LIVE REVIEW: Built To Spill @ Manning Bar, Sydney (10/03/16)
This was a night for the guitars. Loud, textural and visceral six-string magic. Opener Ben Salter had a keyboardist in his live band who added some fine organ and synth sounds but the Gin Club head honcho showed that his solo material leans more towards rhythm-heavy, guitar-led rock songs. Not in a primitive sense though, Salter’s fine way with words and his voice, which only … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Built To Spill @ Manning Bar, Sydney (10/03/16)
LIVE REVIEW: METZ, My Disco, Low Life @ OAF, Sydney (10/02/16)
Low Life ambled on stage and lurched into a 30 minute set of songs that swung from Black Flag punk to Bauhaus goth dirges, often within the same song. You got the feeling the songs could fall apart at any time yet the rhythm section was solid – allowing the guitars to dispatch primitive punk bar chords, heavily chorused textures and squalls of feedback. Low … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: METZ, My Disco, Low Life @ OAF, Sydney (10/02/16)
NEW MUSIC: The Goon Sax – Up To Anything
Brisbane trio The Goon Sax are about to release their debut LP via Chapter Music in a couple of weeks. Here’s the title track Up To Anything, a song that hits the right spots for us – a bass line reminiscent of The Bats, the delightfully doleful vocal style of Louis Forster and brisk, economical and snappy drums. It’s a melancholic pop song par excellence. The band … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Goon Sax – Up To Anything
NEW MUSIC: New Order – Singularity
New Order continue to release singles from last year’s acclaimed Music Complete LP, the latest of which is ‘Singularity’. The video is a fast-paced collage of footage taken from B-Movie, the story of Mark Reeder’s life in 1980s West-Berlin. Damian Hale, the man responsible for the incredible visuals that make up New Order’s stage show, edited the video. “Singularity” features scenes of a city divided by the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: New Order – Singularity
NEW MUSIC: Holy Fuck – Tom Tom
Holy Fuck have been away for a while but in 2016 they are set to return with a new album called Congrats and ‘Tom Tom’, the first single to emerge from it. The band have said that the new record is influenced by Suicide, Silver Apples, Can, Mission of Burma, The Monks and Sun Ra. Congrats is out May 27th on Innovative Leisure via Inertia Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Holy Fuck – Tom Tom
ALBUM REVIEW: Suede – Night Thoughts
Their second album since reforming in 2010, Night Thoughts possesses the same trademark swagger and lush drama the band has been creating over the last 26 years yet it feels more considered, atmospheric and thematically pure. Brett Anderson explores his relationship with his parents and his own fears and neuroses as a father over an expansive musical backdrop. The epic art-rock guitar soundscapes and Anderson’s … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Suede – Night Thoughts
LIVE REVIEW: The Apartments @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Sydney Festival (24/01/16)
This was a show that had a touch of ‘the artist returns’ about it due to Peter Milton Walsh’s rare live shows and that he is currently celebrating his first album in 18 years — No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal. The briefly one-time member of The Go-Betweens and the Laughing Clowns has carved out an intermittent yet critically acclaimed career as The Apartments and … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: The Apartments @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Sydney Festival (24/01/16)
NEWS: Rough Church Announce New Album and NZ/AU Tour
Rough Church is the moniker of Los Angeles-based musician Greg Franco and he’s releasing his new album Shhhh this month on the Auckland, NZ label Powertool Records. The other strong NZ connection is that Franco recorded the album with Tom Bell at Chick’s Hotel in Port Chalmers. He was also able to use the talents of two of the country’s most influential musicians in David Kilgour (The Clean) … Continue reading NEWS: Rough Church Announce New Album and NZ/AU Tour
ALBUM REVIEW: Tindersticks – The Waiting Room
Tindersticks have traveled their own considered career trajectory with intermittent suspensions of activity and then a return to active duty, always with the same ear for detail in their nuanced and ornate, soulful baroque pop music.The Waiting Room is yet another excellent entry to their discography. It’s measured and draws on found sounds, field recordings, guest vocalists, jazz, post-rock, pastoral psychedelia and just the right … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Tindersticks – The Waiting Room
NEW MUSIC: Primal Scream – Where The Light Gets In
Primal Scream are set to release their album Chaosmosis on March 18th. Here’s the clip for the single ‘Where The Light Gets In’ featuring Bobby Gillespie duetting with Sky Ferreira. It suggests the new album may have a more polished electronic sound, indeed here they’re showing acts like New Order and Depeche Mode how to keep making fresh sounding music with one’s trademark qualities intact. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Primal Scream – Where The Light Gets In
VIDEO: The Holy Soul – There’s A Hair On The Soap
Taken from their excellent new LP Fortean Times, here’s the video clip for The Holy Soul’s single ‘There’s A Hair On The Soap’. Filmed in a shower, it’s a disconcerting concoction of hair, noodles, painted toenails, blood and grinding guitars. Continue reading VIDEO: The Holy Soul – There’s A Hair On The Soap
NEW MUSIC: The Drones – To Think That I Once Loved You
The Drones are about to unleash their new album Feelin Kinda Free on March 18th and ahead of that they’ve just released the video clip for their new 6 minute single ‘To Think That I Once Loved You’, an epic woozy ballad with dissonance emotionally scattered across it. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Drones – To Think That I Once Loved You
Doubtful Sounds 