GIG OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!
Showing posts with label Mental Powers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mental Powers. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Monday, December 19, 2011
Mental Powers @ Dada Records 17-12-2011
Photo by Darren Mok
Mental Powers playing in linear mode at Dada Records. Look at that attractive man in the blue shirt, his name is Lewis Waters and Ladies, he's taken. This set reminds me of a band I've seen a few times but actually good.
Get it HERE.
Enjoy.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Mental Powers "Stuffed Alive" Launch @ The Bird 22-09-2010.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Mental Powers @ Norfolk Basement 16-07-2010.
Get it HERE.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, November 22, 2010
208 Halloween Party
On Halloween last month Astral Travel and Wind Waker staged a fundraiser at 208 for a proposed split 12". This was Wind Waker's 35th and final show . I/we decided to end the band after getting tired of pushing shit uphill for 3 years.
It was a great night for one and all with something for everybody: bands, dj's, an awsesome and successful cake stall, Thomas Rowe's amazing dance party MC skills and no police interference.
Bad Houses dressed as The Ex-Presidents and played first, they were good if a little shakey, more gigs will fix this. Mental Powers began their set with slow Europe-ian chants before ripping through their Japan paced hits. It was gnarly, lots of bleeps. In case you haven't already you should buy the new MP cd Stuffed Alive.
Astral Travel in Young Ones get up made everyone stand up for a set lacking in thrash metal but overflowing with epiphanic pop(?) which ended with a brut version of The Misfits' "She" sung by both Amber and Ruby, which they swear they'll never play again. You can almost hear Amy this time. I think they were a bit pissed though. Wind Waker played last and pretty poorly I'll admit which is pretty disappointing. Clancey did not bring her guitar so I had to borrow one for her, which I'm not sure she tuned, she also brought her digitalfxenhancedmarshallSS amp instead of her Ampeg Reverbrocket, god knows why. I guess she decided that since this was the last gig it didn't matter how good or bad she sounded and played. Also Louis was crunk and I had some amp troubles. All in all nt bRvt@l eNff.
The Split LP has been delayed a little but will be finished sooner than later. I promise.
On the good news front the AT side is almost finished and sounds sick. On the bad news front: the WW side was recorded in early October and will be entirely rerecorded mid December, I had a problem with my audio workstation and accidently deleted EVERYTHING. A total bummer but not quite the end of the world.
P.S. I stole all photos from Facebook.
P.S.S. The AT and WW sets were filmed by Ben, Kenta and friends for a possible DVD release.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Mental Powers @ AT/WW Fundraiser 208 Halloween 2010
Mental Powers playing at the AT/WW Split LP Fundraiser show at 208 on Halloween 2010. Featuring Zoidberg on drums, David Byrne on guitar/magic percussion, Larry David on keys/vocals and Pink Blob on guitar/keys.
Get it HERE.
Enjoy.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
HALLOWEEN PARTY AT 208/AT&WW SPLIT FUNRAZOR
Dear everyone,
Astral Travel and Wind Waker are doing a split LP but we are both broker than shit. So we are having a fundraising halloween party at 208. Perth's best bands will play (AT,WW, Mental Powers and Bad Houses), cakes will be baked (hopefully prior), and cool shit will happen. It will be sik!
The record will be a sumnation of years of suffering and pain, it will be a joyous release and a heavy bookend, a nice memento of days past and youth lost, a big black disc and a few pretty pictures. It will also be the best thing Perth has seen or heard since that guy got roasted dead in his car at the Basso shops.
It will be on Halloween Sunday 31st of October 2010. It will cost you a friendly five dollars and will start at 5pm.
208A Whatley Crescent Maylandia.
Don't miss out, everyone will hate up on you.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Mental Powers CD Launch 20th March 2010.
On the 20th of March 2010 Badminton Bandint, a record label based in buttfucknowhere, Western Australia, released a CD by a band known as Mental Powers.
This historic event was celebrated by Craig McElhinney, Drowning Horse, Taco Leg and Mental Powers at the North Perth Bowls club.
Craiglord of Ticklevinny began the ceremony with the lament of a dying ocean planet. He seems to be moving into nu-grass territory, that is if nu grass took a bucket of downers and scotch for breakfast and sat in its dark cave room playing Metroid Prime Trilogy.
Drowning Horse pissed off some old guy and deafened the audience. Brutal.
Mental Powers formed a circle and made songs for Kronos. Not their best set but still a blinder.
Taco Leg linked arms and sang songs of praise and worship, proving why they have earned their place as "Most Popular Religious Act".
On the 20th March 2010 Liz Carpenter, Stewart Udall and Girija Prasad Koirala died.
The album slays, fkn buy eht.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Mental Powers @ North Perth Bowls Club 20-03- 2010.
Mental Powers playing at their CD Launch at North Perth Bowls Club 20th March 2010.
Get it HERE.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Mental Powers @ Marijn's Farewell Party 28-02-2010.
Mental Powers playing at Marijn's Farewell Party 28th February 2010.
Rare blistering trio formation on this set. D, L & J. They play a Fall cover.
Get it HERE.
Enjoy.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Fab D's, MP's, WigWam and Pex @ 208's 29-10-2010.
I can't be bothered writing anything, so here's what Lyndawg wrote for Cool Perth Nights:
On an unlikely street corner was an unlikely house. Sat soberly behind slouching pickets, its fa̤ade appeared inauspicious Рbut it was, after all, only a fa̤ade. The domicile was a diamond in the rough, a gem more precious than its exterior disclosed; and perched before it in dwindling daylight this balmy Summer evening was an unlikely abundance of gentlefolk, glowing with muted anticipation Рwaiting for ignition.
The house, a musical manor, sucked us in like slippery strings of spaghetti. Within we were chewed up, mashed into the redolence of a hundred sweaty moonbeams… there, in front of the fireplace, the enigmatic Pex (Predrag Delibasich) stood brandishing his 335. As per his recent custom, the solo Pex performance was a trundling jukebox of lean, loop-based instrumental pop, punk and folk, twangled melodies surfing over rhythmic chugs and stabs. What is perhaps most enthralling about a Pex set is its mystery; without lyrical or visual clues to provide a conceptual compass, one can only guess as to the music’s conveyance; whether it is simply aesthetic, or if its unique style and dynamic carries a theoretical agenda. Pex gives nothing away, and finally dissolves the set into a tremendous pot of thick, custardesque noise and glaring feedback.
After Pex’s climatic fuzzsplosion I needed to chill out somewhat, and in my repose gladly toked on the swirling peace-pipe that was Wigwam. Local drone-king Craig McElhinney and reverb-demon Dave Egan (Carbuncle, Triangles) formed this eerie duo, who rode in on a lonely pulsating wash, eagle wings in desert night-chill air. After some time lounging on the plateau, however, I suddenly noticed a green light overhead and was sucked up like sago in a bubble-tea straw by its mighty traction beam. Commander Egan’s voice had warped to an otherwordly, ring-modulated warble, the deranged croak of a crazed robofrog as it primed me for a probing. Craigos McMartian leered over the control panel mashing buttons and extracting ferocious whumps, whirrs and booms. In the middle of the darkened warp-chamber there sat a glowing earth-globe, an omen of the pair’s fiendish plans. I can’t lie, I was pant-pooingly petrified by the sounds of Wigwam. In a very good way.
Jettisoned from the mothership I stumbled across the plains for days on end until encountering an unlikely jungle gym climbing into a febrile sky. Ascending its steely tangle, I chanced upon the members of Mental Powers swinging hither and thither, clanging out marble-rattle percussion grooves, blaringly erotic saxophone solos, treacle-organ jets and bowel-bothering basslines. Their paradoxically taught-yet-loose jams ground to a rather somber midpoint; and beguiling though this was, it was a rejuvenating shift to the last couple of tunes, bolting party numbers with infectious and persistent beats. Providing the musical highlight of the evening, Mental Powers’ puzzling brilliance shows no sign of waning; their forthcoming LP, then, should be a tasty little treasure indeed.
Fresh from the embrace of a subterranean African chasm (or indeed, a plane), Fabulous Diamonds were in town to support those other merchants of keys-drenched gloom, The Horrors. Perhaps it was post-travel fatigue, perhaps the diminished size of the crowd, perhaps the intimate rather than ethereal setting, but the Diamonds were simply nowhere as Fabulous as the last time they graced our coast to deliver a stellar set at the North Perth Chapel space. The ingredients were the same – thick, delayed keys, crisp, angular drum motifs, repetition and monotone vocal chants, but the resulting pie seemed half-cooked, more tedious than hypnotic. The last track, at least, hinted at sublime repetitive immersion, with an intricate, relentless drum line and catchy but incessant Schulzesque synth loop for over ten minutes. The Fab D’s didn’t sow any seeds of doubt as to their general excellence – they seemed merely to be having a dullish night.
The unlikely gentlefolk drained out of the house of unlikely tones, trickling down the suburban arteries and into the dark. No passer by would have guessed, as the door swung shut and the lights were extinguished, of the whirlwind of sonic kickassery that had just stormed through this unlikely little gem of a place.
PS I have no photo's of this gig, if you do then please send them in.
On an unlikely street corner was an unlikely house. Sat soberly behind slouching pickets, its fa̤ade appeared inauspicious Рbut it was, after all, only a fa̤ade. The domicile was a diamond in the rough, a gem more precious than its exterior disclosed; and perched before it in dwindling daylight this balmy Summer evening was an unlikely abundance of gentlefolk, glowing with muted anticipation Рwaiting for ignition.
The house, a musical manor, sucked us in like slippery strings of spaghetti. Within we were chewed up, mashed into the redolence of a hundred sweaty moonbeams… there, in front of the fireplace, the enigmatic Pex (Predrag Delibasich) stood brandishing his 335. As per his recent custom, the solo Pex performance was a trundling jukebox of lean, loop-based instrumental pop, punk and folk, twangled melodies surfing over rhythmic chugs and stabs. What is perhaps most enthralling about a Pex set is its mystery; without lyrical or visual clues to provide a conceptual compass, one can only guess as to the music’s conveyance; whether it is simply aesthetic, or if its unique style and dynamic carries a theoretical agenda. Pex gives nothing away, and finally dissolves the set into a tremendous pot of thick, custardesque noise and glaring feedback.
After Pex’s climatic fuzzsplosion I needed to chill out somewhat, and in my repose gladly toked on the swirling peace-pipe that was Wigwam. Local drone-king Craig McElhinney and reverb-demon Dave Egan (Carbuncle, Triangles) formed this eerie duo, who rode in on a lonely pulsating wash, eagle wings in desert night-chill air. After some time lounging on the plateau, however, I suddenly noticed a green light overhead and was sucked up like sago in a bubble-tea straw by its mighty traction beam. Commander Egan’s voice had warped to an otherwordly, ring-modulated warble, the deranged croak of a crazed robofrog as it primed me for a probing. Craigos McMartian leered over the control panel mashing buttons and extracting ferocious whumps, whirrs and booms. In the middle of the darkened warp-chamber there sat a glowing earth-globe, an omen of the pair’s fiendish plans. I can’t lie, I was pant-pooingly petrified by the sounds of Wigwam. In a very good way.
Jettisoned from the mothership I stumbled across the plains for days on end until encountering an unlikely jungle gym climbing into a febrile sky. Ascending its steely tangle, I chanced upon the members of Mental Powers swinging hither and thither, clanging out marble-rattle percussion grooves, blaringly erotic saxophone solos, treacle-organ jets and bowel-bothering basslines. Their paradoxically taught-yet-loose jams ground to a rather somber midpoint; and beguiling though this was, it was a rejuvenating shift to the last couple of tunes, bolting party numbers with infectious and persistent beats. Providing the musical highlight of the evening, Mental Powers’ puzzling brilliance shows no sign of waning; their forthcoming LP, then, should be a tasty little treasure indeed.
Fresh from the embrace of a subterranean African chasm (or indeed, a plane), Fabulous Diamonds were in town to support those other merchants of keys-drenched gloom, The Horrors. Perhaps it was post-travel fatigue, perhaps the diminished size of the crowd, perhaps the intimate rather than ethereal setting, but the Diamonds were simply nowhere as Fabulous as the last time they graced our coast to deliver a stellar set at the North Perth Chapel space. The ingredients were the same – thick, delayed keys, crisp, angular drum motifs, repetition and monotone vocal chants, but the resulting pie seemed half-cooked, more tedious than hypnotic. The last track, at least, hinted at sublime repetitive immersion, with an intricate, relentless drum line and catchy but incessant Schulzesque synth loop for over ten minutes. The Fab D’s didn’t sow any seeds of doubt as to their general excellence – they seemed merely to be having a dullish night.
The unlikely gentlefolk drained out of the house of unlikely tones, trickling down the suburban arteries and into the dark. No passer by would have guessed, as the door swung shut and the lights were extinguished, of the whirlwind of sonic kickassery that had just stormed through this unlikely little gem of a place.
PS I have no photo's of this gig, if you do then please send them in.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, September 13, 2009
04/09/09 Norfolk Basement.
Pink Reason just swung through our ghost town on a tour of australia presented by Fifth Column and Stained Circles. I saw the perth leg of the tour which placed itself in the cavern of the Norfolk Basement and decided to down some ramblings here: Silver Bulletin and Mental Powers took positions as local supports. Silver Bulletin (aka Cambro Rothalot) is a one man apocacryptic folk machine. Usually, or as far as I have seen so far, his sets feature lots of gentle vocal and percussion looping but not today and the set seemed leaner and stronger for it, like a pretty cow changing into a horse. A manly horse with black rimmed glasses and a nylon string guitar. Beautiful. After cambro left the fairy lightstage Mental Powers assembled on the floorspace. Once a different beast, the Powers that be have come a long way from the first time I saw them, they have shifted into tighter territory. Jamie's cut-down and tuned up jazz drumming is amazing and Lewbro glues into it like teeth coming together, new man Steve is the gums in this mouth equation, a strong foundation. Deni therefore is somehow the tongue in this mouthband, his sonic presence floating over and through. After this happening, Lakes formed on stage, seating himself on a black case, he began an ice cave journey in songform which was moving, especially to the douchey few that walked in and straight back out mid-set. Pink Reason featured Ryan Jewell and Matt Horseshit for this tour, aswell as Deni Powers for this show. They played a 40 or so minute set and it was amazing. It had everything from touching acoustic ballads(?) to waves of free jazz with rolling atonal piano and Deni's sax. Throughout Jewell's skills were obvious, this man is a percusso-genius, always supporting and embellishing yet never showy or crushing not to mention his oscillations. Horseshit's, for lack of better terms, surf-psych strat work filtered though Kevin Debroux's "dark, squalid and-bluesy streak music" very well. I noticed Deni manipulating the pitch wheel during one bursting number, it seemed fitting.
In Summary, all the above bands are MUST see.
over and out.
P.S. a recording of PR's set will be released, maybe on Fifth Column.
In Summary, all the above bands are MUST see.
over and out.
P.S. a recording of PR's set will be released, maybe on Fifth Column.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Mental Powers @ Norfolk Basement 04/09/09.
Mental Powers live set at the Norfolk Basement 04/09/2009. They have a split 7" w/ Free Choice out on Fifth Column, you should buy it now.
First show with SS in band.
Get it HERE.
Enjoy.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Chapel Space 30/05/09
On saturday there was another show at the chapel space.
This time Carbuncle, Pond, Mental Powers and Fabulous Diamonds
all played and they all slayed. It was another night of wonder.
I had to get fresh AA's so i missed Pond, word is they were very
very good. I stole some photos for this, the sepia ones I stole
from Greg Taw and the coloured shot of Fabulous Diamonds I stole
from Matt Giles, ah the wonders of facecrack.
Carbuncle
Carbuncle, as always, played an amazing set but this time there were a few newies.
Get it Here.
Enjoy
Fabulous Diamonds
Fabulous Diamonds are my favourite non perth australian band, if that makes sense.
They are amazing.
Get it HERE!
Enjoy,
do it.
edit: Mental Powers
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