Hardcore 2012

It's not often I post about gigs from areas more than a few hours out of Brisbane, but chances are you'll see me at this one. One of Australia's best record labels, Resist Records, are putting on two days of great hardcore music simply titled "Hardcore".

Over two days (or one if you're under 18) you'll get your face melted by some of the best hardcore from Australia on beyond.

 

Terror, Mindsnare, Ceremony, I Exist, Break Even, Miles Away, Extortion, Iron Mind.

For those of you keeping track, these will be the last ever Break Even shows. So you will be able to say goodbye to one of Australia's best hardcore bands.

And for me, there's mother-fucking Ceremony:

July 7 (18+) and July 8 (AA) at the Sydney HiFi.

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

Bastardfest

I say it all the time, but we are blessed in Australia with some amazing local bands. And one of my favourite ones, who are also probably one of the best bands in their genre worldwide, is Extortion.

Granted, their genre isn't exactly popular. It is however, powerviolence: short, brutal, insanely fast songs. It's not often we get them up to Brisbane anymore, and last time we did my roomate Ed got carried off by the cops while trying to break up a fight in the mosh... unlucky bugger.

We are getting them soon for Bastardfest: a celebration of all things Australian loud and heavy. I'm not the biggest fan of heavy music, but I'm pretty damn psyched for this lineup. Bands I want to see include

Extortion
I Exist (I love these guys way too much)
Ironhide (great local band I've plugged before who released an astounding album this year)
Psycroptic
Pod People
Blood Duster

There's way more bands than that, so you'll have to get your ass down to the Jubilee Hotel on September 3rd

Doomriders

Here's an excellent little gem of a tour, that I probably would've missed if it didn't include one of my favourite current Australian bands. Imagine if you grew up listening to bands like Monster Magnet, Motorhead, (early) Queens of the Stone Age/Kyuss, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy, but then you decided you wanted to do it all just that little bit heavier.

That my friends, is Doomriders.

And accompanying them on this heavy metal/stoner/hardcore trip will be Australia's finest band in that category, I Exist. I've seen this band a ton of times in the last year or two, and they just keep impressing me. Especially the lead singer's alocholism, which surprisingly doesn't affect his performance.
(Thanks JHat)

Catch this all July 22 at the Zoo. 18+

Doomriders

Phantoms/I Exist

I know I've talked about this a fair bit, but one of the best shows I went to this year was in a little-ass basement rehearsal room in West End, featuring Phantoms and I Exist, before I headed over to the HiFi to see Converge.

I'm standing next to Ellis in the background of that picture. You can see the side of my head. As always, thanks to JHat for taking the kickass photo. Hopefully with a few more years of practice I can take gig photos as good as him.

These two had such fun times on their tour up here, that they fell in love with Wet n Wild. And are currently in the process of recording a split EP about their experience. If you know me, you know Wet n Wild is my favourite place in the world, where I take my yearly pilgrimage.

In celebration of the EP, the two are hitting the road again.

Catch them February 10 at the Step Inn. 18+. It's within a week of my annual Wet n Wild pilgrimage, so maybe they'll be up earlier and want to come along? Guys? *nudge*nudge*

Phantoms are probably my favourite Australian band of 2010. I love their new album.
I Exist may be a close second.

You can also order the new split 7" here.

All the news in one

I've been neglecting my blog most of this week as life has been busy (as it always is in pre-Christmas/party/cricket season). So here's the condensed news I've been meaning to post here:

Toro Y Moi
... is generally one man making electronic/lofi/chillwave music. He's put together a small band and is coming down under for his first tour, playing Woodland on February 24.

MySpace

Helmet
Page Hamilton of hardcore masters Helmet have said they are coming out here in April/May. I am looking forward to this, Meantime is one of the best albums ever made that started the whole hardcore genre.

That was probably my first introduction to hardcore, late one night as I was watching it on Rage. About the same time I saw a Toe to Toe video actually.

Jason Collett
The name is probably not familiar, but he's one of the guys in the Canadian indie powerhouse that is Broken Social Scene. He does a lot of solo work too, and he'll be coming down under to play that (and I'm hoping a few BSS songs).

January 13, the Zoo. 18+.

MySpace

(hed) P.E.
These guys were one of the early bands about a decade ago, in the rap-rock movement. And they had a few good songs (Bartender still gets played by me a lot). They've just released a new album, which I've queued up but yet to listen to, and are doing a run of tour dates.

HiFi, January 28. 18+

MySpace

Cam/Mikey (Cola Wars/Bodyjar) Acoustic Tour
These two are the main drive behind the Australian punk bands Cola Wars and Bodyjar. They've jumped on the "old punk bands' lead singers doing acoustic tour" bandwagon and are heading out to play all of their classic Cola Wars and Bodyjar songs on acoustic guitar.

Boys & Girls (X&Y), December 16, 18+

ZZ Top added to Bluesfest
There's really nothing else to say here. It keeps getting better.

And girls go crazy about a sharp dressed man.

The Like
The all-girls garage rock band the Like, fresh from supporting the Strokes on their last tour (which missed Brisbane, bastards), are coming back for a solo show.

February 18, the Zoo. 18+

MySpace

Thank God It's Monday
Carlton Dry are sponsoring Monday night shows all around the country. First up for Brisbane will be local boys Hungry Kids of Hungary, fresh from playing the sold out Triple J Aus Music Month a few weeks back.

December 13, Birdee Num Num, 18+

MySpace

I Exist/Phantoms Wet n Wild Split
It's not really news, but I like it. One of my favourite gigs of 2010 so far has been the little basement show in West End featuring Phantoms and I Exist. Apparently they enjoyed that tour so much, especially their side trip to Wet n Wild, that they are currently recording a split EP with songs based and named after the rides. Awesome.

(Thanks JHat for the photo. He goes to a lot of gigs (some I'm at) and takes way better photos than I can ever hope for. http://www.jhatphoto.com/. Although I think he cheats with his careful placing of flashes, and knowing the bands).

I Exist
Phantoms

Marathon new EP tour

Marathon are one of those local bands that you always see opening for everyone. And when you don't see them playing, you see them at all the shows you go to. And you even share beers with them at Rosies. They've got a new EP out, which is currently sitting in my inbox, waiting for me to listen to. I know, I'm slack, but I've been busy.

To launch the EP they'll be playing an all ages show at Burst City this Friday. This is also the kick off of their Never Safe Tour. They'll be playing with Thick Skin, Vassals, People Rain and Lo!

They've also been added to the Snitch show tomorrow night with I Exist/Extortion/Sex Wizard. Tomorrow will be amazing local hardcore.

MySpace

Extortion/I Exist

This could be one of the loudest, heaviest and best Australian local hardcore tours of the year. Extortion, I Exist and SXWZD (sex wizard) are bashing around the country for a few shows.

Both Extortion and I Exist do fast and heavy grindcore style music. I've had the pleasure of drinking with/seeing I Exist a few times and I've only recently got into Extortion. It's not really everyone's cup of tea, but if you like your really heavy and brutal music, I'd suggest you go to this.

August 19th, at Snitch (Club 299) with Marathon. 18+
August 20th, at Black Box (Sunshine Coast) with Abraxis. All Ages
August 21st, at Shed 5 (Gold Coast) with Ghost Town. All Ages.

Brisbane locals Marathon will support at Snitch. I've seen them with I Exist the last 2 times. Although not as heavy as the other bands, they are still a good local hardcore act.

Extortion
I Exist
SXWZD