#spooky records

[headless-spectre-records]

Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers The Original Monster Mash (London Records, 1973).

[handstiedmusic]

Single Review - Sun God Replica, ‘Evolutions’ Waiting’

Though Spooky Records have promised the most recent offering from the heavy rock outfit Sun God Replica’s new, Glandular Fever, to be a ‘fresh and original’ take on 70′s and 80′s music aesthetic, the track Evolution’s Waiting can come across as a little too faithful to the past and treads too little new ground. While bands like this can oftentimes transcend their ‘retro’ influences (thinking internationally, acts such as Little Barrie), Sun God Replica’s issue is that they have accomplished exactly what they wanted to do - become the ‘perfect rock outfit’ - and this lack of mistakes takes a bit of the fun of away from what is otherwise a wonderfully written song.

[handstiedmusic]

Single Review - The Braves, ‘Black Mass’

"Black Mass", the recently released single by Melbourne post-punk outfit The Braves from the record All Through Paradise, describes the ruin and collapse of a share house, and is a repetitive, dark, dingy offering - incredibly prominent bass and descending minor key riffing playing into each other. Whilst I'm honestly not the greatest fan of the vocal work on display, the will to experiment with structure is enticing and the group definitely shows promise. There's something incredibly distinct, overall, in that hook - a sound that's mysterious, laconic, dangerous and sexy - not unlike the house parties slash cult rituals mentioned by the band themselves. Another wonderful offering from Spooky Records.

[dustedmagazine]

Harry Howard and the NDE — Near Death Experience / Pretty (Spooky)

<a href="http://harryhowardandthende.bandcamp.com/album/pretty" data-mce-href="http://harryhowardandthende.bandcamp.com/album/pretty">Pretty by Harry Howard and The NDE</a>

The Birthday Party and Swell Maps were two of the edgiest bands of the initial wave of post-punk, and unlike the arc typical in rock, they got edgier as their careers progressed. The Birthday Party grew more bass-drunk and howling. In Swell Maps, glam rock guitars exited, making way for fragmented grooves that were simultaneously dub-tight and shambling. Mirroring their music, both bands flung apart in the early ’80s.

In some ways, what happened next was even stranger. The various musicians involved kept crossing paths in a series of bands — Jacobites, The Bad Seeds, Crime and the City Solution, Honeymoon in Red, These Immortal Souls. Counter to the wide-ranging experimentalism of their opening salvos, those bands gravitated towards a mix of jangling guitars, Dylan-like literary lyrics, and song structures borrowing from epic ’60s film soundtracks. Along with a solo albums and mutual collaborations, there's a massive discography that sits one degree away from the lineups that made the Swell Maps and Birthday Party records. Most all of the records are lush with romanticism and introspection and dollops of dramatic noise, which is surprising given that the original bands were dedicated to being simply unnerving.

Harry Howard was one of those guys, but didn't seem like a key one of those guys. He filled in for Tracy Pew in The Birthday Party as Pew's health declined. He was matched in rhythm sections with Epic Soundtracks in a few of the aforementioned bands. It was his brother Rowland S. Howard who was Harry’s entrée into the scene. All those guys are dead. Harry apparently had a scare a few years ago himself, thus the title of his latest project, The Near Death Experience. It's a band name any of his cohorts could have used in the ’80s, but now a lot of the sad possibilities those young men sung about have transpired, and all that spiritual fatigue has hardened into something more practical. The NDE is plainer than the bands it descends from. There are fewer shadows and more eye contact. 

Howard put out the first NDE album two years ago, and he wrote an opening track, "Lies," that's as perfect as anything his very imperfect clique has ever done. The vocals are as deadpan as expected, but it's driven by a jaunty staccato guitar lick and organ fills. It owes more to Flying Nun than Mute. His voice barely slides off monotone, and the guitar stays static for a few beats longer than expected, but the song rolls. A lover is being accused, but he's happy to be alive and getting hurt. The way he sings, “You are a lie” sounds like “You are alive.”

And the next track, "The Old Man Blues" is as leering, goatish and amusing as anything 50-something Nick Cave has come up with. "We Can't Decide" is a duet with keyboardist Edwina Preston, ill-natured and filled with blunt rhymes, as spiteful as a Lydia Lunch cameo. I could go track by track, because there's something to say about each of them. Harry Howard's singing and writing is steadily ironic, but in a low-key way, more stoic than Rowland, less fey than Nikki Sudden, not as deliberate and polished as Cave.

Near Death Experience seemed like it might be a one-off burst of inspiration, but his newest record, Pretty is even more consistent. It doesn't have the killer opener, but it's wider ranging. Howard's guitar work has grown more adventurous. Paranoid lines like "We're being filmed from over there" get a chunky and jagged noise to back them, with ugly string harmonics shining over Preston's wheezing organ. A hook like "I'm the devil in the garbage can" covers a lot of familiar territory, right down to the words. He's been the sideman to devils for ages, and now he's there up front, with the ol' misanthropy spouting fresh from his mouth. Howard’s old, but the meanness comes easy, like it’s been bottled up for a long time.

The track that delivers the album title is a tossed off thing that piles up rhythm guitars. The drums are overdubbed, the vocals stay in the red, and it gets by just fine on the riffing. When the noise subsides, midlife relationships get picked apart — life has slowed enough that a menage à deux is trouble enough: "They rolled it on over / Until they flatted the clover / Now it's bruised and black / I don't think it will be growing back." Howard doesn't venture far from Aussie punk rawness, though. The record never gets quiet, just less loud. When it’s jangly, it’s still kinda sickly. And every subtle couplet makes way for a more rote rhyme. This balance makes the record fascinating. One gets the sense that capturing small ironies comes easy for him now, and he's mainly cautious that insight might tame the tunes too much. So he falls to his knees a few times in these songs. He sings about guitars and tailored suits. And he reveals that he is a key one of those guys. He's the one who made it past the end of the night.

Ben Donnelly

[thingsiwonderare]

Trouble is a lonesome town

[coolaccidents]

FOCUS ON THE LOCAL: Five Australian Bands You Should Know

Long gone are the days when the only music Australia was producing was embarrassingly clichéd pub rock and Aussie hip hop. These days the country is humming with creative and inspired music. Once more we can stand proud for the music that’s flooding out of our sticky floored pubs and onto the streets. Melbourne especially is proving to be the little city that could, spawning labels such as Spooky records, Singhala Music, Two Bright Lakes and Hopestreet Recordings which are supporting some seriously killer bands. The irony is not lost in the fact that the harsher government legislation becomes and the more live music venues are shut down, the stronger our music scene becomes. It’s rock and roll man! London, New York, Silver Lake and Berlin ain’t got nothing on us now! In case you were not aware of how great this place is, here are five bands that are doing us proud.

The Murlocs

These guys share their singer/harp player, Kenny Ambrose-Smith with King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and boy does that dude have charisma. His wonky, high-pitched soulful voice fits perfectly with that psych-soul-surf-punk Nuggets sound. They released their Tee Pee EP a few months ago and have already played alongside Thee Oh Sees and Graveyard Train. Get amongst it!

Kira Puru & The Bruise

This lady blows my mind and frankly, I want to be her. Usually seen swigging down a generous glass of red wine as she performs and staring the audience dead in the eye, Kira busts out a voice that is not dissimilar to Etta James. Her old-time blues, soul sound is modernised by her band’s intense caterwauling guitar riffs and brooding basslines.

Galapagoose

Galapagoose is Melbourne artist/producer/monome experimenter Trent Gill. He’s an electronic wizard who creates wildly inventive music that keeps you on the edge of every beat. Blending hip hop, house, unexpected samples and rich vocal harmonies Galapagoose always steers clear of expectations. His debut LP Commitments will have you obsessing over every moment.

Grand Salvo

Grand Salvo is the project of Melbourne artist Paddy Mann. He’s a delicate and vivid storyteller and he presents his narratives amongst ornate and luscious orchestration. His latest album ‘Slay me in my Sleep’ is at times thoughtfully sombre while also expressing celebratory joyous and instrumentally intricate moments.

The Bombay Royale

A band whose music expresses the cultural diversity of its home town, hailing from North Melbourne The Bombay Royale are a hybrid of retro Bollywood, cinematic, funk and surf rock. Think James Bond meets Shammi Kapoor. Their live shows are exhilarating, colourful and sometimes even involve a giant inflatable elephant. You can’t ask for much more!

-Tash