The Beta Band weren’t built to last. With founding members exiting early due to failing mental health, chronic internal squabbling and critical adoration that rarely translated into commercial comfort – they were the adorable, quixotic black sheep of British music circa 1998. Never far from a blindingly gorgeous melody, they also pulled off random kitchen sink, hip-hop infused noise with surly indifference. Radiohead loved them, naturally. This is Mason’s debut album under his own name after a couple of post-Beta subterfuge imbued side-projects. On knob twiddling duties is uber-producer Richard X (Sugababes, Annie and Pet Shop Boys) which on the surface seems an odd choice, but Mason has never been one to shy away from a little Casio-tone jiggery-pokery. Boys Outside is Mason’s first output since a bout of profound depression, in his own words he ‘went mental and had a breakdown’. Accordingly, there are calling cards from a fractured mind littered throughout – but on The Letter he assures us “In my mind I’m getting better”…although a little bit later “something bad has happened here”. Still, this is not a record steeped in sadness or crisis despite descents into lovelorn confusion. There are hints of his old band in the lilting All Come Down – typically subdued beginnings climaxing somewhere up the side of a foggy mountain. Throughout it all Mason’s biggest weapon shines – a luxuriant, ghostly textured voice more open and honest than ever before. Boys Outside already sounds like a lost classic.
Hellyeah - Stampede [Riot Entertainment]:
In which former Pantera sticksman Vinnie Paul – often mistaken for BMA’s own Scott Adams as he goes about his daily business – continues the search for something... anything... to replace the glory he found in his former band...
The trouble with this quest of course is that it’s in search of an unattainable goal. In Pantera, Paul backed the mercurial pairing of Phil Anselmo and his late, lamented brother “Dimebag” Darrell Abbot, an armour-plated Jagger and Richards for the metal generation, a pair of song writers so combustible they could, no matter how refreshed, come up with classics like Cowboys from Hell and Walk in the blink of a semi-comatosed eye. Make no mistake, these men were genii, alchemists, a once in a lifetime phenomenon...
In 2010 Vinnie has replaced these two with dullards of the calibre of Mudvayne’s Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett. The result, Hellyeah’s second album, Stampede, is predictably underwhelming. In a live situation its simplistic groove and brainless choruses may well have some form of primal appeal, but in the privacy of one’s own loungeroom the whole thing comes off as clichéd and, sadly, rather desperate. Titles such as Cowboy Way, Pole Rider and Hell of a Time should point to the quality of down home southern goodness on offer; and, whilst Paul puts in his usual faultless display behind the kit, it isn’t enough to lift the record out of the mire. Tedious.
I Exist - I: A Turn for the Worse [Common Bond Records]:
When reviewing local product, there’s always a slight temptation to pull a “Margaret ‘n’ David” and gild the lily. Not that there’s currently any shortage of good music being made here, of course, but there is always the lurking possibility of being tyre-ironed in a darkened alley on the back of a less-than-glowing appraisal. One faces no such conundrum, however, when presented with I Exist’s debut. Because it is good. And I mean properly, world-class, good. It could have come from whatever global hotspot takes your fancy as readily as it came from Canberra’s south.
A Turn for the Worse sees the hardcore group further indulge their ever-present metal influence: from Sabbath’s mighty Volume 4 to the unholy rumble of Dorset doomsters Electric Wizard and California’s Sleep. This move is perfectly complemented by the introduction of Josh Nixon, Pod People guitarist and your Metalise correspondent, who adds his inimitable axework to proceedings. His smoky riffs permeate the record, particularly on the psych-flavoured guitar workout Hymn of the Hemplar.
While most tracks are blasted out and dispensed with in under two minutes, with the full length of a compact disc at their disposal I Exist have stretched their proverbial wings with album closer A-Bomb Blues. An epic in every sense of the word, it pits an apocalyptic tale of blasting into space, away from an expiring planet, against an unbridled nine-minute riff-fest complete with Hammond organ. Massive.
Hard-Ons - Alfalfa Males Once Summer is Done Conform or Die [Cool Bananas]:
The very title of this album reveals much of what has made the Hard-Ons the enduring punk legends of 28 years that they are – the obscurity; the commercial infeasibility; the humour; and of course the middle finger raised directly at mainstream culture.
Fans will no doubt ‘umm’ and ‘aaahh’ about the pros and cons of this record compared to the group’s previous work, but overall it is simply a Hard-Ons record as anyone might imagine one. Notably however, the album does not adhere to one particular style, as their two previous works have sought to do. Whereas those albums were each dedicated (broadly) to one of the group’s notoriously divergent styles – from bubblegum power pop to black, thrash metal – Alfalfa Males nestles them (and everything in between) side by side. This constant fluctuation in style itself is enough to keep you listening.
The ensuing maelstrom – spanning 19 tracks in 40 minutes – is certainly no different to anything the group has created before, and this is what makes it so enjoyable. This is a group that is playing the music they like, because they like playing it, and for fans they know like it. Nothing sounds forced, and because the group only ever writes, rehearses or records when they have the creative desire to, they still play music with the same freshness, energy, and vision they had in 1982.
Itch-e and Scratch-e - Hooray for Everything!!! [Hustle]:
This CD is the best thing to happen to my collection all year. You may remember this lovechild of Paul Mac and Andy Rantzen called Itch-E and Scratch-E from festival line-ups and extreme games compilations of the mid to late ‘90s. They had moderate success back then, namely for their recognisable club anthem Sweetness and Light. Now, after ten years, they’re back. And thank the gods. Their traditional techno sounds flecked with a musical sense of humour are more than welcome in these days of dance music where it is often pushed too hard or taken too seriously. This latest release, Hooray for Everything!!! is, at times, a step back to the good ol’ days of smiley faces and laser reaching. Just like their live show, the album glitters with high energy throughout, jumping back and forth between the technically delightful, deep and dark, and just plain happy. It kicks off with a fast-paced remix of Scribe’s Fresh. Suddenly electronic voices are conversing with you and you’re taken to a 1997 rave cave before brilliantly layered house prompts you back into your kitchen, where you dance inappropriately and your housemates find you trying to re-enact your drunken club moves while cooking the Sunday roast. Let that be a warning to you. The album is flaunted with Paul and Andy’s sense of fun – clearly apparent in track names like Found it on the Dancefloor and some controversial but hilarious vocals. It’s true what they say; experience counts for everything.
Darren Hanlon - I Will Love You At All [Flippin Yeah]:
ALBUM OF THE ISSUE: My future depends on Darren Hanlon, for the one I grow old with must love him as much as me, ‘cause if he don’t get Darren, he won’t get me. My love affair with our nation’s most wonderful wordsmith began many moons ago with 2000’s honey sweet Falling Aeroplanes. Two years later he took out humble number 45 in the H100 with Punk’s Not Dead, an adorable ode to sharehousing which slotted him snugly in our minds as an effortlessly charming and exceptionally clever songwriter. A handful of delightful EPs and three albums I’ll cherish forever later, Darren has produced, in his own words, his most honest work yet. While I Will... possesses all the trademarks we’ve grown to know and love; gorgeous melodies, wistful guitar, jolly uke and banjo, lilting keys, rousing choruses and countless displays of masterful wordplay (“And if I had a dollar for every time I shoulda been paid / Then I woulda been paid”), a gentle nostalgia not found on previous albums permeates. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the final bar of haunting closer What Can We Say?; “What will we miss the most? The feel of sun, the taste of beer” is coupled with non-lingering piano chords. The abrupt end has a ‘to be continued’ feel to it, I suggested to Darren. “It’s the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end,” said he.
Aggressive, confrontational and provocative are three words that appropriately sum up M.I.A’s highly anticipated third album Maya. Following a series of contentious incidents, most notably her retaliation to an unflattering article written by a New York Times journalist, it is not surprising that M.I.A’s latest effort is shrouded in controversy. The track Born Free along with its accompanying video (which was quickly pulled down from YouTube as being too offensive) comments on the absurdity of genocide. The clip features a horde of swat teams invading Los Angeles apartment blocks, which then round up redheads, drive them to the desert and brutally murder them. The intro track The Message is a spoof on the children’s song Dry Bones, and suggests the human body is no longer our own property, that we are all dictated by technology, which is dictated by the government. Despite the political statements and provocative visual content, which feel somewhat simplistic and trivial, there are some worthy sonic moments. The fragmented and abrupt production style is eclectic, expansive and at times completely anti-pop. The album references many styles and genres but most of all it embraces noise – so confidently in fact that we do not even question the logic behind it. Although Maya is not as strong as previous albums Arular or Kala it is an interesting and daring work, and it is disappointing that so much of the conversation about this album revolves largely around matters separate to the music.
