mars 2021 - Still in Rock - A Garage Rock, Slacker, Post-skate Webzine

PLAYLIST Still in Rock - March 2021

31.3.21

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 5

29.3.21

Every Monday morning, Still in Rock begins the week with an article featuring a bunch of recent releases. I dedicate a playlist to the very best of these articles at the end of each month (link). Make sure you don’t miss anything, join Still in Rock on Facebook (here), WhatsApp (here), and Instagram (here). Cheers.

Chaque lundi matin, Still in Rock commence la semaine avec plusieurs sorties qui méritent leur pesant de cacahouètes biologiques. Et à la fin de chaque mois, une playlist rassemble le meilleur de ces articles (lien). Soyez sûr de ne rien manquer, rejoigniez Still in Rock sur Facebook (ici), WhatsApp (ici) et Instagram (here). Cheers.

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Skegss – Rehearsal

LP, Loma Vista Recordings, 26 March 2021

[slacker pop]

EN: I said it, I do it. I knew I couldn't escape the new Skegss album. I just didn't think it would be this good. On Rehearsal, Skegss has aged, and it suits him well. No more 100% dumb music; Skegss has become a well-informed composer of pop music. The songs are well done, just like the ones we already know as singles. Yeah, Skegss is 30 years old, and that's cool.

FR: Je l'avais dit, je le fais. Je savais qu'il m'était impossible d'échapper au nouvel album de Skegss. Seulement, je n'aurai pas pensé le trouver aussi bon. Sur Rehearsal, Skegss a pris un coup de vieux, et ça lui va bien. Fini la musique 100% dumb, Skegss se montre à nous comme un compositeur averti de musique pop. Les morceaux sont tous bien foutus, à l'image de ceux que l'on connait déjà pour avoir été de fidèles singles. Ouais, Skegss a 30 ans, et c'est très cool.

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Wassup Rocker Radio – Sick Sounds 3

Compilation, 12 March 2021

[jangle pop]

EN: Wassup Rocker Radio is a real empire. Known for its excellent radio shows (of which I had the honor to be a part for a year), it is also the purveyor of a true lifestyle. With WRR, the great New York era is never far away. Power pop never died, the Ramones are still the best band around, and laughter is the supreme power. That's what the new WRR compilation encapsulates. From the Yum Yums to The Sueves, WRR delivers the year's finest overview. Sick Sounds 3, compilation of 2021?!

FR: Wassup Rocker Radio, c'est un véritable empire. Connu pour ses excellentes émissions radio (dont j'ai eu l'honneur de faire partie pendant une année), c'est aussi le pourvoyeur d'un véritable mode de vie. Avec WRR, la grande époque New-Yorkaise n'est effectivement jamais loin. La power pop n'a jamais disparu, les Ramones sont toujours le meilleur groupe au monde, et le rire règne en maître. C'est tout ce que la nouvelle compilation WRR encapsule. Des Yum Yums jusqu'à The Sueves, WRR délivre le plus beau tour d'horizon de l'année. Sick Sounds 3, compilation de 2021 ?!

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Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters – "Dealing Again" & "Been Waiting"

Singles, Legless Records, 22 March 2021

[garage rock]

EN: Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters is a band from Melbourne who, until now, didn't really do it for me. But because the band is part of the Legless Records, it was obvious that I was wrong. It is now a fact. Its two new singles, "Dealing Again" & "Been Waiting", seem to announce a new LP that will be on the podium of 2021 best garage album. There is a bit of an early sixties feel with the clap on the first one I mentioned. Excellent!

FR: Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters, c'est un groupe originaire de Melbourne qui, jusqu'à ce jour, n'avez pas véritablement emporté mon adhésion. Seulement, le groupe fait partie de la clique Legless Records, il était donc évident que je me trompais, que j'avais faux. C'est désormais chose actée. Ses deux nouveaux singles, "Dealing Again" & "Been Waiting", semblent annoncer un nouvel LP qui jouera le podium du meilleur album garage de 2021. Il y a un peu côté début sixties qui est je trouve très bon, voyez les clappements du premier titre cité.

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Courting – "Grand National"

Single, Nice Swan Recordings, 12 March 2021

[indie rock]

EN: Courting is a relatively new English band. Since the release of the very good “Popshop!”, I’ve been watching them, their Parquet Courts rhythm and their corporate lyrics. He comes back these days with "Grand National", a track more rock than pop. He wants to be post-skate. It is very good. The revival of the English scene seems to correspond with the Brexit, I start to wonder.

FR: Courting, c'est un groupe anglais relativement récent. Je le surveille depuis la parution du très bon "Popshop!", son rythme Parquet Courts et ses paroles corporate. Il revient ces jours-ci avec "Grand National", un titre plus rock que pop. Il se veut post-skate. Il est très bon. Le renouveau de la scène anglaise semble correspondre avec le Brexit, je commence à me poser des questions.

Los Scallywaggs: 'Simple but loud as fuck music'

26.3.21

EN: Los Scallywaggs is an Australian band that, since 2013, has the mission to embellish the slacker scene. In the last few years, he has played bogan music, punk, pop... and he now wants to be the soundtrack of our long road trips. His latest EP, We're All Mad Here, is among the best releases of 2020. I had to talk to him, before meeting him, one day, maybe...

FR: Los Scallywaggs, c'est un groupe australien qui, depuis 2013, s'est donné pour mission d'embellir la scène slacker. Ces dernières années, il a oscillé entre bogan music, punk, pop, et voilà qu'il veut désormais faire honneur aux long road trips en van à l'aide d'une musique qui me rappelle la scène anglaise. Son dernier EP en date, We're All Mad Here, fait partie des meilleures sorties de 2020. Bref, il fallait que je lui parle, avant d'aller les rencontrer, un jour, peut-être...

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Let us start with a playlist curated by

Los Scallywaggs for Still in Rock

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Your music

How are you? What’s up with you these days?

We are doing well. Finally played a couple of shows after a long wait. We have added some new mates to the band so there is five of us now. Bit of synth and more guitar which feels good.

Good to hear! Now, let me start by going back in time. What was the idea when you created the band?

The idea was to make simple but loud as fuck music in your face kinda thing. I guess it’s taking its toll now because our ears are done for. We started playing heavy rock kind of White Stipes style, because it was only guitar and drums at the start. But soon discovered bands like the Black Lips and Ty Segall which threw that other style out the window. Their songs were some simple yet so fucking good to listen to so that was super inspiring and set out the new direction of where we wanted to go I guess.

You know... no-one ever mentions the White Stripes while I think the band influence is huge. Let’s jump on to your latest music. It seems to me that We’re All Mad Here is a love letter to U.K. music (Britpop)? Is that a fair assessment?

I’m not that sure about the love letter. It definitely wasn’t our intention to create that feeling, but glad that people are making that assessment. For the last three or four years, we were so embedded in creating in your face garage-style music that we just got bored of it, to be honest. We have always said we should make an album or an EP of slower songs because a lot of the time when your driving or winding down or whatever, you don’t feel like listening to loud hectic music. So it was more exciting for us as a band to take a step back and create this EP. We threw out the idea of limiting ourselves to just drums, bass and guitar, and tried to create more dynamic pieces of music which in the end turned out to be our favourite release we have done.

Very interesting. I guess you could drive listening to Illumination Zap, but We’re All Mad Here (despite the name) might be less dangerous! This EP has a real ”redneck” touch. Now, I realize how contentious it is to qualify some music as redneck, but I mean it as a compliment (as I wrote in this article, rednecks are cool in Europe). What do you think? Are you rednecks? Is your music redneck?

Redneck is American. I think bogan is the Australian version. And yeh there are plenty of bands that are bogan, I guess. Bogan is good. I think every Australian person has a bit of bogan in them whether they admit to it or not. A lot of the bands mentioned above are pub bands which I guess is bogan but they are all great bands. I wouldn’t say that we are a very pub band or bogan band at that but we will take whatever compliments we can get.

"Bogan is good", I love it! Well... I also called your music ”slacker” many times. Not that you are not working hard, but it seems to be faithful to The Dictators and Ramones. It's punk, it's trash, it's fun. Are you bothered by this label?

Nah... people can call it whatever they want if they like that’s great, and if they don’t, that’s also fine. Some of our favourite bands are slacker rock bands, I guess, so we are happy to be in that category.

Coming back to We’re All Mad Here, I agree with you that they are your best songs, imho. This is super rare; bands usually get to their best material after 1 or 2 years. How come, you think?

Everyone is different. We were super happy with the response we got from the EP. I guess it made it more special for us as we didn’t care what people thought of it in the first place. We just wanted to release something that was different from what we have always done, and if people liked it that just a bonus.

When can we expect some new music from you?

Hopefully another LP later on this year.

Yay!

The scene

It seems to me that the slacker scene is slowly dying off at the benefit of more serious punk music (more engaged), although there are still a few bands around, such as Dune Rats, The Chats, Skegss, and co. With all the shit that’s happening in the world, it’s possible we might see a come back to more slacker bands because people might need some music to cheer them up. What do you think of all that?

I think people in Australia are extremely lucky and haven’t felt the effects of the pandemic like the rest of the world has. In saying that bands are still releasing music and doing their best to deal with what is happening regarding venue closures and new seating rules. People are getting over it and bands are too. It's out of anyone’s hands. I think Australians make light of any shitty circumstance and whatever it takes to cheer 'em up, they will jump onto it. And when they'll let venues doubling capacity... everyone will cheer up.

Man... I need to move to Australia, then. So, what’s the music scene like? It seems to be the golden age of Australian rock music from the outside. Is it going in the right direction? What would you like to change?

So many sick Aussie bands popping off at the moment. But there is a lot of the same shit as well. I can’t say if it is totally going in the right direction. Some parts are definitely going in the right direction, but sometimes I get so frustrated listening to these safety bands on the radio that actually suck and are getting ridiculous exposure. They are kinda creating their safe music that they know has a catchy hook or whatever to enhance their chances of being played on the radio. The big radio stations run the show and the music industry can base a band worth on these radio plays. I think that is what bugs me the most and what I would change. But I guess the best thing is that there are so many new bands that are popping up after all over the place since this shit covid shit started. And there have been some fucking good releases as of late, which make us believe that the music scene is going in the right direction.

Excellent! Now, I’ve recently conducted a short empirical study on “garage rock”, generally speaking. I found out that more and more albums are labelled as such, but the number of Google queries for garage rock tends to decrease. What's your impression from the inside? Do you find it more and more challenging to get support from playing shows and releasing music?

I guess garage music is music that is rough and raw. Lots of bands are rough and raw. It can be harder to get your music playing in front of a large scale audience but I feel there is a more passionate fan base.

To conclude

Best tour memory?

Touring UK and Europe both 2018 and 2019 would have to be the best experience and memories we have ever had. Can't even begin to highlight our favourite memory. Just being there was beyond what we could have ever imagined as a band. People there were super welcoming and happy to have us in their cities. If we were to put it down to best memory of a show it would have to be Toulouse in France 2018 with Holy Wave. That show was next level. I think the Slift lads put that one on for us? Thanks, fellas.

One movie I should watch?

The Big Lebowski

You mean re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-watch then, haha. What is your favourite album of the last few months?

Smarts - Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?

Fantastic album! How do you imagine your discography 20 years from now?

20 albums that start at garage rock albums and finish large scale symphony orchestral albums. Like Metalica did.

Haha, wow! Last question: is “rock’n’roll dead”?

No. It's around; just gotta stumble upon it.

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 4

22.3.21

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Todd Briefly – Demos

LP, Just Step Sideways Records, 20 March 2021

[post-punk / post-skate]

EN: I just started complaining ("yeah, 2021 is not worth 2020 in terms of music...") when Todd Briefly appeared to me. Wow, what a slap in my face! I remember with emotion when I discovered Dumb. I have the impression to live the moment again, before all this mess. Todd Briefly is an artist from London (which confirms the English revival) who "plays lo-fi garage rock-inspired casio-core/egg-punk/guitar-pop and is based in London". At least, that's what he thinks. The truth is that Todd does much more than that. He delivers some of the best rock'n'roll of the year and is bound to be one of the great discoveries of 2021. Not only are his demos well-produced, but they embrace the post-skate of Parquet Courts and Eddy Current Suppression Ring with a little less speed but a nineties feel that reminds me of Pavement. In short, all of what is best in this world is here compressed in 20 minutes only. It's excellent.

FR: Il suffit que je commence à me plaindre ("ouais, 2021 ça vaut pas 2020 en termes de sorties...") pour que Todd Briefly apparaisse. Rohlala, la claque ! Je me souviens avec émotion de ma découverte de Dumb, dans une rue parisienne. J'ai l'impression de revivre le moment, avant tout ce bordel. Todd Briefly est un artiste originaire de Londres (qui confirme le renouveau anglais) qui "plays lo-fi garage rock inspired casio-core/egg-punk/guitar-pop and is based in London". Du moins, c'est ce qu'il croit. En réalité, Todd fait bien plus que cela. Il délivre l'un des meilleurs rock'n'roll de l'année et fera nécessairement partie de grandes découvertes de 2021. Non seulement ses démos sont bien produites, mais en plus, elles embrassent le post-skate de Parquet Courts et Eddy Current Suppression Ring avec un brin moins de vitesse, mais un côté nineties qui me rappelle Pavement. Bref, vous l'aurez compris, tout ce qui se fait de mieux au monde se retrouve ici compressé en quelques minutes à peine. C'est fort, très fort.

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Sweet Reaper – Microdose

EP, Naked Time Tapes, 19 March 2021

[garage pop]

EN: Here is the story. It was in 2018, I was looking for artists to illustrate the best of Still in Rock. I came across Sweet Reaper's covers, designed by Seth Pettersen. He agreed to make one for Still in Rock (here) and then, a few weeks later, offered me to listen to his music. It was love at first sight. "Sidekick" and "Spaceship" are two big singles. I decided to follow Sweet Reaper, which led me to Closer Still (2020), and, these days, to Microdose. The band's new EP honours an already beautiful discography. It applies its usual formula: post-2001 melodies, mid-fi production, and choruses that would make the best power pop artists of the planet blush.

FR: Voici l'histoire. C'était en 2018, je cherchais des dessinateurs pour illustrer les best of Still in Rock, je suis tombé sur pochettes de Sweet Reaper. Dessiné par Seth Pettersen, le chanteur du groupe, il m'a finalement fait l'honneur d'une création pour Still in Rock (publiée ici). Et puis, quelques semaines plus tard, il m'a proposé d'écouter sa musique. Ce fut le coup de foudre immédiat, "Sidekick" et "Spaceship" sont deux énormes singles. J'ai donc décidé de suivre Sweet Reaper à la trace, ce qui m'a conduit à Closer Still (2020), et, ces jours-ci, à Microdose. Le nouvel EP du groupe qui fait honneur à une discographie déjà très belle. Il applique sa formule habituelle : des mélodies post-2001, une production mid-fi, et des refrains qui feraient rougir les meilleurs artistes power pop de la planète.

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J.J. Cale – Dreaming Away (1994)

Session, Tanuki, 22 February 2021

[acoustic country music]

EN: JJ Cale is one of my heroes, for sure in the top 10 of my personal pantheon. So... any opportunity for me to talk about him is a good one. Although he passed away in 2013, many of his recordings continue to be released for the pleasure of those who, like me, would like to spend an afternoon on a wooden house porch. This time around, it's a recording from 1994 that is being released with a brief interview. That "After Midnight" version is one of the most beautiful I've heard this year. J.J. forever.

FR: JJ Cale est l'un de mes héros, pour sûr dans le top 10 de mon panthéon personnel. Toute occasion est donc bonne pour parler de lui. Bien qu'il soit décédé en 2013, plusieurs de ses enregistrements continuent de sortir pour le bonheur de ceux qui aimeraient bien passer une après-midi sur le porche d'une maison en bois dans le sud des Etats-Unis. Cette fois-ci, c'est un enregistrement datant de 1994 qui paraît avec un bref interview de J.J. Cette version de "After Midnight" est l'une des plus belles que j'ai entendue cette année. J.J. forever.

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Alien Nosejob – HC45-2

EP, Iron Lung Records, 26 March 2021

[hardcore]

EN: Alien Nosejob is a nice Australian band that produces great garage pop (here). It also has a hardcore alter ego releasing a few new songs these days via Iron Lungs Records. Gathered under what seems to be a nuclear code name, HC45-2, they feature some garage punk that is indeed hardcore but doesn't forget to be fun. It is, at the end of the day, Alien Nosejob's red line. It spurts fluorescent green blood all over the place; it's like watching Blade II at x100 speed. I suggest the band uses the film as a video clip for one of its songs. Nothing is ever too gory when you're surrounded by slimy monsters.

FR: Alien Nosejob est un groupe australien fort sympathique qui fait dans la garage pop bien huilée (ici). Il a également un alter égo garage noisy qui fait paraître quelques nouveaux morceaux ces jours-ci via Iron Lungs Records. Rassemblé sous ce qui semble être un nom de code nucléaire, HC45-2, ils font la part belle à du garage punk effectivement hardcore mais qui n'oublie pas d'être fun. C'est, finalement, la ligne rouge de ces deux Alien Nosejob. Ça gicle du sang vert fluorescent dans tous les sens, on croirait regarder Blade II à la vitesse x100. Je propose d'ailleurs que le groupe se serve du film pour en faire un clip. Rien n'est jamais trop gore lorsque l'on est entouré de monstres visqueux.

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Bonus:

Unschooling - "Social Chameleon"

Modulator II: 'Full blast, no rules'

19.3.21

EN: Modulator II is patient zero. The band's noisy & psychedelic garage rock is the best in the world, it's both primitive and incredibly composite. Its first album literally blew up in 2020, and that's just the beginning. Modulator II will kill the entire decade. That's not a prediction, that's a prophecy. I, logically, had a few questions for its members.

FR: Modulator II, c'est le patient zéro. Son garage noisy et psychédélique est le meilleur au monde, il est à la fois primitif et incroyablement composite. Le premier album du groupe a littéralement explosé 2020. Ce n'est qu'un début. Modulator II va tuer la décennie. Ce n'est pas une prédiction, c'est une prophétie. J'avais donc logiquement quelques questions à lui poser.

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Let us start with a playlist curated by

Modulator II for Still in Rock

***

Your music

How are you? What’s up with you these days?

Maelle: We’re fine, thank you. Just waiting patiently to go back on tour.

Cédric: Yeah, could be worse!

Ben: Waiting for my coffee to be ready.

OK, let me start by going back in time. What was the idea when you created the band?

Romain: After a Dusty Mush tour, me, and Cedric were bored in the studio, so we switched instruments for fun. Cedric went from guitar to drums, and I switched my bass for a guitar. We just jammed for a year. When we finally had a couple songs, I asked Maelle to join us on bass. Then we recorded the EP and LP, and we realized that we needed a second guitarist to play with us for shows, so we recruited Ben!

Cédric: We switched instruments because Dusty Mush drummer would not show up at every rehearsal. So as we were renting a rehearsal space in Paris, it was so expensive we had to play no matter what! Then we realized there was some kind of interesting energy so we kept playing.

The frontier with Dusty Mush is so thin we had to come up with some kind of “concept” at the very beginning, for example as a guitarist playing drums I don’t bring guitar chords or we’re always wearing white jumpsuits at shows. That way we would have a different writing process naturally, and create something that would stand visually and sonically from our other projects. But we didn’t set any “genre” boundaries, what’s happening is what we like to play.

Your music has something very... dark. It feels like a near-death experience at times. Is that intentional? Are you inspired by b-movies, slashers, and horror films?

Romain: I’m a big movie guy, but I don’t think the music is inspired by it. I guess I’m more influenced by sci-fi novels when it comes to the theme of the album, like the ones by H.P. Lovecraft or Philip K. Dick. I’m also inspired by role-playing games.

Cédric: Nothing intentional for myself, but I’m trying to create the music I’d like to hear. And I tend to prefer music with a sense of danger, anger, and darkness for sure.

I am curious to know about your creative process. From the outside, I have the impression that you are first recording the songs and then reworking the sound several times as if you were trying to alter the initial result. Is that what’s happening? How long are you dedicating to each song’s mastering/mixing? Who is taking care of it?

Romain: Pretty much every song is the product of the same process: jam with the band in the studio, recording and listening to those jams, and then writing a song if the material is interesting. Sometimes, I write songs alone and bring them to the band but it’s quite rare.

Cédric: Concerning the first album the process was only me and Romain recording all our jams, full blast, no rules, and then creating songs from these recordings. All we cared about is the energy driven by the drums and the guitar together. But now, the writing of the second album, the process involves all four members. I am the one in charge of the recording and mixing, on the first album we tracked the drums, the guitar, and bass live in the same room. Then added a bunch of guitars, vocals, and synths.

Recording was done super fast, it took us 4 days for the basic tracks and a few days here and there for overdubs. When we started the recording process, I already had a precise picture of how I wanted it to sound. But the mixing was quite challenging as I was going through some changes in my life, bought a house, got a new job, so I was desperate for free time to mix the album. I woke up early every day to mix with fresh ears before I went to work.

I record and mix 100% analog, it was quite exhausting and time-consuming. I can’t save the mix settings from a song to another so once when I’m done with a song I can’t go back. That means I’ve got to record a lot of different mixes before moving to the next song. It was the most difficult part of the making of Slivered Hearse.

The video you made at the “Quarantine Studio” is quite extraordinary (see right below). What’s the story behind it?

Romain: We wanted a live video to promote the release of the first album so we hit a random studio and recorded this video with 3 cameras and a friend to do the live projection. It was shot 24 hours before the lockdown announcement, so this video is very lucky to even exist…

Projects

Can you clarify your relationship with Dusty Mush, Druggy Pizza, and Thee Attic?

Cédric: Thee Attic is Romain’s lo-fi video production project. He’s our visual wizard.

Druggy Pizza is a project I started in 2012 as a way to experiment with recording on my 4-track cassette tape recorder without the exposure of a live band. It has absolutely no rules. The first two EPs are just me messing around on my own, then on the third one I wanted to explore the limits of tape distortion to recreate the sound of your ears overloading at shows. So I asked Romain if he would be down to play guitar and I would bash the drums. We wrote a bunch of songs in one afternoon, we recorded these the next day and called this EP “Chili Cheese Crust”. It’s pretty much Modulator V1 because it’s the same formula we used when we first started Modulator II in 2018.

Dusty Mush is our very first music project that started in 2011 as a way to escape the boredom of rainy days without skateboarding. Romain plays bass and I play guitar and sing. It’s a different creative process as the band got two sides, the live band and the solo project. Most of the time I bring finished songs to the live band and then we find a way to play these songs live. Romain brought some inspiring bass lines and guitar riffs over the years too. We also play reworked Druggy Pizza songs so it’s quite a mess! But since 2018 it’s more like a solo project.

Are you involved in other side projects?

Ben: I do linocuts and drawings in my spare time.

Maelle: We all have artistic activities besides the band and music. I’m a painter, and we’re all experiencing visual stuff with various mediums. That explains why we take very seriously the visual aspect and art that surrounds Modulator II.

Your first album, Slivered Hearse, was published in 2020. When is your second LP due?

Cédric: We are working on our next LP right now. Between two lockdowns, we managed to spend 10 days in a small village in the Vosges mountains to write songs. We rented an old church converted into a municipal hall in the village where we stayed. The room was massive with a huge ceiling height, it was very comfortable to create there. When we arrived we only had one song written and a bunch of riffs and ideas from jams but nothing close to an album. We ended up writing the whole thing altogether in 5 days. It’s a creative process I’m not used to but I’m glad it worked. Isolation, mountains, good-sounding space sure did help. We’re thrilled by what we wrote there, now we can’t wait to record it.

You are releasing your music via Stolen Body Records. It’s such a great label. How did you come to work together?

Romain: If I remember correctly, our first introduction with SBR was in 2012 or 2013, when Alex from the label asked us (Dusty Mush) if we wanted to appear on a “Record Store Day Compilation” on tape. I don’t remember exactly how he found us, but hey, great! Then they invited us to play the first edition of the Stolen body Records festival in Bristol.

The scene

Are you part of a "scene", and if so, which one?

Romain: We’re not sure of which scene we are a part of… It was easy to say “garage scene” when we were playing with Dusty Mush, now it’s unclear… And after almost no gigs in one year, because of the Covid, I’m not even sure a “scene” is still something relevant.

Maelle: I agree. The garage scene in general in the late 2010s was maybe easier to categorize (not totally sure about that though), but I have the feeling that for the past few years, every band melts various kinds of influences, so it became irrelevant to categorize them.

What’s your take on the French scene? Is it going in the right direction? What would you like to change?

Romain: The french scene is evolving toward pop. There’s no right or wrong direction, but that’s not something I’m really interested in. 2010 was the garage scene explosion, now in 2020 rock is going back underground again, and will reappear whenever it feels like it. Music is a cycle.

Maelle: Yes, but there are still some pretty nice psyche bands in France though.

I’ve recently conducted a short empirical study on garage rock (link). I found out that there are more and more albums labeled as such, but the number of related Google queries tends to decrease. What’s your impression from the inside? Do you find it more and more difficult to get support from playing shows (before Covid) and releasing music?

Maelle: The french scene is still vivid and prolific, with loads of bands and venues, even if they tend to disappear. I’m not sure the difficulties to play shows and to tour come from lower public demand, it’s more related to political will to diminish the little venues, bars, and nightlife in general in cities.

Cédric: It was definitely easier to book shows and get media coverage as a “garage rock band” around 2013/2015 in France. it’s just different nowadays I think, maybe the listeners don’t pay too much attention to the music genres anymore? The “garage” etiquette has been overused over the last few years; it doesn’t mean anything anymore. You can’t record an album in a proper commercial studio and call it garage, it’s pure nonsense. I feel like releasing music is just getting easier and easier, all you need is a computer or a smartphone.

To conclude

If you had to describe three fundamental albums in the construction of Modulator II, which ones would they be?

Every Hawkwind album from 1970 to 1975.

Rudimentary Peni - Death Church.

Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum.

Best tour memory?

Romain: Touring with Earth Tongue and trying to make them speak french ("la beuh").

Cédric: 2019 Astral Festival in Bristol was a blast.

Ben: When I almost got kicked off the Astral festival for smoking a joint and then later on when we stole a bunch of beers from backstage to party in Slift’s room.

Maelle: Touring for just two gigs with Romain’s tiny Renault Clio due to touring car availability problems.

One movie I should watch?

Romain: Le daim by Quentin Dupieux.

Cédric: Steak by Quentin Dupieux.

Maelle: Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders.

Excellent. I've actually seen them all, and indeed, they are must-watched :) What is your favorite album of the last few months?

Cédric: Variations on A Theme by OM.

Ben: Clinic - Wheeltappers and shunters.

Maelle: JuJu - Our Mother Was A Plant.

How do you imagine your discography 20 years from now?

Ben: A la Fnac!

Cédric: Weird.

Last question: is “rock’n’roll dead”?

Cédric: As long as there will be people bashing drums and cranking guitar amps up to 10, it will be alive.

Ben: as long as iggy is alive, impossible.

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 3

15.3.21

***

White Fang – Don't Want To Hear It

LP, Gnar Tapes, 15 February 2021

[slacker rock]

EN: At this stage, it's real genius. White Fang has always been one of the biggest trolls in the indie rock scene. The band's shows are exceptional. The band's albums are irregular but always ironic and fun. With Don't Want To Hear It, White Fang just put out its best LPs in years. The production, although mid-fi, has a proud hard rock feel while the songs are full of dumb punk & slacker references. "No More Classic Rock" is obviously the first gem of this album. White Fang asks the big question of the early 2020s: where did the classic rockers go? When they were around, we knew who to fuck with. The rest of the LP oscillates between video games, anarchism, trucks, and alcoholism, in short, everything that makes the beauty of a truly alternative world. One thing is sure, White Fang doesn't eat organic food. The band is the antithesis of the yuppies-woke movement. I'm in.

FR: À ce state, ça relève du génie. White Fang a toujours été l'un des plus grands trolls de la scène indie rock. Ces concerts sont exceptionnels. Ses albums sont irréguliers, mais toujours ironiques et fun. Seulement, avec Don't Want To Hear It, White Fang vient délivrer son LP le plus abouti depuis longtemps. La production, bien que mid-fi, aborde de fiers allures hard rock tandis que les titres enchainent les références au dumb punk / slacker. "No More Classic Rock" est bien évidemment la première perle rare de cet album. White Fang y pose la grande question de ce début d'années 2020s : mais où sont passés les classic rockers ? Lorsqu'ils étaient là, on savait au moins de qui on pouvait se foutre. Le reste de l'album oscille entre jeux vidéos, anarchisme, camions et alcoolisme, bref, tout ce qui fait la beauté d'un monde véritablement alternatif. Une chose est sure, ça ne mange pas bio par ici. White Fang est l'antithèse des yuppies-woke. I'm in.

<a href="https://gnartapes.bandcamp.com/album/dont-want-to-hear-it-2">Don't Want To Hear It by White Fang</a>

***

Spiritual Mafia – Alfresco

LP, Anti Fade Records + Ever Never Records, 12 March 2021

[indie rock]

EN: Spiritual Mafia has something fundamentally very heavy. It reminds me of Iggy Pop's music. The first album of this super-band is being released these days, and already, we can say that it will be one of the heaviest albums of 2021. The base plays the role of a steamroller. Spiritual never accelerates the rhythm and makes this lack of variations its best weapon. In the end, Alfresco is a powerful album, a kick in the DIY door. It would not have been possible for the band to better anchor its identity in just 30 minutes. Without falling into King Gizzard-style bands' sci-fi, Spiritual Mafia uses a bit of foggy mystery (à la Vast of Night) without falling into post-punk. That's great!

FR: Spiritual Mafia a quelque chose de fondamentalement très pesant. Il me rappelle en cela la musique d'Iggy Pop. Le premier album de ce super-groupe paraît ces jours-ci, et déjà, on peut se dire qu'il fera partie des albums les plus lourds de 2021. La base joue le rôle de rouleau compresseur. Spiritual n'accélère jamais le rythme et fait de cette absence de variations sa meilleure arme. Au final, Alfresco est un album puissant, un coup de pied dans la porte DIY. Il n'eut pas été possible que le groupe puisse mieux ancrer son identité en 30 minutes à peine. Sans tomber dans la sci-fi des groupes à la King Gizzard, il vient nous dire qu'un peu de mystère brumeux (à la Vast of Night) est encore possible sans tomber pour autant dans le post-punk.

***

Warm Exit – Warm Exit

EP, Belly Button Records, 13 March 2021

[egg punk]

EN: Warm Exit is a band from Brussels that isn't quite sure between egg-punk and UFO shits. One thing is certain, its new EP is very good. "15 Times" makes me think of what would have been the punk soundtrack of the movie The Fly. Warm Exit shies away from none of the eighties pleasures. Don't think that Warm Exit is just here to go for it. Crocodile stalls for at least 10 seconds... Well, okay, Warm Exit is here to go for it. Speed, trash, and speed.

FR: Warm Exit, c'est un groupe originaire de Bruxelles qui hésite entre egg-punk et délires UFOs. Une chose est certaine, son nouvel EP est très bon. "15 Times" me fait penser à ce qu'aurait été la bande-son punk du film La Mouche. Warm Exit semble ne reculer devant aucun des plaisirs de la scène eighties. N'allez pas croire toutefois que Warm Exit n'est là que pour foncer. Crocodile temporise pendant 10 secondes au moins... Bon, ok, Warm Exit est là pour foncer.

***

Tendinite – Neither/Nor

EP, Araki Records / Poutrage Records, 12 February 2021

[gros rock]

EN: Tendinite is a French band (Reims) that, according to its Bandcamp description, "emerged from the cellars of Reims in 2016, mixing noise rock, punk, garage, boogie-woogie, surf music, and more". What this description doesn't say is that Tendinite is a mashup of the slasher culture. Creepshow (1982) and Chillerama (2011) come to mind when I listen to his new album, Neither/Nor. The voice is powerful, disturbing. The guitar never fails, a real chainsaw that comes to crush all melodies. The drums and the base don't end up competing. It makes this LP a modern-day Maniac (1980). "Nostrils" is the best example: when no band member wants to lose his leadership, this is the best thing that can happen. The band must be a dictatorship; Tendinite seems to have understood it very well.

FR: Tendinite, c'est un groupe français (Reims) qui, à en croire sa description Bandcamp, "a émergé des caves rémoises en 2016, mixant jusqu'à plus soif le noise rock, le punk, le garage, le boogie woogie, la surf music et plus si affinités". Ce que cette description ne dit pas, c'est que Tendinite est un mashup de la culture slasher. Creepshow (1982) et Chillerama (2011) me viennent à l'esprit lorsque j'écoute son nouvel album, Neither/Nor. La voix est puissante, inquiétante. La guitare ne déssemplit jamais, une véritable tronçonneuse qui vient écrasser toutes les mélodies. La batterie et la base n'en finissent pas non plus de se faire concurrence. Au final, l'album est une véritable course poursuite, un Maniac (1980) des temps modernes. "Nostrils" en est le meilleur exemple : lorsqu'aucun membre du groupe ne veut perdre son leadership, voilà ce qu'il peut se passer de meilleur. Le groupe doit être une dictature ; Tendinite l'a semble-t-il très bien compris.

The French Scene

12.3.21

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 2

8.3.21

***

Smirk – LP

LP, Feel It Records, 5 March 2021

[punk]

EN: Wow. Smirk is a new Californian band that ain't quite sure whether he prefers egg punk, UFOs, post-punk, or 80s-VHS music. Its first album, LP, is at the frontier between all these musical styles, and it's excellent. I find myself in a parallel world. Covid would not exist. We would be at the end of April. The weather would be nice. We'd all be going to the Smirk release party, somewhere in a bar in Los Angeles. The scene would have been talking about the album for a few weeks now; there would be a slight tension in the air. The electricity of the moment would explode with "Eyes Conversing", "Do You?", and "Goons on the Beach", three big hits hiding behind their lo-fi aspect. Fuck, this album is really good.

FR: Wow. Smirk, c'est un nouveau groupe californien qui oscille entre egg punk, UFOs, post-punk, et années 80s en VHS. Son premier album, LP, vient tout juste de voir le jour, et voilà que je m'imagine dans un monde parallèle. Le Covid n'existerait pas. Nous serions à la fin du mois d'avril. Il ferait bon. Nous irions tous à la release party des Smirk, quelque part dans un bar de Los Angeles. La scène aurait parlé de l'album depuis quelques semaines déjà, il y aurait donc une légère tension dans l'air. L'électricité du moment apparaîtrait sur "Eyes Conversing", "Do You?", et "Goons on the Beach", très énormes hits qui se cachent derrière un aspect lo-fi qui n'a rien de hasardeux. Putain, cet album est vraiment bon.

***

Spodee Boy – Rides Again...

EP, Goodbye Boozy Records, 6 February 2021

[cowboy punk]

EN: Spodee Boy says it in his Bandcamp description: "Don't like people". Nothing surprising here, after well, Spodee Boy plays the music of an old cowboy obsessed with the punk scene of the late 70s. The reference to Country Teasers can't be passed over in silence more than three sentences after the beginning of this short review. I also point out the surf rock influences in an EP which, not surprisingly, is released by Goodbye Boozy Records. The Nashville scene is definitely doing well. Spodee Boy, I've got my eye on you.

FR: Spodee Boy le dit dans sa description Bandcamp : "Don’t like people". Normal, il joue la musique d'un vieux cowboy obsédé par la musique punk des années 70. Si la référence à Country Teasers ne peut être passée sous silence plus de trois phrases après le début de cette chronique, je relève également les influences surf rock dans un EP qui, sans grande surprise, paraît chez Goodbye Boozy Records. La scène de Nashville se porte décidément très bien. Spodee Boy, je t'ai à l'oeil.

***

Best of Warm Soda / Bare Wires

Best of, Fuzz City Records, 28 February 2021

[power pop]

EN: I'll make it short. There was a time when I used to review new power pop releases on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, that era is over; the scene has shifted to other genres. So... I'm taking this opportunity to remind you of the essential: Warm Soda and Bare Wires — two bands led by Matthew Melton — are among the best power pop bands in history. I'm actively militating for them to release these two new best of on vinyl. They contain several of the best hits of the 2010s. And a lot of fun. Matthew, thank you.

FR: Je vais faire court. Il fut un temps où je chroniquais de nouvelles sorties power pop de façon quasi mensuelle. Cette époque est malheureusement révolue ; la scène s'est déplacée vers d'autres genres. Je profite donc de l'occasion pour rappeler l'essentiel : Warm Soda et Bare Wires — deux groupes menés par Matthew Melton — sont parmi les meilleures formations power pop de l'histoire (voir le classement). Je milite donc activement pour qu'il fasse paraître ces deux nouveaux best of en vinyl. On y trouve plusieurs des meilleurs hits de la décennie 2010. Et du rire. Matthew, merci.

***

Liquids – Life is Pain Idiot

LP, 30 January 2021

[dumb punk]

EN: The theme of this week should be the 2010s. Liquids' new album, Life is Pain Idiot, delivers the bubblegum garage punk that honors the now-defunct Burger Records' spirit. We can hear Nobunny and the trash-fun scene that made the best of the years 2011 to 2014. It's good. The album is certainly too long — I would have much preferred for Liquids to limit itself to 10 songs rather than forcing me to sort it out, but it is a great testimony of the garage scene that refuses to give way to too serious music. Life is Pain Idiot is a Dumb Punk LP for all slasher movie lovers. I'm clearly one of them.

FR: Décidément, cette semaine doit avoir pour thème les années 2010s. Le nouvel album de Liquids, Life is Pain Idiot, délivre effectivement ce garage punk très bubblegum qui fait honneur à l'esprit du désormais défunt Burger Records. On y entend Nobunny et la scène trash-fun qui ont fait les beaux jours des années 2011 à 2014. C'est très bon. L'album est certes beaucoup trop long — j'aurai largement préféré que Liquids se limite à 10 morceaux plutôt que de me forcer à faire le tri, mais il n'en demeure pas moins un formidable témoignage de la scène garage qui refuse de laisser place à une musique trop sérieuse. Life is Pain Idiot, c'est un LP de Dumb Punk pour tous les amateurs de films slashers. J'en fais clairement partie.

PLAYLIST Still in Rock - March 2021

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 5

Los Scallywaggs: 'Simple but loud as fuck music'

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 4

Modulator II: 'Full blast, no rules'

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 3

The French Scene

Delusions of March 2021 – Part 2

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