AUSMUTEANTS

Obsessed with early punk and new wave, either with synthesizers (the Screamers, Devo) or without (the hundreds of forgotten bands preserved on Killed by Death and Bloodstains comps), Ausmuteants are a group from Australia who've combined cheap guitars and thrift-store electronics into bracing (if often off-kilter) rock & roll with serious pop hooks. Ausmuteants were formed by two friends from Geelong (a port city in Victoria), Jake Robertson on guitar and keyboards and Billy Gardner on drums. This minimalist lineup began making tapes at home, and they compiled the cream of their early efforts on the 2012 album Split Personalities. Ausmuteants soon expanded to a more conventional four-piece lineup with the addition of Shaun Connor on guitar and Marc Dean on bass; their songwriting became more sophisticated and melodic as the new version of the band gained confidence, and they teamed with the Australian indie label Aaright Records to release their second album, Ausmuteants, in late 2013. Goner Records, an American indie outfit, picked Ausmuteants up for U.S. release in the spring of 2014. In September 2014, Ausmuteants set out on their first tour of North America, hitting the road in anticipation of the release of their third album, Order of Operation, in October 2014.