One sentence album reviews (#5)

My reviews have slowed down a bit, mainly because I'm now dedicating a huge chunk of my day to listening and watching the cricket. But since that ended in a draw today, here's some reviews!

Lantlôs - .neon (2010): German black metal that swings between crushing heaviness and soft ambience 3.5/5

Mark Ronson - Record Collection (2010): Amazing, if not downright unusual, collaborations of random artists makes for a great pop album. 4/5

Outkast - Whatubeenwaitin4 (2010): Is it an album or bootleg? Is it B-sides? All I know is it's the best Outkast release in a decade. 4/5

Neil Young - Le Noise (2010): Neil stripped back to a distorted guitar and his wavering voice. Haunting and beautiful. 5/5

Of Montreal - False Priest (2010): this album sees them get even funkier and the vocals get even more falsetto, but nicer to the ears 3.5/5

Ooga Boogas - Romance And Adventure (2008): an excellent noisy mix of Australian surf and garage rock 4/5

Russian Circles - Stations (2008): I'm waiting for the day when you can tell the difference between post-rock bands. This sounds generic. 2/5

Sea of Bones - The Harvest (2007): 3 songs, 53 minutes of such bleak doom metal that makes me want to go to Norway and burn churches 2.5/5

Phantoms - As Above, So Below (2010): Excellent hardcore-punk album release from one of my current favourite Australian bands. 4/5

My Disco - Little Joy (2010) - Minimalist band gets even more minimalistic with an album of almost pure rhythmic music. 4/5

Marnie Stern - ST (2010): Female singer/songwriter with a twist, she does math-rock: fast guitars and female vocals = yes. 4/5

The Measure [sa] - Notes (2010): reminds me of the Epoxies, but without the synthesisers and a splash more punk 3/5

My Disco

On this day a year ago (whoa, freaky coincidence) I had one of the most memorable music moments of my life. I was at the Sounds of Spring festival watching a bunch of great Australian bands strut their stuff. As the night came to a close, everyone was off at the main stage watching the Butterfly Effect or the Hilltop Hoods or some other mainstream act, but I went to one of the side stages hidden up a little alley at the RNA showgrounds to check out a band I had never seen before. And what happened next was as religious of an experience as I will ever have.


There was only about 20 of us gathered around this stage as My Disco came on to close the stage. I'd heard a lot of buzz about this band, but knew very little. What came next was enough to put me into an almost hypnotic state of pure music ectasy as I watch them play in what seemed like a time warp. I didn't shut up talking about the band for months after that, it impressed me so much.

Their music isn't easy to get in to, that's for sure. It's what you would probably call minimalistic art-rock. The three members work together to make some very beautifully crafted songs; music is built on layers of repetitive rhythms, whether from the bass, the drums, the guitar or the lyrics. It's truly something to behold, and something you just don't see in music since the very early post-punk days of the 70s.

They've spent a lot of time lately touring and recording in the US and Europe, probably because people their actually get their music better than most punters here. However, they'll be returning in the next few months to their home with a new album and a new tour. You can catch them do their art-rock at the Zoo on November 27th.

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