Words: James Frostick Band photo: Chloe Mullowney Album art: Jonno Ross-Brewin and James Kane
Melbourne five-piece Program (featuring members of The Stroppies, The Blinds, The Faculty, Meter Men and DARTS) is today announcing the mid-October release of Show Me – the band’s debut LP – through Anti Fade Records. Spearheading the announcement is the album lead single ‘Motorbike’ – a track of classic rock-radio-tinged melody mixed with a charming dollop of Australian twang. Although easy on the ears, the song’s breezy sound carries a feeling of earnest yearning – like you’re stuck inside while the outside world basks in the glory of a beautiful day.
High-octane Melbourne hardcore outfit 2 Stroke dropped a new track in late July, one where the aggro four-piece grapples with the thought of a meaningless existence. ‘Crisis, Crisis’ is a forceful rebuking of modern living and the dissatisfying ache it produces.
Thrilling Sydney-born newcomers G2G have thrown another musical morsel into the yard for us starved animals to greedily fight over. ‘You Don’t Say Shit Right’ is another example of the three-piece unit’s knack for carving textured sculptures from blocks of raw dissonant sonic material.
New Zealand’s own Die! Die! Die! are back with a cacophonous new EP due out next month – one born out of a frenzied period of writing and recording with its most heralded line-up. ‘Casualties Of Decades’ is a bona fide ripper that beats and pummels its way into the upper echelons of Die! Die! Die!’s storied and voluminous discography.
Good news for fans of Melbourne-based proponents of post-punk-indebted gloom EXEK – the band has returned with news of a third LP. The record, entitled Some Beautiful Species Left, is dropping on September 6, and is a split release between France’s SDZ, Digital Regress in the USA, and Australia’s own Anti Fade Records. The record’s lead single ‘Unetiquetted’ is a slinky-and-irregular piece of outsider new-wave pop that hints towards a greater level of studio immersion.
New noise is emerging from Sydney’s experimental electronic scene courtesy of Jack De Lacy. ‘Pure Emotion / Raw Data’ is a thunderous assault on the senses. This slice of subterranean clang and throb is a study in the power of voice as an instrument that can be modulated, and how that bending via technology alters the role of the body and renders it redundant once the organic byproduct is harvested and refined.
Three years on from the release of her acclaimed SMACKWAVE EP, Spike Fuck returns to the limelight with a delicate off-cut from the SMACKWAVE sessions. ‘Body By Crystal’ is a sorrowful insight back to Spike’s times of addiction – an unflinching tale coloured in blueish hues, boasting love-bruised guitar peals and sighs tinged with palpable sadness.
Weirdo Wasteland is an Australian-based music blog that examines musical endeavour from the cultural fringe. The site regularly features reviews and interviews from the underground scenes from Australia and New Zealand. Weirdo Wasteland acknowledges the original custodians of the land upon which it operates. Sovereignty has never been ceded. To get in touch, contact: weirdowasteland (at) gmail.com
