THIS THURSDAY

TOTAL CONTROL PHEROMOANS MICKEY GLOSS SAUNA YOUTH Thursday 15 December The Old Blue Last 38 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3ES | Map 8:00 | £6 | Buy tickets

TOTAL CONTROL came together over shared love of the more unsettling end of punk music: Wire, Devo, the Screamers. Featuring members of Eddy Current Suppression Ring and The UV Race, Total Control have released four singles over the last two years, each becoming increasingly minimal and electronic based, from synth punk to cold wave to primitive disco. To our ears they owe a debt to Gary Numan, Swell Maps, Suicide, The Normal, and Brainiac, but thankfully they're paying that debt by creating something new. The songs are deceptively simple while also provocative. Guitars, bass, drums, synths and vocals. An occasional beat you can dance to and at other times epic bliss that washes over you and you want to do anything but dance. 'Henge Beat', their new LP was recorded in the Australian summer of 2011, the songs a cohesion of sounds from each of their previous singles. Last month saw the band embark on a national US tour with Thee Oh Sees and now they're coming over to the UK to play ATP and this party too. SAUNA YOUTH throw together garage punk with cryptic concept to glorious effect, moving the poppy pace and attitude of Buzzcocks, Shitty Limits and previous band The Steal into weirder territories. Their songs are catchy, melodic and belt along at speed, sounding to these ringing ears kinda like Career Suicide trying their hand at some Modern Machines numbers. Standout amongst them on their recent self-released 7" is probably the hyper-snotty 'Vacuous Idiot', but they also write songs with a stranger, dreamy vibe that almost sounds like it could've been recorded outside in the rain while some Pebbles band plays a slowdancin' number at a drunken frat hop and the lengthy track on side-b of their record is a spoken word affair, all of which suggests there's perhaps more to Sauna Youth than just three chords and the ability to pen an awesome punk tune. MICKEY GLOSS is a psychedelic punk group that started in Australia and ended up in London. They play static lullabies full of absurd rants and transient tales. There first album, the independently released 'Indelible Ballad of the Tainted Fur', is a cartoon rock mindwarp. Look out for the band's new 7" flexi on X-Ray Recordings coming soon, let your freak flag fly! PHEROMOANS are a music band based in the South-East of England. The band played their first gig in January 2006 at Portslade in Sussex. Several gigs followed over the next two years, often in obscure suburban venues, but occasionally including more high profile shows opening for the touring American indie royalty. Reviewing a concert in 2009, the pop newspaper Loud And Quiet Magazine (free) described the Pheromoans as "wholly terrible". Worryingly for the Pheromoans, as the newspaper is given away for free, it meant that literally everyone read it. They soldiered on regardless, and in 2009 the Pheromoans released their first single 'Revamper' on the New York label Convulsive. This single gained a good review, and seemingly encouraged the band to release even more material. This year has seen the Pheromoans release their debut LP, 'It Still Rankles' on Convulsive, which was immediately followed up by a mini 12" album 'My Mind Is On The Anti-Climb Paint' on the Plymouth label One.C. Jackie P has also joined as a sixth member, adding keyboard and violin to recordings that have yet to see the light of day, and joined the band on a small and unsuccesful UK tour. Now they are entering the next phase of their career and although the brand is damaged beyond any hope of repair, they are due to release their next record, 'Darby, Joan & Fosters' this month. See them play this show ahead of their forthcoming album release party at Power Lunches on Saturday 17 December with Please and The Rebel too.