Major label contracts are worthless in the days when you can head up a broke-ass, DIY-style tour with your band, cramming stacks of punk kids into their parents' basements at the drop of a hat. Or so says guitarist Luke Horton, whose band, Love of Diagrams, did just that, touring the US last year before signing with Matador. Says Horton: "We played in sheds out the backs of family homes to a handful of local teenagers, or basements would turn into 'venues' and a hundred people would be shoved in there, sweating like mad!" Although the group is now booked for a proper tour of the US and UK in late September (on Matador's money this time!), Horton says, "I'm so glad we did those DIY tours: you meet so many great people that way and the shows are so unpredictable". 

Whilst Matador is also home to indie luminaries like Cat Power and Yo La Tengo, Horton shrugs, "I don't know that getting signed has changed much really. It has had little to no effect in Australia. I guess some of our friends were impressed. We get some cool CDs in the mail every now and then..." Well, their friends should be impressed: it's not every day Steven Malkmus of Pavement stalks your gigs. "He came along with Chris Lombardi from Matador to see us play in New York, without us really knowing they were interested. It was nice to meet him. We talked about guitar amps, and Pylon." (Pylon are seminal 80's band from Georgia, whose single 'Cool', Love of Diagrams covered as a B-side on an early EP.

Their album Mosaic, recorded with Bob Weston in Chicago last year, recalls No Wave and post-punk eras gone, the result of a cacophony of fuzzy guitar riffs, skeletal bass lines, vigorous drumming and call-and-response melodies. "We do seem to be moving away from more minimalist sounds and towards more layers of guitars," says Horton.

Love of Diagrams will head to New York to record their second album with Sonic Youth's producer, Don Fleming, in September. For the moment they are happy demo-ing new material in their hometown of Melbourne, Australia. "There's a few great bands in Melbourne who are criminally overlooked: Panel Of Judges, Mum Smokes, St Helens. And Fabulous Diamonds and Witch Hats are both doing well." Love of Diagrams will be in the UK in October: start cleaning your basement now.