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reviews and other nonsenseyyyyy
2007 REWIND, JAN 2008
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CELLULITE SOUL - Witch Hats (Infidelity Records)
If 'Wound of a Little Horse' was the teaser for what local band Witch Hats were capable, 'Cellulite Soul' chucks you on the floor and commits unspeakable acts of rock’n’roll excitement rarely spoken of in mixed company. Witch Hats – note the absence of the definite article, an editorial attribute that may one day define the before and after of the band's commercial tenure – is a band that explores the dark side of the rock genre, where the perversity of humanity is naked for the suspecting eye to see. But it's also a world where humour shines through the darkness, like the glint of an eye in the arid dry reparteeof an odorous bar fly propping up the bar with tales of a life ruined by errant lifestyle choices. To take Witch Hats at face value is to ignore the subtlety that lies immediately beneath the barrage of bass and drums, razor sharp guitar and acidic vocals.
'Cellulite Soul' staggers into action with the ruthless discipline of 'Before I Weigh'. Ash Buscombe’s bass line is simultaneously supple, subtle and mesmerising. Kris Buscombe lets loose with a scream that suggests some mediaeval acts has been perpetuated on his person. Duncan Blanchford’s metronomic drum barricades the listener into the room and Thomas P Barry’s guitar slices periodically through the sonic atmosphere like a bloke wearing a hockey mask and a psychotic attitude rendered in jagged swamp chords. Kris Buscombe pleads for the return of his lost soul, but somehow you figure the devil might’ve written that particular item offin perpetuity. From there it’s a collage of white noise found under the rubble of a New York basement, held together with bass lines thicker than a rugby league player’s neck in 'I Can’t Stay At Home'. Butjust as you think this is going to be an album that’s going to be darker than the astronomical apocalypse that’s apparently around the corner, 'Climing Up Yr Cable' (sic) finds Witch Hats edging around pop territory, unsure whether to put their foot in the ring, or to stand outside sneering and snarling like the suburban misfits who ended up in the Birthday Party and the Scientists almost 30 years ago. The band’s ironic social humour comes to the fore on the Western, with Kris Buscombe musing on the historical precedents that illuminate the peculiarities of the contemporary world – or then again, that might be projection on my part, but it’s still a good fucking song. What’s not in dispute is that Hellhole is enough to send you off to the closest place of worship to seek solace and redemption lest you be condemned to an eternity in hell – or listening to Phil Collins records, which ever is worse.
Blanchford’s rumbling beats transpose 'Collingwood' into the middle of the Belgian Congo, while Barry’s guitar hacks away like a bug-eyed amateur surgeon let loose in a mortuary for kicks. On one listening – or maybe two – 'Potaoto Feet'(sic again) is the contemporary reincarnation of Public Image Ltd’s Rise, though it’s unlikely the perennially grumpy Mr Lydon would understand the metaphor that lies within potato podiatry. Then there’s Summer of Pain – again, is this ironic humour or an encapsulation of where Witch Hats are headed? – a barrelling journey into extreme sonics ensation set against the backdrop of Ash Buscombe’s thundering bassand Blanchford’ frenetic drums. At that moment the end could well be nigh for your precious sensibilities,but there’s relief in the form of 'Ma Lord'. Hushed vocals, a lush folk melody and a plea for redemption – maybe things will be alright for even the harshest of sinners. So what do you make of Neil Diamond Entry? Neil is a straight guy, and chances he wouldn’t have a clue why his name has been taken in vain for this freight train form of a rock track. With Kris Buscombe’s vocals distorted to the tone of an asylum escapee and guitar licks that wrap themselves around like snake whipped into a frenzy, this is the tune that illustrates why Witch Hats are soutterly compelling – darkness fights humour for supremacy and noise wins out. As you’re lying flat on the ground, overwhelmed by the intensity and excellence of what 'Cellulite Soul' has provided so far, Doors Film –again, would Oliver Stone understand what’s happening here? – looms large in your senses, and ushers you into the twilight of Witch Hats’ journey. If 'Cellulite Soul' isn’t one of the best albums of 2008, then fuck knows – or even cares – what is. - Patrick Emery
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From the sickening thrust of energy at the twenty eight second mark of the opening track, Before I Weigh,it's clear that this record is gonna kick ass, take names and then kick the shit out of the piece of paper on which it was written down the names. It's relentless and enjoyably punishing. It's dirty, perfectly under produced and topped with an unpredictable explosion of sound hidden behind every nook and cranny. This is beautiful messy stuff. Increasingly, this dirty, sweat covered, organic style of rock is what Australia is distinctively taking ownership of. The Witch Hats stand above the others, however, thanks in a large part to the details that they are able to pack into not only each individual song, but the entire album as a single body of work. More than anything, Cellulite Soul, fantastically sums up so much about what we have come to love about local music over the past few years. The slower tracks such as Ma Lord rely heavily on the emotional delivery of the lyrics and the determined strums of acoustic rhythm, while Hellhole, and other gut-wrenching powerful numbers such as Neil Diamond Entry and Summer Of Pain,are built around punishing bursts of well-guided aggression. It's this ability by the band to pause, change direction and alter their shape that makes this such a thrilling ride from start to finish. If this album has any weakness it's that, at times, some of the guitar work sounds a little too similar to infamous mid-90's grunge riffs. It's a thin line between homage and plagiarism and, more than anything, this is a distracting element to the songs. This factor is only minor though and quickly dispatched to the 'too picky' part of your brain after a couple of laps through the track listing. This record is a rare jewel - packing enough initial impact to floor you on first listens as well as enough substance to continually impresson the tenth, twentieth and hundredth listen. Clearly the best Australian album of 2008 so far.
9.4 / 10
Words by Jonny. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aussie band does noisy tricks with pop baselines By Bob Mehr (Contact), GoMemphis.com
Friday, August 15, 2008 It's a long way from the wilds of Tasmania to New York City's Chelsea Hotel. But for Witch Hats frontman Kris Buscombe, it's been a journey with a purpose.
In a sense, the Chelsea is the perfect home for the Witch Hats --which includes Buscombe; his brother, bassist Ash Buscombe; guitarist Tomas P. Barry; and drummer Duncan Blachford. Though little known in the States, the group has been hailed Down Under for its grungy sonic aesthetic, placing them in the tradition of other dark-hearted Antipodean outfits like the Birthday Party and the Moodists. Buscombe and the band are in the midst of a lengthy two-month tour of the United States, which will bring them to Memphis Thursday to play at the Hi-Tone Cafe. 'Well, it's our longest tour of the States by default, because it's also our first,' he says, chuckling. The group's cross-country jaunt is something of a preview for American audiences.The band, which has been praised at home for its full-length debut Cellulite Soul, will see the album released here by the hip L.A. label In the Red early next year. The 26-year-old Buscombe is no stranger to unusual travels. Born in Singapore, he moved back to Melbourne, and eventually to his family's ancestral home in Tasmania where he spent the better part of his life growing up. 'It was pretty rural. Mostly countryside,' says Buscombe of his early environment. Music was a constant at home, as his father was a blues drummer. Buscombe picked up the sticks himself as a child,before switching over to guitar. It was another drummer, Duncan Blachford, with whom he first formed a creative partnership. The pair's passion for music was fostered amid a tiny but thriving Tasmanian music scene a decade ago. 'It was very eclectic, just because of the sheer size and the isolation. But the mid-to-late '90s was a very cool time to be young and spend your formative years experiencingall this crazy artistic hard-rocking stuff that was going on down there,' says Buscombe, mentioning influential Tassie bands like 50 Million Crowns and The Stickmen. Eventually, in 2004, Buscombe and Blachford made the move to Melbourne, and began working up songs together. 'Really, we were just hanging out one night and got really wasted and decided to have a jam and record stuff on the computer,' he says. Adding his brother on bass,and friend Barry on guitar, the Witch Hats continued to record and playin and around Melbourne. They attracted the attention of Aussie label In-Fidelity and the notice of Phill Calvert, longtime drummer for the legendary Birthday Party, who would go on to produce the band's debut EP, 2006's Wound of a Little Horse, and new LP Cellulite Soul. Their association with Calvert has, somewhat predictably, brought about a rash of Birthday Party comparisons. And certainly, the Witch Hats do have the ability to make their music simmer and boil in much the same way as the legendary Nick Cave-led outfit did. But, oddly,it's another 'B' band that Buscombe takes direct inspiration from. 'It seems to surprise a lot of people, but basically the way I write most of the songs is just by trying to do really direct pop music,' he says. 'The Beatles are the standard for me -- I constantly pinch ideas and arrangements from them, but I try to meld them to noisy rock songs.That's my trick, I guess.' Songwriting is weighing heavily on Buscombe's mind at the moment, ashe's trying to complete lyrics for a set of tunes the band is slated to record in San Francisco at the end of the tour with Greg Ashley of the Gris Gris. 'I've been pretty lucky, I've been going through some pretty crazy periods (personally) so songs have been coming constantly -- a spretentious as that sounds,' says Buscombe, alluding to the lost friends and lost nights documented on tracks like 'Jock the Untold' and 'Neil Diamond Entry.' The long summer journey in America has taken the Witch Hats to some34 cities in 44 days, but compared to touring in their home country,Buscombe says, it's been a breeze. 'Australia's massive, but there's only about three or four cities worth playing and they're all ten hours away from each other.' On the current tour, the group has shared stages with Jon Spencer's Heavy Trash and East Coast buzz band the Vivian Girls. 'No one's really heard of us over here, so we're playing to completely new people each night, which is actually quite a challenge,' says Buscombe. 'And so far, the audiences have really been into what we're doing.' In fact, the Witch Hats' current jaunt may have some positive international implications for the United States. 'It's been really funny, just given the way America's been perceived in (Australia) the last few years, because of the Iraq war an its shocking foreign policies. Everyone was saying, 'Oh America, it's dangerous and people are arrogant' -- and, for us, it's been the total opposite. Everyone's been so friendly and hospitable,it's been really great,' laughs Buscombe. 'We'll have to go back home and set everyone straight.' -------------------------------------------------
Witch Hats
The Birmingham Hotel, Melbourne
Formerly renowned (and shunned) as a right-wing meeting and drinking place, “The Birmy” is a classic inner-city dive, crowded with old sofas and awkward pillars. It’s exactly the sort of place that has nurtured live music in Melbourne for the past 30 years or so. This is the Witch Hats’ third show back – and they are well and truly over the jet lag. I guess the question is: has their momentum stalled following the success of Cellulite Soul and an eight week overseas tour? Judging by tonight’s performance, the answer is clearly “no”. Playing support to Spider Vomit, they make a fairly bold choice, considering the size of the crowd, and don’t play anything except new material in a short, punchy set of just six songs. For the$8 entry fee, this turns out to be real value for money. There is no chat, no introductions, no shenanigans. Kris Buscombe is lit, and has the air of someone with something he needs to say. They get right down to it. Ash Buscombe doesn’t fit on the stage, so he is playing bass from the floor – and seems to enjoy having room to move. The new tunes – ‘My Stomach Is My Head’, ‘Check the Centre’, ‘This Town Needs an Enema’, ‘Parolling’, ‘Ces’ Sister’ and ‘Atmosphere’ – are hard with a rough, primitive edge that contradicts the swing and bounce inherent in a lot of their earlier stuff. They are not quite ear-friendly, either (think ‘Neil Diamond Entry’ from Cellulite Soul gone long, and you’re on the right track). Band associate and producer Phill Calvert is here tonight to get an earful, and gives the proceedings an approving and seasoned nod. Witch Hats have clearly taken in some territory and are all the better for it. by Trevor Block ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Witch Hats
Northcote Social Club,
Melbourne's The Witch Hats have built an impressive live reputation as a band which recaptures some of the glory days of Melbourne's dirty rock past: think The Scientists meets Asteroid B612 with some Rowland S. Howard thrown in to the mix. So it was highly appropriate that supporting The Witch Hats on the Melbourne leg of their tour in support of their debut long-player, Celluloid Soul,was none other than Kim Salmon himself. “How under-rated is this guy?”the man at the merch stand asked me. It's hard not to be astonished at the effortless intensity Salmon brings to his performance, and thes heer quality of the song-writing he delivers. There's something warm-hearted about the way Salmon commands the stage; at one point he intervenes to prevent a rowdy punter from being ejected. But there's nothing light-hearted about marquee songs from his extensive catalogue like 'Intense', 'The Cockroach', and, a highlight, 'I Keep You Alive'.Has he still got it? He never lost it in the first place. The Witch Hats have garnered considerable excitement in the Melbourne scene, and with the release of Celluloid Soul they now have a substantial LP to back it up. This was a set largely constructed from tracks on the new album, though 2006's EP Wound From A Little Horse was not neglected. On the evidence presented tonight, the new album is powerful, visceral song-writing that goes a long way towards justifying the interest. Singer Kris Buscombe is an angry, caterwauling vocal presence, offset by lead guitar Tomas Barry, who weaves jarring melodies across Buscombe's wall of fuzz. It's a powerful and surprisingly original combination. Highlight tracks included 'Potato Feet', 'Neil Diamond Entry' and a new cut, 'Combustion In The Fire Station'. The Witch Hats are clearly on the path to something bigger, but with their sound still developing and their integrity remaining intact. by Ben Eltham ----------------------------------------------------- Witch Hats
Cellulite Soul 10 Track, LP (2008, In-Fidelity Recordings)
WitchHats are four brats who play disagreeably loud songs and misspell half the tracks on their debut album. I love them, sort of. Last year when they played the much-delayed Cellulite Soul in its entirety at one of those alleyway venues Melbourne is known for, a sizable chunk of the audience walked out covering their ears. At the time I thought there must have had been a mistake, but no – the record is just as loud. The band plunder the bottom-end of Australian underground music history – bassist Ash Buscombe boasts an impressive collection of original Scientists singles – and play pop songs that sound as if they'd spent twenty years in a trashcan before stumbling to life. One of the more merciful things about hearing Witch Hats on record is being able to turn them down occasionally. Cellulite Soul's first track 'Before I Weigh' kicks off with a warbled scream and a guitar so distorted it would make The Jesus And Mary Chain proud. Kris Buscombe's voice is almost inaudible – the album doesn't come with a lyric sheet, by the way – before all four of them join in to sing a catchy but incomprehensible chorus twice in a row. That's more or less the formula for Cellulite Soul – two parts dumpster and one part melody. Half-way through there's a particularly good song called 'Hell Hole', which is probably the loudest of the bunch and one of the rare moments you can understand the lyrics.Each verse is a play on the first one: 'Dude, stop sitting in the apple tree/ The damn thing's shaking violently.' The apple tree eventually falls on top of the protagonist and drags everyone into the 'hellhole'of the chorus. There's something so childish and sinister about that track, placed right at the very heart of Cellulite Soul, that speaks volumes. Witch Hats play a kind of music close to my heart – the abyss as pop song. This is a brilliant album. by Andrew Ramadge ------------------------------ Witch Hats
Wound Of A little Horse
Infidelity
Review by Steph Edwardes
The amount of energy contained within
this one disc is just fucking ridiculous, but it sums up the impact of
Witch Hats’ ‘don’t-give-a-fuck-just-want-to-rock’ attitude. Having been
hailed as one of the best live bands in Australia, their debut EP
certainly seals the deal - an eclectic combination of The Birthday
Party, My Disco and good ol’ drunken rock swagger. Even at their most
straight-up (on Heartaches), they make The Vines look like a bunch of 5
year old kids.
Witch Hats’ explosion out of this country is only a matter of time.
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Witch HatsCellulite Soul
In-Fidelity/Inertia
Hearing this album will make you scour gig guides, looking for your next opportunity to see Witch Hats play. To see if the Melbourne four-piece achieves the same abrasive, seedy splendour live as it does here on its debut album, Cellulite Soul. I knew nothing of this band before hearing this but it makes me want to know more. Love it when that happens. It makes sense, after you're reminded of such bands as the Scientists, Big Black, the Fall and the Birthday Party, to look at the liner notes and see that former Birthday Party/Boys Next Door drummer Phill Calvert recorded it (with Ben Ling). Explains the mighty drum mix that Duncan Blachford got, too. Recorded in just two days, the songs have retained a visceral energy, and the powerful immediacy of a train wreck. The trebly, at times discordant guitars of Tomas P. Barry and singer-yeller Kris Buscombe slash and sear across assertive, strident basslines from Ash Buscombe ( Climbing Up Yr
Cable), or hang back with perfectly measured menace ( Western). An accomplished debut, displaying a maturity beyond these young guys' years. Jo Roberts .The Age.
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Built On A Weak Spot
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Witch Hats - Cellulite Soul
 After listening to the Wound of a Little Horse EP from the Melbourne, Australia based Witch Hats back in ’06; I honestly didn’t envision an album like Cellulite Soulbeing spawned from them two years down the road. Sure, that EP had plenty of promise, but to think they would deliver on it within such a short time just didn't cross my mind. However, here we are and Cellulite Soul is punishing my stereo speakers in the best way possible as I type this. For Cellulite Soul the band has taken bits and pieces of 60’s pop along with the best elements of the earlier eras of noise-rock/post-punk and has promptly draped it all in a darker grimy image. The bands influence from past brooding rockers The Birthday Partyis undeniable on this record, to the point that they even enlisted former member Phill Calvert to share recording duties with Ben Ling. The end result is more than anyone could ask for though, in that they created moody but powerful sounding album. From the opening track “Before I Way”, the bass line kicks in with a rolling punch that doesn’t back down from the plodding succession throughout the entire album. The bass lines provided by member Ash Buscombe are easily one of the highlights of the album. Adding to overall skin crawling feel of Cellulite Soul is the vocals of Kris Buscombe, who at times slinks around the wavering guitar mess with merely a whisper, as if he’s coaxing the listener that everything is ok and no ones going to hurt you. However, that hand reaching out to grab hold of quickly disappears as Cellulite Soul doesn’t take long to reveal its true intentions of providing a soundtrack to the underbelly of the worlds workings. Witch Hats – Hellhole [ MP3] Cellulite Soul is definitely one of the best surprises I’ve heard this year. For those digging what they here, then head on over to the bands MySpace to hear a few more songs and to purchase the album. It’s a dandy. --------------------------------------------------------------
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