Loving The Strange Holiday With White Hex

Jimi Kritzler of Slug Guts fame took off to Berlin not too long ago with Tara Green and whilst getting up to all manner of things they experimented with their own sound, coming up with the "tropical goth" of White Hex. It's got a diamond-edge twinkle on the fringes of downer dirge, courtesy of Green's ragged, depressed vocal delivery. The beauty of White Hex is that it takes much of the smack country drone from Slug Guts and imbues a few extra shades of grey. Those excellent dudes over at AVANT! Records are releasing White Hex's 12" Heat on Wednesday, and I for one cannot wait.



And here is the video for another track of the 12", 'Holiday'.

WHITE HEX - Holiday from PɨK on Vimeo.

Lusting After Youth And War

I know I mentioned the incumbent split for Sweden's Lust For Youth and Denmark's War, The Glass House Etiquette, a little while ago. Well, Avant! Records is about to drop that bomb - go get it. Also important though is LFY's new full-length, Growing Seeds. I'm really digging it. I know there is a lot of this diseased synth pop that lurks around in the ether, but there is something about this album and this band (now just the solo outfit for Hannes Norrvide after partner in crime Amanda's departure) that tends to nail it more consistently than others. Maybe it's just me - but there is something sexy and addictive about this record. I reckon its my favourite in this vein this year. It's not ultra surprising, as I was a fan of the Gothic Germanic-wave of their previous release Solar Flare, but this really steps up. 'Cover Their Face' is doing me over and over again - I feel wonderfully violated. Yes, I am a little bit of a whore - Lust For Youth does that to me, every time.


Grab Growing Over here.

Lust For Youth - Behind Curtains

And for you War fans...

War - Somme, Maggio

Declaring War On The Ice Age

It's no secret that I'm a rabid fan of Denmark's punk nihilist teens Iceage - their New Brigade record is easily one of the best of its kind for the past decade, at the very least. Whilst we all wait anxiously to see if they can ride the wave of expectation to create another killer album, their frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt combined with Sexdrome's Loke Rahbek to form weird electro-disco-no wave-punk outfit War. I say weird, because I shouldn't like this - but I do. Very much. They put a 7" out through Sacred Bones last month, backed up by a split with Lust For Youth (through the great Avant! Records), and the resultant feverish aural masturbation that has hit the taste-makers of this insipid world is OTT - but somewhat warranted.

War - Brodermordet

Hits From The Box #39 - The Blog That Stops A Nation

Its the first Tuesday of November, when Australia stops everything to watch 24 horses run in a circle a couple of times with a abnormally shrunken man-child in garish coloured silks on their backs. A bit of flagellation to make the horses go faster doesn't hurt either. Its also a day where many businesses expect either sick days to avalanche or for sick days to hit the first Wednesday of November. The winner this year may have been Dunaden (who I won thirty quid off at the work sweepstakes, suckas!), but the real winner on the day has to be Alcohol and Gamblers' Anonymous. Its a long term investment - but they will turn up, sooner or later. Or have drunk themselves to death. Or be kneecapped by a loan shark. All because they chose the wrong leprechaun on a horse. Sigh...but I still won thirty quid.


el Motel are a relatively new duo punching their way onto the Brisbane scene. Delving to dirty up the garage blues shtick even further, the boys are just finishing the final touches on their debut EP. They also have the auspicious privilege of playing the second Sonic Masala Presents show at The Waiting Room, Friday December 2 (ah, what's a bit of self cross promotion between friends, hey?)

el Motel - Black Rider


Tygerstrype recently self-released Lackadaisical Daisy. Now this kinda stuff sits on a knife edge with me, in that it could be incredible, or incredibly contrived and shit. Yet Tygerstrype have crafted something special here, a collection that's filled with enough psychedelic dance and electronic effects, using looped vocals, synthesizers, and various effects pedals to transport you to other realms, ones where colours that you never thought existed litter the horizon. 'Open Notes' has a Animal Collective bent before the more mechanical drum beats come in, whilst songs such as 'Malevolence' offer darker terrain. This is a solid release.

Tygerstrype - Malevolence


Inspired & the Sleep is a solo project for San Diego's Max Greenhalgh, and Teenager is his collection of his tunes. I've only heard the two tracks below, but they are fun slices of quirk pop with the sheen to match. He's just been hired as a beach lifeguard though - not sure this could ever replace the theme tune to Baywatch...

Inspired And The Sleep - While We're Young
Inspired And The Sleep - Chops


Julian Wass (of Fol Chen fame) kicks out the 8-bit jams on Crystals, his solo debut. Seriously, this should be a videogame score! Setting out to create an album that encapsulates and honors his lifelong fascination with gems, 8 bit graphics and analog synthesizers in a fashion that feels less like a Ford & Lopatin style imitator and much more like that Fred Savage film where the kids go to the US National Nintendo Championships and get to play Super Mario Bros 3 before it was ever released. If only ALL movie villains got real mad when The Glove was employed... Its pretty rad.

Julian Wass - Red


Those crazy cats over at ace Italian label AVANT! have branched out with a new tape label called Yerevan Tapes. Their second release is this debut tape by Gianni Giublena Rosacroce called La piramide di sangue (The Blood Pyramid). It is the new solo project by Stefano Isaia, the singer and frontman from Movie Star Junkies, accompanied by his mate Dedalo666. Gianni Giublena Rosacroce explores new sounds closer this time to the Middle-Eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Armed with clarinet, cans, drums and percussions, piano and acoustic guitars, the cacophony sounds at once authentically Eastern yet roguishly Eurocentric. Order this intriguing album here.


Gianni Giublena Rosacroce - Abdul Alhazred
Gianni Giublena Rosacroce - La Piramide di Sangue


Deathdream rounds out our Melbourne Cup Hits From The Box special, and if you spent your life savings on a glorified glue sack, this band's for you. Placed on New Zealand's very interesting Papaiti Records (expect to hear from a few other artists from their stable on these here pages soon!), Deathdream was the solo project of Otago-based artist William Borrie. Although the subject matter can be morbid, Deathdream has its moments of beauty, especially on the three track Night Terror EP he brought out last year. Think The Dead C going shoegaze in a suburban Whanganui bedroom - I can, anyway.

Deathdream - Endless Knot

Happy Melbourne Cup Day! Hope you have as good a time as this lovely lass...