One of the releases I got on my table this month was an EP, the cover of which features two instrument-playing ducks that presumably represent the musicians behind the recordings, and with little more information on the inside than that it was recorded in someone’s cellar.

Mushmouthed Talk, an unsigned two-piece band from Oulu, combines a sort of alternative rock with electro–or the other way round. The opener, All Star Faders, shows more rock-like elements, whereas the slightly psychedelic Sound Of The Sky emphasises the electronic side.

What all the songs have in common is that they’re clearly based on the rhythm. It has to be said that the different percussion instruments sometimes jump disturbingly to the fore, which is when it becomes perceptible that this isn’t a professional recording.

Steady customers of Never Grow Old might want to give  Mushmouthed Talk a listen, though.

Listen to Mushmouthed Talk online: www.myspace.com/mushmouthedtalk

Hebosagil: Cosmic EP

Hebosagil’s Cosmic EP isn’t a new release: it came out for the first time in 2007 with a total number of 100 copies published. Two years later, the EP has been re-released with a proper cover and a booklet by Finnish indie record label Rusto-Osiris. According to their own words, the label ‘is specializing in distorted noise.’ Lots of that can be found on Cosmic.

From the beginning the listener is faced with something incredibly raw and ugly. The bass lies ominously in ambush and the guitars sound like rolling thunder, before being chopped in two. The noise seems to protrude inevitably, and is joined by a vocalist who screams like a banshee.

Considering the lyrics he probably has every reason to do so. A few less detailed descriptions of the symptoms and treatment modalities of the plague would have done just as well, maybe. Then again, it all adds to the nastiness of the record.

Listen to Comic online: http://www.myspace.com/hebosagil