Cloud Control + Seekae + Deep Sea Arcade @ The Corner Hotel, Melbourne

1st Oct 2010

You’d be forgiven for assuming that Deep Sea Arcade are from a) Liverpool b) the 60s and c) an octopus’ garden

Tags: cloud control, corner htel, deep sea arcade, melbourne, seekae

Wavves – King of the Beach

The world of Wavves is like a punk colouring in book, but the lines are all blurred, the pictures are of stoners at the beach partying round a campfire of angst and the crayons are acid soaked.
Born out of not knowing how to properly operate an 80s tascam tape recorder, Wavves shot to fame on the blogosphere for their deliciously shambolic no-fi stream of conciseness noise. Now that they’re studio recorded and the skuzzy tones are intentional rather than a happy mistake, Nathan Williams hasn’t got the distortion to hide behind anymore so he’s going to have a good winge instead. The lyrics are a psychologists dream, pre-empting any criticism by getting there first themselves.
When KOTB is good, its ridiculously good, like the drawling glorious hand clapping King of the Beach. But when its bad, it dissapears up its own arse and into Blink 182-esque cringeville, like Super Soaker where he chants “stuuuuuupid” for what feels like 14 years (his mental age?) There’s paranoia, self deprecation, hatred and spite all rolled up in a charmingly messy ball (“My own freinds hate my guts/ ah so what who gives a fuck?” – Green Eyes.)
The moments when this album shines are when they channel the surfy nonchalance of class acts like Best Coast and the patchwork genre hopping of Of Montreal. After a while, its clear that the distortion also plays a crucial part in countering the sunny sweet tinges of Beach Boys and injected some much needed melody and flavour (good work, Modest Mouse producer Dennis Herring.)
Its a promising album that ultimately shoots itself in the foot by going on about how crap it is. He’d better think of a new angle for the next record, as if these glimmers of genius continue, this ceases to apply.

Tags: king of the beach, wavves

Passion Pit + The Joy Formidable + Rat Vs Possum Live in St Kilda

5th August 2010

Rat Vs Possum sound like the best party you were never invited to. Their music falls over itself like they’re making it up as they go along, putting 4 drum loops haphazardly over each other rather than doing anything like having a chorus, but somehow it works. Fizzing and popping like a neon vat of lemonade, R Vs P gallop through stand out tracks Pills and War, winning over everyone in their wake.

Tags: live, melbourne, passion pit, rat vs possum, the joy formidable

Kasabian Live

Kasabian -(V) Live

Trak Lounge Bar,Melbourne

22/07/10

When one of  your favourite bands gets big, part of you is happy for them and patting yourself on the back for your excellent taste. The other part is kind of frustrated when thousands of others jump on the bandwagon, and you have to share them with a huge crowd at their live shows, sucking the intimacy out of the experience.

Tags: kasabian, melbourne, track bar, v live

Klaxons – Echoes

♫ Echoes ↓

Download: klaxons-echoes

After 3 frigging years of waiting, the boys don’t disappoint with a pulsating cattle prod of a single . Its ravey, its sci-fi, its weird, its progressive, its mental, its brilliant. Much like their stellar Golden Skans, it marrys melody and noise in a gorgeous mesh of acid punk funk that reminds us of why we fell in love with them in the first place. Look out for new album Surfing the Void.

Tags: british, echoes, klaxons, nu-rave

Hot Hot Heat – Future Breeds

Harnessing the frantic energy of a herd of wildebeests stampeding through the soul of the new wave, HHH have been purveyors of jaunty 3 minute bursts of fuzzy frantic energy for a few albums now, occupying their own quirky pocket with verve and fire.

Tags: canadian, hot hot heat, indie

Wedding Songs that aren’t Horrific

After working in a hotel for years when I was at Uni and being a waitress/barmaid at approximately 28 million TERRIBLE tacky weddings, its safe to say that I’m a little bit jaded about them, especially the party part, which was of the  Oops Upside Your Head, Birdie Song, Musicman variety.

Tags: sarah, wedding songs