Seahorse Divorce – 13th September 2013

Cat #: 142TZM

All life on Earth began innocently in the primordial, prenatal waters of creation, and so too it was that love drew its first delicate and vulnerable breath. If you have known love you will be aware of the terrible pounding and crushing pressure pushing all oxygen from your chest, leaving you gasping for air and looking to take up the nearest sharp object and carve gills into your neck. This is the spirit of the ocean calling to your most ancient protozoan ancestral memory, speaking its most primal intuition and evoking a near implacable yearning to drown yourself in the nearest body of water.

Consider this, then, the conceptual crux of the debut LP from regenerate Brisbane dandies Seahorse Divorce; 11 tracks of unfettered, unapologetic and organic affection prevailing in the face of the invariable estrangement and painful separation of life. Lacking ulterior motive or any concept of predestination, the songs are offered in homage to the other, the oft-ignored remainder after opposing and dominating forces of creative or emotional obviousness wear themselves thin.

Left, then, to wander through an ever-shifting landscape of light and darkness in search of hearth and hospice, as street urchins Seahorse Divorce simultaneously abandon and are abandoned by the bygone progenitors that first gave them life, and yet are clearly distinguished and inescapably marked by their genetic and cultural heritage.

Recorded live, Sun Distorted, punk in intent but never in form, it is unlikely that Seahorse Divorce is the proselytizing litany of a new age but have stranger things not happened? 

Orlacs Hände – CD – May 1st 2011

Cat #: 057TZM

Not much good comes from Brisbane, but when something breaks through and makes an impact, it makes the city and those who pay attention to its music take an awestruck step back. During their all-too-short lifespan, Orlacs Hände was a band that did just that. 

For years, the record meant to be Orlacs Hände’s debut EP laid in a state of dormancy. It saw a limited cassette release overseas and quickly became impossible to track down, and those wondering if it would ever see the light of day finally lost hope. Now, tenzenmen is proud to announce that we will be righting that wrong and releasing the EP ourselves – the way it was meant to be. 

Everything that made Orlacs such a formidable and affecting live act is here: the gut-tearing screams; the shattered-glass guitars; the polyrhythmic, driving drums – but the six songs that make up the record are the real stars here. There aren’t many releases in this genre that pack so much originality and anguish into a package as compact as this one. This is a lost classic, and it’s about time it got the attention it deserves. 

FOR FANS OF: Portraits of Past, Noisy Sins of the Insect, Funeral Diner, & Tristan Tzara.

31st Mar 2021 – I remember this first sentence causing some controversy with some Brisbanites but this text was actually written by a local!