Category Archives: Review

CD Review | Pushking – “The World As We Love It”

Review: Sibel Kutlucan

Pushking’s new album, “The World As We Love It” certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted! The album packs a punch with 19 tracks selected from an extensive back catalogue, and featuring a smorgasbord of rock legends, from Paul Stanley, Alice Cooper and Steve Vai (just to name a few!) For these amazing names alone The World As We Love It is worth a listen, however, Pushking definitely hold their own ground and prove their recognition as amazing European power-metal rockers that can’t help but throw you back in time to huge hair, and shiny leather pants.
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Album Review | The Bloodpoets – ‘Wings’

Review: Sibel Kutlucan

The Bloodpoets, indie rockers hailing from Brisbane have continued their infectious streak with their new EP ‘Wings’.
Wings teases the listener with 6 tracks, each as unique as the other, broadcasting the diversity of the Bloodpoets style. It is great to hear real instruments amongst so much of the heavily synthesised and edited muck that is disguising itself as music nowadays. The Bloodpoets aren’t afraid to showcase their talents and diverse tastes; from trombones, trumpets and saxophones on “Sunny Day”-an amazing jazzy number, to violin and the melodic combination of male and female vocals with band’s Tom Murphy and Bec Plath complimenting one another on “She Feels It” –the definite favourite for me.
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Album Review | Heroes For Hire – ‘Take One For The Team’

Review: Sibel Kutlucan
Take One For The Team, the second full-length album from Sydney pop punk act Heroes For Hire definitely has a strong pop punk sound that plants them on the same page of any well known Fueled by Ramen band.

When I first heard the intro of track 1, “No Milk Will Ever Be Our Milk”, I was flooded with memories of being 14 and bouncing around to Simple Plan and Fall Out Boy in my bedroom. For those who don’t favour the whiny vocals and energetic drumming and guitar riffs reminiscent of bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41, then this definitely isn’t an album for you.
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Bluesfest 2011 – Day Six, Featuring: Bob Dylan, Gurrumul, Paul Kelly and Buffy Sainte-Marie. – Live Review

  One of the beautiful things about a festival as large and varied as Bluesfest is that the discovery of something new and exciting, at least for the listener, waits around every corner. For this reviewer, Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was the jewel of this year’s hidden treasures.

Already familiar with her 60s hit Universal Soldier and the rocking Bury My Heart at

Wounded Knee, as well as her Academy Award winning effort Up Where We Belong (who isn’t?), it was a pleasure to become acquainted with the other varied dimensions of her 40 plus year repertoire, and to experience the woman behind the music.
Continue reading Bluesfest 2011 – Day Six, Featuring: Bob Dylan, Gurrumul, Paul Kelly and Buffy Sainte-Marie. – Live Review

Bluesfest 2011 – Day Five, Featuring: Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, BB & the Blues Shacks, and the Old Spice Boys. – Live Review

by: Pepa Wolfe
Monday was another delightful mix of new discoveries and big names, with a good dose of puppetry and performance art thrown in.

The day saw the some rocking blues with plenty of keys down at the Crossroads tent as German outfit BB & the Blues Shacks charmed the crowd. Physically dynamic and looking sharp, BB and his boys really ramped up the audience participation. It was an onstage/offstage love-in, complete with dancing girls on stilts.
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Duff McKagan’s Loaded – “The Taking” – Album Review

Review by: Ben Connolly
Musical legacies are fickle beasts. For the privileged few, early bravado can lead to a lifetime of open doors and opportunities; for most, thorough, their own massive shoes are rarely filled again, leaving a life of painfully striving either to attain the same heights, or failing to convince the world that there’s more to give. For those at the pinnacle, the ones whose exploits drew a definite line with which others would measure themselves, this is arguably even more acute: audiences are liable to bay for more brilliance, and are vocally deflated when their lofty expectations are not met (take, for example, the expectation of larger-than-myth Bob Dylan, whose audience is rudimentary brought down to earth every time his never-ending tour juggernaut rolls through town).
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Bluesfest 2011 – Day Four, Featuring: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples & Her Band, and The Snowdroppers. – Live Review

It was Easter Sunday, the sun was shining over Bluesfest and the Crossroads tent was gearing up to celebrate with a solid block of gospel, soul and blues, kicked off by the enigmatic, effervescent powerhouse Mavis Staples and Her Band.

This year’s festival boasted an array of music a legends, not least of which was the incomparable Staples, who either solo or together with The Staple Singers has been >performing for over 60 years. Returning to Bluesfest with material from her Grammy Award winning CD You Are Not Alone, Staples is loads of fun. She’s got the moves, she’s got the attitude and that voice – a rich, raw, rip your guts out and make you happy sound that only improves with age.
Continue reading Bluesfest 2011 – Day Four, Featuring: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples & Her Band, and The Snowdroppers. – Live Review

The Wombats @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 5 May 2011 – Live Review

Review by: Lauren Sherritt
Known for catchy tunes, clever lyrics, playfully sung narratives and an outstanding energy, The Wombats played to a sold out Tivoli in Brisbane on Thursday night, giving their all to make it a night to remember for the fans attending.

So popular were tickets to the trio’s show that Thursday night’s gig was their second Brisbane performance, organised for those who had missed out on tickets for the original Tuesday night show. Being all ages, the evening started early, with doors opening at six-thirty and the band taking the stage just after eight. Populated mainly by teens delighted to be able to see the marsupial-inspired band in the flesh, the crowd got busy chanting for The Wombats early on.
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Thursday – ‘No Devolución’ – Album Review

By Helen Brown


No Devolucion - ThursdayNo Devolucion – Thursday
  Nowadays, the word ‘genre’ can be the kiss of death for a band. Unless they do something phenomenal and memorable with their music, they run the risk of falling into a certain category and being lost among the throngs of other musicians doing the exact same thing. Case in point: Thursday’s sixth release, No Devolucion. This New Jersey-based outfit have
created an album loaded with screamo American rock and impressive lead vocals, projecting a dark and broody atmosphere. Unfortunately, this effort is not ground-breaking and we have heard it all before. Licks of fuzzed-out guitar with sporadic psychedelic notes on No Devolución offer something else to the typical screamo mould, but it is not quite different enough to redeem the album. The tracks are

primarily average with hardly any substance, in some cases comparable to an emo church choir if such a thing existed.

One example is the track ‘Open Quotes,’ consisting of a mellow introduction with acoustic guitar and soft piano notes. This is but a brief reprieve from the hardcore onslaught of the rest of the song, with strong drumming and an ever-changing tempo that comes to a sudden halt at the end. The track is about someone sorting through their emotions, and trying to survive and find their place in a dark world, once again very similar to what we have all heard before.
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Byron Bay Bluesfest 2011 – Day Three, Featuring: Michael Franti & Spearhead, Indigo Girls, Tim Robbins & The Rogues Gallery Band and Grace Barbe Afro Kreol – Live Review

By: Pepa Wolfe

Blues Fest 2011 – Day Three, Featuring: Michael Franti & Spearhead, Indigo Girls, Tim Robbins & The Rogues Gallery Band and Grace Barbe Afro Kreol.

On day three, the Original Sinners were once again at the Jambalaya tent, running through the same set to an equally rapt audience. The afternoon also saw Melbourne’s The Red Eyes dubbin’ it at the Juke Joint, Bluesfest veteran Jeff Lang gracing the main stage and Trombone Shorty jammin’ at the Crossroads with Gospel legend Mavis Staples.

Celebrated actor and director turned musician Tim Robbins, touring Australia on the back of his debut CD with the Rogues Gallery Band, brought a mixture of blues, country and a dash of sing-a-long to the Jambalaya tent on Saturday. Robbins, on guitar and vocals, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, rumbling through Folsom Prison Blues before festival superstar and all-round maestro Trombone Shorty joined the Rogues for “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep”. A change of tempo and “Crush On You”, inspired by the young victim of a hate crime, demonstrated a simple approach, buoyed by beautiful instrumentation, as was a gorgeous, measured cover of Tom Waits’ “All The World Is Green”. Featuring the sweet wail and wallow of a musical saw over vocal harmonies, it was easily the high point of their set.
Continue reading Byron Bay Bluesfest 2011 – Day Three, Featuring: Michael Franti & Spearhead, Indigo Girls, Tim Robbins & The Rogues Gallery Band and Grace Barbe Afro Kreol – Live Review

HOUSE OF PAIN @ The Hi-Fi Bar, Brisbane – 02 May 2011 – Live Review

By: Jamie Cook

  It was the first week of May way back in 1996 which saw a triple header called the “Cool Naughty Pain” tour featuring Coolio and Naughty by Nature hit our fine shores. Almost fifteen years on to the exact day, the other band on that bill, reformed American Hip Hop legends House of Pain finally return Down Under to let loose some of their fine malt lyrics on the Brisbanites who have made the trek to the Hi-Fi on this Labour Day public holiday evening.

As the night gets off to an early start, front man Everlast armed with a guitar and a three piece backing band consisting of keyboards, drums and bass take the stage and open proceedings with an instrumental type jam reminiscent of something that could pass off as being written by Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger of The Doors.

Without further ado, it’s now time for the real deal. As the first notes of “Danny Boy, Danny Boy” ring out, a greeting of “make some noise motherfuckers” is heard and fellow House of Painer, Danny Boy himself joins the rest of his crew to take the Brisbane crowd on a journey back in time for some old school classic Hip Hop.
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Live Review | Bluesfest 2011 – Day Two, Featuring: Rodrigo y Gabriela, B.B. King, Fistful of Mercy, Jack Thompson & the Original Sinners and RocKwiz Live

Review By: Pepa Wolfe
Photos by: Silvana Macarone
Early birds and trivia buffs rocked up to the Jambalaya Tent on Friday to test their skill and perhaps earn a place on the panel of RocKwiz Live. Cracking the proverbial whip and vetting the various hopefuls was producer and co-host of the SBS series Brian Nankervis who after seven years with the show has it down to a fine art. Appearing across four days of the festival, Friday’s first taste had host and improv queen Julia Zemiro in top form, and featured musical guests Tim Rodgers (You Am I), Marcia Hines and Glenn Richards (Augie March), as well as a couple of impressive punters whose extensive music trivia knowledge was bested only by their brazen karaoke efforts, one contestant whipping out a harmonica and riffing with the impeccable RocKwiz Orkestra. A highly entertaining start to the afternoon, Richards, Hines and Rogers blasting Kiss’ I Wanna Rock and Roll All Nite, the icing on the cake.
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Bluesfest 2011 – Day One, Featuring: ZZ Top, Los Lobos, Funky Meters, CW Stoneking and The Hands. – Live Review

Bluesfest 2011 – Day One, Featuring: ZZ Top, Los Lobos, Funky Meters, CW Stoneking and The Hands.

Despite dismal forecasts, the weather held out for music lovers as they descended onto the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm in Byron Bay, the new site for Australia’s premiere Blues and Roots Music Festival. Now extended to cover six days, campers and eager punters slowly edged their way into the grounds, with staff and volunteers doing their best to ensure that parking, setup and entry was relatively painless. The wet grounds were eclipsed by the buzz of excitement, a busy energy punctuating the usually laidback Byron feel.

Day one really hit its stride with festival favourite Xavier Rudd playing the main stage, the sounds of Let Me Be floating over the fence to greet those still passing through ticketing and security check points; a generous taste of what awaited them inside.
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CD Review: Gay Paris – The Skeleton’s Problematic Granddaughter

The Skeleton’s Problematic Granddaughter is the debut LP release from Sydney four piece GAY PARIS and from all accounts, it’s a damn good one.

  Gay Paris list themselves as Swamp Stomp/ Shack Funk/ Bastard Rock, and that’s exactly what this album delivers. The growling, gritty vocals of WH Monks complemented by dirty guitar driven rock riffs and killer drumming. There is an underlying 80’s stadium rock vibe throughout and with songs like “My First Wife? She Was A Fox Queen!” setting the stadium rock anthmatic standard.

One noteable variation came in at track 8 “Soliloquy From Either Station”. Slow chant stomp with Elvis styled vocal and haunting violin hovering above. An unexpected highlight.

Rating: 7.5
The Skeleton's Problematic Granddaughter - Gay ParisThe Skeleton’s Problematic Granddaughter – Gay Paris
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Music Legends, Movie Stars and Generosity of Spirit – Bluesfest 2011

By: Pepa Wolfe

  A mammoth six-day festival, hosting what many consider the best line-up to date, Bluesfest 2011 had it all. From bright sunny days to the traditional rain and mud, from international legends of music like B.B. King and Bob Dylan to the local sounds of Byron Ukulele band The Blackbirds, it was a celebration of community, culture, diversity and most of all, of music.

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