Salem To The Moon

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Those of you who witnessed Salem’s totally suck-arse performance at SXSW earlier this year and consequently gave up on the band might now have something new to champion. Australia has a death drone band up to the challenge, contorting and weaving a bleak electronic pulse that will pinch every nerve in your spinal chord. Unlike Salem, Caught Ship sound more like a power surge than a dead circuit. Their music is littered with starry electronics and is built around a repetitive wave of bass and keyboard drone. It’s more organic with a strong emphasis on instrumentation, both live and recorded, allowing fans to interact and recognise the music being built in front of them. There are no dead ends, Caught Ship are live-wire zombies; a gloomy sound with an extroverted personality. Vocalist Ben Snaith is reminiscent of a young David Byrne, dancing like a spazz with his arms swinging and he leans into the microphone like Richard Hell. Their performance from Saxbrowl Sunday on May 30th looks more like a scene from CBGB in 1976 New York, during the height of new wave when freaks like The Voidoids and Blondie ruled the throne, than from a small bar in down town Melbourne.

The band has two official releases, both on small boutique labels. A split CD-R with Whyte Lytening released on Bedroom Suck Records and a cassette tape released on Totem Tapes, a cassette label based in Melbourne. They also had a song included on a recent volume of the New Weird Australia mixtape, released in March.

Caught Ship has played shows with A Dead Forest Index, Sharpie Crows, Paint Your Golden Face and TANTRUMS and come highly recommended by our friends in Melbourne.

Caught Ship- BlackHoleSlashSweetBeat: MP3

Caught Ship- Myspace

 

Posted by Nick Fulton under Australia, Melbourne