AZAR SWAN

Turn UP, tune in, drop out!

YOU CAN'T WASH AWAY MURDER

RANK / XEROX

White-hot punk/post-punk/whatever-wave from SF, Cali.

As evidenced by Marbled Eye and others, SF 2017 seems to be a hotbed of contemporary post-punk excellence. No-one is surprised by this.

For fans of Total Control.

M.Y.T.H.

IT'S COMING DOWN: TOTAL CONTROL at the SOH

The other night I had the privilege of seeing the great Total Control perform live, an experience that I'd long ago resigned myself to missing out on, due to my late arrival to the Henge Beat party. Many thanks to the folks at Repressed Records for making this possible as part of their 15th anniversary Vivid Festival bash. Seeing punk bands at the Sydney Opera House has its own novel appeal too: cultural gentrification maaan! It's not the first time for me either, having seen Melt Banana in the bowels of the SOH a few years ago. The boys from Melbourne played a powerful but brief set, cut short by the need to protect the fragile ears of our glorious leader who resides just a bit down the harbour at Point Piper. Yeah, fuck you too Malcolm.

Oh, and check out this sick-ass t:

PURE GROUND

Mean. Snarling. Cruel. Cold.

You're asking for it punk, and this is what you deserve.

NO PASSAGE

Man in Decline Records supports the ACLU

Buy a digital download from Man in Decline's bandcamp page this weekend, and all proceeds will go to the ACLU. Support effective resistance to President Bannon and his puppet, and pick up some hardcore/punk/post-punk scorchers while you're at it.

This weekend, we will be making a donation to the ACLU using all funds generated from digital downloads. To allow you to decide how much you wish to donate, all Man In Decline Records releases are set to "name your own price".

As an extra incentive, we've added some releases that have not been available for purchase before now and this is also the first time that many of our releases have been available via "name your own price".

This is one way in which we, and the bands that we have worked with, are trying to do our part to assist those directly fighting for justice in the current political environment. Thanks in advance for your support.

DONATE HERE

PARQUET COURTS Human Performance

Parquet Courts' older stuff never really did it for me, leaving me to wonder what all the fuss was about. With this year's Human Performance they've finally grabbed my attention. And this song. This fucking song. Can't get it out of my head. Perfection.

I know exactly, where I was when I

First saw you the way I see you now, through these eyes, waiting to retry

Those pristine days I, recall so fondly

So few are trials when a life isn't lonely, and now if only

I'd never felt it, I'd never heard it

I know I loved you did I even deserve it, when you returned it

There's no suspicion, no hesitation

Believing through the eyes of sure, adoration

Witness and know, fracture and hurt

Eyes in the fire, blink unrehearsed

Shield like a house, closing its doors

Curved in the dark, rinses of yours

Ashtray is crowded, bottle is empty

No music plays and nothing moves without drifting, into a memory

Busy apartment, no room for grieving

Sink full of dishes and no trouble believing, that you are leaving

Mid-sentence tremors, mind at its weakest

One way of shaking off the thoughts that it sleeps with

Witness and know, fracture and hurt

Eyes in the fire, blink unrehearsed

Shield like a house, closing its doors

Curved in the dark, rinses of yours

In walks the darkness, I pitch without you

Asks me do I realize what I'd done and who I'd done to, indeed I do know

It never leaves me, just visits less often

It isn't gone and I won't feel its grip soften, without a coffin

Breathing beside me, feeling its warmness

Phantom affection gives a human, performance

Witness and know, fracture and hurt

Eyes in the fire, blink unrehearsed

Shield like a house, closing its doors

Curved in the dark, rinses of yours

NO NEGATIVE

I'm always looking for music that hits that sweet spot between the old sounds that we all know and love and progression into something new, and Montreal's No Negative fit the bill perfectly. Psychedelic deathrock supercharged with the heaviness and energy of hardcore. Aside from the obvious deathrock touchstones, I get a Gone Fishin' era Flipper vibe off of this, as well as a healthy dose of early Butthole Surfers. Those things make me feel good.

FEEL IT

ISS

Caustically cynical punk for mutants who know better than to take it all too seriously. Now, dance you scumfuck!

I want a jacket with some spikes

Fucking Summer, Right?

Going by the Australian system of calendar-based reckoning, tomorrow marks the exact middle of winter here. It's cold, I'm huddled next to my crappy little oil heater and my ears are still ringing from Jucifer's insanely loud set in Newtown last night. The notorious husband-and-wife duo were every bit as mesmerising and powerful as their reputation suggests, and as usual San Francisco's Black Cobra didn't disappoint either.

My ears are still full of Gazelle Amber Valentine's distortion, but the music I can't get out of my head today is this perfect new track from Decades/Failures, "Fucking Summer, Right". It sounds like the anthem to some lost David Lynch road movie, and it's full of the lazy dreaminess of a hot summer's day after a few beers in the sun. I want to be there right now.

TOTAL CONTROL

Between blast beats and breakdowns Total Control's Typical System LP has been the real soundtrack to my spring and summer, and all told, it's probably my favourite album of 2014.

Sadly, I may never get to see them live, because although this enigmatic Melbourne band seems to have found popularity all over the world, they hardly ever play shows. Apparently they'd rather perfect their sound in the studio, and with Typical System they've done just that, creating as faultless an album as I've ever heard. Like NoMeansNo's Wrong or Out Cold's Goodbye Cruel World, this album is just sheer fucking perfection from first note to last. If I had to pick favourite tracks I'd probably go with "Flesh War", "Expensive Dog" and "Safety Net".

Photos: Marianne Spellman

Typical System is full of sounds that are wistfully nostalgic for me, bringing to mind everything from Devo to Brian Eno without ever feeling too derivative or pandering. A slightly unhealthy indulgence in nostalgia is definitely part of Total Control's appeal, but a healthy dose of sincerity, intelligence and real talent is what keeps them from being just another superficial exercise in aping the past. 

Over the last few years there's been no lack of amazing bands riding the current revival of post-punk and new wave etc (mostly oozing out of the DIY punk scene), but I doubt that many of them will leave a mark in the way that this band seems destined to do. Fashion and trends are always a festering cancer in punk, and bands like Total Control are the cure.

Typical System is available again on vinyl from Iron Lung records. If you just want to stream the album on bandcamp, do so here as the Iron Lung bandcamp page is missing a track ("2 Less Jacks"). You can also grab their previous 7"s and split with Thee Oh Sees there.