One sentence album reviews (#6)

Ólafur Arnalds - ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness (2010): modern classical music, much less brooding than his debut album, more happy 3.5/5

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz (2010): It's as if Sufjan had a late night encounter with Animal Collective and spawned this album. 4/5

Small Black - New Chain (2010): Very relaxed lo-fi, slightly electronic album. Perfect rainy day music 3/5

Sirens - The Gates (2010): First metalcore album I've enjoyed listening to in years. Probably because there's no cliche electronica. 3.5/5

Buckethead - Spinal Clock (2010): Avant garde, almost minimalist guitar album. Half of the tracks are guitar sounding like a shamisen. 4/5

Buckethead - Captain Eo's Voyage (2010): A more sombre and somewhat dreamy instrumental guitar album than his earlier blistering shredding days. 4/5

She Likes Todd- A Story Still Untold (2010): Fun pop-punk, in a bit of a late 90s style. 2.5/5

The State Lottery - When The Night Comes (2010): Very folky punk, with lots of random instruments; just what I like. 3.5/5

My Chemical Romance - Danger Days (2010): Better than the Black Parade. Story is confusing and half the songs rip off famous riffs. 1.5/5

Terror - Keepers Of The Faith (2010): Quality hardcore album, but funny, because there's a serious hardcore love song on it. 4/5

Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History (2010): Upbeat dance indie, as if Death Cab for Cutie decided to get his groove on 4/5

The Walkmen - Lisbon (2010): The vintage-sounding indie of this album is how they should've sounded over the last 3 albums. 4.5/5

Ke$ha - Cannibal (2010): Autotune + cute girl = profit, but not good music. 1/5 (half a point is for her knowing and capturing her market)

Useless Children - EP (2008): Indie, screamo from Melbourne with a female singer. I'm in love. Reminds me of a better Young and Restless 4.5/5

The Black Pacific - The Black Pacific (2010): New band from former Pennywise lead singer stays rooted in 90s punk, sounds just like Unwritten Law. 3/5

Wolf Parade - Expo 86 (2010): I like thier music, but his wavering vocals still drive me insane on this album. 3/5

The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt (2010): I've yet to see a review not compare him to a young Bob Dylan. That's why this is good. 4/5

Weezer - Death to False Metal (2010): ...Wait, they released 2 albums this year? I could've sworn it was the same album. 1.5/5

Belle and Sebastian

When I got this news today at work, I actually emitted a little scream in excitement. The last time Belle and Sebastian came around was over 5 years ago and at that time I thought they were just a little two piece band with the names of Sebastian and Belle. Oh how times have changed.

My current obsession with the 7 piece Glaswegian juggernaut that is Belle and Sebastian knows no bounds. Their legendary catalogue of twee and baroque indie pop just has me spellbound. I am trying to collect all of their vinyl and one of their CDs is generally always in my car. And this song is always stuck in my head. And their new CD, Write About Love is amazing.

They announced a southern states festival show a few weeks back, and I just kept my fingers crossed and my prayers directed towards a show in Brisbane. And it turns out my prayers have been answered. And at what is probably the best venue for them in Brisbane, the Tivoli.

March 7. Tivoli. Tickets on sale 2nd December.
Website

*squee!* I'm now going to get my nerd on and relocate to the couch to relisten to my If You're Feeling Sinister vinyl on 180 grams.

Orgcore

So it turns out there's a subgenre of punk called orgcore, which I've only discovered today. According to wikihow, the look involves band shirts under plaid, beards, getting scruffy and ... crap. That's me.


The music itself is described as a mixture of punk, country, folk and blues. Basically all the things I like!

So it turns out I'm orgcore. As weird as that sounds. So here's some bands to get into orgcore with:

Lucero - More on the country than punk side of things, their song writing is just absoultely amazing.

Hot Water Music - Old school Chicago orgcore. One of the bands that came to define the genre (also playing in December).

Frank Turner - Acoustic punk. Keep an eye out for this guy, he'll be big soon.

The three lead singers of the afore mentioned bands came out and did the ultimate orgcore tour last year, the Revivial Tour. They basically got together (with Tim Barry from Avail) and played acoustic punk for a few hours. The above picture is from that gig. It was amazing. If only I knew that was orgcore at the time...

Against Me! - Their early albums are some of my favourite punk albums ever, not to mention some of the best orgcore.

The Gaslight Anthem - The ultimate orgcore band. They channel a punk Bruce Springsteen to a tee. And they've just released a new free song which covers...

Fake Problems - Their new album, Real Ghosts Caught on Tape, is a little bit more indie, but it's one of my favourites of the year. And also, that's the beauty of orgcore, it mashes everything into it's uniqueness!

There's plenty more bands you can throw into this melting pot of a genre. In fact, a lot of these appear to come from the Naples/Gainsville Florida area. It must be something in the water. This blog: http://carriedouttosea.blogspot.com/search?q=orgcore is a huge fan of orgcore and always puts up new bands.

God bless the country-influence, plaid wearing, gruff and working class punk!

Free Music Friday!

HAPPY FRIDAY! Do you like free stuff? I do. I was once quoted in the University of Iowa newspaper, at an impromptu meeting with Hoobastank and Lostprophets, as saying

"I'm just here for the free stuff."

So I present to you free music Friday.

After witnessing one of the best gigs I have ever seen on Sunday night, watching Baroness of course, I thought I may go and find out a bit more about this interesting subgenre of metal known as sludge. In my "research" (aka Google, wikipedia and mediafire) I stumbled across a French band called I Pilot Daemon.

Not one to discriminate on the pure fact that they are from a country of cheese eating surrender monkeys I gave them a listen. And I enjoyed. Not purely sludge, these guys throw in a healthy dose of hardcore as well. At times I even pick up a bit of screamo. This fits my current mood and listening habits perfectly.

Here's the free stuff now: their new album. They've put it out on the internet for free, not even in the way that involves you having to go to dodgy websites and put up with ads for granny dating and penis enhancements (although that may just be the internet telling me something). Get it here: http://ipilotdaemon.antiheroes.org/

I'd recommend at least listening to the track El Salvaje. I had it on loop while writing this.

Jebediah new song

Jebediah were the staple of the Australian 90's music scene. Well one of them, but one of the most popular ones. Then they went AWOL for 5 or so years while the lead singer got his folk on as Bob Evans.


But watch out! They are back with a new album on the way. And they've released a free song from it right here. My thoughts? Hell yes! Kevin Mitchell appears to have lost his whiny voice from the 90s, and they've gotten faster, noiser and more distorted. Ticks a lot of boxes for me.

Owen Pallett

It's good for people to listen to a different kind of music every now and then. And Owen Pallett is a very long way away from a lot of the music I listen to. And I still like it.

Owen is a multi-instrumentalist known for a few things. For one, he composes a lot of the string arrangements for Canada's orchestral-rock supergroup, the Arcade Fire. He's also known for his solo work, which up until recently has gone by the name Final Fantasy.

This year he changed monikers back to his name and put out an excellent album by the name of Heartland. His style can best be described as layered strings in an electronic-orchestral style with haunting vocals. His new album is a narrative about an ultra-violent farmer having a one sided dialogue with his creator. An interesting concept, which you would think doesn't lend itself to his style; but it does.

Sure, it may not be what a lot of my friends listen to, but give it a chance. He will be coming to Australia and playing a show at the Old Museum on the 25th of January. I think it will be a beautiful surrounding for his beautiful music.

MySpace

Kaki King tour

One of my surprise albums so far this year has been Junior by Kaki King. Kaki is as cute as she is an amazing guitarist, and the album is full of great guitar melodies, almost folk like in a way. Did I mention she's cute?


She's toured out here a few times, including the opening slot for the Foo Fighters on their last tour, where apparently Dave Grohl ranked her as a guitar god. Her playing style involves a lot of fret tapping, guitar slapping and general rhythmic sounds that aren't entirely natural to a guitar; although on the latest album Junior it's less noticable.

Kaki will be spending a few weeks in our country doing some festivals, but we're lucky enough to get a club performance. So come catch her at the Zoo on November 20.

MySpace

One sentence album reviews (#1)

I find myself listening to a butt load of music every week. I generally can't be assed writing reviews or doing anything like that, so I though I'd introduce a new segment to my blog: One sentence album reviews. If I can't say what I think about it in just one sentence, any longer review is just going to be jibber-jabber.

Huntingtons - Plastic Surgery (2000)
The 1970's called, they've got the Ramones on a conference call... and they want their music back.
1.5/5

In Bear Country - In Bear Country EP (2009)
Gravelly-vocal Canadian punk rock, I listened to it three times in one sitting
Track: New Music Sux
4/5

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Hawk (2010)
If all country music was as melodic and as beautiful as this, I'd be a country bumpkin.
5/5

Punch - Push Pull (2010)
Screamo with a female lead singer that doesn't sound like your ears are melting.
4/5

Mogwai - Special Move (2010)
I never imagined their dreamy, wordless post-rock would keep me awake at a concert, but this live recording has changed my mind.
3.5/5

Monster Magnet - 25.......Tab (1993)
50 minutes, 3 songs, and this is how stoner rock should be; taking you on an amazing journey.
4/5

We Are Scientists - Barbara (2010)
They are still yet to refind that dancey-indie miracle mix that made their first album amazing, this just sounds like so many other bland indie albums right now.
2/5

Del the Funky Homosapien

It's a hip-hop family affair this week, with Ice Cube's cousin releasing a new album. Del the Funky Homosapien, aka Del tha Funkee Homosapien, aka Deltron, aka Deltron 3030, aka Del the Ghost Rapper. He's probably best known for the song Mistadobalina and the rapping on the first two Gorillaz albums, which is a pity, as he is one of the better hip-hop artists of the last decade.


Del's new album is entitled It Ain't Illegal yet, and you can get it legally right here: http://delthefunkyhomosapien.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-illegal-yet-pick-your-price. Like a lot of other artists these days, Del is making it almost free ($US3 is the cheapest you can get), on a sliding scale of what you want to pay. For a lazy few grand he will even make an EP with you as the creative input.

And for you cheap bastards, the first song is free.

Sunset Sounds

I mentioned a while ago that Public Enemy would be performing their ground-breaking album Fear of a Black Planet at Sunset Sounds next year. Well today was the day the rest of the lineup was announced.

INTERPOL (USA)
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS (USA)
KLAXONS (UK)
THE LIVING END
THE NATIONAL (USA)
ANGUS AND JULIA STONE
TAME IMPALA
PUBLIC ENEMY (USA)
LADYHAWKE (NZ)
COLD WAR KIDS (USA)
THE SOFT PACK (USA)
SLEIGH BELLS (USA)
PEACHES (USA)
PAUL KELLY
KITTY
DAISY AND LEWIS (UK)
THE COOL KIDS (USA)
DAARA J FAMILY (AFR)
HOT HOT HEAT (CAN)
ASH GRUNWALD
CHILDREN COLLIDE
THE MIDDLE EAST
CLOUD CONTROL
BOY AND BEAR
YACHT CLUB DJs
WASHINGTON
CHARLIE PARR
JUNIP (SWE)
THE MORNING BENDERS (USA)
THE BAMBOOS
TIJUANA CARTEL
CHRIS BAIO (USA)

As far as I'm concerned, it's a pretty damn good lineup of bands with good CDs out this year. Sleigh Bells (Poison the Well guitarist doing pop with a female singer), the Klaxons (finally after what seems like half a decade), the National and the Morning Benders. Bands I've seen live and liked: Peaches, Living End and Hot Hot Heat. And not to mention bands I've always wanted to see: Interpol (who had one of the best debut albums ever), Public Enemy, Cold War Kids.

January 5th and 6th at Riverstage.

New album goodness!

Hank Williams

Hank Williams is without doubt one of the greatest country artists of all time, even though he died in 1953. And it's good to see his family continue the tradition. His grandson, Hank Williams III continues on with the country goodness. At times. But what I love him for is his crust-hardcore band Arson Anthem, which includes Phil Anselmo of the band Down. I recently discovered their 2008 release and I am madly in love with it.

Apparently their long awaited 2nd album will be out in October and according to Phil:

Phil Anselmo wrote of the new material, “We know the mission is to write unforgiving hardcore inspired by a slew of ‘80s bands ... but the result is its own animal, yet not too terribly removed from the genuine article.”

I'm excited for it.

MySpace

Weezer
This is the cover of Weezer's new album:


It will be named Hurley, after Hurley from the TV show Lost. Unfortunately the album has nothing to do with the show. Hopefully it will be a step up from recent Weezer albums though.

Jimmy Eat World
JEW, as they are affectionally known, have a new song on their webpage here. They've been a big miss with me lately, but I kind of like this song.

If you want to hate the way music is today...
Here's the new Good Charlotte song. *shudder*

Punk cancellation, announcement and possible album of the year??

SNFU Cancel tour (not their fault... maybe)

These Canadian punk legends were going to be out soon doing a long awaited tour. Unfortunately:

Is it possible to live the values of your sub-culture too completely? Can members of punk bands be accused of being "too punk"? SNFU never thought so. Unfortunately, the Australian Government doesn't seem to agree.

With fans eagerly awaiting their 2010 tour, we here at New Noise Agency have been informed by Australian Customs that a member has been denied a Visa, based on prior convictions – meaning he can't legally enter Australia. As much as we've tried to fight this decision and find a way around it, we've been left with no choice other than to cancel SNFU's forthcoming tour.

So they are no longer playing the Zoo in the next week.

Miles Away tour

WA's hardcore punkers Miles Away are heading our way again for some more shows.

Oct 1 The Fort Brisbane AA
Oct 2 Rosies, Brisbane (Thriller, 18+)

MySpace

Album of the year?

One of my new front runners for album of the year is now Norma Jean - Meridional. O God the Aftermath and Redeemer were some amazing albums that really took the heavier mathcore/hardcore scene to great places. Their latest, the Anti-Mother, was more melodic, but I didn't enjoy it as much.

But Meridional... wow. Get it if you like any heavy music.

New Sum 41 song

I miss Sum 41, I really do. I've been driving along to this all week:


Although their later albums have been solid, nothing has come close to the immature punk rock found on their first album.

Apparently they've got a new album coming out at the end of August and they've released the first single already. It's called Scumfuck and you can download it here.

I'm still plagued with computer problems, so I can only listen to it through crappy laptop speakers. Through this medium I get a faint My Chemical Romance on the Black Parade feel to it. Which is not good. Hopefully the rest of the album is punkier.

Children Collide

I saw Children Collide a few months back on their "pre-album-release tour". I remember very little of it, as a night at the Zoo turned into a night of heavy drinking. They're a good band though, with a unique/futuristic almost sci-fi take on indie rock.


They're coming back around to celebrate the release of their new album, Theory of Everything. Hopefully this time I'll be a little bit more sober.

September 10th at the Zoo (18+), supported by Howl and Teen Archer

If you don't know them, their debut album the Long Now, was very good. In an Australian indie music landscape of bands sounding the same, they had a slightly heavier sound and a unique approach. Not to mention hard-working ethic, having seen them open for many different bands.

You can stream their new and old songs on their website.

Ima Robot new song

Ima Robot combine indie, punk and dance music into a strange combination that generally ends up in me dancing.

They've got a new album coming out soon and they have released a track from it for free. Ruthless is available for free on their website http://imarobot.com/, so go there and get it for yourself.

My thoughts after a few listens is that it is a more ambient electronic feel, channeling bands such as Janes Addiction and Groove Armada. In fact, the vocals make it sound a heck of a lot like Janes Addiction. It's a long six and a half minute song with none of that dance feel that their more popular previous tracks have had. It's just relaxing and laid back.

If this is the direction they have gone for the entire new album, they will lose a lot of fans of their dance punk stylings. However, I like bands that reinvent themselves and I really like the feel that Ruthless has. Time will tell I guess.