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| HEADLINES
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| Hayes set for massive comeback with Popular... Goodrem's first producers reveal 'lost album'... Frenzal Rhomb V Austereo in bitter feud... Cable channel spotlights local talent... Selwyn shot by Emmy Award-winning D.O.P... move over Delta, here comes Kasey... TISM add dates to White Albun tour... [V] gears up for new season of Idol... Dissociatives gigs postponed due to throat infection... Sophie flies covert mission to Iraq (yes, really)... Whammo Digital ahead of schedule: half a million tracks for download!......more news. |
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| TOURING
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Australasian artists touring internationally include Jet, Gerling, Butterfly Boucher, The Finn Brothers and Tommy Emmanuel. New dates announced for Goodshirt, Kasey Chambers, Frankenbok, The Anyones and Pete Murray.
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National tours include Dallas Crane, You Am I, Gyroscope, The Seekers, The John Butler Trio and Spiderbait. New dates for Cut Copy, The Living End, Jebediah, Kasey Chambers, David McCormack and the Polaroids, The Datsuns and Fur Patrol ...more tours. |
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| ENCYCLOPEDIA
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| Author Ian McFarlane is a genuine veteran of the Australian music industry, with a long history in many facets including music journalism. His Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop is the essential home for all lovers of Oz music. The book is legendary in music circles and covers the broadest range of artists imaginable - from the most mainstream to the genuinely obscure. To browse through the artist listings, simply click here. |
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PAN AM
PAN AM
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cd
Pan Am's recent signing to their new Aussie label was celebrated with more than the usual enthusiasm and people seem to keep reminding me that Pan Am's self-titled album is about to come out; that Pan Am's album is out; that Pan Am's album is being sent to me; that Pan Am's album should be at my office by now...have I listened to it? Okay, okay, I get the message, I'll listen to it! I'm glad I did. At a time when I feel that there's way too much rock in the market - a flood of it - this New Zealand 3-piece have clarified the situation for me: there's not enough good rock in the market; that's the real problem. Pan Am play in one direction: directly in your face. It's not overly heavy, it doesn't have a definite scene to belong to; it isn't being sung by a transsexual; none of the members are sleeping with anyone famous (or at least I don't think so?!)...There’s nothing obvious to Pan Am's appeal as a saleable item. But their appeal is the one thing that should be obvious to us, namely: great songs, honesty and ability. What else do you want? With Supa Sam, Interstate Boy and Superman, the album starts with a bang and should leave most rock fans short of breath. Midway through the tracklisting, the mood becomes a little more melancholy with Natural, a song that had quite a beautiful melancholy feel. But this is definitely a rock album and the respite is only temporary, Song 1 picking up the pace and tracks such as the engine-like Saskatchewan making it perfectly clear that Pan Am have a definite edge. Once again, with Pan Am's recent move to Melbourne, we've snagged another great New Zealand band (insert evil laugh here) but instead of gloating, I'll point to the obvious: we're always happy when a Kiwi act defects and heads slightly west because it means one more great band is circulating through our live venues and improving the quality of shows. Pan Am will be a fine addition to our much-improved live scene and with an album of this quality, they're sure to gatecrash radio playlists and possibly threaten those pop-drenched Australian charts. |
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JEBEDIAH
BRAXTON HICKS
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I kind of missed the Jebediah phenomenon in the 90s but I'm not only jumping on the bandwagon this time; I'm driving it. Yep, the man who once shrugged his shoulders when folks mentioned the Jebs, is waxing lyrical, gushing compliments and berating anyone who hasn't heard the band. I've become one of those annoying latecomers I usually despise. I don't need to be an old fan to know that the scene just hasn't seemed the same without Jebediah; a band whose influence is now clearly noticeable as younger acts - especially from Western Australia - begin to make an impact. Having shed the dead weight of a major label contract and opting to return to independent status, The Jebs seem reborn and the subsequent autonomy and enthusiasm have combined to deliver the bestest Jebs album in memory: Braxton Hicks. First Time, the first single, was loaded with 4 great tracks, so I've been assuming Braxton Hicks would be a 2004 highlight. I wasn't wrong. The opening track, More Alone, is dripping with that unmistakable Jebs sound: power + melody = joy. Being a worshipper of all things distortion, I love it when this W.A. 4-piece shovel a few coals into the furnace to achieve that locomotive momentum, as on Loaded Gun, but I'm a sucker for a big chorus and the more melodic It's Over completely nailed me, giving me an insight into the type of appeal that has not only attracted a massive fanbase, but - most importantly - retained it. First Time seems like an old friend after spinning in my stereo many times, but I've made a new friend: Nothing, which brutally mashes light riffing with the hardest distorted onslaught on the album. No wonder it ends proceedings. Jebediah have reached that point where every element is under their control - from production to business - and if Braxton Hicks is the end product of that control, every signed band should rip up their major label contracts immediately. |
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ONE DOLLAR SHORT
RECEIVING TRANSMISSION
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2 cd pack
Although I'd seen these guys countless times over the years, it was at the Warped tour a couple of years ago that I really stood back and realised just what they were capable of. It was towards the end of the day, and despite being stuck on the small local stage, up against someone of the likes of Pennywise, they pulled a fair majority of the crowd and put on an amazingly intimate and brilliant show. It's hard to believe it's been two years since their debut full length Eight Days Away was released, the first single from that album Is this the part? is still getting hefty commercial radio play. The new single Some Assembly Required should go some way towards getting radio to move on, but its the rest of the cd that really protrudes out, asserting the talent within. They don't reinvent the wheel, but what they do do is exert rock and metal influences into a driving, melodic punk base. You could argue they haven't moved on too much from the last one, but to counter that, who'd want them too? It's probably the tightest they've ever been, and the experience of producer Phil McKellar (Silverchair, Grinspoon) has a big impact. Favourite would be the hardcore tangled track Engines Failed, filled with Irrelevant style goodness; read powerful screaming, and driving, heavy melodies. If you get in fast, there's also a bonus b-sides disc, with some now very hard to get old favourites, including an endearing cover of Kasey Chambers Not Pretty Enough. There's nothing more touching than four large burly tough rockers wailing about crying too much. It's almost emo. It's also got last years single Keepsake, and one of my all-time faves, Robot.
(review by Rod) |
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DALLAS CRANE
DALLAS CRANE
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Dallas Crane opened the recent Jack Awards ceremony with Dirty Hearts, their catchy current single. It represented one of the hardest tasks possible for a band; to walk onto a cold stage in front of a pensive audience and perform for the cameras; one chance at glory. It took them about 2 seconds to hit 100% intensity. It was that moment that turned me into a fan of the band and in a time of fairly lacklustre releases, Dallas Crane's self-titled LP has lifted my spirits again. This is an album that screams 'Oz Rock!' That means the riffs are edgy (Wrong Party), choruses are powered by gripping hooks (Iodine) and the band know how to infuse their licks with a honky-tonk groove (Can't Work You Out) which reminds me of my formative years, hugging a transistor radio, absorbing the music of AC/DC, Ted Mulry Gang and Billy Thorpe. In true TMG style, Dallas Crane is an act that thrives on having a broad scope, careful to write wistful ballads, blues-ridden grooves, as well as the staple diet: gritty rock that only sounds correct when heard at a filthy pub. Dallas Crane, with this album, has set a standard for the ridiculous amount of new rockers hoping to achieve success, and their advantage is blindingly obvious; they really mean it. Yep, it doesn't sound like one riff or word or beat is contrived. And thanks to this album, I just realised that almost every other new rock band is simply bulls**ting. With songs like Numb All Over (my new favourite), Dallas Crane are ready to steal the new rock mantle from current pretenders; a 'changing of the guard' that will be welcome at Whammo. |
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QUA
PAINTING MONSTERS ON CLOUDS
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I like to think of Qua aka Cornel Wilczek as more than a songwriter, producer or musician; I think this unique artist manages to present something closer to an aural painting rather than a set of songs. If that's a fair observation it's only fitting that his new album should be called Painting Monsters On Clouds. I'm looking at the inner sleeve, which features beautiful illustrations by Hunch, and I'm noticing the type of acts Qua has chosen to thank; like-minded genre-defying artists like Architecture In Helsinki, Machine Translations and Pretty Boy Crossover to name a few. Like those acts, Qua surgically dissects traditional sounds with the use of digital technology, sometimes bordering on glitch but ensuring an ambient result by infusing every song with his obvious love of dreamy atmos. The cluttered brilliance of Devil Eyes is as compelling as an instrumental can get. It's simple bed of bass and acoustic guitar is like the bare canvas which is then decorated with confident strokes of digital hues - loops and abrasive textures - that create a confusing but alluring result. Wilczek must consider the most beautiful music to be flawed in some way because the more fluid moments of Painting Monsters On Clouds are usually short-lived, being deformed by an unnerving element that exposes a love of top-end glitchy sounds, even if they're simply 'pops' or static. Don't be frightened by technology; as long as artists like Qua exist, you can be safely assured that digital trickery will be absorbed into a psyche that thrives on creating a soothing result. At the halfway mark of 2004, Painting Monsters On Clouds takes the honours for the year's most beautiful album. |
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