CONSUME/VALVE

I HEART HIROSHIMA
New album The Rip out now.
October Album launch tour more shows…
…Songs pull out to be replaced by Fire! Santa Rosa! Fire!

With the latest installment in this trail of construction about to flood the driest of lands I Heart Hiroshima will release their much agitated second album THE RIP on October 2. Swimming against the incessant currents they recorded the album early this year in the long grass of Runcorn with compatriot Mirko Vogel, before sailing to the distant shores of England to mix it all up back of lanes with Andy Gill (Gang of Four) in the much loved Beauchamp Building. First ship out of the dock Shakeytown has drawn the light of recognition and many a sailor will bless their saviour from the rocks.

Jon King from Gang of Four cites I Heart Hiroshima along with Kate Nash, Florence and the Machine, and Black Rebel Motorcyle club as “musicians he thinks are hitting the right note now”.
www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-lifestyle

I Heart Hiroshima have also had an amazing past month with a great performances at Big Sound getting great raps from everyone who attended, being selected by Street Press Australia as best current up and coming Australian band and wining a trip to One Movement conference in mid OCT (courtesy of them). They also featured on the covers of all their Australian music magazines early September… Time Off, Drum Media, Inpress, Rip It Up and Drum Media Perth… as well as picking up single of the week on iTunes! They also had great sets at the Brisbane Powerhouse Frankly with Peaches in DJ mode, in Melbourne and Sydney with Shonen Knife and at Brisbane’s Sounds of Spring…

I Heart Hiroshima not only spent the first half of this year recording the new album, they also spent a few months based in London and did 40 shows across Europe playing with The Rakes, Maximo Park as well as performances at The Great Escape (where they got to see Gang of Four play a show before getting together with Andy to mix the album), Liverpool Sound City and the Dot to Dot festival among their own headline shows.

The video for the first single SHAKEYTOWN (as made by debut videomaker Paul Rankin) was also released to the online world this week and has already conjured interest from German and US online tv as well as Vietnam festivals. Recently picked up “Indie Clip of the Week” on RAGE. Check it here… SHAKEYTOWN

www.ihearthiroshima.com
THE RIP out OCT 2
featuring Shakeytown, Got Out, Old Tree, River and more of your favourite shanties…

I HEART HIROSHIMA ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR
Now with special guests FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE! (shows as noted)
Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! have spent the past 2 years being the city of churches’ best kept secret, playing enthusiastic and passionate shows supporting some of the best international and national touring acts around. Their brand of monolithic, angular rock evokes former glories of bands such as Pretty Girls Make Graves and Q & Not U, as well as current luminaries My Disco and Minus the Bear. Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! also contains a pop-sensibility often relegated in today’s vapid culture to mobile ringtones and one-hit wonders. Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! (David Williams, Sam Stearne, Josh Flavel & Artyom Zinoviev)’s introduction to the Dot Dash/Remote Control Records stable, is the “War Coward” single/EP- 3 minutes of pitch-shifted, post-millennial tension, led by new singer/chanteuse Caitlin Duff.

Album tour – October2009

THU OCT 15 – NSW – SYDNEY, UNSW OKTOBERFEST
Doors: 4.00pm. Tickets: from the venue

FRI OCT 16 – BRISBANE, THE ZOO
Doors: 8.00pm. Plus guests WE ALL WANT TO and HEINZ REIGLER (Not From There)
Tickets: all OzTix outlets, www.oztix.com.au, ph: 1300 762 545, online at www.thezoo.com.au ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au & www.consume.com.au

SAT OCT 17 – WA – NORTHBRIDGE, ROCKETROOM
Doors: 8.00pm. Plus guests BULLET HOLES, OFFBEAT ANTICS and WHEN THE SKY FELL
Tickets: venue and usual outlets

SUN OCT 18 – PERTH, ONE MOVEMENT FESTIVAL
Tickets on sale from Moshtix – details available at www.onemovementmusic.com

FRI OCT 23 – VIC – GEELONG, NATIONAL HOTEL
Doors: 9.00pm. Plus guests FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE!
Tickets: all OzTix outlets, www.oztix.com.au, ph: 1300 762 545, ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au & www.consume.com.au

SAT OCT 24 – VIC – MELBOURNE, NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB
Doors: 8.30pm. Plus guests FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE! and DIAMOND SEA
Tickets: www.northcotesocialclub.com, ph: 03 9486 1677, ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au & www.consume.com.au

SUN OCT 25 – SA – ADELAIDE, ENIGMA BAR
Doors: 8.00pm. Plus guests FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE!
Tickets: www.venuetix.com.au (ph 8225 8888), ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au,
www.consume.com.au (ph 1300 762 545) & outlets

THU OCT 29 – NSW – GOSFORD, GEE WHIZ
Doors: 8.00pm. Plus guests
Tickets: all OzTix outlets, www.oztix.com.au, ph: 1300 762 545, online at www.consume.com.au

FRI OCT 30 – NSW – PORT MACQUARIE, LAURIETON HOTEL
Doors: 7.30pm. Plus guests FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE!
Tickets: www.moshtix.com.au (ph 1300 GET TIX), ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au, www.consume.com.au
(ph: 1300 762 545) & the venue

SAT OCT 31 – NSW – BATEMAN’S BAY – NORTH ST CAFÉ
Doors: 7.30pm. Plus guests
Tickets: all OzTix outlets, www.oztix.com.au, ph: 1300 762 545, ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au, www.consume.com.au & at the venue. Ticket includes food

SUN NOV 1 – NSW – SYDNEY, ANNANDALE HOTEL
Doors: 6.00pm. Plus guests FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE!, SONGS, WHERE’S JEROME
and HEINZ REIGLER (Not From There)
Tickets: www.annandalehotel.com (ph 9550 1078), at the venue, all OzTix outlets, www.oztix.com.au,
ph: 1300 762 545, ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au & www.consume.com.au

THUR NOV 5 – GOLD COAST, NEVER LAND BAR
Doors: 8.00pm. Plus guests
Tickets: Moshtix and the venue.

SUN NOV 8 – BYRON BAY, GREAT NORTHERN
Doors: 9.00pm. Plus guests
Tickets: venue, OzTix outlets, www.oztix.com.au, ph: 1300 762 545, www.greatnorthern.com.au ihearthiroshima.oztix.com.au & www.consume.com.au

MONO

Epic return.

Crescendo of Hymn ascends from the depths… as Japan’s instrumental epic MONO draw forth universal rapture with recent album Hymn to the Immortal Wind. After their mesmerizing monument of a debut visit in 2007, they return to Australia on the back of Hymn… and this time include New Zealand in their sonic blossom.

Screw ‘Music For The People’, this is music for the gods. Japan’s Mono have been tugging the heartstrings of the faithful for almost 10 years with their, y’know, grand post-rock symphonies, and their fifth album is as ambitious as ever, teeming as it is with crashing guitars and cinematic strings. ‘Pure As Snow (Trails Of The Winter Storm)’ soars above a maelstrom of melody and noise, the 13-minute ‘The Battle To Heaven’ conjures angels and demons clashing with flaming swords and ‘Everlasting Light’ burns and builds and dies with staggering grace. Pretentious, yes, but defiantly so. ‘Hymn…’ feels like the imaginary soundtrack to the film inside your head and is an outstanding work of epic beauty. NME 8/10

Hymn to the Immortal Wind 2009 Australia/NZ tour
Tickets on sale Wednesday 2 September

THURSDAY 3rd DECEMBER
TRANSMISSION ROOM
AUCKLAND
plus guests
tickets Under the Radar, Real Groovy and the venue

FRIDAY 4th DECEMBER
THE HI-FI
MELBOURNE
plus guests LAURA
tickets from The Hi-Fi, www.thehifi.com.au , phone 1300THEHIFI, Greville Records, Polyester Records
and www.consume.com.au

SATURDAY 5th DECEMBER
MANNING BAR
SYDNEY
plus guests LAURA
tickets from www.manningbar.com (ph 1300 762 545) and www.moshtix.com.au (ph 1300 GET TIX)
and www.consume.com.au’

SUNDAY 6th DECEMBER
THE HI-FI
BRISBANE
plus guests LAURA and DEL TORO
tickets from The Hi-Fi, www.thehifi.com.au , phone 1300THEHIFI, Rocking Horse, Butter Beats, Kill The Music, Sunflower Pacific Fair, Disasterpiece, Most Pit Music, Gooble Warming, Rockaway Records
and www.consume.com.au

MONO’s Hymn to the immortal Wind out on Valve through MGM/Westbound

Celebrating their 10-year anniversary, MONO returned with their fifth studio album earlier this year, the absolutely massive Hymn To The Immortal Wind.

After touring almost non-stop for five years, the band hibernated for over a year to focus solely on writing Hymn. The result is their most thoughtful and eclectic album to date. Written and arranged with a hopeful, romantic narrative in mind, the songs string together like chapters in an epic love story. The music is naturally majestic, with MONO’s trademark wall of noise crashing beautifully against the largest chamber orchestra the band has ever enlisted. The instrumentation is vast, incorporating strings, flutes, organ, piano, glockenspiel and tympani into their standard face-melting set-up.

Recorded to analog tape with long-time friend and producer Steve Albini, there is an intimacy captured here that is at once beautiful and a little terrifying. The creaking of old wooden chairs as the orchestra rocks in their seats (both literally and figuratively), puckered lips rolling along flutes, and even the conductor’s opening cue can be heard during the hauntingly quiet opening moments

While Hymn continues to mine the cinematic drama inherent in all of MONO’s music, the dynamic shifts now come more from dark-to-light instead of quiet-to-loud. The maturity to balance these elements so masterfully has become MONO’s strongest virtue – - save for perhaps their uncanny ability to sound every bit like a plane crashing into a Beethoven concert.
FOLLOW THE MAP music video is available here.

http://www.mono-jpn.com

…something so sublime that this bramble of words can’t possibly convey.
Trust me.

REGURGITATOR

While Quan is still based in Hong Kong… and Ben is currently in Berlin.. they have started thinking about the possibility of a new album in 2010. Otherwise in the meantime we have the following announcement regarding digital availability of their Warner catalogue, festival appearances in Japan and China… along with a special collaborative dance event entitled ROCK SHOW in Brisbane (and Toowoomba) for late Nov.

Plus Quan has some more solo shows coming up…

GET DIGITALIZED!!!
For a start Warner Music finally make the Regurgitator catalogue available in digital format… long overdue early this month most of the Warner catalogue… the debut self-titled EP, the NEW EP, albums Tu Plang, Unit, Art & Eduardo & Rodriguez Wage War on T-wrecks… plus even Crush the Losers mini-album and final parting gesture single compilation Jingles (plus the video version Infommercials) come up trumps on all the usual digital outlet suspects include iTunes, Bigpond, Optus… and even mobile and ringtones as well… chase it up

GET JAPAN!!!
Also well overdue Regurgitator return to play some shows in Japan… so finally at the invitation from KEVROCK in the Hibuya Alps on Sept 20 (www.kev-rock.com) Regurgitator make back to one of their favourite tour destinations. In conjunction with this will be a show in TOKYO at Superdeluxe. See details here www.super-deluxe.com/2009/9/18/regurgitator/ Tickets are available from LAWSON. Special guest will be BO PEEP.

FRI 18 SEPT – SUPERDELUXE B1F 3.1.25 Nishi Azabu, Minato-ku Tokyo 1060031
phone 03 54120517 Tickets on sale from Lawsons & Venue. Plus Bo Peep.
SUN 20 SEPT KEVROCK see www.kev-rock.com for details.

GET CHINA!!!
And not so overdue as we were only there last year playing a bunch of shows with some genuinely great Chinese bands New Pants, Hedgehog… Regurgitator return to play the Modern Sky festival on October 4 -7 this year along with The Buzzcocks, Blonde Redhead, Futureheads, Radio 4, British Sea Power, Shonen Knife, International Noise Conspiracy, Free Energy, Sissy Wish, Housse De Racket, Snake and Jet, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, HEARTSREVOLUTION and a great bunch of Chinese bands. Keep an eye here for details… www.modernsky.com/festival

MON 5 OCT MODERN SKY FESTIVAL Beijing

GET DANCING!!!
Always ones for experimenting with the formats… Regurgitator will be collaborating with one of Australia’s most progressive and rigorous dance exponents and choreographers Gavin Webber in his live music/dance explosion… ROCK SHOW…

ROCK SHOW: A ground-breaking collaboration between one of Australia’s most exciting creative talents, Gavin Webber, and international rock-electronica band Regurgitator. Rock Show is an assault on the senses—loud, dirty, sexual, and playful—as dance, theatre, and a rock concert merge into a catharsis of explosive movement and thrashing guitars and keyboards. It will showcase the gutsy choreography of Gavin Webber and take the physical vocabulary he developed with Dancenorth to a new level, working with some of the best dancers in the country and for the first time uniting forces with one of Australia’s most important bands…

Rock Show will celebrate its world premiere at the Playhouse, QPAC as part of Q150 – Queensland’s 150th Celebrations 2009…

WED 18 NOV TOOWOOMBA EMPIRE worldwide debut performance 7.30pm

WED 25 NOV BRISBANE QPAC Playhouse opening performance 7.30pm
THUR 26 NOV BRISBANE QPAC Playhouse performance #2 7.30pm
FRI 27 NOV BRISBANE QPAC Playhouse performance #3 7.30pm
SAT 28 NOV BRISBANE QPAC Playhouse performance #4 4.00pm & #5 7.30pm

TICKETS from Qpac outlets www.qpac.com.au/events/RockShow

Gavin Webber – Performer & Choreographer
Worked with Meryl Tankard’s Australian Dance Theatre from 1993 to 1998, then moved to Brussels and worked with Wim Vandekeybus and Ultima Vez for three years. From 2005 to 2009 he was Artistic Director of Dancenorth and created Nightcafe, gravity feed, underneath, Underground, roadkill and Remember Me and toured extensively in Australia, Asia and Europe. He divides his time between Europe and Australia and has most recently created a new work called Food Chain in collaboration with Grayson Millwood and the Physical Virus Collective in Freiburg and Heidelberg, Germany. Check out his dance performances LAWN, ROADKILL and REMEMBER ME.

Nice piece in SPIN http://www.spin.com/articles/greatest-bands-youve-probably-never-heard?page=0%2C2

QUAN THE AMATEUR shows!!!
And while we are here… QUAN has his new website up and booming… www.quantheamateur.com… go there!!!
And will be back in Australia playing the following shows between Japan and China…

QUAN THE AMATEUR plays…
THUR 24 SEPT – WORKERS CLUB, Fitzroy, Melbourne with Yamma Boy
FRI 25 SEPT – BEACH RD HOTEL, Bondi, Sydney Dust Tones with Dirt Child, Spruce Lee, Mike Who and DJ Ability.
SAT 26 SEPT – SOUNDS OF SPRING FESTIVAL, Brisbane

then back for…
SAT 24 OCT – SPRING BREAK Adelaide with Q-Bert and more

SHONEN KNIFE

Cut it out, cook it up, rocket on…

Japan’s infamous girl guiding rockers led by the ebullient Naoko whip the supergroup sensation to finally return the creamcake to Australian rockhouses for the first time since their 1997 Big Day Out tour. Currently touring the UK Naoko, Etsuko and Ritsuko rip the sponge from the rack as they trail bake Australia and New Zealand before a US tour in October…

Shonen Knife/The Lovely Eggs/Islet : Buffalo Bar, Cardiff : 18/06/09
…includes obsessive Ramones love, benign smileyness – and Status Quo-style synchronised guitar nodding helps too: basically Team Knife bring the sugared garage pop and keep it rolling all night. Cutesily perfect two minute cherry bombs that arrive from old sources (Ramones, Buzzcocks) yet somehow remain timeless and kitten fresh. New stuff equals old stuff equals greatness. Their addictive conveyor belt even inspires some embarrassingly repressed homoerotic shovefest in the pit. Boistrous! Shonen Knife crush the dickless and joyous alike.

The all-female Japanese garage pop punk legends Shonen Knife, championed by Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Red Kross etc return with latest album Super Group. Formed in Osaka, Japan in 1981, heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups and early punk rock ala The Ramones, Naoko and the girls craft stripped-down songs, rooted in edgy instrumentation and D.I.Y. aesthetics, expressing infectious melodies and simplistic, exuberant lyrics sung in Japanese and English, which over the course of their twenty-seven-year career has earned them a worldwide cult following. They have released 15 albums since debut 1982′s Minna Tanoshiku along with Brand New Knife (1997) and Happy Hour (1998 featuring Banana Chips). They were invited by Kurt Cobain to support Nirvana on their 1991 UK tour.

THE SHONEN KNIFE SUPERDATES…

Sept 22 Tues – Wellington SFBH
with I Heart Hiroshima and more…
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz and real groovy auckland and wellington.

Sept 23 Wed – Auckland BACCO ROOM (under Monte Christo)
with I Heart Hiroshima and more…
Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz and real groovy auckland and wellington.

Sept 24 Thur – Melbourne CORNER
with Ouch My Face and more…
Tickets from Corner Box Office (57 Swan St Richmond 12-8 Mon-Sat), phone 9427 9198, online www.cornerhotel.com and http://consume.oztix.com.au

Sept 25 Fri – Sydney ANNANDALE HOTEL
with Ouch My Face and more…
Tickets from www.annandalehotel.com (ph 9550 1078), the venue and http://consume.oztix.com.au

Sept 26 Sat – Brisbane SOUNDS OF SPRING FESTIVAL
with The Living End, I Heart Hiroshima, Josh Pyke, Frenzal Rhomb, Quan, The Hard Ons, The Fauves, My Disco and more…

Sept 27 Sun – Perth AMPLIFIER
with I Heart Hiroshima and The Novocaines
Tickets from Bocs, Moshtix, 78 Records, Mills records, Planet Video and online www.bocsticketing.com.au
www.moshtix.com.au and http://consume.oztix.com.au

Playing music is an exciting thing like eating a giant cake during my whole life.

http://www.shonenknife.net http://www.myspace.com/shonenknife
Super Group music video

SHONEN KNIFE – NEW ALBUM SUPERGROUP featuring Supergroup and Jet
OUT NOW ON VALVE/MGM

I HEART HIROSHIMA

Earlier this month Susie, Matt & Cameron boarded flight SQ326 bound for Frankfurt to start an absolute thrilling spree of shows across Europe and the UK…

So far they have found themselves swept up by adoring crowds In Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, France and Netherlands, selling large amounts of CDs and shirts at all shows… and earning the praise of their generous hosts THE RAKES.

Brisbane’s I Heart Hiroshima now fill their weeks up with more shows in the UK after the Euro dates with The Rakes with their first on Saturday past in THE HOPE at THE GREAT ESCAPE .

In the meantime I Heart Hiroshima are making more friends picking up a return set of European dates with MAXIMO PARK… plus more dates in Germany, Holland, France and the UK.

As they travel on their merry way through this new uncharted territory witness their travelogue as revealed on the tour blospot – http://ihearthiroshima.blogspot.com

During this time Andy Gill will be mixing their next album in London aiming for a September release… the guys have had the great fortune to witness Gang of Four play at The Great Escape on the weekend in Brighton. In the meantime new single Crime/Got Bones makes its place on UK radio waves…

EURO/UK TOUR exploits continues…

SAT 16 MAY – THE GREAT ESCAPE Brighton, UK “Artrocker showcase”

SUN 17 MAY – VERA Groningen, The Netherlands with The Rakes
MON 18 MAY – MELKWEG Amsterdam, The Netherlands with The Rakes

THUR 21 MAY – UK, London, Camden Barfly
FRI 22 MAY – UK, Liverpool, Bumper – Liverpool Sound City
SAT 23 MAY – UK, Bristol – Dot To Dot Festival
SUN 24 MAY – UK, Nottingham – Dot To Dot Festival
MON 25 MAY – UK, Glasgow, Twisted Wheel
TUES 26 MAY – UK, Manchester, Night & Day

MON 1 JUNE – LE CARGO CLUB, Caen, France with Maximo Park
TUES 2 JUNE – LA TRABENDO, Paris, France with Maximo Park
WED 3 JUNE – MAGAZZINI GENERALO, Milan, Italy with Maximo Park,
FRI 5 JUNE – FRI-SON, Fribourg, Switzerland with Maximo Park
SAT 6 JUNE – KOFMEHL, Solothurn, Switzerland with Maximo Park

TUES 9 JUNE – venue tba, Munster, Germany with Gregory and the Hawk
WED 10 JUNE – MOLOTOW, Hamburg, Germany
THUR 11 JUNE – MAGNET, Berlin, Germany
SAT 13 JUNE – ROTOWN, Rotterdam, Holland
TUES 16 JUNE – BPM, Nantes, France
WED 17 JUNE – 1929, Rennes, France

TUFF TEEF out in the UK on Valve/Weatherbox.
Features GOT BONES, CRIME and PUNKS.
PINK FROST available on iTunes now.
Tour compile EP FRIENDS WITH SWORDS also available.

Celeste Potter never belonged in rural South Australia. It was most likely a combination of being the only Asian kid in town, the coke bottle eyeglasses and lack of netball skills. Whatever the reason, she soon blew that Popsicle stand and moved to Melbourne to go to art school. There she found herself immediately thrown together with fellow country misfits Ben Wundersitz and Steve Huf. With no money and no friends, all they had was a shared rock and roll obsession and three appetites for destruction. The exiles spent many months locked up in their little lounge room drinking whisky alone together, swinging their guitars around their heads, breaking things and making pancakes. Around this time the ferocious collective now known as Ouch My Face was born. They have since traded their dark confines for a touring van and a pandemonic reputation, inflicting hearing loss upon themselves and others across Australia and New Zealand Via: their art-punk slabs of rage.

Ouch My Face is three country kids who through necessity found themselves squished together inside a little concrete shoebox in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. It was in this shoebox that they nurtured the beginnings of their musical affinity. With few other friends to speak of, they stared at each other with perplexed faces when the phone rang and refused to open the door for the Mormons or landlords who came knocking. Their days were spent at school or down the dusty aisles of Warren’s Record Paradise and having handed all their money over to Warren, nights were spent eating lemonade scones and watching their mammoth collection of Rage videotapes. On Saturday nights they could often be found in their living room that had no light-bulb, with a bottle of whisky in one hand, guitar in the other, perfecting rock moves they had just witnessed on a chosen video tape. One pivotal morning inevitable progression witnessed them writing and recording a song about Weetbix on an old PC. Over the next three years they worked feverishly on a growing body of songs, extending their content beyond breakfast foods. They wrote and recorded in different shoeboxes but always together. In 2006 they were lured out of the dark confines by a manager with a little moustache and snakeskin shoes. He showed them how to pour their efforts into the giant bubbling cauldron that is the Melbourne music scene. They have since started smoking, quit smoking, bought a big white van and drove it across the state border a couple of times, started smoking again and learned how to stare boldly into the face of an audience without flinching.

“Celeste Potter sure has impressive vocal chords. She shrieks, howls and spits furiously all over Ouch My Face’s debut EP. Still, she somehow manages to rein in the histrionics just enough to not become grating over the course of these five songs. It’s a fine balancing act, especially when she is backed by music that is so in-your-face, it threatens to exit through the back of your head like a high-calibre bullet.
Despite the fact that the three-piece recorded in two different studios with two different engineers, the seamlessness of this EP leads me to believe that they had a very definite vision of what they were trying to achieve. Reminiscent of the glossy production values of mid-’90s post-grunge, all the instruments are up-front, but clearly separated in the mix. This isn’t subtle – and neither should it be.
Potter’s guitar careens wildly around a rhythm section that keeps flexing its muscles. Steve Huf’s bass has the metallic clang employed by the likes of Rage Against The Machine or, closer to home, The Sinking Citizenship. The drums fall into lockstep on the second track ‘Knockouts’, while a male voice barks commands in military fashion and Celeste yells something about getting naked.
‘Firehead’ introduces a funk metal groove, before being smothered in distorted guitar and more furious banshee wails. ‘Obscena Misdemeanour’ mutates from a dance-punk floorstomper into something a lot heavier and leads into the full-blown metal riffing of the short closing track ‘Don’t Take A Knife To The Graveyard’. I’d love to see them go even further in this direction. The fact that they list Sepultura as one of their influences indicates they might. Overall, it’s an impressive opening salvo from Ouch My Face. Don’t ask me what it all means, but with its slick sound and immediate impact, this record is custom-made for “youth” radio and dance floors. You can even mosh to it, if such is your wont, and Potter is a star in the making. Worse things could happen”. by René Schaefer (MESS + NOISE May 2009)

SAT 30 MAY: EP Launch – The Tote Hotel, Melbourne
w/ Fait Accompli, Assassination Collective, East Brunswick All Girls Choir, Drumheller +DJs

THUR 25 JUNE – Club 77, Sydney (My Sydney Riot)
w/ Fait Accompli and Zea Horse

SAT 27 JUNE – The Annandale, Sydney
FBI Fundraiser show

SAT 11 JULY – Ric’s Bar, Brisbane plus guests

OUCH MY FACE
debut selftitled EP out on Valve/MGM mid MAY!
Features KNOCK OUTS, FIREHEAD
and OBSCENA MISDEMEANOUR
(video here! – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R67UffxocQ)

SHONEN KNIFE
The all-female Japanese garage pop punk legends Shonen Knife, championed by Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Red Kross etc return with latest album Super Group. Formed in Osaka, Japan in 1981, heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups and early punk rock ala The Ramones, Naoko and the girls craft stripped-down songs, rooted in edgy instrumentation and D.I.Y. aesthetics, expressing infectious melodies and simplistic, exuberant lyrics sung in Japanese and English, which over the course of their twenty-seven-year career has earned them a worldwide cult following. They have released 15 albums since debut 1982′s Minna Tanoshiku and includes Brand New Knife (1997) and Happy Hour (1998) thate featured Banana Chips. They were invited by Kurt Cobain to support Nirvana on their 1991 UK tour.

Last seen in Australia as part of the 1997 Big Day Out tour… they return with the new album Super Group and another super tour later in 2009.

●Very active Shonen Knife!
In 2007, they released an album “fun! fun! fun!” in Japan. Since then, they spent very busy days. They played lots of shows, joined a compilation album for kids, went to North American tour, recorded a cover song of AC/DC for a tribute album and played at rock festivals.

●LET THERE BE SHONEN KNIFE!
The concept of the new album Super Group is “go back to the starting point of ROCK”. All lyrics are written in English. This album includes various cool rock tunes. The first song “Super Group” is very punk pop like Buzzcocks. “Muddy Bubbles Hell” and “Pyramid Power” taste like Heavy Metal. “BBQ Party” starts from Jonathan Richman like intro and changed into punk rock. The harmony at the last part of “Na Na Na” is very cute. The last song is a cover of Paul McCartney and the Wings song “Jet”. Shonen Knife version is very fun and ROCK. This album makes everybody happy.

Playing music is an exciting thing like eating a giant cake during my whole life.

http://www.shonenknife.net http://www.myspace.com/shonenknife
Super Group music video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSveOVUdkPI

SHONEN KNIFE plays SOUNDS OF SPRING in brisbane on SAT 26 SEPT along with The Living End, Josh Pyke, Frenzal Rhomb, Quan, The Hard Ons, The Fauves, My Disco and more…

SHONEN KNIFE – NEW ALBUM SUPERGROUP featuring Supergroup and Jet
OUT IN MAY ON VALVE/MGM

MONO
Japan’s MONO draw forth universal rapture with latest album Hymn to the Immortal Wind.

Just in time for their 10-year anniversary, MONO return with their fifth studio album, the absolutely massive Hymn To The Immortal Wind.

After touring almost non-stop for five years, the band hibernated for over a year to focus solely on writing Hymn. The result is their most thoughtful and eclectic album to date. Written and arranged with a hopeful, romantic narrative in mind, the songs string together like chapters in an epic love story. The music is naturally majestic, with MONO’s trademark wall of noise crashing beautifully against the largest chamber orchestra the band has ever enlisted. The instrumentation is vast, incorporating strings, flutes, organ, piano, glockenspiel and tympani into their standard face-melting set-up.

Recorded to analog tape with long-time friend and producer Steve Albini, there is an intimacy captured here that is at once beautiful and a little terrifying. The creaking of old wooden chairs as the orchestra rocks in their seats (both literally and figuratively), puckered lips rolling along flutes, and even the conductor’s opening cue can be heard during the hauntingly quiet opening moments

While Hymn continues to mine the cinematic drama inherent in all of MONO’s music, the dynamic shifts now come more from dark-to-light instead of quiet-to-loud. The maturity to balance these elements so masterfully has become MONO’s strongest virtue – - save for perhaps their uncanny ability to sound every bit like a plane crashing into a Beethoven concert.

Mono are Takaakira “Taka” Goto (guitar), Tamaki (bass), Yoda (guitar) and Yasunori Takada (drums).
Touring Australia late 2009.

FOLLOW THE MAP video is available here and going out soon to video world.

Amazon has chosen ‘Hymn To The Immortal Wind’ as one of their Top 4 Albums of the Year so far.
Also it debuted at #40 on the Billboard Top Independent Record Charts first week in US.

Screw ‘Music For The People’, this is music for the gods. Japan’s Mono have been tugging the heartstrings of the faithful for almost 10 years with their, y’know, grand post-rock symphonies, and their fifth album is as ambitious as ever, teeming as it is with crashing guitars and cinematic strings. ‘Pure As Snow (Trails Of The Winter Storm)’ soars above a maelstrom of melody and noise, the 13-minute ‘The Battle To Heaven’ conjures angels and demons clashing with flaming swords and ‘Everlasting Light’ burns and builds and dies with staggering grace. Pretentious, yes, but defiantly so. ‘Hymn…’ feels like the imaginary soundtrack to the film inside your head and is an outstanding work of epic beauty. Ben Patashnik – NME 8/10

http://www.mono-jpn.com

MONO’s Hymm to the immortal Wind out on Valve through MGM NOW…
Features something so sublime that this bramble of words can’t possibly convey.
Trust me.