Ducks Battle Satan

I’m fast becoming a Rune Grammofon junkie. Th equality and consistency of the label is amazing. I’ve got a stack of new Rune Grammofon releases to post on but I thought I’d better start with the most recent, MoHa’s Return to Candyland. 

Despite the dodgy title, Return To Candyland proves that MoHa! are one of the best things going around on the noise-rock scene at the moment. For those of you who stepped up for Norwegianism I’m glad to say that MoHa! decided not to stand still and have developed their avant-rock, freeform, drumming fuckfest into something a bit more tangible. The spazziness which made Norwegianism so much fun is still in abundance but where Norwegianism was chock full of one-idea, noise rock vingettes, Return To Candyland expands on their sound  to incorporate repetition, form and allow space and time to explore their ideas more fully. It’s certainly an easier listen than Norwegianism but it in no way disappoints. One of the few bands I’d pay money to see live. Excellent stuff.

Here’s a live clip from 2008

Like my love of nearly everything released on Important, I have to confess that my second favourite label right now is Norway’s Rune Grammofon. In the last couple of weeks I’ve been trawling around  the bargain bins of large chain record store. I managed to find some interesting stuff by Acid Mothers Temple and Matthew Dear on my travels but the best stuff I’ve come across are the various records I’ve picked up by bands released by this label, namely Shining, Phonophani and In the Country. Each of those records are very different beasts and I will post on them later but listening to them has made me think of Moha! again. I’ve already posted on their second album, Norwegianism and I’m happy to report that their third album has just been released in Europe and is winging it’s way to me (Godbless you Amazon UK) as I type. From my friends who read this blog the video that they most remark on is the one that accompanied Norwegianism. The question they asked was usually the rhetorical “Are you serious!” to the less rhetorical “Are they serious?” to the incredulous “And you paid money for that?” Norwegianism was certainly one of the more “out there” purchases I made last year but in it’s own way it was also one of the most challenging and, fuck it, I thought it was a blast.

Their first record Raus Aus Stavanger, is less frenetic that Norwegianism and certainly less obtuse. It is no less a noise record and in some ways Moha! are one of  of the  more interesting noise bands out there. Their vibe is pure improv rock, played as free jazz (just listen to that drummer!) but without tune (except for the occasional riff) or structure. It’s thrilling stuff. This is a much easier record to get into than  Norwegianism so If your thinking of dabbling start here. I’ll post on their latest effort in a couple of weeks.