The Feelies – Glenn Mercer talks about Here Before (Static, 2011)
An act that many have been holding their breath for the return of for as long as they've been absent from the stage are Haledon, New Jersey's The Feelies. Arriving in the late 70's, and releasing one of the first great new wave/post-punk albums of the early 80's (truly. no hyperbole here) in Crazy Rhythms, The Feelies were the Velvet Underground and Television's geeky Jersey cousins. An enthralling percussive ride, full of jerky rhythms and wild, melodic guitar interplay, the sound of The Feelies would evolve over the years, drifitng away from the arty CBGB crowd toward a more refined pastoral 'college rock' sound that typified an era when bands like R.E.M. and Camper Van Beethoven loomed large.
Sunset Sounds Festival – Brisbane – 2009
We review Brisbane's inaugural Sunset Sounds Festival and see how the likes of The Hives, Santogold, The Kooks, Franz Ferdinand, Faker, The Grates, Tegan and Sara, I Heart Hiroshima and more measure up in the sweltering heat.
Die! Die! Die! – Form
New Zealand's Die! Die! Die! make their third incision into the heart of rock n' roll but fall short of delivering the expected death blow.
Ramona – London – 17 April 2011
It's easy to love Ramona, even though everything about them is so flawless and en pointe, unheard for a scruffy bunch of Brighton by-way-of-New-York rockers. Picks in hand, they transform a handful of chords into polished punk perfection, fronted by the coquettish bleach-blonde tomboy Karen Anne, a second generation Edie and Debbie who knows how to hang from a mic stand like she was hanging from your shoulder. Absent from the stage this year so far, they cycle through their set in a brisk half hour, including encore, and you're crying out for a flubbed note, an unrehearsed run through a song they just wrote in the van, or general indifference to whether anybody is listening.
The Gun Club – Miami / Death Party / The Las Vegas Story
Load the chamber and light a candle for Jeffrey Lee Pierce, it's rockabilly blues-a-go-go with The Gun Club.
Beach House – London – 2 December 2008
Beach House Cargo, London 2nd December 2008 Roughly a year since their last headline show at the Water Rat in Kings Cross, Baltimore’s Beach House have doubled their output and returned to London on the tail end
Blitzen Trapper – American Goldwing
Blitzen Trapper brings to mind somebody hunting down reindeer. This has nothing to do with the music.
Times New Viking – Rip It Off
Matador, 2008 [rating:7/10] Times New Viking are the future. They're not my future, they're probably not your future, but they are the future. Rip It Off is their third album and first on Matador records
Shearwater – The Golden Archipelago
Shearwater seem to have run aground on The Golden Archipelago. Not quite paradise, nor a place you'll likely return to soon.
The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound
SideOneDummy, 2008 [9/10] The ’59 Sound starts, fittingly, with a sound of romance and antiquity -- a needle laid to vinyl. A spindly guitar riff echoes faintly in the distance, then suddenly erupts into an
Hazards of Swimming Naked, Lion Island, Mr. Maps, Hunz – Brisbane – 21 August 2010
A Brisbane bounty with trippy post-rockers The Hazards of Swimming Naked joined by Lofly math-rock legends Mr. Maps, plus the baroque charms of Lion Island and electronic wunderkind Hunz.
Stereolab – Chemical Chords
4AD, 2008 [7/10] Stereolab were an essential part of the 90s and a flipside to the wave of angst-ridden guitar bands that characterised that decade. Influenced by obscure experimental and pop bands, Stereolab set about
A Hawk and a Hacksaw – Délivrance
Business as usual for New Mexico's A Hawk And A Hacksaw? Just ask "The Man Who Sold His Beard".
Grand Atlantic / The Lovers of Modern Art / We All Want To – Brisbane – 26 June 2009
Not ones to throw angular shapes the boys here strive to find the right notes and the majority of the time they hit them.
The Charlatans – Brisbane – 10 November 2010
It's been a long time time between drinks for The Charlatans and Australia. Fresh from playing their Some Friendly 20th Anniversary shows around the UK The Charlatans were down under recently with a more conventional touring schedule. It's certainly not the fan fest that they are used to back home but a rapturous welcome still greets the band. With a set drawn mostly from their very early material honed through recent tours, and the obligatory new songs that every band pulls out, it's a different set to what fans might expect but shows the depth of quality over their long career.