Record review: The Growl – What Would Christ Do? (2013, LP)

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While they may not be a household name by any stretch of the imagination, Fremantle six-piece The Growl have been building quite a following and reputation for themselves with tours across Australia and the United States supporting psych-rock brothers-in-arms Tame Impala. Many Australian fans will have first come into contact with the band on that tour, and subsequently noticed connections with Pond (in which singer Cameron Avery is the drummer) and The Chemist (also featuring keys player James Ireland). With this much musical foundation, things can only go right… right?

Upon listening to What Would Christ Do?, the first things you will notice about The Growl (apart from the brilliantly ballsy album title) are Avery’s gravelly growl of a singing voice, the bizarre and epic mishmash of junkyard sci-fi rock sounds, and the unholy monster of a noise the band’s dual drummers put out. Combine these elements with the basis of an extremely strong blues-rock/garage outfit seemingly battering the life out of any piece of equipment they find lying around, wandering soulful vocals and nightmarish lyrics, and you get What Would Christ Do?

An early album highlight is second track and single ‘Cleaver Lever’. Pounding drums and bass provide a solid backbone to Avery’s wolfish howl and dark, menacing lyrics about a “bullet in the chamber of my gun.” The excellent ‘Liarbird’ is a much more soulful affair, without losing any of the power present in other tracks, while their cover of traditional gospel song ‘John The Revelator’ is a potent blast of dirty blues and heavy riffs in suitably grand fashion.

‘Niywtlwoe’ (standing for ‘not if you were the last woman on earth’) is a nightmarish squall of science-fiction noise that clatters and churns and could well be the soundtrack to some twisted robot apocalypse or dark futuristic fantasy.

It’s not a stretch to say that What Would Christ Do? is every bit as good as Tame Impala’s last record, and the brash, unique style is something to be celebrated. To top it off, The Growl are also a damn fine live band. What would Christ do? Buy a copy.

WHAT WOULD CHRIST DO? IS OUT NOW VIA MGM.

Record review: Iggy & The Stooges – Ready to Die (2013, LP)

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Never one to shy away from controversy, Iggy Pop is now 66 and appears on his band’s latest album cover semi-naked and strapped up with explosives in a gunman’s crosshairs; not the most tasteful of artistic choices given recent events in the US. Thankfully, music-wise, the influential frontman is nowhere near being ready to die, and still puts as much of his heart and soul into his music and performance as he did when The Stooges formed in the mid-sixties. Incredibly, this is only the band’s fifth album in that time, and it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from the proto-punk pioneers. Opener ‘Burn’ is dark and sludgy and sets the tone for what follows. “You’re taking over as the world turns, I’m on fire with a reptile, burn burn,” grumbles Pop, who’s in a pretty miserable mood throughout the whole album. ‘Gun’ sees him ranting “If I had a f**king gun, I could shoot at everyone” with typical Pop venom over a barrage of buzz-saw guitars, and ‘DD’s’ is a pretty ridiculous ditty about – you guessed it – massive breasts, reaffirming Pop’s determination to never grow up. Guitarist James Williamson is on top form throughout, having only picked up a guitar again in 2009 after a twenty year career in the electronics industry. There are a couple of clunky ballads to offer a bit of variety to the sounds on offer, including the downbeat ‘Beat That Guy’ on which Williamson solos like it’s 1975 all over again, and overall this album will feel very familiar to fans of The Stooges. (Fat Possum)

Record review: The Preatures – Is This How You Feel? (2013, single)

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I’m not going to lie. For the first fifteen seconds of my first listen to the new The Preatures track ‘Is This How You Feel?’ I caught myself thinking oh fuck… what have they done? For those first few anxiety-filled moments, as those retro-fuelled guitar lines crept their way out of my speakers, I foolishly wondered why the Sydney quintet felt the need to change their ‘sound’.

But just as quickly I moved on to wondering what exactly is The Preatures’ sound? The “baby be mine” pop melodies of ‘Take A Card’? The dark country-rock of ‘Pale Rider’? The smooth soul of ‘Young Brave Me’? Thankfully, I quickly came to the conclusion that The Preatures have such a variety of good musical vibes to offer that each of their songs should be judged as entirely separate entities, and not parts of a single greater being. Once Isabella Manfredi’s super-smooth vocals kicked in my doubts were eased, and by forty seconds in I was sold. Thank you, The Preatures, for an initially stressful but ultimately pleasurable half-minute.

‘Is This How You Feel?’ is the first single from The Preatures’ upcoming EP; the band’s third release, which follows on from the breakthrough success they achieved throughout 2012, centred on their excellent single ‘Take A Card’. Bright and funky with their signature girl/boy vocal dynamic and more than a hint of rockabilly guitar, it’s another seemingly effortlessly cool and sleek release from the young Sydneysiders, and bodes well for the band’s future. Mandredi takes the limelight vocally, with Gideon Benson contributing a few lines mid-song, as plenty of ’70s feel comes through from start to finish. In short: it’s a damn fine track.

Being the tour supports of choice for bands like Deep Sea Arcade, San Cisco, and Hungry Kids of Hungary has helped win The Preatures new fans around the country, and ‘Is This How You Feel?’ should continue to do the same. Anticipation builds for the EP…

MC Slice of Kobra Kai: “We’re really proud of this album”

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THE RELEASE of Sydney dubstep/dance collective Kobra Kai’s second album comes at a great time for the band, explains MC Slice.

“Insession is our second album to date,” he says. “We’re really proud of this album; we feel very comfortable with how we’ve evolved our sound over the years. Kobra Kai has been together as a band for almost eight years now, and it even existed previously as different incarnations, so it’s been a long journey and we’re a really solid unit. Down the years we’ve had a few band member changes, and we’re in a place where we feel really comfortable and we’ve always known who we are and what our music is, but this album really feels like our sound is really solid and an accurate reflection of us and how we’ve developed as artists. We’re all in our early thirties, and we’ve all been doing music as our principal passion for around fifteen years, so Insession really reflects where we’re at right now.”

Honing their live show has always been Kobra Kai’s main focus, with recording taking a back seat.

“We’re firstly and foremost a live band,” he says. “Basically, our ethos is to replicate in a live situation the music we hear at raves and clubs; predominantly club-based dance music. Someone will have an idea for a song or a skeletal structure of a track, and together we try to put all our ideas or themes into that. Then we rehearse it, it might change over time, and eventually it might become something, or maybe not. Sometimes it’s clear there will be a diamond at the end of this piece of rough, so to speak.”

“Insession is only our second album,” he says. “We’ve put out singles before and an EP or two. It took pretty much five years to get the first album done, and we needed to kind-of purge all of that and get it out the way so we could sink our teeth into the second album; it was almost like a release of new music as a finished product. So, this album is really special to us. It’s a bit darker than the last one, and we’ve produced and mixed all the tracks on the album ourselves, so they really are all ours. Hutch and Rehan have become really adept producers, and they are the two real musicians in the band in a classical sense; they play the instruments. Our first album was executive produced by an artist in London, and it was never quite satisfying to us, and it didn’t feel like our own; so we’ve done this one all ourselves.”

Using drums and guitars in a dance show adds another dimension to the band’s live performance.

“Hutch and Rehan come from a traditional instrument-based background,” he says. “They appreciate the club sound, we appreciate the musicianship, and so we come together and take inspiration from DJs in clubs and work out ways to add things to it in a live environment. I’m a DJ at heart, but when we’re on stage the live aspect is all about the energy we capture from the crowd. It’s so engaged, personal, and energetic, and the live aspect is really important in that, and in who we are as band full-stop.”

Slice is looking forward to a busy few months ahead, with the band set to hit the road in support of the album.

“We’ve got an Australian tour coming up for Insession,” he says. “We’re playing Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, The Blue Mountains, Newcastle, Brisbane, Byron, and Melbourne. Then we’ll be taking it to New Zealand. Hands down the best gig we’ve played is Subsonic; it’s all about the music and a great vibe. We’ve played Big Day Out, Future Music, and Parklife, which are always a pleasure to play as they’re generally really well manned and the sound is tip-top. As a performer, having a great set-up makes a real difference. We’re also going to be busy writing new material, which is a constant process for us, and we have a music video coming out really soon for our track ‘New Swings’. So all in all, really busy!”

INSESSION IS OUT NOW THROUGH ITUNES AND WWW.KAILIVE.COM

Record review: Primal Scream – More Light (2013, LP)

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Now in its fourth decade, Primal Scream’s career has had more twists and turns than a motor race. From flower power, acid house, dub, dance, and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll, there’s not much the ‘Scream haven’t tackled since their formation in Glasgow in 1982. Since 2008’s Beautiful Future the band has undergone some changes; most noticeably with the departure of bassist Gary Mounfield, who rejoined the reformed Stone Roses and was replaced by Simone Butler. The great thing about Primal Scream albums is that you never know what you’re going to get, so what have the six-piece served up this time around? The answer is quite a mixed bag, and while it’s definitely not bad, it’s also not all good. Opener ‘2013’ is a decent attempt at a soaring rock song that will sound great live, but for every good song there’s one like ‘Culturecide’; a pretty poor attempt at a social/political statement that ends up sounding heavy and awkward, or ‘Goodbye Johnny’; a bizarre saxophone-heavy loungeroom number that sees frontman Bobby Gillespie doing his best/worst crooner impression. Single ‘It’s Alright, It’s Ok’ is pretty much 1991’s ‘Movin’ On Up’ revamped for a new generation; all uplifting Bob Marley-esque lyrics and handclaps, and ‘River of Pain’ features some nice acoustic guitar work over Gillespie’s breathy vocals. Primal Scream are one of the best bands to have come out of Britain since the ’80s, but a lack of cohesion and too much filler probably means More Light won’t be going down in history as one of their best albums. (First International)

Record review: Primal Scream – More Light (2013, LP)

/ Paul McBride / 1 Comment

Now in its fourth decade, Primal Scream’s career has had more twists and turns than a motor race. From flower power, acid house, dub, dance, and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll, there’s not much the ‘Scream haven’t tackled since their formation in Glasgow in 1982. Since 2008’s Beautiful Future the band has undergone some changes; most noticeably with the departure of bassist Gary Mounfield, who rejoined the reformed Stone Roses and was replaced by Simone Butler. The great thing about Primal Scream albums is that you never know what you’re going to get, so what have the six-piece served up this time around? The answer is quite a mixed bag, and while it’s definitely not bad, it’s also not all good. Opener ‘2013’ is a decent attempt at a soaring rock song that will sound great live, but for every good song there’s one like ‘Culturecide’; a pretty poor attempt at a social/political statement that ends up sounding heavy and awkward, or ‘Goodbye Johnny’; a bizarre saxophone-heavy loungeroom number that sees frontman Bobby Gillespie doing his best/worst crooner impression. Single ‘It’s Alright, It’s Ok’ is pretty much 1991’s ‘Movin’ On Up’ revamped for a new generation; all uplifting Bob Marley-esque lyrics and handclaps, and ‘River of Pain’ features some nice acoustic guitar work over Gillespie’s breathy vocals. Primal Scream are one of the best bands to have come out of Britain since the ’80s, but a lack of cohesion and too much filler probably means More Light won’t be going down in history as one of their best albums. (First International)

Record review: Papa Pilko and The Binrats – Howlin’ (2013, EP)

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Papa Pilko

Having recently seen these guys at The Joynt in Brisbane, heard many of their new songs played live, and been blown away by their musicianship, style, and outright ridiculousness, I had a strong feeling this EP was going to be good; and I was right. There’s an exciting and fascinating group of new bands across the country ploughing the furrows of a fantastic blend of country, rock, and blues genres – Graveyard Train and Quarry Mountain Dead Rats to name but two, but Papa Pilko and the Binrats (lead by the star of the show, frontman and vocalist Cyrus Pilko) could be the best of them.

If you aren’t familiar with this banjo-twangin’, hard-drinkin’, rockin’ ‘n’ rollin’ septet from Sydney, drop whatever you’re doing and go buy a ticket to one of their shows, and I mean now – GO! Failing that, get onto iTunes and get your filthy mitts on this EP – the band’s second after last year’s eponymous debut. That release had the excellent ‘The Gambler’; a song which got considerable national radio play and helped gain the boys a bit of attention, but it’s on Howlin’ they come of age.

Opener ‘Back Home’ starts off with some brilliant comedy banjo, guitar, and harmonica to kick off a stomping, barrelling track. Pilko’s ale-soaked vocals tell a story about his woman leaving home and taking his baby, which would sound like a load of nonsense and cliché if it wasn’t so catchy and fun.

Next up is ‘Some Kind of Evil’, which introduces the bluesier side to the band, and there’s even a hint of jazz amongst the horn lines and Pilko’s vaguely ominous lyrics about being overcome with “some kind of evil that comes over me, can’t you see?”

‘East Harlem’ is another banjo, horn, and double bass-led tune that shows Pilko to be quite the storyteller, even if you don’t always know what he’s going on about. Never mind, just “put a feather in your hat, and feed a bird to the old black cat”, as the man himself says.

‘Boardwalk Blues’ swings nicely and ups the tempo before the finale and title track, which sees Pilko letting loose on some solid harmonica blowin’, in between growling about road signs, altars, and night time in a fine finish.

To get the full Papa Pilko experience you really need to see them live, but this EP is the next best thing. Don’t let it pass you by.

HOWLIN’ IS OUT NOW VIA ITUNES AND BANDCAMP

Andreas Bergh of Deathstars: “We look up to bands like Iggy & the Stooges and MC5”

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DEATHSTARS singer-guitarist Andreas Bergh – a.k.a Whiplasher – is looking forward to touring Australia for more than one reason.

“We are really looking forward to the Australian weather,” he says. “It has been the longest winter here! Also, we haven’t played club gigs in probably three years; we’ve mainly been doing festivals and arenas, and just to hang out with the guys in the band and play the songs will be nice.”

Having a distinctive look and being labelled as ‘death glam’ hasn’t stopped Deathstars branching out.

“We have always been a pretty straightforward rock band, even though the music is big-sounding and heavy,” he says. “We look up to bands like Iggy and the Stooges and MC5 and people like that, so it’s more like that vibe these days, but there’s also a flamboyant side to us. There’s a contradiction in Deathstars; we have one foot in the black metal scene in the graveyards of Sweden, and then we have a glam side, as we grew up with bands like Kiss. It’s most important for us in the band to not be able to say what Deathstars really is; we like to leave a question mark behind it.”

The band recently celebrated ten years together and completed a European tour with metal titans Rammstein.

“Watching Rammstein was incredible,” he says. “I think it was the biggest indoor production last year, and it was over 700,000 audience members in total. When we started out it was like an experiment; it was just finding something new that was interesting for us with the influences we had. Today, we’ve grown a lot, and it’s much more relaxed. We could be pretty stressed, but now we don’t really think about it. It’s a more peaceful band to be in now, although it’s still a circus all the time. And we have new members now, so when we make our new album after the Australian shows it’ll be as just a four piece, without Cat on guitar. We are starting to record it as soon as we get back home. We’re quite slow with releasing albums.”

Deathstars last toured here in 2009, and Bergh hopes to have a similar experience this time around.

“It was a hazy, but great time,” he says. “Our music is very Scandinavian, very European, and you can see that that scene exists and people appreciate that kind of vibe in Australia; it’s really not that far between us.”

DEATHSTARS PLAY THE ZOO MAY 1

Live review: The Hoodoo Gurus + Blue Oyster Cult + The Flamin’ Groovies – The Tivoli, Brisbane – 18th April 2013

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Despite only having three bands appearing at the Brisbane leg of the festival, The Hoodoo Gurus’ Dig It Up Festival at Brisbane’s The Tivoli promised to be a fascinating night of classic rock music. A crowd with a healthy amount of grey hair filled the venue, quaffed beer like it’s 1982, and threw caution to the wind during the hard-rocking three hours of music.

First up for tonight would be The Flamin’ Groovies, and the four-piece take us right back to San Francisco circa 1969 with their mix of psychedelia, pub rock, and jangle pop. The excellent ‘I Can’t Hide’ sounds like everything Lee Mavers of The Las has ever tried to be, and ‘Between The Now’ from the Now album is turned into an epic rock jam, with frontman Cyril Jordan putting in more energy than many performers half his age. The band sign off with “Fuck Kim Jong Un and God help us in this world! It’s been real and it’s been nice, and it’s been real nice.” Well played, sirs.

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Next up is New York’s Blue Oyster Cult playing their first ever gig in Australia, and unquestionably the quintet steal the show. “We’re very glad to be here, where have you been for the last forty years?” asks guitarist Eric Bloom as the band come flying out of the traps with ‘It’s Alright’; a hillbilly, rockabilly, super-silly blast of classic rock riffage that immediately proves these guys are some seriously top-drawer musicians. Bassist Kasim Sulton (previously of Utopia, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and Meatloaf) proves himself to be an effortlessly cool and talented customer on the right side of the stage throughout the entire show. Next comes ‘Golden Age of Leather’ with it’s brilliant chant of “raise your can of beer up high” making The Tivoli audience do just that.

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‘Burning For You’ from the Fire Of Unknown Origin album is next, before ‘Then Came The Last Days of May’ from their 1972 debut, featuring long, shredding solos from firstly Richie Castellano, followed by Donald Roeser. ‘Godzilla’ is a track that shows the band don’t take themselves too seriously amongst some of the prog influences, before the vital closer, ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’. It was at this point I saw several gentlemen of advanced years crying and clapping their hands together like little kids who just got their first trampoline – beautiful.

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And so, it falls to our hosts for the evening to finish things off. The Hoodoo Gurus come onto the stage in a maelstrom of noise and flashing lights, launching into ‘Bittersweet’ from 1985, then ‘Poison Pen’. “Thanks for coming back again!” says frontman Dave Faulkner, before introducing ‘In the Wild’, explaining that the song began life being called ‘In the Dry’. At this point, it becomes clear that the highlight of the night would be Blue Oyster Cult (their virtuosity, showmanship, and great tunes are just unable to be bettered), and the Gurus’ ‘Hayride to Hell’, ‘The Other Side of Paradise’, and ‘Tojo’ weren’t going to change that fact. In saying that, it was a pleasure to see three ‘older’ bands show exactly how much they still have to offer, and indeed be able to rock our socks off more ferociously than most of the newer bands around today. What a great night.

Album review: Parquet Courts – Light Up Gold (2013, LP)

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parquet courts

Hype can often be fatal to new bands, but New York slacker-rock four-piece Parquet Courts are probably too stoned to care. Being labelled by some sections of the music press as the hottest unsigned property knocking around this year’s SXSW festival lead to the band being snapped up by Create/Control and their album being released in Australia. But is the hype justified, or all a bit of the usual industry shenanigans?

In the case of Parquet Courts, the attention and praise lavishly heaped on the band is more than understandable. Light Up Gold is fifteen tracks of a new brand of lyrical slacker-rock; funny, sharp, at times smart, and at times bonehead dumb. In short: it’s fantastic.

The shoddily lo-fi recording quality of Light Up Gold is somehow totally appropriate for this collection of songs – these four guys would probably spit in the face of the idea of a polished record. Opener ‘Master of My Craft’ is a great way to kick off, with singer Austin Brown proudly exclaiming “Socrates died in the fucking gutter!” over a barrage of frantic strumming and simple percussion.

There’s more than a hint of early Clash throughout – before they learned how to play, especially in the brilliant ‘Careers In Combat’, which sees Brown sharing life advice like “there are no spots left for park rangers, because there are no bears left to save you from, but there are still careers in combat my son,” and with a majority of songs under two minutes on length, this is a band that doesn’t give a damn about virtuosity or showmanship. Why would you, when you’ve got so much disaffection and contradiction barely restraining itself in your starving, college drop-out guts? And why not write a song about donuts with an intro that sounds like a Michael Jackson track circa 1985, as on ‘Donuts Only’? Fuck it.

It will be interesting to see where Parquet Courts go from here, and if they have the stomach or desire to toe the industry line, but this album is a damn exciting piece of work.

LIGHT UP GOLD IS OUT NOW VIA CREATE/CONTROL

Record review: The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow (2013, LP)

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Austin’s – nay, North America’s – finest proponents of drone-drenched psych-rock The Black Angels are prolific, to say the least. With an album released at least every other year since 2006, the Texans can fairly churn out the jams, and are back with their fifth full-length effort, Indigo Meadow.

While their bio may describe them as “experimental”, The Black Angels’ music has always been the psych-est of shadowy psych-rock; and fans of the band can rest easy in the knowledge they haven’t tried to change the formula in 2013. Fuzz, drone, crushing riffs, and brooding lyrical themes are the backbone once more.

The subject of the title track and opener appears to be a girl who has “been a problem since the moment I met ya” and who singer Alex Maas tells “you always cause unreal friction,” reinforcing the fact that this is one bunch of cats who don’t do love songs.

Middle-eastern-tinged ‘Love Me Forever’ starts off being equal parts The Byrds, John Lennon, and Page & Plant in their Egyptian phase, before unleashing a crushing riff that devastates everything before it. ‘Always Maybe’ sounds closest to ‘Bad Vibrations’ off Phosphene Dream, while one listen to the start of ‘Don’t Play With Guns’ is enough to induce sudden outbursts of air guitar or a blast of enthusiastic fist pumping if you’re that way inclined.

While in many ways it’s more of the same for the quartet, the songs are generally shorter and sharper, and while it could be argued that Indigo Meadow won’t win the band any new fans, it’s another epic chapter in the career of one of the mightiest psych-rock bands of the last few years. (Blue Horizon Ventures)

Live review: The Delta Riggs + Stillwater Giants + The Strums – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane – April 11th 2013

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When The Delta Riggs last played Black Bear Lodge at BIGSOUND 2012, snake-hipped frontman Elliott Hammond led the audience in an impromptu sing-a-long of “holy guacamole, we got chips!” before introducing their best-known song as one for “all the cunts out there.” That particular gig had a perfectly loose party atmosphere; all raucous abandon and who-fucking-cares gestures. Tonight’s show – while being just as boisterous and unrestrained – also involves the important business of an album launch; the Melbourne quintet’s debut Hex.Lover.Killer, and Brisbane is the first stop on the tour. Aren’t we a lucky bunch of people?

Local rock ‘n’ rollers The Strums are first up this evening, and the boys warm up the growing crowd’s ears with suitable volume and energy. Frontman Jai Sparks is the focal point as the band get sweaty with a half-hour set of punk-tinged rock, including a breakneck cover of ‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks.

Margaret River quartet Stillwater Giants are next onto the stage, and frontman Henry Clarke announces their goal of “getting you loose enough for The Delta Riggs”, as well as explaining “we’ve only been in Brisbane for an hour, and we’ve already nearly got into a fight over a car parking space”. Interstate issues aside, the band play a great set of guitar pop; all surf breaks and sunny melodies. ‘Give In To Me’ is a mid-set highlight, topped only by ‘Under The Radar’, and a fantastic cover of ‘One More Time’ by Daft Punk – a great song choice considering the French electronica giants’ Wee Waa announcement this week.

Elliott Hammond is the first of the ‘Riggs to take to the stage, and takes a seat at the keyboard for opener and new single ‘Better’. “Gonna take it from the start, escape from the city where we wound up again,” he sings before his four band-mates join in and get a show heavy with new songs under way; what a great fucking start. Next is ‘Perfume & Lace’ off Hex.Lover.Killer before ‘Counter Revolution’ from Talupo Mountain Music Vol. II gives the dual guitarists a chance to let rip.

Next comes the first two tracks from the album, ‘Stars’ and ‘America’; by which stage the crowd is getting loose (thanks for the elbow to the jaw, Red Bull girl) and Hammond announces “those of you who have the first EP – we are playing fucking nothing off that thing, I’m telling you now!”

Eighth song of the evening ‘I Was Profound Tomorrow’ brings the pace back down a bit before the three-track finale of “our big hit from the radio” ‘Rah Rah Radio’, ‘Money’, and the instrumental ‘Save It ’til The Morning’. The out-and-out ROCK of the first two is nicely matched with the psych jam riffs of the latter, and the band leave the stage to huge applause.

Of course the lads are hounded back to the stage for the obligatory encore which is overshadowed by Hammond and guitarist Tristan James relating a story about The Preatures drummer’s “total bitch” of an ex-girlfriend who took a communal microwave and locked it in her bedroom. Hammond’s response? Take the TV and put it in the garden. His punishment? Get pushed through a table. Rock and roll…

Hex.Lover.Killer is a top rock ‘n’ roll album and tonight’s launch more than does it justice. Do yourself a favour and go see ’em.

THE DELTA RIGGS ARE TOURING NOW! SEE http://www.thedeltariggs.com/ FOR DETAILS.

Record review: Kurt Vile – Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze (2013, LP)

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Since his 2008 debut Constant Hitmaker, Kurt Vile has been making the type of music that many other musicians would trade their biggest hit for. Critically acclaimed and loved by fans the world over, since Vile left The War On Drugs and went solo he has become almost a cult figure to those in the know, and has consistently improved his recorded output through 2009’s Childish Prodigy and God Is Saying This To You, and 2011’s Smoke Ring For My Halo.

Sometimes an album title is an oblique reference to some part of the band’s music or artistic outlook, but Wakin’ On A Pretty Daze almost perfectly describes what can be found on album number five from the 33 year-old Philadelphia native. Vile’s music in the past has had more than a hint of stoner rock; not in a fuzzed-out Dinosaur Jr. kind of way, but more like a free-spirited spiritual guru kind of way – he’s going to help you turn on and tune in rather than drop out.

Nine-minute opener ‘Wakin On A Pretty Day’ is a chilled opening track by anyone’s standards. Part Jackson Browne circa 1978, part mid-summer daze, part laid-back stoner warmth, it carries a message that features in much of Vile’s work: bad shit happens all the time, but whatcha gonna do? With excellent guitar work that is an overlooked part of Vile’s arsenal, it shows this album to be his most spacious and laid-back effort to date.

Some of Vile’s riffs on Smoke Ring For My Halo were heavily Clapton-influenced, and the same could be said for the rock-y ‘KV Crimes’, while ‘Was All Talk’ is not dissimilar to the excellent ‘Freak Train’ from Childish Prodigy. Take a quick look at the running times of the songs on the album and you’ll notice the extended jams on ‘Too Hard’ (8:04), ‘Air Bud’ (6:30), and closer ‘Goldtone’ (10:26) make this Vile’s longest album to date, and also one of his best. The only point that could be made in the negative is that there isn’t a stand-out or obvious hit here, but Vile doesn’t seem to be the sort of musician to be bothered by such trivialities. This is an excellent album. (Matador)

Record review: Ilias – Somewhere In Time (2013, LP)

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Sydney-based Algerian/Australian multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and producer Ilias may have taken ten years to write and six months to record his debut album Somewhere In Time, but when you compose, play, and produce everything yourself, you can afford to go at your own pace. The result is an impressive eleven song collection of jazz-tinged folk and indie pop tunes that is as original as it is refreshing. The white Gretsch guitar on the cover gives a hint at what lies inside; as deft, understated guitar licks combine with Thom Yorke-style vocals and harmonies in a laid-back and effortlessly smooth affair. With opener ‘Never Utter The Word Never’ Ilias sets out his stall as a musician who values melody and feel above showmanship, and on ‘Loving You’ his vocal range is allowed to shine. The ethereal and dreamy pop aesthetic is a strong point throughout, and on riff-heavy mid album tracks ‘This Life’ and ‘September Memory’ Ilias’s guitar playing comes to the fore in hypnotic fashion. A string-shredding solo could take these songs to another level, but would also probably detract from the humble and heartfelt nature of the lyrics, which tend to focus on the heavy subjects of love and loss. The overall feel of this album is one of velvety bar room vibes, complete with a level of polish not often found on independent releases, and these songs would probably best be enjoyed played live in an intimate, inner-city basement venue. Hopefully it won’t take ten years for a follow-up. (Independent)

Kings Konekted: “A lot of things dictated who stood where and by whose side”

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kings koneketed

Brisbane hip-hop collective Kings Konekted are about to launch their new EP The Campaign, and it’s set to be a real landmark release for the group. DJ/producer Stricknine and MC Culprit explain how much it means.

“It feels great to have it finished,” says Stricknine. “It was all done at Class A Records and it was an absolute pleasure working with producer Trem.”

“We always love recording,” explains Culprit. “We would do it every day if we could. When writing we usually start with a beat first, and we can ponder on that for days or weeks, and from there we’ll either decide if it needs a theme or a message, and Dontez might write some verses to it. Generally the writing process starts with the beat, and the beat dictates where the writing of the track is going to go for us. It might all three of us or just two of us working at any one time. Dontez really controls the boards; the computers and the programming. I don’t do any of the computer work, but once we load the beat in we work out the layout of the song, and whoever is going to rap first does their part. The choruses tend to get done at the end, after we get our verses out over the beat and have a listen. If there’s something that’s going back and forth then the process changes a bit where we might switch things around to make sure we get it out effectively.”

Serbian/Australian Culprit and Indigenous Australian/Italian Dontez forged their friendship and musical bond from a young age, growing up in the crime-infested streets of the western suburbs of Brisbane, before joining forces with elder statesmen Strickine, Prowla, and Trem to make The Campaign.

“There was a lot of segregation in what we call the 4300 postcode area,” says Culprit. “It’s a working class area and unfortunately there’s a bit of crime. You could call it a low socio-economic environment if you wish, and a lot of things in the lifestyle – things like graffiti, things like music, things like sport – dictated who stood where and by whose side. And unfortunately fights are pretty common out there. But most cities across the world – wherever you go – have riff-raff; it just happens to be a bit more common in that area, and we bring it all to the table. It’s not a negative view or a positive view; we’re not saying it’s good that there’s fighting or it’s bad that there’s fighting, we just want it to be known. It’s our life, our story, and what we’ve seen, so we want to portray that. But it’s each to their own. We don’t think you have to come from that sort of background to be a hip-hop artist.

The Campaign is the group’s first release since 2009’s Trails To The Underlair, but fans won’t have to wait as long for the next, with a full-length album planned for late 2013.

“It’s going to be called Corrupted Citizens,” says Culprit. “We wanted to put out the EP as a taster to give something to the fans and to thank them for waiting so long as we’ve been working on this since 2009. But that’s not to say the quality on the EP isn’t as good as what the album will be.”

When asked about what the local hip-hop scene and what could improve it, Stricknine is quick off the mark.

“More Kings Konekted!” he says. “Nah, the scene in Brisbane has its moments. There’s plenty of stuff out there that would make me want to go and see it. But there’s a lot of stuff out there that’s labelled as hip-hop that isn’t. We try to make music that can be recognised as hip-hop the world over, so someone in New York can listen to it and know what it is, not just someone from Australia. Some hip-hop artists are together for only a couple of years and put out an album, and it shows in their music, whereas we started in 2007 or 2008 and the guys were together for about ten years before that.”

‘THE CAMPAIGN’ IS OUT APRIL 19th FROM WWW.CLASSARECORDS.COM