Deafwish

Deaf Wish - Northcote Social Club, Monday Sept 2nd 2013.
Another great set from these guys, fabulous singing, fabulous haircuts and some fabulous Sonic Youthy moments of guitar interleaving, weaving, choking and stroking - good, under-3-minute, vicious, angry, flailing,  slamming Sonic Youth that is : Catholic Block or Brother James none of that navel gazing noodly shite...

Tonite they were on fire and the set included  Elementary School  and its irresistable titular chorus  provided me with a sing along moment or two.

"The title should appear in the chorus, in a way that, by virtue of its placement in the chorus and/or its degree of repetition, we know it's the title. If words or phrases other than the title repeat in the chorus, or in strong positions, the listener won't know which is the title when they call the radio station to request it or ask for it at the record store, which is why you sometimes see songs with two titles, like "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," "Blue (Ba Da Dee)" or "C'mon and Ride It (The Train)" Ð that usually means that someone felt the song's title was not its strongest hook, or even that the song has two hooks and they're covering their bets by putting both in the title. Since you can't buy or request a song if you can't remember its name, these are very important commercial considerations."

I saw a poster the other night in the old bar for a gig they played in 2008 but sharing around vocals, intros, spit  and adrenalin with abandon they are definitely one of Melbourne's best live bands still - I certainly go and see them whenever I get the chance...well..that is whenever they play at my local....err for Free, but I defy you not to love this stuff - its just brilliant...

 Exhaustion/Lower plenty side-projector Jensen said he was going to auction his guitar at the gig , in order to buy an ipod... But as you can see from the video it is a piece of shit, after the show when I asked him how much he had been  offered he admitted he would have to give the thing away. Sounded great in his hands anyways.

Bitch Prefect

Bitch Prefect , Gasometer, Collingwood. 21st Sept 2013
Saw the last song by Sarah Chadwick ....cos I was late (great aussie accent..awful lyrics (on the  song I saw) did she used to be in Batrider? who knows..its not the sort of thing you can ask at a show like this....) is that enough brackets? ) , only watched the first song by Exhaustion (cos they sounded shit) and then nearly missed the 'Beetches set cos I was drinking beer and gossiping in the bar. ...managed to creep into the bandroom to see the last couple of tunes though (and an intro through the wall of the Gents earlier , but that probably doesn't count)..Im not a complete heathen.
These guys may look and dress like the worst kind of eastern suburb smack heads but deep inside, their fluffy hearts are safely wrapped in an old school C86 Anorak.

Their jangly pop builds on the legacy of the Chills and the Moles, with respectful forelock touching as they shuffle past  the Pastels and BMX bandits before prostrating themselves before the altar of the TV Personalities. ..maybe I'm reading too much into it: perhaps they just want to be Sandpit and don't know how.
And boy do they jangle, no bass here sonny...all fender top end strum and furious pounding drums , no songs over two and a half minutes:  its born again indie guitar pop fundamentalist jihad.
So is there a place for this stuff in the gay two-teenies? Why not? it doesnt sound retro, a good song is a good song and presumably  it sounds pretty fresh to kids bought up on Kanye/Coldplay/JJJ/Whatever : "guys who dont have a Mac on stage!! RAD!!"

..any way here they are playing the very wonderful "in any normal universe - should've been a massive hit" Holiday in America (with extra bonus points for the nun T-shirt):

Native Cats

Native Cats , Gasometer, Collingwood. 21st Sept 2013

So tonite we went to see a band with only two people in it, one of them was a grumpy bearded librarian in a Black Flag t-shirt playing a tinny bass, the singer was a strange flat chested chick who looked like one the guys from Chasers war on everything who spent half the night playing on her Nintendo DS. They also  had  a little box which did Bontempi drum sounds and keys. They were bloody brilliant.

I'm usually a bit dismissive of two piece bands..."that's not a real band: its just a drummer and someone making shit up as they go along" (aka Lightning Bolt)....but I guess I like Soft Cell ...Blancmange.....Bros....Wham..Sparks...Yazoo....the Creatures....Yello...Chas and Dave....Peters and Lee...
Donnie and Marie..... ok: changed my mind,..two pieces' feckin Rule!!!

Native Cats are obviously a well oiled hit machine after their US jaunt and the guys have a bit of chemistry going on resulting in a surprisingly (for me)  absorbing and entertaining show. I was really shocked by the fact the place wasn't sold out : every indie rock radio station on the planet has them on their playlist: you get the feel the band are dangling their feet over the edge of being huge... big in Hobart I guess.

Unfortunately my random song selection means I taped them playing "Cavalier" which is of course served much better by the official clip here , the new LP is called Dallas:

Hex on The Beach

Hex on the Beach, Northcote Social Club, Sept 2nd 2013

 

 I Saw this band twice in the one week and I'm really looking forward to the next time. Mondays show was in retrospect a little stilted, (the band  vetoed my publishing the video clip cause they weren't happy with the performance) but Fridays set flowed a little easier: with  the guitar sound closer to a Blood and Roses chalk on blackboard scrape than a Young people/UT clang, I have to say I'm happy with either ,the high point for me is the 3 part disharmony of the no-wave coven chants anyway, when that comes together it lifts them above the primal instrumentation and they fly.

The band say there's a single in the works and there's definitely some tunes online , of which this is my fave : Fire Mountain...those drums .. its bleak at times, its discordant at times but its beautiful stuff all the times...sort of reminds of the (proto chromedome) DeafDeaf stuff...a bit...I can lose myself in this as easily as I can in hardcore or noise or techno or drone..some people won't get it....

Pinn'd

Pinn'd, Tago Mago, Thornbury. 30th Aug 2013
Im not really too up on my electronic music sub-sub-sub genres ...dont know my glitch from my witch so to speak . But I like these guys. They do some really quite ephemeral gazey stuff then theres the songs where Annemarie cranks the bass up, beats get minimal and Nancy conjures up the ghosts (are they dead?) of blooozy soul vamps like Eartha Kitt and Shirley Bassey with her amazing voice. The girls played at the 2nd Gfleck gig at Tago Mago in Thornbury with the mighty Bulls, and while the track I filmed : Rain may not be as immediate as some of their tunes, it shows what they are about and you can almost touch the enthusiasm they radiated all through the short set.

 I have no doubt , on another night , when the bass is a bit bigger, the crowd a bit louder, the lights a bit brighter we will witness some real magic from pinn'd.
 Heres my fave from their latest cassette release: FreeTime

Twoson

Twoson. Yah Yahs, Collingwood. June 27th 2013
Scott McLatchie (World at a Glance, Diploid, Boogie Board Boys etc etc) aka Twosons' haircut performing Plateau  a piece commissioned specially for the inaugral Geschwindig gig at Yah Yahs.

He calls it Chiptune...I cant comment on that....its a great number though...gotta redo the video one day...I swear the camera is getting worse and worse...are you meant to clean the lens or something?

Map Ends

Map Ends,Yah Yahs Collingwood, June 27th 2013
Well the inaugural “Geschwind” curated pop concert didnt exactly seize the interest of the melbourne public..not even a passing drunk stopped in to see the bands…and this was Smith St ferchrissakes. Cant blame it on Springsteen being in town this time either… any way I had a top night and properly appreciated the entertainment provided..for me…and me alone…as it turned out.

 

Map Ends were simmering and malevolent even as their songs and amps crumbled about them …maybe not breaking too much new ground more like digging up the backyard to dispose of body parts.
This tune has the working title of “Marks Song” and Kats vocal somehow reminds me of “World turned Dayglo” which cant be a bad thing , even if thats probly not exactly her intent!

Multiple Man

Multiple Man, Northcote Social Club, June 23 2013.
They must be brothers: just about to start and the synth guy takes the guitar off of his partner and tunes it…then hands it back to him!  There was some very cool, very danceable, very gothy/oldskool/punky  synth-pop emanating from these guys who were down from Brisvegas last weekend, this one is a cover of Buddy by Flying Nun legends (it says here) Snapper, top stuff!!

 

Apparently the twins will be back down south in November with a new cassette release, they have a single in the pipeline but heres my favourite - one of  the many hits on their debut tape : Body Double  : its a cracker...a little bit fad gadget , a little bit thumping, a little bit fucken awesome. One of those songs that justs kicks into gear and keeps skittering along till it hits the wall like a shopping trolley full of stolen VCRs...

 

The Tumblr years : 2011 to present.....

 

Suis La Lune 
nun

Pianos become the teeth
Racoon City Police Dept

DeafWish
Landverraad
 Chromedome
Hailgun
 Self Defense Family
 Total Control
Palisades 
Toy
La Miseria De Tu Rostro
Mere Women
Alimanas
 Raein Ausmuteants
 Defeater
 Cuntz
Weekend Nachos
 Duran Duran
 World At a Glance
Concrete Life
 Daisey Buchanen
Sick Fix

 and many more...