Articles

Huckleberry Swedes Suburban Dreaming

Column: CD Reviews | Date Published: Wednesday, 10 June 09 | Author: Rhiannon Brunker | | 2 years, 8 months ago

COMMENT HERE: comment

[Vitamin]

Immediately casting a relaxing atmosphere with the first track, Huckleberry Swedes’ debut album Suburban Dreaming perfectly captures the ideal Australian Outback. Slightly nostalgic lyrics are harmonised flawlessly, accompanied by ever changing instrumentation of accordion, mandolin, banjo, keyboards, guitars and bass. The drum lines consist of variations of rock, swing, and shuffle beats and determine the feel of each song. As the band’s PR states, the album consists of “Songs about love of fishing, pies, and sweethearts”. From the music all the way to the artwork and everything in between, Suburban Dreaming screams Australia.

	Passion Pit Manners: [Columbia Records] I guess this is what happens when you get labelled as a hype band and sign with a major; the tracks that created the hype in the first place stick out like a sore thumb, while the rest of the album is just whatever comes out first. Manners’ biggest problem as an album is it’s easy to listen to and easy to forget straight after. Angelakos’ unique voice is so washed over not even standout tracks like Moth’s Wings and Sleepyhead can even out the inconsistencies, making even the biggest fans wonder if Chunk of Change ever really happened. Its potential for brilliance settles at boring, with the only lasting impact being the wondering of what this album could have been.
COMMENT HERE: comment »
	The Versionaires We Come Again: [Foreigndub / MGM] The Versionaries are a ragga/dub soundsystem consisting of New Zealand DJ/producer Christian Burns and New York Toaster/MC Barrington Calia. As their name suggests, it’s all about different versions and coming up with a master rhythm, before dubbing, reforming and remixing each subsequent version. If dubbed-out, drawn-out and dull reggae ramblings aren’t your thing, this is a nice selection of dubbed upbeat tunes that is something like a cross between Massive Attack and Beats International. Mixing deejay toasting, male and female vocals, this 13-track excursion on the version is worth a listen.
COMMENT HERE: comment »
	Iron Maiden Flight 666 The Original Soundtrack: [EMI] Of course, as an Iron Maiden fan, you know what you’re getting here – a live document of the band’s last tour to tide you over in the absence of any new product whilst the band completes its next studio offering (which they haven’t actually started yet, so there might be a bit of a wait). But – and it’s a big but – the Flight 666 OST is a bit different. Not only because it’s the soundtrack to a cinematically-released feature documentary, something the band has never tried before, though that may be reason enough to tempt some of the hard-earned from your wallets, but because, for the first time ever, there’s a chance you may well be on the recording. That’s right. Two tracks from F666 were recorded in Australia (as was some amusingly brainless footage in the film at Melbourne’s Richmond Hotel)– stellar versions of 2 Minutes to Midnight (recorded in Melbourne) and Revelations (Sydney), but really that’s a silly reason to buy a record, isn’t it? So just shell out the readies for the fact that this is, quite possibly, the definitive Iron Maiden live album of all time. Monstrous.
COMMENT HERE: comment »
	Sounitout Sounditout: [Undercover Records / Yep Records] Australia is blessed with a number of electropop male duos and another has arisen in the form of sounditout. Their self-titled EP is a fantasy of shifting moods and rhythms. Opening track Die Young Tonight invites the listener to plunge into reckless hedonism while Distraction takes on a more sombre tone. Control, with its sinuous, snake-like beats, contains an alluring concoction of rhythms that make it the highlight, while Circumstance imparts a feeling of menace, taking on a more serious geopolitical theme about the problems of post-colonial Africa. sounditout is very danceable, however at this stage their music lacks the mesmerising quality that makes artists like The Presets such stars.
COMMENT HERE: comment »