Chemical Transport have unleashed their brand new video clip for the single ‘Down, Down’, which was filmed by Gareth McGilvray (Calling All Cars, Closure in Moscow, Attack Attack) which is sparking public attention and just ahead of the band supporting US rockers Senses Fail on their Sydney date. Continue reading CHEMICAL TRANSPORT to support US Rockers SENSES FAIL!
Photographer: Charlyn Cameron
Click the image to view the photo gallery
[Photo: Charlyn Cameron]
Sally Seltmann @ The Zoo, Brisbane – July 9, 2010
Continue reading Photo Gallery: Sally Seltmann @ The Zoo, Brisbane – July 9, 2010
Critical praise for Barb Jungr’s live performances and 2010 studio album, The Men I Love: The New American Songbook:
“Barb Jungr’s voice has established her as a superlative interpreter of the great song-books”
Independent on Sunday
“A quiet revelation… her sensual performance casts the songs in a fresh light” The Times
“Magnificent …Jungr’s voice is truly a thing of wonder.” The Daily Express
Barb Jungr, the much-revered vocalist, composer and songwriter arrives in Australia for a September 2010 national tour taking in the Noosa Jazz Festival, The Salon at the Melbourne Recital Centre, The Basement in Sydney, and many more dates. Continue reading Barb Jungr to Tour Australia – September 2010
Review: Lana Harris
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More than 25 years making music, the Melvins are credited with influencing scores of bands (including Nirvana and Soundgarden) but no one sounds just like them. Their creations are grungy, often slow but still powerful and slide into sludgy metal territory occasionally. They have two drummers in what is currently a four member outfit (got to expect a few line up changes in two and a half decades) who have been together for three albums now.
On The Bride Screamed Murder the Melvins are, if not experimental, at the very least non traditional in their music arrangements. There’s never a sense of |
bowing to any kind of convention in the music. When voice is used, it’s as an instrument itself, not as a way of conveying opinion or an observation set to music, and they don’t stick to one time signature or tempo. If you’re unprepared for this, the way the songs play out is disorienting. My first listen of The Bride Screamed Murder, particularly the first two tracks, left me wondering what was going on. ‘Evil New War God’ comes to an almost dead stop before changing direction. I thought it had skipped to track three but it was still the same song. Continue reading Melvins “The Bride Screamed Murder” LP Review
Review by: Victoria Nugent
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When listening to sophomore album Sail Becomes A Kite by The Bank Holidays, I couldn’t help but smile. The Perth band, made up of Nat Carson and Bekk Crombie on guitar, James Crombie on bass and Stuart Leach on drums, clearly has a talent for producing delightful indie pop. The songs on Sail Becomes A Kite are largely reflective and sweet, with buoyant moments shining through as well. There’s a reason why this band are considered Perth’s pop darlings, producing some amazing, highly enjoyable music. |
Continue reading The Bank Holidays “Sail Becomes A Kite” CD Review
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Arriving back to Australia after showcase performances for Musexpo and Music Matters across the UK, USA and Hong Kong, Drawn from Bees are about to jump right back on a plane to Sydney to embark on a national tour in support of their May 21 released album Fear Not The Footsteps Of The Departed.
Fear Not… is the band’s most multi-layered and complex release to date, juxtaposing Drawn from Bees’ most heartbreakingly beautiful songs with their most intellectual rock concepts and experimental soundscapes – sampling choirs and iPhones alike amongst almost spiritual laments of loss and love. |
Continue reading Drawn from Bees “Fear Not” National Tour – July 2010
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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (the NSW Central Coast, to be exact), there lived a little girl called Laura. For all obvious intents and purposes she appeared to be a (fairly) normal little girl. She liked playing elastics, capturing insects, watching Punky Brewster and roller-skating round in circles on the driveway. |
Hot on the heels of last week’s announcement that PHILADELPHIA GRAND JURY will be joining WOLFMOTHER at THE JD SET in Melbourne on 29 July, we are pleased to announce that the band who Australian music fans have chosen to support these amazing headliners is NEW NAVY! Continue reading The JD Set winners New Navy to join Wolfmother and The Philly Jays!
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Heathen Child, the new single from the band Grinderman, will be released on 27th August. The premiere offering from their new studio album Grinderman 2, Heathen Child will be released through Mute with the complete album following on 10th September.
The song Heathen Child cuts a deep seductively heavy groove interjected with dazzling squalls of saw-tooth distortion. It abounds in lyrical imagery at turns lascivious, paranoid, philosophic, absurd and flat out abusive. |
The video, vividly directed by long-time collaborator John Hillcoat, brings the ominous sensuality and surreal malevolence of the lyrics to life; but it also demonstrates clear evidence of the fun and imagination Grinderman have working together.
Continue reading Grinderman – New Single ‘Heathen Child’ Out August 27
Review: Lana Harris
  – Matriarch
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Based in Melbourne, Five Star Prison Cell began destroying young people’s hearing in 2005. They’ve since completed an impressive array of tours including supporting Bloodduster in Oz and Dillinger Escape Plan in the US. Matriarch represents the third album for the four piece line up which includes vocalist Adam Glynn, guitarist Mark Holain, bassist Cameron MacDonald and drummer Marc Whitworth.
Their sound is often described as ‘math metal’ (which refers to the group’s use of complex rhythmic structures and structuring songs using unusual time signatures), and the tracks contain a lot of syncopated sounds. But beneath these labyrinthine twists and turns in the songs is enough |
good, strong riffage to impress upon those of less technically inclined the fact that Five Star Prison Cell also makes tracks you can bang your head to easily.
As soon as the album starts, you are hit on all sides by the power of drummer Marc Whitworth. He drills the sounds into your mind from every direction simultaneously, forceful, but more layered and interesting than just a wall of sound. The momentum he starts during opening track ‘I Curse This Vessel’ just keeps building until ‘Modus Operandi’, which appears just before mid way on the album. This was the stand out track, a mountain of sound, a blistering explosion that would crack apart even five star cell walls. As it finishes, its hard not to wonder where it could go from there, how the pace could be maintained. Then ‘Paramountain’ begins, and the band takes a step back, providing a space in which to rebuild and change direction, a space whose intro is narrated in Greek.
Having made some room, the second half of the album provides for more appreciation of other band members. This is particularly evident on ‘Loss of Gravitas’ which is a tremendous display of the power of Glynn’s vocals, an exploration in low range growls amidst strong screaming, and also on ‘Forlorn’, which brings MacDonald into the spotlight and strange as it sounds, provided some groove elements to the track, demonstrating the band’s commitment to creating interesting music by doing things differently. Although lyrics throughout are not easily distinguishable, an exception is found in the final track ‘Lamia’ on which the amusing sentiments can easily be deciphered (but they’re not really suitable for printing!). Matriarch was an enjoyable album and one which those not versed in the sub genres of metal can still enjoy as a good dose of satisfyingly heavy music.
– Matriarch – Five Star Prison Cell
Related:
Dillinger Escape Plan + Maylene and the Sons of Disaster @ The Hi Fi, Brisbane 25 May 2010 [Live Review]
Review: Dillinger Escape Plan @ The Metro Theatre – Friday May 21, 2010
Interview: Ben Weinman – The Dillinger Escape Plan
Audio Interview: Ben Weinman – The Dillinger Escape Plan *The Audio version*
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Australian Tour – May 2010 (TOUR DETAILS)
– Buy: The Dillinger Escape Plan from iTunes
Ekka Concert Series presented by B105, Triple M and Radar
Make sure you don’t miss this year’s headlining performances, which are all included in the price of your Ekka Ticket!
This year’s music line-up offers 5 BIG nights of indie pop and rock that will pump up the volume and get feet a-tapping! The Ekka has been a launching pad for many local acts which have gone on to receive national and international acclaim. This year’s line-up is a combination of acts who have already achieved overseas fame and up-and-coming bands on the cusp of an international music career. Continue reading Ekka 2010 Concert Series with The Grates, The Beautiful Girls, Vanessa Amorosi and more!
Review: Lana Harris
 – Dan Parsons |
When writing about music, there’s a variety of words to use in order to avoid saying ‘song’ over and over again. For the most part, these words are interchangeable – the exact meaning matters little. Dan Parsons’ music took exception to this and the word ‘ditty’ just kept springing to mind. The exact meaning of ‘ditty’ is a short simple song, a poem intended to be sung, and this description fits his musical style like a ripped pair of skinny jeans fits indie pop.
The tracks on Firestarter are all short pop numbers, hanging around the three minute mark and taking inspiration from the catalogue of relationship |
experiences that pop loves to work with. Parsons’uses a reflective, ruminative style to shape his words, which invoke images from the time of life found in the space after school, drifting past innocence but having not yet arrived anywhere else.
Continue reading Dan Parsons – “Firestarter” LP Review
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Review: Ben Hosking
For the uninitiated, young UK group Rolo Tomassi (named after a character from the movie LA Confidential) is a scary listening experience. Hell, they’re still a scary listen even after a few rotations of their 2008 debut album ‘Hysterics’. Fronted by diminutive blonde ingénue Eva Spence, the group play what has been affectionately termed as punk-jazz, whilst on occasion thrown in with the mathcore crowds. |
 Click here to Buy the DVD. |
Review: Ben Hosking
Perhaps the biggest thing to make or break a live music DVD is the audio mix. Some nail it while so many others fall by the wayside with weak, muddy, uneven or noisy mixes. Thankfully for Clutch – 20 year veterans of the ‘stoner’ rock genre, or whatever it is you may like to call it – it’s immediately obvious that ‘Live at the 9:30’ is going to be a genuinely enjoyable watching experience. |
While it’s so easy to lumber Clutch in with the rest of the stoner crowd, their style boasts too many other elements to keep it restrained to such a narrow pigeon hole. It’s also – more often than not – too energetic and vibrant to properly fit. Existing fan or not, watching this two DVD set will certainly go far to leaving you with an entirely new perception and appreciation of the Maryland four piece. Continue reading Clutch – “Live at the 9:30” – DVD Review
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Overwhelmed by demand to play shows in regional areas. Aussie rockers Grinspoon announce an extensive new run of new dates for their Six To Midnight Tour.
With the tour starting on the 29th of July in Tasmania the show will see the lads weave their way through the ACT, regional New South Wales and Victoria before hitting the last stretch of the tour in South Australia. |
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The hugely successful first leg of the tour in March, saw the band playing at “Sold-Out” venues like The Enmore Theatre and HiFi Bar in Melbourne to a very energetic crowds. Grinspoon are looking forward to the opportunity to engage with their regional fans with their amazing show and unique support line-up. Continue reading Grinspoon “Six To Midnight” Tour – new dates added July-Sep 2010