Rat VS Possum

I am going to start this off with an equation.

Music = Art. At least it should, it barely ever does though. Usually its more a case of greed + the need for sex + fashion + egotistical, look at me bullshit = music, thus = me sad.

Any night of the week in any city in the western world your likely to find a four chord bar band singing Rolling Stones/ACDC derivative have sex with me because I'm "cool" music. "Hey check it out, vintage leather jacket, yep, got it at a thrift store. Next week I'm going to start smoking and in three years hit the heroin." "Whats your band like?" "Man, we rock, hard. Kind of like Guns n Roses having a baby with ZZ Top." "Can i borrow your Harley so i can drive myself into a wall at 60mph so i never, ever have to hear your shitty, shitty music."

If you delve deep into the various dark alley music venues of the world you can find creative, often young, remarkably cute kids making weird art/music. They often have too much extra percussion on stage, effects pedals a plenty and off key harmonies wrapped up in a bundle of fun and longing. Rat VS Possum are one of these bands.

Building up their fan base through exclusively playing house parties they created enough buzz to sell out a month long residency at the depressingly defunct infamous Tote venue in Melbourne's north. Now they have become the go-to band for bigger acts wanting a fun opening act. Their own shows are famous for glittery, projected experimentation and mind blowing weirdness. They would probably be more at home in the strange back alley venues of LA or NY but for now they are, thankfully, giving the southern hemisphere a much needed break from rock for ego's sake.

Thanks you Rat VS Possum.

See them all over the East Coast of Australia through Feb and March, check their myspace for dates and to listen.

http://www.myspace.com/ratvspossum

Wish You Were Here - Spill Party from ryanalloydpresents on Vimeo.

Duck Duck Chop!

Every now and then sprawling through the muck and wankery of bands on myspace you find a gem amidst the slime, a diamond in the rough, a little slice of heaven(enough already). Its rare and rarer still you discover that they possess a gutsy energetic live show and artwork that makes your stomach churn with genius. Today in a series i will try and continue of unknown bands i like i give you Duck Duck Chop.

Coming from Melbourne Australia's weird art music scene but breaking tradition with the swamp/blues/scientists inspired bands that are all to common at venues such as The Tote and Pony, Duck Duck Chop destroy conventional hardcore, post rock and art punk in an explosion of passion and boyhood lusty fury. Although just a two piece their music is big and bold. They possess the deep rooted coolness of DFA 1979 and the passion of ATDI and there live show is crushing and exciting.

They have 7" record (Blood/Final) that I'm sure you could order through their myspace. Title track Blood in a plastic bag is like 7 minutes of math/hardcore fury with touches of Slayer and Converge while B-Side final is dark post punk but almost a pop song with lyrics of longing and drum and guitar interwoven genius. They have a whole parade of shows in Melbourne over the next month, go see them before the become untouchably cool.