Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Bad Vision - 112 - Self Released



Got this record in a little bit ago from Bad Vision. Shipped half way across the world this four piece out of Melbourne, Australia had to fill out customs forms and wait in line (sorry guys) and a few months later, it arrived safe and sound. A freaking miracle. In addition to probably haunting the same spots as Eddy Current Suppression Ring and UV Race, Mikey Young from Eddy actually mixed and mastered this transparent green vinyl single and his stamp of approval is enough going into this garage surf rock sound.

A-Side's "112" was definitely born in that detached unkempt garage but it's been recently cleaned out, they had a sale... went to the dump. It's dusty but they've opened things up and swept it out, opened the curtains blending a jangle indie with a beachy, sunny sound. The jangle-y scuzz starts up, layering in the guitar to plateaus rising higher and higher, lots of hiss in the high hat and cymbals, tom cave beats inbetween verses. A relative of Slug Guts but looking on the bright side of things, maybe paling up with the Jacuzzi Boys and their friends on a downhill longboard slalom race next to the beach on the Pacific coast highway (I guess Bad Vision is on tour). Cans of beer, long hair and tanktops might be out of context to this halloween sleeve of a guy holding an eyeball...which got me listening for an underlying Cramps style to this as well. High melody knoodling and layered echo vocals bouncing off the polished cement walls, complete with backup female vocals working behind the scenes, looking to cozy up to that layered, dense sound. A surf rock solo, with that high hat on overdrive.

B-Side's "Visions" has a slice of heavy distortion guitar to kick off the melody, real rock this time, screechy rock that keeps filling in the silences, casual ooooo's and loose electric right long side this bendy distortion. Heavy focus on pop, they create a clear vision, steering clear of a lo-fi sensibility - instead headed right for that clear pop sound almost in the wheelhouse of Jay or Ty, the guitar hero punk sound in an erratic style and huge piling on of sound. Bad Vision manages to have that creepy distance of a band playing downstairs and you probably won't be allowed past the bouncers. It's a private hot rod rock, "Visions of YOU!' There's a girl on the reverse who's missing an eye by the way. The extremes of love. Completely balanced sound, '60s garage harmonies with creep of the '80s sarcasm and '90s jangle and return of the reverb surf.

I really appreciate these guys taking the time to send this halfway across the globe...I know the shipping for this sort of thing just got fucking insane, but you can at least listen to the tracks below and hope some local mailorder distro carries this, like fusetron or ss...ask for it, those places are going to be essential if you want any kind of import like this in the future.

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