Witch Hats
Cellulite Soul
In-Fidelity/Inertia
Hearing this album will make you scour gig guides, looking for your
next opportunity to see Witch Hats play. To see if the Melbourne
four-piece achieves the same abrasive, seedy splendour live as it
does here on its debut album, Cellulite Soul. I knew
nothing of this band before hearing this but it makes me want to
know more. Love it when that happens. It makes sense, after you're
reminded of such bands as the Scientists, Big Black, the Fall and
the Birthday Party, to look at the liner notes and see that former
Birthday Party/Boys Next Door drummer Phill Calvert recorded it
(with Ben Ling). Explains the mighty drum mix that Duncan Blachford
got, too. Recorded in just two days, the songs have retained a
visceral energy, and the powerful immediacy of a train wreck. The
trebly, at times discordant guitars of Tomas P. Barry and
singer-yeller Kris Buscombe slash and sear across assertive,
strident basslines from Ash Buscombe ( Climbing Up Yr
Cable), or hang back with perfectly measured menace (
Western). An accomplished debut, displaying a maturity
beyond these young guys' years.
Jo Roberts