Posts by: homeless
Homeless and artist roster fave releases of 2015
We asked the bands on the Homeless roster to submit their favourite releases of 2015 whilst we busily compiled our own. The Shovels guys even provided an invaluable resource for would-be touring acts.
One cannot rush such a mammoth task as these, hence why it’s mid-March before we present the results. Hey, we’re busy okay?
The following random list of our personal selections does not include the FIVE outstanding releases on Homeless during 2015 – beginning with an album by long-time favourites, SPRAY PAINT. Releasing their 4th album of art-punk and droning vox with Punters On A Barge (June, HOMELESS23) we also felt the time was right to bring the trio to Australia and those who witnessed any of their shows will attest to how powerful a live outfit they are. The tour coincided with our first foray into the shorter format, with a SPRAY PAINT/EXEK split 7″ (June, HOMELESS25) – and what a slice o’wax it turned out to be! Exek continue to play sporadic shows around Melbourne as they put the finishing touches on what no doubt will be a captivating and compelling debut album and we’re thrilled to have been able to include them on the Australian Tour single.
A month later saw the culmination of some 15 months work on our first archival release: the art-spazz-punk of h M A S and their unreleased album, Fear God Honour The King (July, HOMELESS17). From Hobart,
h M A S were considered an oddity, even in the close-knit isolated musical landscape that was Hobart circa 1997. It’s with fondness that I recall the most frequent response by older Tasmanians who were part of the community back then, when told of the impending release was “Really? You’re releasing a h M A S album? Why?” The reviews were entirely positive (with one cryptic Max R’n’R missive) and the pressing has almost sold out, with just 20-25 copies remaining.
Next up was SEWERS second album of some of the noisest, nastiest, vitriolic bile foisted upon human ears since… don’t make us say it. Weight (July, HOMELESS18) arrived just in time for these miscreants tour of the U.S. of A which saw them (ironically) make friends and clear rooms in a hostile environment, even pre-Trump.
The year closed out with the third installment from CUNTZ with Force The Zone (October, HOMELESS24) – coinciding with another tour of the U.S (who says independent labels don’t pay their artists? Appears most of our roster gets O/S…) which included a controversial cancellation of a show in Seattle. The band returned to the surprise news of being nominated for Best Heavy Album in The Age Music Victoria Genre Awards for 2015.
We can’t thank you enough, those good people who continue to support Homeless – whether it be purchasing albums from stores across the world or via our website, the radio DJ’s who play our releases and the punters at shows. The 2016 release roster is shaping as an exciting and memorable one – look for the entire schedule to be announced soon!
So here goes, the non-Homeless releases we enjoyed most for 2015, starting with one that came out December ’14 but didn’t reach Australia before January. In no particular order:
GG King – Unending Darkness (Scavenger of Death)
OST – It Follows (Milan)
Life Stinks – You’ll Never Make It (S-S)
Stick Men With Ray Guns – Grave City (End of an Ear)
No Negative – The Good Never Comes (Psychic Handshake)
Ballroom – Ballroom (Ever/Never)
Manatees – Croc n My Pocket (12xu)
Spray Paint – Dopers (Monofonus)
Crypt Vapor – Erotik Maniac (Death Shadow)
My Disco – Severe (Temporary Residence)
Coneheads – LP1 / 14 Year Old High School PC-Fascist Hype Lords (Erste Theke Tontrager)
Sleaford Mods – Key Markets (Harbinger Sound)
Hue Blanc’s Joyless Ones – Stoning Josephine (Certified PR)
Housewives – Work (Blank Editions / Hands In The Dark)
Andy Human & the Reptoids – Andy Human & the Reptoids (S-S)
Salad Boys – Metalmania (Trouble In Mind)
Wireheads – Big issues (Tenth Court)
Obnox – Know America (Ever / Never)
Diat – Positive Energy (Iron Lung)
Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing – Scrying In Infirmary Architecture (Muzai)
Minneapolis Uranium Club – Human Exploration (Fashionable Idiots)
Kelley Stoltz – In Triangle Time (Castle Face)
Home Blitz – Foremost and Fair (Richie)
v/a – We Jam By Condos (Monofonus Press)
Eyes Ninety – Eyes Ninety (Swashbuckling Hobo)
Don Howland – Life Is A Nightmare (12xu)
Bichkraft – Mascot (Wharf Cat)
Institute – Catharsis (Sacred Bones)
Video – The Entertainers (Third Man)
Ultimate Painting – Green Lanes (Trouble In Mind)
Protomartyr – Agent Intellect (Hardly Art)
Uniform – Perfect World (12xu)
Kitchen’s Floor – Battle of Brisbane (Bruit Direct Disques)
v/a – Destroy All Art (Rock n Roll Parasite)
Ghastly Spats – Spinozism Exorcism (R.I.P Society)
Hierophants – Parallax Error (Goner)
Meanies – It’s Not Me, It’s You (Poison City)
Cherubs – 2 YNFYNYTY (Brutal Panda)
Pronto – Pronto (Slovenly)
Wet Blankets – Rise of the Wet Blankets (Anti Fade)
Evil Army – Violence & War (Hells Headbangers)
Pierre & Bastien – Que du Bonheur (Polly Maggoo)
Crap Detectors – My Generation Compromised At Birth (Brain Transplant)
Digital Leather – All Faded (FDH)
Holy Soul – Fortean Times (Damn You)
v/a – Cease & Desist: DIY! Cult Classics from the Post-Punk Era 1978-82 (Optimo)
Dan Melchior’s Broke Revue – Lords of the Manor (In The Red)
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL
39 Clocks – Subnarcotic (Luxury Products USA)
Action Swingers – Quit While You’re Ahead (In The Red)
Broken Talent – Rules No One (Florida’s Dead)
Chrome Cranks – Chrome Cranks (Hozac)
Girls, The – Punk Dada Pulchritude (Feeding Tube)
Maercks, Owen – Teenage Sex Therapist (Feeding Tube)
Milk From Cheltenham – Triptych of Poisoners (Superior Viaduct)
Pack – Pack (Ugly Pop)
Steel Pole Bath Tub – Tulip (Sinister Torch)
Scientists – Scientists (Numero Group)
Scientists – Blood Red River (Numero Group)
Suburban Lawns – Suburban Lawns (Futurismo)
Sunday Painters – In My Dreams (What’s Your Rupture?)
Sunday Painters – 4th Annual Report (What’s Your Rupture?)
Swans – White Light from the Mouth of Infinity (Young God)
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments – Straight To Video (STV)
v/a – Punk 45: Burn Rubber City, Burn! Akron, Ohio: Punk and the Decline of the Mid West 1975-80 (Soul Jazz)
v/a – Punk 45: Extermination Nights In the Sixth City – Cleveland, Ohio: Punk and the Decline of the Mid West 1975-82 (Soul Jazz)
v/a – Back From The Grave Vol. 9 (Crypt)
v/a – Back From The Grave Vol. 10 (Crypt)
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BEN CROTHERS (h M A S)
10 favourite Australian Releases of 2015 – no particular order:
Sam Bakers – At Home
Drunk Elk – Constellations
Squirrel Pancake – Squirrel Pancake
Filthy Little Star – Evening
Superimposed Flowers on Palestine – Musrum
K Mason – K Mason 3
Sarah Mary Chadwick – 9 Classic Tracks
Howling Gruel – Jolly Jape
Shebeen Queen – Your Madness Will Not Go To Waste
Julian Williams – Big City Love
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DUNCAN ROBINSON (h M A S)
Tasmania: All The Weathers – 6 for Gold
Homeless: Sewers – Weight
Australian: C.W. Stoneking – Gon’ Boogaloo
&: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
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PHILIPPE (Subtle Turnhips)
Tropical Trash – UFO Rot
Dawn Of Humans – Slurping At The Cosmos Spine
The Coneheads – L .P.1. Aka 14 Year Old High School PC-Fascist Hype Lords Rip Off Devo For The Sake Of Extorting $$$ From Helpless Impressionable Midwestern Internet Peoplepunks L.P.
Cuntz – Force The Zone
Portron Portron Lopez – Moi Aussi J’ai Des Amis Qui Font Du Bruit
not 2015 but bought in 2015
Jorge Ben – A Banda Do Zé Pretinho (fleamarket find)
Al Castellanos / La Playa Sextet / Sonny Rossi – 100% Typique (fleamarket find)
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ZAC WALTON (Gentlemen)
Dan Melchior – Lords of The Manor
Uniform – Perfect World
The Best Show on WFMU boxset
Axis:Sova – Early Surf
No Negative – The Good Never Comes
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CORY PLUMP (Spray Paint)
Exhaustion – Biker
Palmbomen – II
Taming Power – 21 Pieces
Six Feet Under – Comp
Scientist – Wins The World Cup
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GEORGE DISHNER (Spray Paint)
Container – LP
US Girls – Half Free
Stick Men With Ray Guns – Grave City
Glenn Branca – The Ascension
Cuntz – Force The Zone
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Shovels
Top 5 Tour Vans:
5. Green 2008 Toyota Sienna
The first model tour van we ever had, and probably the greatest. Sleek, roomy, stylish, it had it all. Its mp3 CD capability cut down the number of CDs need to tour. The 8 seater design was unparalleled in other minivans at the time. Cruise control, AC, and a fold down flat backseat for gear. Middle windows that rolled all the way down kept the wet towel smell to a minimum. Find one if you can. They can’t be beat.
4. Metallic Blue 2013 Chrysler Grand Caravan
The ultimate in luxury minivans. All leather interior, and a bunch of other unnecessary fancy shit means that no rental company in the world will let you out of your home state with this one. Fortunately, this was just for a West Coast jaunt. Noel Von Harmonson and Utrillo Kushner, two of the West Coast’s headiest and most experienced road dogs, also worded us up on Stow-and-Go, the secret gear compartments under the seats. Do criminals know they are there?? A good conversation for the road….
3. Silver Mercedes Sprinter (year unknown)
Don’t be fooled by the glossy photo, this was a beast (and not so new). A Euro touring machine, this one had been driven hard. Real hard. The brakes made such a bad sound, it was hard to hit them, which made hills terrifying. For some reason, the back seats were about 2 feet below the front seats, which meant that whichever band member was in the back was cast off in their own world. With plenty of room for the shitty solid state backline that came with it, it truly owned the wide streets of Germany. But beware the skinny back alleys of Madrid–you may find yourself at one of those pay-the-computer-at-the-gate French hotel parking lots frantically trying to paint over the damage with silver nail polish.
2. Silver 2015 Kia Sedona
After several requests for a 2008 Sienna, the kind lady at the rental counter insisted that we take the Sedona. ‘Trust me,’ she said. ‘I just took it to Stockton last weekend and it was wonderful.’ If you can make it in Stockton, you can make it anywhere. Stockton’s car theft rates rival that of East Oakland and Detroit, and it’s flat, faceless, chain restaurant highways are a spitting image of those in Iowa and Indiana, so we knew this would be the perfect USA tourer. And it was. Behold the new champion in the minivan arena. Absolutely unparalleled.
1. Ford Econoline (all years)
The alpha and omega of touring vans. The greatest of all time. The uncontested tour van of choice, 40 years running. Haven’t gotten to tour in one yet, but maybe one day. Discontinued in 2015. R.I.P.
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Perte et Fracas review CUNTZ – Force The Zone
Third album for the Cuntz from Australia, whose name deemed too offensive towards the female gender that has earned them some problems during their recent tour in the prudish America and the cancellation of a concert in Seattle. It will take more to shock us.
As such, the music could do the trick. Cuntz hit hard. Around the lower abdomen. Lets say below the belt. No major changes from the last albums, Solid Mates and Aloha, but a slow landslide towards more frank attacks, more incisive while managing to feature a handful of more melodic and diabolically catchy songs. One riff, but the right one each time in compositions that never spread. “Cooked” (released as a single in a slightly different version and not as powerful), “Chinese Dream Boat”, “Tanning”, “Tired”, “Nah Man” (preceded by a short song “Nah” that has nothing to do with the latter), the convulsions and exploded compositions give way to head forward songs that end in less than two minutes, moving the rock cursor from a noise barometer to a sardonic garage-punk one, which a synth tries to disrupt regularly in the background. “Tired” is the finest example of the Cuntz making you want to dance, even on all fours, hopping and flowing more than ever. And that suits them fine because their guitarist has a beautiful talent, ripping chords, finely honed into multiple parts. Cuntz also like repetition, drilled into your brain, never to come out (you end up whistling them all day) like “Nah Man” or “Factory Floor”, as the title, is repeated 36 times (yes I counted, that’s how I waste my time) in three minutes. It takes all the science of singing sewerman to give a dirty and biting colour to side A, that is an invigorating and flurry rock’n’roll I did not think the Cuntz capable of.
On the flip side, the four guys from Melbourne revel in their grub with a five minute “Grill” that we’re sure to pass on. Pissed Jeans are just around the corner again, the singer vomits his bile, mid-tempo rhythms brings out all the gall and perversity of a Cuntz that have lost none of its rampant madness and love of dissonance and feedback, which the finest example is the final piece. “Cooked II”, umpteenth version, ends up in a great mess (slightly too long) whistling, sampled voices and other stridency/sonic messes, resembling a locked groove, Cuntz just love it when it all goes wrong and wonky. In between, Cuntz still have time to show they remain a savage band with the one minute “Mould” (a tribute to Bob?) and the two dismembered and shaggy songs that are are the sarcastic “Internet (Connect)” and excellent “Evil”.
A seemingly two-speed Cuntz, like a transitional album or a sign that the Cuntz are enriching their palette. And it is always superb, making “Force The Zone” one of the most scathing punk-rock-garage LP’s from their country. And beyond.
Troisième album pour les Australiens de Cuntz dont le patronyme jugé trop offensif à l’égard de la gente féminine leur a valu quelques problèmes lors de leur récente tournée dans la prude Amérique et l’annulation d’un concert à Seattle. Il en faudra plus pour nous choquer.
A ce titre, seule la musique pourrait suffire. Cuntz frappe fort. De préférence en bas du ventre. Voir en-dessous de la ceinture. Pas de grands bouleversements par rapport aux derniers albums Solid Mates et Aloha mais un lent glissement de terrain vers des attaques plus franches, plus saignantes tout en réussissant le tour de force d’aligner une bonne poignée de morceaux plus mélodiques et diaboliquement entraînants. Un riff, un seul mais le bon à chaque fois dans des compos qui ne s’étendent jamais. Cooked (sorti en single dans une version légèrement différente et pas aussi percutante), Chinese Dream Boat, Tanning, Tired, Nah Man (précédé d’un très court morceau Nah qui n’a pourtant rien à voir), les convulsions et les compos éclatées ont laissé place à des titres qui filent droit en moins de deux minutes, déplaçant le curseur du rock d’un baromètre noise vers celui d’un garage-punk sardonique qu’un synthé tente toujours de régulièrement perturbé en tâche de fond. Tired est le plus bel exemple d’un Cuntz qui donne envie de danser, même à quatre pattes, plus coulant et sautillant que jamais. Et ça leur va très bien au teint car leur guitariste possède un beau brin de talent et des dérapages de cordes finement aiguisés en de multiples parties. Cuntz aime aussi les répétitions, du plan s’enfonçant dans la caboche pour ne plus en ressortir (et que vous finissez par siffloter toute la journée) à l’instar de Nah Man ou Factory Floor dont le seul titre est répété 36 fois (oui, j’ai compté, j’ai que ça à foutre) en trois minutes. Il faut toute la science du chant d’égoutier pour donner une coloration plus crade et mordante à une face A qui passe comme une bourrasque rock’n’roll vivifiante dont je ne pensais pas Cuntz capable.
Sur la face B, les quatre gars de Melbourne remettent du bordel dans leur tambouille avec les cinq minutes de Grill qui à coup sûr nous font repasser dessus. Pissed Jeans repointe le bout de son nez, le chanteur vomit sa bile, le rythme mid-tempo fait ressortir tout le fiel et la perversité d’un Cuntz n’ayant rien perdu sa folie rampante et son amour de la dissonance et du larsen dont le plus bel écho se trouve dans le dernier morceau. Cooked II, énième version, finit dans le fatras (un poil long) de sifflements, voix samplées et autres stridences/gros bordel ressemblant à un locked groove alors que Cuntz aime juste quand ça ne tourne pas rond. Entre les deux, Cuntz aura encore eu le temps de montrer qu’il reste un groupe sauvage avec la minute de Mould (un hommage à Bob ?) et les deux morceaux démembrés et hirsutes que sont le sarcastique Internet (Connect) et l’excellent Evil.
Un Cuntz semblant à deux vitesses, comme un album de transition ou alors signe que Cuntz enrichit sa palette. Et elle est toujours superbe, faisant de Force The Zone un des meilleurs brûlot punk-rock-garage de son pays. Et bien au-delà.SKX (10/11/2015)
Perte et Fracas review Cuntz – Force The Zone LP
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Perte & Fracas review hMAS – Fear God Honour The King
“Homeless records had already revealed the sublime Stickmen from the same Australian island of Tasmania, in the same city, Hobart, and from the same period (the second part of the ’90s), the Melbourne label unearths hMAS. A strange name that means Her (or His) Majesty’s Australian Service, a prefix used by the Australian navy in tribute to the English crown. I do not know if their name is linked to a sea wind, but this may be a roundabout way of paying tribute to England and its music scene. The Buzzcocks, post-punk, Fire Engines, Television Personalities, Jesus and Mary Chain, and surely many more since Julian Teakle (who wrote some notes on the insert and who made an unsuccessful trial on drums for hMAS) had met Ben Crothers, hMAS guitarist, on the bus, because he wore a Ned’s Atomic Dustbin T-shirt! What more do you want?
But hMAS’ music was not looking only towards the distant Europe. Another island, New Zealand, and the famous Flying Nun label is probably not trivial in the genesis of this group 100% DIY with groups like Bailter Space and Chris Knox. You mix all these influences completely randomly and you get the hMAS album Fear God Honour The King, which languished at the bottom of a cardboard box, the group being very dissatisfied with the quality of the recording and because ultimately the two key members, Ben Crothers and Duncan Robinson (bass) had other things to do with their lives.
But before we get to there and to understand the evolution of hMAS, use the download coupon and follow the beginnings of the group with the tapes Goes Pop! (10 titles) and The Computer Tape (24 titles), far too many tunes, leaving the feeling of an indecent propensity to record everything that went through their heads. Lo-fi home recordings in all its splendor. It’s fine on Goes Pop! where the beginnings of a noisy-pop-punk with beat-box rhythms are felt. However, The Computer Tape is a bunch of endless bontempi tunes for a Moldovan electronic games soundtrack with remixes rotten enough to disgust you forever.
Fortunately, Fear God Honour The King shows a devilishly more attractive face. Matt Barnes is recruited (the ad is transcribed, spelling mistakes included: 2 amatuer punks seek drummer / must be young and insane) on drums and the trio permit themselves to use a real studio to make a proper sound of these acid and noisy nursery rhymes. An album recorded in 1997 for a major backward leap on the time scale, the ’90s and even before, a happy go lucky mixture exploding on the edges. The guitar gets thick, skids, scrapes and makes hMAS’s songs take off in order to spend a few more carefree years. The drums survive in the back (although the group found the cymbals too present), guitar and bass covering the bulk of the mess and the melodies hit you more than once as in the excellent “Fungus” (very Bailter Space) or “Three Shooting Stars”. hMAS knew how to be generous, spontaneous, and noisy (all of this is just the beginning of “Absurd” and the end of “Three Shooting Stars”), cynical and dark with “Friend Is Dead”, fractious and tense.
This disc, even if failing to sound perfect, sometimes inspired, sometimes anecdotal, gives warmth and sympathy to this very ephemeral and local band that Homeless brings to a greater number of ears, a testimony of a life that is very endearing which is merely a reflection of the history of a whole lot of bands who do not have the chance to see the fruits of their labor engraved for eternity.”
Homeless records avait déjà sorti du placard les sublimes The Stickmen. De la même île australienne, la Tasmanie, de la même ville, Hobart, et de la même époque (la deuxième partie des années 90), le label de Melbourne déterre hMAS. Un nom étrange qui signifie Her (or His) Majesty’s Australian Ship, préfixe utilisé par la marine australienne en hommage à la couronne anglaise. Je ne sais pas si leur patronyme est lié à ce vent maritime mais c’est peut-être une façon détournée de rendre également hommage à l’Angleterre et sa scène musicale. Les Buzzcocks, le post-punk, Fire Engines, Television Personalities, Jesus and The Mary Chain et bien d’autres encore sûrement puisque Julian Teakle (qui a rédigé quelques notes sur l’insert et qui fit un essai sans succès à la batterie pour hMAS) avait fait la connaissance dans le bus de Ben Crothers, guitariste de hMAS, parce que ce dernier portait un t-shirt de Ned’s Atomic Dustbin ! Allez donc savoir.
Mais la musique de hMAS ne regardait pas que vers la lointaine Europe. Une autre île et le célèbre label néo-zélandais Flying Nun ne sont sans doute pas anodins dans la genèse de ce groupe 100% Do It Yourself avec des groupes comme Bailter Space et Chris Knox. Vous mélangez avec un dosage complètement aléatoire toutes ces influences et vous obtenez hMAS et l’album Fear God Honour The King qui croupissait au fond d’un carton, le groupe étant fort mécontent de la qualité de l’enregistrement et parce que finalement, les deux principaux membres, Ben Crothers et Duncan Robinson (basse) avaient autre chose de mieux à foutre de leur vie.
Mais avant d’en arriver là et pour bien comprendre l’évolution de hMAS, il faut utiliser le coupon de téléchargement et se taper le tout début du groupe avec les cassettes Goes Pop ! (10 titres) et The Computer Tape (24 titres), soit beaucoup trop de morceaux sentant une indécente e propension à enregistrer tout ce qui leur trottait par la tête. Home recordings lo-fi dans toute sa splendeur. Passe encore pour Goes Pop ! où les prémices d’une noisy-punk-pop déglinguée avec boite à rythmes se font sentir. Par contre, The Computer Tape est un ramassis sans fin de morceaux bontempi pour bande-son de jeux électroniques moldaves avec ses remix aussi pourris pour bien écœurer définitivement.
Heureusement, Fear God Honour The King montre un visage diablement plus avenant. Matt Barnes est recruté (l’annonce est retranscrite, faute comprise : 2 amatuer punks seek drummer/must be young and insane) à la batterie et le trio s’autorise à utiliser un vrai studio pour faire sonner correctement ces comptines acides et bruyantes. Un album enregistré en 1997 pour un grand bond en arrière sur l’échelle du temps, les années 90 et encore avant, un joyeux mélange pétaradant et foutraque sur les bords. La guitare prend de l’épaisseur, dérape, gratte et fait décoller les morceaux de hMAS afin de passer plus allègrement les années. La batterie survie dans le fond (bien que le groupe trouvait les cymbales foutrement trop présentes), guitare et basse se taillant le gros du bordel et les mélodies font mouche plus d’une fois comme sur l’excellent Fungus, très Bailter Space pour le coup ou sur Three Shotting Stars. hMAS savait se montrer généreux, spontané, bruyant voir bruitiste (tout le début de Absurd et la fin de Three Shotting Stars), cynique et sombre avec Friend is Dead, hargneux et tendu.
Ce disque, à défaut de sonner parfaitement, parfois inspiré, parfois anecdotique, confère chaleur et sympathie à ce groupe éphémère et très local que Homeless permet à un plus grand nombre d’entendre, un témoignage d’un bout de vie très attachant qui n’est que le reflet de l’histoire d’une tonne de groupes de part le monde qui eux n’ont pas la chance de voir le fruit de leur travail gravé pour l’éternité.
perte et fracas – chronique disque hMAS
Perte & Fracas – hMAS – Fear God Honour The King – Homeless records
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Did Not Chart review h M A S – Fear God Honour The King
It’s Hobart, Tasmania. It’s the 1990s. Two amateur punks are looking for a drummer who’s young and insane. They abuse an old drum machine until it breaks. They play annoyingly loud songs about swearing and Mexico.
They record an album in 1997. Almost 20 years later there’s a bidding war Homeless fight RIP Society in a pub car park over who can release it. Homeless win.
hMAS sound like the Buzzcocks songs that never made it to 7″. They sound like Bailter Space trying to make sense of heavy metal. They sound like Hawkwind with Kim Deal on bass. And they sound like Wire setting fire to an art school.
No one else was making batshit insane music this good in 1997. Look through Homeless’s or Hozac’s catalogue for who’s making this sort of noise now.
Source: Did Not Chart: hMAS: Fear God Honour The King
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Brooklyn Vegan premiere new EXEK video
Melbourne, Australia is a breeding ground for great post-punk influenced bands, to the point where I imagine most of the city’s population are in at least one band, if not two. (Perhaps that is how they imagine Brooklyn.) One of the newer ones is Exek, whose bleak, dubby sound recalls Metal Box-era PiL. The band recently released a tour split 7″ with Austin’s Spray Paint and we’ve got the premiere of the video for “The Theme From Judge Judy” from that in this post. Watch below and you can pick up the 7″ via Aussie label Homeless. The band are currently working on their full-length debut.
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Source: Melbourne, Australia’s Exek share dubby “The Theme From Judge Judy” from split 7″ w/ Spray Paint
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SPRAY PAINT Australian Tour June 2015
Preview track from PUNTERS ON A BARGE, in stores 1st June.
Deluxe silkscreen limited edition (150 only) available for preorder – less than 50 copies remaining!
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Spray Paint – Punters On A Barge LP – released June 1st
Since their two incredible 7″s emerged on the fine S-S Records, we have listened to Spray Paint more than any other artist. Not since we were introduced to Seattle’s A Frames has a band captured our attention like Spray Paint’s “post-punk workouts” have.
Seeing them perform in 2013 at Gonerfest Ten only sharpened our fondness and we are finally able to excitedly announce that Homeless will release Spray Paint’s 4th album, PUNTERS ON A BARGE on June 1st.
A preview track will be provided soon and we are working on a limited, deluxe silk-screen edition which will be offered as a preorder item only. Those who secured the beautiful Stickmen deluxe editions know already what to expect and these will be snapped up just as quickly as those Stickmen beauties.
Homeless subscribers will receive notification of the preorder first – don’t miss out – add your email to the Newsletter Signup on the right of this page.
PUNTERS ON A BARGE released June 1st on Homeless
Homeless is also distributing the band’s previous album on Monofonus Press, the excellent Clean Blood, Regular Acid – available here.
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USA labels distributed by Homeless
Some of the USA’s finest labels are now being distributed by Homeless.
More labels to be added over the coming weeks.
Contact us if you would like us to stock a release not listed at our Shop page.
Buffalo Tooth
Lorelle Meets The Obsolete
EddyCurrentSuppressionRing
Dahga Bloom
Back From The Grave
The Gories
The Oblivians
Teengenerate
Spray Paint
The Rebel
Trans Upper Egypt
GG King – Unending Dark
V/A – Land of Nod: Atlanta
Wymyns Prysyn
Russell St Bombings
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December VINYL GIVEAWAY!!
Win a copy of all Homeless releases from 2014.
LIKE our Facebook page and SHARE the vinyl giveaway post to be entered to win – competition open to anyone with a Facebook account – wherever you are!
(NOTE: if you have strong privacy settings, be sure you’re in the competition by sending us a screen shot via email)
Another year we’re pretty proud of what we’ve released – new recordings on the left, reissues on the right – the Dacios album appearing on vinyl for the first time.
Winner announced Tuesday 16th December
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When was the last time you picked up?
Order a record via our new website and we’ll meet you at a Fitzroy pub – The Old Bar, Labour In Vain, The Tote or The Standard.
Use the “FREE shipping – Fitzroy location TBC” option, which defaults for Melbourne residents only. We’ll communicate via email and tee up a handy time and place.
The beer isn’t free, sorry.
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Homeless Comforts
Here at Homeless, we’ve crapped our piss-stained pants in excitement at the launch of our website, on the 2nd anniversary of being Homeless. It was two years ago the Bits of Shit and Homeless combined to kick-start what was once referred to as “Melbourne’s most offensive record label”.
New releases in June include the psych post-punk of Shovels and French veterans of angular and snappy punk, Subtle Turnhips Redhair With Some. These will be followed by Homeless once again diving into Tasmania’s icy waters with The Dacios album, Monkey’s Blood – which Mess+Noise declared “Could Monkeys Blood (damn the missing apostrophe – fixed now by Homeless) be the best Australian rock’n’roll record of the decade? I would like to think that in years to come this album will be regarded as highly as (I’m) Stranded, X-Aspirations, Blood Red River or Life Was Better, but only time will truly tell” plus an outstanding live album by Bird Blobs Back on the Beast and fellow Hobart noise-mongers H.M.A.S. with their unreleased album Fear God Honour The King. You have to hear these three Tassie treats to believe how brilliant they really are.
All of these releases will be limited to just 250-350 copies each, so your best means to not miss out is by entering your email and clicking that little “SUBSCRIBE” button to the right…
Thanks to all that have supported Homeless in our 2 years of existence and please stick with us as we announce a few genuine surprises and new ventures before the end of 2014.
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Cuntz – Aloha in Releases : Mess+Noise
One of Australia’s finest reviewers of music tackles Cuntz:
The first thing you notice is the name: Cuntz. It’s in your face, like the tough kid at high school casually interrogating the reason for your brief glance in his direction, with a slog to the upper body waiting should you fail to provide a satisfactory answer. Whatcha fucken lookin’ at, cunt?
Then again, despite Germaine Greer’s lingering middle-class sensibilities, the word has gradually lost its genuinely offensive edge. Kim Cattrall uttered it in Sex and the City; the hippie-turned-yuppie Jane Fonda even mentioned it on American television. All we need is for Deltra Goodrem to work it into her painfully earnest commentary in The Voice, and linguistic ethnographers will have come to a critical juncture in the word’s sociological evolution.
via Cuntz – Aloha in Releases : Mess+Noise for full review.
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Dirt review by Polaroids of Androids
The nice folk over at Polaroids of Androids called us “legends” today, put the Stabs on their home page, and said some very flattering things about ’em too, including “undoubtedly one of the finest murky noise bands this country has ever birthed”. We hope to have these bad boys tomorrow. Interstate stores won’t get theirs until next week.
http://polaroidsofandroids.com/reacharounds/the-stabs-the-city/7210.html
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Dirt by The Stabs
Vinyl LP
Includes download code.Distributed in AUSTRALIA and JAPAN by Homeless (check Homeless Facebook and Terminal-Boredom for stores and distros)
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SOME NICE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN SAID ABOUT DIRT:
The band’s website mentions that they are “in the tradition of bloody Australian swamp/noise bands like Lubricated Goat and Phlegm”. I’d add approving agreement to that, and add Venom P Stinger to the list too, along with NYC shouters Unsane. I’ve only seen part of a set by these guys live- my notes from that night are now lost but the photos do indeed show one of them with plenty of the red stuff running down his face following some sort of onstage guitar-to-forehead incident, so the bloody description is accurate, as is the noise. Unfortunately though they don’t seem to play live very often.
Regardless of the fairly short running time, with eight tracks clocking in at just over thirty minutes, they cover a lot of ground here on their first LP, from intense and urgent to slow and painful, with lashings of feedback and distortion to boot. Guitars are either shrieking and hitting the red at the front of the mix or muted under the huge drums and thick bass. The rhythms of these songs veer and shake, and “steady tempo” feels like an outdated concept. That short running time is really the only drawback with this– it just may not be quite enough material to get a proper grip on the Stabs
Deciphering the lyrics is fairly hard going- as I said earlier, there aren’t a lot of clues given here and they are often hard to hear under the (deliberately sludgy?) production. One common thread that can be gleaned is a sense of violence and creepiness, that’s more “Last House On the Left” than “Nightmare On Elm Street”, if you’re a cinema buff, more “The Collector” than “American Psycho”, if you’re a reader.
“Never Going Home” seems to be set in a dark basement where serious games are played out- “I got your number/You’re lying on the floor/You take your last breath/While I go get the saw…”- though putting that down in black & white takes away the um, charm of the line as it is sung. This kind of attitude can easily veer into bad cliché, but trust me when I say that some of these tunes hold more menace in four or five minutes that suckers like Slipknot or Korn manage to distill into a whole LP.
It may not be as easy as it should be to find a copy of this- though I suspect that may be somewhat deliberate on the Stabs’ part- but it’s well worth seeking out. If you want something to relax to by candlelight while smoking opium and drinking white wine in your recently scrubbed and now sadly empty dungeon, this is it.
credits
released 25 April 2013
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