totalcontrol_covers1

Total Control on tour with Thee Oh Sees, playing two NYC shows this month

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Thee Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thee Oh Sees – The Dream (MP3)

Some recent Total Control cover art

Australian synth-punks Total Control are currently on tour with Thee Oh Sees, where they’ll be in Texas for the Fun Fun Fun Fest this weekend, and then touring the rest of the country, with two stops in NYC: November 17 at 285 Kent and November 18 at Le Poisson Rouge. (For ticket links, click the dates.) All Oh Sees/Total Control tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

Although their web presence is minimal and enigmatic, Total Control’s lineage is not: Daniel Young is in Straightjacket Nation, and Mikey Young spends time in Eddy Current Suppression Ring and both are also in UV Race. (Fellow UV Racer Alistair Montfort, plus Zephyr Pavey and James Vinciguerra round out the live line-up.) After a string of 7″s the band released Henge Beat back in August, a real corker of a debut album. It divides its time between motorik synth workouts, jittery post-punk and more Eddy Current style stormers, with a nice layer of repetition repetition repetition coating the whole shebang. You can stream one of the album tracks at the bottom of this post.

Thee Oh Sees’ Carrion Crawler / The Dream

Most recently, Total Control released a split 12″ with their current tourmates Thee Oh Sees on John Dwyer’s Castle Face label which is worth picking up too. It is probably no surprise to learn that there’s another Oh Sees album on the way, Carrion Crawler / The Dream, due November 15 on In the Red. Recorded live to tape over a few days this past June, it’s a return to the more familiar Oh Sees sound after the demented psych folk that was Castlemania which came out back in May. You can download the two tracks that make up the album title at the top of this post.

Don’t forget, this current line-up of Thee Oh Sees features Lars Finberg of The Intelligence and recent, well-deserved recipient of The Stranger‘s Genius Award for Music. Not that you need any more reasons to go to either (or both) of these shows.

Oh Sees / Total Control tour dates and a Total Control audio stream are below.


Thee Oh Sees / Total Control – 2011 U.S. Tour Dates
11/04/2011 Fun Fun Fun Fest Austin TX
11/05/2011 Prophet Dallas TX w/ Total Control+Chapter 24
11/07/2011 Dean Houston TX w/ Total Control+Chapter 24
11/08/2011 Siberia New Orleans LA w/ Total Control
11/09/2011 Hi Tone Memphis TN w/ Total Control
11/10/2011 The Bottletree Birmingham AL w/ Total Control
11/11/2011 E.A.R.L. Atlanta GA w/ Total Control
11/12/2011 Krankies Winston-Salem w/ Total Control+ EZ Tiger
11/13/2011 Sonar Baltimore MD w/ Total Control
11/14/2011 PhilMOCA Philadelphia PA w/ Total Control
11/17/2011 285 Kent Brooklyn NY w/ Total Control
11/18/2011 Le Poisson Rouge New York w/ Total Control+ Paul Cary
11/19/2011 AS220 Providence RI w/ Total Control + Doomsday Student (record release!)
11/21/2011 The Bug Jar Rochester w/ Total Control +Paul Cary
11/22/2011 Lager House Detroit MI w/ Total Control +Paul Cary
11/23/2011 Empty Bottle Chicago (early show) w/ Total Control
11/23/2011 Empty Bottle Chicago (late show) w/ Total Control +Paul Cary
11/25/2011 Granada Theater Lawrence KS w/ Total Control
11/26/2011 Moe’s Denver CO w/ Total Control
11/28/2011 Flying M Boise ID w/Total Control
11/29/2011 Crocodile Cafe Seattle w/ Total Control + Grave Babies
11/30/2011 Doug Fir Portland )AA) w/Total Control +Grave Babies
12/1/2011 Doug Fir Portland (21+) w/Total Control
12/04/2011 Verdi Club San Francisco CA w/ Total Control + Bronze