Hey look, new Deerhoof this morning, new Party Dozen this afternoon, this day is going rather well. You do worry when a band you’ve shouted about start on their next cycle, will they still have it? Will they water it down? Will they leave us with egg all over our boats? They haven’t. It is a stomper, there’s big smiles on our boat races, bring on more of it, no slowing down for this, the fifth album from glorious noise makers Party Dozen…
“It’s like we just don’t care anymore,” says Jonathan Boulet. “But in the best way.” 21 Bum Salute, out Nov 6th via City Slang, is the fifth album from Sydney experimental psych-noise-pop duo Party Dozen. The work of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone, vocals) and Jonathan Boulet (drums, loops, production), 21 Bum Salute finds the critically-acclaimed, semi-improvised duo feeling liberated – from their peers, their worries, and what the hell they’re supposed to sound like now. Today the band are sharing new single Euro Stomper….”
On the track the band said “The jams for this song were extended. We could play this forever. With an undercurrent of ‘raised eyebrow’ or ‘shrug’ this one turns into a glorious stomping anthem. Perfect for the chronic submissive. Wash your hands and be rid of it all. Apologies to my niece for the film clip.”
“We’re having more fun than we’ve ever had before,” says Tickle. “This album is kind of putting a middle finger up and waving at someone with a smile at the same time. We’re egging you on to have a good time.”
Emerging in 2017 from the warehouses of the Sydney experimental noise-rock scene, Party Dozen arrive at the release of their fifth album, 21 Bum Salute, in peak form. Over the course of four, increasingly perverse albums of psych-tinged rock peppered with pop noise and bursts of doom in equal measure, they’ve transformed from gleeful noise-makers producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville, NSW, to globe-hopping, critically-adored favourites – producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville.
As well as tours with Amyl and the Sniffers, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tropical F*ckstorm, Algiers and more, Party Dozen had Nick Cave appear on 2022 single ‘Macca The Mutt’, collabed with New York rapper billy woods, performed an incendiary live set on KEXP, signed international deals, firstly with Temporary Residence LTD (Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, <BEAK) then with City Slang (Caribou, Lambrini Girls, Jessica Pratt) and performed at Pitchfork Fest, All Points East, End Of the Road, Sydney Opera House and been nominated for the Australian Music Prize.
Along the way Party Dozen self-released their first two albums, The Living Man (2017) and Pray For Party Dozen (2020), struck a chord internationally with album The Real Work (2022), which sent them on tours of Europe, North America, Japan, China and New Zealand, while fourth LP, Crime in Australia (2024), an ode to Aussie noir that leaned beyond rock into moodier moments, repeated it. And for 21 Bum Salute?
“On this album we’ve got it down to the absolute best part of the idea for you,” says Tickle. “We’ve trimmed the fat.”
We await more, we have been covering from way back before they first landed on our shores…
Previously
THE ORGAN 