Straight Arrows‘ debut LP was well received across the country and internationally so it’s great to see the follow up is due for release in March next year via Rice is Nice in AU and Agitated in the UK/EU. Until then we’ve got a brand new single Make Up Your Mind to keep us happy (stream/download below) plus a run of live dates where no … Continue reading NEWS: Straight Arrows release new single and tour dates
It has been a six years since Jamie Hutchings put Bluebottle Kiss on indefinite hiatus to focus on what has become a successful solo career with each solo release met with growing critical acclaim. Now Hutchings has returned to a fuller, noisier and more rhythmically intense sound with his new band Infinity Broke which features ex Bluebottle Kiss drummer Jared Harrison alongside regular Hutchings collaborators … Continue reading NEWS: Jamie Hutchings unveils new band Infinity Broke
On his exceptional new album, Bill Callahan (formerly Smog) has recorded his most peaceful and meditative set of songs. There is a bucolic, contemplative feel to the eight songs on offer as they weave across percussive landscapes, led by flutes and hypnotic guitars. Sonically the album is rooted in pastoral folk, much of it soaked in dub-heavy reverb and delay. The focus though is firmly … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Bill Callahan | Dream River
When you first hear 12 Omeros you are immediately welcomed and drawn in by the beautiful meandering rhythms of ‘(You’ve Got Your) Face On Straight’. The song smoothes out the stress lines with its meandering slouch and slither approach, not dissimilar to dub in the hands of some neurotic city dwellers and they then cheekily set you up for more of the same hazy comfort music with … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Sharpie Crows | 12 Omeros
Sydney’s Sister Jane are releasing Whole Wide World, the first single from their new album, on October 15th and have kindly sent a pre-release stream out into the digital aether. It finds them sounding impressively widescreen with tumbling drums, reverb-laden guitars peeling off all corners of the canvas and vocals that resonate with lush melodicism and barely contained urgency. There’s a decidedly UK post punk/indie … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Sister Jane | Whole Wide World
The band name and artwork for this album set me up with the expectation of another constructed indie facsimile bled dry of imagination and real emotion. Thankfully this duo out of Melbourne flipped my preconceptions by way of their compositional agility and creative twisting of pop and electronica. Tom Iansek has one of those voices that comes from the Jeff Buckley school of sensitive choirboy … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Big Scary | Not Art
Yep we are officially five years old. Hard to believe really but we’re pretty happy to still be around writing about albums and gigs, interviewing musicians and generally spreading the word about music that we love. That has been the mantra from the start, to focus on the music, trust our taste and instinct and hope that others out there will share our enthusiasm for … Continue reading Doubtful Sounds Turns Five
Another week of shake-ups in the local festival scene here in Australia with the cancellation of Harvest Festival and the probably not coincidental announcement that AJ Maddah (Soundwave, Harvest) had become a partner in Big Day Out with Ken West and US company C4. It seems a bit strange that one week Maddah is bemoaning the indie-centric BDO lineup as one reason for Harvest’s slow … Continue reading EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: September 20th, 2013
The big single released this week was Reflektor, the title track to the new Arcade Fire double LP due out on October 29th and it sees the band stretching out into a more rhythm based realm. James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) is all over the track with its indie disco vibe and its nod to bands like Talking Heads. I’ve got to say the first time I … Continue reading EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: September 13th, 2013
This week I got to listen to a preview stream and review the new LP Dream River by the always reliable Bill Callahan. The review will be in The Music next week (and online) so I won’t give too much away other than to say it is a wonderful album, a very, very good record and a stylistic change for him in some ways yet … Continue reading EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: September 6th, 2013
For the last three years Pedestrian.TV have been hosting the Australian Blogster Awards which cover a range of subject matter including music, food, fashion photography and more. Last year Doubtful Sounds was honoured to be included in the music finalists and the good news is that DS has again made the final list of nominees. Just as exciting is the fact that our Americana blog Post To Wire has … Continue reading VOTE for Doubtful Sounds in the 2013 Pedestrian.TV Ultrabook Blogster Awards
Sydney’s Greta Mob are picking up some great gigs at the moment (Beasts of Bourbon) and building some buzz around their music which is built on a visceral mix of Australian swamp rock and dirty post punk blues. We recently caught up with drummer Luke Millar who plugged in the memory card for Sonic Kicks and took a look at some of the albums that … Continue reading SONIC KICKS: Greta Mob
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