Words: James Frostick
Band image: Ruby Gabe Varbørton and Bridghid Russell
A couple of years on from the release of introductory statement ‘Nil By Mouth’, dream-pop duo Devotions return with a lush double A-side single. Serene and surreal, both tracks boast blissful waves of luxuriant dream-pop sound – the kind that is effortlessly easy to sink into, but impossibly hard to extricate one’s self from.
Continue reading Premiere: DEVOTIONS – ‘FINAL GIRL’ / ‘MODELING’
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Holly Buckley
Drawing in and extrapolating on the sounds of its 80s-era Mancunian forebears, Naarm-based post-punk quintet Body Maintenance is following up a demo and live tape with a bristling self-titled 12″ EP. The band’s severe and surly sound is encapsulated on lead single ‘Sheets’, an austere assault of anxious writhe and pitiless pace.
Words: James Frostick
Artist image: Grace Goodwin
Melbourne/Naarm-based musician Will Weir is adding more form and substance to his new caustic post-punk project Big Bill and the Bigots, releasing the visuals for his most-recent single ‘Sunday Mourning’. Boasting unsettling vampiric imagery, the clip pairs perfectly with the unhinged Australiana imbued within the track’s rasping sonics.
Continue reading Video Premiere: BIG BILL AND THE BIGOTS – ‘SUNDAY MOURNING’
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Pia Hannah
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.
Words: James Frostick
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.
Words: Doug Wallen
After a strong series of creature-feature singles, Dr. Sure’s Unusual Practice brings the same atmosphere of comic dread to its debut album. But while there are moments of political ire, the band is more notable for hanging back and snidely deconstructing the world at a self-imposed remove.
Continue reading In review: DR SURE’S UNUSUAL PRACTICE – THE WEST (MARTHOUSE, 2019)
Words: Doug Wallen
Banner image: Will Zerno
Celebrating a new drummer, Melbourne trio Life Strike unveil a loopy self-made video for one of their characteristically short and nagging songs.
Continue reading Video Premiere: LIFE STRIKE – ‘CALL OF THE WILD’
Weirdo Wasteland 