They say that it is harder to play music slowly than it is to play it fast. Things fall apart and momentum is lost. In the case of Sydney trio Roadhouses, sedated rock music is their calling card. They deal in drifting, alt-country-imbued, slowcore torch songs where heartache is just a tear away. If you got Lucinda Williams to front Spain, at the Twin Peaks … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Roadhouses – Roadhouses
They were one of the heavyweights of the 90s metal/grunge scene, successfully blending melodic, down-tuned riffs and harmonies with crunching distortion and classic rock elements. Of course theirs is a tale of tragedy with the drug issues and subsequent death of singer Layne Staley curtailing them for a decade, but it is also one of resurrection, determination and integrity. Recruiting vocalist William DuVall 12 years … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Alice In Chains – Rainier Fog
Straight out of the gates the Melbourne quartet lock into a relentless distorted churn of guitars that sounds like 90s era Bailter Space sharing a practice room with Blank Realm. The guitars never let up but the lazy vocal smears a dull monotone melody across the surface of the song. It’s a wonderfully hypnotic and mildly unsettling start to an album that has a real … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Deaf Wish – Lithium Zion
Melbourne’s Harmony have had a four year break between albums but that time has clearly been well spent with Double Negative the strongest culmination of their soulful, ragged and cathartic sound. Carpetbombing (2014) was a sprawling collection of songs that often sounded brittle and impenetrable, the core of the songs sonically buried beneath the surface. It still impressed but the good news is that on … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Harmony – Double Negative
There’s something undeniably visceral and raw about everything that East Brunswick All Girls Choir do. Exaltation and exorcism are part of their musical modus operandi, such is their commitment to making music that embraces emotion with an unflinching directness. Teddywaddy, the followup to the acclaimed Seven Drummers, charts a course through coruscating punk-laden peaks and drifting, desolate valleys where the songs are stripped and stretched, … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: East Brunswick All Girls Choir – Teddywaddy
The Babe Rainbow, those cats behind last year’s superb single ‘Johnny Says Stay Cool’ and self-titled album are back with a brand new record, Double Rainbow, and its first single and video, ‘Supermoon’. It’s a moorish slice of languid, pastoral psychedelia. Double Rainbow is released July 13th, 2018 via Flightless Records. Continue reading NEWS: The Babe Rainbow Announce New LP ‘Double Rainbow’
Interpol are back with their first album in four years. Marauder is set for release on August 24th on Matador Records / Remote Control Records. “Marauder is a facet of myself. That’s the guy that fucks up friendships and does crazy shit. He taught me a lot, but it’s representative of a persona that’s best left in song. In a way, this album is like … Continue reading NEWS: Interpol Announce New Album ‘Marauder’
It’s been seven years since the last solo album from Jamie Hutchings. In the interim he’s busied himself with 2 noisy rock records with Infinity Broke and the wonderful Down The Unmarked Road, the result of his collaboration with Peter Fenton of Crow. Now he returns to the solitude of the self with the intimate, graceful and poetic Bedsit. This is a sparser and more … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Jamie Hutchings – Bedsit
Some bands hit the pop culture sweet spot just at the right time, igniting and reflecting the spirit of a generation before burning out and fading away. Others hang around, soldiering on with diminishing returns, a loyal fanbase in tow, cushioning their middle-aged bank accounts. There are also those acts who have that moment in the spotlight, vacate the pedestal but then re-emerge years down … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Breeders – All Nerve
Karl Blau experienced a taste of wider critical acclaim on the back of his last album Introducing Karl Blau. The title and the fact that it was a collection of country covers was somewhat misleading, given that he’s has already released something more than 20 albums. With Out Her Space, Blau has shape-shifted into the world of avant rock, funk and soul, eschewing his lo-fi … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Karl Blau – Out Her Space
Adam Granduciel has called this album A Deeper Understanding but it could’ve quite easily been called A Clearer Understanding given the clarity he’s applied to his songs this time around. He approaches them with direct and confessional lyrics that sound unquestionably autobiographical but he’s also pared back some of the hazy, gauze-like qualities of the dreamy approach he’s taken to the music in the … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
The larrikin troubadour returns with his first new release since his 2014 debut Butcher/Hairstylist/Beautician. ‘Medicine’ rolls and tumbles along with his trademark stagger and loose swagger. Super catchy, twitchy and jangly as he rattles off all kinds of medicinal relief. Top stuff. The track is available September 8 via Spinning Top / Caroline and Bibby plays Big Sound next week: Tue, Sep 5th | 11:30pm @ Ric’s Big … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Peter Bibby – Medicine
Doubtful Sounds 