Discoveries of the Day! Rippin’ Riff Tides!

The Shrapnelles (Calgary, AB) This scrappy gang of gals play some of the catchiest rock that I have ever heard come out of Calgary. The Shrapnelles barely existed before being snapped up by underground label overlords, HoZac Records, and they fit the bill perfectly. While on stage, their blaring guitars and aggressive harmonies will render you feeling insecure and dumb, crying for your mummy. Have fun! www.myspace.com/theshrapnelles

Demon’s Claws (Montreal, QC) It’s bands like these that make In The Red the powerhouse label it is. Open up the door to the grimy and illegal after hours joint and you’d likely hear The Demon’s Claws devastating blend of snot-nosed punk and loose, jangly rock and roll. www.myspace.com/demonsclaws

Moon Duo (San Francisco, CA) The moon may almost be too close to home: the San Francisco duo, formed in 2009 out of the gloomy, moody union of Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips and Sanae Yamada, pulsates and grooves with alien pleasure, reveling in doom-goth, stoner jams that move along with uncanny awareness. Propelled by Kraut-inspired beats and psych anxiety, Moon Duo could very well belong to a yet-to-be-discovered planet in a distant galaxy. Somehow, Johnson and Yamada’s beings have been beamed to planet Earth, where we as mortals can only stand in awe at the wash of John Coltrane-tinged psych solos which seem to freak at the slightest quiver of a finger. And, through it all, relentlessly, restlessly, the motorik beat continues its disembodied march, oblivious of the madness swirling around it. It is the march of an undead army flattening the very ground below it, robbing it of life and virtue as the horizon sets a desaturated grey. 

When the duo does smile and play upbeat songs, it makes them even more dangerous still. Their dance-inducing songs, featuring smoother keys and more forgiving vocals, seem to employ a two-faced sinister nature and sound like the Pied Piper of Oblivion, drawing you closer, willingly, teasingly, to the brink of the abyss, where only they can find joy in the bottomless black. Excellently heady stuff to cap a night off! moonduo.org