The Sires - Feel No Pain

San Francisco-via-Australia’s own David West (Burning Sensation and Rank/Xerox) and his cohorts from Total Control have effectively mined the same musical aesthetic that made early indie post punk records from England so very exciting. If you can imagine bands such as Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire having to practice at a really low volume because the landlord is just below, then you’ll get the very idea of this record and love it. Totally atmospheric, lovely gloom and doom; it’s brilliant bedsit music for the modern age. Buy! ( from the Big Takeover - http://bigtakeover.com/ )

Rat Columns- I Wonder

Out now...

The Bilders were three groups in 2013. Bill Direen played in each group in Australia, New Zealand and Germany/Austria. Two of the groups made it into professional studios during the tours. The German tour schedule was too tight for any studio work but the best live show, actually in Austria, was recorded.
 
The three bands have different pedigrees, way too complicated to go into in detail. Briefly, the Melbourne band goes back to Bill D’s duo tour with bass player Barry Stockley in 1980s. Time has rolled on and the drummer now is Barry’s own son Tama. They were joined in Melbourne by kiwi ex-patriot Jess McCann, on piano and accordion, and a few other willing guests.
 
The German band goes back to Bill D’s three year stint in Berlin in the 90s, when he first played with the violist TT G-schrey at places like the legendary Red Salon. They were joined by David Wuk, the permanent drummer of much-loved Austrian band Der Nino aus Wien, Louise J (NZ, bass) and New Zealander Mark Williams. Bill and Mark worked together on a recent Bilders project in Wellington known as Ferocious.
 
The Auckland lineup Stu Kawowski (Page) long-time drummer and artist-photographer for the Bilders since 1984, Andy McCully, Bilders keyboardist on their 2008 tour of New Zealand. Pete Scott (bass) was hired in for the Auckland sessions.
 
So  this 7 inch makes for a really good sampling of Bilders personnel from three decades of music surprises. 2013 was an incredible year. No casualties, a lot of happy punters and a 7 - inch EP on SmartGuy ( out now ).  Not bad going.


The Bilders - Mardy

Russell St Bombings -  Homicide Squad

Governmentality | Give Us Away | Cop Speech

Australian music is at a high point presently. It’s hard to keep up with all the great records coming out. The lineup of Russell St Bombings is too amazing to resist. I wonder if the members got together with as much curiosity as to what would be as I was listening to it--which I have. Over and over. Such a cool record.
--Henry Rollins

Russell St. Bombings - Side A

711 Confusion | GLADLY | Ask An Anthropologist | Homicide Squad

Australian music is at a high point presently. It’s hard to keep up with all the great records coming out. The lineup of Russell St Bombings is too amazing to resist. I wonder if the members got together with as much curiosity as to what would be as I was listening to it--which I have. Over and over. Such a cool record.
--Henry Rollins

Russell St. Bombings - Side Z

Rat Columns - DARKNESS

Leon is Leon Stackpole of the Ooga Boogas ( renowned Australian band featuring a number of other Australians ).  The track here is the second track off of his upcoming 7" EP.  Mixed and mastered by Mikey Young.

Leon - The Night So Still

Two FM Knives and a Pretty Girl.  Hailing from Sacramento, CA this trio brings the song-writing from those two bands and adds their own bit of  English. The results are nothing short of mezmerizing

Lyme Regis - It starts with a band

Kelley Stoltz and Mikey Young join forces in this homage to Public Broadcasting.  Vinyl comes with hand made numbered sleeve ( by Kelley Stoltz ) and was pressed by hand in an edition of 50.

Skybox - Public TV

Kelley's contribution to the Thank You, San Francisco! compilation due out November 18 on SmartGuy Records. Thank you Kelley.

The alternate LP cover on view here shows the interior of San Francisco's best bar - The Makeout Room.

Thank You, San Francisco

Colors Creep

Kelley Stoltz - Colors Creep

Leon Stackpole of Ooga Boogas fame steps out, again, on his own for his contribution to Thank You, San Francisco! ( LP out 11.18.16 ).

The alternate LP cover displayed here shows the Dutch

Independent Man

Leon Stackpole - Independent Man

On 10.13.15 I was in a bike accident that landed me in Spectrum Health Hospital.  In a Dilaudid-fueled moment I emailed a friend on the other side of the globe and asked him to write a song in honor of the occasion.  This is what he came back with...

Spectrum View

Mikey Young - Spectrum View

From The Finest Kiss:

When we last checked in with Rat Columns they had just released their debut 7″ single and were (mostly) a one man band. The band, now officially a three piece, have just unfurled their first long player Sceptre Hole.  The band is now based in San Francisco, though guitarist/singer David West began Rat Columns in Perth, Australia. Geography seems to be irrelevant though, because Rat Columns do not not sound like they adhere to any scene or current musical trend in that city or any other.

Eastern Vibrations starts the record off on a four minute dissonant excursion making you wonder what you’re in for.  Then they go all noise pop on you with  Death Is Leaving Me and you start to get the idea that you are in for a roller coaster ride of a record. The way they mingle short instrumentals and sounds between songs reminds me of the Pale Saints album The Comforts of Madness, and the sound aesthetic employed is very similar to the noise/dream pop of the Pale Saints first record. Rat Coluns are a pop band, but not an obvious one. At the end of side one they deliver the instrumental Spectre in the Wall which is so high quality that it will have you reaching to hear Simple Minds‘ Themes from Great Cities. Then on side two they start to show some of their Clean and 18th Dye leanings that were so evident on that first single on the songs Ashes Of a Rose, Frozen Over and Summer Thighs.

Scepter Hole is not a record that is immediately obvious, but it is one that continues to reveal itself the more you listen to it. It jangles, it drones, it weirds out, it keeps you off balance, while pulling you into its world and not letting go. It might seem experimental and somewhat dense at first, but its many facets and pleasures reveal themselves the more you listen to it. Not a record that will ever be flavor of the month, but more like one that you pull out to listen to year after year.

Rat Columns - Frozen Over

From Mess and Noise:

David West seems like a pretty interesting guy. Originally from Perth, he played in bands of varying musical styles – from the raw hardcore of Burning Sensation and the experimental Whalehammer to the lo-fi pop of Frank & The Can I Speaklys and the blasted punk of Pauline Manson with some of the Taco Leg guys. But like many Perth musicians, he moved east. Way east. Not to Melbourne but San Francisco, where he currently plays in the post-punk band Rank/Xerox and is a touring member of Total Control.

With Rat Columns West takes on a quieter, more introspective side, with stunning pop songs that occasionally delve into more experimental sounds and murky guitar noise. While his first 7” – also released on Antipodean-loving Californian label Smart Guy (Total Control, Boomgates) – was primarily a solo affair with help from fellow Perth dude and Total Control drummer James Vinciguerra, on Sceptre Hole he has employed a solid line-up that includes Matt Bleyle and Jon Young.
The opening 'Eastern Vibrations' has a heavy, almost Italian psych-horror vibe going on, with spaced-out vocals amidst a slow, drone-y fog. I'm thinking something that Umberto of Expo 70 would be into, but then it jumps into the bouncy 'Death is Leaving Me', which sounds like it wouldn't be out of place on a Sarah records compilation. Indeed, UK indie pop of the ’80s and early ’90s has a strong presence on songs such as 'Flowers' and 'Opaque Eyes'. 'Spectres in the Hall' is just that: a drum machine- and synth-propelled instrumental that pushes a spookier, colder take.

Listening to the album, you can hear that West is challenging himself in creating a record that moves in different circles. You get a sense that writing music is effortless for West, but he decides against the easy route. In the past he has covered experimental New York guitarist Loren Connors, and on the brief 'Raincloud I' and the closing 'Raincloud II' he opts for a drone-y, more abstract feel.
But the best parts are when he reaches for the pop. The highlight being 'Ashes of a Rose', with even the song title sounding like something The Pastels would call a song. It's a brilliant pop song. One that makes you want to jog. 'Dying Days' has a noisier MBV feel with layers of reverb and fuzz, while there's only one way to describe 'Summer Thighs: pretty. A simple acoustic guitar line strummed over West's whispered vocals.
What it comes down to is that West crafts excellent songs. From the memorable guitar hooks and pulsing synth on 'This Night Mocks Lovers', which brings an ’80s New Wave dangling earring vibe, to the driving 'Flowers', this is a great record that showcases West’s ideas and talent. A talent that enables him to deftly meld the experimental with his ability to write a compelling pop song.

Rat Columns - Dying Day

A superfine example of a new band taking an old medium and injecting it with life. Soviet Valves hail all the way from Perth, Australia, and perhaps that geographical distance from so many other things have given them a focus on restyling punk rock that their contemporaries lack. There are some standard power moves that are returned to—boilerplate Clash/Buzzcockian first-gen sounds that remind you you're listening to a punk band—but wait, there's no bass player, so both guitarists would have to be adept at playing leads. Thankfully they are, and this provides some of the most interesting twin-axe interplay this side of Sleater-Kinney. They like to fuck with the paradigm, and in doing so they create really interesting modern touches and establish a distinct sound of their own. Add a wildman drummer and a deadpan singer who sounds like Vic Godard and you have drop-dead fantastic rock and roll. Four songs, edition of 500. Highly recommended!”—Doug Mosurak

Soviet Valves -  Sight That Harms Gaze That Harms

Tyrades - out of touch

Vermin Poets - the doors of perception

Clorox Girls -  The One

Sounds a bit like Grauzone and The Normal.The band is comprised of members of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Soviet Valves, UV Race and then some.

FIRST PRESSING OF 500 ON BLACK VINYL IS SOLD OUT.
2ND PRESSING OF 300 ON WHITE VINYL IS SOLD OUT.
FINAL PRESSING ( TOUR EDITION ) IS SOLD OUT.
White Vinyl - New Cover now available

Third single out of this electronic arm of the Eddy Current Suppression Ring fam, and though I haven’t heard their first single, I’ll wager on this one being the best so far, if only because of the A-side. “Paranoid Video” fits right in with the frigid climes of the minimal synth revival, but does so with an ear for the music, eschewing outboard gear fetish in favor of laying down a memorable track, with bass pads that are both pillowy and sinister, and which support the entire endeavor. Skeletal in its arrangement, it does everything a good min-synth banger should. “Real Estate” slows things down to a crawl, and layers metalling clang percussion samples over a piercing lead, the same sort of deadpan vocals contributing to the dead-machine atmosphere it belches forth. For me, and many others, this genre either works or it doesn’t; Total Control has a good grasp of where to take this type of music, and the baby steps they walk, single by single, tells us that they’re willing to take the time to get it right. ( <a href="http://www.smartguyrecords.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.smartguyrecords.com</a> )
( Doug Mosurock - http://still-single.tumblr )


Total Control - Paranoid video

from The Creative Intersection:

Rat Columns' debut album is a difficult one, but not in the standard ways an album is usually viewed as "difficult". It doesn't have an excess amount of noise or purely random moments. Instead, Sceptre Hole twists the core of the band's sound from song to song in such a way that it keeps the listener on their toes as to what the album will come back with next. It's dizzying without being disorienting. 

To be fair, I don't think any listener would have expected such a sharp change to occur with Rat Columns. What was a one-man band creating simple, bedroom and indie rock filtered post-punk, has now greatly expanded into an actual three piece band that in turn has greatly expanded the band itself. Gone is the sense of minimalism that shaped the band's 7". Instead, the band crafts a type of noise infused jangle pop that they are able to reform into all kinds of different ways. Compare the jagged-ness, fuzzy, indie rocker "Death is Leaving Me" to the Minks like swirl of "Ashes of a Rose" and it takes a second to realize it's the same band crafting both songs. However, the record never feels like it was just pieced or thrown together. Rather Rat Columns use a sense of darkness to connect everything together into a nice neat package. Haunting instrumentals are used to open and close both sides of the LP, paired along with Gothic cover art and song titles allow for these sensations to creep in slowly. In turn the band is able to create something like the Phil Elvrum channeling "Summer Thighs" and noise rock of "Dying Days" without creating dissonance. The whole album melds together perfectly, despite each song being able to jump out at you when you least expect it. 

I'm listening to Sceptre Hole again, like I have intermediately for about the past month. And it seems appropriate that it's take me that long to fully digest this album. It's an album full of so many different varying twists and turns that you find new aspects to a song only after the fourth or more listen. Sceptre Hole is an album that reviles itself slower than you think, but the end result is completely worth it. One of the best growers of the year, in every positive sense imaginable. 


Rat Columns - Opaque Eyes

...the sounds of Perth 1983.  6-song 12" coming September 24, 2013. Unearthed by Stumbles of Perth, Australia’s hardcore heros of yore Rupture, Divsion Four were only able to burp out a six - song cassette in 1983 before they faded from memory. Whether this was due to apathy / indifference on the part of the band or the audience no one remembers but what they left behind leaves little doubt that they were on the right track sonically. Employing post-punk sounds along with dollops of menace, the band had little use for guitar and relied most heavily on their synthesizer and dual bass players for a sound that one wouldn’t be surprised to hear pouring from Gary Bushell’s earbuds. Oi! Division? Perhaps…

Division Four - Doctors Wife

Punk Rock from Perth, Australia c.2005.  Featuring members of Total Control and the Eagle Boys.  

Soviet Valves - Carrion Luggage

...From the limited 12" EP on Home Loan Records.

Total Control -  Carpet Rash

Record label with 30 releases since 1997.Past releases by Thee Headcoats, Holly Golightly, FM Knives, Clorox Girls, Tyrades, Martin Creed, Dan Melchior, The Buff Medways, Giant Haystacks, The Cripples, Soviet Valves, Lyme Regis, Wildebeests, Ludella Black, The Masonics, Sergeants Mess, Vermin Poets, Musicians of The British Empire, Mickey & The Salty Seadogs,  Total Control, Boomgates, Rat Columns, Division 4, The Bilders, Russell St Bombings, and Leon .


Popular tracks by smartguy