Paul Westerberg – 49:00
Dry Wood Music, 2008 [rating:8/10] Paul Westerberg fronted one of the last truly great rock and roll bands with The Replacements. The entire Replacements oeuvre is currently being remastered and re-released for those who missed
Esben and the Witch – Violet Cries
Over-indulgent Gothic melodrama from Brighton's Esben And The Witch. How do you like your nightmares? Black with 2 sugars, thanks.
Lydia Loveless – Columbus – 30 September 2011
A couple of songs into Lydia Loveless’s evening set, and it’s difficult to tell where Lydia the singer ends and Lydia the person begins. It’s simply hard to imagine a woman like this, barely in her twenties, and standing a little over five foot tall in her boots, could be so worldly and explosive. And yet, there she is, muttering a string of f-bombs during a song break because she can’t get her guitar tuned quite right. The attitude, the weathered, sarcastic smile. The edge. That’s pretty damn tough to fake.
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall
The ever-prolific Jay Reatard is back with his most potent pop record to date. Watch Me Fall trades sharp licks with cheap tricks.
Who The Hell Are… Fear Of Men?
The online buzz surrounding the release of current single “Mosaic” was uniform in the way the agreeable (and occasionally obnoxious) tastemaker blogs began to fall in line with praise. This was slightly akin to a
King Creosote – Flick the Vs
The two fingered salute is vigorously given by Scottish anti-folk hero King Creosote on new album Flick the Vs.
Adem – Takes
Domino, 2008 [8/10] Home recorded, folk-tinged, somewhat sullen but with equal parts warmth and optimism, South London's Adem Illhan lives a Nick Drake-ian life in a Brian Eno world. Having paid his dues with the
LCD Soundsystem – Interview with James Murphy (Static, 2010)
During their recent visit to Australia for Splendour in the Grass we caught up with LCD Soundsystem's main man James Murphy who gave us reason to put away the hankies for LCD's much reported demise - "It’s not necessarily the last record. I would make another record. It’s more the end of this part – three records that go together, an arc. We became a bigger band than I ever expected. Something needs to stop, for me, for us all to be happy." He also waxes lyrical about making the record in the LA of his imagination, growing up and wanting kids, his Greenburg soundtrack experience and his many and varied future projects.
R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
With appearances from Peaches and Patti Smith, R.E.M. show no signs of wear and tear in their fourth decade of making music.
Top 10 – Australian Music Videos
The early days of music video in Australia bore some shoddy, shoddy home-produced efforts. Essentially labours of love from minimal means designed to get the message across. The big budget video clip was not the
Gemma Ray – We’ve Got a Crush on You (2010)
In the cockney rhyming slang lexicon there really should be an entry marked "Gemma Ray" that translates to "The Hard Way" for the sultry Essex singer's career is one filled with false starts, battles with illness and sheer bloody mindedness. Barely finished from touring her last album Ray has just released an album of covers It's a Shame About Ray which draws its song pool from the likes of Buddy Holly, Lee Hazelwood, Etta Fitzgerald, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Gallon Drunk and The Gun Club. Webcuts catches up with the brunette with the beehive during a tour in South Africa to talk knives, the new album, Rosemary's Baby, illness affecting songwriting and the recording of new material.
No Years Festival – Brisbane – 31 December 2010
New Years Eve’s are traditionally unplanned, last minute events, involving clubs or house parties especially in laissez-faire Brisbane. This year was different. An independent music festival at the Powerhouse, brazenly named No Years! offered a tempting program. 21 bands in total: 14 local, 5 interstate and 2 international acts, over eleven hours at lovely New Farm location. We cast our NYE net on Australia's Bleeding Knees Club, Parades, Love Connection, Jonathan Boulet, The John Steel Singers and Oh Ye Denver Birds. And see who ranks best out of America Neon Indian and Sweden Shout Out Louds.
Glasvegas – EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\
The only euphoric heartbreak here is all expectations of Glasvegas trumping their debut going out the window.
The Church – Untitled #23
Moving on from Uninvited, Like The Clouds to Untitled #23, The Church near the end of the alphabet but not the end of their career.
Who The Hell Is… Joel Edmondson?
Originally known to us as one of the curators of the Hangar venue and lofly label in Brisbane we shouldn't have been surprised that Joel Edmondson had a musical project. What we weren't expecting, seeing as his label mates lean more towards the electronic and experimental side of the musical spectrum, was the polished pop and rock awaiting us on his MySpace page. We fired off our standard 15 questions to Mr Edmondson and his swift response proved wry and illuminating, much like his songwriting.
PJ Harvey & John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By
We took at poll at Webcuts, and PJ Harvey is most definitely not a woman one of us would walk by.