Aborted Tortoise

Reviews

Aborted Tortoise / Ghoulies Euro Tour split EP

Hey dummy. You like what the hell is going on over in the garages of Australia? You don’t know what I’m talking about? Then get right immediately, because here’s a split featuring two of the best of the seemingly endlessly fertile scene of garage punks keeping the genre alive, all brought to you by the evergreen tastemaker Goodbye Boozy. These two bands in particular share members, and it sure sounds like it. Both sides are deliciously spiky, bratty, and econo. Throw in some syrupy synth, and you’ve got yourself the exact kind of potent brew I’m reaching for any day of the week. If you’re already in the club, you already picked this one up. If not, have a listen and get on board speedy-like.

Aborted Tortoise A Album LP

If you, like me, mourn the loss of the great AUSMUTEANTS and are jonesing for that same mix of uptempo garage punk, DEVO-lved new wave, and American hardcore, you may want to turn to this Perth five-piece to get your fix. That’s not to say they’re a rip-off or a perfect copy. The songwriting here is a little less catchy, you get snake-y guitar lines in place of the synth riffs, and ABORTED TORTOISE is a little more DEAD KENNEDYS compared to AUSMUTEANTS’ MINOR THREAT (check out “R.L. Stine” or the surf instrumental “DLC”). But the overall vibes are very similar, particularly in the way the vocalist does that same talk-singing to Squeaky-Voiced Teen shout that was one of the hallmarks of AUSMUTEANTS. Where these guys stand out, though, is in the way they weave together their lead, rhythm, and bass guitar parts. The interplay on “CGI,”with all three switching between super busy lines and synchronized rhythmic punches, is super impressive. Give it a listen!

Aborted Tortoise Scale Model Subsistence Vendor EP

Frenetic, lo-fi rock’n’roll punk from Perth, Australia that sounds like a redux of the early 2000s—only this time around, the superficial brattiness has been replaced with something a bit more existential. Pulling a page from THEE HEADCOATS’ book, the crazed singing and super precise rock’n’roll riffs combine to deliver a contained mess that is wildly high energy without boiling over completely. The whole production sounds like it is about to burst at the seams, possibly owing to it being recorded and mixed on a four-track. You can try to imitate the effect of pushing a four-track tape recording to its mechanical limits, but there really is something special and (dare I say) nostalgic about the sound of the real thing. Recommended!