Amusements

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 ...