Tag Archives: cd

Wildcat! Wildcat! release single ‘Hero’

wildcat
Uplifting LA three-piece Wildcat! Wildcat! have announced their arrival to Australian and NZ audiences with the first single ‘Hero’ off their forthcoming debut album due for release this August.

”’Hero’ is our underdog anthem,” the band explain. It mixes the group’s innovative harmonies with dance production and an earworm chorus.
Continue reading Wildcat! Wildcat! release single ‘Hero’

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.
Continue reading Thursday – ‘No Devolución’ – Album Review

Status Quo “In The Army Now 2010” [LP Review]

Review: Natalie Salvo
Status Quo are a group of Englishmen known for their brand of boogie rock and have gotten a lot of mileage over the years from power chords and the furious sounds of fighting. Now it seems the band are giving a little something back by releasing a charity single titled “In The Army Now”. This release serves as part teaser to their forthcoming studio album, “Quid Pro Quo” and support for the British Armed Forces with profits from its sale going to the British Forces Foundation and Help For Heroes charities.

The Quo covered this track back in 1986 and scored a hit on the UK singles chart.

The 2010 version sees the lyrics get a revamp (to be more pro-army) plus an update to the music. But rest assured, there are still power chords aplenty and a chorus of angry young men (as the band are assisted by The Corps of Army Music). But strangely there are also hints of the atmospheric and in particular (and I kid you not) Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”.

This mini-LP comes with the two 2010 versions of the title track including full length and radio edits. There are also two studio rarities “I Ain’t Wasting My Time” and “One By One” and five live Quo numbers taken from shows performed in England in 2008 and 2009. These include their classics “Caroline,” “Whatever You Want” and “Down Down”. There are also videos for the title song and “Beginning Of The End”.

Quo fans won’t be disappointed with this collection of music as it showcases more of their boogie rock with big beefy guitar riffs that hint at AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, but all while having an added rock and roll bent – almost like what would happen if Little Richard did his musical thing but replaced his piano with an arsenal of guitars. With the speed of a freight train, energy of a battalion and the heavy firepower of modern artillery, Status Quo prove they’ve still got the chops to go into battle and take a stand for what they believe in. Basically it’s three power chords and the rock uncouth.

Title: In The Army Now 2010
Artist: Status Quo
Status QuoStatus Quo

Review by: Natalie Salvo


Related:
More article by Natalie Salvo:
* Smoke on the Water – The Metropolis Sessions [CD/DVD Review]
* Cloud Control, Seekae and Deep Sea Arcade @ The Metro, Sydney 15 October 2010 – Live Review & Photos
* Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele – EP Review
* The Magic Numbers “The Runaway” – [Album Review]
* The Drums “The Drums” – [EP Review]
* All articles by Natalie Salvo…


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Status Quo: Just Doin' it Live – 40 Years of Quo

Buy It Now!
  40 Years of Quo Classics filmed Live at Birmingham NEC, England, May 21st 2006.Album DetailsRelease Date: 2007-01-12Genre: MusicRating: MAudio: Dolby Digital 2.0 StereoContents: 1 disc

Myles Mayo – Myles Mayo [Album Review]

Review by: Ben Connolly


Buy the CD here
  First albums can be tricky beasts to get right. For some they’re cringe-worthy telegraphs of earnest naivety best left uncovered, for others they signpost a highpoint never again attained. For most, however, they are a hotch-potch of eagerness and ideas, often with so much crammed into short hard-won studio time or crazy experiments trying to find their way around a myriad of home recording equipment.

Myles Mayo’s self-titled debut release falls into the latter “trying to cram everything in” category which, while certainly interesting and intriguing, often comes across as a curious iPod playlist at times, rather than a cohesive narrative.

Mayo is the front-man of Adelaide pop-rock band Special Patrol who’s found just enough internal artistic drive to branch out on his own.
Continue reading Myles Mayo – Myles Mayo [Album Review]

Femi Kuti – Africa For Africa [LP Review]

Review by: Ben Connolly


Buy the CD here
  I’ve always been fascinated by the anthropology of musical styles – the evolution of a distinctive style and sound based on many factors, but often described easiest by geographic boundaries. Take, for example, Memphis blues with its jug-band country feel, as opposed to the Detroit blues and it’s altogether grubby and gritty undertones. While both evolved from the same musical stirrings (and both served as underpinning styles of modern blues and rock n roll), their sounds are geographically distinct and unmistakable. You can hear the swamps and sandflies in Memphis blues, and you can almost sense the grease under the fingernails plucking the Detroit blues guitars.

Heck, there’s no musical style so underpinned by geography than slow, languid, feisty and hot reggae which, no matter where it’s played, evokes the Jamaican countryside to a tee.
Continue reading Femi Kuti – Africa For Africa [LP Review]

The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts [Album Review]

Review By Helen Brown


Rolling Blackouts (Bonus Track Version) - The Go! TeamRolling Blackouts (Bonus Track Version)
  Rolling Blackouts, the third release from British band The Go! Team, can be best described as a breath of fresh, salty sea air. The tracks are energetic and empowering, the kind of album you would take with you on a short road trip adventure. The Go! Team exhibit undertones of Regurgitator’s electronica phase, circa 1997 to 1999.

Their first song, ‘T.O.R.N.A.D.O.,’ is a hip hop-laced number about moving your body to the beat. It is punchy right from the start with no soft introduction to ease you in. The tracks ‘Secretary Song’ and ‘Bust-Out-Brigade’, sound very much like theme songs from sitcoms and crime shows with the use of cheerful clap-along beats and synthesised siren sounds respectively.

The vibe throughout the album is generally to be happy within yourself, enjoy life and have fun with the people around you.
Continue reading The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts [Album Review]

Album Review | Ben Ottewell – Shapes and Shadows

Review by Bianca Martin
It has apparently been five years in the making, but Gomez frontman Ben Ottewell has finally released his debut solo album Shapes and Shadows. Gomez fans need not worry though, this release shouldn’t be seen as a departure from Ottewell’s main project but instead as an expansion on it. Easily the most recognizable vocalist from the English indie rockers, his unique voice remains the focus here. Ottewell’s vocals are perfect for this classic acoustic soft rock, bordering on folk at times, style. Distinctive and naturally emotional, his voice is a little gritty and rough around the edges but mournful and somber at just the right moments.
Continue reading Album Review | Ben Ottewell – Shapes and Shadows

Buddy Miller- Majestic Silver Strings [Album Review]

Review: Victoria Nugent

  American country singer Buddy Miller’s latest offering Majestic Silver String feels like less of an album than a country music compilation with an extensive roster of guest vocalists filling out the tracks.

There’s a bit of a throwback to 70s style country, with the whole album coming across as mellow and somewhat prairie sounding in places. This is country music that is undeniably American, with strains of bluegrass and yodelling permeating the album.

Buddy Miller has teamed up with other country guitarists Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Greg Leisz to create the solid, if occasionally tired instrumentals that form the backbone of most of the tracks.

“Cattle Call” starts off with an extended instrumental that is pure bluegrass, lonesome and twangy, with the eventual addition of Miller’s mellifluous vocals and a tinge of yodelling.

In “No Good Lover”, Miller teams up with Ann McCrary for a duet with bite, focusing on the demise of a relationship, with McCrary’s bold vocals the true focal point for the song.

“Meds” is a melancholy lament founded on sweet but slightly bland vocals from Lee Ann Womack. Chocolate Genius’ cover of “Dang Me” has a distinctly soul edge which seems slightly incongruous.

“Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie” with deep vocals from Marc Ribot is dark, edgy and a little on the raw side. “That’s The Way Love Goes” is sweet and tender with finely honed vocals from Shawn Colvin.The instrumental version of “Freight Train” comes across as light and charming, yet thoroughly accomplished.

Ultimately, this is a very mild album, and I couldn’t help but wish that things would spice up occasionally. All the same, the tracks are fairly easy to listen, with nothing too unpleasant in the way of instrumentals or vocals, apart from a slight want of pizzazz.

Album Track List:
1. Cattle Call (Buddy Miller sings)
2. No Good Lover (Buddy Miller & Ann McCrary sing)
3. I Want To Be With You Always (Buddy Miller & Patty Griffin sing)
4. Barres De La Prison (Marc Ribot sings)
5. Meds (Lee Ann Womack sings)
6. Dang Me (Chocolate Genius sings)
7. Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie (Marc Ribot sings)
8. That’s The Way Love Goes (Shawn Colvin sings)
9. Freight Train (Instrumental)
10. Why I’m Walkin’ (Emmylou Harris sings)
11. Why Baby Why (Buddy Miller & Marc Ribot sing)
12. Return To Me (Lee Ann Womack sings)
13. God’s Wing’ed Horse (Buddy & Julie Miller sing)

Review: Victoria Nugent


More articles by Victoria Nugent:
* Rocketsmiths “The Bones” – Album Review
* Angus and Julia Stone @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 25 September 2010 with Luluc – Live Review
* Bonfire Nights “Bonfire Nights” EP Review
* Bec Plath “At The End of the Night” – Single Review
* More article by Victoria Nugent

Social Distortion – Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes [CD Review]

Review: Ben Hosking

  Social Distortion has managed to create an aura around themselves over the last three decades that has placed them into the realms of punk rock royalty. Perhaps it’s the ice cool, slicked hair, hotrodder image of Mike Ness but more likely it has more to do with the band’s uncanny knack for writing sweet, sweet country-infused, rockabilly punk rock.

It’s been a number of years between drinks for ‘Social Distortion. Their last album was 2004’s ‘Sex, Love and Rock’N’Roll’ – a stunning disc that no doubt left the guys wondering if they could ever top

themselves. The extended pause could also be the result of Mike Ness’ various other distractions like the aforementioned custom cars and his other musical projects including the awesome countrified Mike Ness Band.
Continue reading Social Distortion – Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes [CD Review]

Cold War Kids “Mine Is Yours” – Album Review

Review: Ben Connolly


Buy Album @ iTunes
  The Kings of Leon really do have a lot to answer for, don’t they? There’s the re-introduction of initially swampy Dixie-styled rock, and the tight jeans, the lank hair and the homely Southern drawl, to name just a few. Perhaps more worryingly was the eagerness with which they helped to re-introduce some seriously lol-worthy Spinal Tap moments back into the world of rawk (just follow one of the brothers Followill’s twitter-feed to get an idea on how little grasp they have on reality), and by how much their adoring young fan-base seemed to lap it up. There was also the the warp-speed with which they jumped from being a curious, intriguing pseudo-experimental rock band into a firmly entrenched MOR behemoth of blandness and pyrotechnics.

The result of this, and the greatest crime of all it must be seen, must be the fact they’ve shown this warp-speed blandification as a legitimate career-path with similar like-minded wanna-be acts.

The latest of these is California’s Cold War Kids, whose third album Mine Is Yours has just landed and has signalled quite clearly that the quartet has its eyes firmly on being the next revelation of arena-style rock. From start to finish the album is big and boxy and packs a serious bottom-end punch, which highlights a clear delineation between it and its predecessors (2006’s debut Robbers & Cowards and 2008 follow up Loyalty to Loyalty). It’s no suprise that KoL’s knob twirler Jacquire King had a big hand in this production. For all the bombast and pomp, however, there’s something not quite fitting in the equation and by album’s end, it’s all a little limp and contrived.
Continue reading Cold War Kids “Mine Is Yours” – Album Review

SLASH with COHEED AND CAMBRIA and TAKING DAWN – Sidewave announced!

Slash   Few artists in rock history can carry off the single moniker, and carry it with gravitas.
SLASH is one of that rare breed.

Since emerging with Guns N’ Roses, SLASH has been one of the world’s most sought after guitarists. Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Quentin Tarantino and so many other fellow icons have sought his services in order to make the good sound great.

Critics and fans alike still debate the greatest rock riff of all time with “Sweet Child O’ Mine” consistently taking top honors. Time Magazine placed SLASH second only to Jimi Hendrix amongst the greatest guitarists of all time.

Continue reading SLASH with COHEED AND CAMBRIA and TAKING DAWN – Sidewave announced!

IGGY POP & JAMES WILLIAMSON – KILL CITY (2010 REMIX) – Album Review

By Maria Bailey
The year was 1975. The Stooges had split and Iggy Pop was at his worst. No record contract, depressed, suicidal and smacked of his tits on heroin. He spent most of his time confined within a mental home battling his demons and trying to get some sort of normality back into his famously abnormal life. Good medicine arrived when former Stooges guitarist James Williamson proposed the idea for a demo album to help get Iggy’s legendry vocals back into the studio, back on the radio and back within the hearts of punk rockers across the world. Two years passed and in 1977 former Stooges front-man teamed with musical genius David Bowie to produce Iggy’s first solo records “The Idiot” and “Lust for Life.” Riding on their success, Kill City finally found recognition from Los Angeles based label Bomp! Records.
Continue reading IGGY POP & JAMES WILLIAMSON – KILL CITY (2010 REMIX) – Album Review

JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys – “Fidelity” CD Review

Review: Victoria Nugent


Buy Album Here
  Fidelity is a very interesting and enjoyable collaboration between Chrissie Hyde of The Pretenders’ fame, and Welsh musician JP Jones. The first song on the album, “Perfect Lover” sums up the musical history of the group, with Hyde singing, “I found my perfect lover, but he’s only half my age.” To elaborate a bit further, Hyde and Jones had a brief relationship which fizzled because of the age difference. Rather than let their chemistry go to waste however, the pair formed a band, setting the story of their relationship to music. A theme of fairs and fairgrounds permeates the album, from the cover art to the conclusion of the word Fairground in several song titles.

“If You Let Me In” is straight forward rocky with hooky, repetitive lyrics and lots of vocal harmonising. “Fairground Luck” has an infectious melody that’s occasionally reminiscent of “Lean On Me” during the verses with strong riffs and Jones’ charismatic vocals carrying the choruses.
Continue reading JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys – “Fidelity” CD Review

Yann Tiersen “Dust Lane” – Album Review

By Maria Bailey

  After two years in the making, Yann Tiersen’s sixth studio album Dust Lane was well worth the wait. Known predominantly for creating the innovative soundtrack for the award winning film Amelie, Tiersen stays true to form. While staying faithful to his trusty harpsichord and mandolins, the French composer and musician demonstrates a movement in his avant-garde style, incorporating an array of vintage sythesises, various musical genres and defying typical song structures. Tiersen is first and foremostly guided by his vision and intuition in creating the eight tracks on Dust Lane and has created a dreamy masterpeice at that.

Continue reading Yann Tiersen “Dust Lane” – Album Review

Radio Birdman “Live in Texas” – LP Review

Review: Lana Harris


Buy This Album Here!
  Radio Birdman are Australian old school punk rock, around since the times of The Saints and inevitably compared to them. Their punk elements blend with a healthy dash of the pub rock feel that often comes from Australian acts. Radio Birdman are the group you can chuck it on at a party and no-one will text you at four in the morning asking ‘who was that playing when I downed the tenth shot of tequila?’ because its one line chorus has been stuck in their head ever since. Instead, partygoers will subtly begin to sway and bop their head (way before it could be attributed to intoxication) or be heard humming one of the hooky riffs as they exit the bathroom.

Continue reading Radio Birdman “Live in Texas” – LP Review