Last month, on July 12th, Sub Pop released Automat, a collection of METZ non-album singles, B-sides, and rarities dating back to 2009, available on LP for the first time, and including the band’s long out-of-print early (pre-Sub Pop) recordings. It’s a chronological trip through the lesser-known material of METZ, the delightfully noisy 3-piece punk band from Toronto.
The vinyl LP format of Automat also included an exclusive bonus 7” single of the band’s interpretations of three diverse cover songs – Sparklehorse’sPig, The Urinals’I’m A Bug and Gary Numan’sM.E.
From yesterday these three bonus tracks were available in digital services everywhere.
Watch the animated video for the excellent cover of M.E. here.
METZ have a new animated video for the blistering Mr. Plague,taken from their 2017 album, Strange Peace.
As described by director, Shayne Ehman, the video examines: “…the crumbling remnants of civilisation…a broken justice system…a consumer wasteland… Was it all part of the plan?”
20 Metz – Drained Lake Angular, ear-piercing and provocative. Imagine the clatter of early Sonic Youth brought up to warp speed.
19 Cabbage – Fraudulent Artist Cabbage’sExtended Play of Cruelty was our EP of the year by a country mile – a collection of brilliantly acerbic, witty and spiky tunes. Fraudulent Artist is a furious, up-tempo rant that comes across as the bastard son of Sham 69 and Half Man Half Biscuit.
18 Hiccup – Teasin’ Hiccup pen breakneck songs within the realm of girl-group pop meets buzzsaw distorted guitars that the Ramones pioneered. The effervescently infectious Teasin’, is a perfectly judged track of punk immediacy shot through with a classic pop sensibility.
17 Dream Police – Revenge A driving but psychedelic bass line, droning organ, dizzying guitar leads, and haunting vocals – all vintage Dream Police. Perfect.
16 Lød – Folder With nods to Neu! and Can, Denmark’s Lød create a sonic delight with the eight minute hypnotic groove of Folder.
15 The Moonlandingz – Vessels The best gig we saw all year, The Moonlandingz debut LP was a delight of sleazy glam rock riffs and twisted lyrics that took it’s knowing influences from the likes of TheGlitter Band, Sparks, Devo, The Cramps and Suicide. Vessels was a particular highlight – the grubbiest glam rock anthem of them all…
14 Young Fathers – Only God Knows Danny Boyle called Only God Knows the heartbeat of T2: Trainspotting (one of our films of the year), and it is hard to argue with the song’s giddy soulful rush, thumping punk rhythm, and some spot-on backing vocals from the Leith Congregational Choir.
13 Sugarmen – Our Gallows Hands down the catchiest opening of any song we heard in 2017, and backed up by edgy, razor sharp guitars and drums that come straight from 1970s CBGBs.
12 Beaches – Void Australia psych-rock legends Beaches returned after a four year absence and nailed it straight off with Void, a churning, thoroughly addictive rocket blast of cavernous guitar and drums that sounds like the amphetamine fuelled best bits of Hawkwind and Spacemen 3.
11 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Sleep Drifter Amongst a plethora of excellent releases from the unstoppable King Gizzard this year, many of which featured in our Top 100 countdown, Sleep Drifter stood tallest for its perfect marriage of funky eastern rhythm and itchy, nagging riff.
10 Cool Ghouls – Gord’s Horse Woozy, harmony filled, vintage tinged rock’n’roll with just the right amount of twang gives Gord’s Horse the perfect laid back slacker vibe. One to kick back and fire up a big one for…
9 together PANGEA – Money On It Subtly diluting their more usual punk rock tropes, Money On It borrows some surf-rock vibes and not a little guitar jangle to fashion a strutting, intense rocker that, dare we say it, is a little more optimistic than we’ve previously heard from them, and all the better for it.
8 Idles – Mother Our go-to punk anthem of the year. Amongst a whole album worth of them on their brilliant album Brutalism, Mother stands out for it’s pure vitriol, righteous fury and long-drawn out “Mother…. Fucker” chorus.
7 Black Angels – I’d Kill For Her Just a typically brilliant slab of hypnotic, heavyweight psych that they do better than anyone else.
6 PINS – Serve The Rich A needling ear worm of a guitar line is married to sparse, urgent production, and two and half minutes of politicised, post-punk perfection is the result.
5 Lo Tom – Covered Wagon We’re suckers for a bit of Creedence style guitar chugging and Covered Wagon has it in spades. It is one of those four or five play songs, the ones where your head suddenly jerks up and you go “whoa, what is this again?”. From that moment on it was one of our favourite tunes of the year, one to keep going back to for its roughed-up, blue collar Americana that served as a great reminder that straight up rock and roll is often done best at its simplest.
4 Sun Seeker – Won’t Keep Me Up At Night Reminiscent of the Quite Hollers who featured prominently in 2015’s Best Of lists. The sunny strum and cosmic Americana of Won’t Keep Me Up At Night explores introspective melancholy via laid-back psychedelia, all pollinated with tight harmonies and country rock spirit.
3 Fresh & Onlys – Wolf Lie Down A perfect combination of indie rock rumble with a touch of classic Americana creates a strutting, catchy slab of pure Bay Area garage jangle.
2 Big Thief – Shark Smile Oh where to begin? A doomed car ride, a fatalistic narrative, romantic heartbreak? All these and more in this rambling folk rocker anchored by a steady motorik percussion and its tragic, catastrophic finale, “It came over me at a bad time, she burned over the double line and she impaled as I reached my hand for the guard rail, the guard rail, the guard rail”.
1 Cabbage – Celebration Of A Disease Simply the ultimate mix of mutated groove and indie rock. With a lineage that stretches back to the Fall and takes in TheHappy Mondays and The Stone Roses, it is the latest addition to a long line of infectious, sing-along Manchester anthems.
Our second personal countdown comes from long time top twenty stalwart Chris T Popper, a fish of fine musical taste and the Steve Bould of Mad Mackerel.
20 Nervous Dater – Bad Spanish
19 The Moonlandingz – Black Hanz
18 Meat Wave – The Incessant
17 Roadhouses – Drinkin’
16 Ty Segall – Big Man
15 Public Serivce Broadcasting – All Out
14 The Gay Blades – Hurricane Boys
13 DZ Deathrays – Shred For Summer
12 King Lizard & The Gizzard Wizard – Vomit Coffin
11 Sleaford Mods – Drayton Manored
10 Pontiak – Tomorrow Is Forgetting
A methodic rollercoaster of a tune. Flurry of drums at the start and we’re in to the somniferous beat with some ominous guitar work echoing in the background. It’s heavy shit – plenty of reverb and that shamanic thump carries on ricocheting inside your head like a tripped out game of Pong.
9 Black Mekon – Janey Was A Klepto
Fantastic title for a song and the band name isn’t bad either; this comes from the album One in the Hate (which also includes the track ‘Frank Died Hanging From An Electric Fence’ which has to be worth a mention). It certainly hurtles along at a frantic pace and honed down to less than 2 and half minutes it packs plenty in with minimal fuss.
8 Big Thief – Shark Smile
Infused with a sadness that you sense immediately, Adrianne Lenker’s divine vocals transports you to chasing that yellow van on the moonlit road. It feels effortless with Lenker’s precision and timing. I especially loved her line comparing a kiss to the need for oxygen. A song that feels both poignant and strangely uplifting.
7 Lød – Folder
Folder is a rather splendid 8 and a half minute journey that takes the scenic route. Borrows from pretty much all my favourite bands and still sounds original. Fantastic breaks using keyboards and real good bass, never fails to keep you amused and bemused.
6 The Coathangers – Captain’s Dead
I’m still coming to terms with the fact I missed The Coathangers UK tour this year. Vocalist and guitarist Julia Kugel said the song was partly a response to the direction America has taken under a certain person elected to office in January lamenting ‘The reward for malicious action is often a bag of shit, one way or another’. The sense of disappointment is palpable and brilliantly observed.
5 Cool Ghoul – Gord’s Horse
My top ten wouldn’t be complete without a Gord’s Horse. San Francisco quartet Cool Ghouls put this laid back beauty together that plods along like… a horse I guess. A horse tripping on acid but still a horse.
4 Whispertown – Born To Ride
Whispertown is the rather marvellous LA based singer/songwriter Morgan Meyn Nagler. She possesses such an engaging and warm vocal style it hooked me in pretty much straight away. The song is so damn smart, feeling fresh and inventive and I absolutely love the hazy backing vocals.
3 Terry – Take Me To The City
Following last year’s entry at number 6 Terry have nabbed the no 3 spot this year with the instantly likeable Take Me To The City. The ‘All they talk about…’ refrain hints at longing for brighter lights but you get the feeling no one is escaping soon. Possesses a hook and riff you would die for.
2 Idles – Exeter
Idles so nearly managed a clean sweep for me this year. My favourite album with Brutalism, my favourite live act of the year and finally very nearly the best song of 2017. Joe Talbot’s lyrics are delivered with a most agreeable ferocity. Hands up whose ready for a bar fight, there’s plenty of takers here. A tour de force of barely contained anger at the banality of it all.
1 Metz – Drained Lake
Opening a song with feedback is always good in my book. I’m a simple soul. From it’s urgent, jarring beginning and opening line (‘Forever getting nowhere, while blankly staring in to space’) Drained Lake is just pure badass from start to finish. Guitar like buzzsaws, manic drumbeat and a sense of barely held together chaos throughout. It’s relentless and uncompromising and it delivers.
Here’s another track from METZ’s forthcoming new record Strange Peace.
This time around it’s the angular, ear-piercing Drained Lake: one of the boldest and most daring METZ tracks to date. Imagine the clatter of early Sonic Youth brought up to terrifying speed or Preoccupations on a hardcore 7”s binge and you wouldn’t be a million miles from the pace…
Brutal noise rockers METZ are back with a new record, Strange Peace, that sees them turning in a much more nuanced, interesting set of songs, one that feels particularly indebted to Sonic Youth, Preoccupations, Fugazi and the more angular edges of the alt rock pantheon.
It’s a record that is still immersed in the kind of biting social commentary they’ve often dealt in, but this time it’s more audible than ever: provocative and uncompromising but, dare we say it, a lot of fun too.
Check out the infectiously powerful first single Cellophane. The album arrives on the 22nd September via Sub Pop.
Metz – Mess Of Wires