Words: James Frostick
Melbourne/Naarm’s Plastic Chairs have released a new four-track offering filled with frenetic and off-kilter post-punk jams. The combination of quick-stepping percussion, serrated and angular guitars, and a weighty low end create an intense listening experience that threatens to go off the rails in the best way.
Words: James Frostick
Melbourne/Naarm-based dark-wave trio No Statues will be dropping a debut EP in May, but are already giving ears a sample of what’s to come with lead single ‘Overtime’. Despite being saturated in downtempo atmospherics, the track fills space with a calming aura. It’s moody, yes – but not entirely disconsolate. Continue reading Listen: NO STATUES – ‘OVERTIME’
Words: James Frostick
Hearts and Rockets band image: Kalindy Williams
Melbourne labels Psychic Hysteria and Roolette Records are teaming up to release a split 7″ (launching as a part of this year’s Brunswick Music Festival) featuring tracks from goth-tinged new-wave two-piece Hearts and Rockets and queer-punk quintet Zig Zag. Both tracks are frustration-laced and immediate, lamenting over suffocating relationships and the lack of financial stability while working as artists.
Words: James Frostick
After a breakout year that cemented them as one of the country’s finest proponents of earnest and insightful guitar pop, Melbourne’s The Stroppies are striking while the proverbial iron is hot by releasing a brand-new album called Look Alive! Lead single Holes in Everything immediately ranks amongst the band’s catchiest songs, capturing the enlivening (and terrifying) nature of romantic infatuation.
Continue reading Listen: THE STROPPIES – ‘HOLES IN EVERYTHING’
Words: James Frostick
Band image: ZP
Two years on from the release of their stellar LP Amici, Melbourne’s Primo! return with the first cut off follow-up record Sogni. Lead single ‘Best and Fairest’ is a thoughtful number that explores the idea of a perfect life – the choices we make and how they enrich or devalue the quality of our existence.
Words: James Frostick
Band image: Louis Oliver Roach
Melbourne two-piece outfit Mystery Guest are building momentum ahead of the release of their debut album Octagon City with new single ‘The Red Dance’ – a piece of understated-yet-hypnotic club-pop rhythm all about shedding inhibitions and giving yourself over to the act of dance, free of ego, identity and name.
Words: James Frostick
Band pic: Bill Golding
Draped in black leather and black denim, Melbourne’s full-moon rock’n’rollers ROT T.V. are on the cusp of dropping their very first 7-inch single. The single’s A-side track F.D.A. is a suitably full-throttle introduction. Here – fuelled by a hungry intensity and boasting a carnivorous edge – ROT T.V. circles like a pack of predatory animals, gradually wearing down your defences until they’re close enough to bite.
