Noise for Zeros

Soft Crash LP
S-S Records, 2010

After last year’s sleeper LP Late Night, and the short but sweet Enemy With An Invitation 7″ on Permanent Records early this year, a lot of people were getting worked up over this, their 3rd album, and I’m pleased to say that it’s looking like one of the best LPs of 2010. While Late Night took a number of spins to fully absorb due to its sophisticated, slow-mo aesthetic, Soft Crash has the immediate hooks and scrappy charm of their first LP. Their sound has moved well past the Roxy Music/Bowie tags their early Hozac and S-S singles got and into something distinctly their own. There’s sustained synth and a subtle glam polish to their songs, but the mood of Soft Crash exists in a grittier, electropunk realm that echoes the wild buzzing pulse of Chrome and the rich aural textures of modern day Sonic Youth. All in all, that’s just a fancy way of saying that this record sounds great at first spin and continues to sound great after weeks on the turntable.

LINKS

Buy Soft Crash at S. S. Records
Nothing People on MySpace

My Pal / Jackwoman Nunhammer 7″
Au Go Go Records, 1987

While this late-80s Aussie band doesn’t quite live up to their cheeky moniker, God did manage to have a few decent tracks spread across an album and a couple singles that made their way into the import bins of fine record stores worldwide. The A-side is fairly unremarkable proto-grunge, along the lines of weaker tracks by peers like Green River, The Fluid or early Screaming Trees, but the B-side has some of the best Stooges-worship you’ll ever hear, with detached-cool vocals and a searing riff as massive as Ayers Rock. Along with other Aussie bands under-appreciated in these United States, like the Celibate Rifles or Grong Grong, God deserves at least little respect, if not outright worship.

DOWNLOAD

God – “My Pal”
God – “Jackwoman Nunhammer”

Raw Candle Vote / Antonin Artaud 7″
Radial Records, 1993

A number of factors may explain why this Athens postpunk outfit never got the respect they deserve. It was easy to confuse them with Jaks, another excellent band in the mid-nineties that mined similarly angular, bass-driven noise rock alá The Jesus Lizard. Their name could also be confused with Tim Kerr’s (Big Boys, Poison 13, Monkeywrench, Lord High Fixers, etc) mid-90s project Jack O’ Fire. Or perhaps all the accurate but dismissive fanzine reviews describing them as a Jesus Lizard with a female singer didn’t appeal to the unwashed, male-centric indie masses who were still dealing with the Riot Grrl backlash. Whatever the reason, it’s a damn pity because they definitely had a unique take on the tense, mangled-but-regimented sound that cropped up in the 1990s underground. The good news is that their two LPs are relatively easy to find, so if you dig this great single — which includes a solid Bauhaus cover — you can easily score some more Jack O Nuts.

DOWNLOAD

Jack O Nuts – “Raw Candle Vote”
Jack O Nuts – “Antonin Artaud” (Bauhaus)

LINKS

Jack O Nuts on Built on A Weak Spot
Jack O Nuts on Beyond Failure