Girls Who Smoke Poke - Melbourne AUS

Ana Nicole play Midsumma Carnival

2012-01-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

Ana Nicole will finish off the band stage at this years Carnival day down at Birrarung Marr in Melbourne, Sunday 16th January. They will be performing a short set from 4.40pm. Come down and see them rip out a few of their shorter tracks as they try compile as much as they can into 20 minutes, it's gonna be a hot sunny afternoon, so no excuses!! happy Gay Day y'all!!!

The Shock @Crass!! Happening

2012-01-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

Yo, 2012 - The Shock of The New is back. First up on Saturday January 7 at The Workers Club, The Shock Djs Kapitolina and Kiti will do a set for indie/queers party monsters Crass! I'm tempted to make a poetic wise crack about the ironic relationship between the cold wave genre and Melbourne's new year heat wave, so that was it. Wow - how austere of us!

The Shock of The New 2011 Mix

2011-12-10T23:27:00.000-08:00

GWSP present The Shock of The New mix for 2011. Mixed by Kapitolina, it features a selection from this years best dark electronica and new wave releases - featuring Factory Floor, M83, Zola Jesus, Forces, The Horrors, HTRK, //TENSE//, Frank (Just Frank), Black Cab and many more. Download your copy via SoundCloud today.

The Shock of The New Mix - 2011 by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Tracklisting
The Field - In This Power (Looping State Of Mind)
//TENSE// - Drifting (via SoundCloud)
HTRK - Synthetik (Work, (work, work)...)
Neon Indian- Fall Out (Era Extraña)
Zola Jesus - Vessel (Conatus)
M83 - Midnight City (Hurry Up We're Dreaming)
John Maus - Quantum Leap (We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves)
Black Cab - Combat Boots (Combat Boots - Single)
Frank (Just Frank) - Do The Soviet (Valerie -EP)
Factory Floor - Two Different Ways (Two Different Ways)
Phil Manley - F2 Theme (Life Coach)
Magic Silver White - Over Under (Over Under - Single)
Forces - Idolize (via SoundCloud)
Golden Girls - Kinetic (Lone Remix) (Echolocations)
The Horrors - Moving Further Away (Skying)
Elite Gymnastics - Here In Heaven (Ruin 1)
High Places - Year Off (Original Colors)
Ana Nicole - Forgive Me For I Was Being (via SoundCloud)
Kindest Lines - Strange Birds (Covered In Dust)
Cold Cave - Burning Sage (Kapitolina's Edit) (Cherish The Light Years)

Htrk - Ha (Kapitolina's Detroit Mix)

2011-05-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite records from 2009 - Melbourne's Htrk's debut 'Marry Me Tonight' was a long time coming. I first saw these dudes play at the Rob Roy Hotel - I think with Love Of Diagrams - and I was blown away - that was 2003. After giving up Melbourne, reportedly to avoid the apparent 80s electronic revival scene of the time, the bounced back and forth from Berlin and London to live the dream. 'Ha' is a great track - processional drumming, rolling grimy drugged-out bass lines and noise guitar.

The thing I love about Htrk is the overwhelming tone of depravity in their music - sex, bondage, discos and everything else associated with it - effortlessly sexual and hedonistic.

Producer, the late Roland S. Howard's presence on this record is evident - Htrk are the modern extension of Melbourne's early 80's post punk scene of St Kilda. If only they would return one day to at least do another gig.

'Ha' featured the band as a trio - bass player Sean Stewart killed himself in 2010. Surviving members Jonnine Standish & Nigel Yang plan to release their follow up in September 2011. This track is reimagined with a Detroit techno flavour.

Ha (Kapitolina's Detroit Mix) - Htrk by Girls Who Smoke Poke

The Shock of The New - April

2011-03-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

April brings the second The Shock of The New party for 2011 down at the Gasometer in Collingwood - playing Cold Wave, Neue Deutsche Welle, Synthgaze, Krautrock, EBM & Goth. April's instalment of dark synth modernism features a live set from Melbourne trio Ana Nicole and djs Kiti, Viva Lamour and Negativ Magic.

Ana Nicole - Forgive Me For I Was Being

2011-01-30T03:56:00.000-08:00

Ana Nicole debuted last weekend with a great show at the Cornish Arms in Brunswick. They finished with this track "Forgive Me For I Was Being" - here's a peak.

Introducing Ana Nicole

2010-12-19T02:50:00.000-08:00

Melbourne three piece Ana Nicole play their debut show at the Cornish Arms on Saturday January 22. After a year in a rehearsal room, GWSP introduce Melissa D'or on bass and vocals, Simona Kapitolina (Aka Fluorescent & Kapitolina) on drums/synth/vocals and Masato Takasaka (formerly of Teen Wolf) on guitar/synth. Drawing on influences from German New Wave to doom metal and noise rock, Ana Nicole finally take their music to the (m)asses with guests Porpoise Torture, Aphex Twink and a special holiday appearance from dj Toupee.

Forgive Me For I Was Being - Ana Nicole by Ana Nicole

I Don't Believe In My Love Calculator - Ana Nicole by Ana Nicole

The Shock of The New Podcast

2010-11-30T14:25:00.000-08:00

Download the latest The Shock of The New podcast now, a look back at the best tracks from 2010 - mixed by Kapitolina.

01 Serena Maneesh - Ayisha Abyss
Norweigen psych-gazers Serena Maneesh opened the year with their follow up release to their 2006's self titled record, and while the record didn't quite reach the heights of their mind-blowing debut, the record contains a few gems. SM2: Abyss In B Minor continues with the same furious psychedelic ideas - you can draw lines between the great songs from the last record and this one easily - but nothing really new. 'I Just Wanna See You Face' is pure psych-pop, while this track 'Ayisha Abyss' is a moody psychotic opener to the record, lots of samples and layers with a brutal industrial ending - a throwback to the Australian Tour they did with Nine Inch Nails in 2007.

02 The Soft Moon - Parallels
I dont know much about The Soft Moon, only that they're awesome and it's one dude from Brooklyn; Luis Vasquez. He released quite a few ep releases this year through Captured Tracks - and most are pretty good. This track - 'Parallels' is intense; fast drumming, cold droney synths and guitars and creepy horror vocals.

03 Trans Am - Black Matter
Washington DC's Trans Am are the best band in the world - no question about it for me - they excite me like no other band. This record is up there with their best; and 'Black Matter' galvanises the classic science fiction sound of Trans Am; complex drum patterns, vocoders and powerful sinister synthesisers with using the deepest bass notes known to the human ear and atmospheric synth pads that make the spine tingle. Thank fuck this album didn't make the soundtrack to James Cameron's piece-of-shit Avatar movie - while I wouldn't want to deny the band of some much deserved cash - Trans Am are too good for that movie.

04 Ana Nicole - I Don't Believe In My Love Calculator
Ok, so - this is my new band - but it's my party and I'll masturbate if I want to. Ana Nicole are a three piece from Melbourne - piling layers of noise rock, doom metal, techno and German new wave upon each other to create repetivive textures that build and explode. This track is heavy on the synths and has a real krautrock feel to it.

05 Factory Floor - Lying
Thanks a shitload to Phlex Martian for putting me onto these dudes. Factory Floor are a London trio putting minimal techno and noise guiatrs together to create long live druming and electronic jams. 'Lying' is outstanding; heavy reverbed and disinterested vocals, atop a killer EBM bass synth and explodes into an onslaught of guitars with some really awesome drumming. the band deserve all the attention they get from the All Tomorrows Parties posse - totally wanna see these dudes in Australia in 2011.

06 PVT - Crimson Swan
PVT's record 'Church With No Magic' is a mixed bag. I really hate the lead single 'Windows', along a few other songs on the record. But when they arent reminding me a bit of Battles (who I reckon totally suck - with their re-pitched sampled vocal shit) I absolutely love the other half of the record, including this song; 'Crimson Swan'. Kinda starts off a bit patchy, but then PVT get (dare I use the expression) hauntingly beautuful wavey sounds out of old synths on this track with some inspiring vocal.

07 Salem - Trapdoor
These dudes from Michigan totally crack me up - they take that Telepathe darkwave hip hop sound a little further into the druged out darkness though. It's infectious rapping, complete with car crash samples - and I just keep imagining Jay (of Jay & Silent Bob fame) rapping with the pitch turned down low to sound like Issaac Hayes. Who said sincerity was the new irony? - these guys have more to squeeze out of it.

08 Crystal Castles - Empathy
I must admit - one of the biggest fuck ups of mine at a festival was going to bed too trashed to stay awake at a Meredith Festival back in '06 and hearing everybody else talk about how amazng this band was that night. DOH!! (I'll never 'save my energy' for a Midnight Juggernauts and Cut Copy ever again). Anyway, 'Empathy' reminds of french vocal pads from 80s Art Of Noise records - and big gated Shep Pettibone snares - cannot go wrong with those elements in a track.

09 Black Cab - Sexy Polizei
Melbourne's Black Cab released this a a follow-up to their 2009 gem Cold War Berlin inspired 'Call Signs'. They continue on with the fascist-sheik concept for a poppy little italo-shoegaze number about a consumate autobahn cop who always catching up with Dussoldorf's dangerous drivers. Black Cab's ability to tell stories and nail locations in their songs is uncanny; as is their blend of electronics and guitars - not surprising as they feature ex-members of Underground Lovers and Zen Paradox and features Monique Brumby on guest vocals.

10 School of Seven Bells - Bye, Bye, Bye

'Bye, Bye' Bye' is great radio-dream-pop. It's taken from their second album 'Disconnect From Desire', which get's a bit too fancy on the vocals at times, but they use drum machines really well. So7Bs toured this album for Livid festival prior to its release - and I missed it. Decided to not catch the gig after memories of their last tour in 2008 - when I learnt the lesson as a punter that all that wall of sound stuff is a snore-fest without a drum kit. For all I know they toured with a drummer and it was awesome - like the record.

11 A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Drink Drank Drunk

After an epic debut record that got too long to sit through, I was cautious about another SDIG single - but this is pretty good. 'Drink Drank Drunk' has a lot going on - this band don't do it any other way - and they nail this track.

12 Zola Jesus - Sea Talk

Chanteuse of darkness; Zola Jesus debut year included two Eps this year- 'Stridulum' featuring the beautiful track 'Night' and 'Valusia' which features this track, 'Sea Talk'. 2010 blossomed into support shows for Fever Ray in North America and Europe; even Triple R Breakfasters a giving her a thrashing. It's great music for funerals.

13 Tamaryn - Love Fade

Just caught wind of Tamaryn late this year, a San Fransisco duo who released their debut 'Waves' album this year, which features this song 'Love Fades'; it's a cruisey and gloomy guitar tremolo track - highlight of the album.

14 Cosmetics - The Cries

More from Brooklyn's Captured Tracks - "The Cries" is simple eerie italo-pop from Vancouver duo Cosmetics. This is the B Side to their single 'Sleepwalking' - It's cold dance on ketamine.

15 Soft Metals - The Cold World Melts
Soft Metals are a duo from Portland who are keeping the flavour of dutch electro alive in the USA. 'The Cold World Melts" is a pretty banging vocal italo track. Keep on dancin' - someone's gotta do it for the kids.

16 How To Destroy Angels - Fur Lined
How To Destroy Angels is music from Trent Reznor and vocals from his wife Mariqueen Maandig. Stumbled across this track on their 'A Drowning' EP - which also features the single 'Spaces In Between' (which has an awesome video). It's good to hear Trent moving away from boring NIN and not singing - getting back to what he does best and making sounds (his soundtrack for The Social Network is pretty good to). Mind you - this has Trent's fingerprints all over it - even Maandig's vocal melodies could be easily replaced with Reznor's grated whine. But thankfully this track picks up on some early Curve sounds - thanks to a mixdown from none other than the brilliant Alan Moulder.

17 Frank (Just Frank) - Beneathe
When I first heard RRRs Steve Wide play this track from Frank (Just Frank) on his Far & Wide show I freaked out - I wanted to move to Paris and play electronic drums for these guys. This band reinvogorates the sound of a few 80s albums I have longed to hear reinterpreted; early The Cure and Cocteau Twins, even bit's Martha & The Muffins 'Echo Beach' thrown in and some of Peter Hook's more distorted bass sounds on 'Low-Life'. It also reminded me of Melbourne band Ikon's early stuff. F(JF) were former doom/black metal exponents prior to this incarnation who replaced the guitars with more synths and drum machines - kept one guitar and the mood though. The record is brilliant, it's immediately unashamedly derivative - but so fucking what - it's a compliment - they nail it and brand it with their own uniquely beautuful French twiste.

18 Minks - Drunk Punks
Another band from the Captured tracks label - if the album cover doesn't get you into the cute goth punk undertones, then surely the A side 'Funeral Song' of this 7" will. 'Drunk Punks' is the b-side - it's beautiful gloomy pop music. I'm hanging for a new album in January 2011 to find out a bit more on these dudes, The Hype Machine featured another track of theirs this month, as they say in the classics - one to watch - eh?

19 Wild Nothing - Promise
'Promise' is a very cruisey track indeed - classic dream pop melodies and textures from Wild Nothing's debut record 'Cloudbusting'. Again, a one man band; Jack Tatum. Again; a Captured Tracks gem - a label that has released a heap of quality and inspiring music.

Download

I Was Right (Kapitolina's Wrong Mix) - Underground Lovers

2010-08-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

I Was Right (Kapitolina Mix) - Underground Lovers by Girls Who Smoke Poke

When I first heard the Underground Lovers in early 1992 they changed my life. 'I Was Right' was the first track to get airplay prior to the release of 1993's 'Leaves Me Blind' album - which for me is still to this day the best Australian music release of all time. Signed to 4AD's Guernica label, they embodied everything I want in a band; and best of all, they were from Melbourne.

They made you realise you didn't need to move to Berlin to make this kind of music work. They took the darkness, light and euphoric melancholy of bands like Joy Division, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and Velvet Undergound and gave it another chapter - and it was fucken awesome to witness.

Between '91 and '94, the Underground Lovers together with Clouds, The Hummingbirds, Blind Side, The Plums and Glide made shoegaze a local style. When I saw the Underground Lovers support Clouds at Collingwood Town Hall in 1994, it occurred to me to get a life - I decided to break up with my girlfriend, moved out of home and spent a whole summer at the Punters Club, the Corner Hotel, the Prince Of Wales and the Evelyn Hotel.

This track is timeless, and I've only done a re-edit so the drums have enough punch to play it on a dancefloor

GWSP Mix 0909 - Kapitolina

2009-09-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

New mix from Kapitolina featuring some new Fluorescent and Kapitolina tracks along with Glass Candy, Rude 66, Legowelt, Front 242, DJ Hell, Renegade Sound Wave, Trans Am and more.

Tracklisting
The Chameleon - Glass Candy
I Found My Shit At the Metro - Fluorescent
Cocaine Sex - Renegade Sound Wave
Touched By The Hand Of Dub - New Order
They Walked In Line - Rude 66
Headhunter - Front 242
Shogun (Serge Santiago Remix) - Marcello Giordani
Control (I'm Here) - Nitzer Ebb
Molecules - Trans Am
Exotic Ladies Of Birobidzhan - Kapitolina
Kick In The Eye (Fernando Mix) - Bauhaus
Black Bass (Dirty Version) - Legowelt
U Can Dance (Featuring Bryan Ferry) - DJ Hell
I Lost My Shit At Transformers - Fluorescent
Sensoria - Cabaret Voltaire

Awake (Extended Mix) - Fluorescent

2009-09-01T20:08:00.001-07:00

Awake - Extended Mix by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Fluorescent have contributed a re-edit of 'Awake' for the soundtrack to Australian designer Lui Hon's Summer Spring 2009/10 collection. You may remember him as a contestant in Arena's Project Runway Australia season 1.

Link > Lui Hon

Running up that Putin - Kapitolina

2009-07-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Running Up That Putin - Kapitolina by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Sampling iconic imagery and fucking with context is one thing avant guard artists like Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol gave us. 80 years on, sampling is certainly a lost art.

Just ask the Avalanches how much of a cunt it is to create an album from samples in a litigious world. But back in 'the day' it was a piece of piss to make a career from sampling. That was until dudes like De La Soul were getting their asses taken to court by looser old singers who felt like their artistic integrity were being stolen - yeah right.

From the mid 80s, pasty white british boys from Cabaret Voltaire to The Smiths, Renegade Soundwave to Pop Will Eat Itself were doing some fine versions sample based tracks - which sat aside from more well known hip hop bands in LA or NYC. I used to get such a buzz when you'd be watching an old film like Withnail & I - you'd instantly recognise a part of it from, sit up and say 'That's on that Ride track! - that was awesome!'.

Nowadays it needs to be more obscure - like geeky documentaries or foreign language television - so you don't get yo bitch-ass burned (or write about it in music blogs, even). But I think its fucked that any photographer, designer, artist or musician would want to take somebody to court for royalties lost from sampling.

While plagiarism will always be the last bastion of the untalented - referencing, sampling or re-appropriation of any released audio are artistic statements with their own integrity and should be treated as new creative statements free from fear litigation. Be flattered and take the good with the bad - pop should eat itself.

So allow me to mix Peter Gabriel's vocals from Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' with samples taken from 'Putin's Russia' over some big ass acid house beats.

Coast Is Clear (Kapitolina's Pills, Now I'm Sick Mix) - Curve

2009-07-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

Coast Is Clear (Kapitolina's Pills, Now I'm Sick Mix) - Curve by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Originally released in 1991, 'Coast Is Clear' was one of the most amazing tracks from the early 90s 'shoegaze' era. Curve consisted of guitarist Dean Garcia and british goth beauty Toni Halliday on vocals, who's husband also happened to be one Alan Moulder - the curator of all things shoegaze - famous for his production with The Jesus & Mary Chain, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, Depeche Mode and (...gulp) NIN.

What is unique about this track is how Moulder sculpted the electronics, guitars and vocals - it was the one moment of this genre when these three sounds actually welded together as a cohesive texture; perhaps to a lesser extent achieved by Underground Lovers' "Leaves Me Blind", Cocteau Twins' "Heaven Or Las Vegas" or MBV's "Soon" achieved this - but I don't think to the same 'stadium' effect.

Taking the 90s wall of sound interpretation to a more futurist context with electronic beats is still a necessary and intriguing investigation.

Moulder was assisted by Flood on the first Curve eps - who interestingly had worked with Martin Hannett on New Order's dark and beaty 'Movement' LP and Douglas MacCarthy's Nitzer Ebb in the late 80's. The temptation to fuse acid house and techno with guitars has always been fraught with danger with good reason; while Curve's early records were really successful at it - they would unfortunately move towards that defining 90s industrial goth sound of NIN that sadly consumed good people; Gary Numan anyone? Depeche Mode flirted with it on some aspects of 1993s "Songs of Faith and Devotion", and was a patchy record because of it.

The airy and angelic vocals of Halliday defined a femme vocal style that would sit alongside bands such as Lush, Cocteau Twins and Underground Lovers. Halliday would later appear on a track from Leftfield's debut album. But Curve would soon become to rely too heavily on the Halliday vocal, and when the good songs ran out - the bad tracks were just bad goth.

Bloody hard track to dj out nowadays with all the high-mid range frequencies flattening out the track and becoming razor blades to the ears on a big PA - but that was the point, no? Pretty slow for dance music at around 98bpm - but I often forget how slow late 80's dance - like Belgian New Beat and Acid House was. But maybe that's a good thing.

Thriller (Kapitolina's Homage) - Michael Jackson

2009-06-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

Thriller (Kapitolina's Homage) by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Here's my contribution to the impending onslaught of MJ rip-off. One bar from his 1983 Thriller single is worth getting on repeat for at least seven minutes for some Jackson dancefloor mutual masturbation. You'll know it from the video version of Thriller - while you're thinking about that video, do check out the indian version on YouTube - it's Kapil Dev with yellow table tennis balls for eyes - what a legacy. RIP MJ.

Kapitolina on Good Machine Bad Machine - KISS FM

2009-05-20T05:13:00.000-07:00

Good Machine Bad Machine - 20/May/09 by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Kapitolina guests on Kiss FM Melbourne's Good Machine Bad Machine with Not Happy Jan, Tuesday 19th May. Check out downloads section for the 90 minute mix featuring Trans Am, The Horrors, Mount Sims, Alec Empire, Serena Maneesh, Psychedelic Furs, New Order, Fluorescent and some re-edits from Kapitolina's record bag.

Running Up That Putin - Kapitolina (GWSP)
Sleeping Gun - Kapitolina (GWSP)
Pills, Now I'm Sick - Kapitolina (GWSP)
I Was Right - Underground Lovers (Guernica)
Thrash Me - Malaria (Monitorpop Entertainment)
Music For Dogs - Trans Am (Thrill Jockey)
Senses - New Order (Factory)
If You Live Or Die - Alec Empire (Eat Your Heart Out)
Only Shallow - My Bloody Valentine (Creation)
Sister Europe - Psychedelic Furs (CBS)
Graves - Mt Sims (Hungry Eye)
Street Commander - The Voices (Plant)
A Sea Within A Sea - The Horrors (XL)
Your Blood In Mine - Serena-Maneesh (Playlouderecordings)
Unfamiliar - Fluorescent (GWSP)

So Fine (Kapitolina Mix) - Telepathe

2009-04-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

So Fine (Kapitolina Mix) by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Telepathe are a curious art-school-pop monster, they tick all the boxes. In fact pick up any 'chic' magazine from summer 2008/09 and you will find them in a four page photo essay, bad jumpers and a glowing elitist review of their debut Dance Mother album. It's a great record -

it takes a tangent from the nightclub scene in Blade Runner, when Dekard is trying to get Rachel down to Taffy's Bar - in the background is some egyptian disco-pops that I don't think anybody took seriously as a sneak peak into the music of 2017. But Blade Runner is like that - so is Telepathe - right on the cash for perhaps the first pure modern cultural statement that reflects the futurism of 21st century.

They have an apocalyptic use of synth pads that sits well with their 'I cant sing good and I don't care' vocal style, delivering a boring and disinterested enthusiasm that makes me really excited. They sound like they don't know what they are doing at all and it works so well - only the kind of irony you would expect from from art-school pop; an inspiration for try-hards like myself.

Kapitolina at Trough Sydney Mardi Gras weekend

2009-02-21T06:22:00.000-08:00

Simon Kapitolina will be djing at Trough Sydney for this year's Sydney Mardi-Gras weekend at Oxford Arts Factory in Darlinghurst, along with Seymour Butz, Matt Vaughan, Sleater Brockman, Dam Arms Djs and Bromance.

Link > Trough Faggot Party - Sydney

A resident dj at Melbourne’s infamous Trough Faggot Parties with an eclectic style of indie dance fused with italo disco, Kapitolina has just begun releasing mash-ups and re-edits through his online label ‘Girls That Smoke Poke’.

Unfamiliar (Redux) - Fluorescent

2009-01-30T05:19:00.000-08:00

Unfamiliar (Redux) by Girls Who Smoke Poke

Unfamiliar is the only single taken from Fluorescent's 2008 album 'Winter'; an unusually short song, inspired by the synth bass/drum machine arrangements on Jesus & Mary Chain's 1989 album 'Automatic' and the guitar riffs from Ride's 'Smile' ep. While Fluorescent's music is often intentionally derivative, reviews making more of a link to Gary Numan or The Cure miss the point. Then big american bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Metric come out with the same synth/drum intro and get heaps of airplay, one of the joys of being a minority band ignored in a indie/art/rock city.

"You see, if you're going to do an '80s throwback, instead of subscribing to some falsified chintzy Barbie & the Rockers ideal, why not do what Fluorescent do and scare the Supre kids by pursuing the darker edges of melody, the punchier refrains and the stadium pop impact of the whole array of synthesisers playing the archest riffs this side of gary Numan's on-hold music? This is delish."
Clem Bastow, InPress.

Thanks Clem - Synths rock.