Lamb Of God : Resolution

0 Comments. 52 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 10:16am.
  Lamb Of God are no longer one of those awesome new bands that your mates keep telling you to check out. They have become a staple of modern metal through their praised records and live shows. It is conceivable then that they could continue touring off their back catalogue of impressive material alone, but the Virginians didn't make it this far by taking it easy. While Resolution sounds like LOG album there is a lot that's new here and it's obvious that releasing another Ashes was definitely not on the cards.   This is exactly what happens when a band turns itself to 11. Mark and... Read More!
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Dirty Three : Toward The Low Sun album, review, music.
0 Comments. 194 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 10:13am.
  The very notion of there being a ‘definitive’ Dirty Three album is incongruous. Since the band’s formation in the early 1990s, through to its subsequent evolution into a world-renowned act of unimpeachable quality, the Dirty Three has spat in the face of simplistic categorisation, stared down patronising rhetoric and sniggered openly at futile efforts to contrive a poly-dimensional... Read More
San Cisco : Awkward EP album, review, music.
0 Comments. 69 Views. Posted 21 Feb 2012 @ 11:22am.
  San Cisco are one of those bands that make you feel bad about being a twenty-something underachiever. With an average age of 18, the group have just released their second EP, earned a top ten spot in the 2011 triple j Hottest 100 have just announced a national tour.   San Cisco’s First EP Golden Revolver provided a fresh angle on pop and it’s their youth and playfulness that is the... Read More
Shearwater : Animal Joy album, review, music.
0 Comments. 186 Views. Posted 17 Feb 2012 @ 9:36am.
  Jonathan Meiburg has never made any secret for his fascination for ornithology. Judging by the title of Shearwater’s latest record, Animal Life, it would appear Meiburg has expanded his interest into the broader animal kingdom; certainly, the album’s charged title track suggests Meiburg has cast his eye into wider metaphorical territory to find meaning.    On Breaking The... Read More
Emma Russack : Sounds Of Our City album, review, music.
0 Comments. 189 Views. Posted 17 Feb 2012 @ 9:31am.
  Lurching back to stone-cold reality after a long stint of travel can suck. It seems to have hit Emma Russack particularly hard - after a year of travelling through South America, the Narooma-born singer settles into what must’ve been a particularly bitter Melbourne winter. It has been a couple of years since Russack shed her Lola Flash moniker, a move which almost always suggests a move... Read More
I, a Man : You’re Boring Us All album, review, music.
0 Comments. 614 Views. Posted 16 Feb 2012 @ 10:35am.
  It seems that many fresh, young bands these days tout the 'synths are the new guitar' philosophy, with banks of keys, loops, pads, laptops, electronic anythings replacing the familiar sound of the six-string. Not so the curiously-named Melbourne outfit I, a Man.   Following a half-year on from their promising debut EP, You’re Boring Us All further develops their reputation for... Read More
The Peep Tempel : The Peep Tempel album, review, music.
0 Comments. 302 Views. Posted 16 Feb 2012 @ 10:32am.
  The bastard child of garage, proto punk, and restless rock‘n’roll has come to force you off your seat and straight to dance floor. The Peep Tempel’s debut self-titled album is assertively brash, sinister and insistently rocking at the same time. Filled with inventive guitar work and capricious melodies, the Peep Tempel’s debut release is unflinching in its desire to get your attention.... Read More
Rodrigo Y Gabriela : Area 52 album, review, music.
0 Comments. 230 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 1:38pm.
  Following in the footsteps of their previous efforts, Area 52 is a whirlwind of energy and exotic rhythms. The difference this time around is that Rodrigo Y Gabriela made the trek over to the musical melting pot of Cuba, hitting the studio with a full band, credited under the name C.U.B.A. All of the musicians involved are clearly on the same wave length, with emotion-driven performances... Read More
Hermitude : Hyper Paradise album, review, music.
0 Comments. 347 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 1:34pm.
  The fourth studio album from Sydney production duo Hermitude kicks off like a gritty cop thriller with the appropriately titled Engage. The dusty drums and fuzzed-out synth paints a picture of what’s to come on the instantly listenable Hyper Paradise. Like any good film our protagonists, Luke Dubs and Elgusto, take us through a full range of emotions and sounds. After continuing on their... Read More
Die Antwoord : TEN$ION album, review, music.
0 Comments. 620 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 12:31pm.
  To understand South African rave/rap trio Die Antwoord and their sophomore LP TEN$ION is to know the underlying counter-culture philosophy of Zef. What is Zef, you ask? Die Antwoord’s diminutive and spookily androgynous lady rapper Yo-Landi Vi$$er described it best, associating it with “people who soup their cars up and rock gold and shit.”   When their debut LP $O$ was released for... Read More
Mark Lanegan : Blues Funeral album, review, music.
0 Comments. 233 Views. Posted 14 Feb 2012 @ 3:37pm.
  Mark Lanegan understands the blues. For the best part of his adult life Lanegan has stumbled through a gut-wrenching collage of drug addiction, emotional heartache and physical trauma. Lanegan has ridden a violent psychological rollercoaster, barely keeping to the rails while others have fallen to their demise.   So when Lanegan releases an album titled Blues Funeral, you know it’s... Read More
Aleks And The Ramps : Facts album, review, music.
0 Comments. 441 Views. Posted 14 Feb 2012 @ 3:34pm.
  Amongst the critical philosophical ideas introduced in the Enlightenment was that of fact-based reasoning. Whereas previously the discourse of truth had been dominated by organised religion, thinkers such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Bentham championed the discourse of science, and its reliance on analysis of facts, and deductive reasoning.    Two hundred-odd years later, and... Read More
Yelawolf : Radioactive album, review, music.
0 Comments. 252 Views. Posted 10 Feb 2012 @ 11:25am.
  With the ingredients of a record label’s wet dream, Yelawolf continues in the grand white-trash tradition of mentor and label boss Eminem. Cementing his persona, the Alabama wordsmith has a thick country twang and tattoos. After several acclaimed mixtapes, Yela adapts his formula to the grand stage that has birthed the likes of 50 Cent on his Shady Records maiden voyage, titled... Read More
The Painted Hearts : Volume 2 album, review, music.
0 Comments. 494 Views. Posted 10 Feb 2012 @ 11:22am.
  Everything comes in threes for The Painted Hearts. The Canberra trio release their second disc nearly three years to the day of after their debut. They have also seen two-thirds of their orginal lineup depart, with only vocalist, guitarist and pianist P. R. Davis remaining constant. Kevin Nicol and Owen Andrews make way for Mike Oakley and Matt Nightingale on drums and bass respectively.... Read More
Lana Del Rey : Born To Die album, review, music.
0 Comments. 369 Views. Posted 9 Feb 2012 @ 11:45am.
  It’s always a concern when an artist’s image draws as much attention as their music. There’s no denying that New York songstress Lana Del Rey has been both perpetuator of and victim to such a fate. Del Rey’s ’50s inspired marriage of retro fashion and Hollywood glam has defined her as much as that sultry, husky voice. However, the greatest concern is that Del Rey’s major-label debut album... Read More
Skeleton Witch : Forever album, review, music.
0 Comments. 262 Views. Posted 9 Feb 2012 @ 11:40am.
  You all have one: the album that got you into metal. Maybe it was Master of Puppets. Maybe it was a Sabbath album. Whatever it was, you listened to that album from start to finish multiple times – on a daily basis. You savoured every drum fill and tempo change. You perfected air guitaring what you believed to be the correct guitar parts while headbanging around your room and trying not to... Read More
Primal Scream and DTK-MC5 : Black to Comm album, review, music.
0 Comments. 500 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 11:54am.
  Back in 2008 Primal Scream – at the time still trying to steer clear of the chemical abyss into which so many of the band’s 60s heroes had fallen – appeared at the Meltdown Festival in London alongside surviving MC5 members Wayne Kramer, Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson (alias DTK-MC5). With a common heritage in drug abuse and intra-band tension, this was a marriage made in rock’n’roll... Read More
The Maccabees : Given To The Wild album, review, music.
0 Comments. 302 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 11:06am.
  Given To The Wild is the third album by inventive English five-piece band The Maccabees, who are enjoying the heady delights of receiving that rarest of treats: popular success mingled with critical caresses. This atmospheric thirteen-track opus stormed into the Number Four spot on the Official UK Album Chart upon its first week of release and has been praised heartedly by English music... Read More
Stephin Merrit : Obscurities album, review, music.
0 Comments. 312 Views. Posted 7 Feb 2012 @ 2:01pm.
  Although it makes sense to package this collection of odds and ends from late last century under the ‘Stephin Merritt’ umbrella, it wasn’t really until after 1999’s classic 69 Love Songs that Merritt started to record music – mostly soundtracks – under his own name. Although his main vice was The Magnetic Fields, he also recorded as The Gothic Archies, Future Bible Heroes and The 6ths. He... Read More
Various Artists : Love, Love, Love album, review, music.
0 Comments. 447 Views. Posted 7 Feb 2012 @ 1:57pm.
  Just out in time for the commercial catastrophe that is Valentines Day, this love song compilation by Warner Music is guaranteed to pull the heartstrings of both lovers and cynics all over the country.   The album opens with Avalanche City's infectious Love, Love, Love. This up-tempo, catchy pop tune makes you want to quit your job, star in a corny rom-com and skip down a sunny... Read More
The Tiger And Me : The Silent City EP album, review, music.
0 Comments. 254 Views. Posted 7 Feb 2012 @ 7:31am.
  Yet again The Tiger And Me have managed to create a musical beast that encapsulates a veritable host of genres without batting an eyelid. A dark and brooding energy pulsates through The Silent City, the second installation in the series of EPs the band is midway through releasing, and it’s sweet but menacing nature is intent to seduce the listener.   Opener The Smoke is a melancholic... Read More
Ani DiFranco : Which Side Are You On? album, review, music.
0 Comments. 356 Views. Posted 3 Feb 2012 @ 8:17am.
After three years, her longest gap between albums ever, Ani Difranco releases Which Side Are You On?, an album with two sides of its own. The New Orleans-based wife and mother (hard to fathom for some long-term fans) and the provoked politico seem like they would butt heads, but instead flow side-by-side in this complex, fulfilling album.   With 16 other studio albums to compare to, Which... Read More
Barry Adamson : I Will Set You Free album, review, music.
0 Comments. 456 Views. Posted 3 Feb 2012 @ 7:39am.
  When Howard Devoto decided to pick up the dog-eared pages of Magazine a few years ago, Barry Adamson was there to help recreate the classic Magazine sound. Adamson’s subsequent departure was lamented by fans, but did have the positive outcome of allowing Adamson to continue exploring his own über-cool solo activities.    Adamson is, to quote the psychotic Dennis Hopper in Blue... Read More
Nightwish : Imaginaerum album, review, music.
0 Comments. 352 Views. Posted 3 Feb 2012 @ 7:17am.
I am an unabashed fan of Nightwish, and indeed many of their female-fronted contemporaries. Their incredible 2004 album Once is an absolute landmark release in the genre, it's the one where everything came together for them compositionally, and it broke them on a worldwide scale as well. 2007's Dark Passion Play was an extremely strong  follow-up as well.   It's been another lengthy... Read More
Vintage Trouble : The Bomb Shelter Sessions album, review, music.
1 Comments. 457 Views. Posted 2 Feb 2012 @ 7:45am.
I had high hopes for this record; talks of ‘juke joints’ and the ‘essence of the original soul movement’ got me quite excited. The dapper looking cats who make up Vintage Trouble certainly look like they could belt out some soulful sounding vintage rhythm ‘n’ blues but unfortunately what’s on offer on The Bomb Shelter Sessions is some standardised blues rock with a, dare I say it – ‘funky’ edge... Read More
Rich Davies And The Devil’s Union : Rich Davies And The Devil’s Union album, review, music.
0 Comments. 412 Views. Posted 2 Feb 2012 @ 7:39am.
  Back in the day, rock’n’roll was denounced as the devil’s music. It was hardly an original condemnation – Robert Johnson famously (and almost certainly gratuitously) suggested he’d sold his soul in exchange for prowess on the guitar – while the tight bond between church, state and high art in centuries past provided a convenient opportunity to marginalise any proletariat musical form as... Read More
The Big Pink : Future This album, review, music.
0 Comments. 368 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 7:37am.
  In a courageous sophomore effort three years in the making since their buzzed debut, A Brief History Of Love, The Big Pink bring Future This; an equally big-sounding release full of driving melodies and loaded beats that make for a worthy foray into pop anthem territory.   The first track Stay Gold is the leading single, and also the strongest of a bunch of genre-defying and very... Read More
Penguin Café : A Matter Of Life... album, review, music.
0 Comments. 421 Views. Posted 30 Jan 2012 @ 4:05pm.
Embracing the torch passed down from his father Simon, Arthur Jeffes carries on the musical legacy laid out by his dad’s own musical collective Penguin Café Orchestra. Though he drops the ‘orchestra’ label, Jeff es Jr.’s own instrumental compositions are no less lush or collaborative. Even without a background in the typically high brow realm of modern classical, A Matter of Life’s minimalist... Read More
Patrick Wolf : Brumalia EP album, review, music.
0 Comments. 347 Views. Posted 30 Jan 2012 @ 3:36pm.
Patrick Wolf slides back into the limelight with this, his brand new eight-track EP. Brumalia is an extension of his most recent album, Lupercalia.Here, Wolf branches out with new sounds, sidesteps and detours merging comfortably with those hallmarks that helped make Lupercalia brilliant. Brumalia indulges in grandiose melodrama, embracing wild gestures and unabashed fl amboyancy.   The... Read More
The Unthanks : Diversions Vol. 1 album, review, music.
0 Comments. 327 Views. Posted 30 Jan 2012 @ 2:50pm.
  How do you finish a banner year after releasing a critically-acclaimed sophomore record? Well, if you’re contemporary folk act The Unthanks, by releasing a live album of covers, of course. An eclectic one at that.   Doing exactly what it says on the tin, Diversions is an unedited audio document of a one-off performance at the Union Chapel in London, in which the baroque five-piece... Read More
Ty Segall : Singles 2007-2010 album, review, music.
0 Comments. 266 Views. Posted 30 Jan 2012 @ 12:37pm.
  The late Jay Reatard openly admitted rock’n’roll was the only pursuit available to him other than a life of drugs, alcohol and criminal behaviour. That Reatard was ultimately unable to secure his grip on the safe side of the illicit pharmacological precipice suggests that rock’n’roll can only go so far in saving a troubled soul.   Ty Segall is cut from a cloth similar to Reatard’s,... Read More
Five Finger Death Punch : American Capitalist album, review, music.
0 Comments. 330 Views. Posted 30 Jan 2012 @ 10:34am.
  Another album, another lineup change. Surprisingly shedding Matt Snell, aka ‘that dude with the beard’, 5FDP continued recording the follow up to 2009’s War Is The Answer with producer Kevin Churko taking over bass duties. Fortunately, this has not altered the band’s drive or focus and their new effort, American Capitalist, lives up to the standards they have previously set. Their fi rst... Read More
Various Artists : The Great Australian Songbook album, review, music.
0 Comments. 369 Views. Posted 26 Jan 2012 @ 12:10pm.
  The Great Australian Songbook is a double-CD compilation of what is billed to be “40 of Australia’s finest recording artists performing 40 of the best Australian songs from ‘Last Century’ and ‘This Century’”.   As you can imagine, any collectionwith such noble and lofty ambitions is likely to generate heated debate amongstmusic fans as many listeners will have strong feelings about... Read More
First Aid Kit : The Lion's Roar album, review, music.
0 Comments. 566 Views. Posted 26 Jan 2012 @ 6:56am.
  First Aid Kit often get compared to Fleet Foxes, perhaps due to them getting their big break via their YouTube cover of Tiger Mountain Peasant Song. Aside from I Found A Way having the same romantic urgency and wavering flutes of Your Protector, Johanna and Klara Soderber’s assured second album cementstheir sound as something quite different - younger, subtler and leaning a lotcloser to... Read More
Delaney Davidson : Bad Luck Man album, review, music.
0 Comments. 380 Views. Posted 25 Jan 2012 @ 12:49pm.
  Delaney Davidson lives the proverbial peripatetic lifestyle. Born in New Zealand, Davidson travels the world playing his guitar, imbibing the local culture and transposing his idiosyncratic observations into country garage tunes. If Davidson was American, he’d be prone to jingoistic hubris; as a New Zealander, Davidson’s narratives are dripping with pathos, irony and the odd splash of... Read More
Amy Winehouse : Lioness: Hidden Treasures album, review, music.
0 Comments. 464 Views. Posted 25 Jan 2012 @ 11:47am.
It’s not too often that you are able to listen to music that hasn’t been made for sales, for numbers, for demand and for A&R guys. Rarer, even still, is to be able to listen to the treasured songs that never did make it onto the original records that were intended for commercial success. Perhaps it is artistry in its truest form; however that would be an understatement for the late Amy... Read More
Korn : The Path Of Totality album, review, music.
0 Comments. 532 Views. Posted 19 Jan 2012 @ 10:10pm.
  Wow I’m really surprised at how this album has got under my skin. This normally heavy band have teamed up with various electronic music producers such as Skrillex, Excision and Noisia. I consider myself a Korn fan. I also generally despise electronic music. Let’s qualify that a little further, I generally despise all-electronic music. A little electronica is great if used tastefully,... Read More
The Charge : Red Flags album, review, music.
0 Comments. 698 Views. Posted 19 Jan 2012 @ 10:03pm.
  Rock, raunch, groove, grit and dirt; these terms tend to sum up the debut album from Melbourne four piece The Charge. Oh, and great songs as well.   It’s probably better to use words such as these to describe this band’s sound, as traditional genre titles don’t do them justice. They are undeniably rock, but that term is so broad these days it almost tells you nothing. There’s a... Read More
Voltaire Twins : Romulus EP album, review, music.
0 Comments. 571 Views. Posted 19 Jan 2012 @ 1:30pm.
They’re hardly the new kids on the block, but Romulus may well be your introduction to Perth’s Voltaire Twins. Jaymes and Tegan’s androgynous looks and dark electro beats suggest something along the lines of The Knife, but this is fairly straightforward new wave pop (plus, er, they’re actually a quartet). While their music is hardly ground-breaking, it’s so confident in its sound, grounded with... Read More
Caitlin Park : Milk Annual album, review, music.
0 Comments. 490 Views. Posted 19 Jan 2012 @ 1:25pm.
It’s perhaps the abstract artwork that best sets the scene for Caitlin Park’s Milk Annual. A flower-breathing fox head carried in a basket by poppy-picking children in the dark of night.   Musically she is self-described as having taken the neo-folk genre and single-handedly pulled it to the left with abstract compositions and film nostalgia. No matter how it reads on the promo material, it... Read More
Turbowolf : Turbowolf album, review, music.
0 Comments. 751 Views. Posted 18 Jan 2012 @ 12:15pm.
  Turbowolf's eponymous debut is the sort of first effort most bands dream of. Contemporary artists mixing elements of '60s/'70s stoner and rock is not a new idea. However, Turbowolf have created a unique sound thanks to a good dose of punk aggression and mostly thanks to their erratic yet catchy songwriting.     The aptly named Introduction starts off the retro-riff-fest. The... Read More