Another track from ‘putrid-wave’ purveyors Teen Ax, a Sydney-based noise group with an attractively fetid pop sensibility. This is from a cassette which is apparently “coming soon”, and follows a 2012 Mazurka Editions tape released for public safety reasons in an edition of 30. This track isn’t as catchy as ‘Strictly Business’, but it conjures a similarly debased atmosphere: a windowless apartment above an outer-suburban Pizza Haven, green peeling wallpaper, the glow of a television screen at 3am. Rust in the bathroom, gutted cockroaches in the ashtrays.

It’s for this reason that Teen Ax strikes me as among the better noise groups around at the moment. It doesn’t sound like a guy in a black shirt fiddling with pedals. These guys would probably have fun playing with xNoBBQx or, further afield, Mouthus or Wolf Eyes. Strange and ugly.

Photo: Patrick Mason