Xiu Xiu Plays The Music of Twin Peaks @ The Substation, Newport, 23.06.2017
For a moment, when technical difficulties intrude, Jamie Stewart’s mask slips. “Sometimes, all you can do is just fucking start over” he offers to the crowd at Melbourne’s electrical-warehouse-come-arty-locale The Substation. It’s only song two of the evening, but Stewart’s missed vocal entrance is easily forgiven – given the scope of the evening, it’s a […]
Kirin J Callinan @ The Foundry, Brisbane, 09.06.2017
The story of Kirin J Callinan post-Mercy Arms has been remarkable without question. In the wake of 2013’s Embracism, his following and reputation have undeniably grown. Yet for anyone with a greater interest in sweeping statements of musical identity than drip feeds of social media content, there’s creeping question that, as well loved and enmeshed […]
The Blurst of Times @ The Foundry, Black Bear Lodge, and The Brightside, Brisbane, 29.04.2017
Opening The Blurst of Times’ fourth iteration at The Foundry is an exceptionally powerful performance from Brisbane’s 100%. Melding synth pop to harder-edged industrial dance, the trio revamps some of the bleak allure of early ‘80s new romanticism. Casting a commanding stage presence, band leader Lena Molnar croons and smoulders between sudden moments of elevation. […]
‘Humanz’, Gorillaz: Subjectivity Is Not an Inherent Human Trait
By Athanasios Lazarou The most interesting thing about Gorillaz long awaited return isn’t the music (it’s inconsistent at best), it’s how the album is being delivered. Humanz is album that insists on both its own commercialism and its refusal of authorship. After a 7-year hiatus we not only get a 26-track album with collaborators such as […]
Neurosis + DISPOSSESSED @ Triffid,16.02.2017
By Tom McCall California’s Neurosis have spent the last 30 years delivering some of the most confronting and boundary-defying metal of any era. Having been a fan for several years and knowing their reputation for notoriously intense live shows, there was no way I was going to miss this performance, especially with Sydney’s DISPOSSESSED in […]
The Year I Officially Became The Bride of Jesus: How and Why I Cried My Eyes Out Watching Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
By Darcy Rhodes After not cutting my hair for a year, I started hearing that I looked like Nick Cave. These comparisons only became more frequent when I began singing in a baritone. When I started dating a girl whose family idolised the man, the comment became a compliment. Last year when Nick Cave’s son […]
Why the Australian Music Press needs to get in the bin
The collective Australian music press needs to be congratulated this week for hitting new lows that you just wouldn’t have thought possible. Triple j, as with most of the other Australian music press, deserves to be congratulated for naming the victim of abuse and threatening behaviour from the lead singer of unfathomably popular Sydney white […]
Solange – A Seat At The Table (Columbia Records)
By Lizzie Irwin A Seat At The Table, Solange’s third album is a bittersweet diary of black existence in 2016. It’s soulful R&B is relatively minimalistic when compared with the already sleekly (Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange) produced 2012 True EP. The production is delicate but the messages are heavy-handed, stirring and vital in a […]
Athens Popfest, Day 2 – The Dance
Punisher of drums for Deerhoof (and fellow introvert) Greg Saunier, shot by the lovely folk of Gauche. All videos by Jason Seiple. Thursday, August 11, 2016 T-Shirt for the day: Melt-Banana tee, grey. Acquired back in April after seeing Melt-Banana open for Melvins (in 20 minutes or less). You cannot force the dance. The dance […]
Rattle – Rattle (Upset the Rhythm)
There’s the old saying that ‘writing about music is like dancing about architecture’, i.e. pointless. But as Robert Christgau rightly retorts: “One of the many foolish things about the fools who compare writing about music to dancing about architecture is that dancing usually is about architecture. When bodies move in relation to a designed space, be it […]
