by Chris Familton Mix small town pessimism, youthful optimism, suburban nihilism and a lo-fi aesthetic and you have some of the ingredients that make the essential sound of Bad//Dreems on their superb Badlands EP. The Adelaide natives have been teasing/threatening us for a while now with a string of singles (Chills, Tomorrow Mountain and Caroline) and now those songs plus another trio of equally terrific … Continue reading REVIEW: Bad//Dreems | Badlands EP
by Chris Familton This was a night where two bands rooted in guitar music came together from quite different directions. Wavves drew the notably larger crowd on the back of their notoriety and accesibile punk pop while Unknown Mortal Orchestra drew from the well of classic psych rock and soul music. One band caressed and cajoled their melodies while the other shouted and bashed out … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Wavves, Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ The Standard, Sydney (25/07/13)
For many In Utero is their favourite Nirvana LP where the band carved out their most unique collection of songs and felt like they were developing into something truly special outside the hype and platitudes of press and mass appeal. Indeed their reaction to that and everything else that was happening in Cobain’s world ran deeply through the record. Universal Music Enterprises will commemorate the … Continue reading NEWS: Universal announce ‘In Utero’ 20th Anniversary Reissue
by Chris Familton Twenty five years after Mudhoney rose from the ashes of the Seattle band Green River they are one of the few acts of that era still going strong, relatively free of the drama that surrounded many of their contemporaries who lost band members, split up or morphed into superstars. They just keep hanging around doing pretty much exactly the same thing they’ve … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Mudhoney | Vanishing Point
by Chris Familton Now into their third decade Primal Scream have carved out a varied eclectic career that has taken in punk, pop, electronic, psychedelic, krautrock, rock n roll and americana influences, sometimes playing them straight and other times twisting and mutating combinations of them into new and exciting forms. More Light is their most cohesive attempt at bringing all the facets of their music … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Primal Scream | More Light
Slowly but surely it feels like rock n roll of the good kind is seeping back into the Sydney scene. Greta Mob are set to be one of the key players if the rest of their songs are as good as this bleeding, drunken stagger of a song. It conjures up images of Finn Andrews of The Veils jamming with The Drones. Good stuff then… … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Greta Mob | The Petite Bourgeois Blues
by Chris Familton Palma Violets fight a gallant fight and show flashes of exciting talent but ultimately this feels like a band trading on raw energy and still finding their songwriting feet. 180 is one of those albums that comes laden with tabloid music press hype so it was always going to be hard to live up to those constructed expectations, especially on one’s debut … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Palma Violets | 180
I caught these guys playing at the Nuggets event at the Sydney Town Hall during the Sydney Festival earlier this year and I was damn impressed with The Murlocs’ bluesy take on garage rock. It was white hot, ramshackle RnB soaked rock n roll and they seem to have bottled some of the essence of that sound on their new single Rattle The Chain. It … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Murlocs | Rattle The Chain
by Chris Familton Bruce!, a name so good it warrants an exclamation mark, hail from the Wollongong area and brought some of their no-frills rock up to the big smoke. They played hard, fast and exceptionally tight rock and showed their record collections are probably populated with albums by bands like Misfits (who they covered), Clutch and Queens of the Stone Age. Having three vocalists … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Endless Boogie @ Goodgod Small Club, Sydney (27/03/13)
by Chris Familton Melbourne garage rock renaissance man Mikey Young has his hand in a plethora of projects both as a producer and as guitarist in Eddy Current Suppression Ring and Total Control. Here Ooga Boogas expand on the sound of the last Total Control album by taking a trip into new wave, 70s punk and the type of agitated funk that everyone from Talking … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Ooga Boogas | Ooga Boogas
by Chris Familton Royal Headache have scored a few international supports but this was the best fit by far as their melodic, hardcore inspired brand of music shares many traits with the night’s headliners. Their sound translated well to a larger stage and venue and the crowd response was enthusiastic. They dispatched each song with their usual taut rush and energy, deciding on the spot … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Dinosaur Jr, Redd Kross, Royal Headache @ The Hi-Fi, Sydney 16/03/13
Many thought they’d never amount to anything but Sydney’s Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys have gone and recorded one of the best albums we’ve heard so far this year. Ready For Boredom hits the mark with it’s Television/Replacements take on suburban punk that bristles with dissent while still possessing a streak of bitter melancholia amid the spiraling riffs and pseudo solos, sandpaper vocals and rock solid … Continue reading VIDEO: Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys | Any Day Now
Doubtful Sounds 