This, my friends, is well overdue. So I'll just get down to it! Presenting first, the top TWENTY albums of 2012. Yes, I personally felt that 2012 delivered so many goddamn good albums that it warranted extending a top 10 into a top 20, just to fit the awesomeness in! And even so, there are still some more that didn't quite make the cut that should've! Anyway, due to this being so late, I'm going to add reviews at such a time when I can be bothered, which might not actually happen ever. Who knows? Anyway, let's get cracking.
20. The Beards - Having a Beard is the New Not Having a Beard (Australia)
19. Redcoats - Redcoats (Australia)
18. Dead Can Dance - Anastasis (Australia/UK)
17. Future of the Left - The Plot Against Common Sense (UK)
16. Adrift for Days - Come Midnight... (Australia)
15. Jack White - Blunderbuss (USA)
14. The xx - Coexist (UK)
13. The Siren Tower - A History of Houses (Australia)
12. OFF! - OFF! (USA)
11. Maximum Wolf - Spacescapes (Australia)
.....................................
10. Breaking Orbit - The Time Traveller (Australia)
9. Okera - A Beautiful Dystopia (Australia)
8. Dirty Three - Toward the Low Sun (Australia)
7. Tame Impala - Lonerism (Australia)
6. Saskwatch - Leave it All Behind (Australia)
5. Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I (Australia)
4. Alcest - Les Voyages de l'Âme (France)
3. Twelve Foot Ninja - Silent Machine (Australia)
2. Swans - The Seer (USA)
1.Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light (UK)
Whew. What a quality year it was; like I said, there was so much good music that it just seemed like a top ten wouldn't cut it, in terms of fitting everything in. Something that's definitely notable about this year, like it was in 2010, is that bands from Australia made some fucking great albums! And it's a complete coincidence too; I don't favour a band any more (or less) just because they come from my home country, but it turns out that a LOT of the best albums released were from Australian bands. Thirteen out of the top twenty albums were from homegrown bands, and even more impressively, SEVEN of the top ten were Australian acts. Local music is good music! Anyway, so now we turn our attention to the best five EPs of the year... they were...
5. Birds of Tokyo - This Fire
4. High Tension - High Tension
3. Maximum Wolf - ii
2. Sheriff - Sheriff
1. Sub Atari Knives - Sub Atari Knives
These always seem to be local acts, don't they? I think it's something to do with the size of the acts - the bigger overseas acts are less likely to release music in the shortened form once they've established themselves, and tend to focus on producing actual albums. Whereas the local acts represented here (with one slight exception) are in a pretty early stage of their career, and at this point it seems to be better to just give everyone a quick taste of where they're at and what they're about, rather than put all their time and effort into making an album when most people in the music community aren't even aware they exist yet. Anyway, that's just my take on things! It's great to see once again that local talent ruled this countdown!
The year's top five songs:
5. Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
4. Saskwatch - Your Love
3. Twelve Foot Ninja - Coming for You
2. Spiritualized - Hey Jane
1. Swans - The Seer
And the final award for best live release... a definite no-contest here!
The Chemical Brothers - Don't Think
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
And so ends yet another year!
Well, it certainly has been a while since I posted last, and it seems the frequency of blog posts decreased severely in 2012! But anyway, might as well get the 2013 ball rolling with my usual end of year post that comes out around this time. It's been absolute aeons since I last posted a live review, so I won't mention every gig that's happened since then, but I will say a few words about the gigs of November and December just to wrap things up. In terms of great music, it was a great year, and the concluding moments were no exception!
The first major event on my calendar in November was the amusingly titled Cup My Balls, an afternoon/evening mini-festival held, not surprisingly, on Melbourne Cup Day, at that iconic Collingwood venue on the corner of Johnston and Wellington Streets. Yes, the Tote. Acting as a great alternative for the Melbourne music faithful, most of whom probably don't give a fuck about horse racing, a swag of great local acts and their fans crammed into the venue for a fucking AWESOME barbeque, a healthy serving of alcohol, and of course, some rock 'n' fucking roll! Bands on the day included the likes of Harmony, Sun God Replica, Sheriff and Batpiss, among others, and though my memory of the day is understandably a little hazy, it's fair to say the tunes couldn't have been more solid!
A few days later, it was off to a venue just up the road, the Evelyn Hotel, as a relatively fresh act on the Melbourne scene, Sub Atari Knives, took to the stage to deliver another absolute belter - they've only been playing shows together for about a year, but the three musicians involved are no strangers to the stage at all. Vocalist Hugo Tremayne once fronted the experimental drum-and-bass outfit K-Oscillate, while funktastic bassist Nick Adams was part of the much-loved and much-missed Melbourne rockers Mammal, and drummer/electronics wizard Ben Ellingworth was arguably one of the driving forces of Sydney industrial/metal hybrid MM9. This particular gig was to launch the band's much-anticipated debut EP, which surprisingly manages to capture the band's intense live sound very well. And for the launch, another intense live show it was indeed! Making great use once again of a nifty split-screen light/visual effect, and cranking the sound desk to its maximum, those in attendance were certainly not hesitating to obey Tremayne's demands to "MOVE AND SWAY!", as he so viciously demands in the band's eponymous anthem Sub Atari Knives.
The first major event on my calendar in November was the amusingly titled Cup My Balls, an afternoon/evening mini-festival held, not surprisingly, on Melbourne Cup Day, at that iconic Collingwood venue on the corner of Johnston and Wellington Streets. Yes, the Tote. Acting as a great alternative for the Melbourne music faithful, most of whom probably don't give a fuck about horse racing, a swag of great local acts and their fans crammed into the venue for a fucking AWESOME barbeque, a healthy serving of alcohol, and of course, some rock 'n' fucking roll! Bands on the day included the likes of Harmony, Sun God Replica, Sheriff and Batpiss, among others, and though my memory of the day is understandably a little hazy, it's fair to say the tunes couldn't have been more solid!
A few days later, it was off to a venue just up the road, the Evelyn Hotel, as a relatively fresh act on the Melbourne scene, Sub Atari Knives, took to the stage to deliver another absolute belter - they've only been playing shows together for about a year, but the three musicians involved are no strangers to the stage at all. Vocalist Hugo Tremayne once fronted the experimental drum-and-bass outfit K-Oscillate, while funktastic bassist Nick Adams was part of the much-loved and much-missed Melbourne rockers Mammal, and drummer/electronics wizard Ben Ellingworth was arguably one of the driving forces of Sydney industrial/metal hybrid MM9. This particular gig was to launch the band's much-anticipated debut EP, which surprisingly manages to capture the band's intense live sound very well. And for the launch, another intense live show it was indeed! Making great use once again of a nifty split-screen light/visual effect, and cranking the sound desk to its maximum, those in attendance were certainly not hesitating to obey Tremayne's demands to "MOVE AND SWAY!", as he so viciously demands in the band's eponymous anthem Sub Atari Knives.
On the second weekend of November, it was time to make the trek in a south direction once again, to the absolutely gorgeous setting of Werribee Park, for the second edition of Harvest Festival. The festival launched itself onto the scene with great fanfare last year, and despite a few teething problems, it was agreed upon more or less unanimously by the punters - it was just a fucking great festival. The return of the festival was looking to be another cracker, with an exciting lineup bursting at the seams with an interesting, slightly left-field and very diverse collection of acts. With interest in the festival increasing significantly since its triumphant debut, the initial Melbourne date on Sunday sold out and it was decided that there would be a great enough demand for the event to be staged twice - the lineup simply repeated itself on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was the much-less crowded day, as punters very comfortably soaked up the sun and tunes. The lineup certainly had it all, and yours truly had an excellent day, seeing the following bands, in order of their appearance:
Los Campesinos!, The Dandy Warhols, Silversun Pickups, Mike Patton's Mondo Cane, CAKE, Ben Folds Five, Beck, Fuck Buttons, Sigur Rós. WHEW! It's hard to pick a highlight, really. Fuck Buttons took the cake for my favourite set of the day - after all, I had an absolute blast watching them play their first Australian shows as part of the ATP Festival in 2009 and the subsequent sideshow. They went on to release my favourite album of that year, Tarot Sport, but hadn't made a return visit down under until this festival, so I was pretty fucking psyched to see them, and they lived up to all expectations! As for the rest, Sigur Rós were always going to be amazing, Ben Folds Five were unbelievably fun (how can you go past a Song for the Dumped singalong?), CAKE were vibraslap-tastic, Silversun Pickups were incredible as always, and Mike Patton is fucking Mike Patton. That's about it really! More or less every act I saw was at the very least excellent!
Los Campesinos!, The Dandy Warhols, Silversun Pickups, Mike Patton's Mondo Cane, CAKE, Ben Folds Five, Beck, Fuck Buttons, Sigur Rós. WHEW! It's hard to pick a highlight, really. Fuck Buttons took the cake for my favourite set of the day - after all, I had an absolute blast watching them play their first Australian shows as part of the ATP Festival in 2009 and the subsequent sideshow. They went on to release my favourite album of that year, Tarot Sport, but hadn't made a return visit down under until this festival, so I was pretty fucking psyched to see them, and they lived up to all expectations! As for the rest, Sigur Rós were always going to be amazing, Ben Folds Five were unbelievably fun (how can you go past a Song for the Dumped singalong?), CAKE were vibraslap-tastic, Silversun Pickups were incredible as always, and Mike Patton is fucking Mike Patton. That's about it really! More or less every act I saw was at the very least excellent!
Nobody could deny that November was a fucking GREAT month for live music, for only six days after Harvest, it was time to head to the Palace Theatre (via Mrs Parmas!) for a date with incendiary Swedish hardcore legends, Refused. After they announced to the world that they were "NOT FUCKING DEAD" earlier in the year, the always-resourceful AJ Maddah and Soundwave Touring quickly locked them in for an Australian tour - lucky too, as they would soon go on to say that the reunion was only to be a temporary one, so they could play some shows and leave things on a positive note. Quite simply, they absolutely SMASHED the Palace. Reunion tours can often be difficult things to pull off successfully, and sometimes things just don't quite seem to work out onstage - but not this time! The band played with unreserved passion and conviction, showing that they had not lost any of their fire. Unbelievable.
Radiohead. What more could you say about this band? It had been a long, long, eight years since the band last appeared on our shores, and when the news that they were returning broke, shit was lost, and tickets disappeared in an instant - and appeared on eBay pretty damn quickly. It certainly reignited the old scalping debate, but in November, all that was forgotten, as Messrs Yorke, Greenwood, Greenwood, O'Brien and Selway finally arrived on our shores - they also brought along a friend with them, with Portishead's touring drummer Clive Deamer coming along for the ride to provide extra percussive and drumming awesomeness. The band had some pretty goddamn high expectations riding on them, but it was fair to say they absolutely delivered on all counts - it was a marathon setlist (Brisbane got THREE encores!) filled with old favourites, exciting new tunes and some unexpected surprises here and there, accompanied by a visual extravaganza involving moving mini-TVs, trippy videos and lighting that could simultaneously induce, and cure blindness!
The following week was Melbourne Music Week, and as always, the team involved did a pretty fucking outstanding job of making sure there was plenty of interesting gigs happening around this great city. The centrepiece of this year's festival was the much-talked about Where?House venue, an old building in the city in a state of disrepair/construction work. Giving the venue a bit of a makeover with the addition of a bar, a stage and various other little bits and pieces, it was observed by a friend of mine that "Melbourne's sort of got a little piece of Berlin now" as we enjoyed the electronic sounds of Vadislav Delay, Harmonic 313 and Tantrums on a Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the use of the venue was only temporary, but I can truly say it's probably the most interesting gig location I've ever experienced, and I can only feel sorry for those who didn't.
Cherry Bar, Cherry Bar, Cherry Bar. That little bar down AC/DC Lane hasn't been around as long as some venues, but it's quickly become synonymous with rock 'n' roll music in Melbourne, and not without reason. In recent years the bar has begun hosting the Cherry Rock festival, utilising the laneway space with a complementary stage in addition to the one in the venue itself. This year a second festival rolled along later in the year, simply entitled Cherryfest. With the help of Rob Macmanus's much-loved Heathen Skulls Touring brand, the festival scored two massive OS headliners in the form of New Orleans sludge metal demons Eyehategod, and the latest incarnation of the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group, a new band by the name of Bosnian Rainbows. But it wasn't all about the internationals - the day also featured a very healthy selection of local favourites such as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, King Parrot, Tumbleweed and even a most improbable reunion for cult stoner rockers Dern Rutlidge! It was certainly a fun day and night, with plenty of booze and good rocking tunes. Surprisingly the laneway didn't get too cramped either! And Eyehategod fucking SLAYED.
If there's been one band who have soundtracked my 2012, it's been Sheriff. I lost count ages ago of the amount of evenings I've spent enjoying these dudes with their southernpsychedelichorrorbluesrock sounds - and to be quite honest, they're pretty fucking fun dudes off the stage too. On the very last day of November, they got themselves the honour of supporting the ridiculously awesome, over-the-top heavy metal warriors Barbariön, as they plundered and pillaged the relatively new Footscray venue, the Reverence Hotel for a single launch. With the rowdy Vice Grip Pussies also in the support saddle, the night was, it's fair to say, a whole lot of fun, especially considering it was my first visit to the Reverence. I'd certainly been looking forward to it for some time, given that it's the new venue operated by the old team from the beloved and much-missed Arthouse, and the general opinion among those who've been there is the same - this little bar in the west is quite an awesome spot!
December's gigs kicked off in a big way two days later, as a small but passionate collective of those "in the know" made their way to a relatively unusual location for a gig - a park in Melbourne's north-west, for the long-awaited return of that mysterious event known simply as The Generator Party. It had been a while between drinks for this event - there was a much lower-key version held in 2011, but the last of the "original" run of parties had been held way back at the end of 2010. Anticipation was high for this Sunday afternoon, and it seemed that by the end of the day, everyone agreed that Generator Five had lived up to all expectations. First up, the location - TICK. It sounds so obvious to say it, but a good park location with lots of grass and trees does make for pleasant surroundings for a gig; furthermore it was just a stone's throw away from the location of the inaugural three, which was a good way to keep with the tradition set by the original. The second, and arguably the most important aspect of the day, was of course THE BANDS. And with the likes of Tantrums, The Hawaiian Islands, Them Bruins and A Gazillion Angry Mexicans (among others) taking to thestage patch of grass, there were certainly no complaints on that front! A nice day outside in the sunshine with rock and roll, beers and a barbeque - what else does one need to kick off summer?!
Any doubts about whether summer/December had truly arrived yet were quickly erased the following weekend, as Eskys were filled with Melbourne Bitter cans, and tents, sleeping bags and a whole lot of questionable food were crammed into cars. Said cars then set off on a journey toward a place that has become something of a second home for music lovers in and around the Melbourne area, and somewhere around lunchtime on Friday the 7th of December, the glorious realisation settled in - we were BACK AT THE MEREDITH SUPERNATURAL AMPHITHEATRE. 2011 had arguably been the biggest year yet for Meredith Music Festival; it wasn't really surprising that all the stops were pulled out, given that it was celebrating its twenty-first birthday. However, just because the party had reached dizzying heights the year before, that certainly didn't mean Aunty was about to do things half-arsed this time around, and Meredith 2012 was just as enjoyable as those that had preceded it. It's one of those festivals where just about every act can get mentioned as being enjoyable for at least some people, and certainly at the end of the weekend, if the question "Who was your highlight?" was asked, any number of responses could have followed. "Headlining" honours this time around went to Scottish psych rock stalwarts Primal Scream; they certainly lived up to all expectations, with the crowd giving them plenty of love for a Saturday night set that spanned music of approximately twenty years - three new unreleased tunes were given an airing, but it was the old favourites that truly delighted the punters. Why wouldn't you play five songs (in a thirteen-song set) from such a classic album as Screamadelica, after all?! Other than Bobby Gillespie and his friends, there was plenty of music to love across the typically massive three days. Local soul/funk juggernaut Saskwatch were responsible for creating one of the biggest boogies on the Sunday afternoon of Golden Plains 2012, and were rewarded with a prime-time Saturday evening slot for their return to the Supernatural Amphitheatre - and the audience absolutely loved them again. Mario Rubalcaba certainly put in a lot of effort over the weekend, making appearances behind the drum kit with not one, but TWO great acts - on Friday night, it was with the psychedelic jamtastic trio Earthless, while on Saturday, he appeared halfway through a ripping set by punk stalwarts Hot Snakes. Psychedelia was a variety of music certainly not in short supply over the weekend, with Pond opening the festival with a bang on Friday, with a few of their members taking to the stage again later that night with their "big brother" counterpart, Tame Impala. British legends of all things spacey and trippy, Spiritualized were certainly well-received too, as their cosmic anthems of love, loss and despair seemed to be just made to be played in the Sup'. Saturday night just had a lineup where all signs pointed squarely to good times - in between the aforementioned Primal Scream and Saskwatch, Australian heroes Regurgitator busted out a brilliant set which had everyone dancing and singing along (despite the fact they've just done a tour playing those albums in their ENTIRETY, there were LOTS of songs from Unit and Tu-Plang of course), and Norwegian deathpunk rockers Turbonegro turned up the volume and riffs considerably! After an excellent return of the Meredith Sky Show (it doesn't happen every year), the party rolled on to great effect, with the music taking a hard left turn into "dance" territory. A clever VJ mash-up set by DJ Flagrant was well-received for its inventiveness and nostalgic value; then cult Australian rave duo Itch-E & Scratch-E took to the stage. Dressed as their namesake cartoon characters, Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen belted out a technotastic selection of tunes from their small but impressive discography, and all those punters who were still awake (quite a few!) got their boogie on! Boredoms mainman Yamantaka Eye then took the reins, but by then most people, including yours truly, were well on their way to bed!
And a couple of weeks later, surprise surprise, it was back to Cherry, for MORE. FUCKING. SHERIFF! This evening was quite a momentous occasion, as they stepped up to the plate to support good mates My Left Boot, who were launching their cracking album Summer Songs. Along for the ride also were Melbourne's best two-piece-that-sound-bigger-than-a-two-piece, King of the North - so the night was looking to be quite the party to say the least! It's fair to say it absolutely was - Sheriff got the ball rolling with their usual stomping, swaggering rock and roll tunes, before KotN amped up the riff factor, and then the mighty My Left Boot brought the house down with their somewhat psychedelic flavoured but no less intense rock numbers - and how about that freakin falsetto?! Cherry Bar has a reputation for, well, getting a little bit loose, and it has to be said that quite a big night was had by yours truly and a few friends. It is the sign of a good night when you're helping your friend stick his amp in the back of a cab at 4:30am!
What gig then, to finish the year off, you ask? Well, it could really be no other band - no, it wasn't Sheriff, but another Melbourne group whom I've become somewhat obsessed with in the last couple of years; their name is of course Sydonia. Taking to the stage of Fitzroy's iconic Evelyn Hotel, on the last Saturday for the year the experimental hard-rocking four-piece decided to play a special set focused on their heaviest numbers - due in part to the fact that the bill featured a healthy selection of rather intense acts! Certainly a good gig to wrap things up for a year that certainly had its fair share of awesome live music!
December's gigs kicked off in a big way two days later, as a small but passionate collective of those "in the know" made their way to a relatively unusual location for a gig - a park in Melbourne's north-west, for the long-awaited return of that mysterious event known simply as The Generator Party. It had been a while between drinks for this event - there was a much lower-key version held in 2011, but the last of the "original" run of parties had been held way back at the end of 2010. Anticipation was high for this Sunday afternoon, and it seemed that by the end of the day, everyone agreed that Generator Five had lived up to all expectations. First up, the location - TICK. It sounds so obvious to say it, but a good park location with lots of grass and trees does make for pleasant surroundings for a gig; furthermore it was just a stone's throw away from the location of the inaugural three, which was a good way to keep with the tradition set by the original. The second, and arguably the most important aspect of the day, was of course THE BANDS. And with the likes of Tantrums, The Hawaiian Islands, Them Bruins and A Gazillion Angry Mexicans (among others) taking to the
Any doubts about whether summer/December had truly arrived yet were quickly erased the following weekend, as Eskys were filled with Melbourne Bitter cans, and tents, sleeping bags and a whole lot of questionable food were crammed into cars. Said cars then set off on a journey toward a place that has become something of a second home for music lovers in and around the Melbourne area, and somewhere around lunchtime on Friday the 7th of December, the glorious realisation settled in - we were BACK AT THE MEREDITH SUPERNATURAL AMPHITHEATRE. 2011 had arguably been the biggest year yet for Meredith Music Festival; it wasn't really surprising that all the stops were pulled out, given that it was celebrating its twenty-first birthday. However, just because the party had reached dizzying heights the year before, that certainly didn't mean Aunty was about to do things half-arsed this time around, and Meredith 2012 was just as enjoyable as those that had preceded it. It's one of those festivals where just about every act can get mentioned as being enjoyable for at least some people, and certainly at the end of the weekend, if the question "Who was your highlight?" was asked, any number of responses could have followed. "Headlining" honours this time around went to Scottish psych rock stalwarts Primal Scream; they certainly lived up to all expectations, with the crowd giving them plenty of love for a Saturday night set that spanned music of approximately twenty years - three new unreleased tunes were given an airing, but it was the old favourites that truly delighted the punters. Why wouldn't you play five songs (in a thirteen-song set) from such a classic album as Screamadelica, after all?! Other than Bobby Gillespie and his friends, there was plenty of music to love across the typically massive three days. Local soul/funk juggernaut Saskwatch were responsible for creating one of the biggest boogies on the Sunday afternoon of Golden Plains 2012, and were rewarded with a prime-time Saturday evening slot for their return to the Supernatural Amphitheatre - and the audience absolutely loved them again. Mario Rubalcaba certainly put in a lot of effort over the weekend, making appearances behind the drum kit with not one, but TWO great acts - on Friday night, it was with the psychedelic jamtastic trio Earthless, while on Saturday, he appeared halfway through a ripping set by punk stalwarts Hot Snakes. Psychedelia was a variety of music certainly not in short supply over the weekend, with Pond opening the festival with a bang on Friday, with a few of their members taking to the stage again later that night with their "big brother" counterpart, Tame Impala. British legends of all things spacey and trippy, Spiritualized were certainly well-received too, as their cosmic anthems of love, loss and despair seemed to be just made to be played in the Sup'. Saturday night just had a lineup where all signs pointed squarely to good times - in between the aforementioned Primal Scream and Saskwatch, Australian heroes Regurgitator busted out a brilliant set which had everyone dancing and singing along (despite the fact they've just done a tour playing those albums in their ENTIRETY, there were LOTS of songs from Unit and Tu-Plang of course), and Norwegian deathpunk rockers Turbonegro turned up the volume and riffs considerably! After an excellent return of the Meredith Sky Show (it doesn't happen every year), the party rolled on to great effect, with the music taking a hard left turn into "dance" territory. A clever VJ mash-up set by DJ Flagrant was well-received for its inventiveness and nostalgic value; then cult Australian rave duo Itch-E & Scratch-E took to the stage. Dressed as their namesake cartoon characters, Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen belted out a technotastic selection of tunes from their small but impressive discography, and all those punters who were still awake (quite a few!) got their boogie on! Boredoms mainman Yamantaka Eye then took the reins, but by then most people, including yours truly, were well on their way to bed!
And a couple of weeks later, surprise surprise, it was back to Cherry, for MORE. FUCKING. SHERIFF! This evening was quite a momentous occasion, as they stepped up to the plate to support good mates My Left Boot, who were launching their cracking album Summer Songs. Along for the ride also were Melbourne's best two-piece-that-sound-bigger-than-a-two-piece, King of the North - so the night was looking to be quite the party to say the least! It's fair to say it absolutely was - Sheriff got the ball rolling with their usual stomping, swaggering rock and roll tunes, before KotN amped up the riff factor, and then the mighty My Left Boot brought the house down with their somewhat psychedelic flavoured but no less intense rock numbers - and how about that freakin falsetto?! Cherry Bar has a reputation for, well, getting a little bit loose, and it has to be said that quite a big night was had by yours truly and a few friends. It is the sign of a good night when you're helping your friend stick his amp in the back of a cab at 4:30am!
What gig then, to finish the year off, you ask? Well, it could really be no other band - no, it wasn't Sheriff, but another Melbourne group whom I've become somewhat obsessed with in the last couple of years; their name is of course Sydonia. Taking to the stage of Fitzroy's iconic Evelyn Hotel, on the last Saturday for the year the experimental hard-rocking four-piece decided to play a special set focused on their heaviest numbers - due in part to the fact that the bill featured a healthy selection of rather intense acts! Certainly a good gig to wrap things up for a year that certainly had its fair share of awesome live music!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Maximum Wolf - Spacescapes (album review)
If
there’s one musical craze that’s definitely risen to prominence in the past few
years, it’s that highly debated style of bass-heavy electronica known as
dubstep. Known for its distinctive repetition of oscillating so-called “wub wub
wub” synth patterns and ridiculously intense use of bass tones, what was once a
relatively underground phenomenon has suddenly gone quite mainstream, and the
sound has transcended several genre borders. Sonny Moore was once the vocalist
for a post-hardcore group From First to Last, but you may now know him for
packing out venues and headlining festivals worldwide under his Skrillex
moniker. The members of British space-rock superstars Muse attended a Skrillex
concert and were influenced by the phenomenon enough to include some of the
style on their new album. And even closer to home, Perth
progressive rockers Karnivool raised a few eyebrows in 2011 when they took
along dubstep/drum and bass producer Shockone on the road for a full national
tour, with the Perth musician taking to the decks for some very
un-rock-and-roll DJ sets immediately prior to Karnivool’s appearance. Make no
mistake, for the time being at least, dubstep is here to stay, and it’s
apparently not just a sound for the “ravers”.
Which
brings us to this here album – an entirely independent, and debut for that
matter, release from a young Melbourne producer going under the appropriately
animalistic alias of Maximum Wolf. Like the aforementioned acts, Maximum Wolf
comes from a more rock-oriented background. Known to most in the Melbourne
underground music scene by his last name Ramadge, or simply Ram, you may have
come across him fronting the scuzzy dance-punk prty-starting trio Humans. However, there’s very little
sonic overlap between Humans and Maximum Wolf, so if you’re expecting more of
the same with the cleverly-titled Spacescapes,
well, don’t. The album fires into life with Existence,
which, at seven minutes and twenty-six seconds, comfortably holds the title of
the longest track on the album. It is, as you would expect from a track of that
length, a slow-builder; beginning with gentle chiming synth leads and some
steadily rising glitchy beats. Some underlying bass rumbles set the tone nicely
for things to come, with the tension rising until finally, POW! At around the
five-minute mark, the whole thing disintegrates into a gloriously messy sonic
overload of synthesised distortion and broken beats. You’re already getting the
urge to dance around your bedroom/loungeroom like you’re out at your nightclub
of choice on a Friday night, and it’s only the first track.
From
then on in, Spacescapes rarely lets
up in its intensity and energy – if you’ve ever been to a Humans gig, you know
that Ram is one crazy character, and this is an album that won’t surprise you
in the least. Though dubstep is certainly a prominent stylistic influence on his
Maximum Wolf sound, he’s clearly willing to play around with other sounds and
there’s plenty of EDM bases covered here – groovy electro-house in tracks like EE, some borderline trance in Mysterious, experiments in breakbeat on
the likes of Jupiter, while some of
the later tracks on the album delve into some chilled-out ambience (see Neptune) and effectively act to as a
balance to some of the more intense moments on the album. Of which there are
plenty. You’ll be hard pressed to find a track (on any other album this year really)
with a more monstrous sound than Mystery,
with its window-rattling subsonic frequencies and hyperactive rave-tastic
beats. There’s a film clip online for that one too. It’s interesting to note
that in recent times, there has been a bit of an increased focus in the
electronic dance music scene on so-called “minimal” music and a “less is more”
approach – obviously nobody informed Maximum Wolf, with tracks like Sharks and CME proving that MORE IS MORE. And if this album is any indication,
hopefully there is indeed going to be more.
Key
tracks: Existence, Mystery, Sharks,
Jupiter
Sub Atari Knives - Sub Atari Knives (EP Review)
Everyone
loves a “supergroup”. At the very least, the formation of a new band whose
biography begins “featuring current/former members of...” always causes a bit
of excitement in the community who followed the members’ previous exploits, and
it is a successful, albeit slightly accidental, way of gaining the band an
early fanbase. Take Them Crooked
Vultures, for a recent example. The band were selling out gigs (in quite
large venues) before they’d even released one complete song, and why was that?
Because their vocalist/guitarist is Josh Homme, their drummer is Dave Grohl,
and their bassist/keyboardist is John Paul fucking Jones, that’s why. At a
smaller-scale local level, the formation of Sub Atari Knives in Melbourne in late 2011 got a lot of people immediately
talking, with a lineup boasting former members of K-Oscillate, Mammal, and MM9.
Hugo Tremayne (vocals), Nick Adams (bass) and Ben Ellingworth
(drums/programming) quickly got their heads together and wrote a bunch of
tunes, so they could get out there fast and perform some gigs to give the
curious fans an idea of what they sounded like. Though gigs haven’t been very
frequent, they have certainly been highly praised for their energy and massive
live electronic sound – and now the Sub Atarians have released an EP, which as
happens so often, raises that age-old question of “Can the band replicate their
live sound on their recordings?” (Or vice-versa.)
The answer,
in this case, is yes. The disc opens with Tremayne ambitiously boasting, “We
beat the common sound, we beat the common ground”, before a rapid crescendo of
drum-and-bass beats overtakes the senses, and Alter Ego gets the EP off to a great start. Though a few people
have commented that the band could use a live keyboardist/synth player, rather
than Ellingworth just using his laptop, in the comfort of your own home that
problem is simply not apparent. Heavily indebted to the current dubstep craze
that is sweeping the globe, Ellingworth’s vicious loops and buzzing synths
effortlessly create the kind of euphoria that is an essential part of good
electronic music these days.
The tracks
the band have chosen are a short but oh-so-sweet representation of where Sub
Atari Knives are at today, and the tunes might be familiar to fans with good
memories who have attended those handful of gigs. In terms of highlights, it’s
hard to go past Hear. Life. Spoken. ,
which more than anything else, is a great example of Hugo Tremayne’s impressive
vocal ability. As the EP progresses, it’s certainly something that stands out;
Tremayne’s obviously spent a bit of time listening to The Prodigy in his life,
but in no way is this a bad thing, as his aggressive vocal delivery is
extremely effective in getting the listeners’ attention. Nowhere is this more
evident that in the eponymous track Sub
Atari Knives, where the call to “Move and sway!” is one that has been
obeyed with great zest at previous Sub Atari live outings, and no doubt will be
in the future.
The presence
of Nick Adams, former bassist of Mammal, in this band has been a reason for
general excitement among fans of his previous work, but unfortunately on this
EP, it isn’t always exactly clear what the hell he’s doing. Obviously in
electronic music, the synthesised sounds and heavy beats play a major role, and
it’s because of this that Adams’ impressive chops sometimes take a backseat on
this disc. It’s not to say he can’t be noticed at all, but overall on the
musical side of things, it’s very much Ben Ellingworth leading the charge. Not
that that’s a bad thing, as overall, it’s just a solid EP. The music presented
here is of a very high standard and will hopefully see the Sub Atari Knives
name ascend to greater heights.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
"I've got the sun in my eyes, I didn't see you passing me by" - The Butterfly Effect @ Hi Fi Bar and Ballroom, 08/06/2012 (final show with Clint Boge)
Ten years in the music business is a very solid achievement for any band, and indeed there was good reason for Queensland's favourite prog-tinged hard rockers The Butterfly Effect to celebrate last year as they hit that milestone. However, it's fair to say most fans didn't expect what was coming next, when earlier this year the band's vocalist Clint Boge announced that he was leaving the band for good, for his own personal reasons and to turn his attention to other musical ventures. Luckily for fans and band alike, it was decided that the founding (and unchanged) lineup would embark on one final tour to give Boge the send-off he deserved, and on a Friday evening in June in the city of Melbourne, it was officially the end of an era. A absolutely packed to the rafters Hi Fi Bar was a fitting venue for such an occasion, given that the band have played many gigs here in the past and always drew a solid crowd. With old friends in The Siren Tower and The Khyber Belt warming the stage before them, the night was set from the word go to be something very special indeed.
The sampled sounds of the Erhu (a kind of Chinese violin) filled the room as Perth folkish rock act The Siren Tower kicked off their opening set with the haunting The Banishing of William McGuiness. With the impending release of their debut album A History of Houses just around the corner, there were a lot of people keen to see how they'd perform on this evening, and they lived up to the expectations of the growing Friday night crowd. The band are fronted by former Heavy Weight Champ frontman Grant McCulloch, and he was obviously the one to watch on this evening, as his powerful voice boomed out into the room with an obvious passion for the songs he was singing. He also appeared very comfortable talking to the crowd between songs, explaining what it was that he was singing about, and even throwing in a few cheeky but necessary plugs for The Siren Tower's performance the following night at St Kilda's iconic Esplanade Hotel. "I fuckin' love the Espy front bar," he remarked, to the approval of the crowd, before following it up with a correction. "I love the Hi Fi Bar too... I love all bars!" The Siren Tower's brand of low-key, very Australian-sounding tunes were a bit easygoing considering the occasion, but the punters still warmed to their sounds considerably, and they'd no doubt won themselves a few new fans by the end of their short set.
"Good evening Melbourne, we're The Khyber Belt!" - with that greeting from their always enthusiastic and happy frontman Forbes McKail, up-and-coming Melbourne/Brisvegas rockers The Khyber Belt seemed to be well ready to perform, and they kicked things off with an energetic performance of EP favourite Sun. The Khyber Belt only performed their first gig in March last year (although the five members have performed in various other bands throughout the years), and although it took them a while to settle in, they've now become a very enjoyable part of the city's vibrant live music scene. The release of their self-titled debut EP in October last year has also helped them get a bit of a leg-up, and they returned to the Hi Fi stage tonight after performing with Dead Letter Circus the previous month, at which they got quite a good response. It was much the same this evening, with their uptempo hard rock numbers getting the crowd slowly but surely moving in anticipation of the headliners. McKail also told a story of his introduction to The Butterfly Effect, reminiscing of how he once accompanied his friend (and guitarist in this very band) Tyson Fish to a gig at the Annandale back in the day, not even really knowing who The Butterfly Effect were at the time! It was a good way to set the tone for the evening, as everyone in the room no doubt had their own story of how they first experienced one of the most loved Australian bands of the past ten years. Finishing off with the stomping London, McKail's cries of "Burn this city down!" rallied the crowd, and so ended a pretty intense half-hour set which had certainly warmed the crowd up.
As the room filled to bursting point and the lights went down, a piano introduction filled the room - setting the tone for something a little different than what some may have been expecting from the act to come. As all other shows on this tour have done, the show began with the focus of the night, Mr Clint Boge, taking to the stage solo to sing along to a piano backing track in an exciting take on the old favourite, Beautiful Mine. About halfway through the song, Boge's haunting voice was drowned out by cheers as his bandmates made their way to the stage at perhaps an awkward moment - and then it was time, for one last time. The Butterfly Effect kicked off their last ever performance with their founding lineup with Window and the Watcher, which despite being somewhat disliked by a section of their fanbase (particularly the longest-serving fans), was still a solid anthem to kick off proceedings at a very special evening.
It was interesting to note that despite the celebratory nature of last year's ten year anniversary tour, many had observed that the band were not in the form that one would expect to justify such an occasion. However, this time around there were no such complaints - the boys clearly wanted Clint's final performances to be as memorable as possible, and so it was clear that they'd really put in the effort to make sure they were as tight as possible. In contrast to last year too, the band went all-out on putting together a stellar setlist; alongside all the usual favourites such as One Second of Insanity and A Slow Descent, there were also several seldom played rarities such as Phoenix and Consequence, and even a cover of Helmet's classic Wilma's Rainbow. In addition to this, there were a pair of reworked acoustic versions of TBE favourites; with Everybody Runs and Gone adding a special touch to the evening.
In the interviews leading up to this tour, there had been some unusually candid moments from the band, with them being pretty honest about the fact that they were no longer getting on very well was what lead to Boge's departure. However, tonight it seemed all that was put aside, with the band genuinely seeming to be having a great time for their last performance together. Boge himself wasn't letting the opportunity go to waste, as he strutted from one end of the stage to the other, smiling from ear-to-ear and always encouraging his fans to sing along - for the last time, as it were. In the early stages of the band's set, the boys were happy to just let the music do the talking, but as time wore on, it was clear that Clint wanted to say a few words to properly say goodbye. "I remember when we first came to Melbourne, we played at the Espy Front Bar... with Cog!" he reminisced, with many punters smiling as they were reminded of another great Australian band who recently met their end. Boge went on to say that he "fuckin' hated" sharing a bill with Cog, such was their awesome musicianship, and revealed that The Butterfly Effect had been informed on that visit that the Hi Fi was the target venue in Melbourne to conquer. "So it's only fitting that I finish my time with the Butters here tonight!" he concluded, to suitable approval. Other anecdotes included recounting the story behind their breakout hit The Cell, which was dusted off for the first time in quite a while on this tour.
Slowly but surely, the set continued to progress, and before anyone in the crowd wanted to admit it, Boge and bandmates had departed the stage after The End, the last song of the encore. However, everyone knew that on some previous shows on this tour, the band had returned for one more song in a rare double encore - would that feat be repeated tonight? Would there be even more songs played, such was the special occasion? Well, there was a longer-than-usual wait, but indeed, The Butterfly Effect did return to the stage a third time, and when Clint Boge issued his next words, the grins on the punters' faces said it all - "These are the last three songs you get to sing!" For the first and only time on the tour, the band ripped into a pair of oldies from their debut self-titled EP, with Sweet & Low and Take It Away highlighting the sharp sonic contrast between old and new TBE material, and delighting the fans who sat at the more extreme end of the spectrum of dedication to the band. But it was a tried and true stayer with everyone that was to be Clint Boge's last song tonight, and the crowd didn't hesitate to join in - there was a sad but somewhat joyful irony in the lyrics of Always, as Boge's last sung lines were shouted back to him by the near-exhausted crowd - "I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS!" Finally, it was over. Boge remained on the stage for as long as possible, smiling and sharing the final moments onstage with his friends of ten years, or as he fondly described them, his "music writing life partners", before finally exiting to a mixture of cheers, tears and plenty of applause. Though the band had said up until this point that Clint was merely leaving, and the remaining members may yet decide to continue, you couldn't escape the feeling among the crowd that tonight had definitely been a farewell performance from the band itself, not just its frontman. Vale, The Butterfly Effect.
FINAL SETLIST:
Beautiful Mine (Clint solo; piano version)
Window and the Watcher
A Slow Descent
Phoenix
Perception Twin
Final Conversation
Aisles of White
Crave
Wilma's Rainbow (Helmet cover)
Room Without a View
Reach
Consequence
Everybody Runs (acoustic)
One Second of Insanity
Worlds on Fire
----Encore----
Gone (acoustic)
The Cell
The End
----Encore 2----
Sweet & Low
Take it Away
Always
The sampled sounds of the Erhu (a kind of Chinese violin) filled the room as Perth folkish rock act The Siren Tower kicked off their opening set with the haunting The Banishing of William McGuiness. With the impending release of their debut album A History of Houses just around the corner, there were a lot of people keen to see how they'd perform on this evening, and they lived up to the expectations of the growing Friday night crowd. The band are fronted by former Heavy Weight Champ frontman Grant McCulloch, and he was obviously the one to watch on this evening, as his powerful voice boomed out into the room with an obvious passion for the songs he was singing. He also appeared very comfortable talking to the crowd between songs, explaining what it was that he was singing about, and even throwing in a few cheeky but necessary plugs for The Siren Tower's performance the following night at St Kilda's iconic Esplanade Hotel. "I fuckin' love the Espy front bar," he remarked, to the approval of the crowd, before following it up with a correction. "I love the Hi Fi Bar too... I love all bars!" The Siren Tower's brand of low-key, very Australian-sounding tunes were a bit easygoing considering the occasion, but the punters still warmed to their sounds considerably, and they'd no doubt won themselves a few new fans by the end of their short set.
"Good evening Melbourne, we're The Khyber Belt!" - with that greeting from their always enthusiastic and happy frontman Forbes McKail, up-and-coming Melbourne/Brisvegas rockers The Khyber Belt seemed to be well ready to perform, and they kicked things off with an energetic performance of EP favourite Sun. The Khyber Belt only performed their first gig in March last year (although the five members have performed in various other bands throughout the years), and although it took them a while to settle in, they've now become a very enjoyable part of the city's vibrant live music scene. The release of their self-titled debut EP in October last year has also helped them get a bit of a leg-up, and they returned to the Hi Fi stage tonight after performing with Dead Letter Circus the previous month, at which they got quite a good response. It was much the same this evening, with their uptempo hard rock numbers getting the crowd slowly but surely moving in anticipation of the headliners. McKail also told a story of his introduction to The Butterfly Effect, reminiscing of how he once accompanied his friend (and guitarist in this very band) Tyson Fish to a gig at the Annandale back in the day, not even really knowing who The Butterfly Effect were at the time! It was a good way to set the tone for the evening, as everyone in the room no doubt had their own story of how they first experienced one of the most loved Australian bands of the past ten years. Finishing off with the stomping London, McKail's cries of "Burn this city down!" rallied the crowd, and so ended a pretty intense half-hour set which had certainly warmed the crowd up.
As the room filled to bursting point and the lights went down, a piano introduction filled the room - setting the tone for something a little different than what some may have been expecting from the act to come. As all other shows on this tour have done, the show began with the focus of the night, Mr Clint Boge, taking to the stage solo to sing along to a piano backing track in an exciting take on the old favourite, Beautiful Mine. About halfway through the song, Boge's haunting voice was drowned out by cheers as his bandmates made their way to the stage at perhaps an awkward moment - and then it was time, for one last time. The Butterfly Effect kicked off their last ever performance with their founding lineup with Window and the Watcher, which despite being somewhat disliked by a section of their fanbase (particularly the longest-serving fans), was still a solid anthem to kick off proceedings at a very special evening.
It was interesting to note that despite the celebratory nature of last year's ten year anniversary tour, many had observed that the band were not in the form that one would expect to justify such an occasion. However, this time around there were no such complaints - the boys clearly wanted Clint's final performances to be as memorable as possible, and so it was clear that they'd really put in the effort to make sure they were as tight as possible. In contrast to last year too, the band went all-out on putting together a stellar setlist; alongside all the usual favourites such as One Second of Insanity and A Slow Descent, there were also several seldom played rarities such as Phoenix and Consequence, and even a cover of Helmet's classic Wilma's Rainbow. In addition to this, there were a pair of reworked acoustic versions of TBE favourites; with Everybody Runs and Gone adding a special touch to the evening.
In the interviews leading up to this tour, there had been some unusually candid moments from the band, with them being pretty honest about the fact that they were no longer getting on very well was what lead to Boge's departure. However, tonight it seemed all that was put aside, with the band genuinely seeming to be having a great time for their last performance together. Boge himself wasn't letting the opportunity go to waste, as he strutted from one end of the stage to the other, smiling from ear-to-ear and always encouraging his fans to sing along - for the last time, as it were. In the early stages of the band's set, the boys were happy to just let the music do the talking, but as time wore on, it was clear that Clint wanted to say a few words to properly say goodbye. "I remember when we first came to Melbourne, we played at the Espy Front Bar... with Cog!" he reminisced, with many punters smiling as they were reminded of another great Australian band who recently met their end. Boge went on to say that he "fuckin' hated" sharing a bill with Cog, such was their awesome musicianship, and revealed that The Butterfly Effect had been informed on that visit that the Hi Fi was the target venue in Melbourne to conquer. "So it's only fitting that I finish my time with the Butters here tonight!" he concluded, to suitable approval. Other anecdotes included recounting the story behind their breakout hit The Cell, which was dusted off for the first time in quite a while on this tour.
Slowly but surely, the set continued to progress, and before anyone in the crowd wanted to admit it, Boge and bandmates had departed the stage after The End, the last song of the encore. However, everyone knew that on some previous shows on this tour, the band had returned for one more song in a rare double encore - would that feat be repeated tonight? Would there be even more songs played, such was the special occasion? Well, there was a longer-than-usual wait, but indeed, The Butterfly Effect did return to the stage a third time, and when Clint Boge issued his next words, the grins on the punters' faces said it all - "These are the last three songs you get to sing!" For the first and only time on the tour, the band ripped into a pair of oldies from their debut self-titled EP, with Sweet & Low and Take It Away highlighting the sharp sonic contrast between old and new TBE material, and delighting the fans who sat at the more extreme end of the spectrum of dedication to the band. But it was a tried and true stayer with everyone that was to be Clint Boge's last song tonight, and the crowd didn't hesitate to join in - there was a sad but somewhat joyful irony in the lyrics of Always, as Boge's last sung lines were shouted back to him by the near-exhausted crowd - "I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS!" Finally, it was over. Boge remained on the stage for as long as possible, smiling and sharing the final moments onstage with his friends of ten years, or as he fondly described them, his "music writing life partners", before finally exiting to a mixture of cheers, tears and plenty of applause. Though the band had said up until this point that Clint was merely leaving, and the remaining members may yet decide to continue, you couldn't escape the feeling among the crowd that tonight had definitely been a farewell performance from the band itself, not just its frontman. Vale, The Butterfly Effect.
FINAL SETLIST:
Beautiful Mine (Clint solo; piano version)
Window and the Watcher
A Slow Descent
Phoenix
Perception Twin
Final Conversation
Aisles of White
Crave
Wilma's Rainbow (Helmet cover)
Room Without a View
Reach
Consequence
Everybody Runs (acoustic)
One Second of Insanity
Worlds on Fire
----Encore----
Gone (acoustic)
The Cell
The End
----Encore 2----
Sweet & Low
Take it Away
Always
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Maximum Wolf, Noise Bar, 18/08/2012 (debut live performance)
Etienne de Crecy and his cube. The Chemical Brothers and their all-out psychedelic big-screen visual assault. And of course, Daft Punk and their pyramid. Make no mistake, the game has changed dramatically when it comes to presenting electronic music in a live format, and it simply isn't enough anymore to have the performing act standing up there on stage with his/her/their computer/synths/turntables and merely playing the songs back. Punters have come to expect a little more now - they want blinding, potentially seizure-inducing lights. They want lasers. They want visual material. And god help anyone who's not making an effort to look like they're "playing" the music that's coming out of the speakers.
Perhaps it was these factors weighing on the mind of a young Melbourne electronic artist by the name of Maximum Wolf, for when he rocked up to popular Brunswick haunt The Noise Bar for a very late-night Friday live set, he brought everything he possibly could to enhance his show. Despite it being the very first time he had performed live under the name, he clearly wanted to make a good impression, and brought along an impressive live set-up and lightshow to showcase a few tracks from his debut album SPACESCAPES, which was released in June and is available now for free download at his Bandcamp page, as well as some other material he's been working on recently. It was one of those performances where the smoke machine was used to, if you'll pardon the pun, its maximum capabilities, and it was barely five minutes into the performance before the entire room was blanketed in fog and it was essentially impossible to see Maximum Wolf onstage - but that didn't matter, for the effect he'd created only enhanced the atmosphere of the show. He'd clearly put a bit of thought into exactly how to present the set with its best possible ambience - perhaps the simplest yet most effective touch was placing a metal sheet in front of the table with his "MW" logo cut out of it, and aiming his laser and strobe lights through the gap.
It was an unfortunate but undeniable fact that the performance did not run 100% smoothly for Maximum Wolf, but in all fairness, things went quite well considering that it was, as mentioned, his first performance under this alias and with this material under his belt. It can't be an easy task to play the music, and control the lights and laser simultaneously, but that was the task faced by Maximum Wolf tonight. It was noted that the whole setup didn't sync perfectly at times, such as the laser not firing when it was supposed to during the more intense musical moments he produced, but with one guy controlling everything in his first ever gig, the minor imperfections were easily put aside as the small crowd, mainly consisting of close friends, enjoyed a short but solid live set, with many not hesitating to get their dance on! A debut performance is always a tough thing to go through, but despite a few technical hitches here and there, most agreed that Maximum Wolf had put in a great effort for his first, and hopefully the first of many, live shows!
Perhaps it was these factors weighing on the mind of a young Melbourne electronic artist by the name of Maximum Wolf, for when he rocked up to popular Brunswick haunt The Noise Bar for a very late-night Friday live set, he brought everything he possibly could to enhance his show. Despite it being the very first time he had performed live under the name, he clearly wanted to make a good impression, and brought along an impressive live set-up and lightshow to showcase a few tracks from his debut album SPACESCAPES, which was released in June and is available now for free download at his Bandcamp page, as well as some other material he's been working on recently. It was one of those performances where the smoke machine was used to, if you'll pardon the pun, its maximum capabilities, and it was barely five minutes into the performance before the entire room was blanketed in fog and it was essentially impossible to see Maximum Wolf onstage - but that didn't matter, for the effect he'd created only enhanced the atmosphere of the show. He'd clearly put a bit of thought into exactly how to present the set with its best possible ambience - perhaps the simplest yet most effective touch was placing a metal sheet in front of the table with his "MW" logo cut out of it, and aiming his laser and strobe lights through the gap.
It was an unfortunate but undeniable fact that the performance did not run 100% smoothly for Maximum Wolf, but in all fairness, things went quite well considering that it was, as mentioned, his first performance under this alias and with this material under his belt. It can't be an easy task to play the music, and control the lights and laser simultaneously, but that was the task faced by Maximum Wolf tonight. It was noted that the whole setup didn't sync perfectly at times, such as the laser not firing when it was supposed to during the more intense musical moments he produced, but with one guy controlling everything in his first ever gig, the minor imperfections were easily put aside as the small crowd, mainly consisting of close friends, enjoyed a short but solid live set, with many not hesitating to get their dance on! A debut performance is always a tough thing to go through, but despite a few technical hitches here and there, most agreed that Maximum Wolf had put in a great effort for his first, and hopefully the first of many, live shows!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
(This is where Humans lyrics should be but I don't really know enough) - Humans/Sheriff/The Sinking Teeth/Lubbock Lights, Gasometer Hotel, 19/04/2012
It's a pretty well-known fact that Melbourne, Australia has one of, if not THE, world's greatest live music scenes. If you love music, there's ALWAYS a gig on - be it a full day/night festival with international headliners, a night at a larger venue such as the Forum or Palace to see a big international or local, or a simple cheap night at your local with some solid "next big things", the options are endless. How else could you explain a gig like this one happening on a THURSDAY? Though it's not usually an ideal night to get loose and rock out, plenty of friends and fans turned up to Fitzroy's Gasometer Hotel to see these four quality young acts doing their thing, and with a lineup like this, it's easy to see why.
Getting the night off to a considerably relaxed start, taking into account the rest of the lineup, were the sublime post-rocking trio Lubbock Lights. Up until now, this project has been a duo by the name of Dan & Dan (funnily enough, the members being Dan Smith and Dan Savage), but they've recently decided to expand the lineup a bit (thus necessitating a name change), and tonight they were joined onstage by Nik Militiadou on drums (and in future plan to include a certain keys/synth player who would later appear on tonight's lineup). It's arguable that this whole post-rock thing is becoming a little bit overdone at the moment, but if a band can do it well, as Lubbock Lights certainly did, then why not give it a go? On display was the usual extreme variation of dynamics typical of post-rock bands, as the evening kicked off with something a little more refined and experimental than the later acts to follow - the calm before the storm, if you will. As the bandroom filled up steadily, the chilled-out crescendoing guitars lulled the audience into a nice relaxed state.
Everyone loves a supergroup, and up next was a three-piece featuring members of The Analyte, Left Feels Right and the Hawaiian Islands, The Sinking Teeth. Led by former Analyte vocalist-guitarist Nick Manuell, the trio's noodly post-hardcore seemed to be a logical extension of the group's past ventures, and the sudden increase in pace from the previous band warmed the room up considerably! The songs were short and punchy, filled with plenty of catchy riffs and Manuell's sharp vocal attack. His skills with a microphone have improved significantly over the years, and not just on the vocal side of things either - as usual, he delivered some quite abstract but amusing banter, and seems to be writing some songs about some interesting topics. Another great asset in this band is the rhythm section - Left Feels Right's Jules Doan is quite handy on the bass, with the likes of Bloc Party and Foals seeming to be a major influence his dance-punk playing style. Behind the kit tonight was Ben Stewart, another talented member of this up-and-coming trio. As The Sinking Teeth, these three gentlemen haven't been playing together for all that long, but individually there's plenty of gig experience between them, and it certainly shows onstage. These guys will definitely be one to keep an eye on in the near future.
For many in the room, the memory of a certain evening at Cherry Bar was still very fresh in their minds, and as the Sheriff boys began setting up their gear for their first gig off the back of their EP launch a few weeks ago, the anticipation rose noticeably. "Good evening sports fans!" greeted the band's bassist/vocalist Jimi Coelli, sounding fired up and ready to rock as usual, as the band kicked into the dirgey but incredibly groovy Pick Yourself Up, a newer song that's found its way into the set this year to the delight of the Sheriff regulars. Though Sheriff's music is mostly no-nonsense and doesn't feature too much musical wanking about, this one does feature a surprisingly appropriate jam on, of all things, the fucking theremin, courtesy of guitarist Tom Watson. Speaking of Watson, he certainly drew the crowd's attention on many occasions during this evening - initially it was for the wrong reasons, as his seemingly irrepressible urge to run through the crowd and go nuts (which is a GOOD thing of course) resulted in his axe being disconnected from his pedals several times. "TOM'S GUITAR, DOESN'T WOOOOOOORK!" sang Coelli, in tune to the "I'll be there for yooooou!" refrain from Creep and the Sicko. But with the help of a few friends in the building, the issues were soon resolved and the performance went ahead - in true Sheriff style, with great gusto. Individual crowd members were singled out by the band to come up the front and have a boogie to the rockabilly-flavoured You're Not Too Cool (So Baby Dance With Me), with a competition for the best dancer resulting in one lucky girl walking away with a free copy of Sheriff's killer new EP. The band certainly have a great ability to get their fans to come back to see them play time and time again, and the familiar faces were certainly enjoying the songs that they have grown to know and love over the years. Unsurprisingly, it was the super-popular What You Want that finished the evening off, which saw Watson run up to the venue's balcony/mezzanine level. An audience member threw him his guitar lead, and he played the song's final moments from his position high above his bandmates - before throwing the guitar down into the waiting crowd, where an audience member luckily caught it!
SETLIST:
Pick Yourself Up
Gig From Hell
Gunshot Rodeo
Your Mothers Daughter, Your Fathers Son
Creep and the Sicko
You're Not Too Cool (So Baby Dance With Me)
On the Floor
Simon Young (was on setlist but they ran out of time, not before teasing the crowd with the intro)
What You Want
It's always a bit tough when you have multiple bands on a bill delivering extremely high-energy sets, but tonight's closing act ensured that everyone was able to bring out one final burst of adrenaline - it was of course the relentless dance-punk trio Humans, and with their appearance on the stage, the Gasometer crowd was set to do one thing, and that was PARTY. The trio brought along a laser and smoke machine to set the tone even further, but unfortunately the smoke machine didn't quite work which minimised the impact of the laser; nevertheless the party went ahead and the trio thrashed their way through a short but blisteringly intense set. Notably featuring just a vocalist/keyboardist, bassist and drummer, the obvious lack of guitar isn't something that hinders their sound at all; the overdriven bass becomes the focal point of some very danceable songs. However, it was very hard to draw any attention away from frontman Ram, as he threw himself around (and occasionally off) the stage in the most hyperactive fashion possible, and when he was required to play some keys, he didn't just play - he positively punched them with great abandon, as if they'd somehow done something to really offend him. Crowd participation was warmly encouraged by the band, and not just in the form of singalongs - midway through the set, the boys began passing out grotesque animal masks for the crowd to wear, which they did! In just short of thirty minutes, the young but talented trio worked the room into an absolute frenzy. Concluding with the raucous FUCKTV, from their free three-song demo, was a sure-fire way to keep the crowd moving til the very end.
Getting the night off to a considerably relaxed start, taking into account the rest of the lineup, were the sublime post-rocking trio Lubbock Lights. Up until now, this project has been a duo by the name of Dan & Dan (funnily enough, the members being Dan Smith and Dan Savage), but they've recently decided to expand the lineup a bit (thus necessitating a name change), and tonight they were joined onstage by Nik Militiadou on drums (and in future plan to include a certain keys/synth player who would later appear on tonight's lineup). It's arguable that this whole post-rock thing is becoming a little bit overdone at the moment, but if a band can do it well, as Lubbock Lights certainly did, then why not give it a go? On display was the usual extreme variation of dynamics typical of post-rock bands, as the evening kicked off with something a little more refined and experimental than the later acts to follow - the calm before the storm, if you will. As the bandroom filled up steadily, the chilled-out crescendoing guitars lulled the audience into a nice relaxed state.
Everyone loves a supergroup, and up next was a three-piece featuring members of The Analyte, Left Feels Right and the Hawaiian Islands, The Sinking Teeth. Led by former Analyte vocalist-guitarist Nick Manuell, the trio's noodly post-hardcore seemed to be a logical extension of the group's past ventures, and the sudden increase in pace from the previous band warmed the room up considerably! The songs were short and punchy, filled with plenty of catchy riffs and Manuell's sharp vocal attack. His skills with a microphone have improved significantly over the years, and not just on the vocal side of things either - as usual, he delivered some quite abstract but amusing banter, and seems to be writing some songs about some interesting topics. Another great asset in this band is the rhythm section - Left Feels Right's Jules Doan is quite handy on the bass, with the likes of Bloc Party and Foals seeming to be a major influence his dance-punk playing style. Behind the kit tonight was Ben Stewart, another talented member of this up-and-coming trio. As The Sinking Teeth, these three gentlemen haven't been playing together for all that long, but individually there's plenty of gig experience between them, and it certainly shows onstage. These guys will definitely be one to keep an eye on in the near future.
For many in the room, the memory of a certain evening at Cherry Bar was still very fresh in their minds, and as the Sheriff boys began setting up their gear for their first gig off the back of their EP launch a few weeks ago, the anticipation rose noticeably. "Good evening sports fans!" greeted the band's bassist/vocalist Jimi Coelli, sounding fired up and ready to rock as usual, as the band kicked into the dirgey but incredibly groovy Pick Yourself Up, a newer song that's found its way into the set this year to the delight of the Sheriff regulars. Though Sheriff's music is mostly no-nonsense and doesn't feature too much musical wanking about, this one does feature a surprisingly appropriate jam on, of all things, the fucking theremin, courtesy of guitarist Tom Watson. Speaking of Watson, he certainly drew the crowd's attention on many occasions during this evening - initially it was for the wrong reasons, as his seemingly irrepressible urge to run through the crowd and go nuts (which is a GOOD thing of course) resulted in his axe being disconnected from his pedals several times. "TOM'S GUITAR, DOESN'T WOOOOOOORK!" sang Coelli, in tune to the "I'll be there for yooooou!" refrain from Creep and the Sicko. But with the help of a few friends in the building, the issues were soon resolved and the performance went ahead - in true Sheriff style, with great gusto. Individual crowd members were singled out by the band to come up the front and have a boogie to the rockabilly-flavoured You're Not Too Cool (So Baby Dance With Me), with a competition for the best dancer resulting in one lucky girl walking away with a free copy of Sheriff's killer new EP. The band certainly have a great ability to get their fans to come back to see them play time and time again, and the familiar faces were certainly enjoying the songs that they have grown to know and love over the years. Unsurprisingly, it was the super-popular What You Want that finished the evening off, which saw Watson run up to the venue's balcony/mezzanine level. An audience member threw him his guitar lead, and he played the song's final moments from his position high above his bandmates - before throwing the guitar down into the waiting crowd, where an audience member luckily caught it!
SETLIST:
Pick Yourself Up
Gig From Hell
Gunshot Rodeo
Your Mothers Daughter, Your Fathers Son
Creep and the Sicko
You're Not Too Cool (So Baby Dance With Me)
On the Floor
What You Want
It's always a bit tough when you have multiple bands on a bill delivering extremely high-energy sets, but tonight's closing act ensured that everyone was able to bring out one final burst of adrenaline - it was of course the relentless dance-punk trio Humans, and with their appearance on the stage, the Gasometer crowd was set to do one thing, and that was PARTY. The trio brought along a laser and smoke machine to set the tone even further, but unfortunately the smoke machine didn't quite work which minimised the impact of the laser; nevertheless the party went ahead and the trio thrashed their way through a short but blisteringly intense set. Notably featuring just a vocalist/keyboardist, bassist and drummer, the obvious lack of guitar isn't something that hinders their sound at all; the overdriven bass becomes the focal point of some very danceable songs. However, it was very hard to draw any attention away from frontman Ram, as he threw himself around (and occasionally off) the stage in the most hyperactive fashion possible, and when he was required to play some keys, he didn't just play - he positively punched them with great abandon, as if they'd somehow done something to really offend him. Crowd participation was warmly encouraged by the band, and not just in the form of singalongs - midway through the set, the boys began passing out grotesque animal masks for the crowd to wear, which they did! In just short of thirty minutes, the young but talented trio worked the room into an absolute frenzy. Concluding with the raucous FUCKTV, from their free three-song demo, was a sure-fire way to keep the crowd moving til the very end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)