Category Archives: Review

The Boat People – Dance to My Pain/ Antidote Double A-side Remix Package – CD Review

Review: Lana Harris


Buy Album Here		   This double a-side release features tracks from the recently released Dear Darkly, creating a target audience of people who love The Boat people singles but who won’t commit to buying a full album, and fans who love The Boat People so much they’ll buy this just for the remixes of the two title tracks.

The CD opens with ‘Antidote’, which is a very sweet love song, a well crafted pop tune, and the last time on this CD that guitars are able to take the front of stage. From ‘Dance to My Pain’ and onwards through the remixes, synthesisation and beats take over. C’mon, Boat People, just admit it: you want to be a dance act. Sure, sure, not a traditional dance act,

but a revitalised, fresh, Aussie pop influenced electro outfit who, every so often, get to wear a furry animal costume on stage – even if it’s done in the spirit of irony.
Continue reading The Boat People – Dance to My Pain/ Antidote Double A-side Remix Package – CD Review →

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Montpelier ‘Last Boat’ Single Review

Review: Lana Harris

  With a surreal seascape cover and references to a great songster, Montpelier capture interest with their new release before a single note has been played. The song is ‘Last Boat’ and it’s a taste of the four piece indie pop rockers’ upcoming EP due out in April 2011. With one EP under their belt, local touring and a feature on Triple J’s unearthed program, Montpelier have set out to catch some new fans with this ode based on the drowning of musician Jeff Buckley in 1997.

Continue reading Montpelier ‘Last Boat’ Single Review →

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Manic Street Preachers @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane with Dead Actors Club, 13 November 2010 – Live Review

Review: Denis Semchenko

  Tonight’s crowd at The Hi-Fi is presumably identical to the one for The Charlatans on Wednesday night (I didn’t go, but a couple friends attended the show): not a lot of young people; Britpop aficionados and sporadic old-school goths rubbing shoulders with rowdy-looking UK expats. Additionally, the atmosphere – surprisingly for the venue – is exceptionally friendly and everyone seems to be here for a genuinely good time.

As often the case with touring overseas acts, the choice of an opening band is a trifle idiosyncratic. Rolling a cool name, busy hairstyles, drainpipe jeans, red Nord synth and spiky guitars into one indie-dance package, Melbournians Dead Actors Club are fun to watch for the first couple of numbers, but soon get predictable. We do, however, have a hoot when the quintet air a track that is The Bloodhound Gang’s

“Bad Touch” in all but name – in this era, any cheesy ’90s reference, whether purely coincidental or not, is likely to get a jolly response.
Continue reading Manic Street Preachers @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane with Dead Actors Club, 13 November 2010 – Live Review →

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WEST SIDE STORY @ Lyric Theatre QPAC, 7th November 2010 – Live Review

Review by: Pepa Wolfe

West Side Story, the classic piece of Musical Theatre inspired by Romeo and Juliet and conceived by Jerome Robbins, hit Brisbane this week in a flash of movement and colour.

Director Joey McKneely brings a wealth of experience to the Australian production, reimagining again as he has done around the world, this story of star-crossed lovers and feuding gangs on the streets of 1950s New York.

The rear projection of a grainy black and white still of New York City located the piece, surrounded by tiers of iron balconies, the simple scope of the design hinting at the grand scale of the drama that was about to unfold.

A vibrant production, of swirling movement, soaring vocals and rolling accents all buoyed by the full swell of the 19 piece orchestra, West Side Story maintains an intense energy during the group numbers, but wanes a little during the solo pieces. Both Josh Piterman as Tony and Julie Goodwin as Maria were in fine voice, but the outstanding choreography easily stole the show.
Continue reading WEST SIDE STORY @ Lyric Theatre QPAC, 7th November 2010 – Live Review →

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Gareth Liddiard “Strange Tourist” Album Review

Review: Ben Connolly

  It’s an almost shameful admission, but I just didn’t get into The Drones. I don’t know why; their mix of growling guitars, flat-tonal Australian vocals and aggressive, charged lyrics ticked all the boxes for qualities I generally seek out in bands to obsess over. I guess by the time I’d cottoned on to their charms, however, the boat had well and truly sailed and was now somewhat overburdened by eager fan-boys keen to wring the band’s name out for as much street cred as possible. Truth be told, the fan-boy’s fervour (and the self-assured scoff of the object of their adoration) scared me just a little. That said, The Drones’cover of Kevin Carmody’s River Of Tears at

the Cannot Buy My Soul gig remains one of my highlights of recent years (check the clip out on Youtube if you’ve never seen it).
Continue reading Gareth Liddiard “Strange Tourist” Album Review →

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Halloween Monster Mash @ Metro Theatre, Sydney 30 October 2010 featuring Dappled Cities, Spod, Last Dinosaurs, The Laurels, Guineafowl and Magnetic Heads – Live Review

Review: Natalie Salvo

Burlesque dancers, sword-swallowing freaks, fire-breathing entertainers and a human vending machine – there was all this and a bunch of coffins, jack-o-lanterns, cobwebs, skulls, fake axes and faux blood from similarly false severed limbs at the Halloween Monster Mash on Halloween Eve at the Metro Theatre. The event was a surreal presentation that was not strictly a concert, kind of like a mini-festival but with better costumes and greater audience participation.
Continue reading Halloween Monster Mash @ Metro Theatre, Sydney 30 October 2010 featuring Dappled Cities, Spod, Last Dinosaurs, The Laurels, Guineafowl and Magnetic Heads – Live Review →

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Parkway Drive – “Deep Blue” LP Review

Review: Lana Harris


Buy the CD here 		  There are lots of surprises in the musical world. Who would’ve thought that Billy Ray Cyrus would still be making money, that Ozzy Osbourne would still be alive, or that Parkway Drive – who mix hardcore and metal styles into brutal barrages of songs – could have emerged from the womb of hippiedom, Byron Bay? But it happens, and the success of Parkway Drive has recently been confirmed with their third album Deep Blue acknowledged at the Australian Music Industry Awards with the honour of ‘best hard rock/ punk album’.

The award for the album is not one of the music world’s surprises. Deep Blue is a masterpiece of jack hammering ear assault.

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Bad Religion – “The Dissent of Man” – LP Review

Review: Lana Harris


Bad Religion		   It’s too easy to gloss over the name Bad Religion, tossing it quickly into the punk rock basket without thinking about semantics. Maybe it’s because the band has been around since forever (well, 1979) their name synonymous with punk and early influences and just ‘there’. But Bad Religion’s latest offering, The Dissent of Man, has a hard-to-miss lyrical focus on biblical styled topics across several of the tracks.

There are references to judgement day, evil, famine and plague (‘Only Rain’), Jesus and his impartial workings (‘Won’t Somebody’) and angels, devils and hallelujah (‘The Devil in Stiches’). These Christian references are the band’s way of exploring concepts

of freedom or the lack thereof, religion being a convenient metaphor when describing struggles around emancipation. Apart from the religion-as-oppressor imagery, the band’s lyrics have plenty of references to truth, lies and other social conventions which no decent punk rock act’s repertoire should be without.

The first few tracks on The Dissent of Man are stock Bad Religion songs, punk and energetic and immediately displaying the quality and technical skills that have seen the band last as long as they have. Opener ‘The Day that the Earth Stalled’ powers relentlessly along before bursting into a strong finish. ‘Only Rain’ moves fast with a strong chorus hook and ‘The Resist Stance’ lets loose in a blast of epic riffage. It is easily the catchiest song on the album. The tempo then drops a couple of notches with ‘Won’t Somebody’ and ‘The Devil in Stitches’ (first single). These tracks are quite melodic, a bit slower and more on the rock side of punk rock. ‘Pride and the Pallor’ introduces another wave of fast moving guitars that lasts for five powerful and compact songs before the speed is arrested with ‘Cyanide’. ‘Cyanide’ is melodic, a poppy anomaly only lightly tinged with rock and with a chorus line of ‘missing you is like kissing…’ inciting a bout of heavy cringing until the final word ‘cyanide’, which saves the line.

A lighter pace and sound continues for the rest of the album. ‘Where the Fun Is’ is the album’s nadir, disappointingly lacklustre considering its title. All the later tracks seem to be experiments in expanding what is traditionally considered the Bad Religion sound. This was an unexpected turn, but the songs do demonstrate the strength of Bad Religion as a band. All tracks on The Dissent of Man, regardless of style, are well executed. The only faults that can be placed on the songs are in regards to the personal preferences as a listener and expectations of Bad Religion as a band, and nothing to do with playing or song crafting abilities. The Dissent of Man has some new elements and some old, but all of the tracks demonstrate Bad Religion is a band who knows how to play.

The Dissent of Man (Deluxe Version) - Bad Religion – The Dissent of Man (Deluxe Version) – Bad Religion

Related –
More articles by Lana Harris:
* Weezer “Hurley” – LP Review
* Soilwork “The Panic Broadcast” – LP Review
* Danza Contemporanea De Cuba @ The Playhouse (Brisbane Festival), 15th September 2010 – Live Review
* Polarity @ The Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane 13th September 2010 – Live Review
* Betrayal @ The Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane 10th September 2010 – Live Review
* Crow “Arcane” – LP Review
* Search for more article by this author…

Infected from Bad Religion on Vimeo.

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Bring Me the Horizon “There Is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let’s Keep It a Secret” – CD Review

Review: Ben Hosking
Bring Me the Horizon (BMTH) have divided opinions since their arrival on the scene with 2006’s ‘Count Your Blessings’. While they certainly have their legion of fans – as evidenced by their recent chart success here in Australia – many more have been very vocal about their ‘hate’ for the Sheffield, England quintet.

2008’s ‘Suicide Season’ did well to win over some of the haters with its focused deathcore approach. However, it will be their newest release ‘There Is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let’s Keep It a Secret’ that will turn the tide for BMTH.

Only young tykes when they started, BMTH have clearly done some growing in the intervening six years. The addition of Jona Weinhofen (Bleeding Through) on guitars, backing vocals, keys and programming in 2009 has also brought a welcome intricacy and depth to their sound.
Continue reading Bring Me the Horizon “There Is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let’s Keep It a Secret” – CD Review →

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Interpol “Interpol” – Album Review

Review: Kenada Quinlan


Interpol - Interpol – Interpol – Interpol 		  Established in 1997 and with only 4 albums under their belt to date, Interpol have decided to go it alone for the self-released and self-titled 2010 offering. Kick starting with ‘Success’, the New York based quartet delightfully introduce their brand of Indie that over the years has refused to shift in any fashionable sense.

The next step of ‘Memory Serves’ is an atmospheric, thumping masterpiece that captures loneliness and loss with beauty and an infectious groove. The vocal line “You don’t have say that you’d love to – but baby please that you want to – some day…” resonating far passed the song’s inception.

The off-kilter latter beats of this composition making way for ‘Summer Well’ – a more spritely drum and piano medley. Breaking into an uplifting yet damning verse of harmonies, vocalist Paul Banks inviting drones raise precisely on time for a hop, skip and jump to graceful emotional ruin.
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Metallica @ Brisbane Entertainment Centre 16 October 2010 – Live Review

Review: Stephen Goodwin

Click here to view gallery.
   James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett sear the air with the frenetic dual guitar solo that concludes One. Wedged between them, man-mountain Robert Trujillo crouches over his massive bass.

Three abreast and in-your-face, Lars Ulrich pulverising his kit directly behind them, the hulk and bulk of their physical presence as they shred away inspires awe.

And it’s precisely what’s been absent for much of the 40 minutes since Metallica opened their first Brisbane performance with the Ennio Morricone-inspired bombast of Ecstasy of Gold.

Continue reading Metallica @ Brisbane Entertainment Centre 16 October 2010 – Live Review →

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The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table @ Cremorne Theatre, QPAC 15th October 2010 – Theatre Review

  Review: Pepa Wolfe

It was a wet, windy night in Brisbane for the opening of Wesley Enoch’s The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table, directed by and starring Leah Purcell. Produced by the independent indigenous company Bungabura Productions and presented by QPAC, this is the story of Opening Night. It goes something like this.

The Cremorne had been transformed (the stage removed so that some of the audience was sitting amongst the set) into the simple dining room of a house on Stradbroke Island, sand strewn on the ground, with the backdrop arranged in pieces, working both as a broken barrier to the outside world and an obscure window into the past, the faces of time gone by etched into its panels. At its centre sat the table, Cookie’s Table.

Originally Cookie’s birth tree, it was cut down by the white man and turned into a table that was eventually passed down through four generations. This night the audience learnt the history of the table; its meaning, its power. Its mystery unravelling as estranged mother and son, Annie and Nathan, argued over its ownership, and in doing so challenged the meaning of family and the elusive nature of the truth.
Continue reading The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table @ Cremorne Theatre, QPAC 15th October 2010 – Theatre Review →

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Cloud Control, Seekae and Deep Sea Arcade @ The Metro, Sydney 15 October 2010 – Live Review & Photos

Review: Natalie Salvo
This was a farewell gig of sorts for Cloud Control as the Blue Mountains-via-Sydney band are temporarily relocating to the UK ahead of the overseas release of their debut album. Starting off with more of a fizzle than a bang, 7:00pm had been listed as the start time yet the punters (mainly young teenage girls in florals and itsy bitsy shorts vying for the “ indie cred” tag) were left whiling away the time listening to Blondie’ s greatest hits. It wasn’t all bad though; because we were treated to watching some rather animated bartenders dancing along to Ms Harry and Co.
Continue reading Cloud Control, Seekae and Deep Sea Arcade @ The Metro, Sydney 15 October 2010 – Live Review & Photos →

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John Legend featuring The Roots “Wake Up” – Album Review

Review: Jose Eduardo Cruz
One of the most powerful mediums to communicate the general condition of your immediate world is art. Art takes on different forms and its success will ultimately be determined by its public appeal or lack thereof. Art layered with social commentary has the ability to influence public opinion. For example, the Hope stencil piece created during the Obama presidential campaign in 2008.

African American history shows that black artists have had the ability to create transcendent music inspired by their surroundings and relevant political climate. Such music was prevalent during the 60’s and 70’s in response to the civil rights movement and Vietnam War respectively.
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