All posts tagged album-review

  • July 20, 2010

    Mess+Noise album review: PVT – ‘Church With No Magic’, July 2010

    A featured album review for Mess+Noise.

    'Church With No Magic' album cover by Sydney band PVTPVT – Church With No Magic

    On third album ‘Church With No Magic’, the band formerly known as Pivot return with not just a new name but an evolution in sound, writes ANDREW MCMILLEN.

    The further you get through Church With No Magic, the less it sounds like 2008’s O Soundtrack My Heart. That album – the band’s final release under the Pivot moniker, before ceding it to an American nu-metal band – stood at the intersection of rock and electronica, forming a remarkable amalgam of the two. Like O Soundtrack My Heart, Church With No Magic opens with a brief instrumental composition (‘Community’), but that’s where the comparison ends. Here, PVT are not just embracing a new name, but an evolution in sound.

    ‘Light Up Bright Fires’ seethes with twisted synth sounds and ominous, shape-shifting vocals. Yes, vocals. Richard Pike’s voice appears on most of the tracks here; its presence adds an extra layer of melody to the band’s output. The addition of vocals isn’t too surprising, considering the deep, wordless yawns that coloured O Soundtrack’s ‘Sing You Sinners’, yet the range displayed is quite extraordinary.

    Full review at Mess+Noise. More PVT on their MySpace. Music video for ‘Window‘ embedded below.

    1 Comment / Music Criticism, Published Writing /

  • July 20, 2010

    Mess+Noise album review: Nikko – ‘The Warm Side’, July 2010

    An album review for Mess+Noise.

    'The Warm Side' album cover by Brisbane band NikkoNikko – The Warm Side

    “More rock, fuck post-,” state Nikko on their MySpace page. Why, I’m not sure. I can think of several counterpoints to their refusal to position themselves as post-rock. One, they’re so firmly lodged within the genre – without hyperbole, they’re worthy of being listed alongside international greats like Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky – that to describe them as anything else would be misleading. Two, there aren’t many national bands trying to stake a claim within these musical confines (aside from the recently decamped The Dead Sea and fellow Brisbane natives Castles Sunk Below The Sea). Third, since when is post-rock something to be ashamed of? Fourth and most importantly, they do it well.

    The Warm Side is Nikko’s debut album, following their formation five years ago. Fittingly, these nine songs have been subject to a long gestation process: the recordings were completed in August 2009, whereafter the band shopped it to labels before finding a home with Sydney’s Tenzenmen (Scul Hazzards, Paint Your Golden Face). There are no corners cut here, and not a moment wasted.

    Full review at Mess+Noise, where you can also stream the title track. More Nikko on their MySpace.

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  • July 20, 2010

    Mess+Noise album review: Ernest Ellis – ‘Hunting’, July 2010

    An album review for Mess+Noise.

    'Hunting' album cover by Sydney band Ernest EllisErnest Ellis – Hunting

    That newcomer Ernest Ellis wrote most of his debut album Hunting while holed up in a Blue Mountains cabin on his lonesome has undoubtedly affected its outcome. A constant sense of space permeates this release – from the booming echo of the drums (‘Pulse’) to the persistent vocal reverb (especially noticeable on the plaintive acoustic track, ‘Valley Song’) and the layered guitar overdubs and choral accompaniment (‘Loveless’).

    Despite the distance conveyed by the production, Ellis and his band – drummer Mat Gardner and bassist Ben Morgan – manage to avoid the pitfalls of overly sterile pop perfection (see: The Temper Trap’s Conditions) by injecting these songs with a human sense of warmth. The handclapped beat of ‘Heading For The Cold’ seems purpose-built for the festival set, yet such aspirations shouldn’t be held against Ellis: he deftly tows the line between folk, pop and rock with consistently favourable results.

    Full review at Mess+Noise. More Ernest Ellis on their MySpace. ‘Want For Anything‘ music video embedded below.

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  • July 20, 2010

    Mess+Noise album review: Halfway – ‘An Outpost Of Promise’, July 2010

    An album review for Mess+Noise.

    'An Outpost Of Promise' album cover by Brisbane band HalfwayHalfway – An Outpost Of Promise

    Call them alt-country, call them roots-rock. The accuracy of genre identification matters not, as at the heart of the matter lies a simple fact: Brisbane’s Halfway are damned good songwriters. That the key writing duo of John Busby and Chris Dale are past winners of the Grant McLennan Fellowship – a $20,000 Arts Queensland grant – is not surprising given the strengths of their third LP.

    Recorded by Wayne Connolly and featuring a Robert Forster production credit, it’s their most ambitious and considered work to date. Even at their most scintillating – ‘Sweetheart, Please Don’t Start’, a five-minute long, achingly beautiful epic – Halfway are characterised by a rare kind of understated cohesion. There are very few sharp edges on ‘Sweetheart’, and I don’t mean that as a backhanded compliment: it’s the most gripping song here by a long way. Built on a recurring refrain (“Not like some old love/You’re more like the sea/A heart’s coming home, love/And they wash you to me”), it’s only in the final 90 seconds that the song is injected with a sense of urgency through an increase in tempo and the appearance of softly-distorted guitars.

    Full review at Mess+Noise, where you can also stream two tracks from this album. More Halfway on their MySpace.

    1 Comment / Music Criticism, Published Writing /

  • July 11, 2010

    Rolling Stone album reviews, August 2010: Drawn From Bees, Itch-E & Scratch-E, PVT

    My first album reviews for Rolling Stone, which appeared in the August 2010 issue.

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    Rolling Stone album review, August 2010: Drawn From BeesDrawn From Bees Four stars
    Elementary Tales For Young Boys & Girls

    Ambitious rock collection favours both quantity and quality

    This limited release box set fulfils the rigorous, self-imposed work ethic outlined by Brisbane art rock quartet Drawn From Bees in 2008: to write, record and release new material every six months. Think of Elementary Tales as a long-exposure snapshot of an ambitious band-in-progress. Comprising 35 songs split between three EPs and a debut album, Fear Not The Footsteps Of The Departed, Drawn From Bees aren’t short on hooks, nor willingness to experiment. The nine tracks on second EP And The Blind Shall Lead The Way each hit high notes; lead cut “Long Tooth Setting Sun” contains one of the best examples of their favoured four-part harmonies. Very few of these songs feel undercooked; many sizzle with admirable clarity of vision. Their studious devotion to deadlines could be construed as over-earnestness, yet if anything, this career-so-far summary only underlines how serious Drawn From Bees are about their art. Taken in its entirety, this is a remarkable body of work.

    Key Tracks: “Long Tooth Setting Sun”, “And the Blind Shall Lead the Way”

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    Rolling Stone album review, August 2010: Itch-E & Scratch-EItch-E & Scratch-E Two stars
    Hooray For Everything!!!

    Lukewarm third LP an itch better left unscratched

    That this Sydney techno duo Itch-E & Scratch-E open their first release in a decade with a remix of the Scribe tune “F.R.E.S.H.” speaks directly to this album’s misguided nature. Considering their reputation as scene innovators in the early-1990s – remember the understated, ARIA Award-winning beauty of “Sweetness & Light”? – the Scribe joint seems the techno equivalent of waving a white flag. Elsewhere, NYC rapper MDNA lends his rapidfire potty mouth to “Other Planets” and The Scare’s Kiss Reid guests on “Electric”, yet these compare unfavourably to the album’s latter instrumental tracks. “Fishtank” and “Imperial Rockets” are the only true captivators here, but ultimately, these intergalactic sojourns can’t reconcile overall weakness. The uninspired cowbell/vocoder combination in album closer “Found It On The Dancefloor” serves only to still whatever slight momentum had been gained. More proof that just because you can reunite, doesn’t mean you should.

    Key Tracks: “Fishtank”, “Imperial Rockets”, “Found It on the Dancefloor”

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    Rolling Stone album review, August 2010: PVT, 'Church With No Magic'PVT Three and a half stars
    Church With No Magic

    Electro rockers deliver much-anticipated third opus

    The band formerly known as Pivot have added vocals to their blend of rock and electronica, yet what lies within Church With No Magic isn’t as immediately compelling as 2008’s O Soundtrack My Heart. Fans of the previous record will soak up the raucous, pitch-shifted dissonance of “Light Up Bright Fires” and the propulsive, choppy title track; hereafter, the hooks all but disappear. They’re replaced with an overbearing influence of woozy, amorphous electronica. On “Window”, from Laurence Pike’s clattering percussion to his brother Richard’s proudly-sung affirmation (“I won’t slip / I won’t fall / I won’t change”) and Dave Miller’s layered production, there’s a sense of cohesion that evades some of the latter tracks. PVT’s strongest material occurs when they meet rock and electronica halfway.

    Key Tracks: “Light Up Bright Fires”, “Window”, “Church With No Magic”

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  • June 16, 2010

    Mess+Noise album review: Jackie Marshall – ‘Ladies’ Luck’, June 2010

    An album review for Mess+Noise. Excerpt below.

    Jackie Marshall - Ladies' Luck album coverJackie Marshall – Ladies’ Luck

    There’s a trick Jackie Marshall and her band use sparingly, yet I fall for it every time. On ‘The Ugly Man’ and ‘Excuse Me Mister’, the songs peter away to their bare bones before the band unexpectedly lean into inspired instrumental codas. They’re the cherries atop already strong songs, yet their presence benefits both compositions greatly. On Ladies’ Luck, Jackie Marshall’s second album, the singer’s tender tales are given a shot in the arm by the Black Alles Band, whose muscular backing contrasts well against Marshall’s striking voice (which she refers to as “Dolly Parton meets Patti Smith”). These are rock songs flecked by country and folk influences. The Black Alles Band rope in saxophones, Hammond organs, glockenspiels and occasional string sections to provide a sense of depth, without ever over-crowding the mix.

    Lyrically, the lines between honest self-appraisal and comical exaggeration are frequently blurred, like on ‘Just Like DeeDee’s Wife (“Fell asleep in clothes I been wearing much too long/Wishing I had clean underwear to put on”) and ‘Excuse Me Mister’ (“Flowers can burst out of the desert sand/ Me? I come alive for a good man’s hands”). The hook here is not just Marshall’s lucid storytelling, but her shape-shifting delivery.

    Full review at Mess+Noise. Check out Jackie Marshall on MySpace. ‘Ladies’ Luck‘ video embedded below.

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  • June 16, 2010

    The Vine album review: Dead Letter Circus – ‘This Is The Warning’, June 2010

    An album review for The Vine. Excerpt below.

    Dead Letter Circus - This Is The Warning album coverDead Letter Circus – This Is The Warning

    Three bands define Australian hard rock: Karnivool, The Butterfly Effect, and Cog. It’s nigh on impossible to discuss Brisbane quartet Dead Letter Circus without referring to the current scene’s pioneering figures. In the context of those bands, it’s perfectly reasonable to wonder aloud: is DLC’s debut full-length a contender to Karnivool’s stellar 2005 debut, Themata? Does it stack up to The Butterfly Effect’s first LP, Begins Here? Can it be favourably compared to Cog’s The New Normal? The answers, respectively: it’s not, it doesn’t, and it can’t. It’s far from a trainwreck, but on the whole, it’s consistently disappointing.

    A bit of history: Dead Letter Circus released their debut EP in 2007. Its six tracks were treated by Forrester Savell, the go-to man for alternative rock production in Australia. DLC relentlessly toured the land for the next several years to celebrate occasional singles and EPs in the lead-up to This Is The Warning, their first release with Warner Bros. They’ve worked hard to cultivate a significant fanbase, who rewarded the band with a #2 debut on the ARIA charts.

    Full album review at The Vine. Though I was all over that debut EP when it first came out, I am not fond of this release. More on the band at MySpace; ‘Big‘ video embedded below.

    1 Comment / Music Criticism, Published Writing /

  • June 8, 2010

    The Vine album review: Janelle Monáe – ‘The ArchAndroid’, June 2010

    An album review for The Vine.

    Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid album coverJanelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid

    For the uninitiated, go peep Janelle Monáe’s jaw-dropping performance of ‘Tightrope’ on Letterman in May 2010 then report back, just so you know what you’re dealing with here. Ordinarily, this’d be a cop-out; ordinarily, you’d be right to call me a goddamned lazy writer for pointing readers off-screen. But damn, if you haven’t seen that video, you must. It’s remarkable because Monáe – an exceptional vocalist, dancer and entertainer in her own right – is operating within the tightly-leashed, clichéd confines of the late night TV spot, yet somehow, the singer and her band skilfully throw aside decades of forced, contrived on-camera choreography through sheer energy and charisma. It’s the most memorable TV performance of my generation; truly, a career-defining four minutes. Without that kick-ass, life-affirming performance, I wouldn’t know her name or her music.

    Full review at The Vine. More Janelle Monáe at MySpace. ‘Tightrope’ live on Letterman video embedded below. It’s amazing.

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  • June 8, 2010

    Mess+Noise album review: The Gin Club – ‘Deathwish’, June 2010

    My first ‘On Rotation’ album review for Mess+Noise, where I discuss The Gin Club’s new album in some depth. Excerpt below.

    The Gin Club - Deathwish album coverThe Gin Club – Deathwish

    On their fourth album, Brisbane rock/folk/country/ whatever-goes collective The Gin Club sprint out of the blocks. ‘Pennies’ grabs you firmly by the ears and doesn’t let up throughout two minutes of bluesy guitar licks and hair-raising vocals that aren’t so much sung as yelled. Its brevity speaks of the confident swagger that abounds on Deathwish. Multi-instrumentalist Ola Karlsson knew he was onto a good thing when he wrote this song, and while he could easily have stuck around for a final verse-chorus-coda, he chose to smother it prematurely. That, ladies and gentlemen, is confidence.

    Unlike their previous release – the 26-song, double-disc Junk – this album’s liner notes are sparse: no songwriting credits, no lyrics, and little to suggest that the album’s 13 songs belong to 10 individuals. (In case you were wondering, I’m only able to comment on who wrote what because I have a cheat-sheet in front of me). This is a new look for The Gin Club. Whether conscious or not, they’re obscuring facts and leaving some things to our imagination. On stage, one of the band’s most striking visual elements is the constant swapping of musical instruments and stage positions between songs. On this album, there’s a greater sense of that comfortable barroom feel than ever before.

    Full review at Mess+Noise, where you can also stream a couple of tracks (‘Pennies’ and ‘Milli Vanilli’). I can’t recommend this release highly enough. Check out The Gin Club on MySpace.

    1 Comment / Music Criticism, Published Writing /

  • June 2, 2010

    The Vine album review: ‘Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane’, June 2010

    An album review for The Vine.

    Mike Patton – Mondo Cane

    Mike Patton - Mondo Cane album coverI’m coming clean: I wouldn’t be listening to Mondo Cane if Mike Patton’s name wasn’t on the cover; I can’t understand Italian, and I’ve never heard the original versions of these songs (barring one track, ‘Deep Down’, which was the theme song to ace 1968 comic book film adaption Danger:Diabolik). These factors could conspire against my capacity to enjoy this album – but they don’t. Mondo Cane is a wholly thrilling ride. Patton possesses one of rock music’s most distinctive and admired voices, and while he’s the star here, these 11 songs are filled out with depth and colour by the contributions of some 65 orchestral performers.

    While recent Faith No More converts – via their widely-celebrated reunion world tour – might find Patton’s latest project a little too challenging, I’d argue that Mondo Cane shows the singer fronting his most accessible act yet. This music speaks to me in a language that the average rock band can’t fathom, and I’m not just referring to Patton’s fluently-sung Italian. I’m of the opinion that orchestral music moves humans far beyond the emotions that can be summoned by any configuration of guitar, bass and drums; here, Mondo Cane proves my point. From the opening strains of ‘Il Cielo In Una Stanza’, I’m hooked.

    Full review at The Vine. This album is the shit. To get an idea of what the hell I’m talking about, watch the video embedded below.

    Elsewhere: I interviewed Mike Patton for The Vine about Mondo Cane. Read it here.

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