Unkle K's Bands of the Week

Laser Flames on the Great Big News
Wow. Well, it’s no secret I’ve been digging female vocalists lately. Here is another one to add to the mix - Stevie Bailey - although she shares the vocal duties with John Judkins (Rwake) in the wonderfully named Laser Flames On The Great Big News. This band is all over the place but in a good way. The track "Faith of the Blackened Heart" sounds like a cross between Black Mountain and Mayhem. Fantastic stuff. Please listen past the first track.
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Tethered to a Dying Animal
Another new band to me, that is trying something a bit different. Musically it’s great sounding doomy sludge with massive riffs and some noise parts, but it’s vocally that this band stands apart. The clear vocals with the dreamy approach really works for me. I could be wrong but I have a feeling this is a one man band, which makes it even more special.
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Video for "Car Crash": YouTube

Gig of the Week
Punk in the Park: Crisis Alert (Adelaide) with Eye Gouge, Black Coffee and Machina Genova. Friday 1 February, 8pm, Commonwealth Park Amphitheatre.

Unkle K

Burnt Books - S/T

There are a few blurbs about Burnt Books around, but nothing I found that really prepared me for what I heard when I gave this South Carolina band's self-titled release a whirl. In general, I guess you could say they play jagged, erratic, melodic crust. But that description is inadequate and should be sliced up at random with words others have used like "experimental" and "eclectic". As far as comparisons go, they hover vaguely in the territory of Witch Hunt, but only if they were conjured in some kind of seance in which a couple of Louisville bands like Lords or Coliseum were holding hands around the table with True Radical Miracle, the Blood Brothers and Today is the Day.

What? I realise that doesn't help make much sense of what this is about. The songs flail through all kinds roughly hewn savagery. Dark, mid-paced riffs that serve to support charred, throaty growls fall into off-kilter spasms ("Abandoned", "Golden Gates, Golden Streets"). In other places, the guitars are given room to build tension before angular, stabbing rhythms knock everything in a different direction ("In A Shallow Grave", "Unforgiven"). Throughout, the drums toe an incredible line between accentuating the melodies and holding all the unlikely bits and pieces together.

And just to twist it all a little more, two songs on the album, "Materialist Conspiracy Theorist" and "Liar" feature singer Zoe Lollis' smoky voice lilting starkly over a haunting banjo accompaniment in a way that brings Coco Rosie to mind. What's great about those two tracks is the way they are sequenced to break up the chaos that precedes them and to allow the songs that follow to kick harder, making the whole mess even more interesting.

It's great to find an unexpected surprise like the one Burnt Books have provided with this idiosyncratic, loosely controlled attack. Downloads are available now from At A Loss, with the physical release due on 29 January.

lxp

Unkle K's Bands of the Week

Nothing has really jumped out and grabbed me this week, except for the new Darkthrone track "Leave No Cross Unturned". I love the direction this band has taken over the last few releases.
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Video of the Week
BABYMETAL. Haha.
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Tours

The Converge/Old Man Gloom tour is less than a month away.

10/2 Auckland @ The Basement Bar
 

12/2 Perth @ Amplifier 

13/2 Adelaide @ Fowlers 

14/2 Hobart @ The Brisbane Hotel 


15/2 Melbourne @ Billboard

16/2 Sydney @ Manning Bar 

17/2 Brisbane @ Hi-Fi

Iron Lung 

24/1 Sydney @ Blackwire Records w/ Thorax + more
25/1 Brisbane @ Sun Distortion Studios w/ Last Chaos, Idyles
26/1 Melbourne @ Gasometer w/ Straightjacket Nation, Cut Sick, Nun

27/1 Melbourne @ Gasometer w/ True Radical Miracle (last ever show), Useless Children, Internal Rot
30/1 Adelaide @ Animal House w/ TBA

Unkle K

Unkle K's Bands of the Week

Camel of Doom
Ex-Esoteric guitarist Kris Clayton appears to have been working on this himself for the last three years...amazing. This is an awesome mix of doom, stoner, a bit of death and a sprinkle of 70’s prog with saxophone added to startling effect. Hopefully a label picks this up as it’s too good to just be a download.
Bandcamp

Cheers
Unkle K

Wicked Nunchukka Parrot

Well, although the Devil's Kitchen Festival isn't stopping in Canberra this time, we do get to lap up its overflow in the form of two great shows back-to-back this week.

First, on Thursday 10 January, Melbourne's King Parrot will bring their unhinged thrashy grind lunacy to the Pot Belly. These guys tore up BastardFest a couple of months back, and with support from Wretch and The Reverend Jesse Custer, it's bound to be a fun night. If you need convincing, check out their new video for "Shit on the Liver": YouTube.

Then, on Friday 11 January, just as you're tearing your hair out thinking "fuck this job and everything that it entails",  Wicked City from Melbourne, Nunchukka Superfly from Sydney (it's been a while!), The Reverend Jesse Custer and Throat of Dirt are set to close out the week on a high note with a killer house show. Rawk!

lxp

Unkle K's Bands of the Week

Black Trip

Pete Starwind, ex-Entombed drummer, has combined with Joseph Tholl from Enforcer to deliver some classic heavy metal. The vocals sound like classic Di'Anno. Only a 2 track demo is available so far, but it is well worth checking out: ReverbNation.

To the Point

Killer Lack of Interest worship from these powerviolence vets. To the Point features members of Spazz/Lack of Interest, Actuary and Fetus Eaters. 

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Deep Six Records 

Live at the Smell: YouTube

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell

The wonderfully named Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell have taken their name from a 17th century British naval commander. This UK trio‘s debut, Don’t Hear it...Fear it! has a distinct 70’s vibe - think Sir Lord Baltimore, Captain Beyond, MC5. Raw retro rock that will have your foot tapping in no time.

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"iDeath": YouTube 

Gig of the Week

German progenitors of pitch-shifted, porn influenced goregrind, and one of the most influential groups within the style, Cock and Ball Torture make their first ever trip down under at the very start of 2013. The Canberra show is at the Basement, this Saturday 5 January, with supports The Day Everything Became Nothing, Tortured and Festering Drippage. Doors 8pm, tickets $21+b.f.

Cheers

Unkle K