Category Archives: Review

The Bohemian Masquerade Ball @ The Old Museum, Brisbane 9th October 2010 – Live Review

Review: Victoria Nugent
Photos: Charlyn Cameron

It wasn’t a typical night out, but as the Old Museum in Bowen Hills came alive for the Bohemian Masquerade, it promised to be a spectacular evening. The event was spread out over two large rooms and a verandah, with decadent costumes and masks adding to the amazing atmosphere.

The first room started out with house music, before transitioning into a range of DJs and bands which got the crowd dancing. Continue reading The Bohemian Masquerade Ball @ The Old Museum, Brisbane 9th October 2010 – Live Review →

Matt Corby @ Melt Bar, Sydney w/ Daniel Lee Kendall : 14th October 2010 – Live Review and Photos

by: Elize Strydom

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[Photos: Elize Strydom]
  I heard Daniel Lee Kendal on the radio a few weeks ago. At the time, I didn’t know it was him nor did I know the tune was called ‘Lost In The Moment’. It was a song that stopped my conversation and drew me in. I was careful to listen to the presenter back announce the song and I jotted down the guy’s name. It was a name I saw on a gig poster soon after, next to Matt Corby’s name.

Continue reading Matt Corby @ Melt Bar, Sydney w/ Daniel Lee Kendall : 14th October 2010 – Live Review and Photos →

Weezer “Hurley” – LP Review


Review: Lana Harris


BUY CD HERE
  Weezer have been around for a long time now. Their unique geek alt rock sound first surfaced in the nineties, when they experienced their peaks of mainstream success with the albums Weezer (1994) and Pinkerton (1996). Since then, they’ve copped a lot of flak regarding their direction and style, with one fan offering them $10 million for the band to not make another record. The band’s response? Up it to $20 mil and we’re in. Like all bands with a distinctive ‘sound’, there’ll always be criticisms when the group evolves. Perhaps it might be expected after coming up to two decades of existence with an image and lyrics that played on the innocent awkwardness of early adulthood?

Continue reading Weezer “Hurley” – LP Review →

A Taste of Lilith @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne : October 6th 2010 – Live Review

By Naomi Rahim www.auroradesign.nu

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[Photo Credit: Naomi Rahim]
Sarah – Sarah McLachlan
  The resurrected Lilith Fair music festival, co-founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan in North America made its way to Australia in the condensed version – A Taste of Lilith. In contrast to the usual male-dominated bills of most music festivals, Lilith Fair celebrates female singer-songwriters and female-fronted bands across a variety of genres with the aim of breaking the artists into new markets. From each ticket sold, $1 is donated to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation in Australia.

A Taste of Lilith got off to a bumpy start amid date changes and major act Court Yard Hounds dropping off the bill. Melbourne’s line-up included Sarah McLachlan, Kate Miller-Heidke and The Verses (formerly Killing Heidi). One international act from the North American lineup (to replace Court Yard Hounds) would’ve rounded out the show, Miller-Heidke and The Verses appeared more like support acts to McLachlan’s star. The rescheduling and possibly Melbourne’s freak monsoon affected the turnout, but the dramas were all but forgotten by McLachlan’s eager fans who waited 5 years to see her perform in Australia again.
Continue reading A Taste of Lilith @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne : October 6th 2010 – Live Review →

Rocketsmiths “The Bones” – Album Review

Review: Victoria Nugent

  The Bones by Brisbane band The Rocketsmiths is relentlessly, unashamedly rock with edgy guitars, and taut vocals by the bucket load. These guys have been described as vaudevillian rock, and there’s a definite hint at the weird and wacky in their songs.

The first track of the album is Monster Part 1, which features some dark riffs, a catchy beat, wailing vocals, and great dynamics, switching from loud to soft throughout the song.

This song is followed up with a later track on the album called “Monster Parts 2 &3”, and starts off with eerie organ, echoing vocals and a tempo that steadily gets faster, before breaking into edgy riffs and screaming vocals.
Continue reading Rocketsmiths “The Bones” – Album Review →

Nick Batterham [Self Titled] – Single Review

Review: Victoria Nugent

 


Second Lovers
This unnamed single is intended as a taste of Nick Batterham’s debut solo album Second Lovers due out in October, and it shows a skilled collection of laidback folk from the singer songwriter.

Batterham is a former member of Blindside and The Earthmen, and in more recent years has been doing sound design, producing music for film and TV and playing guitar for Cordrazine.

The disc kicks off with ‘Dragonfly’, a melodic folk tune with simplistic lyrics and gentle acoustic guitar. ‘From Now On’ starts with a slow piano intro, with husky,

slightly gravelly vocals giving the song a melancholic feel. The occasional chime of bells adds to the atmosphere, as does the addition of slightly seventies sounding electric guitar.
Continue reading Nick Batterham [Self Titled] – Single Review →

Nicholas Roy “In A Shoebox Under The Bed” – LP Review

Review: Ben Connolly


In a Shoebox Under the Bed - Nicholas Roy – Nicholas Roy
  It’s a great romantic ideal, isn’t it? A fresh-faced boy with a heart of gold, a far-away stare and a modicum of musical ability notches up a home recording completed in his dreary Melbourne abode. Everything about it screams eyes-rolling type cliche, that we’ve read the story a million times to know it backwards and that nothing new or exciting can ever come out of that set up again. But that’s exactly what Melbourne lad Nicholas Roy has attempted in his first long player Nicholas Roy, released in August through indie label Little Tribe. And it’s a solid effort which manages to take a slightly different route than the troubled singer-songwriter path, but has it worked?

Continue reading Nicholas Roy “In A Shoebox Under The Bed” – LP Review →

Blame Ringo “In A Hurricane” – Single Review

Review: Ben Connolly
Brisbane band Blame Ringo is a band steeped in its own curio past, to the point of it almost being written off as a comic band. The name itself, and the mileage the group got over the official rebuke from Ringo Starr over its previous name, set it up early on as a tongue-in-cheek piss-take. They followed that through with curious film clip for single “Garble Arch” off its first long player – which became a bona fide Youtube viral phenomena – and then a cute tour concept of playing in laundromats; an audience would be forgiven for thinking this band’s interest was firmly in taking the mickey, rather than solid songwriting. And there would be nothing wrong with that; there are plenty of decent and long-lived acts in this land and abroad who could stake their claim firmly in piss-takery, whilst still holding credible assertions of musicianship (think The Fauves, TISM or, further afield, The Duckworth Lewis Method).
Continue reading Blame Ringo “In A Hurricane” – Single Review →

Angus and Julia Stone @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 25 September 2010 with Luluc – Live Review

Review: Victoria Nugent



[Photo: Naomi Rahim]
Captivating. Atmospheric. Amazing.
All of these are words that describe Angus & Julia Stone’s performance at The Tivoli on the weekend.

The night started off with another talented boy girl duo, with support act Luluc taking to the stage with a series of folky acoustic songs. Zoe Randall and Steve Hassett played songs that soared with Randall’s full sounding vocals taking centre stage.

Continue reading Angus and Julia Stone @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 25 September 2010 with Luluc – Live Review →

Filter “The Trouble with Angels” – CD Review

Review: Ben Hosking

  At least in this country, Filter has never attained the level of success that they deserve. Besides a couple of chart-bothering flirtations with tracks like ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot’ and ‘Take a Picture’ way back in the mid-to-late 1990s, Richard Patrick and company have travelled unfairly under the radar. Hopefully the Cleveland, Ohio group’s luck will change with the release of their fifth studio album, ‘The Trouble with Angels’.

 

For those not familiar with Richard Patrick’s talent, take note: he began his professional career with industrial genius Trent Reznor as a touring guitarist

with Nine inch Nails between 1989 and 1993. After this he started Filter in 1995; Patrick’s bread and butter ever since – although certainly not his only musical preoccupation.
Continue reading Filter “The Trouble with Angels” – CD Review →

Soilwork “The Panic Broadcast” – LP Review

Review: Lana Harris


Soilwork – Soilwork
  Helsingborg? Where the Helsingborg is that? Turns out this Swedish town is the fertile ground where Soilwork first plied their craft. Soilwork (both the name and the band’s philosophy) represents commitment and determination. Building from the roots of things and seeing them through to fruition via a lot of hard work. More of a biologically based metaphor than the grave digging that initially came to mind when the name ‘Soilwork’ is heard in connection with the words ‘death metal’.

The Panic Broadcast represents Soilwork’s eighth album and is a lesson to others in how to keep the momentum up after several releases. The energy presented could have it confused with an early career offering but the song structure and quality belies the truth: this is a band with extensive

experience in song craft, especially from singer and founding member Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid.
Continue reading Soilwork “The Panic Broadcast” – LP Review →

Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele – EP Review

Review: Natalie Salvo

There are some people out there who’d readily agree that the words “Radiohead” and ukulele should never be uttered in the same sentence. Not so if you’re Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls and Evelyn Evelyn fame. There was the potential for Palmer’s covers EP to be career suicide or simply oh-so-bad as diehard purists murmur things about sacred cows and masterpieces best left untouched but in her hands it is simply a collection reflecting her own effervescent personality – it’s full of theatrics, a DIY attitude and is brimming with creativity.

It is fitting that this is also Palmer’s first release after a less than amicable split with her record label. She adopted a Radiohead-esque user-pays-what-they-like system (save the 84 cent donation to cover administrative costs like filling Radiohead and PayPal’s coffers). But ultimately Palmer is the one that’s laughing after selling $15,000 worth of merchandise in the first three minutes of sale, in what was a perfect way to stick it to the former label and celebrate her newfound freedom and independence.
Continue reading Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele – EP Review →

Regurgitator supported by DJ Krush @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 18 September 2010 – Live Review

Review: Jose Eduardo Cruz.

Click image for photo gallery

[Photo: Matt Palmer]
  So once again Regurgitator had decided to hit the road for a run of shows. I have to confess that I grew up with this band; all through high school “the gurge” always made the playing list at our parties. So to see them live again was quite nostalgic for it brought back many memories of years gone by. DJ Krush had been brought along for the ride.

For the second time this week I saw DJ Krush warming up a crowd. I managed to see him on Friday at Valentino Up Late while I looked at art pieces and thought “hmmm that sounds pretty good can’t wait to hear him play his set tomorrow”.

I always found it fascinating that one person can control the energy of an entire room. The beginning of his set seemed a bit messy and you could tell by the response in the crowd. It appeared as if everyone was wondering around aimlessly trying to figure out what was being played on the stage.

Continue reading Regurgitator supported by DJ Krush @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 18 September 2010 – Live Review →

The Magic Numbers “The Runaway” – Album Review

Review: Natalie Salvo

  They say you can pick your friends but you can’t choose your family, so where does that leave a group like The Magic Numbers? The band is made of two lots of brother and sister pairings (Sean & Angela Gannon and Romeo & Michele Stodart for those playing along). They first entered the limelight back in 2005 when they released a successful eponymous debut. The following year would see “Those The Brokes” dropped with breakneck speed but it would also cause the group friction, both familial and otherwise. Now at album number three, “The Runaway”, the quartet initially had to take some time out (read: pursue side projects and make guest appearances) before they could regroup refreshed and ready.

Continue reading The Magic Numbers “The Runaway” – Album Review →

Danza Contemporanea De Cuba @ The Playhouse (Brisbane Festival), 15th September 2010 – Live Review


[Image courtesy Brisbane Festival]
  Review: Lana Harris

Young and old wait in the shadows for the outsiders. Excited and unsure about what to expect from these strangers, from this contemporary dance troupe from the other side of the world, the other side of governance. Their entrance: a few members trickle onto the stage, in silence and unadorned.

Continue reading Danza Contemporanea De Cuba @ The Playhouse (Brisbane Festival), 15th September 2010 – Live Review →