Total control

Lace Curtain – ‘Falling II’

22 May 2013

Australian synth outfit Lace Curtain are on winning run with eminent label signings this year. Having already released their self-titled EP on DFA in March, they’ll have a new EP, Falling/Running, coming out on another NYC label, Mexican Summer, on June 10. Getting a little more organic with a quivering guitar loop as front man David West’s typically monotone vocal cuts a straight line through its nu disco swagger, ‘Falling II’ is a promising harbinger of what’s to come. Punks should go electro more often.

See track-listing below. **

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Falling
2. Running

Side B
1. Falling II
2. Running II

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Total Control ‘Sweaty’ video.

Total Control. Photo by Zephyr Pavey.
4 March 2013

Following up their album debut Henge Beat, where Total Control married their punk and hardcore roots with fresh forays into analogue synths and primitive techno, the Australian band has delved further into the existential fog of its subject matter with this video featuring a new track ‘Sweaty’. And rather than using the monotone growl of frontman Daniel Stewart, this one has the slanted vocal of Al Montfort to keep it company as it careers through the raw noise darkness.

As we’ve mentioned earlier, TC members Mikey Young and James Vinciguerra have spliced off into a new electronic project Lace Curtain, while they and the rest of Total Control are embarking on tour of the US in May. For those unlucky enough to be located on the other side of the Atlantic, there’s a digital compilation of all their early 7-inches available on their band camp.**

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New EP from Total Control side project.

Lace Curtain's James Vinciguerra. Photo by Zephyr Pavey.
28 February 2013

If there’s a band that’s good in Australia, chances are they’re associated with Mikey Young. Because if he isn’t recording Fabulous Diamonds and  UV Race, it’s projects like the elemental garage rock of Eddy Current Suppression Ring or synth-punk of Total Control that can credit him as the main brains behind them. Now, Young, band mate James Vinciguerra and Rat Columns front man Dave West are branching off further into the doomsday electronics, circa the brilliantly primitive TC single ‘Paranoid Video‘, christening their new outfit Lace Curtain and dropping a self-titled EP on New York label DFA, March 5.

Incidentally, we interviewed Young last year during Total Control’s US / European tour in the lead up to their ATP performance, where he said that Total Control tried to make their 2012 record Henge Beat as cohesive as possible: “I always knew there would be an element that couldn’t deal with the new wave-y drum machine stuff.” Evidently, this time it doesn’t matter and Lace Curtain are proving to be a band to watch in 2013.**

Lace Curtain's self-titled EP cover.
Lace Curtain’s self-titled EP cover.

Header image by Zephyr Pavey.

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Please Please Me

Total Control/Michael Ozone. Please Please Me.
24 September 2012

The world is chock full of interesting combinations. Moreso these days when that so-called digital revolution opened up our ears and our minds to all sorts of music we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. Testament to said cyber cosmopolites is Total Control, a band, who’s 2011 release Henge Beat could just as easily be covered in dogmatic realms of punk zine culture, while embracing ideas that are its seeming antithesis.

Total Control. Photo by Zephyr Pavey.
Total Control. Photo by Zephyr Pavey.

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