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

INTERVIEW: Last Dinosaurs

Interviewer: Michael Bird
Camera: Anthony Koreny
Editor: Timothy Casten

                                                 

Brisbane boys Last Dinosaurs are currently on a tour with Papa Vs. Pretty and were down in Melbourne last weekend to play a sold-out show. They took some time out of their busy tour schedule to talk to DuckDuzz about the current tour, playing festivals and upcoming plans.

Remaining dates for the tour:

Thursday 31st March (TONIGHT!): Transit Bar, Canberra 

Tickets available from: Moshtix. Phone: 1300 GET TIX or www.moshtix.com.au

Friday 1st April: Oxford Art Factory, Sydney

Tickets available from: Moshtix. Phone: 1300 GET TIX or www.moshtix.com.au

Saturday 2nd April: CBD Hotel, Newcastle

Tickets available from: Bigtix. Phone 02 4968 3093 or www.bigtix.com.au 

BRITISH INDIA - The Corner Hotel, Richmond 26/03/2011

Text and Photos by Matthew Hallett

                                                                   

British India is a band committed to its fans. This was ever so clear as they played to a full house at the Corner Hotel. This show was just the fourth of what is a 26-date national tour, starting in the band’s home state of Victoria, and then heading all across the country. The boys are in the process of writing for album number four and hope to record at the end of this tour, but for now it’s all about reconnecting with the fans. 

Declan Melia (Vocals/Guitar) thanked everyone at the gig saying, “It’s great that we can go away for a while, and come back and see all of you here again”. But the mutual appreciation between band and crowd was certainly a two-way street, with fans fervently jumping around and singing along at the top of their lungs.

British India emphatically opened the show with new single and tour name, March into the Ocean and followed up with an equally energetic rendition of Safari. By this point anyone meandering up the back of the Corner Hotel, had well and truly joined the rest of the crowd towards the front of the stage. 

The show was a good balance of hits like Run the Red Light, Vanilla, I Said I’m Sorry and Tie up my Hands, as well as album tracks such as Teenage Mother, This Dance is Loaded and Mona Lisa Overdrive. The boys also threw in an unexpected cover of The Offspring’s Self Esteem which went down a treat. Apart from March into the Ocean, British India only chose to play one other new song, She Prefers Older Men, Melia reasoning the band didn’t want to bore the audience with songs they wouldn’t know.

There were relatively few static moments throughout the set, mainly for tuning, but these were covered well with healthy banter from frontman Declan Melia, and his constant interaction with punters, whether it be stepping across and singing into their faces, or giving one punter his Melbourne Bitter Stubby because they shared the same name as him, or even after the end of the set when Melia, eating a burger, walked out from behind a curtain covering the stage and personally high-fived and thanked fans until security sent him back behind the curtain. 

The band’s final number Black & White Radio summed up the night’s gig perfectly; powerful, energetic, and highly sing-along-able.

ALBUM REVIEW: Sparkadia - The Great Impression

(Ivy League, 2011)
Review by Kim Larkin
                                             

4/5

The great impression received from Sparkadia’s new album ‘The Great Impression’ (unoriginal I know, but I couldn’t resist), is a varied one. The highly awaited second album from Sydney band is a twisted melodic form of pop-art. Catchy with a bittersweet sentiment and 80’s stylistic tone, the album runs resonant with harpischord, bells, chimes and an echoing flow of singer Alex Burnett’s lyrics which leaves ‘The great impression’ drenched in depth and despondency.

China being the unquestionable John-Hughes-cinematic-inspired highlight of the album annotates the pop component of the album. With the Phil Collins’ drum rolls, and the melancholy lyrics of the chorus (“I break like China”) combined with the uplifting chord progressions, China strikes a perfect adolescent attitude and harmony, outlining the tone of the entirety of ‘The Great Impression’.

There is no denying the earnest desperateness in the lyrics, but somehow listening to Sparkadia’s new album doesn’t depress you as it should. There is something remarkably tender to each song individually, and together the album is refreshing in it’s slow waltz pop that isn’t soppy or pretentious. It captures the tone of a soundtrack that is in everyones head, one time or another.

Admitedly ‘The Great Impression’ won’t be to everyones taste. There are some points which could be considered too 80s, too liquid in it’s overtones (with the use of a chorus of whoaas and ohhhs in almost every track) and even too repetitive in the undercurrent of the album. However if you were after the Sparkadia you heard in 2008’s “Postcards”, you wont be disappointed. When listening to tracks such as ‘jealousy’ and ‘kiss of death’ the natural evolution process is evident. The use of instruments in ‘The Great Impression’ tend to be considerably more introspective than their earlier releases, nonetheless the instrumentality of the album is undeniably strong and unmistakably Sparkadian.

Intending to listen to ‘The Great Impression’ with expectations is a bad choice. I can promise you that it won’t live up any assumptions you have made in your head, but fortunately I can also assure you that it will create and exceed new ones. Each song is specifically clever, with it’s own scene to the landscape of the album. At times hesitant other times dynamic, songs such as The Lost Ones depict the melodic balance of both worlds and creates an almost indefinable, complex and evocative second release. The magical quality of ‘The great impression’ is that it reminds you why the album was highly awaited.

A chat with Alex Wall (BLEEDING KNEES CLUB)

Interview by Kim Larkin

                                                 

Surf-trash-pash-punk songs about bad guys who smoke all night, staying out after dark, being loud and high, having fun and losing your mind. There aren’t many bands with just a guitar and a drum kit, recording in a home made studio at the back of a sneaker shop writing these 2 minute songs. “I try and write songs that are pretty short, cause we both have short attention spans and get bored with anything over 3 minutes,” says Alex of Bleeding Knees Club, “All the lyrics on the E.P tend to be about girls, I have no idea why...”

In the past year the Bleeding Knees Club have achieved more than most bands do in 4 years. Forming in March 2010, Alex Wall and Jordan Malane have managed to sell out original pressings of their EP ‘Virginity’, released in October, and are planning to record in New York this year with ‘Lightspeed Champion’, British composer and producer Devonte Hynes; (who has worked with The Chemical Brothers, Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys and Beyonce’s sister, to name a few).

“A lot has happened. I don’t think we ever could have really expected it, so we are pretty surprised by the whole situation” says Alex, “I had just finished uni and the last thing I was thinking about doing was being in a band.” Being a Triple J featured artist, touring with the Big Day Out and having their song “Have Fun” on the Myer Miss Shop national ad still hasn’t changed the boys. “We don’t really like playing on big stages that much,” says Alex when asked about the big festival shows, “I’d rather just play on the floor every show. Playing at home is the best cause all our friends come and it usually gets pretty crazy. We know we will have a good crowd.”

An Interview with Adalita Srsen (MAGIC DIRT)

Interview by Michael Bird
                                                 

Days before the release of her self-titled debut solo LP, Magic Dirt front woman Adalita Srsen took time to talk to Duckduzz about the process of making the transition from band member to solo artist.

 

Your debut was released March 4, how are you feeling about the release?

A little overwhelmed, to be honest. I’ve been doing solo shows for a few years now, but there’s still a lot of pressure to ‘get it right’ when you’re the only creative force behind an album. I was a lot more nervous when I first started performing solo, and I have gotten better with it, but there’s definitely still a lot to deal with.

Is that one of the main differences between playing with Magic Dirt and doing your own thing, having to shoulder more responsibility?

There is sort a sense of being the captain of the ship in terms of getting the whole thing together. I’m used to being one captain among many, I suppose, so it is different. I’m still finding my feet as a solo artist I think, there’s a lot of things that are different when you’re performing solo. Learning to control my voice has been a challenge, singing acoustic songs isn’t the same as most of what we’ve done in Magic Dirt. I have had people around me though; J.P. Shilo played on the album and was in the studio a lot, along with Amaya Laucirica and (former Magic Dirt bassist) Dean Turner. There was a nice little family of people around when I needed them.

Was collaboration the plan from the outset, or did other people’s involvement in the album happen organically?

It was very organic, that’s just sort of how I tend to work. I’ve known J.P. for a while, and we were hanging out anyway, but he hadn’t heard any of the songs before he came into the studio. I really love Amaya’s voice, so it was great to have her involved too. We’ve been rehearsing lots since the album was completed, getting ready for the tour. 

Were there different influences of yours that came to the fore during the recording of this album, being a more stripped back affair than your work with Magic Dirt?

Yeah, definitely. I love Cat power, and Kate Bush, guitar sounds like the quieter Dirty Three songs, or even Nirvana. It was definitely a very different recording experience to what I’ve done before. A lot of the songs on the album came from old demos, Magic Dirt demos, but they obviously became something pretty different. 

What’s next for you, any more solo work planned?

Yes, I’ve started writing for my next solo album, actually. Right now it’s a lot of rehearsing, and the media work that goes with releasing the album. It’ll be the big tour, then hopefully more writing and recording. I’m really enjoying playing solo and everyone’s been really supportive, so I’ll see where I can take it, I suppose.

What does that mean for Magic Dirt? A longer hiatus, a permanent hiatus?

A longer hiatus, I guess. I’m focusing on my solo work now, but a longer hiatus would be the answer.

A chat with Declan Melia (BRITISH INDIA)

Interview / Written by Sean Sebastian

                                                     

The most iconic image of Declan Melia would be his figure illuminated by blue spotlights, his red hoodie pulled over his face, screaming into a mic. His presence on stage is marked by the way he is almost unaware of the crowd, or when he does glimpse their ecstatic faces in the glow of the stage lights, his speedy attempt to cover himself up. Speaking to him on the phone however, he is full of energy, despite a slightly blocked nose, “I’m performing, if for anyone, for the other guys in the band. Maybe it’s a defense mechanism, you know, I pull the blinds down. I’m sure an experienced psychologist could tell you more about this than me”. He ponders this statement for a moment, then continues, “I’m not nervous about it, it’s just a tense experience. You’re very much on display. To describe the stage as a comfort zone is just bullshit - it's the absolute south-pole. There’s nothing comforting about it. It’s white light for me. It’s almost like being drunk, cos it seems to pass almost immediately”.

This is a rare quality for the front man of a young rock band, but British India hasn’t suffered from it at all. Their rapid rise to prominence with their debut album Guillotine in 2007 was lined with sold out shows throughout the country and performances at all of the major music festivals, including the Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival. This prolific touring was punctuated by a nomination for the Triple J J Award and extensive airplay on the radio. And Melia feels that the support from Triple J lay the foundations for the band’s success, “When we’d be at planes and airports and people would come up and ask, ‘What kind of music do you make?’ We always answer with, ‘We’re a Triple J band.’ We don’t mean we only get played on Triple J, but they gave us our career, like so many bands. They’re the reason we’re able to do what we do. We owe them everything”. He pauses, then playfully adds, “You know how you may have a beautiful girlfriend, but you don’t really appreciate her and treat her like shit and not call her back. We’re not like that with Triple J, we’re trying to be good husbands”.

The momentum set in the band’s early national gigging hasn’t let up in the last four years, and the band plan to embark again on a tour, starting tonight. “We’re kinda renowned, and rightly so, as the band that never stops touring. But, in truth, we haven’t toured the whole country in 6-8 months. It’s been a while between drinks. I’m looking very forward to getting up to some shenanigans,” Melia states excitedly. This tour will see the band tackle an international crowd, with a short trip to the US, and a journey through Germany, the UK and Japan. “Not having a label, we don’t really have anyone to shepherd us over there, so we more or less have to work things out for ourselves. But generally, there’s some enthusiasm left in the band, which is exciting,” Melia says.

As the conversation wore on, Melia became seemingly candid about the simmering tensions within the band. Positing themselves as an alternative band, British India had to fight against the pull of the mainstream when they’d stirred up some popularity. “One thing about British India, the best parts of our history have been us resisting the music industry; the chicanery, the fifteen layers of face paint and all the mascara that goes on. I feel like we’ve really had to fight that at every turn,” he says pensively, “When [the music industry] turned around we were kind of like the ugly girl in high school who got hot at about 20, but we weren’t interested anymore”. Though this sentiment is rife within the other members of the band, Melia points out that guitarist Nic Wilson is somewhat of a fanatic. “You can deal with it if you switch off the cynical part of your mind. Nic can’t. Nic hates it. He’d rather sit in a pub with a beer than be at some horrible after party. He almost refuses to do it, which is a constant thorn in my side,” he adds. 

“After [the tour], we’re coming back and gonna try and record the album I think. I’d really like to release it, and this is an exclusive for you, before the end of the year,” Melia reveals. He goes on, “As to how and when and what it would sound like, history’s kinda writing itself, which is exciting”. This album would be the band’s fourth in as many years, but the recording process of Avalanche has whet Melia’s appetite to finish writing. “I’d love to record like that again, but the time’s past. I dunno. Maybe we’ll go to the Sahara this time”. But for a band of 7 years, the fourth album would mean gathering members with “differing levels of enthusiasm,” as Melia puts it. However, the front man is remaining optimistic: “British India are at a strange point in their career where we can plough ahead, or throw things in completely. I think we’ve still got a lot of things to say and we still want to say them. We just wanna party on and look at it as an exciting thing. And we are excited. The day we lose that excitement, we’ll fucking pack it in man. We’ll pack it in faster than a removalist on speed. Or we’ll pack it in faster than I could think of that metaphor”.


The dates for British India's 2011 tour can be found here.

ALBUM REVIEW: Radiohead - The King of Limbs

(Self-released, 2011)
Review by Michael Bird
                                             
4/5

It’s hard to know where to start in assessing a Radiohead release. When you become one of the Biggest Bands Around and don’t have your singer die at a young age or disintegrate completely under the pressure, you have to put up with an unbelievable amount of scrutiny concerning every album you put out. Announcing the impending release of an album four days out is one way to avoid excess ‘what next’ wonderings from press and fans, but there are simply no free passes when you’re a Band releasing an Album as opposed to a band releasing an album, nothing goes unexamined.

For perhaps the first time since the release of Kid A, Radiohead have not, by any means, reinvented themselves. There’s nothing on The King of Limbs that the band haven’t done before, and any differences to the nearest comparison that first springs to mind for any song are in degree, not kind. ‘The Gloaming’ might be the most relevant touchstone for the first third or so of the album, which is driven largely by spastic scribble percussion and jittery bass stabs. ‘Bloom’, while an oddly straightforward title for an album opener, is by no means a comfortable listen. Along with the similarly restless ‘Little By Little’, ‘Bloom’ seems devoid of a center, as though the band were unwilling to provide enough framework for the song to start moving anywhere other than tumbling forward at the pace of (J. Greenwood’s, I would suspect) chaotic, glitch-inspired take on percussion.

Production is what saves these first few songs from coming off as cold and barren. Like ’15 Step’, the frenzied clicks and warped snares that swim around Selway’s contributions (they are there, if a little buried at times) are only glitch-inspired, not pulled apart by compression and pitch-shifting to the point where all traces of acoustic warmth are removed. Colin Greenwood’s bass also treads this line, slides and fingered strings never giving way entirely to the clipped severity of the digital bass that adorned Kid A-era Radiohead.

In many of the studio sessions for The King of Limbs, it seems that Thom Yorke may finally have come good on his oft-repeated assertion that he is tired of melody, and that beat is where the focus should be. By fourth track ‘Feral’, the album is still being pulled along by bastardised cuts of the Amen Break, never concrete enough to provide the insistence of ‘Idioteque’, but still by far the most present ingredient. Yorke’s voice becomes swathed in reverb and delay, guitars either chiming at the edge of the soundscape or pulsing through antique cabs in a manner reminiscent of In Rainbows. (A common complaint was that the album sounded like it had been recorded ‘inside a shoebox’ or ‘with a 100 year-old mic’. Where Ed O’Brien has had to abandon traditional structure and melody, he has become a master of texture).

‘Lotus Flower’ is…sexy. The first mood Radiohead touch on other than their almost standard claustrophobic adversity is a sultry one indeed. Once the song settles, ‘Lotus Flower’ showcases the first real taste of space and clarity on The King of Limbs, and the first and last instance of fragile delicacy. Halfway through the song (and halfway through the album), much of the sonic adornment falls away, Yorke croons for a change and a muted synth emotes. With all the chopped scribble and rhythmic pulse of the first half of the album, it’s easy to forget that Radiohead are capable of getting more emotion across than most of their contemporaries, and that Thom Yorke takes to Kaoss Pads and staccato voice-as-an-instrument theatrics because he’s sick of sounding like an angel, not because he can’t.

It’s almost impossible not to mention ‘Pyramid Song’ in discussing ‘Codex’, all heavy-handed piano chords and jumping into lakes. Psychedelic tape delay and sweeping phasers continually threaten to sink the song into experimental noise, but never quite do so. A brass sections makes a brief appearance, and later an orchestral flurry hints at a lush b-part to the song, but again it doesn’t happen. Some mess starts entering into the equation again, but where the first half of the album was a haze of jittery percussion, the latter half is swamped in delay and colliding tones. ‘Lotus Flower’ seems to have been intentionally placed in the middle of the album as a sharply defined peak of clarity, after the Kid A/Amnesiac/’Gloaming’ clatter of the opening third and before the more recent, jam-based flavours of ‘Give Up The Ghost’ and ‘Separator’.

Rating an album like The King of Limbs is tricky. Did Radiohead achieve what they set out to with the record? Probably yes. The intent seems to have been to pull at the edges of their more experimental cuts, consolidate and inject more humanity into the mix. The result is an album more personable than Amnesiac and more direct than the more wandering cuts on In Rainbows. Out of context, is the album an enjoyable listen? For the most part, yes. It’s unlikely ‘enjoyable on the first spin’ is high on the list of things Yorke and Co. aim for album to album, but The King of Limbs is varied, meticulously constructed and immersive, as deserving of critical attention as anything the band have put out. The peaks aren’t as noticeable as they once were, but that’s a result of Radiohead now being a mature band tugging at the undefined edges of their sound, rather than barrelling head first into and through them.

ALBUM REVIEW: Pearl Jam - Live on Ten Legs

(Released on Monkeywrench, 2011)
Review by Matt Hallett
                                               

4/5

To commemorate their 20th year as a band, Pearl Jam has released Live on Ten Legs, a compilation of 18 live tracks recorded on tours spanning from 2003 - 2010. The album is a follow up to the 1998 release Live on Two Legs.

Over the last two decades the Pearl Jam lads have gained a reputation as being an exciting and energetic live act, which is highly evident when listening to Live on Ten Legs. Songs like Animal, Rearview Mirror, Alive, Jeremy, and Spin the Black Circle are played with as much youthful vigour, if not more than when they were originally conceived. Even on more recent tracks such as Got Some and The Fixer there is a sense of energy asserted when listening.

Although the songs were recorded from a number of different concerts, spanning across seven years, the tracks flow surprisingly well together. All the transitions between songs are fairly seamless and rather quick; keeping the momentum flowing and providing a sense of continuity.

Aside from being an energetic live act, it would be fair for one to expect a band of 20 years to mature, and Pearl Jam also show their maturity with melancholy tracks such as Nothing as it Seems, Just Breathe, and I Am Mine.

Live on Ten Legs also includes two covers; Joe Strummer’s Arms Aloft, and Public Image Ltd’s Public Image. These covers are well played, but are probably a slight let down to what is otherwise a captivating live album.