by Chris Familton Since the days when bands like Fugazi, Nirvana and Jesus Lizard ruled the underground of American rock, before death and hiatus cut them short, there’s been a relative sparsity of sonically like-minded bands taking up the mantle set by those and many other acts. Melvins are still carving a unique path and bands like Harvey Milk and Pissed Jeans are promising inheritors … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: METZ | METZ
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 It is always a pleasure to visit the ornate surroundings of Sydney’s State Theatre with its outlandish detailing and proclivity for gold and chandeliers. It creates a certain mood and atmosphere and definitely lends a sense of occasion to whichever band is gracing its stage. UK’s Dark Horses had the opening honours and, with quite a different sound to Beck, they played … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Beck @ State Theatre, Sydney (14/11/12)
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
Deep Sea Arcade round out their massive year with another single from their Outlands, a record that sounds like a whole album of singles. Granite City Girls is packed with footage from their recent tours in a suitably hazy, psych pop filtered style. The band are about to head out on a national tour to celebrate the single release: Fri 9th Nov – The Corner … Continue reading WATCH: Deep Sea Arcade | Granite City Girls
by Chris Familton Regardless of how straight Thurston Moore’s 2012 solo album sounds the sonic provocateur is always one step away from experimental music and the sculpting of sound rather than song. Though his set would prove to be more of the latter Moore balanced things with the support act, Marco Fusinato who is known as much for his art as his music. Armed with … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Thurston Moore @ The Hi-Fi, Sydney (26/10/12)
by Chris Familton Jonny Telafone kicked things off with his kid on overload performance that rivals Donny Benet for its tongue in cheek pastiche, kitchen sink electro and synth pop cheesiness. There is no doubt that Telafone is a great performer even if he is just singing over Suicide-tinged backing tracks from his laptop but with song titles like Make Your Pussy Cum and his … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Twerps @ Goodgod Small Club, Sydney (11/08/12)
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
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
Dan Deacon is one of those mad musical scientists who can harness corrupted instruments, perverse melodies and an innate sense of unbridled fun and create truly unique and original music. He first burst onto the scene when his album Superman of the Rings got picked up internationally, allowing him to take his solo live show to the masses outside of Portland, Oregon. Since then he … Continue reading SONG OF THE WEEK: Dan Deacon | True Thrush
WE PREVIEW SIX NEW RELEASES FOR THE WEEK ENDING 31/08/12 DIVINE FITS | Divine Fits The combined talents of Britt Daniels (Spoon), Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks) and Dan Boeckner (Handsome Furs, Wolf Parade) have joined forces and recorded their self-titled debut that pretty much sounds like what you would expect from the trio. Delivered with the kind of energy you get when musicians … Continue reading We preview six new releases for the week ending 31/08/12
Doubtful Sounds 