Sports is the first full-length from widely touted Shanghai artists Duck Fight Goose, fresh from their invite to SXSW and History 7” release earlier this year.
The eleven-track album combines elements of ambient post-rock and math-rock, with heavily textured songs that build layers upon layers before blooming into complex psychedelic mosaics.
Sports represents a creative leap from Duck Fight Goose’s first release, the straightforward math-rock EP, Flow, and has been roundly acclaimed in the Chinese press as one of the best albums of 2012.
‘Farewell All Joy’ is an intense journey that brings to ferocious light the uglier sides of human experience. IDYLLS balance astounding technical precision and an unbridled punishment across all instruments with a gnashing, multi-faceted vocal input. The 10 harrowing tracks warp 20 minutes through an insurmountable passage of time, with absolutely maniacal arrangements, grinding intensity, and sudden yet progressive drops in mood as key components.
A 01. Funerals In Queensland 02. Paradise of Blood 03. Swine / Virgins/ Utopiates 04. Bombs Reign Youthless 05. Bastardized Harvest / Spring In The Badlands
B 06. Amps For God / Plague Hell 07. Violent Caves 08. Heaven’s Transistors 09. Teenage Noose 10. Susy
This is a co-operative split release with the awesome Monolith Records (monolithmonolith.com) from Brisbane.
Tristan Agostino – drums Jordan Pulman – vocals James Horgan – bass/vocals Chris Brownbill – guitar/vocals/electronics
Additional vocals by Patrick Ruggles, Lochlan Watt, Agador Spartacus. Additional guitars and noise by Karl Hartwig.
Tracking and mixing was a collaborative effort from both James Balderston at Capitalsound Studios, Adelaide, and Chris Brownbill at Sun Distortion Studios, Brisbane. Mastered by Carl Saff.
Mere Women – Old Life LP Due: Late June After a 2 track 12” release and lots of valuable support shows Mere Women release their debut LP, Old Life.
Idylls – Farewell All Joy LP Due: Late June Idylls devastating debut LP Farewell All Joy will come in a selection of coloured vinyls.
Nikko – Gold & Red CD/Double LP Due: Late June & July Nikko’s sophomore LP Gold & Red will initially come on CD and later on Gold & Red double vinyl!
Hira Hira – Now Here Nowhere LP Due: Late June Life is hard for Hira Hira and they certainly let you know about it on their debut LP Now Here Nowhere.
Sunken Seas – Null Hour digital Due: Late June Big noise from New Zealand with Sunken Seas album Null Hour available via your favourite digital channels.
Little Shadow – Possessions CD Out now! Brisbane’s Little Shadow quietly drop their corker debut album Possessions.
New photographs
Mere Women at Black Wire You may or may not know that tenzenmen is too old to jump around and get too crazy at shows these days, instead concentrating on capturing the moment with photographs. There’s a huge backlog of pictures to be processed, hence the latest photos posted are now over one year old. These are of Sweet Teeth, Kasha and Mere Women and taken at Black Wire Records – let me know what you think? I’m slowly improving. You can find all my pix here.
This month’s special
You didn’t see the Discover China CD packs special already? 6 CDs for $20 or 10 CDs for $30!
What? You want more?
How about the El Eje Del Mal/Inquiry Last Scenery split 7″ for just $5 plus shipping?
More?
OK – been thinking about that god bows to math CD but $9 is just too damn much to pay? Enter the code “minutemen” on checkout to receive a 15% discount! Valid until June 20th!
Recent posts at tenzenmen.com
First China Bridge mixtape is up
Teaser tracks up at tenzenmen for 5 upcoming releases
Discover China CD packs at tenzenmen
Videos for upcoming releases at tenzenmen
Daighila interview (Malyasian hardcore punk)
8th Sept 2021 – Having discovered Mail Chimp for newsletters and press releases I kicked off what I hoped would be a monthly update with what was going on with tenzenmen. It was a good time and a bad time! I got so busy that I didn’t have time to do more than six, up until mid-2013, and because I was so busy it would have been the best time to do a newsletter like this! Trying to keep up with Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp and whatever else to try and promote what I was doing was a whole other job that was way less fun than just enjoying music!
These six tracks on Little Shadows debut release, Possessions, evoke memories of later Hopesfall, Cursive, and at their more dischordant and punishing, a more melodic Nation Blue. All of this is coupled with vocalist Cam Gillard’s stories being told with a balance of layered analogies, and brutal honesty, whilst delivered in a more angelic and balanced tone than his previous work. It’s a fine moment for a relatively fresh band when they can set the benchmark for their peers in such a seemingly effortless manner.
School Girl Report来自澳大利亚新南威尔士，巴特曼斯贝，成员包括Samuel Miers（吉他）和Daniel Oakman（鼓）。通过为琴弦加料以及用特殊工具来演奏，Samuel不必使用效果器就让吉他发出了难以企及的声响，并将其带入到精彩的现场演出中。Daniel的鼓技融合着非洲音乐、未来派灵魂乐以及德国新浪潮等不同流派，让人在混乱的边缘起舞。School Girl Report的首张专辑Sister Smooth将在支持多元文化的泛太平洋厂牌Tenzenmen发行。
School Girl Report from Batemans Bay, NSW, is made up of preschool friends Samuel Miers on guitar and Daniel Oakman on drums. Samuel, with his creative use of tools amongst the strings, creates multiple layers of unique sounds without pedals, resulting in organic and exciting live compositions. It sometimes appears as if five bells are ringing on different frequencies or takes the form of a low romping drone accompanied by techno bleeps. Daniel’s drums mix African, Future Soul, and Neue Deutsche Welle styles to create innovative grooves that make the audience want to dance in ecstatic states of confusion. Syncopated beat patterns chaperone the guitar’s wild rhythmic loops to give the overall sound a delayed focus on the beat, creating a hesitating roll of sections skipping into one another.
School Girl Report’s debut album, Sister Smooth, will soon be released on the celebrated cross-cultural label Tenzenmen.
8th July 2023 – Whatever happened to this album? Slipped through the cracks somehow! If I remember correctly Sam stayed on in China for a while after this tour.
xNoBBQx
xNoBBQx是一个实验摇滚二人组，成员包括Matt Earle（吉他）和Nick Dan（鼓），他们来自悉尼和布里斯班。有评论戏称他们的音乐听上去像是“在车库里演奏那些在水里浸了14年的乐器，并用破旧的录音机录了下来。”最近几年，xNoBBQx在美国、欧洲、新西兰以及日本进行了多次巡演，2008年他们曾参加过奥斯丁的SXSW音乐节。同时，乐队成员还经营着DIY厂牌Breakdance the Dawn和黑胶厂牌Pulled Out。
xNoBBQx is a 2-piece experimental rock band from Sydney/Brisbane, Australia consisting of Matt Earle on guitar and Nick Dan on drums. Their sound has been compared to the joyous abandon of “a couple of 14-year-olds bashing instruments in the garage with record pressed down on an old tape recorder” (Cyclic Defrost). xNoBBQx has toured both nationally and internationally over the last few years throughout the USA, Europe, New Zealand and Japan. In 2008 they showcased at the South by South West festival in Austin, Texas. The members of the band also run their own independent labels Pulled Out (vinyl only) and Breakdance the Dawn.
8th July 2023 – I met Matt and Nick, who were around in the improv music scene when I was rehearsing with Hinterlandt when Hinterlandt was little more than a bedroom idea. We did play some shows, one that included an Arkestra-type affair which I’m pretty sure they both played in. There were more people on stage than in the audience that night. Both Hintelandt and Matt were part of the inspiration to start tenzenmen in the first place.
21st May 2021 – If memory serves me correctly, and it may not, and Jochen may be able to verify, but I’m pretty sure I picked him up and drove him and his one man band to this show. Put on as part of the annual Vivid Festival (festival of light, right?) at a small art gallery at the Rocks it was pretty much the perfect place for these two musicians. It was a nice relaxing evening and I remember chatting with Dimity (who took the attached photos and posted to her blog.) Jochen played first and afterwards we chatted about hardcore as he was drinking some red wine, myself Coopers Red and then watch Cam (Seaworthy) play. I like the Rocks at night time – you can feel the history there. This night made a minor addition to that history.
Hacks exist for brief moments in time on the Sydney underground landscape and during one of of those moments they managed to record these 4 tracks and play a few shows that suitably impressed tenzenmen with their drunken swagger of improvised rock.
Tape and/or CD versions coming sometime when Hacks have been located in the vicinity again.
Gou Ri De, Genjing, Yunnan, Down, Subs, Andrew Field, Jud Willmont, Pangbianr, City Weekend, Chui Wan, Josh Feola, Live Beijing Music, Brain Failure, David O’Dell, Hejorama, Beijing Punk, Shaun Jefford, Jingweir, Beijing Daze, Core In China, Rock In China, King Ly Chee, Wooozy, Nevin Domer, 1724 Records, Zoomin’ Night, D-22
1994ever 