There is little to compare to the exhilarating sonic rush that burst forth from 1980s US punk band Husker Du despite the often worthwhile solo efforts from former band members. The intense emotional release on classic albums like Zen Arcade and New Day Rising resonated with similarly inclined boundary breakers like The Pixies and Nirvana who also understood that catharsis through raging guitars and a bit of screaming was the most effective way of dealing with that pesky artistic sensitivity. Husker Du was an incredibly integrated unit, so it was unfortunate that it all ended acrimoniously. Guitarist Bob Mould subsequently embarked on a hit and miss solo career, as did drummer Grant Hart who has broken a long silence with a new solo album that teases out all those melodic hooks that Husker Du often buried under layers of noise. Hot Wax seems to happily explore a 1960s garage rock vibe through an emphasis on organic instrumentation and the suggestion that a simple melody is often the best one. In this respect, such tracks as I Knew About You Since Then pursue a whimsical breeziness that would have been right at home on a Kinks album of the late 1960s. On the final offering My Regrets, Hart strangely sounds like former Husker band mate Bob Mould. I wonder if such lines as, “I’m sending you all my regrets,” were meant for him, or possibly any one of us?
The New Christs - Gloria [Impedance]:
Like sands through the hourglass indeed. Turn your back for a moment and suddenly youth has slipped through your fingers. You’re some washed-up hack in your 20s with your best days behind you and nothing but a stack of papers and some Sloan records to show for it all. And all the while that New Christs album has been sitting on your desk, unattended.
In truth it’s only been about six months, but that’s already far, far too long. A new ‘Christs record is rare enough in itself, so it’s unforgivable I’ve left Gloria to gather dust.
Led, as always, by former Radio Birdman frontman Rob Younger - the one constant through the group’s 30-year history, which has seen members of Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, The Saints (Canberra’s adopted son Bruce Callaway, to be precise), Celibate Rifles, Lime Spiders, The Hitmen and countless others pass through the ranks - the band sound as vital as ever. While Birdman powered along on the furious riffage of Deniz Tek, there’s a swagger, an almost menacing groove to The New Christs. The Posse is an instant classic, while album closer Bonsoir à Vous is one of the most anthemic cuts of power-pop you’re likely to come across this side of the millennium.
While by no means a substitute for their excellent - not to mention deafening - live show, Gloria is very fine rock and roll LP.
You’d be hard-pressed to find any triple j listening indie pop-tarts in Australia who didn’t know the distinctive opening notes of A Community Service Announcement – the first single of Jonathan Boulet’s infatuating debut album. The fact that A Community Service Announcement – the album’s most accessible, but far from most immersive, track – is the last on the record reflects appropriately the modest assuredness of this potential laureate. Recorded by himself in his Castle Hills garage, Boulet has conjured an intriguing mélange of pop stylings which have the potential to both seduce and infuriate the listener. Boulet’s charm is that his determination and conviction, coupled with his creative curiosity, allow him to write songs ranging from beautiful acoustic odes, to electronica, disco-tinged indie treasures, to near-experimentalist jungle-pop, to name but a few of the album’s movements. Conversely, his ability to infuriate is rooted in the almost suffocating positivity of each song. Despite the diversity of styles on the album, the overwhelming “life-affirming” tone and “unbridled optimism” (as articulated in his bio – I couldn’t have said it better) of every single moment of the album makes you feel like you’re being forced to spend 45 minutes with a group of psychopathically joyous teenagers fresh from World Youth Day. However, luckily for Boulet, there is the slightest, teasing, sense of a darker and more intriguing side to his character, and that alone is enough to make him one to keep an eye on.
Despite their performance at Meredith Festival being as enthralling as watching paint dry, Animal Collective hit the stage opening with the single from their new EP Fall Be Kind. The song ripped through the Amphitheatre and proved why the band were the most deservedly hyped of 2009.
Featuring the only licensed sample ever from the ‘70s greats The Grateful Dead, What Would I Want? Sky sees the band sounding closer to Panda Bear’s solo material than their previous releases.
But let’s cut down to brass tax, this isn’t a bad thing. Keep the psychadelia but ditch the childish playfulness. Inject a brooding ethereal angst and that may give you an idea of what this beast sounds like.
Merriweather Post Pavilion opened 2009 like a shotgun full of wonderment and awe to the face. Fall Be Kind ended it with your hands clasping the gaping wound on the back of your head. You don’t know what on earth happened but you’ll happily take this trip again. And considering they’ve pumped out both of these best releases of 2009 even without key contributor Deakin; what would I want? More Animal Collective!
Secret Masters Words / Power Sound [Master Tunes] :
The lion on the CD cover, done in the colours of the Jamaican flag, is a dead giveaway to the style of this album – it’s pure reggae mon! This is the second album from Australian duo Donnie Dub and Pieter Bourke. Recorded both here and in Jamaica, this international collaboration has guest vocals from a number of overseas artists. The white dudes from Melbourne have injected plenty of soul by featuring, amongst others, Jamaicans Kulcha Knox and Mad Doggy Dog. Whilst the core rhythm is always unmistakably reggae, there’s plenty of variety in the songs through the use of different tempos and the enhancement of melodies using various electronica. The pace varies from the chill-out Baby I Love You So (a definite highlight) with the cool voice of Australia’s own Kylie Auldist, to the fast and bouncy title track. Dub influences feature strongly, with Hot in the Club being a notable highlight. Themes go from the serious topic of racism in Black Culture to the madcap ganja anthem More Weed. What If contains some stand out lyrics, including the enlightening “What if people never smoke cannabis, then I couldn’t write lyrics like this”.
The fine differences between songs can best be appreciated on the second disk, which provides instrumental versions of all tracks. While those who can take or leave reggae may find it a bit of overkill, fans of the genre should lap this up.
Mink Engine’s latest electro pop release, Acres Of Diamonds, is set to make inroads into the overcrowded genre of electro pop. The ‘80sesque sound, laden with synths and drum machines, achieves the duo’s goal of creating a hyper technicolour beast rampaging through my mind, if I concentrate enough. Askii (Adam Milburn) and Touch Me Tiger (Holly-Anne Buck) let their tweaked speech liven up most of the tracks while in others the generally mild bass and electronic tidbits do their work. However, their simple and catchy lyrics serve the purpose of breaking up the tracks and keep things interesting. Through their sugary and floaty lyrics they seek to communicate an (unexpected) variety of moral messages regarding the futility of fame, the dangers of over indulgence and arrogance and the mind-controlling society we live in. And they do this using a host of fun characters; Dick Chicken, Cakehead, Dr Daikon and Mutant Apples. The Melbourne based duo’s decidedly arty background reverberates through their album, film clips and website. TMT is responsible for the group’s computer generated surrealist-pop-art-collage with hints of ‘80s video game graphics with a smattering of Warhol that make for a truly individual visual display. This visual element is a massive component in all their work, apparently coming into full effect in live shows. I reckon the Engine’s tracks will not be long from dance floors and will ride neatly alongside MGMT, The Presets and Midnight Juggernauts.
Keel The Right to Rock - 25th Anniversary re-issue [Frontiers / Riot] :
It may be hard for you youngsters to comprehend, but when TRTR first came out, the forces of repression were abroad in the world, and heavy metal was under the cosh from politicians and ‘religious’ people everywhere – and a band proclaiming that we all had ‘the right to rock’ was nowhere near as crass as that statement now appears on paper, a quarter of a century after the fact.
Of course good won over evil in the end, and it’s the right of all humans of voting age to rock as they go about their daily business. But will they be rocking to Keel?
Probably not. Despite its shinily re-mastered appearance, The Right to Rock is what it is – a top-of-the-second-division eighties metal record. Of course it has its moments – the title track is an absolute, of its time metal CLASSIC, but elsewhere there’s a lot of ham fisted posturing going on, saved only by vocalist Ron Keel’s impassioned bellowing and some occasionally enticing guitar work from the amusingly named Marc Ferrari, both of whom do their best to enliven some workaday outings which often sound like offcuts from the Kiss albums of the time – no surprise when you know that the album was produced and in parts co-written by ol’ Mr Tongue himself, Gene Simmons.
More misses than hits, then, and not without some period charm – but you can live without this.
