Sleeper & Snake - Fresco Shed (Upset the Rhythm Records)

Second album by this Melbourne duo. The first I heard too, but I don’t recall much of it. It ain’t easy keeping track of the family tree of Melbourne’s underground, but these cats can be found on many of its branches both as a couple and seperately. Snake is better known by the name of Al Montfort, Sleeper by the name of Amy Hill. The two of them form one half of Terry, a band with a similar pop sensibility. If you appreciate the experimental side of Terry, the Sleeper and Friends Lp on R.I.P. Society and/or loved the Eastlink records Al was involved with, you’re bound to find something to like on this album too.

Fresco Shed brings to mind the Velvet Underground for more than one reason. Like the Velvets, Sleeper and Snake are arty and don’t shy away from experimentation. Don’t expect wild improvisation and free jazz skronk though. The experimentation I’m talking about is of a more subtle nature. It’s expressed in the instrumentation – on the back of the sleeve we see Amy playing a cello and Al a soprano saxophone - and compositon of these ten songs. Furthermore the tunes are all well written minimalist pop songs that sorta meander and bring to mind those lazy laidback Sunday mornings Lou sang about a long time ago. Lastly there are beautiful vocal harmonies to be heard on this record, which should come as no surprise to those already familiar with Terry. Although this album is unconventional in many ways, at least to yours truly, the songs are ultimately pop tunes that are easy on the ear. Fresco Shed is an enjoyable listen from start to end, which should appeal to art school kids, who smoke without fully inhaling whilst wearing fashionable berets as well as cynical old punks that have been turning grey for years and think they’ve heard it all such as myself. That’s a pretty broad scope. Chances are you fit in somewhere in between so why not give this a hear?

Hear the thing here: https://lsdclub.bandcamp.com/album/fresco-shed.

Geld - Beyond the Floor (Static Shock Records)

This Melbourne hardcore band has been around for a while. Beyond the Floor is Geld’s second album and the first of their records I’ve given a proper listen. When I first heard this band superficially I lumped them in with the likes of Hoax, Gag and the Lowest Form, bands I was never a big fan of. Soundwise these are not bad points of reference. Like these groups Geld’s sound is noisy, dark and aggressive. The vocals remind me of Never Healed and black metal bands: gnarly, venomous and impossible to understand. Fortunately there’s a lyric sheet included. The lyrics are haiku-like, short and to the point. When riffing the guitar sounds more or less like an incessant hiss – sorry, my knowledge of pedals is absent, but short howling and ugly solos are thrown in here and there. Feedback is not shunned. The bass player does more than just support the guitar riffing. The bass lines walk the scales and when the four string gets a moment to itself, it claims your attention like a punch in the face.

The pace of these 10 songs is generally high and the vibe is very aggressive. Geld does slow down occasionally. Sometimes to lay down a moshable riff, other times to extend a track with either a mean outro like on ‘Prisoner and Guard’ or an almost pensive one like on ‘Gedankenfleisch’ and ‘Low A.G.’. The change of accentuates the record dynamic and interesting. I’d argue a contemporary hardcore band needs to switch things up like this to make an album worthwhile. Perhaps Beyond the Floor’s main appeal is how well the record is able to create this dark atmosphere. It pulls you into a world of negativity, ugliness, depression, anxiety, anger, bad trips on bad drugs. Who ever said these were happy times, indeed!? Of course these topics have been covered before, maybe you know them up close and personally. Geld however gives a take on it all that’s very much their own. That alone makes this a hardcore record worth your ear.

Hear the thing here: https://staticshockrecords.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-floor.

Clock of Time - Pestilent Planet (Static Shock Records)

 

Pestilent Planet is Clock of Time’s first ever release. That’s right, baby, straight onto vinyl! I don’t know if Tom Ellis is a gambling man – his native country is clearly a gambling nation – but releasing this 12” was a save bet considering the line-up here. Clock of Time is an assemblage of expats residing in Berlin among which Corey former drummer of Vexx, Stiff Love and G.L.O.S.S., and Seth Sutton of the Useless Eaters, Life Trap, Couteau Latex, POW and many others. Furthermore I’m pretty sure Clock of Time’s singer used to hold the mic for Diät - How many Australians singing for post-punk bands can there possibly be in Berlin? What I’m trying to say is these kids are not new to song writing and it shows.

Clock of Time is fairly reminiscent of the singer’s former band. Stylistically Diät as well as Constant Mongrel, LowLife and Negative Gears are a fair frame of reference for this album. Its 7 songs all have a solid melodic foundation in the driving full bass lines over which the guitar displays it’s haunting magic. The singer has a deep hypnotizing voice. His lyrics are bleak and reproachful. At times they have a literary quality. A line like ‘the lack of conviction takes the crack out the whip’ is undeniably poetic as is the opening line of B-side opener ‘Pestilent Planet’; ‘The end of the decade marks the start of our death-procession, as we commemorate the days devoid of worrying about the weather.’ Merciless stabs are taken at contemporary society and its implications for mankind, but they’re delivered in a very detached way. The key emotion here is hopelessness. Don’t let the title ‘Something to look forward to’ mislead you. If we are to believe Clock of Time there is very little to look forward to. In their opionion this pestillent planet is beyond saving and humanity is fucked. In that sense this record has an almost Biblical apocalyptic tone, a tone Nicky Rat’s artwork matches well with. Pestilent Planet is a strong debut that demands your attention and invites multiple listens. I’d love to hear more by this outfit.

Hear the thing here: https://staticshockrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pestilent-planet.