Features
New Noise: Mangelwurzel, DeadShred, Truly Holy, Chinese Burns Unit
By Mess+Noise
This week’s roundup of new music ranges from klezmer weirdness and feral catharsis to vocal ranting and bubblegum punk.
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– Is there a weirder band in Melbourne than Mangelwurzel? On a song like the below ‘Hawaii’, the volatile six-piece manage to sound like the planet’s premier post-punk/soul/klezmer/rap fusionists. Beyond just the cartoonishy snide vocals and fluttering trumpet, there’s increasingly more and more to unpack here. And that’s just one song. Behold live footage of them from July for a better idea of what to expect when they launch the new 7” Everybody’s Friend in Melbourne, regional Victoria and all the way over in WA. The single follows January’s debut EP Dead Pets, which is just as joyously deranged, and a spot on the final Camp A Low Hum in New Zealand.
Fri, Sept 26 – The Eastern, Ballarat, VIC [w/The Infants]
Sat, Sept 27 – The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine [w/The Infants]
Thurs, Oct 2 – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC [w/Nicholas Allbrook + Tanzer & The Shabbab]
Fri, Oct 17 – Camp Doogs festival, Nannup, WA
Fri, Oct 24 – The Bird, Perth, WA [w/Fucking Teeth + many more]
Sat, Oct 25 – Mojos, Fremantle, WA [w/Peter Bibby, Whipped Cream Chargers + more]
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– Punkier than most of the usual output from ace Brisbane label Tenth Court, DeadShred have been likened to early Christian Death as well as the “funk side of Factory Records bands like ACR.” Fronted by one Falco Clat (a.k.a. Andrew Ford), the Brisbane outfit also includes guitarist Helena Papageorgiou (Feathers), drummer Harry Byrne (Per Purpose, Sewers) and bassist Matthew Ford (Thigh Master, Black Vacation). The only proper taste so far is the feral yet quite rhythmic 93-second track ‘Ratsakk’, which opens their four-song cassette/digital EP Thousand Yard Staring Competition. It comes out tomorrow (Sept 26) and the band launch it this weekend in Melbourne, with a Brisbane gig to follow in a couple weeks.
Sat, Sept 27 – The Tote, Melbourne, VIC [3pm, w/Sky Needle, Per Purpose, Cuntz + VIV]
Sat, Sept 27 – The Grace Darling basement, Melbourne, VIC [9pm, w/White Walls, Penguins, Shaking Hell + Cold Life]
Fri, Oct 10 – The Haunt, Brisbane, QLD [8pm, w/Treehouse, Secret Valley, Pleasure Symbols + No Magic]
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– Truly Holy are the rechristened Straw King Eye, who released a debut album back in 2012. The new single ‘Paradise’ seems tighter and brighter than their older stuff, while retaining the rant-y bent to the vocals. Recorded by East Brunswick All Girls Choir’s Marcus Hobb and mastered by Mikey Young, the song is up now for dollar download. It’s a entrancing song, especially vocally, with almost spoken-word bits and just a whole lot of roguish character. Let’s not discount that spattering guitar solo either. The single launches next Monday (Sept 29) at Northcote Social Club’s free weekly series Monday Night Mass, with Cured Pink, The Galaxy Folk and School Girl Report also on the bill. More info here.
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– Chinese Burns Unit, for one, welcome our new reptilian overlords. At least, that seems to be the takeaway from ‘Reptilian Overlords’, the title track of their new five-song 7”. Along with the feline-loving, 28-second ‘Drug Sniffin’ Cat’, it’s a solid dose of bubblegum-tinged punk. It makes perfect sense, then, that the Sydney quartet supported Hard-Ons twice over the winter and recorded the 7” with Frenzal Rhomb’s Jay Whalley. The EP also includes a quasi-Black Flag cover featuring vocals from Dick Nasty and a proper cover of The Meanies’ ‘Darkside of My Mind’. Reptilian Overlords comes out next Wednesday (Oct 1) through Sydney mainstay Black Wire Records.
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