With a new full-length album primed and ready to drop at the end of April, Bulanaming/Marrickville downer-rock four-piece Mope City begin to whir and crank into gear. To build anticipation for the release, the group is whetting appetites with a somewhat unusual taster – a limited-edition four-track cassette EP containing first single ‘Rocket Surgery’ and three bonus tracks. ‘Rocket Surgery’ sets a suitably dour tone, pairing claustrophobic creep and browbeating fuzz with lashings of disaffected ideation.Continue reading Premiere: MOPE CITY – ‘ROCKET SURGERY’→
Words: James Frostick Band image: McLean Stephenson
A year on from the release of its previous single ‘Weightless’, Warrang/Sydney crew 100 is back – announcing its signing to newly minted label Endless Recordings and the arrival of fresh material to boot. Truculent new single ‘Psych’ is a staunch and uncompromising scud of murky post-punk that lashes out at the poseurs, pricks and pinheads that exist within the masculine milieu.
Words: James Frostick Band image: Rik Saunders Cover art: Spiderxdeath
Today brings us a slab of chugging goth-tinged post-punk from Warrang/Sydney crew Enclave. The band’s new track ‘Crossfire’ is a gristly, caustic and acrimonious assault – a fury-laced indictment of systems that perpetuate trauma, dispossession and oppression.
Words: James Frostick Milkffish and Del Lumanta image: Bethan Cotterill
Parramatta’s New Age Noise Collective has released a new compilation called Constellation – a nine-track compendium of work from several emerging and established transgender, non-binary and female-identifying musicians. The compendium is a sublime sample of sonic cartography, putting on the map a community that is flourishing outside of the city’s male-dominated scene.
New noise emerges from the far reaches of Australia’s dance scene as Enderie releases a new collection of unsound electro thump. 3 – the new four-track EP out today via Anterograde – further charts Enderie’s trajectory from avant-rock destructor to hardware-manipulating club heretic. Exploratory and revelatory, 3 is a masterclass in deciphering how a mechanism works by taking it apart and playing with its core components.
Sydney crew Bushing are putting final pieces in place for their forthcoming debut LP Thanatophobia, ratcheting up activity with a brand-new clip for recently released single ‘X I A N X P’ (pronounced ‘Christian Experience’). An ominous slab of art-punk noise, ‘X I A N X P’ dissects that narrative surrounding Australia’s early settlement culture and the gradual dissipation of religious spirit over the ensuing generations.
Several years in the making, Sydney darkwave two-piece L.A Suffocated have finally released a full-length album of bracing synth-heavy electro pop. A collection of bruised remembrances and tear-smudged musings, Dust, Fungus and Blasphemous Thoughts is the soundtrack of emotion exorcised via visceral self-examination and dance-floor catharsis.
Sydney post-punk crew Low Life return with a new 7″, containing a track clipped from the recording sessions of their first LP Dogging. ‘Catholic Guilt’ is an unflinching look at organised religion and the sins of the church, arriving at a time when the ire aimed at the institution of faith has never been more hostile.
Sydney four-piece Sachet has dropped some new sounds (and accompanying visuals) from its forthcoming record Nets. ‘Arncliffe Babylon’ is a piece of engaging and oblique guitar pop – off-centre in such a way that it perfectly scratches an itch you never new existed.Continue reading Listen: SACHET – ‘ARNCLIFFE BABYLON’→
If you’re in the market for some new Australian hardcore, Sydney’s OSBO might be just the ticket. Comprised of a few familiar faces from the Sydney scene, OSBO’s six-track demo is straightforward and energetic – two qualities all good hardcore needs.
Weirdo Wasteland is an Australian-based music blog that examines musical endeavour from the cultural fringe. The site regularly features reviews and interviews from the underground scenes from Australia and New Zealand. Weirdo Wasteland acknowledges the original custodians of the land upon which it operates. Sovereignty has never been ceded. To get in touch, contact: weirdowasteland (at) gmail.com
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