Psychout

Last year the worlds biggest CD and other entertainment crap supplier Wal-Mart put out the call for Jewish music. Unfortunately 'The Best Of Yiddish Musicals' and other amazing titles didnt shift and within a few months 80% of the newly ordered stock was back with the supplier. Maybe they should have looked at Israeli psy-trance duo Infected Mushroom.

It takes a fair bit of convincing to get me to write about an act like this given how much Pix and Chris already take care of the electronica department but these guys are onto something. Forming in 1998 and taking the name from a disbanded local punk group both members (Erez and Duvdev for short) were accomplished musicians before combining forces. Technical, thumping and truly psychadelic grooves are driving them on a train of notoriety around the world, and they recently stopped in Australia, playing the Metro about two weeks ago. Unfortunately due to the pleasures of the hospitality industry and the need to save for a trip overseas I had to neglect seeing them and its a missed chance I'm truly rueing.

Now based in the US and touring for their sixth album 'Vicious Delicious', Infected Mushroom should have the whiteboy in us all dancing for years to come.

Myspace: Infected Mushroom
Official Site

If you head out to gigs around your local area, and moreso in Sydney you'll see theres a range of diverse and very different music going around. Some are good and some are shit. One of the bands travelling on the good side of that line is the creatively named Captain Kickarse and and Awesomes


I was lucky enough to see these guys at a gig I played a couple of weeks ago and was enticed solely on the name. Whilst expecting some kind of offensive and self-indulgent punk rock, when they started playing they blew me away with a sound breaching so many genres yet still sounding so.. distinct. With the energy of a session band and the musical skill to boot they kept me captivated the entire time. I immediately saw fit to purchase their 4 track self-titled CD and I was not disappointed. If you're wondering what to expect think along the lines of a band with technical ability not unlike the Mars Volta, thrashy blues, psychadelic guitar rock, instrumental glory, Claypool-esque vocals and a general all round good vibe.

While the quality of recording might not do them enough justice (its still really good though), Captain Kickarse and the Awesomes are a talented and original band playing breaths of fresh air somewhere in Sydney, sometime soon. Check them out.

Myspace: Captain Kickarse and the Awesomes

Thats all from me for this week but I leave you with this: Support your local music store. The major chains are losing and combining into outlets that make most of their money off hardware, DVDs and other facets that people aren't still just downloading off the net. They require less to run their CD departments now whilst the Ma & Pa stores are struggling to survive. Download your tracks on the net, cool. But if you're going to buy a CD, help small business.