Tense Men have shared a new music video for ‘Stages Of Boredom’, the opening track of their debut mini LP Where Dull Care Is Forgotten.
Credit due to film maker Maria Cecilia Tedemalm and art director Milo LirenWatch for crafting this mesmerisingly mundane clip. Watch below and click here to see what we made of their debut LP.
Where Dull Care Is Forgotten is out now on Faux Discx.
Seminal art-punks Wire have announced that their 1981 live album Document & Eyewitness, is due for reissue August 18th via Pink Flag Records.
The album documents a particularly eventful night and period of Wire’s enigmatic career. The fateful night at Camden’s Electric Ballroom saw their set accompanied by demonstrative performance art. Highlights include such acts as an individual beating a gas cooker with a hammer, a woman pulling two bound men across the stage, an illuminated goose and masked percussionists sporting newspaper headdresses. One band member donned an exaggerated beekeeper’s veil, while others wore morris-dancing bells. Veering back and forth between the playful and the profane, this was a combination of performance art and absurdist farce.
Document & Eyewitness will be released on double LP, double CD and as a legal bootleg series featuring the unedited gig recordings. Hit play below for a preview of the madness.
KNEBWORTH PARK, 4TH-6TH JULY
Head to www.sonisphere.co.uk for more info and tickets.
After laying low for a couple of years, Sonisphere is returning to Knebworth in fine style, and to commemorate 40 years of live music at the site. There’s a seriously heavyweight line-up in store; you probably already know about the big guns headliners, The Prodigy, Iron Maiden and Metallica, but here are ten bands we at Crossfire reckon will be among the highlights of the weekend. – Alex Gosman
ANTHRAX – Bohemia Stage, Friday
Anthrax are no strangers to Sonisphere, having played at every UK edition of the festival since its inception in 2009. This year, however, they’re returning with a very tasty carrot; a Friday evening performance of their legendary 1987 ‘Among The Living’ album in its entirety, in the cosy Bohemia tent. Get there early, and get seriously excited!
BAM MARGERA’S FUCKFACE UNSTOPPABLE – Bohemia Stage, Friday
Sure, you’ll hear no end of great songs at Sonisphere 2014, but who’s gonna provide the ANTICS? Step forward Jackass alumnus Mr Bam Margera, a man with fingers in many pies, most recently his new band Fuckface Unstoppable. Expect some choice covers, ‘Bend My Dick’ (see below), and general onstage stupidness. If you need a piss, fill up your pint glass and send it his way, he will love it. (Z-Ed)
TRC – Jagermeister/Satellite Stages, Friday
Few bands on the Sonisphere bill divide opinion quite like this London hardcore crew, and few bands share their ability to whip a crowd into a maelstrom of flailing limbs. With new album ‘Nation’ under their belts, you may love or hate TRC, but you can’t escape them.
SLAYER – Saturn Stage, Saturday
Can anything stop these guys? The death of guitarist and founding member Jeff Hanneman last year certainly dealt a blow to the Californian thrash legends, but the recent release of vicious new track ‘Implode’ proves that these old dogs still kill it like few others can. Scariest pit of the weekend? Don’t bet against it.
CHAS & DAVE – Saturn Stage, Saturday
Quite possibly the best-ever wild card at a rock/metal festival, and a fine way to ease into Saturday if your head’s still sore from the Prodigy’s brutal beats the night before. Tip: Drop acid before this show for the best results.
STAMPIN’ GROUND – Jagermeister/Satellite Stages, Saturday
Along with fellow British crew Raging Speedhorn (who are also playing), these guys regularly tore local venues apart around the turn of the century, and they’re back to remind us why they were such a force to be reckoned with. 14 years since its release, their third record ‘Carved From Empty Words’ still utterly slays.
MASTODON – Apollo Stage, Sunday
Blessed with the ability to pulverize and mesmerize in equal measure, Mastodon’s riffs are impressive enough on record, but live, they’re like a steamroller to the senses. New album ‘Once More Round The Sun’ is about to drop, and judging from recent single ‘High Road’, it’s gonna sound HUGE.
TRASH TALK – Jagermeister/Satellite Stages, Sunday
Don’t be too surprised if you see folks having to be carried out of the tent during Trash Talk’s set; this LA hardcore quartet attract chaos like blood attracts sharks. Oh, and they play hardcore like it oughta be; fast, furious, raw, and filthy. Get some.
GALLOWS – Bohemia Stage, Sunday
Since Frank Carter’s final festival performance with Gallows at Sonisphere 2011, the band have gained a new vocalist, lost a guitarist, and released a belter of a self-titled record. Armed with brand new track Chains and possibly more from this live show, Gallows will no doubt destroy everything in their sight this weekend.
KROKODIL – Jagermeister/Satellite Stages, Sunday
Something of a Watford supergroup, featuring members of SikTh, Gallows and Cry For Silence (plus Dan Carter of ‘A’/Hexes fame), Krokodil are a must for anyone who likes their metal thunderously heavy and riff-driven. Check out debut single ‘Shatter’ below and look forward to a weekend of good times. We can’t wait to get there!
Pond / Scott and Charlene’s Wedding
Koko
10th June 2014
It’s Tuesday, it’s swelteringly hot outside and Koko is brimming with punters, each hankering for the Australian aural delicacies the two bands in question eagerly cultivate this evening. Melbourne slackers Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, and Perth noise merchants Pond are gathered in Camden to dish out a helping of their purest vibes.
Marking the end of their European tour, Scott and Charlene’s Wedding open the proceedings with their dazed, garage drawl. Surprisingly, their performance bares little resemblance to the shiny, twee sounds captured on 2013 LP Any Port In A Storm, with the band offering much rawer, off the cuff renditions of their material tonight. Kicking off with what sounds like early Beatles on grunge, frontman Craig Dermody delivers his slack, laid back vocal inflections with care-free charisma.
A punk-injected version of ‘Jackie boy’ reaches the apex of tonight’s set. Dedicating the track to its namesake –bass player and best friend to Dermody, Jack- the band carve out serious melodies and finally spark reaction from the audience as Koko begins to fill.
Ending with a Go-Betweens cover, Scott and Charlene’s Wedding pay homage to their Australian indie hero’s, bashing out their own extended version of ‘Karen’. During this drawn out ode, Dermody takes a moment to pay thankyou’s to his band, peers, label and friends, and judging by the unstoppable grin across bassist Jack’s face throughout the entire set, it’s clear that Scott and Charlene’s Wedding are tremendously stoked to be on stage tonight.
Pond deal with matters in a considerably different way. Greeting their swarming audience with gusto, this band starts as they mean to go on, with a big funky hand to the side of the face, garnering your fullest attention. When ‘Whatever Happened To The Million Head Collide?’ drops the whole place goes absolutely bananas, a chaos unfolds that doesn’t slow for one moment in their entire performance, with frontman Nick Allbrook tangled up in his guitar cables from the get-go.
Highlights of the set come with ‘Don’t Look at the sun or You’ll Go Blind’. The driving, pulsating throb of this track sends the crowd haywire, with un-comprehendible amounts of psychedelic funk spilling everywhere.
Now nine years strong, Pond are a band boasting phenomenal musicianship. Their riffs are desert sand hot, with every song oozing its own paint-peeling, psychedelic steez. Guitarist Shiny Joe Ryan interjects mid-way through the set, revealing that while playing in Manchester the night before, the band were advised that “London’s a tough crowd” to which he adds a triumphant “bullshit”, met with rapturous applause.
The ability to provoke movement in an audience without verbal encouragement is a rare power. There’s no coaxing and beckoning or winning of trust between band and crowd tonight, Pond are so phenomenally tight that everyone in the room feasts on their music alone, left in awe of their psychedelic presence.
Dave Palmer
Copenhagen post-punks Lower have been smashing some serious support slots all over the UK this month. An ATP date with Merchandise on the 9th, and a run in with Fucked Up at the Scala on the 18th saw the four-piece prove their worth in tow with their debut album release Seek Warmer Climes, out this week on Matador Records.
Showing no sign of slowing, Lower have just announced a run of headline UK shows in August, as well as joining Chelsea Wolfe on tour in Europe. Check the UK dates below.
August
2nd – Visions Festival, London
3rd – Bermuda Triangle, Brighton
4th – Sunflower, Birmingham
5th – Broadcast, Glasgow
6th – Castle, Manchester
Merchandise / Lower
Islington Assembly Hall
9th June 2014
Its been about two years since Florida’s premium genre crossing punk band first appeared on the radar. At the time, they had just released breakthrough record Children of Desire on Katorga Works, a label that has released some of the best American punk and hardcore of recent years (Hoax, Hounds of Hate, Creem). Perhaps it is because of this that a gig at the Islington Assembly Hall, a rather grand venue and certainly one you wouldn’t expect to see a Katorga band play, came as such a suprise. However, Merchandise’s star is truly rising, with a record due out on 4AD this year surely to cement that.
Denmark’s Lower opened the proceedings to a somewhat sparse crowd. Lower are a band that carry a fair amount of hype around them, releasing a split with fellow countrymen, Iceage, they are the perfect band to play before Merchandise. A droney post punk band that could play in front of an ATP crowd, or a noisy hardcore crowd.
With a debut LP due out imminently, parts of the band’s set were unfamiliar to much of the crowd, lending to a fairly uninvolving show. With that said, despite a lacklustre response from the audience, the performance was strong. Its clear that the band’s ability to write songs has grown a lot between records, with the new songs played tonight being the highlight. Be sure to see them support label mates (Matador Records) Fucked Up on the 18th June at the Scala.
After Lower, the stage was set for Merchandise. Mercifully, the crowd had grown significantly, and whilst it wasn’t a rammed venue, there certainly appeared to be a lot of support for the band. Merchandise have two main strengths. The first of which is their vocalist Carson Cox, not only does his Morrissey-esque croon hold up throughout the hour they spend on stage, he’s also an excellent frontman, connecting with the crowd with ease throughout, and thanking the audience in such a way that it never comes off as trite. The second highlight of the band is their guitarist D. Vassalotti who is a constant showman, always experimenting with what noise he can create within the surprisingly poppy music being played.
Merchandise played a set that covered much of their discography, from audience favourite ‘Time’ to ending on ‘No You and Me’ from their recent Record Store Day split with Milk Music and Destruction Unit. Perhaps a bold move to finish their set with a song from a split that only a few people may have heard, especially when omitting such well known songs as ‘In Nightmare Room’ yet I believe it to be a risk that paid off.
As well as songs from their past, a couple of new songs were played, most notably ‘Little Killer’, a song that was posted online just a week or so before. What strikes you the most is how hooky this track is, not only catchy but also finishing within four minutes, leading one to wonder if this marks an end to the sprawling, ten minute tracks that made their Children of Desire LP so memorable.
As the show draws to a close, you’re overwhelmed with not only how strong Merchandise’s performance was, but also how accessible much of their set was. Merchandise could be a suitable support act for some really big bands if they so choose, and with a new album penned for the end of August, we could be seeing them playing some very interesting shows sooner rather than later.
Tim Lewis
Control Group
‘You Can Be The Star’
Hot on the trail of critically acclaimed EP Shoes Of the People, Brooklyns Control Group have just dropped a music video for their new single, ‘You Can Be The Star’.
Front man Daren Korb’s loosely strummed chords and heartfelt vocal resonate for a few profound moments before the pre-chorus kicks and ‘You Can Be The Star’ turns it up past 10. Recalling the good times of bands like Weezer, it’s clear that despite the more radio friendly stance Control Group have taken on this new single, they’re still keeping it real.
‘You Can Be The Star’ offers some contrast to the grunge infested 2013 EP, steering things to more accessable territories. This is no bad thing, with a sure knack for melody and accurate hook placement, it’s clear these guys know exactly how to write songs. Which is no suprise, considering Korb’s recent successes in the video game world, with his smash hit soundtrack to Supergiant Games’ Transistor selling like hot cakes.
With Korb making a firm transition from the gaming music world and into the mainstream, Control Group announce their debut album Hot Swap is due this summer, keep your ear to the ground for a release date.
The Proper Ornaments
Wooden Head
Fortuna POP!
The Proper Ornaments are what you could call a band of enigmas. Materialising sometime back in 2010, The Proper Ornaments rocketed into the music blogs with their fantastic debut single ‘Recalling’, followed by, well, not much at all. A promising EP in 2011 was again met with praise from the blogs, but was trailed by little else. However, regarding the bands history, and the other pie’s it’s two main contributors have their fingers in, it’s no wonder this debut has been a long time coming.
Primarily comprised of Max Claps and James Hoare, their song writing partnership can be traced back to a second hand clothes shop. So the story goes, Claps struck up a conversation with the clerk –then, James Hoare- to divert his attention while Max’s girlfriend of the time attempted to steal a pair of boots. As it happens, the two got on like a house on fire. After finding solace in a shared love of The Velvet Underground, the boot heist was history and The Proper Ornaments’ seeds were sown.
Now, emerging from the shadows once again, the irregular musical career of The Proper Ornaments becomes just. With Claps having spent the last few years flitting between a number of musical projects, most recently Lets Wrestle, and Hoare’s permanent role as song writer with Veronica Falls, this debut album has been a long time coming. And after the first listen, it’s certain to say that Wooden Head was worth waiting around for.
Easing in to the first of its fourteen tracks, album opener ‘Gone’ is a laid back ode to the lofty guitar hook and blurred vocal, setting the subdued tone for this twee LP. But be careful when you say ‘twee’, mind. Things aren’t buffed to a sheen and polished to perfection here, this collection of songs holds a particularly warm and comforting quality.
‘Ruby’ sees the Ornaments channel Peter Buck style fretwork and a yearning Michael Stipe-esque vocal into a three minute, sun-kissed spectacle. With more dizzying guitar reveries found on ‘Now I Understand’, the highlights of Wooden Head come at the half-way point, with the kraut infused ‘Stereolab’ cooking up a hypnotic haze that never wearies. Kept awake by a motoring bass line and suitably subtle guitar hook, ‘Stereolab’ oozes warm, psychedelic cement, keeping you fully stuck to this record for the second half.
When it comes to riffs, ‘Always There’ is another track on this album that just keeps on giving, with dark, surf guitar tones escalating to a higher sonic level. ‘You Shouldn’t Have Gone’ is arguably the dreamy climax of this entire album, as well as the second half, veering away from the softer sounds found on Wooden Head to explore some twisted, psychedelic garage territories. Building up to an ear-bending guitar solo, this track is tainted with Brian Jonestown Massacre vibes and is to be played at no less than full volume to ensure maximum sedation from these soothing sounds.
Wooden Head is a record that feels natural and organic, each track holds a just-rolled-out-of-bed kind of closeness and intimacy. The song structures un-wind progressively, but never tire – there’s not a song on the record that breaches more than three and a half minutes. It’s a cool collection of lazy guitar pop that, while nodding to the past for inspiration, creates fresh, uplifting harmonies, tainted by a comforting gloom.
Wooden Head is due for release June 9th via Fortuna POP! Grab yourself a copy and spin it this summer.
Dave Palmer
photo by Bryan Bruchman
Brooklyn bad boys Clouder have dropped a new music video for ‘All The Royal Years Are Gone’. One of the many footstompers featured on Clouder‘s fantastic sophomore album, Sister Raygun, out now on Fleeting Youth Records. Filmed at Pianos in Brooklyn, this music video see’s frontman Eric Gilstrap commanding the venue like a general. Hit play below for a taste of Clouder’s raucous live show.
Stay tuned, Clouder are currently working on new material for an upcoming 4-way split with Slippertails, Hippy, and Pow Wow! due later this year on Fleeting Youth Records.
Le Rug
‘Harold Camping / Dead In a Hole’
Fleeting Youth Records
You may not yet be aware of Ray Weiss, but rest assured, after hearing these two tracks you will not be forgetting him any time soon.
Recognised for his work with the excellent Brooklyn band, Butter The Children, the singer and guitarist’s own post-punk project, Le Rug, are gearing up for a new album of noise titled Press Start (The Collection). Better still, these carpet beating maniacs have shared two whacked out new tracks to get us all excited.
From first listen, ‘Dead In A Hole’ confirms you’ve struck musical gold. The comforting chords that open up this ditty set you at ease before flicking the switch to full on, four-to-the-floor commotion. After an adequate ear-hammering, you’re thrown back down the gloomy alleyway of instrumentation. Accompanied by Weiss’ warped vocal that offers a strangely consoling presence when atop the warbling synths, before shredding you to pieces, plunging back in to his screeching chorus mantra, “I’m dead in a hole”.
‘Harold Camping’, the ‘A’ side of the pair, creeps in with a sneaky bassline before unleashing a shrieking chorus. Seeping back into a trumpet infused verse, Weiss keeps up his knack for carefully misplaced instruments, inducting some horror movie style keys and dissonant guitar stabs to keep this frantic song on course.
Put the questions surrounding the band’s name aside, and these two tracks will undoubtedly find their way into your subconscious and haunt you all week. Weiss keeps things manic and unexpected, with huge dynamic changes, slapping you in the face when you least expect it, but there’s a presence of control and thought in every bar. Naturally, Le Rug will appeal to those who enjoy something a little bit different, but immerse yourself into these songs for a while, and you’ll appreciate how such a warped mixture of sounds can be channelled into satisfaction.
Press Start (The Collection) is released June 17th via Fleeting Youth Records.
Dave Palmer