NTSC PAL Full of Spots cassette
Sometimes you don’t really need much to make kickass music. You don’t need intricate songwriting, a full band of virtuosos, crystal clear production, or lyrics that give Shakespeare a run for his money. I mean, wasn’t this the whole premise of punk rock in its early days? You just need the attitude, style and intent. It really can be as simple as “Here are three chords, go start a band,” and you don’t even need to start a band nowadays. Melbourne’s egg-punk powerhouse BILLIAM knows this by heart and proves it once again in his new no-strings solo affair, NTSC PAL’s first EP Full of Spots. It’s very stripped-down: just synths, drums and vocals, à la the SCREAMERS (duh). Even though we all know that BILLIAM is more than capable of coming up with billiams of sick guitar riffs in a heartbeat, he makes the conscious decision not to by leaving out guitars all together and focusing on simple earworm synth melodies this time around. I don’t know about you, but I think there’s something magical in something so simple and barebones. Though technically not a BILLIAM release, NTSC PAL’s Full of Spots is my favorite entry to the BILLIAM-verse to date.