This month sees Aversions return with brand new single ‘Sharp Left Turns’, the lead track of an upcoming EP of the same name. Regardless of what the title suggests, the song ploughs straight on the band’s uncompromising course, pitching the listener into a tide of pummelling drums and streaky guitars. Coll’s vocals veer from sarcastic sing-speak to vitriolic yelling from within this cacophony, a discontented preacher unhinged by the sorry shape of the world around him. A world gifted to the individual by faceless corporations and backed by the good ol’ dollar. By the second verse the delivery is more a bitter croon, heart-broken and self-critical, resigned to the fact no sharp left turn is going to arrive to save us.

There are no witnesses
In front of businesses
Just flower arrangements
For dinner engagements
With no reservations
And sharp left turns

The song comes complete with a video directed by Derek Janzen, which you can check out below:

‘Sharp Left Turns’ is out now and it’s available from the Aversions Bandcamp page.

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House seems able to conjure its own atmospheric patterns, unseen forces called forth from homebrew hexes, leaving the listener dazed and amazed, like a torn page that’s been swirled around and left strewn on the ground.

Again released by our friends at Furious Hooves, new EP Follow sees Horse Culture develop this aesthetic, delving further into the dark and moody corners of indie rock. From the opening salvo the title track the tone is set, like the stomping approach of some great black beast that stops for nothing and no one. The tempo might drop for the sludgy vocals, though the beat remains, taking on an ominous, creeping quality that soon finds a new level of frantic zeal.

The only sub-six minute track on the release, ‘Anteo’ blooms from uncertain beginnings into demonic fury, like the howls of some reluctant entity exorcised from its host. ‘Angels’ sees a return to the lurching horror of the opener, the unrelenting cadence like some hellforce on the warpath. Indeed, there’s something Brueghelian about this iteration of Horse Culture, and closer ‘Blue’ only reinforces the feeling. There’s a repetitive, hypnotic quality to the music, a sense of inevitability in the reiteration. Darkness rising from the earth, darkness metastasising. Darkness as compelled by marching drums. A triumph of darkness through its sheer conviction, some terrible looming thing determined to make itself known.

Follow is out now via Furious Hooves and you can get it from Bandcamp, including a nice cassette edition.

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Their album, Stay Cold, is a frantic 25 minutes of abstract politcal statements dealing with Canada and Canadian nationalism (or rather pride, there’s no sinister right-wing agenda here). Lead singer Kevin Stebner, while clearly displaying a love of Canada (just look at the artwork), avoids the traditional love letter style eulogising to the great country and adopts a more realistic approach. In his nation things aren’t perfect but they certainly aren’t hopeless either. It’s a refreshingly balanced, pragmatic and overall hopeful record.

Wave More Flags by Stalwart Sons

Buy Stay Cold on Bandcamp. I also recommend having a read through the lyrics on Bandcamp on your first few listens, it can be hard to follow his gruff voice at first.

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