New Zealand masters of the heavy Beastwars have gone from strength to strength on the back of their live shows and their great debut LP. Ahead of the release of the second album they’ve pressed up two of the tracks on ‘glow in the dark’ 7″ vinyl. You can check out The Sleeper (B-side) below, a dark ominous lumbering monster of a track and the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Beastwars release first taste of their new LP
by Chris Familton Doc Holliday Takes the Shotgun had the opening honours and proceeded to rip up the memo that says the support band has to battle shitty sound, a disinterested sparse crowd and not upstage the main act. The singer and bassist spent the set lurching madly around the stage and dancefloor looking vaguely menacing between cheesy grins. Their sound sat somewhere between the … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Gary Clark Jr. @ Annandale Hotel, Sydney (28/09/12)
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
NEW RELEASES This week sees a handful of noteworthy album releases with the most prominent being the new Tame Impala LP Lonerism. The hype has been building for this one for a while now and on early listens it doesn’t disappoint. There is a huge widescreen sound happening with Kevin Parker’s trademark psych signature all over the guitars, drums and increasingly – synths. San Diego’s … Continue reading New Releases | October 6th 2012
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
Melbourne’s Total Control are releasing their first 7″ single on Sub Pop next week and both Scene From A Marriage and the b-side Contract are exclusive to the release. The release comes on the back of their Henge Beat LP from 2011 that garnered great reviews. After a deceptive acoustic guitar intro the song kicks into gear with the band’s choppy swagger making providing a … Continue reading LISTEN: New single from Total Control on Sub Pop
by Chris Familton Now into their third decade, Redd Kross have delivered their seventh album that has them sounding as vital and visceral a power pop band as ever. Researching The Blues has certainly been a long time coming since the band reconvened in 2006 after a decade long hiatus. The quality of songwriting shows that time was put to good use, allowing them to … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Redd Kross | Researching The Blues
by Chris Familton A night of celebratory rock was kicked off by locals The Upskirts and though at first coming across as fairly generic alt rock they soon revealed a real mixture of influences. They swung from Arctic Monkeys guitar pop to a a great dirgy track sung by drummer Thomas Kell that sounded like The Cure. They approach basic rock songs with an inventive … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Shihad @ Metro Theatre, Sydney 07/09/12
Things are definitely starting to ramp up in The Rolling Stones camp with a number of recent reissues announced as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. Already we’ve seen the announcement of a new retrospective documentary Crossfire Hurricane that will have a limited theatrtical release and screenings on HBO in the US and BBC in the UK as well as the release of Charlie Is … Continue reading NEWS: The Rolling Stones to release new best of, docs and reissues
Doubtful Sounds 