Witch Hats
Wound Of A Little Horse
In-Fidelity/Inertia



From the same town that brought you The Drones comes Witch Hats, a foursome from the Melbourne underground who make some damn dirty rock music. This is the first EP for the band, a re-recording of their original demo, in the lead up to the release of a full-length later this year.

Renowned for being a very intense live act (with one review I read stating that the band often bleed onstage), the songs here capture the sound of a very determined band, a band determined to make as much noise as possible. It's the sort of music that tests the listener, demanding their attention, it's not the kind of music that can be put on in the background and ignored easily. Pepperman gets proceedings underway, with the lumbering bass lurch underpinning the jagged guitars. Singer and guitarist Kris Buscombe sniggers and howls his way through the Pixies-tinged Ma Birthday before it segues into a fantastic mangled riff towards its end. Buscombe's unhinged reverberated ramblings have a distinctly out-of-control feel and are one of the band's defining characteristics.

Occasionally the songs tend to veer off into a mess of distorted feedback-strewn Sonic Youth-esque guitars, while at other times managing to offer up something more appealing, such as Jock The Untold with its "Na na na na na" vocals. Heartaches lifts the tempo a tad, whilst closer Stupid Arrangement lets it all spill over in a storm of guitars and Buscombe's frenzied vocals as the song spirals to its end.

It isn't all madness though - the songs sound as though a lot of thought went in to them, somewhere underneath all the feedback and distortion. It will certainly be interesting to hear where Witch Hats go with their record, in the meantime this is a more than worthy introduction.

Simon Foster