Features
New Noise: Constant Mongrel, Yard Apes, Okey Szoke, Rolling Blackouts
By Mess+Noise
This week’s roundup of new music spans Namibia, Melbourne, Ballarat and … frisbees.
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– It’s been a year and a half since Constant Mongrel’s last LP, the well-liked Heavy Breathing, but now there’s a sudden burst of activity from the Melbourne post-punk quartet, who feature members of Woollen Kits and School of Radiant Living. First comes the supremely goofy, mask-mad video for ‘The Law’, one of the songs off the new DCM 7” that’s hitting stores next Tuesday (Jan 20) via R.I.P. Society. The band are also playing Sydney twice this weekend (see below), including at the inaugural Nag Nag Nag festival. As for ‘The Law’, it’s plenty nagging itself, repeating its title refrain for ominous catchiness.
Sat, Jan 17 – Nag Nag Nag @ Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney, NSW [3pm, w/The UV Race, Low Life, Orion, Housewives, Cured Pink + more]
Sun, Jan 18 – Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney, NSW [free, 7pm, w/Woollen Kits + Nathan Roche]
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– Garage/surf/punk trio The Yard Apes tip their hats to George Romero with their three-song 7” Night of the Living Dead. It’s one of the first releases on newish Ballarat label Heart of the Rat, and the title track boasts an appropriately lurid video by Andre Fazio (a.k.a. Fazmo) of YIS fame. Even better is the fuzzed-out fuck-off that is ‘Don’t Give a Shit Anymore’ and the similarly misanthropic ‘Get Out of My Face’. If the vinyl doesn’t appeal for some reason, you can grab all three songs for three bucks digitally. The horror-friendly 7” gets launched over the coming months with the below gigs, starting with Friday the 13th (of course).
Fri, Feb 13 – The LuWow, Melbourne, VIC
Sat, March 14 – Karova, Ballarat, VIC
Fri, March 27 – in-store @ Off the Hip Records, Melbourne, VIC
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– Sam Szoke-Burke caught our ear back in 2013 with Work, his debut EP as Okey Szoke. Now the globe-trotting producer is showing off his collaborative impulses with a second EP teeming with guest stars. Out today through the Brother Sister imprint he co-founded, the six-track jitter-fest Mahangu features Namibian artist DJ Kleva Kaslam on ‘Crew Montagem’ and remixes by Portuguese/French DJ Nidia Minaj and Adelaide’s own Strict Face. Called an homage to the current Brazilian funk scene, the EP was recorded in Namibia “in between field trips to remote desert locations, ghost towns, sand dune clusters [and] vast canyons.” Hear two tracks below, and the Strict Face rework here.
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– Jangle-pop newbies Rolling Blackouts have been dropping free tracks on Bandcamp for a while, but they’re suddenly getting more attention thanks to the single ‘Clean Slate’ off their four-song split with You Yangs. Released in the pioneering format of an actual Frisbee, the Flying Disc EP is also available for $5 download. There’s a video for ‘Clean Slate’ too. The song plays like mannered jangle-pop run amok, punchy with guitar wrangling while incredibly anxious in the rhythm section – like the best of The Feelies. Their other contribution to the split, ‘Cat in My Head’, is mellower by comparison, but still nicely shaggy in its melodies.
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