Soundwave 2012: for reals yo

I was close, but I got a few big ones wrong. Especially bummed at lack of Tea Party, Kyuss, Ministry... maybe the second announcement?

Here's the full lineup as of today:

One sentence album reviews (#16)

Here's some more one sentence reviews. I've got to say, it's really hard to condense my feelings down to 144 characters without just saying "I like it" over and over again. Especially when some of these band names/album names are just way too fucking long.

Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys (2011): Ben Gibbard shows off his amazing songwriting with their most accessible album yet 4.3/5

The Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction (2011): Reminds me of the firstime I heard Buckethead: crazy non-sensical songs of metal awesome 4/5

Fireworks - Gospel (2011): Nothing as catchy as their old song Detroit, but they are evolving to sound a lot like early Fall Out Boy 3/5

Flogging Molly - Speed of Darkness (2011): My favourite Irish-folk-punk band have moved away from punk to a folk style that I'm unsure of 3.6/5

I Exist - II: The Broken Passage (2011): Not the best production, but excellent Australian hardcore/sludge with some amazing acoustic work too 3.7/5

Boris - Attention Please (2011): Their 2nd album this year sees them make stripped back, yet bloody catchy, J-Pop, still with overtones of heavy rock 4.7/5

Boris - Heavy Rocks (2011): their only album of the 3 this year that channels their older metal sound, but with a garage rock twist 4.3/5

Abbe May - Design Desire (2011): Australian whose album starts as a blues-rock explosion, but slowly becomes regular female singer-songwriter affair 3.5/5

Adolescents - The Fastest Kid Alive (2011): Although an old punk band, this album still sounds rather childish and thrown together 2.5/5

Cults - ST (2011): The ultimate hipster-indie-female-singer-lofi-pop album, but Christ it's good 4.5/5

Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones (2011): It's hard to imagine this almost British-folk album is the work of a former hardcore man 3.8/5

Arms Exploding - Ruminari (2008): Amazing post-hardcore/noise band that reminds me of the glory days of post-hardcore in early 2000s 4.5/5

Mr Big - What If (2011): The original lineup returns to show us how to make a good rock album, in an 80s style that doesn't feel dated 4.1/5

Sharks - The Joys Of Living (2011): a punk album by a band that really misses the 70s style of the Clash, Buzzcocks, etc. 3.4/5

Taking Back Sunday - ST (2011): The old lineup sounds great at the start of the album, but it drops off rapidly 3.7/5

Foster the People - Torches (2011): Definitely flavour of the month Triple J "indie" music, but it's kind of damn catchy 3.5/5

Kaiser Chiefs - The Future is Medieval (2011): Novel idea, make your own album from 20 songs. Too bad only about 3 of them are good songs 2/5 (What sucks about Kaiser Chiefs is that their 1st album was so awesome, every other one sounds as if they're as bored as I am listening to it)

Memphis May Fire - The Hollow (2011): Title of this album should be "generic metalcore album of 2011 #69". But it's still reasonably good. 3/5

Monument - Sweat Pants Fever (2011): An excellent, heavier 90's style midwest-emo album. The four covers on it are just amazing 4.7/5

Panda Bear-Tomboy (2011):he must be the guy that writes the stretched out & boring Animal Collective songs. This album droned me to sleep 2/5

Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers-Rare Bird Alert (2011):the comedian makes an accessible bluegrass album with plenty of wit 4.3/5
(Who knew he was such a good banjo player?!)

Of Mice & Men - The Flood (2011): Perfect combination of really heavy music, with clean parts and just the right amount of breakdown 4.3/5

Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania (2011): lo-fi pop music, sounding as if those surf bands of last year decided to do drugs and write psychedelia 3/5

This Will Destroy - You Tunnel Blanket (2011): Cinematic instrumental post-rock that in my head is the perfect soundtrack to a thriller alien move 3.5/5

FREE MUSIC!

I've got a bunch of free music for you. And it's not even Friday yet.

Devin Townsend
This man is a music machine. When he's not pushing out great metal albums for Strapping Young Lad, he's putting together great music under his own name. And this year he'll be putting out two albums of solo material. To get a taste of what's to come, you can download a free 5-track EP right here.

Title Fight
Another one of those melodic hardcore/pop punk cross over bands that have been emerging from late, except with a twist: I actually like Title Fight. Their debut LP is coming out very soon, so they've put out a free MP3 for everyone to salivate over.

San Cisco
These boys (and girl!) are from my birth place, Perth. More specifically, Fremantle, home of the Bon Scott statue and a park bench of many stories (according to Bek after a few beers at Little Creatures). They do a style of dream-pop, very similar to Beach House and Girls. Being from Perth, you know they've got a bit of rep (it's hard to be a bad band over there, the scene is tough and unforgiving). They've got two free tracks you can download from this press-page.

Top Shelf Records
And finally, the company Top Shelf Records are celebrating their fifth birthday. And in celebration, their giving away a bunch of albums for free downloads. Now pay attention, you must do this. Click here. Download it. Listen to at least Caravels. Your life will be better for it. Trust me.