Review by Ben Connolly
What is the collective noun for a group of fuzzed-out guitars? Is it a gaggle? Maybe a cacophony is more apt? Perhaps it could have been a murder, if it weren’t already taken by those pesky crows. I reckon it’s a joy of fuzz, as that’s certainly the feeling you get when confronted with a wail of tricked out pedal-laden guitars, as was the case at Yuck’s Laneway Festival sideshow, as well as a more than passing hat-tip to the lo-fi aesthetics of late 80s and early 90s grunge rock.
South Dakota via LAs EMA had her feet planted firmly in the shoe-gazing psychedelia camp, with two guitars backed by keys/violins providing a mournful, sparse feeling. There’s a deliberate bleakness to the songs, with Erika M Anderson’s lyrics often whispered with great earnestness and calculated affectation. An early string break forced a setlist change, pushing a surprisingly tender “Breakfest” up the order. The song’s aching repeated refrain “Mumma’s in the bedroom, don’t you stop” paints a desolate picture, before building into a Mogwai-esque wall-of-noise. A midset reworking of Danzig’s “Soul On Fire” perfectly highlighted Anderson’s almost disembodied, affected vocals.
Continue reading Yuck @ East Brunswick Club, Melbourne – 3rd February 2012 | Review
There’s a buzz in the air tonight – a full house and the Ball Park Music headlining debut album launch tour tends to give out a special vibe. And it’s been a long, well-worn track to get to this point: singles and free downloads leading to early Triple J recognition, signing to a supportive management company and releasing one of them most anticipated EPs of recent memory, seemingly tour after tour as the perpetual bridesmaids before finally knuckling down to carve out the first full-length offering.
Jeff Lang was not always the teller of disturbed tales accompanied by face-melting blues guitar shredding. There was time – in the heady post-grunge days – way back at the beginning of this 15-year-long and counting career, that Lang appeared to fancy himself as a bit of a fringe-rock crooner. His then long locks and fresh face even graced morning television and he seemed always just on the verge of tipping into the mainstream proper. 
