This will probably go down as one of the funniest music videos of 2014 and of course it’s coming from hardcore legends OFF! who have a habit of rolling out videos you will never forget.
In their new video for ‘Over Our Heads‘ they literally hit the jackpot for LOL’s. Jack Black stars as a stage diving coach, acid is taken, blood is spilled, bears go nuts, mutilation occurs, it’s amazing!Just hit play and wait for part two!
Crushed Beaks
‘Rising Sign’
Matilda Records
Even as a two-piece, London’s Crushed Beaks harboured a wide and expansive sound on record, now joined by Scott Bowley on bass duties, their chugging riffs sound mightier than ever before.
Let new single ‘Rising Sign’ set the standards – two and a half minutes of relentless chord bashing leaves your ears under severe tension, yet the sugared tones of Matthew Poile’s vocal cut through the mix with vigour, hurling his simple but sincere mantra into the foreground.
‘Rising Sign’ is taken from Crushed Beaks’ upcoming debut album Scatter, due for release on February 9th 2015 via the band’s own label, Matilda Records.
January Live Dates 2015
14th Leeds, Nation of Shopkeepers
16th Sheffield, Great Gatsby
17th Manchester, Kraak Gallery
Bonfire Nights
‘Ego Death’
Bad Vibrations
How could you refuse four aussies decision to juxtapose their psychedelic rock music with old footage from Soul Train? Wonder no longer as Bonfire Nights arrive with their new single, ‘Ego Death’.
Despite their trivial visuals, Bonfire Night’s aural offerings are sincere and cocksure. An alchemic groove transpires as organs purr, harmonies soar and riffs cascade around your vulnerable ears. Naturally, ‘Ego Death’s cool tempo reaches a breaking point where it can plod no longer, switching to double time fuzz for a coda of space-rock-epic proportions.
Bonfire Nights release ‘Ego Death’ as part of a split 7” with Tripwires this December 8th via Bad Vibrations. Catch them at The Shacklewell Arms this month.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
I’m In Your Mind Fuzz
Heavenly Recordings
Ok, just checking, we’ve all got over guffawing about the band’s name, right? We can just listen to the music, yeah? Cool. And you know what lies beneath the surface belies the goofiness. Roger Daltrey could see for miles and miles, but if he was standing in the Australian outback, home-ish to King Gizzard & The you know the rest, he could see even further and let me tell you, he’d (probably) be psyched by I’m In Your Mind Fuzz. King Gizzard probably couldn’t give a XXXX (ask your rowdy dad).
Like Thee Oh Sees, once this locks into a groove it doesn’t let go, like a dingo with a steak in his molars, and it doesn’t get more John Dwyer than on the song ‘Am I In Heaven?’
It’s unorthodox to have a seven piece band, but unsurprising given the intense blast of sonic thrust, particularly on the first four songs which come on like a suite. There are no gaps, just movements, and unerring ones at that, I haven’t heard such an explosive first half to a record since Fits by White Denim. The songs hang together so well they even only have slight variations in the titles – ‘I’m In Your Mind’, ‘I’m Not In Your Mind’ and ‘I’m In Your Mind Fuzz’ only held apart by a thin layer of a song named ‘Cellophane’. They also have a sense of humour as their skittish diversion into ‘The Streets of Cairo’ (otherwise known as the Snake Charmer song) demonstrates with venomous aplomb.
After the desert storm come slower, more psychedelic tropes, still with an Eastern mystic charm – think Jonathan Richman ‘Egyptian Reggae’ meets Tame Impala, except this is less tame than an impala, more like a disturbed rattler. A latecomer to this year’s garage party, I’m In Your Mind Fuzz will definitely still be on the mind come the New Year no matter how fuzzy you’re feeling.
Nick Hutchings
The Proper Ornaments
‘Now I Understand’
Fortuna Pop Records
There was a time this year when the only time I could hear this track was on Marc Riley’s 6Music radio show. I searched high and low for it online, like a hopeless addict, thinking that someone, somewhere would have uploaded it, but no. It was a wait that I had to endure until it legally emerged on their debut LP Wooden Head but it was worth the wait.
Since then, ‘Now I Understand’ has been on repeat weekly. It’s like driving an old American car that’s been rusting and dusty under a sheet for 20 years. You find her, start her up, cruise until you reach your destination with a smile on your face and then re-take the journey back to the beginning all over again because it felt so good.
One of the best tracks of the year for these ears. All hail.
Zac
OOZING WOUND
Earth Suck
Thrill Jockey
Chicago’s Oozing Wound first rocked my world to its seismic core when I heard their fragrantly titled Split LP with Black Pus, Brian Chippendale from Lightning Bolt’s side project. Their song ‘Ganja Gremlin’ and its wry take on an anti-drugs campaign showed that these guys took life with a pinch of -ahem- salt, even though their willingness to thrash is deadly serious.
On a similar vein, ‘Hippie Speedball’, from their second proper album Earth Suck (gravity to you and me) is, in the words of singer Zack Weil, about “the finest pairing of the succulent Cannabis Sativa to the delectable Coffea Arabica. It’s about weed and coffee, dude”.
To call them self-effacing is an understatement – they use a quote from the New Yorker magazine about being “happy to be a cheap imitation of Metallica and Slayer” as their social media tagline. They are no comedy band though, their musicality is super tight and their record collections obviously expansive – I can hear elements of Dischord label bands in amongst the death metal darkness. Give it a go, not least so you can watch your friends and family’s reaction when you tell them you love Oozing Wound.
Nick Hutchings
Wu Tang Clan
Necklace
wutang-corp.com
“Knees buckle and legs unstable” indeed. News of a new Wu Tang tune being unleashed has struck the internet overnight. The new single Necklace from their forthcoming ‘A Better Tomorrow’ album features Cappadonna, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and GZA individually rapping about their paranoia of jewelry snatches and proving they are still protecting ya neck.
Look out for the new album on December 2nd.
It’s been a decade to the day since Wu Tang rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard left the universe by way of an overdose after many years of success with his unique Shimmy Shimmy Ya. Prison spells for crack cocaine possession, shot wounds in the abdomen and aggressive lyrics aside, his legacy lives on as a killer MC who went way too early, so take some of this dope new mixtape that dropped today in homage over on the I.D site put together by NYC producer Tanner.
RIP.
Die! Die! Die!
Swim
Small Town America
Having spent the best part of the last eight years on the road sharing stages with everyone from Franz Ferdinand to Wolfmother, working with the likes of Steve Albini and Kevin S. McMahon, and releasing a shed load of EP’s and albums worth of relentless noisy post-punk, Die! Die! Die! return triumphantly with their new Small Town America release, and fifth LP to date, Swim.
Straight off the mark, Die! Die! Die!’s incentives are clear. They want to make your head hurt. These three New Zealanders kick out the snottiest, riff driven wall of sound you’ll ever need, and follow suit with countless other three pieces that apply the following golden rule to music making – make more noise than any band with more people in it could ever make and more!
For better or worse, the album’s opening and title track is its barefaced forte. The unhinged guitar riffs that swirl around your ear with each chorus almost sound out of time as they’re executed with such speed and zest. It’s desperately exciting and feels as though it could fall apart at any second. Coupled with Andrew Wilson’s compelling vocal line, this opening track boasts a seamless blend of snarl and melody that will have you hitting the repeat button multiple times.
Despite favouring the crash bang wallop approach rather than crafting a serene and sensitive ditty, Die! Die! Die! are not opposed to dynamic change. Songs like ‘Don’t Try’ see the three-piece take their foot off the gas for a minute to take things to a slightly more poignant place. Similarly, ‘Angel’s “ooh’s” and “ah’s” make for an agreeable melodic passage slap bang in the middle of the record, giving you a slight breather from the ruthless fuzz.
Die! Die! Die! roam through their twelve tracks strong Swim with gusto, spitting out chorus after chorus with malicious intent, backed by a wall of thundering bass fuzz and sincere whammy bar manipulation. For those that revel in the fusion of punk energy with wall of sound electric guitars, you are in for a sure treat. The high-energy, adrenalized aural assault that Die! Die! Die! employ to nearly every track on this album will undoubtedly leave your ears exhausted and your head throbbing.
Swim is out now on Small Town America Records.
The Xcerts
There Is Only You
Raygun Music
It’s been a long four years since their last release, now Aberdeen’s The Xcerts return with their third, and what looks to be their most defining and immediate record to date, There Is Only You. Revisiting both the streamlined power-pop from debut In The Cold Wind We Smile, and an exorcised version of their sophomore release Scatterbrain, a relentless touring schedule has shaped The Xcerts into a leaner, sharper three-piece, ready to (at last) step out from the shadows of their peers. Chorus after infectious chorus and melody after melody, There Is Only You has earned them the right to do just that.
Opening with the morose, string-leaden ‘2.12.12’, any expectations of a slow, delicate introduction to the album are laid to waste with ‘Live Like This’, a dense and crushing statement of intent. This song, much like the rest of There Is Only You, is heavy but never cold – guitarist Murray Macleod’s desire for the lustful and beautiful fuzz of the Smashing Pumpkins seems to have been fully realised.
As the self-proclaimed purveyors of ‘distorted-pop’, this mantle has never sounded more accurate than on the album’s lead singles, ‘Shaking In The Water’ and ‘Pop Song’. I remember hearing the former at a gig in Exeter two years ago, and that chorus line buried itself into my subconscious even then – if these aren’t already live anthems, they soon will be. In fact, just about every song has a lyrical hookworm in there somewhere, you’ll realise it when you’re mumbling a spare line a few days later.
Despite revelling in heartache and love-lost lyrically, a great buoyancy and optimism weaves through the entire album. The sorrow is disguised by the music itself – the feel-good grind of ‘Kids On Drugs’, the twinkle-rock beginnings of ‘I Don’t Care’, the upbeat bounce of ‘Kick It’ – it’s incredible what an egg-shaker and tambourine can do for a record’s mood. Only once are the happy/sad dynamics torn apart, during album-closer and title track ‘There Is Only You’. Starting out as a passionate and sorrowful lament, the album avoids a bitter endnote by reprising the hopefulness found earlier in the record. To take two contrasting parts and splice them together in this way is a profound and beautiful end to a fantastic collection of songs.
With over a decade already behind them, The Xcerts are veterans in their own right, but There Is Only You feels like a turning point – solid ground on which to build a long, impressive future. Any insecurity about their position on the rock music family tree should be a distant memory by now, for There Is Only You will surely be the album that introduces the world to The Xcerts.
Chris Bunt