Constant Mongrel: Members of Taco Leg, School of Radiant Living and Woollen Kits. Put out a praised full length on Siltbreeze. James Vinciguerra, from Total Control designed this sleeve. That's basically all I needed to know before getting to this one. Another Australian import that I'm glad to have a chance to hear. Carried by Easter Bilby. There has to be at least a couple of records to pick up over there. Might I recommend the Mope City or Beef Jerk singles?
A-Side's "The Law" is a fiery post punk sound with gritty, gated out guitars in a minimal, choppy delivery. Lots of rolling snare fills and one note melodies. Vocals with watery phaser melted over the top in what could easily be a new Useless Eaters single with the same loose, raw feel of the garage of modern despair. Trailing off notes scraped up the fret like running on stilts, big, wobbly steps way off balance, always about to fall over. Still sharp edged and bitter, this isn't a circus. "dcm" has a more extreme darker edge to their progression with overwhelming synth/guitar line. That melody mostly eq'd to the lower end either guides the vocals completely or he's out there on his own trying to jam lines into the spaces between measures. They definitely can't help but serve up some kind of pop out of this head down, pissed off vibe. It could be a loose sounding Love of Diagrams that isn't depressed, just realistic. The synth finally breaks into two chords over a rapid fire repetition separated from the rest of this skittering pebble.
B-Side's "New Shapes" scrapes in a bendy nontraditional melody - you know one of those progressions you wouldn't have immediately put together. Going new wave on this like a Tubeway Army record through a fuzz pedal. It only starts to get pop when they move this melody up a measure and these guitars apologize for nothing. The song ends and a bassline which makes more sense lays down a solid foundation, snare fills march in and that guitar is no where in sight. The rest of the instrumentation is going to step up for a bit and it gets really weird and off kilter like what I imagine no wave could have been like in the late '70s. Primitive drum pounding, flutes and smacked guitar builds a messy rhythm just for the hell of it. And you thought they were depressed. It's the hippy mannequin robot society.
Yellow Green Red Interview over here.
Get this from the US importer of anything from Australia worth a damn - Easter Bilby Distro.
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