Posts By Carl Redwood

WATCH: HEAVY – ‘Coming Out’

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Self-described as “Weed and Vaseline Gangstas”, Auckland’s HEAVY follow up their excellent EP ‘Tasty‘ with a video for ‘Coming Out’.

HEAVY are a hip hop duo whose music is defined by droning basses, mangled vocal samples and some damned tasty rapping. It’s hazy and smooth, while lyrically being anything but shy. With almost all their material clocking in at under 2 minutes a piece, there’s something very punchy about their ‘get up on a pedestal fo’ these fools’ attitude.

The video is a disorienting endeavour filled with outfit changes, jewelled lips and slow-mo snack foods. It’s equal parts glamorous and grubby, with an unsettlingly slight divide between the visuals and the duo’s warped vocals.

Watch the video above and download ‘Tasty’ right here.

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LISTEN: The Frowning Clouds – Legalize Everything

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The Frowning Clouds latest release, Legalize Everything, offers psych vibes that’d be welcome in the UFO Club and a reflective and varied approach to production.

Sonic tweaks over the album’s 12 tracks highlight a number of different elements as the sounds move from clarity to ambiguity. Tracks like ‘Dead Growth’ are reduced to a handful of haphazardly mixed instruments, and the results are more like a bootlegger’s eavesdropping than a studio product. Meanwhile other songs, like the excellently titled ‘Sun Particle Mind Body Experience’, bring to mind your favourite 60s psych-pop bands with an extra helping of grit.

It’s refreshing to genuinely have no idea what’s coming next, and while consistent in vibe, the album lays down an impressive variety of tunes. There’s even a bit of kazoo!

Charming and addictive, Legalize Everything is well worth a spin. Pick it up now on Rice Is Nice, and hear lead single ‘Move It’ below.

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EXCLUSIVE: Trust Punks – ‘Prone Hold’

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Trust Punks

True to form, ‘Prone Hold’ from Auckland’s Trust Punks sees the band continue to forge their sound; a dissonant marker between punk and skewered pop.

‘Prone Hold’ is the first track to be released from the band’s debut LP, Discipline. The seven track LP follows a series of singles previously released on Bandcamp.

Both blissful and confronting, ‘Prone Hold’ is a perplexing journey. While each section boasts enough content to carry an entire track, it all passes in seamless procession. The chaos is counteracted by extended angular guitars and long drawn vocal lines. The track peaks with the inclusion of horns over gradually rising and multiplying vocals, before devolving once more into a harsh enveloping wall of noise.

Trust Punks perform at Homies Cosy Teahouse on October 18th in Wellington, and 10 South Street on October 25th in Auckland. A larger New Zealand tour and the band’s second tour of Australia will happen this coming Summer.

Discipline is set for a November 14th release date via Spunk Records.

Facebook / Bandcamp / PREORDER

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INTRODUCING: Males

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Trekking all the way from the southern music hub of Dunedin, Males are one of New Zealand’s most formidable feel-good punk bands.

Specialising in songs that are short, quick and catchy, the trio play music that would probably be pop if not for its ferocity. Their double EP, Run Run Run/MalesMalesMales, captures the band’s satisfying mix of jangly guitars, rumbling bass, and driving percussion.

Despite the upbeat nature of the songs, lyrically they’re not always a happy affair, telling tales of anxiety and weakness. In a live setting it’s obvious that the songs are a therapeutic endeavour, the band working through negativity by throwing a kickass punk dance party.

Males have two more dates to go on their NZ/Australia tour:

26 September – ReFuel, Dunedin with carb on carb and Dinosaur Sanctuary. RSVP on Facebook.

27 September – The Space, Christchurch with carb on carb, The River Jones and coate. RSVP on Facebook.

Facebook / Bandcamp / Web

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INTRODUCING: The Primary

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Melbourne band The Primary have been kicking around the scene with their brand of noise-laden ferocity for a few years now, and have now offered the first preview of their soon-to-be-released EP The Gift with the straight-shooting lead single, ‘What You Leave Behind’.

A two-versed bombardment of alternating chaos and restraint, the track certainly is a tense listen. With vocals channeling John Lydon in full PiL mode and a gnarly, warped guitar stabbing repeatedly throughout, the trio very quickly prove their chops in the noisier side of post-punk. The track is anchored by an unrelentingly rhythm section whose firmness works to emphasise the discordant wails of the guitar. There’s little room for trickery here – ‘What You Leave Behind’ is simply the sound of a strong live band tracked well.

The hypnotic repetition and eastern guitar lines will have you feeling like you’re being willed to stare into a set of serpentine eyes and await instructions. By the time you’re fully submitted to its command the track abruptly ends, leaving you questioning if you’re really in control of your life.

The Gift comes out on 29 August. The band will celebrate the release with their first interstate show at Brighton Up Bar in Sydney, with support from Jugular Cuts, Beast and Flood, and more.

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PREMIERE: The Infants – ‘Ape’ video

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Back in April WTH introduced The Infants and their ghoulish track ‘Halves‘, and the band’s now followed up with the video for their second single, ‘Ape’.

Unstable guitars, toy pianos, strange sound artefacts and vocals reminiscent of PJ Harvey in her prime – these kids work in many ways to keep you on edge right out of the gate. Driven by a disco groove that you could listen to for hours, ‘Ape’ bubbles along until you feel it’s likely to boil over. Then it EXPLODES.

The video carefully creeps along in a progression that goes from awkward to downright scary – a visual analogue to the particular brand of madness that the music probably had you imagining anyway.

Look out for The Infants’ forthcoming EP, Low Rumble, which they’ll be launching at the Gasometer in Melbourne on Saturday, 6 September.

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INTRODUCING: Main Beach

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Newly formed Sydney garage-surf-slackers Main Beach have been hard at work in their short existence, releasing no less than half a dozen singles since February. Their Bandcamp reveals a band driven by nostalgia for simpler times and endless summers, with music that walks the line between sugar-coated and bittersweet.

‘Down By The Wall’ features a lazily strummed guitar, bright and snappy drums and a healthy measure of distant ‘oohweeoohs’. The song’s sleepy, jangle-y vibe will make you long for the sea and won’t leave your head all day. The vocal hook is frankly heartbreaking, and the wash of reverb reflects the glare of the summer sun or the haze of sea spray at your favourite secret surf spot.

Main Beach will release a video for ‘Down By the Wall’ early next month. If the band’s first six tracks don’t satisfy the need in your life for garage surf jams, their debut album is due out on 12 September.

Main Beach will play a series of shows in their hometown over the next few weeks. Here are the dates:

21 August – Captain Cook Hotel, Surry HIlls

24 August – Valve Bar, CBD

12 September – FBi Social, Kings Cross

13 September – Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst

20 September – Tokyo Sing Song, Newtown

Facebook / Bandcamp

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