ALBUM REVIEW: Gotye - Making Mirrors

(Eleven, 2011)

Review by Sean Sebastian
                                             
8.5/10
Those with even the slightest inclination for Australian music will have no doubt heard Wally De Backer, a.k.a., Gotye’s, latest single, Somebody That I Used To Know. Generally an artist confined to the playlists at alternative radio station, Triple J, Gotye’s track has blown up quite dramatically, holding the number 1 spot on the ARIA charts and even a chart position of number 2 in the Netherlands. 

It is on this wave of excitement and euphoric singing-along that Making Mirrors has been released. Gotye’s third studio album and biggest by far, this record is direct, intimate and sees De Backer take a musical direction he hasn’t before. “So I guess I feel a bit analogous to what these songs become to me - you know little ways for me to explore my record collection, explore the world of sound that I'm fascinated by,” said De Backer in an interview with ABC, “and also sometimes get a different perspective on memories and emotions I've been mulling over that they find voice in these songs”. 

This focus is quite prevalent on your first listen through Making Mirrors. When placing it in the context of its predecessors (2003’s Boardface and 2006’s Like Drawing Blood), the tracks are by and large more conventional alternative fanfare. And that’s not a bad thing, at all. Traversing the dreamy landscape of tracks like the titular Making Mirrors or Giving Me a Chance is an absolute joy; whether its De Backer’s sweet, understated vocals, or the moving, rhythmic instrumentation, the album feels more tangible and immediate. Then there are the more energetic and light-hearted I Feel Better, a big-band, Motown style ditty and In Your Light, a cheery little pop tune; tracks that provide an infallible balance to the more experimental aspects of Making Mirrors. 

Though the album is easy and incredibly lovable, the process of recording it was far from so. “I probably had some of my lowest points ever,” said De Backer in an interview with Australian entertainment website, Everguide, “where I was just sitting there going, ‘I hate this music. This is fucking shithouse.’” 

However, De Backer pushed through and has created an album that truly lets the listener feel and partake in the immense love he has for music. Furthermore, it pushes the boundaries not just of his sound but of Australia’s music palate in general. 

ALBUM REVIEW: Boy and Bear - Moonfire

(Universal, 2011)

Review by Sean Sebastian
                                             

6/10

It must be hard to be a small band like Boy & Bear, to have a track blow-up as huge as their cover of Crowded House’s Fall At Your Feet, yet still be carrying an underappreciated back-catalogue of indie-folk gems. Their first EP, With Emperor Antarctica, made quite a splash thanks to a gratuitous beat-up from Triple J’s “Unearthed” program and rightfully so, the tracks are a tight series folky jams overlaid with lead singer Dave Hosking’s soulful, reverberated vocals. And though it was quite expensively produced, it had a simple, understated feel that gave the warm, amiable image of the band some life.

These elements have been carried across into the production of Moonfire, their debut LP, but have now been infused with a mix closer to that of a rock classic. The bass is heavier as its accentuated rhythm pounds through Feeding Line. The lead guitar’s once trebly distortion has been given a fuller sound, bristling and smooth, Milk & Sticks’ progression rings out powerfully. Though Boy & Bear have never sounded better, their golden folk hearts have been obscured by faultless production. 

That being said, Moonfire is surprisingly energetic for a band now known for their reserved style. From the speedy, sing-a-long Golden Jubilee or the dramatic crescendo of Beach, the band have impressively flexed their muscles.

ALBUM REVIEW: Dananananaykroyd - There Is A Way

(Dew Process, 2011)

Review by Michael Bird
                                             
6/10

It’s hard to tell what lies at the center of Dananananakroyd, what their endgame is. The Glaswegian six-piece excel at a few different things: communicating some of the manic energy that goes into their live show in studio recordings, walking the line between several different genres and scenes, and remaining relevant despite in-band health problems, line up changes and having a really annoying name. For all that though, it’s unclear what we’re supposed to make of There Is A Way, an album that falls just short of being something special.

Dananananakroyd do pull in a few different directions in their current incarnation. Less so in any hardcore derivative these days in any sense other than vocals, but never quite indie, never quite truly fist-pumping anthems and never quite straight up rock, the band could be accused of meandering a little on There Is A Way. ‘Reboot’ is a strong opener, probably a great concert opener too, but the energy wears off, and by about ‘Muscle Memory’ something like boredom might set in.

Having Ross Robinson onboard to produce lends the album some serious street cred, but his professional touch may contribute to the ultimately tempered impact of the record. Cuts like ‘All Us Authors’ and ‘Muscle Memory’ jostle along in line with the ‘fight pop’ label the band have assigned themselves, but are just a little too polished to hit with enough force to be memorable. Robinson does with There Is A Way what he’s been renowned for in the second half of his career behind the desks, sanding back the rough edges of acts that spill over acceptable mainstream bounds and delivering standout, often career defining albums (see At the Drive-In’s Relationship of Command, Slipknot’s Iowa and The Blood Brothers’ …Burn, Piano Island, Burn). The potential problem with this is that while some bands shine brightest once the air is cleared and they are given a clean, polished canvas to work with, others lose something vital when they lose their roughest edges. Dananananakroyd sound more balanced here than they have on previous outings, but they definitely fall into the latter camp.

JEBEDIAH - The Corner Hotel, Richmond, 05/05/2011

Text and Photos by Matthew Hallett

                                                                   

After the band’s time away from the limelight, it would be difficult for Jebediah to know how they’d be received after such a long absence from the public domain. Two shows at the Corner Hotel, to audiences at maximum capacity is always a promising sign. With the band’s last album being 2004’s ‘Braxton Hicks’, new album ‘Kosciuszko’ (2011) has been a long time coming. Especially for the loyal fans who’ve stuck by the band over the years.

For many, the night was their first chance to see the Perth quartet live in a considerable amount of time, after Jebediah only doing a handful of shows in recent years. Even frontman Kevin Mitchell stated that it was the first time in around 11 years that Jebediah had played at The Corner Hotel.

As soon as Jebediah took to the stage, launching into Lost my Nerve it was evident their time apart had not affected their ability to put on a great live show. Kevin Mitchell kicking his feet around in a strange dance, before taking his stance at the microphone.

Many of the crowd wanting to hear some older material were not disappointed either. Three songs in and fans were treated to Puck Defender with one punter yelling out, “We love the ‘90s”. But there was a healthy mix of new and old material with Jebediah conscious of wanting to move forward, but at the same time wanting to play the tracks that everyone grew up with. New songs such as Under Your Bed and the ever so catchy She’s like a Comet were evenly dispersed between older classics such as Fall Down, Leaving Home, and Benedict. With Kevin Mitchell reflecting on lyrics written in Benedict stating sarcastically that he should have won a Logie with lyrics like that, before jokingly realising Logies won’t be awarded for song-writing.

Throughout the night it’s clear that each and every member of Jebediah is having a ball on stage and revelling in the joy of playing music with each other once again. The crowd is having just as good a time with smiles, dancing, and mouths motioning the shape of every lyric. The show rolled on from song to song in an energetic and well-flowing manner, and before you knew it, what was meant to be a 60 minute set, finished after around 95 minutes with the heartfelt classic Harpoon.

A chat with THE LAURELS

Interview by Michael Bird
Transcribed by Sean Sebastian
Photos by Timothy Casten

                                                

Driving around the country in the Tarago they've nicknamed 'The Wombat', The Laurels have gathered a strong fan base down the East Coast with their shoegazing, almost psychedelic jams. Their long-awaited, much-anticipated EP is due to be released in the coming months and it will be composed from a giant catalogue of tracks written over the last 2 years. 

The band will be playing Boogie Festival in Tallarook (more info here) this weekend and at the Ding Dong Lounge (Tickets info Here!) for an ANZAC day show with Machete Moon. 

They were down in Melbourne a couple months ago to play shows with Swervedriver and Conor (Bass), Piers (Vocals/Guitar) and Luke (Vocals/Guitar) sat down with DUCKDUZZ to have a chat about the influences on their writing and their touring plans.  

Are you guys excited to play with Swervedriver?

Luke - We all met them and they became really good friends with Kate. They were in constant contact with each other 

Conor - Should be really, really good. They’re a bit of a forgotten band, that whole shoegazer thing. People get more excited about other bands, so it’s cool the Melbourne show’s sold out. 

In an interview, were you kidding when you said you had 23 pedals?

Luke - It was a joke, but we actually do have something like that. I think I have 21 now, but I don’t use them all. I think we’re pretty particular with the texture. I think I spend too much time on Ebay and just read descriptions of these pedals. It’s just a matter of hitting them at the right time, and I can never really do that. It’s a bit too difficult. Hopefully I’ll get used to it. Conor’s only just started getting into guitar pedals.

Conor - I have just one pedal. I bought it off Luke. Actually I think we traded for a bill I owed him or something. I would like to get more.

Was there more of a focus on playing live? Is that why the album took a while to come out?

Conor - I think not getting the stuff out has more to do with logistics and money. Playing live would sort of be the main thing, it’s more fun. We’ve been doing it for so long, it gets more and more fun. With new songs and returning to old ones, we sort of click a bit more than we used to.

The EP was half old recordings and half newer ones?

Conor - We recorded over a long period of time, and we had a sort of album’s worth of material. They were done predominantly in 2 sessions, about a year apart. We just picked the ones we liked out of the both of them, that would be the EP. Hopefully it’ll be out relatively soon.

Initially, I felt like there was a bit of a gulf between it. The older stuff’s kind of more psychy and a bit more what we were into then. And the newer stuff is kind of moving on from that. 

Is that a change in the writing process? 

Conor - Luke and Piers write the songs. 

Luke - We kind of bring them in and put Conor’s magic on the track and Kate comes up with a nice beat. It ends up being a Laurels’ write in the end. 

Is jamming a big part of the process?

Conor -There’s a jam element to it. I think we come into them with a bit more structure than other bands. Luke and Piers always have pretty clear cut ideas. 

Luke - They tended to meander a bit when we first started out, but what we’re writing now is a bit more thought out. 

When we started out we had a pretty clear idea what we wanted and what bands we wanted to sound like. And now, over a couple of years, it seems a bit more like us. Also in the course of 4 years we’ve listened to a whole lot of new music and moved beyond initial artists. 

What would they be then?

Piers - Don’t say jazz. (All laugh). 

Conor - I think over the last few years, I’ve really gotten into Flying Nun and all that sort of stuff. Piers has been getting into a bit of Public Enemy. I don’t know if we bring that into the band at all. 

Piers - it’s just for driving around (laughs). 

Conor - The Saints have been a big influence for a while. 

Piers - It’s been a lot more Australian music, rather than British or American. 

Is it almost a separate thing, live influences and recorded ones?

Conor - There’ve certainly been a few bands that we’ve seen and played with that have had a lot more influence. Like Ghosts of Television. They’re broken up now, but they were an amazing band in Sydney. And we played with them quite a lot, and saw them quite a lot. Personally, I thought that was quite an influence. There’s lots of bands, Beaches, Love of Diagrams. 

Have you played with them at all? Love of Diagrams?

Conor - Played with them once. Which was really exciting. 

There seems to be a lot more psychedelia and new-gazer in Sydney and Tasmania but not much in between? 

Conor - I don’t know why that is. There used to be a lot more bands in Sydney that used to tour with us who aren’t anymore. There was a bit of a community for it. You know, some friends had bands and we all sort of played together. Melbourne has other things.

Luke - There’s a band called 3 Month Sunset. Lowtide now.

Piers - The guy started the band and called it 3 Month Sunset and then he got other people to join and called that band Lowtide. 

Do you get your pick of who to play with down here? 

Conor - Kind of. Probably not as much as we would in Sydney. We’re always keen to come into Melbourne. If we get our support and it suits, and we sort out our schedules, we’ll always make time to come down. We haven’t played with a lot of bands in Melbourne who we’re really looking forward to in future. Panel of Judges. 

ALBUM REVIEW: Jebediah - Kosciuszko

(released on Dew Process/UMA, 2011)
Review by Matt Hallett
                                             
3.5 /5

After deciding to go on hiatus following their 2004 album ‘Braxton Hicks’ Jebediah are back in full flight with their latest release ‘Kosciuszko’. The Perth quartet’s fifth studio album, demonstrates a certain maturity within the well crafted songs, yet still has that unique ‘Jebediah’ sound about it.

It’s evident that singer Kevin Mitchell’s solo project under the name of Bob Evans, has helped further develop his song writing craft, with a number of well crafted and structured songs such as Control and the infectiously catchy She’s Like a Comet. While Mitchell’s voice has matured since the early Jebediah days, there remains a unique quality about his singing that puts an immediately recognisable ‘Jebediah’ stamp on the tracks.

Songs such as To Your Door and Are We Ok? demonstrate the band’s growth over the years from the early days of ‘Slightly Odway’, but there’s still a youthful vigour in songs like Under Your Bed.

Battlesong is a fine example of how the matured Jebediah sound blends with the classic anthemic Jebediah sound on the album; with its steadily marching beat in the verses and hushed vocal tones, building up to an anthemic chorus.

‘Kosciuszko’ is probably a more optimistic record than its predecessors, with a little less angst in the songs. But overall the album is a solid listen from beginning to end, apart from one or two tracks that fall a little flat. It may take a couple of listens for the tracks to sink in, but diehard fans will be impressed, as will new fans who will find the album very accessible, whether or not they’ve heard any older Jebediah material.



Jebediah kick off their tour in support of Kosciuszko at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, May 5.
For more tour dates and info visit the official Jebediah website.



 

ALBUM REVIEW: The Strokes - Angles

(released on RCA, 2011) 

Review by Michael Bird

                                               

2.5/5

There’s a restaurant I used to take girls to on dates that weren’t particularly important. It might have been hastily organised last-minute dinners or relatively unimportant first stops on long nights out, but the attraction was the minimum fuss, decent if uninspired menu and consistent mediocrity. There’s nothing wrong with mediocrity, of course, in the right context. Unfortunately, someone in the management chain decided that a facelift was needed, and the restaurant became a weird, quasi-Hawaiian themed joint with off-putting staff and strange menu items. There was pineapple everywhere.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that all I ever really want from a Strokes release is a good time. Casablancas et al. have never been at the cutting edge of creativity (or the cutting edge of anything besides consummate pilfering of the coolest trends from bygone eras), and the big drawcard for the Strokes has always been their ability to turn out solid, catchy as hell garage-pop songs. However, on Angles, the band has changed their menu somewhat. The blueprint remains the same, and there are some cuts that are arguably right up there with ‘Reptilia’ and ‘Someday’, but there is definitely pineapple that’s come with the introduction of new elements. A lot of pineapple.

There have been hints of every-second-beat, lite reggae/ska feel in a few Strokes songs of years gone by, but no one would have accused The Strokes of being terribly experimental before now. Vocalist Julian Casablancas did explore some new-ish territory (new for him as a recording artist, certainly not new in a ‘Michael J. Fox playing Chuck Berry’ sort of way) on his solo release, but for the most part, Strokes albums have been consistently safe affairs in terms of texture. The tropical guitar chirps deployed in ‘Machu Picchu’ are a surprise then, but like most new directions explored in Angles, the novelty wears off quickly and the experiment pales in comparison to the more familiar parts of the song. 

The 80’s reverb and quite ugly drum production that dominates the verses of ‘Two Kinds Of Happiness’ is an unwelcome distraction from the chorus/instrumental break that follows, likewise for ‘You’re So Right’ in its entirety, which must be trudged through before album highlight ‘Taken For A Fool’. It’s a snappy pop number about girls and bars, ‘Taken For A Fool’: truly classic Strokes. Casablancas has never had much to say that was particularly deep, so why bother? There might be one group of kids who gets high and discusses the insipid lyrical turns of ‘Games’ for every thousand discussing Lateralus, it’s just not The Strokes’ market. 

Casablancas does display some growth in his singing abilities, mostly in terms of range. The tinny vocal distortion that became his trademark is gone, and there’s even some multi-tracking (which might become a problem in live performances, we’ll see come next festival season). The disparate, disconnected manner in which the album was apparently recorded seems too easy an excuse for the schizophrenic nature of the songs; it’s really something that can wait for the bands’ obituary to be discussed at length. Who didn’t always suspect that Casablancas was a bit of a dick anyway? The best songs on Angles are those that live up to this and other myths (true or not) about The Strokes, those that sound like they were written and recorded after rolling out of bed, having a smoke and a beer for breakfast, donning out of (and thereby in) fashion jackets and shades, and swaggering a little. Classic Strokes has some swagger to it, and not enough of this album does.

THE JEZABELS - The Corner Hotel, Richmond, 07/04/2011

Written by Sean Sebastian

Photos by Daniel Hussey

                                                      

If there was one word to describe The Jezabels’ sound, it would be dramatic. Anyone who has tuned into Triple J in the past months would no doubt recognise lead singer Hayley Mary’s shrill and frantic musings on love and self-defence, backed by driving drums and theatrical, pounding piano. The songs themselves swell and break as well as any operatic offering at Hamer Hall; particularly tracks like A Little Piece or their EP’s titular Dark Storm, and this all translates ridiculously well at one of their shows.

As the curtains at the Corner Hotel part, Heather Shannon sits placidly at her keyboard, Sam Lockwood stands straight-legged and grinning with his guitar and Nik Kaloper’s fit frame sits with authority at his drumkit. Then Mary, clad in tight, black leather pants stalks onto stage, her face painted in seriousness. She does well in separating herself from the band as she’s the only one who doesn’t really laugh or smile, least of all when Lockwood cracks a joke about their attempts at ‘big rock finishes’. That leaves a slightly sour taste on your tongue as The Jezabels could easily fall into a ‘laughable’ category without a sense of humour about themselves, and with Mary’s solemnity, they do straddle that line quite precariously.

Petty aesthetic squabbles aside, there’s no doubt they’re a tight band on stage; most notable is Kaloper for his madly energetic drum lines, particularly impressive is the tom-rattling Hurt Me. They pace their long tracks with masterful accuracy, making the climactic finishes an energising wall of sound that’s downright irresistible. Mary holds her shrill tunes perfectly and she does well in making herself heard over the reverberating piano and overdriven guitar. One of the more surprising aspects to the band is the almost anthemic quality their songs contain. As the instruments swelled and Mary crooned, more than half the audience threw their arms up and chorused, “I don’t care when you cry, I think self-pity is a state of mind”. It was mostly the twenty-something girls of all denominations who had their eyes closed, mouthing, “But she loves me, more than anyone who wouldn’t lay a hand”.

The Jezabels continue their emotionally energetic onslaught at Youthfest in Sydney on April 10.

                                                       

Support act, Ernest Ellis
The Jezabels