Words: James Frostick
Band image: Charlie Hillhouse
Frosty synth-pop three-piece 100% has awoken from an elongated hibernation period with new sounds to share. Last week the Naarm and Meanjin-based group released ‘Abandon’, a composition imbued with the group’s signature coolly detached atmospherics and operatic, moonlight-clothed glamour. It preludes the release of the trio’s debut album, Clear Visions, which will be released later this year via esteemed underground hit factory It Records.
Words: James Frostick
Meanjin/Brisbane-based experimental-pop troika Spirit Bunny are today releasing the second track from their forthcoming album Uncanny Valley. Inspired and informed by relentless shellacking endured during sub-tropical summers, ‘Stomping’ sees Spirit Bunny maintaining composure even as sweat drips into their eyes and over their repurposed instruments.
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Dylan Jeffreys
Cover art: Fred Gooch
Meanjin/Brisbane-based crew Mark’s Paranormal Dysneyland is gearing up to release a new cassette via Eternal Soundcheck, dropping a clip today for visceral track ‘My Depression’. Unflinching and uncomfortable, ‘My Depression’ peels back the facade of abject misery, including listeners in the journey to pass through the dark core in hopes of breaking through on the other side.
Continue reading Video Premiere: MARK’S PARANORMAL DYSNEYLAND – ‘MY DEPRESSION’
Words: James Frostick
Band image and cover art: Summer Hiskens
Continue reading Premiere: BIN LICKER – CAVE CANEM (ETERNAL SOUNDCHECK, 2020)
Words: James Frostick
Meat Thump band image: Marriah Geles
Brisbane/Meanjin label Eternal Soundcheck has reached into the past to haul three unheralded projects into the present. The newest additions to the label’s catalogue include a compilation of EPs and unreleased tracks from dissonant no-wave band look!pond, a rediscovered live recording of outsider punk trio Meat Thump and a polished reworking of Liam Kenny’s 2016 solo album The White Man Is Oppressor. We chat to label head Matt Kennedy about the motivations behind releasing all three works in 2020, why he considers them special and what we can expect from Eternal Soundcheck moving forward.
Continue reading Interview: LOOKING BACK WITH ETERNAL SOUNDCHECK
Words: James Frostick
Image: Glen Schenau
Brisbane/Meanjin post-punk four-piece CNT EVN have dropped a dynamo six-track EP encapsulating the group’s brand of sound – fidgety and electrified rippers delivered with a snotty sneer.
Continue reading In Review: CNT EVN – TRYNA EP (TEAM GLASSES, 2020)
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Glen Schenau
Brisbane avant-punk outsiders Soot have released a brand-new 7″ EP containing five tracks of its signature junkyard noise. Crafted in part as an homage to an unorthodox and enigmatic musical icon, Silt sees Soot leaning into their most left-field ideas, utilising everything at their disposal to add further depth to their discordant din.
Words: James Frostick
Image: Katy Melville
Brisbane musician Glen Schenau is releasing a new 7″ later this month, boasting two tracks that showcase the musician’s versatility and unorthodox style, proving what’s possible creatively when you commit to getting weird with it.
Words: James Frostick
Image: Glen Schenau
Back in February, short-lived abrasive industrial/noise group Jousting released a four-track taster of its pummelling and dissonant noise rock. Although aurally confronting at first, Jousting’s knack for chaotic groove and vicious stomp will make you yearn for more of what disappeared for good long before you knew you had it. Continue reading Listen: JOUSTING – SNOUT METHOD EP
Words: James Frostick
Brisbane goth-punk trio Occults are finally releasing a new seven-song LP comprised of tracks recorded back in 2017. Celebration is the final word from the leather-clad crew, capturing the band’s bleak and critical worldview that positions them as eerie prognosticators of what was to come.
Continue reading In Review: OCCULTS – CELEBRATION (INDEPENDENT RELEASE, 2020)
Weirdo Wasteland 