Crab Smasher are a NSW based group of improvisational sound sharks crafting a frenzied hodgepodge of weirdo psychedelic noise rock and experimental pop delicious.

The band formed in 2002 as a cheesy electronic novelty noise act and have since mutated through a number of confusing formations into the sellout 4-5 headed rock-and-roll hydra that exists today. With about 13 or 14 CDR, cassette, and digital releases to their name, the band are currently working on a new LP, which promises to be both titillating and queer .

crabsmasher.bandcamp.com

Crab Smasher appear on ‘New Weird Australia, Volume Five’.

By their own admission, Crab Smasher are a NSW based group of “improvisational sound sharks crafting a frenzied hodgepodge of weirdo psychedelic noise rock and experimental pop delicious”. Having morphed through a variety of lineups and styles since their formation in 2002, their current incarnation took time away from recent Sydney gigs to visit the New Weird Australia radio show with guest presenter Brooke Olsen. The band deliver a rare live acoustic set and discuss what it means to be “the first carbon neutral noise band”, playing in a Newcastle scene big enough to fill a small living room.

DOWNLOAD: Podcast Five: Crab Smasher (31:06)

The New Weird Australia Podcast Series features selected interviews and exclusive, in-studio recordings from our FBi radio show. Subscribe to our podcast feed by using this URL: http://www.cpod.org.au/feed.php?id=211 or click here to subscribe directly in iTunes.

(January 2010) By their own admission, CRAB SMASHER are a NSW based group of “improvisational sound sharks crafting a frenzied hodgepodge of weirdo psychedelic noise rock and experimental pop delicious”. Having morphed through a variety of lineups and styles since their formation in 2002, their current incarnation took time away from recent Sydney gigs to visit the New Weird Australia radio show with guest presenter Brooke Olsen. The band deliver a rare live acoustic set and discuss what it means to be “the first carbon neutral noise band”, playing in a Newcastle scene big enough to fill a small living room.

DOWNLOAD: NWA Podcast #5. Crab Smasher, Live-to-air Performance & Interview (January 2010) (31:06)

The New Weird Australia Podcast Series features selected interviews and in-studio recordings from our FBi radio show, as well as live performances from events, video interviews and more.  Subscribe to our podcast feed by using this URL: http://newweirdaustralia.libsyn.com/rss or click here to subscribe directly in iTunes.

Title: New Weird Australia, Volume Two
Catalogue Number: NWA002
Released: September 2009

Free Download

Tracklisting:

1. OCEANS, 02 + 03 (5:11) From ‘album’
2. GHOUL, Swimming Pool (Remix) (3:04) From ’Swimming Pool’
3. WILLIAM GARDINER, Sonance Arboreal (4:39) Previously unreleased
4. SAM PRICE, AutoHackney (5:28) From ‘Rand’
5. BROKEN CHIP, Summer Stars (5:06) From ‘POWWOW Seven’
6. KHARKOV, Crustacean (3:12) Previously unreleased
7. COCK SAFARI, 8MH (6:36) Previously unreleased
8. LUCIA DRAFT, Not Interested (1:16) Previously unreleased
9. MIELI, Hometime (3:34) Previously unreleased
10. KAROSHI, Re-Animate Me (2:44) Previously unreleased
11. NO ART, Fight In The Nocturnal House (3:56) Previously unreleased
12. TRANSMISSIONS, Staring At Lightning Strikes, Catching Every One (2:45) Previously unreleased
13. PANOPTIQUE ELECTRICAL, We Was Them (7:32) Previously unreleased
14. MADDEST KINGS ALIVE, Measels (4:05) From ‘Make Me’
15. SPLENDID FRIENDS, Holy Shears (1:42) From ‘Summer Moon Illusion’
16. PAUL FIOCCO, Torsions and Drifts (13:34) From ‘Torsions And Drifts’

Compiled by Stuart Buchanan & Danny Jumpertz
Artwork by Grant Hunter, granthunter.daportfolio.com

Click artist title for background information and links.
All music donated by the artists for use in this compilation only, all rights reserved.

Sleeve Notes: September 2009

Grant Hunter’s cover artwork for the free download compilation, New Weird Australia Volume Two – featuring our country’s endearing emblematic marsupial with black claw outstretched and a murderous fleck in his eye – perfectly illustrates the ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ binary of the Australian story.

On one side, the world is sold on paradisal visions of Australian reefs and plains, care-free surfers racing down golden sands, and the classic long-shot of a sun-blemished Uluru. On the flip, with just as much fervour, we mythologise and peddle stories of perpetual gangland warfare, malevolent outback serial killers and dingoes eating babies for their morning snack.

If only the same warped duality could be brought to bear on the world’s vision of our musical worth. The exported track record is however largely one-sided – our place as the shiny, electro party-starter of the Southern Hemisphere is unrivalled, along with a seemingly endless passion for rock, culled from a 40-year old tombstone. Ask the world to identify a prominent Australian undercurrent and they will remain largely tight-lipped. Hence New Weird Australia – a project aimed as much at curating a contemporary library of alt-Australiana, as promoting that collection to the rest of the globe.

For Volume Two, we once again represent a strong geographic diversity with music from Tasmania, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. We embody genre diversity from 21-year-old William Gardiner’s neo-classical work to the sprawling sample ephemera spread by Newcastle’s Cock Safari; from Maddest Kings Alive’s shoegaze chip-tunes to a seemingly perfect drift plain soundtrack, hewn by Solo Andata’s Paul Fiocco. There are also multiple exclusives from Kharkov, Lucia Draft, Mieli, No Art, Karoshi, Transmissions and Jason (Pretty Boy Crossover) Sweeney’s Panoptique Electrical project, and new work from Broken Chip, Ghoul, Oceans, Sam Price and Splendid Friends.

In mapping and redefining the local terrain, New Weird Australia represents a new breed of Australian musicians that cast an essential shadow over Australia’s sunny disposition.

Press:

The Silent Ballet “there really is no reason for any curious avant-garde aficionado to pass this one up”

Real Time Arts “exposing listeners to some great hidden treasures with an impressive Australia-wide representation”

Foxy Digitalis “Kudos to anyone who is willing to get into the endeavor and gather unreleased songs for eleven of the sixteen tracks from bands all over the spectrum”