Category Archives: Stephen Goodwin

Review : 65daysofstatic at The Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane – March 12, 2015

Review by Denis Semchenko
Photos credit Stephen Goodwin
65daysofstatic at The Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane
‘Post-rock’ is a tired term – in fact, so tired it’s lost its meaning since the genre’s noughties heyday. This writer has long discovered that instrumental rock music doesn’t need to come with a ‘post-‘ or ‘math-‘ prefix attached to it in order to sound good; in the end, it either does or it doesn’t. It has now been 15 years since Explosions In The Sky first showed us how delicate instrumental rock can be and before that, Slint and Tortoise did the same for a mix of tricky time signatures and sparse guitar atmospherics.
Continue reading Review : 65daysofstatic at The Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane – March 12, 2015

Live Review : Mogwai at The Tivoli, Brisbane – March 4, 2015

Review by Stephen Goodwin
Photos by Stuart Blythe
Mogwai

Mick Turner spends 40 minutes creating slow-moving, somnolent guitar figures interspersed with distorted drags of cello bow, while a Jim White sound-a-like softly layers staccato drum patterns underneath. It’s a “solo” mode that could almost be The Dirty Three on benzos, but if so it shows that D3 is much more than the madcap antics of Warren Ellis.

Mogwai has eight studio albums under its belt now. It’s the sort of longevity that adds friction live: inevitably something must give way.
Continue reading Live Review : Mogwai at The Tivoli, Brisbane – March 4, 2015

Live Review | Sepultura + Malakyte + In Death @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – October 4, 2014

Review by Stephen Goodwin
Sepultura_Stuart_Blythe_LifeMusicMedia_4536-L
The Brisbane chapter of the Sepulnation (if that’s what one calls Sepultura fans collectively) is out in force tonight to catch their heroes at the Hi-Fi in West End.

Best of all for openers In Death, many have shown up early — the venue’s lower level feels cosily fullish even as the local five-piece punch out half a dozen or so of their best at a volume so piercing it almost hurts. They come off a little statuesque, but the impressively gravel-like death growl of frontman KrugTown and the chunky elegance of the band’s riffing certainly hit the spot.
Continue reading Live Review | Sepultura + Malakyte + In Death @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – October 4, 2014

Live Review – Lindsey Stirling @ Brisbane Powerhouse – August 24, 2013

Review and photos by Stephen Goodwin
There’s a long wait for rock-violinist Lindsey Stirling this evening at The Powerhouse — at least 15 minutes long, to be honest. For a touch over an hour, Kiwi DJ 1000 Ninjas labours manfully from a cubbyhole spot almost side-of-stage. In a club environment his chill-out grooves and odd samples would probably win a better reception, but this crowd is expecting action and movement, and that’s something beyond 1000 Ninjas’ scritchy-glitchy stillness tonight.

By contrast, Stirling is all movement. Over the course of an hour and twenty minutes she barely halts — whirling, twirling, jumping and pirouetting. Formal ballet it isn’t, still Stirling’s show is as much an act of dance as it is a musical performance. All with a carbon-fibre violin jammed under her left ear. And the capacity crowd — a peculiar mixture of young and old; gamers and geeks reflective of the diversity of her fanbase — laps it up.
Continue reading Live Review – Lindsey Stirling @ Brisbane Powerhouse – August 24, 2013

…And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of the Dead @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane w/ Nikko, To The North – 9 September 2011 | Photo Review

Photographer: Stephen Goodwin

Photographer: Stephen Goodwin
Continue reading …And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of the Dead @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane w/ Nikko, To The North – 9 September 2011 | Photo Review

…And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of the Dead @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – 9 September 2011 | Review

Review and Photos by Stephen Goodwin


Click Here To View Photos
  Trail of the Dead may have shed almost half their members since their last visit, but an evening at the Hi-Fi with this leaner line-up remains a punishingly loud experience.

Five back-to-back cuts from latest release Tao of the Dead give the feeling that the band is rushing to get the new material out of the way. Still Ebb Away and The Fairlight Pendant, in particular, are anything but second-rate.

Continue reading …And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of the Dead @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – 9 September 2011 | Review

Live Review: FourPlay @ The Tivoli, Brisbane 25 July 2009

By: Stephen Goodwin
FourPlay String Quartet @ The Tivoli, Brisbane

FourPlay String QuartetFew bands could be as innately suited to The Tivoli’s lush interiors as the sonically eclectic FourPlay String Quartet. Coaxed all the way to Brisbane to feature in the Deborah Conway-curated 2009 edition of the Queensland Music Festival, the fourtet of Sydneysiders grace the venue with an exquisite set worthy of a far-larger audience.

Over the course of a little more than an hour, the ensemble treats a small, enthusiastic crowd to new material that shows they still have the creativity and talent to match their genre-crossing ambitions.
Continue reading Live Review: FourPlay @ The Tivoli, Brisbane 25 July 2009

Live Review – JEFF MARTIN & THE ARMADA @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane 10 May 2009

Review by Stephen Goodwin for Life Music Media
Photo: Stuart Blythe
Armada - Jeff MartinArmadas, historically, take a long time to build. It’s something to do with the size of the whole endeavour. On the evidence of tonight’s outing at the Hi-Fi Bar in Brisbane, Jeff Martin’s version – like the venue itself – still needs a few rough edges knocked off before it can truly take on the world.

Even early, the omens are there. Punters are forced to mill impatiently in the street outside the Hi-Fi long past the advertised opening time. Then, after doors open, the wait for psych-blues tie-dye standard-bearers Black Boards Mind feels interminable.

When they do appear, the Fremantle-based five-piece compound matters by seeming determined to turn in a trainwreck. Maybe it’s nerves, but jarringly out-of-sync vocals utterly destroy the first song and a half.

Eventually their sound begins to cohere, the vocals acquiring a straining nasal twang not too dissimilar to the Vasco Era’s Sid O’Neil. But even combined, Black Board Minds’ trio of vocalists possess nowhere near the Melbourne bluesman’s live-wire charisma. Song progression – characterised by a mushy bass-heavy sound that lacks any subtlety – feels equally leaden. The tambourinist’s creditable impression of the energiser bunny says it all: a manic distraction, it only serves to emphasise the act’s rawness.

Staring at Jeff Martin’s guitar rig, one entertains the possibility that it may contain more pedals than there are punters at the Hi-Fi tonight. And that’s not a dig at the crowd size – there’s plenty of the latter.

Martin’s admission during some mid-set technical issues – “it’s like trying to work the space shuttle up here” – feels like tacit validation, and one gets the feeling this massive contraption is the culprit of the early evening delays, and a longer-than-usual wait during the interval.

The downside of these delays is the flaccidness of the crowd. Curiously detached even as the band take up their instruments, they never seem to click with the band. Consequently, there’s too little of the energising feedback that can propel a “merely” good performance into something truly memorable.

For some musical styles, it’s irrelevant. But with the Armada squarely aiming for rock bombast, it’s a limiting factor.

The good news is that Martin and band are clearly “up for it”. It’s little short of jaw-dropping to simply watch skinsman Wayne P Sheehy’s pummelling drumwork. The intensity of sound is a whole order of magnitude more devastating.

Watching Martin, one is torn between appreciating his rich, pitch-perfect baritone, and admiring the almost-arrogant casualness with which he can pause and rip out a fiery solo. And, to the delight of the guitar nerds near the front, he does this often.

All the while man-mountain bassist Jay Cortez anchors the show with unflappable calm.

Several Tea Party tracks wedge themselves into the set, but the evening’s highlights draw themselves almost exclusively from The Armada’s self-titled debut. The sheer immenseness of opener Morrocco. The poignancy of Line in the Sand – even if the nuance-for-power trade-off is clearly felt compared to the “Live at the Corner” rendition. And the demented slide wizardry of Black Snake Blues, complete with a Led Zep excursion into Whole Lotta Love.

One exception is Winter Solstice, the Splendor Solis instrumental forming an spine-tingling acoustic one-two as it segues into new cut The Rosary.

After roughly 90 minutes, with The Armada closing out with another Tea Party staple Save Me, one is left with no doubt that the band has all the elements – strong songs and incredibly talented personnel. Once they iron out the kinks, they may just go on to conquer the world. Unlike the Spanish version.

Set-list

Morocco
Chinese Whispers
Overload
Line in the Sand
Broken
Coming Home
Kingdom
Winter Solstice/The Rosary
Black Snake Blues
Cathartik
Closure
Invocation
Closing Down Blues

Save Me

Bands: The Armada – www.thearmada.com
Black Board Minds
Venue: The Hi-Fi Bar, Brisbane – www.thehifi.com.au
Date: May 10, 2009

Related:
Photo Gallery: JEFF MARTIN & THE ARMADA @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane 10 May 2009
JEFF MARTIN & THE ARMADA @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane 10 May 2009 and May 2009 Tour Dates
The East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival Byron Bay – BluesFest 2008 – images including Jeff Martin