YIS + Kids of Zoo at The Retreat Poster

Next weekend, night after B'Uzi launch. Drawing by Andre.

Beat Album of the Week

Contrary to the flaccid protestations of contemporary royalists - who see the House of Windsor as some sort of perpetually stable institution, forever providing a moral, social and political crucible for a population yearning for stability - the English monarchy has itself been in a state of regular re-invention for its entire thousand-odd year history. With the monarchy currently struggling under the weight of the cult of celebrity, now is the time for Chuck, Bill and Harry to think seriously about where to from here.

That direction could, if only a bit of lateral thought was applied, be toward aKingdom Of Fuzz. Sure, the English monarchy has about as much empathy with fuzzed-out guitars and gut-busting garage riffs as Sarah Ferguson has with the mushy tinned peas and tepid mashed potato served up in the average council estate residence, but hope can still spring eternal.

And where better to start that process of re-invention than YIS's debut long-player, Kingdom Of Fuzz? Kingdom Of Fuzz has got everything a contemporary monarchical institution needs to stay relevant: Message offers up plundering riffs tougher than a western suburbs back pocket player working off an insult to the sanctity of his fledgling marriage, Stop-Go smears the angular college punk of Devo with a thick dose of industrial strength garage attitude, Lizardman is cartoon framed Digger And The Pussycats rock 'n' roll writ large and Trevor Block Rocking Beats affords Melbourne's iconic man-about-town the slick rock treatment and popular song status he's spent 30 years acquiring.

(I Feel) Repulsed is a new wave fly in the album's prevailing garage rock ointment, replete with dazzling synthesiser melody and emphatic pop vocals; by way of radical contrast, the succeeding Baby Come On is down, dirty and depraved, a viscous mix of polluted rock licks and defensive emotional pleadings, before Burning Well takes us down the bruising and painful path of introspection, with nothing but the ghost of Sonic's Rendezvous and early Asteroid B-612 to ease the pain.

By the time Injin locks into its vice-like instrumental groove, YIS' Kingdom Of Fuzz is looking better than a Tennessee distillery to Keith Richards; I Wanna Go Home is the proverbial icing on the cake, a rough and ready blend of powerpop spiced with Ramones philosophical underpinnings.

Kingdom Of Fuzz actually has bugger all to do with the future of the House of Windsor. But the fact that it doesn't says everything about the irrelevance of the monarch, and even more about just how fucking good this record is.

If you like this: Superfuzz Bigmuff MUDHONEY, Funhouse THE STOOGES

JEFF HAMMOND

Bron + Andre on new Constant Light album

Constant Light have just put up their new album on Bandcamp. Bron plays bass on some tracks, Andre plays drums on track 5. They're launching it at The Empress this Friday. Details on FB.

Also, Poison Sockets (Bron + Jim from Constant Light) will be making their live debut at the International Noise Conference in Melbourne on Saturday May 21. More details soon.

last melbourne shows for a bit.

hey everyone,

so, thanks to everyone who made it out for our launch the other night. we were overwhelmed by the amount of people there... it was a really special evening, so, honestly, thanks heaps for coming out.

so, we've got some more shows coming up this month, which will probably be our last in town for a good few months while we start working on some stuff that isn't the same stuff we've played for the last year and a half... we're trying to tee up some interstate stuff for april/may (but may/june/july seems a bit more likely), so hopefully we'll have something confirmed soon. sydney + nsw/act for sure, adelaide hopefully, brisbane maaaaybe...

but, anyway, as far as melbourne stuff goes, here's what you can look forward to... as we played the whole album at the tote, we're gonna try to pull out some different stuff for this show, so, kingdom of fuzz material by request only... or if you have any other requests...

***

Thursday 17th of March at The Johnston, Fitzroy for Pon De Thursday with The Dark Globes. $5/$10. http://www.pondethursday.com

this is a cheap drinks, say YIS to get half-priced entry type deal. we'll be on last.

***

Friday 25th of March at The Tote, Collingwood for Baptism of Uzi Cassette Launch with High Tea, Buried Feather. $10. http://www.thetotehotel.com

we're amazingly happy to be on this amazing bill; baptism and buried feather are two of the best bands going around and high tea are a new band featuring the dudes who used to be in baseball. we're on second last.

***

Saturday 26th of March at The Retreat, Brunswick. Free.

and, yeah, the following night, a free show at The Retreat. should be a blast. again on last, one other band to be confirmed.

***

hopefully we'll have this new album written and released by, i dunno, november? who knows. it'll be different.

also, we've got about five of the shirts in medium and large left, three extra larges and one small that was hiding at the bottom of the box. http://yisyisyis.bandcamp.com

thanks again,

simon

http://www.yisyisyis.com