July 11, 2018 — “FFS” by Deaf Wish

Deaf Wish

If you only listen to one song today, make it “FFS” by Deaf Wish (2018, from the forthcoming album Lithium Zion).
Deaf Wish is a noise rock/post-punk quartet from Melbourne. They’ve released four albums to date, and they have a new one called Lithium Zion coming out on July 27 via Sub Pop. On today’s song, and on many of their other songs, they sound very much like Sonic Youth. There are some songs that sound more like Black Flag or something of that ilk, but it’s really mostly Sonic Youth.

Although I go through phases when all I can write about is Australian bands, and I go through phases when all I can write about is bands in the vein of Sonic Youth, this is a band that I had never heard of until very recently. Deaf Wish is on the roster for the 2018 Hopscotch Music Festival, and as I always do, I’ll be doing a bunch of research and a bunch of writing in advance of the festival so that I’m very familiar with the lineup. Although there will be more bands named later and some inevitable changes to the lineup, this is where it stands right now. We don’t know the schedule yet, and it’s usually posted in August, but we do know that Deaf Wish is scheduled for Thursday night, the first night of the festival. As long as they’re not playing at the same time as Waxahatchee, or in the same time slot as Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, I’m putting these guys high on my list of bands to see. Those are the only potential conflicts that I can imagine that night. Click through this second wave of artist announcements and scroll all the way down for the day-by-day lineup, which includes some names not on the “main list”.

By now, you all know how much I love Hopscotch and how much fun I have every year, so I’m looking forward to another great autumn kickoff.

As I said, I hadn’t ever heard of this band until I was doing more Hopscotch research, but it didn’t take long at all for me to put them way near the top of my list. So far, I’ve only heard two songs from the forthcoming record, and I love them both.

“FFS” by Deaf Wish

The Sonic Youth comparison is an easy one on this song, but there’s also something that makes me think of The Wedding Present’s wildly interpretive cover of the Bow Wow Wow song “Go Wild in the Country”. Take some time to check out the Weddoes blistering cover here compared to the poppy original here.

Back to the matter at hand, one of the many things that I love about “FFS” is the full stop at the end. That’s no surprise to anyone. Another thing that should come as no surprise is that I really love that they play with the stereo field a little bit. The intro is really heavy in the right channel until the drums kick in and the balance is more even. Also, Sarah Hardman really does sound like Kim Gordon.
I love this song, and everything else that I’ve heard from these guys. I’ll look forward to the release, and I encourage you all to pre-order Lithium Zion via Bandcamp here.
Also, the video is worth checking out because it’s really basic, but really awesome:

Remember: Hopscotch is just two months away. Time to buy your tickets and start making your plans.