Teeth – Teeth (Slow Boat)

Teeth, the new ‘supergroup’ comprised of former Phoenix Foundation members Lukasz Buda (guitars, vocals) and Thomas Callwood (bass), Muttonbirds’ guitarist David Long and legendary Wellington jazz drummer Anthony Donaldson launch themselves with a rapturous debut album that somehow perfectly defines them.

That first number Something Has Gone Wrong In My Brain feels like a declaration, or a reset of some sort. With that one lyric repeated over, and over again, it’s like the depressing optimism that builds in Hüsker Dü’s song New Day Rising, where the track is also built on repetition of one line but somehow speaks volumes more.

Teeth is both the band name and the last song on this new 9-track collection, which was released over the weekend as part of International Record Store Day, at Slow Boat Records, the spiritual homeland of Buda. It was revealed that he cut his ‘musical’ teeth, and many needles, no doubt, on the store’s collected treasures. It’s no surprise that his eclectic tastes find their way into Phoenix Foundation compositions. And elsewhere. Like Real Groovy in Auckland, Slow Boat is a Mecca for music collectors and musicians, but this might just be the first time they’ve put out their own release.

On the tiny stage, Buda announced that finally “market forces were right” to release this collection. In fact it had been sitting in the can for over a year, having been recorded at various dubious locations around the city including places with names like ‘The Car Club’, ‘The Swearing Room’ (gotta love that name) and in ‘Luke’s Bedroom’? As a family man these days it probably is the one quiet space left in the house, I guess. The whole thing is mixed by the amazing Dr Lee Prebble at the Surgery, who this time had his work cut out for him. Sample track 4, the sound lathered Succubus, which is a veritable tower of feedback, effects and loops. This track is Buda and Co. at their most pscho-psychedelic. It swerves all over the path but still retains an inkling of a tune in there. It’s like one of my favourite bands, Sonic Youth, who try their best to ruin a good pop song with art rock swagger and grunge and just manage to hold on to the shatter wreckage long enough for it to be recognisable. Same here. Brilliant!

If there’s a sniff of a single in this set, then it might be the infectious Busy Lady – like a Phoenix Foundation song with shark teeth. I wonder what kind of argument spurned this one. What ever the case nightery party is listening or paying attention. “You don’t listen to me, I won’t listen to you, it goes round and round,” goes the chorus. By comparison the very cyclic Looking Good, Feeling Great reminds me of latter day Beatles numbers. Especially those on the White Album, as the guitars layer up rainbows of effects that cover over each other like waves.

And as if to prove the point, Chant Cycle delivers what it says on the box. I wonder if Long’s influence as an avant-garde jazz drummer for Six Volts and The Village idiots may have had something to do with this. You can hear the music folding in on itself like a downward spiral before reviving into the brightness of the day. Buda even helps out with his lyrics, heavily drenched in trippy reverb “Keep Smiling,” he repeats over again as the tempo speeds up towards the song’s crescendo.

The final track is the most ‘punk’ of them all, reminiscent of all those Wellington garage greats of the 80’s like Whazo Ghoti and Spines. Except those bands certainly did not have the access Buda now does to the fantastic array of peddles, echo mics, and other wizardry. At the store launch he must have had about 20 different boxes at his feet plus more on an adjacent stool. On this album, there must be double that. Buda’s voice is heavily drenched in digital colours, with nods to ELO in there too. But the song is way more than just an onslaught. Towards the end, it envelopes out to a stunning ambient acoustic guitar solo. Perhaps this was hidden in amongst all the other elements and is finally revealed when they are all stripped away.

I said at the start that this album feels like a sum of the parts. You can definitely hear the dominance of Buda’s electro wizardry but equally you can also feel Donaldson’s hard edged guitars and hook laden riffs, particularly on the very ‘strummy’ Gangrene and the understated pop of White Light. There are slight reflections of his contributions to Mutton Birds tunes in there, hiding in his tunings.

Bassist Thomas Callwood’s job along with Drummer David Long is to provide an engine room that can carry the weight of Buda’s techno effects which at times are like Jackson Pollock’s brush strokes, starting and ending way off the canvas. Like all good avant-rock the beauty is in the noise and the noise is the beauty. So, there is plenty to get your teeth into here. Satisfaction with every bite.

Tim Gruar