Single Of The Week - Chet Faker : Terms & Conditions

0 Comments. 49 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 12:11pm.
  Straddling a smooth groove between electro and soul, Melbourne’s Chet Faker ambles into the spotlight with Terms & Conditions, the first single from his forthcoming Thinking in Textures EP. Crooning in a rough, strained, post-Al Green kind of way, the mysterious Chet (real name, intentions, unknown) explores the classic soul themes of heartbreak and desire while his music ticks and stalks seductively. Jazz-cool in a world where such things should not exist anymore.   Read More!
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The Bedroom Philosopher : Northcote, YouTube Comments review, single, music.
0 Comments. 25 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:59am.
  A song in which The Bedroom Philosopher sets the comments left under his Northcote (So Hungover) YouTube video to music. May or may not be an extension of a triple j radio segment. Includes the comment/lyrics: “It’s called self-juxtaposition/He is deconstructing his own identity within the conformist social mellow.” I don’t know what the ‘conformist social mellow’ is. And I don’t want to... Read More
Snakadaktal : Carnival review, single, music.
0 Comments. 15 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:56am.
  My stocks plummeted with my 20-year-old cousin Simon over Christmas when he told me his band was supporting the awesome Snakadaktal. I said, "Who are Snakadaktal?" and he laughed at me. I said, "No seriously dude, I don’t know who they are," and he stopped laughing. He looked at me like, what is wrong with you? This story might seem boring and irrelevant but I’m not sure the single is any... Read More
Sugar Army : Hooks For Hands review, single, music.
0 Comments. 18 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:53am.
  The lead track from Sugar Army’s as-yet-unreleased second album shows a continuing fixation with Bloc Party-style angular indie rock. It’s kind of unconvincing at first, and maybe a little dated, but it turns all mad and electric in the chorus, music sweeping out like The Killers are wont to do while the lyrics only serve to confuse and alarm. “When you’ve got hooks for hands/The more... Read More
Busby Marou : 5 Rocks review, single, music.
0 Comments. 14 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:23am.
  Rockhampton duo Busby Marou toured with Dolly Parton and Pete Murray last year, then toddled off to record this bland but inoffensive country pop single. The opening guitar melody is crisp and sweet, but the minute the strained, overly earnest vocal kicked in (Tracy Chapman-esque, but without the tragedy), they lost me. Way too sweet.   Read More
The Go Set : Drums Of Chelsea review, single, music.
0 Comments. 13 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:16am.
  Colonial ditty meets rockabilly punk in this spunky track by Geelong five-piece The Go Set. Get ready to bellow and stamp and shake your trampy fist along to the joyful, bouncing beat – it’s a breezy little knockout.   Read More
Panama : Magic review, single, music.
0 Comments. 6 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:11am.
  NT-born Jarrah McLeary is making synth pop in a post-Vampire Weekend world, heavy on the bongos and the tropical swing, For all its lack of distinction, Magic is a nice track, happy and hooking just where it should. It kind of reminds me Romancing The Stone, too, which is excellent. Romancing The Stone is an excellent film.   Read More
Buckley Ward : Into The Darkening Blue review, single, music.
0 Comments. 210 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:09am.
  The second single from So Pretend has a watery, shimmering surface and a folksy vocal melody. The combination is sweet and familiar, evoking both The Church and Paul Kelly, or maybe Paul Kelly singing with The Church. The chorus is more like a gentle riff on Empire Of The Sun, sailing dreamlike on the back of a rippling synth and some lovely male harmonies.   Read More
The Harpoons : Walk Away review, single, music.
0 Comments. 8 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 11:05am.
  Lifted from their forthcoming debut, The Harpoon’s new single is an only marginally cooler take on the cappuccino jazz of artists like Joss Stone and Corinne Bailey Rae. What is this doing on Two Bright Lakes? I presume the warbling, Idol-worthy vocal performance and stripped back funk instrumental have some relationship in the hipster cannon to that new disco sound, but I don’t get it. Read More
Dancing Heals : Live & Learn/Hilary May review, single, music.
0 Comments. 16 Views. Posted 22 Feb 2012 @ 10:54am.
  After the release of Diamonds and ahead of their debut album, Melbourne’s Dancing Heals serve up a double-side single of two glistening pop gems. Live & Learn is a spooling, West Coast Cali-flavoured track with dreamy vocals – somewhere between The Thrills and Teenage Fanclub. Having kicked around as a demo for the last couple of years, the intoxicating Hilary May gets the full studio... Read More
Single Of The Week - Jack White : Love Interruption review, single, music.
0 Comments. 77 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 12:22pm.
  White introduces the new album Blunderbuss with a conspicuously quiet acoustic number, squeezing all his customary dirt in to the lyrics. Take the opening lines, for example: “I want love to roll me over slowly / Stick a knife inside me and twist it all around / I want love to grab my fingers gently / Slam them in a doorway / Rub my face in the ground.” Vocal duties are shared with... Read More
White Rabbits : Heavy Metal review, single, music.
0 Comments. 70 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 12:05pm.
  This jarring, ominous excursion into synth pop minimalism is full of creepy character. Lifted from White Rabbit’s forthcoming album Milk Famous, the knits together a quiet, bouncing bassline, curt shivers of guitar and an airy, seductive vocal. Add some weird images of polygamy in the afterlife (see the video) and you’ve got yourself a disconcerting slice of art rock drama.   Read More
Ali E : Landless review, single, music.
0 Comments. 165 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 12:00pm.
Local songwriter Ali E (Damn Terran) has released a pacey but atmospheric new single from her forthcoming debut solo album. The guitars buzz and hum in a slightly breathless rhythm and Ali’s voice, drenched in reverb, expands to fill the gaps. A slapping 4/4 drum beat kicks after a few moments which is actually a little distracting, propelling the song forward at an uncomfortable pace that seems... Read More
Lost Prophets : Bring Em Down review, single, music.
0 Comments. 95 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 11:32am.
  McLoudy Pants Welsh band the Lost Prophets are set to release their fifth studio album in April, entitled Weapons. Lead single Bring Em Down is sort of post-rock meets Bon Jovi, with lots of spitting and fist-pumping and electric guitar noodling and a stadium-sized melodic thrust. Not even a little bit do I get it.   Read More
Madonna Feat. Nicky Minaj And M.I.A : Give Me All Your Luvin’ review, single, music.
0 Comments. 111 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 11:12am.
  She’s a lecherous old bat, isn’t she? What better way to energise your tired aesthetic by corralling a pair of super wild horses into the show and dragging them way the fuck down with you. I don’t care if she’s an icon or how great the Immaculate Collection plays at karaoke, her output of the last decade is shitful. This song belongs on the Glee soundtrack. And how about the goddamn... Read More
The Magnetic Fields : Andrew In Drag review, single, music.
0 Comments. 65 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 10:41am.
  The Magnetic Fields’ new album is a bubbling electro folk charmer, but the lead single isn’t necessarily the best track on the album. With a cute breakaway chorus, Andrew In Drag showcases Stephin Merritt’s familiar tongue-in-cheek style through the standard tropes of unrequited love and sexual transgression: “A pity she does not exist / A shame he’s not a fag / The only girl I’ve ever... Read More
The Fray : Run For Your Life review, single, music.
0 Comments. 84 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 10:32am.
  Things are always slightly desperate at The Fray’s house. Remember that How To Save A Life song (that was embarrassingly affecting)? Well now they’re running for their lives, to the strained guitar-based rhythms of Christian-worthy commercial rock. It is a bland, bland business.   Read More
Sam Sparro : Happiness review, single, music.
0 Comments. 371 Views. Posted 15 Feb 2012 @ 10:22am.
  The first cut from Sam’s second album is a high energy soul disco number that has an instant classic flavour. As ever, he errs heavily on the side of camp, but this joyful, hand slapping, gospel fuelled club track has an undeniably brilliant hook. Read More
Single Of The Week - M.I.A. : Bad Girls review, single, music.
0 Comments. 147 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 11:02am.
  Another chunky, sulky single of taffy stretched beats and lazy, savage rhymes from the pint-sized would-be freedom fighter. This one has a sharp ghetto booty flavour: “My chain hits my chest when I’m banging on the dashboard…Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.” (Pssst, I think she’s talking about sex.)   Read More
Pond: Moth Wings review, single, music.
0 Comments. 163 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:57am.
  A second single from the WA collective, which takes the familiar, swirling sound of '60s psychedelic rock and does nothing in particular with it. As my friend Kristy said on the weekend, ‘I’ve already heard it once.’ Innovate or die, children.   Read More
Bruce Springsteen : We Take Care Of Our Own review, single, music.
0 Comments. 175 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:53am.
  Bruce is about to release his 17th studio album and he’s still awesome, and let me tell you why. Like many of his greatest hits, We Take Care Of Our Own appears on the surface to be this bombastic Red State Yay America anthem, but it isn’t. It is the exact opposite. If you listen to the lyrics in the verse he’s all like, “From Chicago to New Orleans / From the muscle to the bone / From... Read More
Katy Perry : The One That Got Away review, single, music.
1 Comments. 203 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:45am.
  “Summer after high school when we first met / We’d make out in your Mustang to Radiohead.” Way to crud up Radiohead, fuckstick.   Read More
Anna Calvi : Wolf Like Me review, single, music.
0 Comments. 137 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:43am.
  Anna growling, dynamic cover of the TV On The Radio hit is more wolf-like than the original, dark and stalking. The only problem is that it languishes in a very Anna Calvi style – soft/loud, squalling guitars, husky vocals – and ends up sounding exactly the same as everything else she does.   Read More
Angus Stone : Broken Brights review, single, music.
0 Comments. 342 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:40am.
  The first single from Angus Stone’s new solo album is yet another milky, seductive indie pop tune. Amidst a slow spatter of drums and rich strums of acoustic guitar, his voice creeps like honey, hypnotic and melancholy, like a latter day Elliot Smith.   Read More
These Kids Wear Crowns : Break It Up review, single, music.
0 Comments. 90 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:38am.
  These kids enunciate way too clearly. It is really the word that I am not allowed to say anymore because it is offensive even if the intention is not to reflect or refer to the character of homosexual people. It is so gay that I am not allowed to say that word anymore.   Read More
Emili Sande : Next To Me review, single, music.
0 Comments. 177 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:34am.
  The next belle entering the UK soul ball is Emeli Sande, who was going to be a doctor before she opted to sing brassy, soulful pop tunes. The most impressive element of Next To Me isn’t her voice – which is just ok beside Florence and Adele and pure vanilla compared to Amy Winehouse’s dearly departed pipes – but the thumping Tusk-style drum beat. They’ve really ramped the bass and it sits... Read More
Bleeding Knees Club : Nothing To Do review, single, music.
0 Comments. 87 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:29am.
  Battle of the QLD garage punks this week. Let’s say, for the sake of efficacy, that the new BKC single sounds a lot like the new Velociraptor single, but leaning more towards the post-Ramones teenage riot sound of the Black Lips. It’s great too, full of bolshy energy, but maybe a fraction more forgettable than the one I heard first.   Read More
Velociraptor : Cynthia review, single, music.
0 Comments. 172 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:26am.
  Awesome melodic garage rock from Brisbane’s Velociraptor, heavy on the screaming harmonies and jangling R&B guitars, more Mersey Beat than Black Lips. This wicked fun single has one of those odd, stupid and memorable lyrics: “I tell her she should read the book / She says, ‘Why? I’ve seen the film.’” It’s funny, in a Norwegian Wood kind of way.   Read More
Howl At The Moon : Just A Kid review, single, music.
0 Comments. 194 Views. Posted 8 Feb 2012 @ 10:21am.
  A mellow new single from Howl At The Moon, taken from their forthcoming debut album. Just A Kid is a rumbling, atmospheric folk pop tune with a light and sweet lead vocal. It has a vague whiff of cabaret about it, and that distinctive Melbourne adult contemporary feel popularised by The Audreys (and others). Not for me, but beautifully put together.   Read More
Single Of The Week - Cage The Elephant : Aberdeen review, single, music.
0 Comments. 174 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 8:45am.
  I like Cage The Elephant, they know how to write a song. Aberdeen has Pixies-like mountains against the whine-pitched pop punk landscape, especially around the chorus. The Frank Black-style vocal welts that Matt Shultz musters are a gentle kind of mind-bending. Makes me wish I saw them last week when I had the chance. Read More
Grinderman : Bellringer Blues (Nick Zinner Remix) review, single, music.
0 Comments. 182 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 8:39am.
Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Nick Zinner has worked some serious magic with the Grinderman two track Bellringer Blues – part of a Grinderman remix album due out in late March. Zinner’s interpretation strips the warped and stuttering original down, creating a near-acoustic, minimalist render with a slight electro edge. Read More
Jason Mraz : I Won't Give Up review, single, music.
0 Comments. 235 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 8:34am.
  I wanted to take a shower about two bars in. This is the ickiest crap load of cheeseball piano pop romantica I have ever heard. It sounds like Boys II Men, and not in a good way. I don’t know if there is a good way. I think I have hives now. Damn you, Mraz. Read More
The Chemical Brothers : Don't Think review, single, music.
0 Comments. 154 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 8:29am.
This Friday, for one spectacular night, The Chemical Brothers 2011 performance at Fuji Rock will be aired at selected cinemas in 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound. (What the fuck is Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound, you ask? I have no idea, but don’t it sound awesome?) Don’t Think is the title of the doco and also this here supporting single. Originally composed for the Black Swan soundtrack, it’s a belting C/B... Read More
Leonard Cohen : The Darkness review, single, music.
0 Comments. 181 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 8:03am.
Old smoky throat has a new album out on February 3 called Old Ideas, his first new record in eight years. The lead single is slinky and jazzy – maybe a little too jazzy, to be honest, but let’s forgive him his geriatric foibles and bathe in the still shiver-inducing romantic decay that he weaves with his words: “I caught the darkness / It was drinking from your cup / I said is this contagious... Read More
Ladyhawke : Black, White & Blue review, single, music.
0 Comments. 204 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 7:58am.
I am so easily distracted. For example, not caring much about Ladyhawke myself, I just remembered seeing Jane Gazzo on Channel [V] last weekend, talking about how much she was looking forward to the new Ladyhawke album. The interesting thing about that is that Jane Gazzo is radically less annoying than she was in the mid '90s. I guess time heals all wounds. Coincidentally, Black, White &... Read More
Tommie Sunshine And Disco Fries : Don't Look Back review, single, music.
0 Comments. 476 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 7:55am.
The PR team got out ahead of the storm with this one, describing Don’t Look Back as One More Time meets Lola’s Theme by The Shapeshifters. If the youth of today weren’t such a bunch of ignorant, feckless guppies they would realise this tune is a pale imitation of the Daft Punk classic and consign it to the reject bin for musicians of limited imagination. But no, it features on the most recent... Read More
Rizzle Kicks : Mama Do The Hump review, single, music.
0 Comments. 133 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 7:52am.
  Produced by Fatboy Slim, this hip hop hoe-down by UK up-and-comers Rizzle Kicks blends Wham-like pop guitar samples with dancehall beats, banjo and upbeat yet bluesy backing vocals. This kind of high energy, tongue-in-cheek rap follows on from The Streets and seems idiosyncratically British – it has more in common with Supergrass and The Specials than Snoop Dogg. But anyway, it’s tinny... Read More
Jay-Z And Kanye West : Niggas In Paris review, single, music.
0 Comments. 136 Views. Posted 1 Feb 2012 @ 7:49am.
  Just when you thought all the beats were used up, here come these two wise guys, with their slow rocking boom crunch opera, to show you something different. Doing so much with so little is a wicked kind of genius. The Blades of Glory sample they chunk into the otherwise straight-faced gangsta rap flow is kind of hilarious, and I didn’t even like that movie. It’s just a spastic little out... Read More
Single Of The Week - Drake Feat. Rhianna : Take Care review, single, music.
0 Comments. 227 Views. Posted 25 Jan 2012 @ 4:45pm.
  A low key R&B track in the Usher mould, with booming bass and a watery, submerged synth line and not much else. This is a nice change of pace from the epic scale du jour of the Kanye-led commercial hip hop scene, and it features a really interesting break down – more minimalist drums and clever layers of vocal samples from an old blues singer. Rhianna’s performance is also muted and... Read More
Sunset Blush : Monkeys Taking Over The Zoo review, single, music.
0 Comments. 258 Views. Posted 25 Jan 2012 @ 4:42pm.
  An odd, minimalist, marching rock tune with a heavy strummed guitar line and vocals that sound isolated and troubled, as the guy known as Sunset Blush sings about rats taking over the kitchen, monkeys taking over the zoo, and other signs of long-repressed mutiny. It’s weird, but oddly vulnerable. Read More
Cat & Spoon : In My Pocket review, single, music.
0 Comments. 247 Views. Posted 25 Jan 2012 @ 4:36pm.
  That isn’t the voice I expected. The gentle ripples of acoustic guitar that launch In My Pocket are overly familiar - the light, lilting gestures that usually precede a kittenish female folk singer. Not in this case though. The voice that breathes over these romantic guitar notes is rough and masculine, closer to Tom Waits than Julia Stone. It’s a pleasing kind of dissonance, softened in... Read More