NEW MUSIC: Beach House – Sparks
I was pretty disappointed with Bloom, the last Beach House album. Something didn’t click for me, it felt too dissipated and bloodless. The good news for anyone who may have felt the same is that the first track to appear from the new album finds them back to mining woozy, droning psychedelic qualities to excellent effect. They sound ethereal and off kilter like a ghostly … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Beach House – Sparks
NEW MUSIC: The Phoenix Foundation – Give Up Your Dreams
Wellingtonians The Phoenix Foundation have released a second single, the title track from their forthcoming new album Give Up You Dreams. It’s a pulsing Krautrock slice of pop psychedelia with a nagging melancholic chorus. The new album is out August 7th. Preorder HERE. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Phoenix Foundation – Give Up Your Dreams
NEW MUSIC: Blank Realm – River Of Longing
Blank Realm have a new record on the way, their first proper studio recorded effort, produced by Lawrence English. Illegals In Heaven is due out on September 4th via Bedroom Suck/Fire Records. Here’s the first taste of it in the single ‘River Of Longing’ – all tangled guitars, meshed and spaghetti’ing across the stereo spectrum over a frantic drumbeat. Gloriously messy and vibrant brilliance as … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Blank Realm – River Of Longing
NEW MUSIC: Bad//Dreems announce Album, Single and Tour
Finally those Adelaide reprobates Bad//Dreems have gone and announced their album Dogs At Bay is complete and ready to do the business from August 21st. Produced by Mark Opitz (AC/DC, The Angels, INXS, Cold Chisel) it’s been a long time coming but it will no doubt be worth the wait given the superb singles ‘Dumb Ideas’/’My Only Friend’ and ‘Cuffed and Collared’ that have already been released from … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Bad//Dreems announce Album, Single and Tour
NEW MUSIC: Refused – Dawkins Christ
Refused are back with a new album, their first since The Shape Of Punk To Come back in 1998. There they harnessed the punk of Fugazi, the metal of Slayer and the incendiary funk of Rage Against The Machine. Thankfully they’ve retained the clinical brutality in their music without watering it down for the masses in the year 2015. Here’s a perfect example of that in … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Refused – Dawkins Christ
NEW MUSIC: Love Migrate – Pippa’s In The Highlands
I’m listening to the new Love Migrate EP Shimmer Through The Night this evening and I’m damn impressed. It’s dramatic indie guitar pop music with swirling keyboards, urgent percussion and an overriding art-rock vibe. Think The Phoenix Foundation meets Blank Realm. The whole EP is recommended, here’s the first single from it – ‘Pippa’s In The Highlands’. The EP came out late last month and … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Love Migrate – Pippa’s In The Highlands
NEW MUSIC: The Snowdroppers – Love Letters
Sydney’s The Snowdroppers have waited a while to finally release their new single ‘Love Letters’. The song comes from their new album Business, due out September 4th via FOUR | FOUR. Described as “four on the floor Motown-meets-punk-rock” the song is definitely a bigger, brighter, pop-fuelled sound for the band. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Snowdroppers – Love Letters
NEW MUSIC: Ern Malley – White Nectarines
Ern Malley are a new band based in Melbourne, Australia who’ve just released their new single ‘White Nectarines’. It’s a sweet slice of indie guitar pop that reminds me of New Zealand band The Phoenix Foundation. It has that great mix of jangle, melancholy and swing. I hope to hear more from these guys soon. Dig it. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Ern Malley – White Nectarines
ALBUM REVIEW: Faith No More – Sol Invictus
Faith No More were one of the few high-profile acts that injected humour, irreverence, brutality and puerility into the so-called alternative rock scene of the 90s. Formed in the 80s, they reached their peak in the 90s via a clever strategy known as originality and a penchant for genre collisions that marked them out to some as court jesters while to many they were musical … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Faith No More – Sol Invictus
LIVE REVIEW: Twerps, The Garbage & The Flowers, Orion @ Newtown Social Club, Sydney (08/05/15)
Orion had opening honours on the first of Twerps’ two sold out nights and things weren’t looking promising after half an hour of vague attempts at tuning a guitar before a note was played. Once they got things sorted they proved to be an intriguing take on 80s goth music circa Joy Division and The Cure, establishing desolate yet danceable dark grooves. The Garbage & … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Twerps, The Garbage & The Flowers, Orion @ Newtown Social Club, Sydney (08/05/15)
ALBUM REVIEW: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Loin Des Hommes
Bad Seeds co-conspirators Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have created a haunting score to the film Loin Des Hommes, a French film adaptation of Albert Camus’ short story The Guest by director David Olehoffen. Experienced in isolation, without the film to provide the creative scenery, the soundtrack works as a tension-filled, primarily instrumental collection of pieces that use piano, violin, droning tones and some electronica … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Loin Des Hommes
NEW MUSIC: Ducktails – Headbanging In The Mirror
Matthew Mondanile’s (Real Estate) side project Ducktails can’t really be called that anymore. Now he’s on the verge of releasing his fifth solo album St. Catherine which features guest vocals from Julia Holter and James Ferraro. It follows The Flower Lane, one of our favourite albums of 2013 and Ducktails’ finest to date. Below you can hear ‘Headbanging In The Mirror.’ 1. The Disney Afternoon 2. … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Ducktails – Headbanging In The Mirror
Doubtful Sounds 