by Chris Familton The LA quartet return with their sophomore album that finds them throwing more influences into the mix while still maintaining their highly melodic indie rock sound. Strapped feels like a step up for a band that specialized in efficient garage rock dispatches and even though they have softened their rawer edges they have compensated by dialing in more expansive textures and song … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Soft Pack | Strapped
by Chris Familton The key to The Datsuns’ longevity and relevance in the present is their ability to filter and process the best of the past and inject it with some enthusiasm and energy. Fifth studio album Death Rattle Boogie released 10 years to the day since their acclaimed self-titled debut – is no exception, finding them in ruthlessly efficient form. Spread around the world and … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Datsuns | Death Rattle Boogie
by Chris Familton Melodie Nelson’s debut album of 2011, Meditations on the Sun, was a wonderful slice of hazy 60s pop which she has promptly followed up with a record that takes that template and builds on it with an air of confidence in both its songwriting and sound. To The Dollhouse is very much a period piece in that there is little to … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Melodie Nelson | To The Dollhouse
by Chris Familton Jochen Gutsch is a prolific Sydney composer and one-man band with thirteen releases to his name since 2003. I call him a composer because his music is rooted in ambitious ideas with a multitude of elements fighting for space amid his instrumental soundscapes. There is also an overwhelming magpie eclecticism to Hinterlandt that can be both glorious and maddening as he chases … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Hinterlandt | Cartography
by Chris Familton Musical pairings are a common event for individual songs but two artists collaborating to produce an album’s worth of music doesn’t happen as often as one would expect. David Byrne has always been a songwriter with a strong sense of curiosity and communality, whether it be the polymorphic approach to his work in Talking Heads and their melding of funk, pop, soul … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: David Byrne & St. Vincent | Love This Giant
by Chris Familton Highly touted by the UK press and championed by The Horrors, this London quintet continue the English tradition of exploratory psychedelic rock music with mixed but generally good results. TOY aren’t beholden to a singular sound or style and that makes their debut album feel like a ranging, searching collection of songs. From the indie pop classicism of Reasons Why to the … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: TOY | TOY
by Chris Familton It was only last year that Moon Duo gave us their debut album Mazes, a record which showed that though guitarist Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips) was still operating in similar terrain to his aquatic pals, the addition of Sanae Yamada’s synth textures provided plenty of new angles to discover and bliss out to. Circles takes that template and stretches and tightens it … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Moon Duo | Circles
by Chris Familton Residents of Auckland New Zealand, Cool Cult are a post punk trio who released their six track self-titled EP a few months ago and though I was impressed on first listen it is only now, coming back to it again that I’m struck by how mature and sonically engaging the songs are. Comparisons with fellow NZ’ers Die Die! Die! are inevitable as … Continue reading EP REVIEW: Cool Cult | Cool Cult
by Chris Familton Since his days in seminal US punk band Hüsker Dü in the 1980s, Bob Mould has led a varied path from the introspective Workbook to the anthemic raw guitar sound of the band Sugar in the mid 90s. He also briefly worked as a professional wrestling scriptwriter, penned a memoir and dabbled in DJ’ing and electronic music. There were solo albums released … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Bob Mould | Silver Age
by Chris Familton Nearing a quarter of a century together and well overdue for a greatest hits compilation, Shihad have put together a 2CD collection that reinforces the claim that they are one of the greatest rock bands to come out of New Zealand. The best-of travels from their early speed metal origins on the Metallica-aping It, through their industrial and post punk influenced debut … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Shihad | The Meanest Hits
by Chris Familton Dissonance and controlled aggression have always been hallmarks of rock n roll, it is just the context that has changed as the pop culture landscape has evolved. Over time the emergence of sub genres and sub sub genres has been an important factor in the continued relevance and progression of rock music. Post rock, noise rock, math rock, post punk – call … Continue reading EP REVIEW: Sweater | Sweater
by Chris Familton Expectations of another album of Donny Benét’s earnest synthetic funk pop weren’t high given that his debut was in such a specific and narrow style. Surprisingly and thankfully those concerns have been comprehensively allayed on Electric Love. This is an album that takes the template of Don’t Hold Back and stretches it, bends it and reconfigures it into refreshingly exuberant shapes. The tools are … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Donny Benét | Electric Love
Doubtful Sounds 