The Auckland quartet have made an auspicious start to their recording career, signing to Spunk who are releasing their debut album across Australia and New Zealand. They’re one of many acts currently making waves with a 90s flavoured sound yet theirs is a blend of influences that makes it hard to pin them down as recyclers of any one band’s sound. That is of course … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: New Gum Sarn – New Gold Mountain
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
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
2014 was the year that Courtney Barnett, the unassuming Melbourne resident, went overground in a big way. With multiple international jaunts, appearances on radio and TV shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and many of the top international music festivals. All of that was on the back of two killer singles (‘Avant Gardener’, ‘History Eraser’) and the subsequent The Double EP: A … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
Though mostly born from the same sessions as last year’s River Mirrors album, these nine songs operate on a different plane. More concise and song-based, yet with a broad range of moods and levels of intensity, the quartet conjure up caustic distorted storms of guitar over measured rhythms. The spirit and intensity of Bluebottle Kiss is strongly present on both Before Before and its predecessor … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Infinity Broke – Before Before
Spain’s music is generally slow, swirling, soulful and hypnotic with its core sound circling itself with only minor variation. After a decade-long break Josh Haden returned with The Soul Of Spain in 2012 and now Sargent Place continues the same vibe with some psych rock explorations on the opening track and warm currents of gospel music flowing through other songs. Spain have never faltered on … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Spain – Sargent Place
Making use of a limited palette of instruments and ideas is an approach that has tripped up many a musician as they’ve endeavoured to get to the core of their creativity and cut out any frills and fireworks. Both Moon Duo and singer/guitarist Ripley Johnson’s other band Wooden Shjips have always attempted to do just that and almost without fail they’ve succeeded. Moon Duo’s fourth … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Moon Duo – Shadow Of The Sun
After a handful of stark solo folk albums Josh Tillman quit his day job as drummer for Fleet Foxes and re-emerged as Father John Misty with a new sound that was bursting with dramatic pop songs and kaleidoscopic lyrical images. It now seems that on Fear Fun Tillman was only warming up as I Love You Honeybear dials up the musical saturation and dives deep … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Father John Misty – I Love You Honeybear
Aucklanders Trust Punks have carved themselves a healthy reputation over the last couple of years and now they have a debut album under their belts. It’s a strong showing too with twists and turns aplenty as they deploy their melodic post-punk sound across seven songs in a brief 24 minutes. Their range and ability to blend dissonance and melody are the cornerstones of the band’s … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Trust Punks – Discipline
Few bands know when to call it quits, the good ones calling time when they are still a potent musical entity, still at the top of their game. Sleater-Kinney never put a foot wrong in the first decade of their existence, churning out eight excellent albums that were immediately recognisable as the work of Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss. In 2005 they stepped … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
Twenty-six years into the long and winding career of the Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan has traveled far enough down the road from that magnificent and defining opening triumvirate of albums, subsequent lineup changes and mild controversies that he’s due, nay overdue, a return to form. Every new album has drawn claims of such from hopeful fans and media yet it was only 2012’s Oceania where … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Smashing Pumpkins – Monuments To An Elegy
Over a couple of solo albums Jamie Hutchings has been ploughing fertile ground with more introspective and quieter material than that of Bluebottle Kiss, his band from 1993-2007. Now he’s convened a new band featuring ex-BBK drummer Jared Harrison and headed back into dense, noisy, exploratory and discordant rock music. River Mirrors takes many twists and turns such as the meditative Necks-ish mood on Termites (a … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Infinity Broke – River Mirrors
Doubtful Sounds 