STACK #235 May 2024

MUSIC FEATURE

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JEBEDIAH, SONIC SNIPERS

As they juice up the engines for their national tour (July until September, taking in nearly every state and territory), Jebediah’s Kevin Mitchell answered a few of our burning questions about the Perth act’s incisive sixth record, Oiks .

suggested saxophone. I can’t remember who it was, so let’s just say it was me. Ness was playing in another band at the time with a sax player named Thea Woodward, so we asked her to come in and play on it. It was perfect. It kind of reminded me a bit of that ‘80s, Cold Chisel, Saturday Night kind of feeling. Last drinks at the pub. The crowd noise is a sample from a Sydney pub in the 1980’s. There’s a keys instrument in the background of the bittersweet Aqua - Lung which sounds like the instrument

The title phrase of Gum Up the Bearings lands like an instant (if cryptic) pearl of wisdom - where did the expression come from? It was something that came out of Chris’s mouth one day in the studio. He would often skateboard to the studio. Sometimes he would be brandishing an injury from falling off. I’m not sure that it’s even a real skateboarding expression, or one that is commonly said. He probably just made it up. Anyway, as we were writing these songs in the studio, I was coming up with lyrics at the same time and would often just pick up on conversations that were happening around me and try and insert bits of them into the songs. Also regarding this track - hello wonky and wild sax solo! Who suggested this addition, and where/how did you record the murmurs of gathered people behind it? The song had a long fade out and we didn’t really have any guitars doing anything. Someone

another song using the Rubberman beat which was going to be like a ‘Part 2’, or a reprise or something. But it ended up becoming Aqua - Lung instead. So, the two songs are kind of like brother and sister. There’s a string of ‘80s Casio keyboards that are just really cool, and come with these presets that they just don’t make anymore - because now, everything is made to sound exactly like the real instrument. But those ‘80s Casios have sounds that don’t really sound all that much like the instrument they’re trying to mimic, and so there’s something a bit weird and wonderful about them. ZKR

Oiks by Jebediah is out now via Cooking Vinyl.

spotlighted in dreamy single Rubberman - what is this sound, and what drew you to it? There’s a few things going on there, but I think it’s just a Casio keyboard. We used it on Rubberman , and then we started recording

MISCREANT MELVINS BRING THE MADNESS

T he Melvins experience has been marked by bold forays into the avant-garde, with the band embarking on enigmatic and whimsical tangents that defy convention and relish in the unexpected. Now, enter Tarantula Heart , perhaps their most audacious adventure to date. Album opener Pain Equals Funny clocks in at an astonishing 19 minutes long, yet any attempt to truncate it would only detract from the buffet of goodies unraveled across its duration. The introductory passage calls over their career, but any associated with predictability are not - and likely never will be - amongst them. Melvins have amassed a plethora of descriptors

to mind the brighter moments of early Black Sabbath, anchored in a doom-laden riff that exudes an odd, disarming sense of optimism. But don’t let yourself be duped, because the sentiment is short-lived; the song deftly transitions into a dissonant, atonal progression, dredged in the desiccated style of ‘90s desert rock. At one point or another, there’s no denying what you are, and second track Working the Ditch is quintessential Melvins brilliance.

Viscous leads paired with infectious vocals, and that loose, yet solid, rhythmic backbone: it’s the pioneering formula that led Dave Grohl to crowning them “the heaviest band of all time.” She’s Got Weird Arms is not merely left of the dial, it operates on an entirely different frequency altogether, with its haywire guitar runs and quirky vocal melodies. And just when you orientate yourself to the madness, Allergic to Food unleashes a full-blown sonic freak out, revved by a barrage of down

tuned instrumentals and frantic proclamations. Tarantula Heart is exactly what you’d expect of a Melvins record: raw, uncompromising, and utterly exhilarating. Alex Burgess

Tarantula Heart by Melvins is out now via Ipecac/Liberator

10 MAY 2024

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