Step-Panther’s debut self-titled album was a mixed bag that pegged them as a band still finding their feet and throwing paint to see what might stick. Three years on, they’ve evolved from a short attention span garage-rock band with too many ideas to a ‘90s alternative rock-flavoured trio with plenty of good ideas and the ability to shape and execute them. Frontman Stephen Bourke has … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Step-Panther – Strange But Nice
In 2005, out of the ashes of Earth’s first phase of existence as a band immersed in heavy metallic drone, came a new beast. Still laden with slow-crawling repetition this was drone with quite different colours, textures and most significantly elegant desert-parched melodies that hung in the air rather than being sucked into a dense morass of guitars. With each album over the last decade … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Earth – Primitive and Deadly
Sydney’s Bearhug have taken things into new sonic territory on So Gone, the follow-up to last year’s Over Easy EP. Gone are the clean, jangling and relatively unassuming songs. In their place are eleven tracks that buzz and fizz with layered, distorted guitars in the vein of Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth and a lively The War On Drugs. Their breezy way with melody is still … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Bearhug – So Gone
Now nine albums deep into his solo career, David Kilgour still keeps one foot in The Clean yet that trio is sporadic and seemingly unpredictable in terms of output and activity to the extent that his body of work with band The Heavy Eights is his primary focus and creative outlet. End Times Undone beautifully captures the same mystical lazy strum and innate homespun catchiness … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights – End Times Undone
On his second solo album O’Connor has again created a retro-futuristic album of constructed and knowingly-crafted songs. Musically he digs deeper into the well of primitive 80s electronic landscapes and soul-tinged new wave. It’s a pastiche of everything from Pet Shop Boys to New Order with one ear to contemporaries like Xx and Austra and an overall sonic vibe reminiscent of Underground Lovers’ ‘Cold Feelings’. … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Geoffrey O’Connor – Fan Fiction
It took Robert Scott a decade to get from his debut solo album (The Creeping Unknown, 2001) to 2011’s Ends Run Together and now he’s turned around his third effort in a mere three years. Of course Scott isn’t just sitting around twiddling his thumbs and working on his paintings between records; he’s still actively involved in both The Bats and The Clean and from … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Robert Scott – The Green House
Die! Die! Die! formed their sonic aesthetic early in their career, those waves of coruscating guitars, tumbling melodic bass-lines, pummelling drums and Andrew Wilson’s passionate punk yelp. S W I M (someone who isn’t me) hits all the same marks while also sounding wider and more worldly, no doubt informed by relentless touring. The fuzz and repetition of ‘Angel’, the hyper speed MBV sound of … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Die! Die! Die! | S W I M
Christchurch natives, now based in Wellington, Minderbender are a duo that clearly have a taste for post punk and electronic music in equal quantities. Emotions is their debut album and it successfully embraces both organic and synthetic musical sounds and revels in their primitive and direct application. The title of the album sums up its theme of twelve different human emotions from ‘Expectations’ through ‘Evasion’, … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Minderbender | Emotions
There’s always mild controversy surrounding Morrissey so when a new album rolls around it serves as a timely reminder of the man’s ability as a singer and lyricist. Here he sticks firmly to the grand indie-pop/glam rock n roll template he mastered decades ago but it now sounds more stately and controlled with flashes of Spanish guitar, horns and subtle electronica. His lyrics are as … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Morrissey | World Peace is None of Your Business
Fink, aka Fin Greenall, has been weaving his voice across electronic, folk, dub and soulful indie soundscapes as a solo artist for eight years now and on his fifth studio album he pretty much sticks to the same template which means varied and occasionally good results. He’s at his best when he ventures into darker territory like the depth charge minimalist dub of ‘White Flag’ and … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Fink | Hard Believer
New Zealand has a knack for churning out skewed indie guitar-pop music. From the heyday of the Flying Nun roster through to modern day exponents like Popstrangers there is a unifying seam of bristling, effervescent melodies colliding at interesting angles with chaotic guitars and rhythms and Beach Pigs are another gem from the same goldmine. The opener ‘Daydreamer’ sets the bar high and yet it … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Beach Pigs | Grom Warfare
Mastodon stand tall as one of the few bands that transcend the metal genre and appeal to a wide range of music fans from the indie world to classic metal-heads and those with a penchant for the more progressive and experimental end of the heavy music spectrum. On their sixth album in a dozen years they bring together all the disparate elements of their musical … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Mastodon | Once More ‘Round The Sun
Doubtful Sounds 