Title: Given To The Wild
Artist: The Maccabees
Label: Fiction Records/Universal Music
Released: 10 January 2012
In one word: Progress

It comes as no surprise to me that after almost three year gap after releasing their second album Wall of Arms, that The Maccabees would come back with a more mature, confident and experimental sound with Given To The Wild. While listening to this album, its quite hard to believe that this is the same band who, on their debut album Colour It In that was released in 2007, were singing about the wave machine at the Latchmere Leisure Centre in London. Given To The Wild represents a significant development in the band’s sound as it focuses on layers of complex horn segments.

The first track, “Child”, kicks in after a two minute long instrumental. I first heard this track back in 2010 while the band were testing out new material and warming up for the Reading and Leeds festivals at the Concorde 2 in Brighton. It rolls in gently, and singer Orlando Weeks is atop in a dreamy and more relaxed vocal, but then all of a sudden the said horn segments kick in towards the end of the song, making it a song that was designed to please even the biggest of Maccabees fans.

Future single “Feel To Follow” is one of the record’s highlights in the way that “Love You Better” and “Can You Give It” demonstrated before whereas “Ayla” is carried along by a scintillating piano.

With its underlying programmed beats, “Go” is yet another highlight as its radio-friendly chorus and piercing guitar solo making it one of the stand-out tracks on the album. “Pelican” was the first release from Given To The Wild and is my favourite track on the album. It’s something that you would expect to hear on a Maccabees album, with the fast-paced guitars and infectious melody. It is set to be a staple track in the band’s live set and will be igniting pits up and down the country on their impending UK tour.

Given To The Wild makes for some uneasy listening in places, but is sterling in others. Instead of resting on their laurels or taking the easy option, The Maccabees have made an album that was a risk but it pays off. This is the sound of progress. A record that gives current fans something new and fresh, and that will undoubtedly find them many new fans too. The Maccabees enter 2012 waving the flag high for British indie, and have set the bar for other bands to shoot for. And yes, it’s only January but I expect to see this in many top 10 albums of the year lists, come December.

© Lauren Towner, Music Vice

Given To The Wild is out today in the UK and tomorrow, Tuesday 10 January in Canada and the US

Internet links: The Maccabees

The Maccabees – “Pelican”

Share and discuss using the links below. Follow Music Vice on Twitter at @MusicVice. Long Live Indie.

Title: Morbidly Obtuse
Artist: Death O’Connor
Label: Elgin Rock City (Independent)
Released: 1 January 2012
In one word: Jizz

2012. It’s officially the future. And what does the future sound like? Well, judging by this, the first record we received in 2012, the future is: Scary, annoying, backed by drum machines and loops, and a re-hash of everything that has come before. What’s new, eh? Talk about a shitty future. From the hot-mic recorded roll-call introduction by Death O’Connor band members in “x”,  to the muddy, barely audible sludge-blues in the final track “Blues Botherers”, Morbidly Obtuse is a speckled turd of many flavours, most of them crap. The only difference between this and the crap that you’ll find topping the charts this month is that Death O’Connor’s record is a DIY album: a home production that was finalized using a 14-day demo of Fruity Loops.  But alas, a turd is still a turd, no matter if it’s been polished in a studio or made at home.

But wait…

Plot twist.

Hiding among all the disturbing electropop spasms and jizz on Morbidly Obtuse are at least a couple of tracks that we can safely describe as music. Not bad music either. If you like your minimal, new wave pop then “Boy’s Gonna Cry” and “Unthink It!” should raise a smile. These moments ring the similarity bell to the tune of Devo and The Network. The real gem however, is the penultimate track “We Are The Kids”.  A couple of drum loops, some keys and a cool wee vocal ditty. This little anthem is better than anything Mike Skinner attempted on the final Streets album.

Tracks like “Circus Mullet” might fry your brain and can barely be considered music, but the harshest spaz-outs can be forgiven for the nicer moments. Definitely worth a free download, for “We Are The Kids” at least.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Free download link: Morbidy Obtuse via Elgin Rock City records

Share and discuss using the links below. Follow Music Vice on Twitter at @MusicVice. Long Live Indie.

Title: Consider This Severance (2011)/ Times Are Changing (2010)
Artist: CB6 (Carried By 6)
Label: Independent
Released: 1 June 2011
In one word: Snarling

A few months ago I received a very impressive looking promotional package from Southend-on-Sea, UK band Carried By 6. Tucked inside a red plastic folder was the band’s four CD discography, a nicely printed bio and a letter. The funny thing about this package was that it was sent in an envelope with a Hi-Tec sportswear company stamp on it; major DIY kudos and punk-rock points for whichever band member was using their work’s office stationary to mail out their promos.

Pretty packaging aside, the contents are what matters and CB6 are definitely worth hearing. What I find interesting is the devolepment of this band which can really be heard throughout the four years of their recordings. CB6′s 2007 debut EP The Beginning is modern heavy metal; it’s fast, pummeling metal, and technically strong but while it’s rich on licks it’s short on lyrics. Really it’s nothing to get excited about and by the time the fourth and final track plays out, I’ve gotten bored of the metal drone. Now, compare this 2007 debut to CB6′s 2011 single CD Consider This Severance and the contrast and progress is remarkable. In four years, CB6 refined more than just their haircuts; buzz-cut band picture in the 2011 artwork sound harder and more musically mature than the floppy haired metal kids in their 2007 guises. Consider This Severance” is an urgent, multidimensional track which infuses influences of hardcore punk, metal and even some R’n'B-esque spat spoken word breakdown/build-up verses for a 3 minute 40 seconds throwdown. It’s a snarling, multi-limbed beast of a song, and by heck, does it ever rock. Whereas The Beginning had me reaching for the stop button, Consider This Severance left me hungry to hear more – but it’s a true single and 3.40 minutes is the entire length of the CD.

A look back in the nearer future of CB6′s releases found some other good material on their January 2010 4-track EP Times Are Changing (artwork). “Before I Touch The Sky” and “Show Your Skin” are two further examples in the same vein of “Consider This Severance” that see these pissed-off Essex boys create something fresh and interesting to the metal genre. With their self-promoting on social media and with press packages, together with a few indie-shot band videos, it’s clear that CB6 are putting in the some serious elbow grease in to try to get themselves heard. ‘Potential’ can seem like a patronising and overused descriptor for bands, but if CB6 continue working hard and making new music in the same or better calibre as “Consider This Severance” then this could become a band to recognise. With the departure of Frank Carter from Gallows, Britain could sure use a good new angry, young and pissed-off band to step up and deliver.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Carried By 6 – “Consider This Severance”: Consider This Severance by CB6

Internet links: Carried By 6 homepage, CB6 Facebook

Title: Siberia
Artist: Lights
Label: Universal Music Canada
Released: 4 October 2011
In one word: Crunchy

The second album from Lights sees Canada’s synth pop superstar venture into new directions. The girl who I saw bring her synth-pop from the bedroom to the stage with music to light up faces and hearts as she broke onto the Canadian festival scene in 2008, now has more than just her synth and keytar ‘Russel’ for back-up; namely, limitless studio resources and equipment, while in the wings stand collaborators Holy Fuck and Shad and major label backing from Universal. Lights second album is definitely different to her first, but it was always bound to be new somehow. For an artist that can be considered a poster-girl for being ‘self-made’, it’s hard to argue against the artistic progression and her own right for creative exploration and development. But it’s the level of experimentation and new sound that may come as a surprise: Siberia has a strong dubstep influence, while also wandering into genres of dream pop, minimal, dance and even noise.

Straight from the off, crunchy, wide beats contrast with keys that slip-slide like glacier ice; cool to the max. The crunchy beats continue into the next track and throughout the album a gritty vibe is maintained. Contrasting with the harder, dirtier sounds, the lyrics are generally happier and in-line with the upbeat-but-crunchy dance vibe of the album. Standing out among the minimalist electronic dance grit is “Peace Sign”, a colourful, ascending dance-pop anthem. Fans may not all take to the dub-step and grit, but Lights’ distinct voice and trademark synth remain key ingredients throughout the fourteen tracks, providing enough familiarity for any original fans who are sticking along for the ride.

In a genre where so much of the music is plastic and bombastic, Lights’ lyrics and voice remain her strongest asset because they are palatable, and in the more open and personal moments they also come across with a level of sincerity that is rare in pop. The moving, breath-drawing delivery of “Cactus In The Valley” is Lights at her best, singing about love and heartache while accompanied by a simple but effective synthesizer keys. Highly emotive. Some more songs like this would have been welcome and better showcased Lights strengths as a singer and songwriter.

Here’s a shocker: I never thought I’d hear alcohol and hard drugs referenced openly on a Lights album, but Shad’s lyric ‘It’s why we overdose on cocaine’ as he drops verses towards the end of “Everybody Breaks A Glass” changes that. Elsewhere, the distorted, stuttering nine minutes of electronic instrumental bedlam that caps of Siberia is a bigger and better surprise: “Day One” is sweet primal noise, a track that could easily be passed off as work of your favourite noise band such as Godspeed You Black Emperor.

It’s that final track that leaves me the most curious: maybe Lights next album will continue where this one leaves off and signal her next direction… Lights as an experimental electronic noise merchant?! Stranger things have happened.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Internet links: Lights

Title: The Hunter
Artist: Mastodon
Label: Reprise/Warner Music Canada
Released: 27 September 2011
In one word: Visceral

Just when I thought metal was dead, along comes Mastodon - an eight-legged rock monster from Atlanta – with a game-changer…

There are always at least two sides to any possessed beast and with The Hunter the contrasts between light and dark – or dark and darker – are clear to behold and are what make this album so expansive, engrossing and enjoyable. When Mastodon are heavy, they’re sumo – like with the pounding, QOTSA-ish stoner track “Curl of the Burl”. Choice track. Heavier still, and in a different spectrum, is the brutalizing “Spectrelight”, featuring guest vocals by Scott Kelly (Neurosis) which are not so much sung but ripped out and splattered against the wall in a bloody mess. Elsewhere, blue skies and sun rays burst through the storm clouds, providing light and contrast. “Creature Lives” is one of the most fantastical, pulsing, operatic, lighters-in-the-air sing-a-long metal ballads I have ever heard: the Pink Floyd-esque laughter in the opening, the guitar and bass first enchanting then clashing, the crazy, echoing lyrics… brilliant fun. This hoot is sandwiched between two of the most pummeling songs of the album, “Thickening” and “Spectrelight”. And, cheekily, Mastodon also invert a famous Beatles lyric on the title track with “All the love I make, Is equal to the love I take”.

No longer going off on 13 minute metal odysseys, with their fifth album Mastodon arrive punching in sub-five minute bursts. Refined, toned and in the prime of their life. The Hunter is one of the most relevant rock albums in a long while – nigh on essential. This is Mastodon for the mainstream. The creature lives – bow down to the Mastodon!

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Title: Stark Naked and the Fleshtones
Artist: Stark Naked and the Fleshtones
Label: Soul Surfer Media(self-released)
Released: 1 October 2011
In one word: Twistin’

Stark Naked and the Fleshtones are a punk rock band that gigged around Toronto and southern Ontario in the early ’80s before calling it a day by 1985. After a reunion at NXNE music festival last year, Stark Naked are finally releasing their first proper album. So why should you care about some old underground Canadian punks? Simple; because they’re actually not shit. I was barely a few months old when the band disbanded and Toronto is a long way from the village in Scotland where I grew up, but it’s easy for me to appreciate this album for what it is: toe-tapping, hip-twisting, side-shaking fun. It’s just a cool, straight-forward punk rock ‘n roll record, with three studio tracks, five good quality live ones and a weird bonus track featuring a smooth jazz cover of one of their songs. The main intention of this CD seems to be to give fans a chance to bring home the live experience of the band and play it on their stereo, and this is achieved.

Toronto punk bands come and go with a frequency almost as regular as some of the downtown venues they used to occupy (Big Bop, Planet, Queenshead… I miss you), but in this case at least, the old school is definitely cool and could easily teach a few current bands on the scene a thing or two about punk rock. Stark Naked, the stage name of the singer that the band are named after, quips on the mic with witty lyrics and amusing song titles to match (“Ugly Girls”, “I Broke Her Heart – She Broke My Arm”). Meanwhile guitarist Eugene Ripper has a name that could only possibly be more apt is he was Australian, ripping on his guitar with all the kick-ass cool that the connotations of that Australian slang word represent. Bonza, mate.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

“I Was A Teenage Stockbroker” by Stark Naked and the Fleshtones:

Stark Naked and The Fleshtones play at The Garrison in Toronto, tomorrow, Friday 30 September to launch their album. The lineup will include original members Stark Naked and Eugene Ripper alongside Ray Walsh and Paul Newman (formerly of the Doughboys). Tickets are $15 at the door.

Title: Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud
Artist: Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud
Label: Projekt
Released: May 2011
In one word: Understated

In every classroom there is always one or two loudmouth kids who make themselves heard above everyone else. Obnoxious, attention-seeking little know-it-alls who grow-up to become bloated adult versions of their kid selves. In the same classroom, there is the shy kid, the kid in the corner doodling in the margin of their jotter and absorbing the scene around them. A quiet child who will one day find their voice; just as soon as she works out what it is she wants to say. This album is the musical equivalent of Kid B – the shy child who  grows up, lives, learns, and then one day speaks and makes themselves known. And when they speak it’s something worth listening to; as opposed to so much of the tired, loudmouthed drivel that is flooding the music scene right now.

The eponymous debut by Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud is a collaboration between French artists Guillaume Pintout (guitar), Cyrille Holodiuk (percussion) and Haluka Chimoto (cello). It is an almost entirely instrumental recording, without lyrics; aside from a few moments, such as the spoken word poetry during the opening track “Against All Odds” and then something similar towards the end with “Where Earth Meets Sea”. It is a very understated record. In fact, like the quiet kid in the class, at times it is really struggling to be heard and I find myself reaching for the volume control. But I raise the volume in appreciation, not frustration. Through the ten tracks and 65 minutes of this album, wispy, atmospheric clouds of sound rise up with tension and emotion so tangible that your become absorbed in the music. It’s a really powerful listening experience; truly you can FEEL sorrow, sadness and pain. The music swells to louder moments, the driving guitar and crashing drums of “The Leaden Sky” being the pinnacle, the small child now looming tall, before falling back into diminutive origins as the album ends in near silence. If you listen properly – and if you feel it – then you will fall in love with the art, craft and emotion that has gone into making this record.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Available now via Brookyln, NYC darkwave label Projekt.

Title: Hell Bound Gypsy Train
Artist: Stone Mary
Label: Independent
Released: July 2011
In one word: Mind-numbing

There are some really great artists around right but the trouble is that they are often obscured beneath a surfeit of mediocrity. Artists like Stone Mary, from Nova Scotia, take mediocrity to its mind-numbing peak.

Where do we start with this? The Guitar Hero riffs? The bland, cookie-cutter arrangements that sound like a project patched together with a few GarageBand loops? The pointless and totally unmerited guitar solos? Get a calendar. This is 2011 not 1987 and you are not Slash making Appetite For Destruction or Eddie Van Halen making 1984, so there is no excuse. The trying-way-too-hard-to-look-badass-but-failing-completely album cover photograph of front lady Christine Campbell? (I wouldn’t be surprised the snag in Campbell’s fishnets was even added right before that photograph was taken). Say cheeeeeese.

It’s obvious what this Halifax, NS are aiming for but the end result just sounds phony. And absolutely outdated too – a plastic, soulless imitation of what rock and roll used to be, and totally irrelevant in 2011. If you want to hear hard rock in 2011 worth listening to then wait for the new Darkness album due out later this year – that will be fun.

An atrociously bland, bland, bland, paint-by-numbers rock album.  Here’s the kicker: Hell Bound Gypsy Train is currently nominated for two Music Nova Scotia Awards: Rock Recording of the Year and Loud Recording of the Year. Shocker.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Internet link: Stone Mary

Title: Generic Dogs
Artist: Solids
Label: Machette Records
Released: August 2011
In one word: Dissonant

The German shepherd on the cover of the Solids EP Generic Dogs instills a thought within me that I might be about to hear something loud and fuzzy. Thank the bands Turbonegro and You Dead! for those Alsatian musical associations. Presumptions about fuzz turn out to be accurate, but Solids are a slightly different breed of animal, or perhaps more accurately, a cross-breed. Yes, there is some fuzz present here, but only after the pretty little instrumental ditty of a title track opens proceedings. And, crash! Here comes some rock music. Rock music of a perplexing, pulsing variety – that meaning that it has some life to it, and for that reason it has my attention.

Cymbals and riffing kick in with the first song “Whatevers And Neverminds” and I can hear ascension. The music is moving, riffing and crashing as it’s punching up for air, to the message that ‘I won’t, try to make you change your mind’. The vibe continues into something akin to heel-kicking through muddy puddles with Five Works (Just Fine). The music is dissonant, but not a din.

I’m towards the end of the CD when it dawns on me that there is no bass. That’s a compliment to Solids, because for just having guitar and drums the music has width, and is encompassing and expansive at the same time; trapped in their own little bubble of sound. A bigger question though, is why have Solids seemingly recorded this record with their singer locked outside the studio? The vocals are there but rather muffled in the mix. Records sound better when the singer isn’t locked in the bathroom. Maybe that’s the desired aesthetic and more true to the live sound, because after reading the one-sheet I discover that Solids are just a two-piece; two gentleman called Xavier Germain and Louis Guillemette, from Montreal. I find the production of this EP to be off, or maybe it’s just that I’m hoping for something better. Much better. Regardless, by the time I reach the fifth track “Distant Faces” with its mesmeric repeating hook, I find clarity and the best delivery of their music yet – a broody anti-anthem that shows Solids at their best, with the vocals, guitar and drums no longer fighting against each other for attention but achieving a clashing harmony. For a moment, perspicuity is found. It gets me coming back for more, repeating; wanting something more or something better, again. And repeat.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Internet links:
Stream Generic Dogs from Solid’s Bandcamp page

Title: David Comes To Life
Artist: Fucked Up
Label: Matador
Released: 7 June 2011
In one word: Outstanding

Toronto rock band Fucked Up are doing things never done before in the hardcore genre. Earlier this June, Fucked Up released their most ambitious and greatest album yet, David Comes To Life – a hardcore opera, which is also a love story at its roots. In terms of the sound, the album is expansive and multi-layered.

If it wasn’t for Damian Abraham’s venomously spat vocals you wouldn’t even be able to brand it hardcore. This was summed up best by the band themselves in a recent interview between Jonah Falco and myself:

“The form of the music is hardcore music, and every connotation of hardcore music for anyone who isn’t familiar with it is instantaneously negative; the form of the music is loud and aggressive and if you see a picture of Fucked Up you might see a picture of Damian bleeding or something. So immediately you get one set of expectations but then the content of the band has  always sort of been flying in the face of that. And I feel like it’s taking us 10 years to finally do something that has created a balanced texture between the form and content of the band. We’ve let a decade of time go past for people get used to knowing this name and we’ve also given them the exact same amount of time to understand that despite that, and despite the world we are coming from, the content isn’t literally represented by the form.” Jonah Falco, Fucked Up.

David Comes To Life is the sound of a band achieving their own outstanding potential.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Internet links: Fucked Up

Title: Ukulele Songs
Artist: Eddie Vedder
Label: Universal Music
Released: 31 May 2011
In one word: Inspiring

The story of Christopher McCandless as told in 2007’s Into The Wild is one of the rare great films of 21st century cinema. Every great movie also needs a great soundtrack to help carry the story; Eddie Vedder’s music for Into the Wild was perfect. The folky ballads sung by Vedder on his debut solo record mirrored the narrative of the film and played a huge in creating the vibrant life and soul of the story. With Ukulele Songs, Vedder continues a similar solo folk vibe but this time the guitar and mandolins are cast aside and it’s just Ved and his uke. The end results are next level.

With Pearl Jam, Vedder has never been afraid to get emotional, with grunge hits like “Black” becoming festival anthems. As a solo artist Vedder’s emotions are pinpointed with a penetrating directness, and the results on Ukulele Songs are some of the most disarming and stirring music he has ever created. The approach is simple, with open and honest lyrics which create a listening experience that is so personal and tangible that you can’t not feel it. It really hits you.

In many ways this album starts like Into the Wild: Part II. From the off, with the opening track “Can’t Keep”, Vedder strums around the ukulele with a haunting quality while observing, through his clear open lyrics that raise to trademark howls, that he won’t live forever and that he won’t wait for answers before reaching the ‘other side’. Then the voice of the record is established as it moves into heartache and loneliness. The narrative of the opening songs is like an outpouring of thoughts following a break-up. Then with “Goodbye”, Vedder wrestles to find some kind of closure, (‘And for what feels like the first time / I don’t know where you are tonight / I guess that this is goodbye’), as he sings both with a glowing fondness about a person who is no longer in his life and a hollow sadness to find himself in this predicament. The wounds are now fully open, and from the sixth track “Broken Heart” Vedder is truly wearing his bleeding heart on his sleeve. For the remainder of the 16 track album, Vedder has more self-penned songs about lost love and finding perspective, with covers of “Dream A Little Dream” and “Once In A While” and a duet with Cat Power on “Tonight You Belong to Me”.

Eddie Vedder’s second solo outing is a triumph. While Ukulele Songs does not have the benefit of a motion picture for visual cues, the simplicity and power in the delivery of the music is plenty enough to spark it’s own set of rich imagery. I found Into the Wild to be a record full of hope and cope, a crutch during a time of personal crisis, and to me Ukulele Songs plays like a sequel to this. The album has a voice that, despite all the heartache and loneliness, is ultimately positive and looking out on life with open arms. This is an inspired and inspiring record…. And I for one now want to own a uke!

Ukulele Songs is out today on Universal Records.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Related internet links:
Eddie Vedder
Brian Banks

New music video for “Can’t Keep” from Ukulele Songs by Eddie Vedder

Title: Valleyheart
Artist: She Wants Revenge
Label: Universal Music Canada
Released: 23 May 2011
In one word: Sloganeering

The trouble with imitations is that they are never as good as the real thing. Well, with the exception of own-brand cornflakes… Oh how I miss Tesco’s own label cornflakes, with their bigger, thinner, golden flakes of wonder.

She Wants Revenge from Los Angeles, California are a band whose music falls into the dark wave and post-punk genres. They are also imitators. Mainly because that in many ways post-punk is not so much a genre but a band. That band is Joy Division: that’s where post-punk starts and finishes and everything else can only ever be an imitation or an off-shoot. She Wants Revenge sound like an imitation of an imitation – Justin Warfields nasally singing is reminiscent of Paul Banks of Interpol, while the mopey gothic guitar and synth tones spark take plenty of cues from the likes of Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and the like. But while the likes of Interpol can, at least in terms of their brilliant first album, imitate in a healthily inspired dose which creates their own sound and brand, She Wants Revenge cannot. Although they clearly try to, on this, their third studio album.

Valleyheart actually makes a promising start. The opening keyboard chimes, snappy beats and guitar riffs of first track “Take The World” threaten something ethereal and as Warfield drops some lyrics about sex-powered feelings of taking on the world, it’s a decent start. I had hopes that the rest of the album might play out in a similar vein, and you know, go somewhere, preferably into smoky, pulsing goth rock nightclub anthem territory, rich with gloom and sex but this doesn’t happen. Although I am pretty sure that’s exactly what they were aiming to achieve – I can hear what the band are trying to do, the blueprint is loud and clear. It’s transparent and quickly the music becomes repetitive and bland. The early promise quickly dissipates by the second track, with “Kiss Me” which has some of the most irritatingly prod-prod-prodding-argh-needles-in-my-ears whiney-annoying lyrics I have had the displeasure of hearing in a long time.

The lyrics are one problem; too much musical sloganeering, heavy on keywords from the bands name. Maybe Justin Warfield just isn’t affected enough to come up with the lyrics needed to match his mopey singing. But the biggest issue with Valleyheart is that it so overproduced. The music has been polished to the point of it being sterile. Rock music never sounds good without some dirty fingernails and scraped knees. This is a bland album and it gets tired of itself very quickly. It’s too clean.

It’s a shame that She Wants Revenge left their best two songs until last. With “Holiday Song”, She Wants Revenge get the balance right with plodding, slow-danceable, beats and riffs providing the backing to down-trodden break-up lyrics that finally bring something tangible and relatable to this record: “Christmas time again, the loneliest of all the fear.. Of how we’ll make it to New Years / Raise your glass in toasts, to the one you miss the mosts (sp) / And promise that you won’t be doing this again in twelve months time/ Every day is a day without you, love is gone and I can’t sleep.” It’s a good song, and the references to loneliness in the holiday season is an easy sentiment to grasp, and finally Warfield is singing something I can dig. But alas, ultimately it is too little, too late given it’s the ninth track of the record.

She Wants Revenge? Naw, she needs to listen to a better band. There are no golden flakes of wonder here.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Internet links:
She Wants Revenge

Title: Sex City Lovers
Artist: Moniters
Label: Independent / MGM Distribution
Released: 2 May 2011
In one word: Rousing

The debut six-track EP of Brisbane-based three-piece The Moniters gets off to a frenetic start with “Exit The System”, a song which at first sounds like Interpol or Editors on speed, goes decidedly Placebo-esque for the chorus, then tops it all off near the end with a tap-happy guitar solo which wouldn’t be far out of place on an Iron Maiden record!  So far, so awesome.

The pace slackens slightly for the next few tracks, but fortunately the quality remains.  To be sure, there’s no great ground being broken, but fans of the questionably-titled “post-punk” movement of the past ten-odd years – as spearheaded by the likes of The Killers, Kings Of Leon and Bloc Party – are likely to find plentiful appeal in the well-crafted and surprisingly “immediate” mini-soundscapes captured here.  There are times when they even remind one of some of the ORIGINAL wave of “new-wave” artists, including Australia’s very own Icehouse and The Church.

Things get a bit pacier again by the last track-and-a-bit, and then just like that it’s all over.  Which is perhaps my biggest criticism, I’m chuffed to report:  That it’s all over and done with a bit quick for my tastes, actually leaving yours truly pining for more!  Can’t say THAT about too many records these days, can ya?  Look forward to the first full-length, boys, but remember…short is still sweet, so only ten tracks, eleven at the outside, okay?  Ah, the 80′s…things were so much simpler back then…

© Michael Bowser, Music Vice

Internet links:
The Moniters

Title: Deus Ex Machina
Artist: Groover von Krueger (Groover von Krüger)
Label: Independent (self-released)
Released:  February 2011
In one word: Nutty

We get a lot of weird and wonderful music sent to the Music Vice mailbox here in Toronto, and the packages from Australia are usually some of the most bizarre. In terms of the bizarre factor, this CD from Melbourne, Australia’s Groover von Krueger certainly lives up to expectations – this is a bit of a wacky, nutjob release.

The opening 10 seconds of the first track on Deus Ex Machina features some Seinfeld inspired slap bass that had me gleefully scouring the internet to watch episodes of the show. I’ve also got to believe that that bassline was an intentional nod to Jerry Seinfeld and co., along with the song’s title “Nazi on a Bike” which reminded me of the Seinfeld soup Nazi sketches. The Nazi references are meant to be a humorous non-PC stab at know-it-all’s -  here’s a sample of the lyrics: “He’s got a PHD in sociology… He’s saying your to blame for climate change, He’s know he’s always right, He’s just a Nazi on a bike.” The spoken vocal delivery, rock guitar riffs and bluesy trail-off segments immediately introduce you to the offbeat and oddball style of the band, but the song itself is really just stupid crap. It fails at both being funny or as being a song.

Much better fare is the title track, “Deus Ex Machina”, which is the only 2 minutes and 26 minutes of this EP that are really worth listening to. Perhaps if GvK stuck to making actual music like this – along with the other instrumental track, the jazzy freestyle jam “Escape Velocity” – then it’d be a different story, but as it is the rest of it is just bad bar rock. I’m a fan of weird music but this is just not very fun.

Enough of this… go watch you some Seinfeld.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Related internet links – Groover von Krüger (the band’s website is funnier and even weirder than their music)

Title: A New Home in the Old World
Artist: Austin Lucas
Label: Hometown Caravan
Released: 1 April 2011
In one word: Complete

Following recent successes such as 2009’s Somebody Loves You and 2008’s Bristle Ridge split release with Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, American bluegrass/punk crossover Austin Lucas returns with his latest effort, A New Home in the Old World – the album title stemming from Lucas’ years spent living abroad in Prague honing his craft by playing guitar in Czech punk band Guided Cradle.

This is Lucas’ first solo album to utilise a full backing band and this is the first thing to strike those familiar with his past output of mainly vocal/guitar/fiddle-only tracks. Calling in his friends in Lucero as well as numerous family members, this album succeeds in retaining the listener’s interest throughout, where some past albums have fallen slightly short due to lack of variety.

Opening with the cracking “Run Around”, the album starts off in fifth gear and rarely falls below that mark. The inclusion of full drums and clawhammered banjo insures an attention-grabbing opener perfectly suited to Lucas’ piss and vinegar fuelled take on gospel vocals.

With all the added instrumentation on this album, it would be easy to presume that Lucas’ unique yet technically proficient acoustic guitar playing would get lost in the mix – not so. Tracks such as “Darkness Out of Me” and “Nevada County Lines” are evidence enough that he has lost none of his gifts in this regard.

“Feast” is a rollicking gospel number, opening with an acoustic guitar lick that sadly doesn’t feature much further into the track, though it’s rousing chorus of ‘hallelujah, amen’ is so perfectly phrased even the most self-professing of athiests amongst his audience will find themselves singing along. Penultimate track “Keys” is another hit-in-waiting, though its arrangement seems eerily familiar to Lucas’ biggest single “Go West” from Somebody Loves You; which is ultimately quite distracting for seasoned followers of his craft. For those not previously familiar with his work though, this track can be appreciated for all that it is, taking a decidedly darker tone to the last single. “The Grain” brings fond memories of the late 80s alternative of the Replacements.

Austin Lucas has always been regarded by those in the alt-country know as an amazing talent, and this record may perhaps see him achieve the recognition he surely deserves. Highly recommended for any fan of Uncle Tupelo, Lucero or Tim Barry, this album will be one of 2011’s real gems.

© Steve Pass, Music Vice

Title: The Human Connection
Artist: Chaos Divine
Label: Waterfront Records
Released: April 2011
In one word: Vast

When one thinks of Australia, images of a vast expanse of barren desert come to mind.  Ideas of kangaroos bounding across the rolling red dunes and random pubs in the middle of nowhere dance through our thoughts with twangy country music about men named Duncan who seem to drink excessively set as the soundtrack.  It is for this reason that we find ourselves overwhelmed and excited by acts such as Pendulum, Birds of Tokyo and Chaos Divine who, now and again, crawl out of the woodwork and wow both the local and international markets with their diverse blend of sounds and well written tracks.  Chaos Divine’s newest release The Human Connection, launched on 15 April in their home town of Perth, Western Australia, seeks to push these boundaries even further.

Citing influences such as Opeth, Lamb of God and Dream Theatre and boasting an impressive resume (including support spots for Trivium and Slayer), Chaos Divine give themselves a lot to live up to in terms of expectation.  From the first few seconds of the opening track ‘One Door’, listeners will be enthralled.  The melodic guitar intro is reminiscent of Devil Driver’s “End of the Line”, and David Anderton’s vocals are like a siren’s song sucking the listener deep into a musically induced trance.  Similar to Brisbane’s Dead Letter Circus, the tracks present a pleasing blend of melody and heaviness, with a common factor between all of the tracks being the strong and well rehearsed guitar work.  Guitarists Simon Mitchell and Ryan Felton truly show their talent in track 2, “At The Ringing Of The Siren”, with the perfect match made between violent metal strumming and stunning plucked acoustic at different peaks and lows in the song.  Another standout track is “Chasing Shadows”, with its heartfelt lyrics and varied sound.  This song stands out for me mainly for the flawless, driving drum work of Ben Mazzarol in the background – where most metal bands are heavy on the symbols and double kicks he manages to find a happy medium that still doesn’t skimp on the raw metal sound the band are known for.

After listening to this album, I find it safe to say that Chaos Divine stand uncontested in Australian Metal at the present.  Their clean, tight performance on record conjures images of an incredible live show and cements in my mind the belief that the future of Australian music is more than the mimic of America’s finest or the odd warbling country act fresh out of Tamworth.  Metal in this Great Southern Land is very much ALIVE!

© Darcie Reid, Music Vice

The Human Connection, released by Waterfront Records, is now available through Firestarter Music and Distribution.  It is available digitally worldwide through iTunes.

Internet links: Chaos Divine

Title: As We Reign
Artist: Netherealm
Label: Independent
Released: August 2010
In one word: Growling

The evolution of a band is something truly magical and often confusing to witness at the best of times, so you can understand my excitement when Victoria/New South Wales border metal band Netherealm released their first EP As We Reign.  A formidable force in the music scene of Albury-Wodonga, this brutal death metal act is comprised of vocalist Ben Quin, bass player Gerard Biesboer, guitarists Peter Cox and Heath Smith and drummer Jared Roberts.  Their style is reminiscent of the heavier works of Pantera, Slayer and some of the earlier Metallica albums, but also comprises brief incursions of newer metal such as Behemoth, Meshuggah and The Faceless with a slight tone-down on the heaviness.
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As We Reign is an adventure into brutality and mayhem for anyone who chooses to listen.  The opening track “The Creators” showcases each member’s talents with alarming force, a highlight of the track being a roaring guitar solo reminiscent of early Kirk Hammet and Dimebag.  Quin’s lyrics throughout the album are profound and ominous (as any death metal band’s lyrics should be), presenting a more twisted view on the world and its inner workings with hints of a fantasy element peeking out from beneath the darkness.  I would go as far as comparing his lyrical work to that of Greg Puciato from The Dillinger Escape Plan and Peter Dolving of The Haunted, especially with the second track, “Exact Vengeance”, which reads more like a warped short story than a death metal song.

Overall, the EP is a tight, well-rounded first effort for the boys of Netherealm.  Heavily laden with war-like drums and paint-stripping guitar solos and dripping with darkness and all things metal, this EP is a testament to the prowess and talent of a sorely underrated border act.

© Darcie Reid, Music Vice

Internet links: Netherealm

Title: Losing Streak & Hello Rockview reissues
Artist: Less Than Jake
Label: Sleep It Off
Released: 1 March 2011
In one word: Skank-tastic

Less Than Jake are one of the few survivors of the late 90s wave of ska-punk and their longevity is thanks in large part to the punchy numbers on these two classic albums, from 1996 and 1998 respectively. Repackaged this year with touched-up artwork and a bonus live DVD with each album, it’s time to take a look back to the past and start skanking around your bedroom once again.

First off, Losing Streak starts things off with ‘the Old Dude, Harry J Reynolds’ welcoming you the album before it smacks you in the face with the crunchy guitars and brassy brass of “Automatic”. Other classic Less Than Jake tracks appearing on this album include the second, and more relentless, version of “Johnny Quest (Thinks We’re Sellouts)” in the band’s catalogue (the first appearing on their debut LP, Pezcore), “Dopeman”, and “Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore”.

Hello Rockview, which is on balance the stronger of the two albums, is jammed packed full of live classics such as “Last One Out Of Liberty City”, “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads” and “Scott Farcus Takes It On the Chin”; as well as the unstoppable “Help Save The youth of America From Exploding” with it’s low-fi acoustic introduction followed by singer/guitarist Chris Demakes’ relentless guitar tapping solo. This song, too, has made its way back into the band’s live repertoire following the reissue.

Speaking of live favourites, the real value of these reissues lies in the bonus live content contained therein. Whilst the video footage of each album-long performance was not available for review, the audio quality of the recordings is flawless, and having the songs interspersed with the band’s banter and sampled introductions does add a lot to the listen. Superbly performed before packed audiences in their native Florida, the vocal back-and-forth between Demakes and bassist Roger Manganelli is even more evident than on the studio versions.

Less Than Jake’s strength has always been in their unreserved use of their horn section, which so many ska bands attempted to tone down once the genre began to fall out of the limelight, coupled with their party atmosphere and light-hearted lyrical content; all of which are present in spades in these two albums.

Either of these releases would be the perfect starting place for those not familiar with Less Than Jake’s back catalogue, or the appeal that lies within. For old fans who bought these albums the first time around, the live content alone makes these a worthwhile purchase.

© Steve Pass, Music Vice

Title: Renegades
Artist: Feeder
Label: Big Teeth Music / Shock
Released: 4 March 2011 (Australia)
In one word: Agreeable

I’ll be honest, and say that what little Feeder I’d been exposed to before this album left me…not “cold” exactly, but let’s say a little underwhelmed.  And while new release Renegades certainly breaks no new ground – indeed, creates barely so much as a crack in the pavement as that metaphor goes – this is nonetheless very, very solid “rock” music which, at the least, safely deserves that tag…achievement enough in this day and age, where the most limp-dicked of vaguely guitar-oriented music somehow qualifies as such.

Feeder apparently started way back in the mid-ish 90′s, and some small concession to slicker-than-thou modern production values aside, it doesn’t sound like these boys have “musically matured” much since then…and thank fucking Christ for that.  If you like your guitars heavy in power chords and fuzzy feedback, whilst still retaining enough melodic smarts to never fully degenerate into radio-unfriendly noise, then chances are you’ll find more than enough to enjoy here:  An agreeable post-Muse take on “grunge” which ultimately reinvents precious little, but has absolutely no pretense to such lofty ambitions in the first place.  Could have done without the “This is the barcode” attempt at post-irony on the back of the cd case though, lads.

© Michael Bowser, Music Vice

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Title: Bodiless
Artist: Twitch The Ripper
Label: Independent
Released: 1 February 2011
In one word: Spooky

Electro synth-pop duo Twitch The Ripper have released unto the world their debut album, Bodiless. Hailing from Connecticut, USA, the duo utilise vocalist Jon Dobyns’ eery lyricism and vocal styles over the minimalist production of counterpart Lonn Bologna.

Opening with their first single release, “Disconnected”, the album doesn’t take long to build to its first crescendo, giving the listener only 16 bars before the programmed drums kick in and give the records its pace. With it’s solid new wave/post punk vocals (think Depeche Mode), it makes for a strong single and introduction to the album.

Track two, the title track “Bodiless” is, sadly, not such a strong affair. Whilst Dobyn’s vocal talents are obvious, the song ends without ever really having that ‘kick’ which is essential in this genre to keep the listener’s attention. The breathless, melancholy of the song tires by verse two and one is left wanting for some aggression, some passion, some emotion of any sort. A shame, really, because the production on this track is one of the album’s strongest.

Standout track “Bright Is Impossible” would have to be a strong contender for a single-release should Twitch The Ripper grant themselves a second from this album. Its strong lyrics and sonically diverse production really do deliver the goods.

By side two of this album, the duo sadly seem to have employed all the tricks in their bag. Songs like “Keep Me Cold” and “Nurse Price” re-hash the same ground (and sound) of their predecessors, leaving the listener in want of something to prick the ears. Like modern-day Radiohead, it all seems a little self-involved to the casual listener.

This album has a spooky, industrial feel running through its entirety – the soundtrack to a childhood fever-dream – and is strangely relaxing at the same time. Sadly though, it lacks any standout musicianship to accompany Dobyn’s skills as a lyricist and performer and could have benefit from a little more diversity.

© Steve Pass, Music Vice

Related links:
Twitch The Ripper – Official Website