate-hyped hits, rock and roll lives on with Teardrop Factory.  Trash In The Heart is available via Faux Discx.






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"3AM Coke Dream" from Teardrop Factory, album in September

Tina  Muat and Andy Ward, who record and perform as Teardrop Factory, caught our attention last year with their excellent Topshop EP (review here).  The Brighton-based duo will be releasing their debut LP. Thrash in the Heart, September 15 on the Faux Discx label.  Our first taste is available now in the form of "3AM Coke Dream".  The track reveals the band's lo-fi, DIY ethic (recorded in the bathroom) coupled with a good ear for an infectious melody and well-placed hook.  This is '90s guitar and drum explosions with a subversively pop core.  Enjoy!



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REVIEW: Treehouse - Interzone LP

Hey, listen up.  I know that many of you are seeking summer tunes with sunny melodies and unchallenging themes (OK, for some of you hooking up may be a challenge, but we'll let that slide for the moment).  Yes, I've been looking for that stuff, too.  But while I was so engaged my inbox was invaded by Interzone, a really good rock album from a Hobart, Tasmania band named Treehouse.  The sound is part punk, but with a resonant post-punk, grunge and alt rock guitar sound that blurs the boundaries of punk.  In fact, one of the best things about this lovely nugget is the sound of the guitars.  High in the mix and played with purpose, they wash over the listener like waves at the beach (see, maybe it is a summer album after all).  And the structure provided by the bass and drums is solid as granite.  This is as tight a trio as you are going to hear.

Some of the tracks on Interzone are laid back, albeit with a palpable sense of restrained energy.  In the other tracks there is no restraint, just unbridled rock.  Two of my favorites are below.  I suggest playing them loud.  No, louder.  That's better ...

Treehouse is Cal, Jon and Will.  They originally released Interzone as a self-made, self-released cassette.  However, Melbourne label Vacant Valley has stepped up and has released the album in vinyl format, with an accompanying digital download code.  The digital download includes some bonuses, including several live tracks.  You can stream the entire album at the Bandcamp link below, and acquire the goods at Vacant Valley's Big Cartel page.

"Come to Harm" --



"The Sanctuary" --



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Treehouse's Bandcamp (for older releases)

Food Court - Smile At Your Shoes EP

The Venn diagram for Sydney's Food Court finds their sound at the intersection of punk, garage pop and grunge.  To my ears, the grunge is mostly evident in the growling guitars, while the remainder of the delivery is more of a joyous garage pop.  The band recently released a six track EP titled Smile at Your Shoes.  Take it for a test spin with the title track.  If you like it, check out the Bandcamp link, where you can stream the entire EP.  You also can buy it at the Bandcamp link, but in any case the title track is a free download.



Food Court is Cristian Campano (vocals/guitar), Lewis McKeown (bass/vocals), Dan De Santis (guitar), and Nic Puertolas (drums).  Smile at Your Shoes was recorded in Melbourne by Mark Doman and mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.

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NEW VIDEO: Cheatahs - "Cut the Grass"

The Cheatahs' album is due out in early 2014, and they're showcasing their gloriously grunge-soaked, Swervedriver-inspired guitar attack on this advance track, "Cut the Grass" - we shared the track previously, here's the video:



You can buy the digital single now (B side is "Kenworth") at iTunes. You can also pre-order a physical 7" at their website. And they're supporting Metz on a European tour this fall. Dates and more information at website/Facebook below.

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Wichita Recordings

New Post-Punk Discovery: Japanese Girls - Sharkweek EP

Japanese Girls have just released a 5-song EP, Sharkweek. They cover a fair amount of ground in the 15:00 of the EP - and I enjoy the metal guitars, crazy vocals and the overall WTF spirit of this band. Here's the video for "Vancouver Grizzly":





This is heavy post-punk with a pounding rhythm section, some real virtuosity in the guitars and serious attitude in the vocals, which range from high-pitched wails to guttural roars. To me it's reminiscent of Seattle grunge and The Cult, but with the occasional seriously metallic guitar riffs. And they even show some nice pop moves on the closing track "Friday The 13th". I think this is a band to watch.

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REVIEW: Destroy This Place - Destroy This Place

Destroy This Place is a Detroit-based hard rock band playing hot guitar riffs over a breakneck rhythm section. If that sounds to you like the Foo Fighters, I'd say you are onto something. And if you like the Foo Fighters, I wager that you will enjoy Destroy This Place, and their new self-titled album, too. We wrote about them, and shared two songs, back in April (WYMA post here).

To get you started on your speed trip, here's "Graves":



Love the wall of guitars on this one, truly, but as on the rest of this album, I want to call attention to the drummer and bassist - they knock it out of the park, especially on this song. The vocals, and the way they interact with the guitars, remind me a bit of Overwhelming Colorfast. Check out this one, opening track "Lethal Sky":

And one of the tracks we shared previously, "Defeated":

But again, this music ain't happening without the killer drum and bass - try not to throw your head around while you're listening to this. They play hard, fast and loud - but the band is tight. One of the most melodic tracks is the closer, "Ghost Ride The Lightning" - but don't worry, there's plenty of thrash on this one too:

If you need any more hard rock bona fides, the album was recorded by Mike Bridavsky (BLK JKS, Rogue Wave, Good Luck, Murder By Death, Magnolia Electric Co., etc) at Russian Recordings in Bloomington, IN, and mastered in Chicago by Bob Weston (member of Shellac and Mission of Burma, engineer for too many hard rock albums to name). It's a hard-rocking record, and a lot of fun to listen to. Just make sure you're where you can turn it way up.

Destroy This Place

Bellyache Records

Teardrop Factory - Topshop EP

Teardrop Factory is a promising young trio from Brighton, who express themselves via reverbed, fuzzy and distorted guitar and a driving rhythm section wrapped around some catchy melodies.  You'll hear touches of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Sonic Youth here, but there is a psychedelic sheen as well.  On May 27 they are releasing the four-track Topshop EP via Faux Discx.  Two of the tracks are can be streamed below, and "Vanity Unfair" is available to download.  Good stuff, people.





I understand that the vinyl 7" is limited to 300 copies, but the EP is available for digital download as well.

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New NYC Punk Discovery: Pedico - "Nixon Now"

If you like punk rock, you will love the music of Pedico - fast, loud and melodic, it embodies the best qualities of the punk/surf/beach aesthetic you will remember from all-time great punk rockers like The Ramones. It's built on some terrific drumming - especially on the first two tracks - fast guitars and tight vocal harmonies, and these guys do the loud, fast punk thing quite well.

Here's "Nixon Now", which gets it done in 1:34. As Mama Ramone's boys once proved, if you can get it done in a minute or so, why hang around any longer?





And here's "Bachelor Pad" - for a change of pace, they spend a little time in the lo-fi grunge area (think Wavves, Ty Segall) before heading back to Ramones territory for the chorus:




This record is a freaking delight - get it now.

One more - a little out of season, maybe, but tell me you don't have room for a punk version of a Chuck Berry Christmas song.

Pedico NYC Website

REVIEW: Pony Time - Go Find Your Own

Seattle duo Pony Time plays fast and loud - an intriguing cross between the Stooges-inspired garage rock of JEFF the Brotherhood, the primitive surf guitar of Dick Dale, the constant hard beat of Bo Diddley and bare-bones rockabilly. And if that sounds intriguing, by God, it is supposed to.

Pony Time is Luke Beetham on bass, guitar and vocals and Stacy Peck on drums. This is a terrific album, all sneering vocals, fuzzy guitar and drums that alternate between solid backbeat and wild flights and flourishes, often within the same song.

It is crazy stuff - the music is a lot of fun, and the songs (including the titles: "Hippy Shit", "Lesbian Mayor") are infused with a genuine punk sensibility. Whether the guitars start out fuzzy ("Kathleen Hanna") or build to it ("Hex On You"), they get there every time - and it's enchanting.

Here's "What If You Caught Me" - you can download it and decide for yourself. It's a good representation of their sound:



And here's the video for album cut "Geordie":

Pony Time - Geordie (Official Video) from Per Se Records on Vimeo.

Go Find Your Own will be out February 19 on Per Se Records.

18 New Christmas Songs from Summersteps Records - Free Downloads!

From Summersteps Records, home of Kid Icarus and Eww Yaboo (whose combination of garage and grunge we extolled last year), comes a very generous Christmas music compilation/label sampler.

A combination of originals and standards, it's got a little something for everyone - and definitely a few cuts you will want on your Christmas mix. Favorites on first listen include "2000 Miles" by straws, a well-played shoegaze with resonant female vocals, Kid Icarus' "On Boxing Day" - which really just rocks, and the sweet power-pop of Langor's "Yantsor, the Candy Cane Maker"... but you may favor other tracks on here, including a spare, acoustic version of "Last Christmas" by Geez Louise which restores the plaintiveness that you'd think the song ought to have, if you did ever think about it. By the way, once I did spend the time to think about this song (rather than just scream and twist the dial as I do when Wham's version comes on), I kind of wished I hadn't... I mean, why write a song to someone who dumped you LAST CHRISTMAS? Anyway, it's a nice little ballad, as is Obvious Dolphin's take on "White Christmas".

More Free Christmas Music - Gnartivity Scene: Lo-Fi Carols from Gnar Tapes

More of our artist and label friends are in the giving mood, and we're happy to share with you. Gnar Tapes, a Portland-based label, has given us several of our favorite new lo-fi fuzz rock artists in 2012, and here at Christmas time, they're giving away a compilation featuring several of their artists, including Emotional, whose new album Feeling was recently reviewed by Rocksteady here. Emotional contributes "I Wanna Be Your Dradle" (sp?), based on the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated".

The theme might be best embodied by White Fang's freewheeling yet laid-back reggae take on "Jingle Bell Rock": "Jingle Bell Rasta". Or perhaps by one of the fuzziest cuts on the record -- Love Cop's take on "Christmas (Please Come Home)" called "Christmas (Let's Get Stoned)". Get it? I don't have to draw you a picture, do I?

The liner notes disclose: "Recorded at Gnarnia in Carpet Cafeteria - November 23 - December 3, 2012." So you can be fairly certain that they didn't overproduce this sucker.

Check it out and accept their generous gift:

REVIEW: Hungry Ghost - Hungry Ghost

Hungry Ghost's pedigree is impeccable, and given the variety of backgrounds of its members, it's no surprise that their self-titled debut is sprawling, messy and awesome. The band consists of Sara Lund (Unwound, Corin Tucker Band) on drums, Andrew Price (Irving Klaw Trio) on guitar, and the Lorca Wood attack (The Drags) on bass. Sam Coomes of Quasi produced and also plays some keyboards on the record. They describe themselves as a supergroup of "obscure 90's indie rockers".

The sound is strongly punk-influenced heavy rock - heavy drumming and bass anchor some spectacular flights of guitar shredding. They sort of play on the Kinks' "Powerman" to start off the record, and it's reimagined in a way that is both familiar and unique: "Am I a Powerman/or just a regular man?", then a whole bunch of guitar playing, and "This is my comeuppance/you knew it had to come". You may hear echoes of Heatmiser, Sonic Youth and Eleventh Dream Day - I certainly do.

And they veer off into jazz and funk territory, featuring some interesting tempos and little touches like the falsetto vocals at the beginning of "Shame" and the almost chicken-scratch guitar throughout that song. But even there, the heavy bottom keeps things anchored. On "Alice", things slow down a bit and the band stretches out with some keyboards serving to anchor occasional guitar flights and variety in the bass and drum attack. But things pick up again on "Wicked Betsy", a punk song in which Price yelps over a guitar attack and the whole thing's done in a little over three minutes. What could be more punk than that? The final cut, "Know" is terrific - it stretches out in a way that reminds me of "Voodoo Child".

Here's a video of them performing "Wicked Betsy" in Japan:



The record came out July 31, and you can check out the record and buy a digital at Bandcamp:



Or you can buy a physical copy, click here.

Chelsea Light Moving - new Thurston Moore project

Chelsea Light Moving is the new project from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, including in addition to Moore (guitar/vocals/songwriter), Keith Wood (guitar), Samara Lubelski (bass) and John Moloney (drums).

They've released a new song, "Groovy and Linda" - billed as a paean to the 60's counterculture scene in New York City, it features, in addition to some truly spectacular guitar shredding, the chilling repeated lyric "Don't shoot, we are your children"... You can download it free, courtesy of Matador Records, by clicking here.

Here is what Moore has to say about the song:

Not to be confused with the 1968 coffee house folk song by Tom Parrott (recorded for Smithsonian Folkways), this chug n’ shred burner is a psycho reflection of late 60s NYC East Village hippie idealism slayed and splayed in an Avenue B tenement boiler room. Groovy was the boy born James Leroy Hutchinson from modest American means and Linda was Linda Fitzpatrick, she from a privileged nuclear household, both runaways to the lysergic pulchritude of peace, love and marijuana. When The Fugs went on tour in 1967 ringleader Ed Sanders enlisted Groovy to care take his Peace Eye bookstore at a “secret location on the lower east side” (E. 10th St., actually). An incredible underground poetry bookstore/art gallery/hip hang out and orgy hook up scene, Groovy turned it into a barefoot mantra crash pad for all the beautiful zonkers and speed freaks of alphabet city. It was hard for even a grouch like Sanders to get too miffed at Groovy who actually believed in the wild animal dreams of hippie. Groovy was in love with Linda, a starry-eyed goddess nymph and they were the power flower couple of Tompkins Square. Tragedy flapped its nightmare wings and the two were found brutally beaten and killed bathed in blood and mystery amidst their tie-dye rags and rolling papers. It signaled the end of the fairytale that the media presented in day-glo color come-hitherness in the pages of Life and Look magazine. The following year Charles Manson and his dune buggy motherfuckers would exact an even farther cry of chaos and killing in the bamboozled hills of Los Angeles. We, Chelsea Light Moving, want to mantra the names of these two angels of beauty, regardless of the cynicism and naïveté of youth, for these are the charms of the soul. “Don’t shoot!!” ----- we are your children……

Peace,

Thurston Moore

Here's the video for guitar shredder "Burroughs", which was released recently:



It's an intriguing and promising development, and it will be out on Matador in the fall.

New Scottish Guitar Rock Discovery: Min Diesel - Mínage à Twa EP

Min Diesel is a Scottish band playing an affecting take on indie rock. They have just released their second EP, a four-song affair called Mínage à Twa. There's plenty of guitar, plenty of feedback on the guitar, and a strong rhythm section driving the thing. And the vocals? Let's just call them a slightly off-kilter cross between Roddy Woomble (Idlewild) and the younger Kurt Cobain. I'm not saying these guys are Idlewild, or Nirvana... they're a pretty new band, so who knows where they might end up? But they sure do play with a lot of energy and they hit the mark quite often. I really like this record, and look forward to more from them.

Quoting from their self-description: Min Diesel... shamelessly plunder the best bits from their favourite late-80s/early-90s punk, lofi and math-rock bands' back-catalogues to create music they've taken great amusement from dubbing "min-die rock". Well, sure, why not? That's kind of a good description of the music - shameless, brash and amusing. I recommend this highly.



You can buy physical copies at their website.

And here's the earlier EP, available via Bandcamp at name-your-price:

Free Stones Throw Download: Vex Ruffin - Eulogy EP

Vex Ruffin is a wildly creative artist, melding a variety of influences both strange and sublime... Bauhaus, Public Image Ltd., Joy Division, and probably a few I don't even know.

Check it out:



And go to the Stones Throw website to download.

Here's a video for "Losing Control", a single released in 2011:



Also appearing at the Stones Throw Showcase at SXSW (with Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf, among others):

If I was going to SXSW, this would be something I would not want to miss. Stones Throw is putting out an absolutely amazing variety of music... of course, very creative hip-hop, but also a great deal of stuff like Vex's which just smashes together a variety of influences, samples and styles - from indie rock to darkwave to grunge - to great effect. Spend a little time on their website after you download the EP, you won't regret it.

New Sounds of Scotland Part 30: The Spook School; Dolfinz; and Berlin Heart

If I say so myself, this is a good session for the New Sounds of Scotland series. We have new music from two bands we've profiled int the past -- The Spook School and Dolfinz. We also have a great-sounding song from a mysterious group named Berlin Heart which is a delicious mix of Link Wray, The Velvet Underground and The Dirty Beaches.


The Spook School is an Edinburgh indie/pop band with a delightful sound an always amusing blog (linked below). They just released a very nice two-track album entitled Are You Who You Think You Are?



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We profiled Scottish two-piece Dolfinz earlier in the year. They are on our radar again with a two-track 7" Teenage Doom / Nosebleed 7", a very good fuzzy, punky noise pop set.


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A Berlin Heart is a medical device used when a heart is failing. It also is the name of a Glasgow band that doesn't really want us to know any more about them at this point. Berlin Heart -- the band, not the medical device -- has released this wonderful bit of dark, minimalist, dirty surf to get us in the mood for the holidays. The name of the song is Blanket Over Sky. By the way, the song is released on Re:Peater Records, who also released the She's Hit and Jacob Yates & the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers this year.



Berlin Heart on Bandcamp
Re:Peater on Bandcamp
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