In-Frequencies #12: Total Control, Raw Prawn, Oily Boys, Cobwebbs

TIM SCOTT rounds up the latest cassette, 7” and CD-R releases, including Circle Pit offshoot Southern Comfort, live guitar improvisation from two Tassie brothers and Woollen Kits’ debut 7” for Chicago label Trouble in Mind.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Total Control
Scene From a Marriage
(7”, Sub Pop)

Scenes from a Marriage was a 1973 Swedish TV series written and directed by Ingmar Bergman that explored a disintegrating marriage between a lawyer and professor. Basically two emotional illiterates who get pissed off because they don’t share each others’ poetry. ‘Scene from a Marriage’ is the name of a Total Control 7” put out by Sub Pop and slays with its dark, dense and ominous sound that comes closer to what they were doing on the brilliant Henge Beat album. The A-side has just the right amount of brooding disdain and cold synth. As close to a physical sneer as a song can come.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Total Control - Scene From A Marriage by SubPop

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Raw Prawn
None Left
(7”, R.I.P Society)

Anyone who had even a passing music conversation with me in 2012 will have heard me bang on about this Sydney band featuring members of Holy Balm and Whores. Their performance upstairs at the Gasometer at Maggot Fest was a highlight of the year and their track ‘None Left’, which has been floating around Soundcloud for a while, was probably my most played of the last 12 months. ‘None Left’ appears here and is still a powerfully weird but catchy number with its blend of UK post-punk and Aussie yob. ‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’ is even better.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Raw Prawn - None Left by R.I.P SOCIETY RECORDS

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Oily Boys
Demo 2012
(cassette, independent)

Ex-Taipan scumbags/punks Oily Boy play the musical equivalent of a South African burning tyre/necklacing. Mob justice murder punk-style that leaves a lasting impression. Their demo takes the speed and nastiness of bands like the Omegas or Wiccans but dirties it up with the grime of late night Central Station. I’ve heard they kill it live. Looking forward to checking them out.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Demo 2012 - British Eels, Cosmic Paralysis, Suffer Beach by Oily Boys

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Red Red Krovvy
Demo Cassette
(cassette, independent)

Red Red Krovvy started as high school punks in Cairns. The URL of their old MySpace page is /wehatehighschool. They may have escaped both Cairns and high school, but they still play loud, obnoxious songs with high school punk names like ‘Vomit Drunk’ and ‘You Suck’. Featuring Ben Warnock (Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys) and Ash Wyatt (Pop Singles). Recorded by Tom Hardisty (Woollen Kits, Nun, Leather Towel), this tape is a collection of some older and newer songs. Like the Avengers playing in humid tropical conditions and losing their shit. They carve up The Victims’ 'Television Addict' like it's hanging inside some north Queensland abattoir.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Vomit Drunk by Red Red Krovvy

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Beige Abrasion
Beige Abrasion
(cassette, Heavy Lows)

Banging and wonky/bonky beats from this Adelaide trio, who have released their debut cassette on Heavy Lows, the label overseen by Stacey Wilson (Rites Wild, Terrible Truths). Like a cross between Holy Balm and some old Detroit techno that is then played through the sound system of the Nailsworth Officeworks, it’s got a heavy hypnagogic/munted vibe. Closing track ‘Last Dance’ builds into a 10-minute, free-form party burner.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Last dance by beigeabrasion

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Major Crimes
Black Hill
(cassette, Heavy Lows)

Adelaide four-piece that delve into some explorative jams. Like archaeological cavers burrowing into your ear with helmeted torches and a constant buzzing sound. The first track/part to side one, ‘Introduction by Bergman/Boreas’, sounds like a soundtrack to slow-motion footage of an old self-defence instruction tape. Don’t ask me why. People will say that it’s Kraut-y, as they are fans or repetition. They’re also fans of slowing shit down and bugging it out. But for those with some patience, this slowly drifting barge/tape will be rewarded by some of Benjamin McLaren’s more interesting guitar steerage.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Major Crimes "Black Hill" by Heavy Lows

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Southern Comfort
Silver and Gold
(7”, Black Pedal)

Angie Bermuda teams up with longtime friend and Circle Pit bandmate Harriet Hudson (Ratsak) and delivers two certifiable winners on this 45. There’s no percussion, but it’s not really needed when the girls’ doomy and gloomy (but sweet!) vocal harmonies and echo-y guitars. A-side ‘Silver and Gold’ is probably the stronger of the two bookends, as it’s got two great guitar parts. Then again, I’ll take a quality cover of Neil Young’s ‘Don’t Cry No Tears’ any day of the week, but especially when it’s presented by Team Bermuda/Hudson.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

East Link
East Link
(cassette, Creep Dreams)

I love East Link. I love how they used to be called Pine Gap. I love the four guitars, four shitty amps and the loud, trance-y, repetitive riffs. I love their shitty/awesome videos. I love how they can be up and down. I’ve seen them at their flat-out best, when they are just brilliant. I've seen them so flat I've walked out to the front bar. This tape captures it all. ‘Ansett Australia’, a clanging piece of squall. Joey and Al sharing vocals. Everyone sharing guitar. A beserko piece of noise. Not sure if this tape is sold out, but if you see it anywhere GET IT.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] EAST LINK - ANSETT AUSTRALIA by CREEP DREAMS

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Cobwebbs
All Around
(12”, Lost Race)

A psych-y, post-rock, VU/Spacemen drone that seeps out of a broken Brisbane fog machine. The track that seems to be kicking around the internets, ‘Ice Melter’, with its clattery tambourine and handclaps, is a winner. But so too is 'Hypnotized', which brings a rattling, reverb-drenched boogie. If it’s true that Austin Psych Fest is making its way to Australia in 2013, then these guys definitely need to be involved!

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] ICE MELTER by COBWEBBS

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Woollen Kits
‘Shelley’/‘Down Your Street’
(7”, Trouble In Mind)

Is Woollen Kits the best band in Australia at the moment? I'd like to see a best-of-three arm-wrestling match between them and Raw Prawn. Whatever. It's been a banner year for the Melbourne three-piece, with their debut LP gaining kudos from all over the joint and then more fuzzed-out pop with the Four Girls LP that pays homage to the awesomeness of girls. Released on Chicago label Trouble in Mind, this 7” takes a track from the aforementioned Four Girls and it’s a cracker. Shouty vocals, Leon's killer guitar solo kicking in halfway and a scrappy coda that crashed in at the end. Top track!

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Woollen Kits - Shelley by PressWolfPR

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Bachelor Pad
Everyone Who’s Not Us Can Suck It
(7”, independent)

A Sydney three-piece who say they are influenced by cheap beer and spicy chicken. Straight Arrows and Hard Ons too, from where I'm sitting. With song titles such as ‘Everyone Who’s Not Us Can Suck It’ and ‘Warwick Capper’s Flowing Mullet’, it’s all pretty basic and rudimentary garage rock. But at the same time it would sound pretty rad at a drunken house party. Goon.

[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Life's A Breeze by Bachelor Pad

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Cross Brothers
Live at Rat Palace
(cassette, Endless Melt)

Improvised music. Many approach it as they do those clipboard-wielding environmental charity punishers. By crossing the street. But Tasmanian mainlanders Daniel and Patrick Cross prove that not all musical improvisation leads to self-puncturing of eyeballs, and on this one-track tape the sounds can be both challenging and interesting. Documenting a performance at Hobart’s artist-run space Rat Palace (complete with crowd chatter), the two guitarists go head to head in bashing out a mean squall with touches/flourishes of more subtle squall. At the eight-minute mark I bet a few people are probably ‘heading out for a smoke’, but all in it’s not too damaging.

+

IN-FREQUENCIES #11: Bad Aches, Per Purpose, Terrible Truths, Old Mate

IN-FREQUENCIES #10: Chook Race, Summer Flake, Dead Farmers

IN-FREQUENCIES #9: Lakes, Bad//Dreems, Mad Nanna

IN-FREQUENCIES #8: Taco Leg, Martyr Privates, Loose Grip

IN-FREQUENCIES #7: Wax Witches, Blank Realm, Cured Pink, Degreaser

IN-FREQUENCIES #6: Baba-X, Woollen Kits, Rank/Xerox, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys

IN-FREQUENCIES #5: Dro Carey, Mad Nanna, Circle Pit, Chaos Kids

IN-FREQUENCIES #4: Pond, NoTV, UV Race, Johnny Casino

IN-FREQUENCIES #3: Kirin J Callinan, Bare Grillz, Hammocks And Honey

IN-FREQUENCIES #2: Tough Troubles, Lakes, Brainwaves

IN-FREQUENCIES #1: Absolute Boys, Pageants, Southern Comfort, Taco Leg