Gamingforce Music Exposure Club™

Wolf & Cub - Vessels
Label: Dot Dash/4AD
Released: 2006
Genre: Alternative



Track Listing
1. Vessels
2. This Mess
3. Rozalia Bizarre
4. Hammond
5. March of Clouds
6. Kingdom
7. Seeds of Doubt
8. Conundrum
9. Steal their Gold
10. Vultures, part 2, section 2

REVIEW

Spoiler:

It’s like stage hypnotism. Those first few swings of the pendulum seeming about as threatening as a damp kitten under general anaesthetic, you confident in your unshiftable immunity against attempts by entertainment ‘professionals’ (read ‘charlatans’) to take control of your senses, and so on. You are rocksteady, you are cynical, you are above it all. Until BANG! Your body betrays you, your sensibility breaks for the shadows and falls flat on its face and what remains is submerged into a vast warping bubble of unfamiliarity and – WHIZZ / KAPOW – you’re fighting off anonymous talons and claws, not to mention gyrating thunderously to a filthy beat that you can’t for the life of you remember where it came from. Welcome to Wolf & Cub’s vessel.

The title track opens the record with almost 7 minutes of claustrophobic, threatening bass-heavy repetition, cracked into submission by a relentless snare beat and surging effects pedal manipulation. It’s all very blunt, it’s all unforgiving and above all else it’s really quite ‘XTRMNTR’. If indifference or resistance is what you greet the track with, you’ll have lost your house in a round of poker by the end. It is very persuasive. This is not future-rock though, not really. It doesn’t get far past the end of the 70s, it’s simply music with intent played intensely. Battery by riff, and by firm dance beat.

From the Spiritualized-esque weightless feedback strewn soundscape of ‘Hammond’ at the lightest end and the howling Hendrix/Zeppelin riff-off of ‘Seeds Of Doubt’ at the other, to the bold Public Image Limited and Gang Of Four funk rhythms of disco-slaying ‘This Mess’ this is a record that never loosens its grip, bullying your pulse into obedience. And through its shifting points of reference it retains a keenness that albums by the likes of The Rapture and Radio 4 just can’t seem to quite sustain. Now, when I click my fingers you will wake up as if nothing ever happened. But you’ll still be tapping your feet.

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My favourite local band, and probably my favourite Australian live band of recent times.

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Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Label: Bella Union
Released: 2006
Genre: Progressive



Track Listing
1. Roscoe
2. Bandits
3. Head Home
4. Van Occupanther
5. Young Bride
6. Branches
7. In This Camp
8. We Gathered In Spring
9. It Covers The Hillsides
10. Chasing After Deer
11. You Never Arrived

REVIEW

Spoiler:

Just the opening half-minute of "Roscoe," the lead track on Midlake's sophomore album The Trials Of Van Occupanther, generates the kind of knowingly resigned, darkly ritualistic mood that was all over FM radio in the mid-to-late-'70s, in the era of Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, and Dire Straits. The mellifluous, murmuring double-tracked croon of bandleader Tim Smith spirals through echoing piano, muffled drums, and quietly slashing electric guitars, all so commanding that there's no better way to react to it than to find a window to stare through—preferably one facing a grove of trees, swaying in an autumn wind. It's the kind of song worth stopping everything for.

Then again, so is "Bandits," which marries an archaic-sounding melody to humming organ and rippling piano, and "Head Home," which builds to a dramatic guitar solo that sounds like a tin shack beset by storms, and "Van Occupanther," a steady piano march leavened by the sound of a Mellotron and Smith cautioning, "I must be careful now in my steps." With The Trials Of Van Occupanther, Midlake has built a fragile fantasy world out of pieces of American history, the resonant sounds of churches and small-town music halls, and a basic sense of compassion. Songs like "Young Bride" and "Branches" practically tremble, as they pulse along on steady keyboards and woven-silk guitar, keeping Smith braced while he sings lines like, "It's hard for me, but I'm trying."

Van Occupanther's spell finally breaks a little more than halfway through its 11 tracks, when the songs begin to feel more fussed-over and conceptual and less organic, but the warmth never fades. When Midlake reaches the album's brief, moving conclusion, "You Never Arrived," it's earned the pangs of recognition it'll get from those listeners who grew up with music seeping into the mystery-infatuated compartments of their subconsciouses.

DOWNLOAD LINK

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Ataxia is a "supergroup" consisting of John Frusciante (of the RHCP), Josh Klinghoffer, and Joe Lally (of Fugazi). Ataxia wrote and recorded songs for two weeks, and played two live shows before disbanding. This is the result of the recording sessions, two albums released 2 and a half years apart.

Ataxia - Automatic Writing
Label: Record Collection
Released: 2004
Genre: Experimental/Progressive



Track Listing
1. Dust
2. Another
3. The Sides
4. Addition
5. Montreal

REVIEW

Spoiler:

The sound of Ataxia is mighty.

I’ve never really followed John Frusciante too closely. I respect him from a distance mainly, but Ataxia may well have written the album that bridges the divide for me. Of course, it helps that the trio is completed by Josh Klinghoffer (he of the current pulverizing PJ Harvey live band), and Joe Lally of Fugazi. So, yeah, together they be mighty.

Maybe it’s worrying when you look at the track-listing and see only five songs on there. It did seem a little unusual at first glance. Then you realize the running time is almost 45 minutes and you have to prepare yourself for the long haul of each track. But it’s honestly not a punishment. In fact, the length of the tracks is even a bonus once you learn to dread the thought of them ever ending.

Firstly, the bass lines are pounding. Looping hypnotically in precise patterns, they are completely unrelenting. You can definitely hear shards of that familiar Fugazi sound just from the processing alone, but there is new magic here too. It drives every single song, creating a solid backbone for the guitar arpeggios to menacingly interlace themselves around like blood-stained fingers.

The guitar work is impressive too. Solid rhythms and unexpected hooks rule the space, and then every so often Frusciante explodes into his familiar solo territory. It never sounds contrived or misplaced, though. Praise be for guitar solos that actually work. Jesus, even Frusciante’s voice starts to become appealing as you lose yourself in these jams. These songs may be dark and unhappy, but together they make up one of the most satisfying rock albums of the year. Think black. Think Ataxia.

DOWNLOAD LINK


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Ataxia - AW II
Label: Record Collection
Released: 2007
Genre: Experimental/Progressive



Track Listing
1. Attention
2. Union
3. Hands
4. The Soldier
5. The Empty's Response

REVIEW

Spoiler:

It's easy to see why any of these tracks weren't included on the first disc, because they have less of a stylistic connection to each other than the five cuts released back in 2004. The similarities pretty much stop after Joe's relentless basslines and John's choppy, squealing and soaring guitar work. The band aren't afraid to throw themselves at different types of rhythm and see what happens, and at least two tracks on 'AWII' sound distinctly post-punk, even a bit new wave pop, compared with the slow-release, grinding tempos on 'old' songs like 'Addition' or 'Montreal'. 'The Soldier' is a highlight - it pounds along at a fair pace for ten minutes, gradually ascending through careful variations along with John's vocals, which start clean and eventually become screamed and manipulated by the trio's remarkable collection of analogue sound effects.

Elsewhere, 'Attention' is the closest to the first album in terms of tempo, and the closing track 'The Empty's Response' is a beautiful chord progression, loosely arranged and with Josh's unique voice floating along with it. It's a little undercooked, but the nature of the Ataxia project explains that. Still though, an extra day or two on that one could have made it an absolute gem.

But such qualms don't detract much. 'AWII' is short, but it's a more varied collection than its predecessor and is certainly worthy of many listens. Its grooves are as good as before, and its (perhaps superimposed) arrangements keep the listener guessing. I suppose it's SHARPER than the spaced-out, loose, wailing jams of its predecessor. If I didn't know that all ten songs had been recorded in the same week, I would have been saying 'AWII' is a "pleasing development of the ideas on their debut".

DOWNLOAD LINK

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Label: Mute
Released: 2008
Genre: Post-Punk/Garage



Track Listing
1. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
2. Today's Lesson
3. Moonland
4. Night of the Lotus Eaters
5. Albert Goes West
6. We Call Upon the Author
7. Hold on to Yourself
8. Lie Down Here (& Be My Girl)
9. Jesus of the Moon
10. Midnight Man
11. More News from Nowhere

REVIEW

Spoiler:

It seems almost inconceivable to think that after 24 years and 14 albums, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds are still going strong, remarkably intoxicating, immensely persuasive and fundamentally valid. ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’ is not only testament to that but to the 50 year old front-man famed not only for The Bad Seeds, but also The Birthday Party and several notable collaborations. For those with no time or inclination for the seminal antipodean, his music will remain dark, brooding and mysterious; those who know better will see it as all of the above coupled with an intense and insightful energy. In his own words it’s “A haemorrhaging of words and ideas”.

First to bear the albums cross is the title track; Cave has described Lazarus as being the best escape artist to walk the earth “He was the second greatest escapologist, Harry (Houdini) was, Lazarus, of course, being the greatest”. Affectionately referred to as Larry, the biblical death cheat has relocated from New Testament Bethany to 21st Century America, and travels through New York, San Francisco and LA, only to realise that the modern day detritus that surrounds him is too much and that he’s better off where he was. As Cave sermonizes like a rabid preacher, his wisdom is backed up with the refrain “Dig yourself, Lazarus dig yourself back in that hole”. ‘Today’s Lesson’ follows on where the opener left off while ‘Moonland’ and ‘Night Of The Lotus Eaters’ employ varying degrees of sinister menace, compounding cold sexual temptation and squalid loneliness with isolated industrial sparseness and hypnotically evocative atmospherics; undoubtedly tracks to shiver along with and turn your collar up to, but not turn away from.

Up to now the album is devastatingly compelling and then The Bad Seeds harvest a purple patch of standout tracks. The up beat garage rock and low rent backing vocals of ‘Albert Goes West’; fast paced, heavily rampaging narrative of ‘We Call Upon The Author’ and the subtle abrasive orchestration of ‘Hold On To Yourself’ which is pitched against a stunning acoustic guitar amidst an arid modern day wild-west landscape, form a stunning clutch of tracks. If that wasn’t enough to get excited about, ‘Lie Down Here’ is and conveys an authoritative urgency that with the help of a well placed piano, unconsciously acquires unstoppable momentum.

At this point it’s painfully obvious that Cave’s music isn’t throwaway in any sense but a complete yet never-ending journey, where you ultimately decide if and when to get off; to say that these songs are emotionally infectious is an understatement. This is again underlined through the ballad ‘Jesus Of The Moon’ and ‘Midnight Man’ which drags you, the listener, face to face with Cave’s conversational outpourings, building and changing with enviable ease. The album closes on ‘More News From Nowhere’; concentrated with a dream drug fuzz, the evocative imagery that has featured throughout is once again highlighted. The track might last seven minutes but isn’t drawn out and allows you to sit back, tentatively relax and appreciate the album in its entirety.

Cave uses his vocal as an instrument, to full effect, emphasising his lyrical density and combining the fervent styling’s of Bobby Gillespie with the appeal of the Doors and the form of The Modern Lovers, ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’ creates an emotionally expansive, irresistibly abstract hybrid of rock, country and post punk, illustrating Cave’s fascination with religion, death, violence and Americana… its a staggering combination and a staggering album.

DOWNLOAD LINK

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The Mess Hall - Devil's Elbow
Label: Ivy League Records
Released: 2007
Genre: Rock/Blues



Track Listing
1. Keep Walking
2. Pulse
3. City Of Roses
4. Load Left
5. Lorelei
6. Cookie
7. Part 1
8. Betty
9. Buddy
10. Be Not A Man

REVIEW

Spoiler:

The Mess Hall return with a second album ‘Devil’s Elbow’ which was produced by Gerling’s Burke Reid. For the unitiated The Mess Hall is a noisy little Sydney based two piece consisting of Jed Curzel on guitar/vocals and Cec Condon on drums.

The album was made over a fairly harrowing time for Kurzel whose father passed away, his aunty committed suicide and his dog also died. Whilst this is very tragic, I have always believed that artists work best in hard times and this spills out onto Devil’s Elbow.

The thing that stands out on Devil’s Elbow is how much depth, diversity and maturity there is in the songwriting here. Previously The Mess Hall were in danger of becoming a one trick pony with only one sound – a stomping swampy blues rock, which was great but it was a sound that might have turned stale should they have revisited it for another full length release.

Devil’s Elbow opens with a corker of a track ‘Keep Walking’, with heavy riffing more akin to stoner rock than the swampy blues most would remember The Mess Hall for. ‘City of Roses’ is the closest this album gets to their roots with its rawkus riffs, punchy drums and wailing vocals. They wander into quieter alt-country territory with ‘Load Left’, ‘Lorelei’ and ‘Betty’. One of the standouts of this release is ‘Cookie’, a song that creeps along with a repetitive groove and soft vocals before launching into an aural explosion that will no doubt become a live favourite. The album ends with another surprise, a ballad titled ‘Be Not A Man’ that has an Irish sing-along feel to it when it kicks in.

Devil’s Elbow may disappoint fans expecting another full throttle blues rock assault but those willing to give it a chance will be rewarded with an album of far more depth than anyone could have expected from The Mess Hall.

DOWNLOAD LINK

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I was asked to upload this, so I figure I'd drop it here too for good measure.

The Mess Hall - Notes From A Ceiling
Label: Shock Records
Released: 2005
Genre: Rock/Blues



Track Listing
1. Diddley
2. Pills
3. Call It Black
4. Disco 1
5. Skyline
6. Shaky Ground
7. Metal And Hair
8. Disco 2
9. Holes
10. Red Eyes And Sunshine

REVIEW (sorta)

Spoiler:

According to The Mess Hall’s singer songwriter Jed Kurzel, his only recollection of recording their forth coming album is that drummer Cec Condon nearly set fire to the studio whilst barbecuing, and that whilst suffering a bout of vertigo, the attending doctor was more interested in whether the band were touring on the next Big Day Out than curing his ailment.

Regardless, the band emerged from their Byron Bay hide away with no visible burns and a record – “Notes From A Ceiling”, one of the more hotly anticipated Australian albums to be released in 2005..

‘We approached the recording of this album as honestly as we could, and hope that the final results reflect that when people listen to it. It may surprise people that this is a Mess Hall record, which is what we wanted to do.” – Jed Kurzel

There is always going to be a certain amount of expectation for a band’s first album, especially when the band has so teasingly drawn out their EP releases and toured so relentlessly. “There’s always that doubt when you finish a record”, Condon admits.

Condon adds, “It’s a very raw record”. Rather than modifying the gritty, rough-aroundthe-edges blues sound characteristic of the band, Condon explains that the new album exploits the style further. He describes Notes From A Ceiling as more suited to the “patient Mess Hall fan” as opposed to radio fodder.

Now free from the generalisations of the two-piece band craze, Condon feels confident that the new album will further put these myths to rest.

“Definitely, I think the album should stop [the comparisons]. It doesn’t sound like any typical two piece album. It’s a lot different. And we’re all different bands [anyway].”

DOWNLOAD LINK

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Angus & Julia Stone - A Book Like This
Label: EMI
Released: 2007
Genre: Acoustic/Folk



Track Listing
1. The Beast
2. Here We Go Again
3. Wasted
4. Just a Boy
5. Bella
6. Hollywood
7. A Book Like This
8. Silver Coin
9. Stranger
10. Soldier
11. Jewels and Gold
12. Another Day
13. Horse and Cart

REVIEW

Spoiler:

‘A Book Like This’ should be an early contender for album of the year based purely on the instantly loveable, child-like innocence of the way in which it is packaged (the CD/DVD version anyway). It is itself a hardback book, the lyrics glued and sewn to the spine like an 8-year-old’s bedtime storybook complete with illustrations and lyrics that give the impression that each copy was made by hand. Somehow it creates a tangible understanding of the love and affection that went into this record. It feels special, even if it is mass produced.

Better yet, the contents of this magical case, recorded in part in Fran Healy’s living room and also in their mother’s basement, are equally delightful.

In fact it’s beautiful, beautiful in the truest sense of the word. With each listen it becomes more utterly wonderful, more delightful, and more blissful. The way the two complement each other vocally is reminiscent of the quality of Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan’s work together on the Irishman’s landmark album ‘O’. Julia’s voice, fragile and painful but laced with an inherent joy, Angus’ prouder, filled with a larger confidence but still retaining some modesty and a control of delicacy that few possess.

Such is the quality of this record it is almost impossible to pick out highlights as trying to do so would almost certainly result in an often scribbled out and reconsidered list, eventually ending up with the title of pretty much every track being scrawled down on the paper.

‘The Beast’,’ Here We Go Again’, 'Wasted’, ‘Just A Boy’, ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Bella’, the first six tracks are all brilliant. Just as it begins to feel that a slight lull in form, albeit a lull from stunning to good, is approaching as title track ‘A Book Like This’ starts and builds to what hints at an explosive release (in as far as this scrumptiously laid back folk could ever be explosive) that never happens, the next number ‘A Silver Coin’ begins, and normal service is resumed over the remaining five songs.

The music relaxing, the harmonies uplifting, the vocals angelic and the lyrics intelligent and romantic; vague enough to be applicable to the listener, personal enough to feel significant information is being shared, be it deepest secrets, emotions or advice, and with enough narrative qualities to allow the listener to live the stories, it’s almost perfect.

Actually, sod that, it is.

DOWNLOAD LINK

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The Fumes - Guns of Gold
Label: Inertia
Released: 2006
Genre: Blues/Alternative



Track Listing
1. Altanta Rising
2. Automobile
3. Run To The Mother
4. Grocery Store
5. Oh My Babylon
6. The Dogs
7. The Postman's Inn
8. Kingboy
9. Tell Ya Story Walking
10. Spaceload
11. Mystery Bell
12. Slippin'
13. Down River
14. Johnny The Lion Slayer

REVIEW

Spoiler:

LISTENING to the attack of this Australian drums-and-guitar duo, you start to think that maybe some trios might have one member too many. They cannily open the set with an understated, shuffling guitar and vocal-only blues, Atlanta Rising, that would do John Lee Hooker proud.

From there though, The Fumes seek to asphyxiate all around them with a relentless, muscular contribution to the rocking blues genre that continues to gain aficionados. Automobile and Run to the Mother are delivered at blistering speed, raising concerns that all that follows might be a deathless onslaught of distorted slide guitar and heavy blues. However, there are enough shades of blue throughout the remainder to prevent this twosome being cast as a one-trick wonder. They also play mighty tightly.

The challenge for The Fumes from here of course is to continue making driving, engaging music as a duo. If they can manage that, they'll deserve significant praise. Being a two-piece hasn't stopped an act such as The White Stripes from consistently making an impression and headlines, and The Fumes are well on track to do likewise.

DOWNLOAD LINK

I was speaking idiomatically.

The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Label: Modular Recordings
Released: 2000
Genre: Electronica



Track Listing
1. Since I Left You
2. Stay Another Season
3. Radio
4. Two Hearts In 3/4 Time
5. Avalanche Rock
6. Flight Tonight
7. Close To You
8. Diners Only
9. Different Feeling
10. Electricity
11. Tonight
12. Pablo's Cruise
13. Frontier Psychiatrist
14. Etoh
15. Summer Crane
16. Little Journey
17. Live At Dominoes
18. Extra Kings

The Avalanche's Since I left You has got to be one of the finest electronica albums I've ever heard and most definitely the greatest sample album out there. It truly is a work of art.

Review:

Given the fact that Since I Left You, the debut album from Aussie party animals the Avalanches, contains over 900 individual samples, it's pretty incredible that this thing got released in the first place. The fact that they sample everything from long-forgotten R&B records to golf instructionals to Madonna's "Holiday" makes it even more impressive. But what really makes this album brilliant is not as much the volume or quality of the samples used as the way that they're employed. The Avalanches have managed to build a totally unique context for all these sounds, while still allowing each to retain its own distinct flavor. As a result, Since I Left You sounds like nothing else.

Much of the beauty of the opening title song and its accompanying track, "Stay Another Season," lies in the way that the Avalanches turn obvious sonic mismatches into something all their own. It's not too common that you'll hear a sample of a horse, a rastafarian singer, and an invitation to a Club Med disco all in the same song, but somehow it makes perfect sense under the masterful direction of the Avalanches.

Indeed, many of the most interesting moments on Since I Left You come with these mismatches. "A Different Feeling" sets horn blasts from 1974 against video game sounds from 1988-- the kind of bizarre pairing of classic soul with futuristic sounds that constitutes a substantial part of Avalanches magic. "Radio," which is slated for release as the band's next Australian single, centers around a mantra-like vocal sample, a thick disco bassline, and bits and pieces of filtered guitars and synthesizers.

Throughout Since I Left You, sampled vocals are used almost like percussion. But rather than utilizing the frenetic, intricate rhythms seen in most contemporary rap, the Avalanches repeat small vocal samples over and over again, melding them into their rump-rocking grooves. And while many of these songs rely heavily on the repetition of beats and samples, no single part of the record is allowed to stagnate. Something is always being mixed up-- a sample transposed up or down a few steps, a beat chopped up into little pieces and seamlessly restructured, an unexpected vocal sample popping up out of nowhere before being swallowed up by the massive sound the Avalanches have concocted.

Another key element of Since I Left You is the keen sense of humor the Avalanches display throughout. And "Frontier Psychiatrist," one of two singles already released from the album, is simply one of the funniest songs I've heard in ages. Relying on a heavy, Ninja Tune-style beat for backing, "Frontier Psychiatrist" busts out samples from 37 spoken word recordings, resulting in an oddball, hilarious pastiche of phrases like, "You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut!" And some brilliant scratching on a sample of a parrot.

Though it contains many distinct songs and moods, Since I Left You is a remarkably coherent record on all fronts. Aside from the fact that the Avalanches achieve a certain uniform "sound" on this album, subtler elements come into play as well. Songs blend seamlessly into one another. Samples reappear from song to song. And the album's final cut, "Extra Kings," with its breezy flute and psychedelic swells of sound, puts a brilliant twist on the album's title track, fading out with that same chipmunky voice lamenting, "I've tried but I just can't get you/ Ever since the day I left you."

In releasing Since I Left You, the Avalanches have essentially brought hundreds of slabs of inanimate vinyl to life. Though it was no doubt meticulously constructed, this is an album brimming with spontaneity, joy, sadness, humor, reflection, and general human-ness. With its high fun factor and subtle traces of deeper emotion, Since I Left You is the perfect record for the party, and for the period of regret and recovery after the party.

LINK

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Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Label: Modular Recordings
Released: 2008
Genre: Electronica



Track Listing
1. Feel the Love
2. Out There on the Ice
3. Lights & Music
4. We Fight for Diamonds
5. Unforgettable Season
6. Cold Youth
7. Midnight Runner
8. So Haunted
9. Voices in Quartz
10. Hearts on Fire
11. Far Away
12. Silver Thoughts
13. Strangers in the Wind
14. Visions
15. Nobody Lost, Nobody Found
16. Eternity One Night Only

Review:

As expected, In Ghost Colours is again an album that draws together the sweaty live energy of an indie rock gig with the synths and bleeps of house and electronica, along with the ever-present 80s influence and now, even a dash of 60s psychedelia thrown in for good measure. But ultimately, all this is just a distraction: what’s really gonna grab people here is the emotion-drenched pop melodies. We’ve already had a taste from the singles Lights and Music, So Haunted and of course, last year’s euphoric Hearts on Fire; but this tendency towards powerful harmonies is even more pronounced on the album. And it definitely sets them apart: all too often the bands that embraced the indie/electro sound also brought with it a ‘too-cool-for school’ attitude, an aloof sense of New Wave detachment; but there’s none of that here. When was the last time you were genuinely moved and swept up in the choruses of an indie/dance band? That’s what’s in store with In Ghost Colours.

But then again, all those exhilarating melodies wouldn’t have nearly as much impact if the execution wasn’t so clever, and also just a little bent. As guitarist Tim Hoey said in a recent interview, “We kind of like it when pop music gets a little weird.” And frontman Dan Whitford’s vocals are so much more expressive and involving than what anybody would have thought he was capable of: you’re never quite sure where he’s gonna take you next, and he’s largely responsible for the album’s haunting undertone, though you can never quite put your finger on what it is. But helping this along is Cut Copy’s distinct blending of indie rock and electronica, in ways that are often unexpected and unpredictable. In a similar fashion to Bright Like Neon Love, it’s about more than just throwing in an electro bassline and a few handclaps behind a chunky guitar riff. Straightforward rock songs like Unforgettable Season sit comfortably alongside brazen club tunes like Out There on the Ice and of course Hearts on Fire, along with even a few ambient interludes that build the tension beautifully. It’s this combination which makes for an album that’s surprisingly deep, varied and gripping.

But as mentioned before, it’s the pop choruses that lie at the heart of In Ghost Colours. Interestingly, all of these songs would have worked with your standard guitar/bass/drums combo, but what sets them apart is how all the different musical elements lock together so effortlessly. And the So Haunted single makes for a great case study of that: the wailing guitars that open the song, the electro synths present in the mix without needing to dominate, the shrill guitar solo that breaks out in the middle along with that chorus: part of you might be cringing on how close it borders on being cheesy, but trying to resist humming along is just a waste of time.

So what have we got here? Genius songwriting, an inventive and creative approach to musicality along with a heavy dose of slick studio polish. It’s got it all basically, and while on the surface it’s very much a rock/pop album, lovers of deeper sounds and glitchier electronic music will find plenty to enjoy here. Like a lot of other people perhaps, I was expecting something that was catchy and easy to listen to; but the sum of all the album’s different parts is something that’s a lot more involving than that. Bright Like Neon Love may have been memorable, but this blasts it out of the water. An emotional rush from beginning to end, In Ghost Colours delivers way more than we’ve come to expect from the indie/electro movement. Best album of ‘08 so far.

LINK

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What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Nobody has uploaded anything here for a while, so I figured I would.

Dirty Three - Dirty Three
Label: Touch & Go Records
Released: 1995
Genre: Post-Rock



Track Listing
1. Indian Love Song
2. Better Go Home Now
3. Odd Couple
4. Kim's Dirt
5. Everything's Fucked
6. The Last Night
7. Dirty Equation

Review:

There have been many attempts to integrate instrumentation, other than the guitar, bass, and drums format, into so-called rock music. Many bands have gone through an Eastern or psychedelic phase, adding strings, tabla, or some other seemingly eccentric instrument to their sound. For the most part, bands like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and others make these new instruments sound out of place in a rock setting. But the Dirty Three — an aptly-named Australian drum, guitar, and violin trio — create an hour of music on this self-titled album that takes the experiments of their predecessors and coalesces them into a beautiful whole. Violinist Warren Ellis is a magician — the sounds he coaxes out of the instrument range from conventional melody to washed-out feedback noise. On "Indian Love Song" Ellis starts off with a gentle plucking of the strings, but midway though this ten minute drone he's on another planet, wailing away in a Pete Townshend meets Thurston Moore vein. This album does not follow a strict melody-cacophony structure though. Mick Turner plays along perfectly with Ellis, crafting subtle guitar lines that complement his counterpart. All the while drummer Jim White uses a keen selection of shells, tambourines, and God knows what else to keep a beat. The band seems equally assured in playing quiet pastoral passages ("Kim's Dirt") and ferocious rock ("Everything's Fucked"). Their music is cinematic — moving at varying paces through different emotions. Where most bands have come up short in both creativity and execution, the Dirty Three have it right.

LINK

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The Drones - Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By
Label: In-Fidelity Records
Released: 2005
Genre: Alternative



Track Listing
1. Shark Fin Blues
2. Baby²
3. The Best You Can Believe In
4. Locust
5. You Really Don't Care
6. Sitting On The Edge Of The Bed Cryin'
7. The Freedom In The Loot
8. Another Rousing Chorus You Idiots!!!!
9. This Time

Review:

Pay no mind to the misleading name: The Drones are in no way a noise band, Tony Conrad-derived, or psychedelic. Actually, on first listen the Australian quartet may seem like little more than an unhinged bluesy garage outfit-- but that's because career music fans are too often trained to shun things that work within genre definitions. Serious, give these fuckers time and they'll rip out your eardrums, perhaps even your heart.
Vocalist/guitarist Gareth Liddiard and guitarist Rui Pereira found a drummer and bassist and formed the group in Melbourne in early 2000. They put out an eponymous EP in 2001 and a year later released the full-length debut, Here Come the Lies (which tellingly included a cover of the Cramps' "New Kind of Kick"). Over the next three years they only put out two 7" singles. Now, kinda out of nowhere, comes their amped sophomore dispatch, Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By.

Playing together for a half-decade has resulted in shivery tightness: Notes bend and expand just as a snare wakes up; the bass adds an exclamation to a vocal line. They have the boundless cohesion and energy of X or the Gun Club. Judging them against other Australian acts, you'll find more than a bit of Kim Salmon's Scientists (see, for instance, their 1983 single "We Had Love") and, of course, the Birthday Party (albeit with less all-over-the-place percussion, horns, and avant tendencies).

Despite the band's meshing, the focus rests squarely on vocalist/guitarist Gareth Liddiard. A tall, lean rocker who flails on floors and swings his guitar over his head, Liddiard's reminiscent of the Laughing Hyenas' John Brannon in his willingness to shred his vocal chords. Fast forward to his bloody howl on the poppy, Ponys-like "Baby" to get an idea of the scratchy decibels.

Lyrically, the Drones' world's crammed with drunkenness, night sweats, and suicide notes. The album opens with "Shark Fin Blues", one of the best rockers of the year, a seemingly endless path of riffs and dynamics and a good introduction to Liddiard's nihilistic subject matter. The song's protagonist is stuck on a sinking ship, watching sharks "coming fin by fin" toward the wreckage "like slicks of ink." He thinks he sees Jonah, there's an albatross � la Samuel Taylor Colerdige's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", and the captain's "laid up in the galley like a dried out mink...dying of thirst." He admits he's going to be alone, asking "Why don't you get down in the sea/ Turn the water red like you want to be?" And there you are, losing oxygen sans friends, all by your lonesome.

The other thing the band does is slow. things. down. They take their time with pieces like "Sitting on the Edge if the Cryin'" and "The Best You Can Believe In", which closes with smears of vibrato distortion and posits that there isn't much in which you can have faith. Variations on this crisis are echoed throughout: For instance, in the aforementioned "Baby," Liddiard admits, "Man, I won't ever be free/ Though alone drunk on a beach/ Ain't such a bad way to be." The aptly titled "Another Rousing Chorus You Idiots!!!" Perhaps the track most structurally redolent of Laughing Hyenas' slow-burn blues lets it be known that "We were shat from wormholes...there's no use for order."

It's also a solidly working-class record, discussing the walk home from the factory or, as in "Locust", sketching a depressing port town. In what amounts to the town's love story, the protagonist's first girl, daughter of drunken war veteran, leaves a suicide note. One of the more atmospheric tracks, it opens with moments of feedback and single piano notes while Liddiard pensively intones, "Georgie, I can't stop drinking/ Seems like every time I can't stop thinking." The tracks ends under a distorted gale of malleted piano strings, frenzied bows, and a tidal whirlpool of guitar noise.

Albums that stick come in various shades: Something surprisingly ambitious like Sufjan Steven's Illinois, meta-smart like Art Brut's debut, as beautifully honed as Othrelm's OV, or as magnificently unrelenting as Sunn 0)))'s Black One. Wait Long By the River sounds nothing like any of these, and won't win awards for originality. But it could garner some props for brilliance. There's nothing wrong with being a solid whiskey-drunk rock band. But really, the greatest thing about such a pessimistic bunch of sots (with a truly ecstatic spitter) is the realization that they're too smart to relegate drowning to one's enemies. Hey, if you hang out by the river long enough, you'll most likely spot a couple of friends, too.

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The Drones - Gala Mill
Label: Shock Records
Released: 2006
Genre: Alternative



Track Listing
1. Jezebel
2. Dog Eared
3. I'm Here Now
4. Words From The Executioner To Alexander Pearce
5. I Don't Ever Want To Change
6. Work For Me
7. I Looked Down The Line And I Wondered
8. Are You Leaving For The Country
9. Sixteen Straws

Review:

The Drones made a record, a damned good one. They made another, even better, dense, tense, and yet, and yet - frenzied? So now they've made a third.

They went down to Tassie to work, recording in a mill in a place called Gala Farm, in Cranbrook. The eccentric little island must have got to them; two of the songs here are taken directly from local folklore: the story of cannibal convict Alexander Pearce, and a long dirge called Sixteen Straws, inspired by the old Moreton Bay song.

Maybe their separation from the mainland has something to do with it, or maybe not, but this record is a departure in many ways. It's still totally Drones, with the updated Crazy Horse twin guitar slash and burn of Rui Pereira and Gareth Liddiard, but where a trudging bedside lament such as Locust from the magnificent Wait Long By The River . . . was an interlude between cacophonous freak-outs, here that profoundly personal sense of stillness permeates, with the blasting, kick-out-the-jams rock monsters the exceptions rather than the rules.

As in exceptional, anyway, including the scorching opener Jezebel and the almost perfunctory high-energy I Don't Ever Want to Change. But most of these songs unroll at a bold, even arrogant pace. By bringing the tempo right down to a saunter (bassist Fiona Kitschin's vocal on the barbiturate plod of Work For Me is exquisite agony), they've wrapped all the instruments in open space, given Mike Noga's drums and those mad guitars ample room to be heard. But mostly they've brought Liddiard's man-on-the-edge vocals to the front and said "listen to the words".

The lyrics are, as usual, full of portent and menace, giving an apprehensive nod of recognition to the fraught nature of life. There are few refrains or choruses, rare wasted words amid Liddiard's torrent. No one else in Australia is making music like this. There's no quarter given to style or popularity. This is us - like it or hate it, it's your call, they seem to be saying. It's a brave record from the most important rock band in this country today.

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FELIPE NO

These guys are phenomenal.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Label: Bella Union
Released: 2008
Genre: Indie



Track Listing
1. Sun it Rises
2. White Winter Hymnal
3. Ragged Wood
4. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
5. Quiet Houses
6. He Doesn't Know Why
7. Heard Them Stirring
8. Your Protector
9. Meadowlarks
10. Blue Ridge Mountains
11. Oliver James

Review:

You've seen it happen a million times before: a cloud of anticipatory acclaim kicks up around a new band, with breathless exclamations of their imminent takeover of the planet and emphatic insistence on their status as the greatest thing yet. Pumped up by the hyperbole, you buy the album or go to the show, and all that trumpeting is revealed as unfounded, misguided balderdash at best, and PR-driven mendacity at worst.

But not this time.

Fleet Foxes, the Seattle quintet who have been the subject of countless buzz-band designations ever since Beck lost a bidding war over them to Sub Pop, debuted on their hometown's legendary label with the Sun Giant EP in February. They deliver on that five-song teaser's promise and then some with their first full-length, a self-titled gem that already seems set to wind up near the top of any right-thinking person's year-end list.

You'll hear a lot of ignorant “beard rock” and “retro” accusations leveled at the band, but the fact is that in their own earthy, organic way, Fleet Foxes are at least as forward-looking as former fellow buzz babies like, say, Yeasayer or MGMT.

The kneejerk reaction is to label Fleet Foxes as “folk rock,” but the Crosby, Stills & Nash-tinged harmonies bear just as much Beach Boys influence, and these songs' sun-dappled acoustic-guitar arpeggios owe as much to Love as to Buffalo Springfield. We're clearly dealing with a batch of hardcore music geeks who've spent time trawling eBay with the keywords “baroque pop,” but they strip it down to a front-porch format while somehow maintaining orchestral ambitions.

There's an undeniable Americana aspect to the band's apple-pie voices, pastoral settings, and soft-sell dynamics, but it's the Americana of Stephen Foster, Aaron Copeland, and Van Dyke Parks, humble-but-stately, unfurling as elegantly but naturally as a stone skipping across a stream. It's bucolic to be sure, but without a trace of twang or honky-tonk; it sounds as though Gram Parsons only ever entered the Foxes' universe via the Byrds. And while the songs utilize folk-based melodic devices, the construction is more artful and adventurous than anything the No Depression crowd ordinarily embraces.

Warmth, humility, ambition, honesty, eclecticism -- these are the watchwords of a substantive musical force, no mere buzz band, and Fleet Foxes seem likely to progressing ever further long after the last echoes of the inevitable backlash die down.
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What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

No Age - Weirdo Rippers
Label: Fat Cat
Released: 2007
Genre: Noise Pop



Track Listing
1. Every Artist Needs a Tragedy
2. Boy Void
3. I Wanna Sleep
4. My Life's Alright Without You
5. Everybody's Down
6. Sun Spots
7. Loosen This Job
8. Neck Escaper
9. Dead Plane
10. Semi-Sorted
11. Escarpment

Review:

Since the group is named after that late 70’s collection of purposely unmusical New York noise (where Sonic Youth found the inspiration to write their first couple of impossibly jagged albums), this should sound absolutely terrible. However, by some strange miracle of balance from the musical forces that be, Weirdo Rippers just pretty much rules. Atmospheric, formless, and unconventional, yes. But uninviting, never.

No Age craft screaming garage-leaning melodies only to hide them behind brick walls of distortion. Bits and pieces of songs reveal themselves more with each listen, but none of these songs will ever seem “normal” to anybody. That’s mostly due to the small segues between sonic blasts that utilize every guitar effect in the world to transport the listener into outer space before violently shaking his ass out of it.

These guys basically sound like if Pyramids were music, like if there were ever a resolution to that band’s neverending tension buildup. Where Pyramids are like a long and winding joke that has no punchline, No Age is like a well-balanced and logical riddle that is, you know, actually worth your time. The balance is what makes the album work: half oceanic noise and half modern indie rock a la Broken Social Scene.

Although every one of these songs is unique for one reason or another, “Dead Plane” sticks out the most because it sounds like it could have fit right onto Boris’s Pink – which is not a claim that most mellowish indie groups can make. It's chaotically distorted rock-n-roll sound is supported by purposely lousy sound quality and a kind of flat vocal melody that will cling to your brain all day (even while you’re listening to other songs by other bands). Especially in this type of music, the earnestness and honesty of “real” sounding vocals always tends to add a whole new level of energy to the mix.

A lot of experimental groups get caught up in their indulgence and record whatever sprawling mess comes to mind in the studio, but that’s not the case here. Like Guided By Voices, every No Age song is only as long as it needs to be to get its point across. The tracks still flow into each other like it was one long piece, but it’s a pretty tight sounding one that doesn’t take too much effort or energy to appreciate.

Totally disorienting and psychedelic in the out-of-body experience sort of way, Weirdo Rippers is as weirdo as indie music gets right now, maybe ever. It’s creepy like the soundtrack to some insane Independent Film Channel movie, and you’ll seriously feel the suspense in your stomach.

Review Link

This is a collection of 5 vinyl EPs that the group released on the same day, each one on a different label. Pretty cool stuff.

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No Age - Nouns
Label: Sub Pop
Released: 2008
Genre: Noise Pop



Track Listing
1. Miner
2. Eraser
3. Teen Creeps
4. Things I Did When I Was Dead
5. Cappo
6. Keechie
7. Sleeper Hold
8. Errand Boy
9. Here Should Be My Home
10. Impossible Bouquet
11. Ripped Knees
12. Brain Burner

Review:

If it wasn’t certain before, it’s gosh darn near undeniable now: No Age have got this stuff down. The duo’s debut, last year’s FatCat release Weirdo Rippers, was certainly something to marvel at. Largely a collection of past vinyl releases, Rippers extolled the virtues of pairing ambient drones with abrasive punk rock. Really, the title of the album said it all: while those songs were at the very core unabashed basement anthems, there was still something downright odd about them. Granted, this peculiarity only added to the record’s charm, and its wide critical and popular regard catapulted No Age’s Dean Spunt and Randy Randall into some sort of underground spotlight. Now signed to Sub Pop, the band has fast recorded a follow-up in Nouns: another bite-sized portion of blistering, fuzzy, DIY rock.

For what it is and what it aims to be, Nouns is a perfect record. It’s 12 tracks that rush by in a flash, each awash in layers of lo-fi guitar and percussion. Spunt and Randall’s ability to seamlessly transform pretty ambient textures into fist-pumping explosions of noise is on full display across the record’s span. A more streamlined collection than Rippers, here the band includes a few more straightforward rock songs than ambient collages, allowing them to flex their pop sensibilities more regularly. However, the band still blends their airy soundscapes into the mix with a masterful touch, unifying these songs more successfully than they had probably imagined.

“Miner,” “Sleeper Hold,” “Ripped Knees,” and “Brain Burner” are the songs that aren’t afraid to scuff themselves up, supplying pummeling doses of the band’s signature bass-less drum and guitar. No Age also don’t shy away from pure pop fare, as the clever hooks on “Here Should Be My Home” attest. The album’s first single, “Eraser,” is by far the most surprising and complex, as a loop of feedback and jumpy acoustic strings give way to an aural barrage. “Keechie” and “Impossible Bouquet” are strong ambient offerings, providing lush tones and a much-needed break in the attack. Similarly, “Things I Did When I Was Dead” is the softest the band has been, with a few lonely piano notes amongst a swirl of mechanical loops and slight vocal moaning. Spunt and Randall weren’t afraid of these kinds of experiments on their early releases, and its proving that they certainly aren’t about to stop now.

It’s ultimately comforting that Spunt and Randall haven’t shown any interest in bending their personal ethics in order to produce something more easily digestible by a mass audience. Nouns sounds as homemade as something released on a Warner Music affiliate could be. It’s crafted with a sense of pleasant haphazardness, gelling into one of those rare situations where everything that is thrown at the wall sticks. The album’s beautiful packaging and 68-page full-color photo booklet is a visual dedication to the people on the road and in the venues that allow music like that of No Age’s to thrive. There’s a genuine enthusiasm inherent in all of the band’s recordings, and Nouns sounds as much like a love letter to music itself as like a slew of sharp-edged punk songs. Lord knows the opportunity to clean up their act was in front of the band after the surprising popularity of Weirdo Rippers. But perhaps no amount of acclaim would have ever persuaded them to relent. Maybe, just maybe, there’s still some genuine articles left in this fuzzy world.

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Jam it back in, in the dark.

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Can't Maintain
Label: Asian Man Records
Released: 2009
Genre: Folk-Punk




Track Listing
1. Heartilation
2. Self Esteem
3. Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus
4. Evil
5. You Don't Deserve Yourself
6. Olde(y) Tyme(y)
7. Kazoo Sonata in C Major
8. We Didn't Come Here to Rock
9. Truckers are the Blood
10. Love Will Fuck Us Apart
11. Sense, Sensibility
12. Who are You?
13. White Face, Black Eyes

Review:

For the past couple years, I’ve heard people try to put Andrew Jackson Jihad into concise musical compartments, more often than not of their own invention. Post-folk, folk-punk and even anarcho-folk have been thrown around as descriptions. I’ve even heard them referred to as an Americana band, because though there’s something very modern American about a lot of their songs, this is a long, long way from good-‘ol-boy balladry. I’m pretty sure Woody Guthrie, however much of an influence he may have been (they previously aped a verse of his on “Survival Song,” off 2007’s People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World) never wrote a love song about throwing rocks at dogs.

Every band eventually grows up though, often with mixed results. With Can’t Maintain, for the first time, AJJ feel like a band that’s starting to see the beauty in all the bullshit, rather than the other way around. This evolution, unlike many for punk bands with a following like theirs, comes naturally. The last three tracks of People… showed them moving toward a more sincere (but not less ferocious, by any stretch) mode of writing. This was also apparent on their EP Only God Can Judge Me, with the track “Guilt: The Song” standing as a haunting tale of regret, spurred on by a mournful, cathartic duel between cello and slightly out-of-tune acoustic guitar.

On Can’t Maintain (the title is cribbed from the Notorious B.I.G. song “Things Done Changed”), Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty (the two main members amidst the rotating host of backing musicians) tap into the well of late-20s fear that has spurred some of their most beloved songs like “Growing Up” and “Candle In The Wind.” Here, that manifests itself in the form of tracks like “Self Esteem,” in which Bonnette sings about how “I’m afraid to go out in the streets/Reminders of my failure everywhere that I will be.” If there’s one overarching theme to this record, it’s the raging phobia of not having found love or success at a time when everyone around you is starting to act like we’re told adults are supposed to.

The big change that I’ve managed to get through three paragraphs without addressing is the major spike in instrumentation. Previously, you got Bonnette playing acoustic guitar, Gallaty playing the upright bass and…well, with a few exceptions, that was pretty much it. As soon as the opening electric trill of “Heartilation” kicks in, you’re very aware that AJJ aren’t in Kansas anymore. Never has a kick drum sounded so much like a revelation as it does after a few albums that sounded like they were recorded in a bathroom in single takes. Purists will likely cry foul at the presence of synthesizers on “Self Esteem,” or the twinkling bells on “We Didn’t Come Here To Rock,” but that’s the name of the game.

What’s interesting is that Asian Man Records is putting this album out, which conjures memories of another band that put out their first two records on that label, Alkaline Trio. It might seem more than a bit hyperbolic to put Can’t Maintain in the same category as Maybe I’ll Catch Fire, but I don’t think it’s nearly as inappropriate as most would think, not when both records are testaments to their respective bands hitting their stride. The difference is that while Trio arguably peaked there, AJJ seem like they’re just warming up, as evidenced by songs like “Truckers Are The Blood” and “Who Are You?,” probably two of their best songs to date.

On the former, Bonnette uses the metaphor of America as a diseased human body to paint all the wage slaves as the cure, whether it’s the truckers in the song or the punks writing it. On the latter, an ode is sung to his never-there father, but it’s atypical in that it’s a thank-you for not staying around to mess his life up. This is the central strength of the album; a lot of the lyrical territory is fairly well-worn, but every track sounds new and vital. (Yes, even the kazoo interlude in the middle.) This is a band humming with the strength of figuring out how to be young and angry without writing songs like “Fuck White People” all the time. More than anything, this is a record that leaves you salivating at what this band is going to be capable of moving forward.

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One of the best albums I have heard this year.

There's nowhere I can't reach.