I give up Australia. You win. When is everyone going to have to move there to hear all this great stuff live? Ausmuteants seem like a couple of jokesters who started out as a duo of drums and synth that expanded into guitar and bass not long after singing about ridiculous things in that punk spirit of wanting to rock. More an excuse to hang out with friends than making this their profession and that's exactly how the best stuff I've ever heard started out.
A-Side's "Who's the Narc" has a conga feeling beat with a booming slow bass line and naif vocals reminding me of Ben Lee's juvenile sincerity. He's reaching into that higher register almost losing it before the guitar opens this up right into a more garage feel strum building on that conga danceparty. The synth kicks open the door sounding like Chk Chk Chk meets Love Is All. The synth melody following the vocal line and somehow unassuming, for as big as this sounds I don't get the sense they were intending to create this boheimeth it just sort of gets away from them in an understandable way. As goofy as they inherently are (and should be), they let the music get serious in this long instrumental lead out. They can't let go of this groove, it wants to go just one more measure and of course they give in. It's not entirely about the satisfaction though, more that they wear everything on their sleeve, this is it, no tricks. Half Lisa Simpson sax and Eric Clapton licks.
B-Sides "Dying From the Inside Out" gets more guitar serious and riffs are flying, just a single chord breaking strings in crazy speed, but you know if this is all that song needs why get overly complicated? Don't mistake their simplicity for lack of ingenuity, it just comes out in the overall feel of the piece. There's that fake string casio sound from the synth because you don't need to get crazy with the sounds either. It's like they said all the effects and sine waves in the world aren't going to help a song. Brutish, huge strokes will do we aren't going to give you this detailed little christmas village, we just spraypaint "Merry x-mas" right on the mall wall. Just when it might get too serious, landing in a strict punk camp there's the goofy, unpunk string sound to drag this back into the fun. "Stomach Contents" gets even more punk rock but they have a lightness about them no matter how chunky or garage it gets. I just caught Adam Widener last night at the cakshop and I can hear that same enthusiasm here. It just leaves me with a dumb grin and there's a lot worse ways to end. I get a little bit of devo, the jock-homo stuff, no subtlety, offensive and raw with clown noses.
Making the US seem real boring - it's Ausmuteants. Get it locally from Easter Bilby of course.
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