Forming in the same sweaty nucleus of Brisbane, Australia, the music of Thigh Master and Dag has long been intertwined, sharing an interchangeable roster of members and a mutual passion for bright and beautiful guitar pop sounds. On the road, Thigh Master and Dag have covered a considerable distance together, at home and abroad, traversing endless kilometres through Outback Australia and sharing the journey overseas to play for audiences in Japan.

OUT NOW
Ivor Cutler meets early Brian Eno on Dealings, an adaptation of John B Cornaway's poems, tangled and twisted into sweet and sour post punk vignettes by Klimperei and Eric Chabert.
Front cover image by Emmanuelle Pidoux.

Graham Lambkin (The Shadow Ring, Kye), Dan Melchior, Letha Rodman-Melchior and Glen the bird's one off collaboration 4 tracks 12″, like no other record you've heard

Mamitori hides a form of twee pop unwittingly battered by no wave, and whose every chord could be a blank bullet. You could be mistaken for thinking you were hearing My Bloody Valentine pranged by the Shaggs, the Pastels bullyraged by Mars, Pere Ubu holding paws with Swell Maps. Is a new No Tokyo emerging 35 years after No New York ? This live set in front of a ghost-like public serves as a hint of this Japanese band’s profound peculiarity. “The six songs here speak to the mysticism of another Japanese ensemble with as large a reputation as a body of work, Les Rallizes Denudes, but while that group built themselves up over long tracks, Mamitori (the preferred abbreviation) confines itself mostly to 4-5 minute stretches, quickly establishing a melody and a beat, and getting colorful over top.” (Still SIngle)

Robert Vagg (Meat Thump, Kitchen's Floor) delivers ten confessionals that drift around tragedies, hopelessness, failed systems, nonconformity, and physical/psychological experiences. Set to the minimalist sparse compositions of Dan McGirr and Natasha Buchanan, whose guitar and synthesizer lines entwine around the bleak lyrics and help paint Robert's world of despair and loneliness. Only more downer, time hasn't healed the wounds, they've only become deeper. The Durutti Column meets Lou Reed's Berlin on this Australian band's second LP, far from their shambolic debut single on Negative Guest List. “Tracks like the stunning “Thieves Who Dream” playing like Flying Saucer Attack shot through a kaleidoscope, pushing all the right buttons over here at SSHQ, and the overall somber Alastair Galbraith/Chan Marshall-esque intonations at stake here are bettered by these rare glimpses of sunlight.” (Still Single)

“Méditerranée” is the sound of sticky keyboards poking at schoolchildren until the kids erupt into moans of agony, as if Slugfuckers left the rhythm section at home and just blasted their gear after a particularly lousy day at the factory. – Matt Korvette (Yellow Green Red)

It's a wild pile of Guff – very French sounding (in a Bordeaux Free Rock direction) and quite exciting. Supposed to be part of a series. Can't wait for more. – Byron Coley (The Wire)

Now defunct parisian band with a distinct funky crazy sound that meshes them in a time warp to No New York twangs. La ligne claire were Charlene Darling, Ines Di Folco, Alexandre Kouklia and Fifi (11eme etage).

“There's some seriously throwaway craziness on this mini-lp. Punk is obviously the background for this music, though La Ligne Claire were not born when French hardcore punkers Lucrate Milk were wrapping sellotape around their heads in early 1980s videos. Chéri's ramshackle beats are drawn more from African music than Amphetamines. ” (The Wire)

Debut EP from this renowed hip-hop beatmaker (ill bill, vinnie paz, jise 1, etc.) “Amazing horror-hop Metal hybrid. Have listened to this a few times and wish my son was around to help with my vocabulary. It comes off a little bit like a ghetto-recorded soundtrack to a movie starring Glenn Danzig as a vampiric country priest who rides a little donkey into the city to attack MF Doom. But that doesn’t really get at the root of it. Its essence is more damaged than that. Can this somehow all get traced back to Metal Urbain ? If so, I’d like to see the map.” (Byron Coley)