Regurgitator – ‘Blood and Spunk’

For one reason or another it’s been a while since I’ve listened to Regurgitator, but ‘Blood and Spunk’ is an electric reminder that these profoundly creative, funny and forward-thinking musicians are the godfather’s of our ubiquitous electro-clash scene. The first single from their eighth album sees the band return to stylized, sample-driven punk with the usual pulse-quickening results. The muted four-on-the-floor bass bulging darkly from the room next door is a particularly nice touch.

www.myspace.com/regurgitators

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Naked On The Vague – ‘All Aboard’

The first time I met Lucy Phelan, one half of Sydney duo Naked On The Vague, was at about 1am last year in the FBi studios. She had just finished her presenter course, and she was paired up with me for a couple of hours of a graveyard shift so I could guide her through her first on-air shift. I’m crippled with the inability to explain anything (I would be the world’s worst teacher), but she’s still hanging around the studio, so perhaps what I showed her stuck?

Lucy, along with Matt Hopkins, creates a cacophonous melange of no-wave, psychedelica, ravenous punk and electronic soundscape. Their abberant, seemingly non-directional noise tunes are fucked-up lo-fi pieces of music that jab straight at your eardrums. It’s almost bordering on art moreso than music – I’m hesitant to call it “noise art” because that brings to mind 11 minutes of static. The music found on their debut record, The Blood Pressure Sessions, is monochromatic, dense and at times claustrophobic – thrashed-out guitars, jackhammer drum beats, Lucy and Matt’s throaty vocals and waves of keyboards conjures music brimming with an anarchic punk ethos.

They’ve previously released a self-titled 7″ record, and the Sad Sun EP. They’re launching their debut record (being released through Dual Plover Records) at Sydney’s coolest new venue, the Oxford Arts Factory, on Saturday October 12. Guaranteed to be weird, but in a good way, not the Britney Spears way.

http://www.myspace.com/nakedonthevague

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Kat Frankie – ‘Serves You Right For Using Violence’

A friend of mine described Kat Frankie to me as “sounding like angry lesbian music”. Kat definitely echoes the sounds of the 90’s alternative female rockers like Cat Power, Kristen Hersh and Ani DiFranco – but her voice reminds me a lot of Wendy Matthews. Have a listen to ‘The Day You Went Away’ here and tell me what you think.

Though she’s spent most of her life in Sydney, her music career began when she went to the creative hub of the Earth, Berlin. This is where she recorded her debut record, Pocketknife which was released only recently. She’ll get lumped into the folk genre, only because of her use of acoustic guitar, but its as folk as PJ Harvey is. Kat’s tunes are dark and fiesty and though I haven’t heard much of the record, I’m digging ‘Serves You Right For Using Violence’.

http://www.katfrankie.com
http://www.myspace.com/katfrankie

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