Webcuts Music

It’s ok for you to think “who? never heard of ‘em”. Honestly, you’d have to be aged 35+, Australian, and a regular listener of Triple J or Triple R. Maybe you watched Neighbours. In the finicky annals of Australian music history, and with no disrespect to Helvelln, they barely warrant a mention. To briefly summarise, Helvelln were an inspired pop/rock 3-piece formed in Melbourne in the late 80′s, released two singles and one album and then broke up in the early 90′s. Google them and you’ll get pictures of mountains. Impressive and rocky, but hardly rock n’ roll.

Part 2 of our Secret History of Australian Music retrospective on Helvelln and interview with guitarist/vocalist and songwriter Jeremy Gronow. For part 1 and a more considered introduction, go here. Bedroom critic that I am, I’d be amiss not to suggest that only thing that lets Side 1 down is the lugubrious “Temptation”. If I [...]

There’s not much point in asking where Bleeding Knees Club got their name. It’s the kind of degenerate tag that you’d expect from a couple of Australian garage surf-punks, but for the innocent and curious alike the band spell it out below. If they happen to ask if you want to join their particular club, ladies just say ‘no’. Hailing from Brisbane, where every home has its own swimming pool thanks to last year’s insane floods, Alex and Jordan of Bleeding Knees Club have “won hearts and minds through a reckless live reputation and with a swag of super-catchy tunes on their debut EP Virginity“.

Australia’s first lady of rock and founder member of Magic Dirt, Adalita Srsen, adopts a stripped back stance for her debut solo effort.

In complete contrast to a month ago when it was “precipitation nation” Brisbane’s fourth St. Jerome’s Laneway festival could’ve been subtitled “Boiling Brisvegas”. Unlike many festivals Laneway 2011 had a remarkably consistent quality throughout the entire day, so regardless of the weather it was always destined to be a scorcher. We braved the extreme ultra violet index to report on Australia’s Rat Vs Possum, Cloud Control and Cut Copy. While sampling UK’s Foals and America’s best of the best with Beach House, The Antlers, Warpaint, Blonde Redhead, Ariel Pink, Holy Fuck. Oh and LES SAVY FAV!.

Melbourne Modular boys gone global return for their third album with mixed results. Just what the hell is a Zonoscope anyway?

For the third Sunset Sounds festival it rained, it poured, it pelted down. Water came down in sheets, hell it came down in slabs. Even those who came with waterproof clothing were completely soaked not just to the bone but to the very marrow. Sunset Sounds became Sunless Sounds, Soggy Sounds and Mudset Sounds. It brought out the worst in some people and the best in others. Still the show went on and so we report on Sleigh Bells, Cold War Kids, Ladyhawke, Pubic Enemy, The National and Interpol on day one. While for the second day we braved the wet again to deliver reports on The Soft Pack, Peaches, Junip, The Morning Benders, Washington and Paul Kelly.

Forever a woman with a spring in her step and new projects falling in her wake, goth-cabaret performer/singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer has put down her ukelele and set her gaze on Australia and New Zealand for her newly released single “Map Of Tasmania”, to coincide with her forthcoming tour and Australia-themed album Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under. For those of you wondering ‘What’s the big deal about a map of Tasmania’? Well, if you have to ask, we’re not going to tell you. If you’re an eagle-eyed fan, chances are you’ve seen it already…

There would be little point in Magic Dirt frontwoman Adalita Srsen repositioning herself as the Suzi Quattro of Australian Rock on her first solo release, when in essence she’d already achieved that with Magic Dirt. Appearing late last year, the Hot Air EP showed a marked reversal from the scream n’ shout of the Dirt, pursuing a stripped back approach, full of mood and texture. Webcuts spoke with Adalita in July of 2009 about the then unfinished record — “…I want to keep it pretty minimal. I think it will be bolder in that way to just have guitar and vocals”. About “Hot Air”, she explained “… was the first song I wrote for the solo album. It really just came out of the blue. I had a loop going of two simple guitar chords and then laid down a melodic refrain over the top. The words came from a poem I wrote a long time ago. I like the wistful nature of this song”. So do we. Adalita’s self-titled album is due in early 2011 on Liberation Music.

Lion Island were first encounted playing a free show in Brisbane’s King George Square. Their ability to fill a large stage with eight members and the cavernous square full of wondrous music bolstered my mood and had casual passerby’s on their way to the train, stop and listen. When seen again three months later at The Hi-Fi Bar a liking for the band was affirmed and proved that Lion Island are one of the city’s most ambitious and talented acts. Here are a band able to switch from solo singer-songwriter folk, then become a Brisbane Beirut by adding brass and violin to the acoustic guitar and drums to full out orchestral rock, as if Finn Andrews was fronting The National.