Review

There Will Be Fireworks -
The Dark, Dark Bright

The process of growing up is a complex, knotty one. It varies for everyone, but largely we as people are united in the ruing of how our youth escapes from us before we've had a chance to really become acquainted. Moments don't become moments until we reflect upon them with those rose-tinted glasses, fond memories get pushed out in favour of our new-found anxieties, our perception of time alters drastically and months can flash by without stopping for breath or to watch the setting sun. We'd do anything to preserve our time, in a jar that we can dip into as and when we please, but the inescapable truth is that our time is ultimately finite.

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Review

James Joys -
Alexithymia EP

Alexithymia's barbed, off-kilter electro rhythms are like long strings of binary code shivering across the telephone wires of metropolis; silent stormcatchers that loom uncomfortably above the monotony of everyday life. This is the world of James Joys, who operates at these jagged frequencies with an eerie menance, colliding super-charged particles of angular synths and hypnotic post-rave booms together to create the faded small-hours pulsations of a distant nightclub stuck in the loop of The Matrix. 

Written by Isaac Powell

Read more

Review

Foxing -
The Albatross

For anyone who’s ever stayed up through graveyard hours into the next day, the sunrise seems less like an event and more like a discovery.  Sure, it’s the same sun you’ve always seen, the same streets and buildings, but it all somehow feels unprecedented in the grey light. It’s moments like these where St. Louis’ Foxing lives. The Albatross, a tender and raw space that feels almost stumbled-upon, toes the line between emo and indie with startling restraint, only letting everything spill loose when it absolutely cannot hold another second.

Written by Jonah Yonker

Read more

Review

State Faults -
Resonate / Desperate

Resonate / Desperate is an unrelenting record -- a deeply-anchored tangle of roots that explores self-doubt, anxiety and the permeable membrane of youth through a narrative obsessed with vivid dreams, figurative and literal burning, winter solitude and celestial bodies. This unhinged aesthetic is not just achieved through lyrical content either, as State Faults' greatest trait has always been their ability to amplify emotion into something more tangible, just by the way they batter their snare drums, pitch their leads and scream their hearts out with often indecipherable fervour. It's a suffocating glimpse into the head of Jonny Andrew, carefully crafted to give you the clearest view. It's not always comfortable, but that's the price paid in return for full disclosure from a band who have rightfully garnered a reputation as one of North America's finest screamo bands.

Written by Isaac Powell

Read more

Review

Peace Arrow -
↑↓↑↓

The feathers that make up the fletching on Peace Arrow's arrow are manifold – dainty little artefacts that are fragile in isolation but potent by their powers combined. The fleeting acoustic guitar snips that enter and exit your field of vision like a moth drunk on moonlight, the jaw-snapping-shut drumstick thwacks, the distant, looming tomtom thumps and the menagerie of bleats, croaks and peeps that steer it interlock like the two sides of a zip. Taken together, they create a climate that is pleasantly humid; the sort that immobilises your body but animates your spirit, and ↑↓↑↓ absorbs all that which surrounds it.

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Review

Machinist! -
Birthright EP

With their 2012 debut EP Black List , Machinist! kicked a few doors off the hinges, said their piece to whoever was on the other side and got the fuck out in under six minutes. It was a distorted reminder to cynics and snobs alike that DIY punk and hardcore was alive -- that guys under the age of 55 'got' punk and could write 60 second songs full of pulverising riffs and stupid-fast blast beats that also meant something. Whether it was Jeff Hill's opening disdainful cries of "Failure failure / that's what they say to me" or his uncompromising closing request to "Put your fucking hands down / Get the fuck away from me / Let your hollow words drown / Don't pray at me", Black List resonated through brute force and a strong will. Birthright is Machinist! turning their fiery gaze towards slightly less ambiguous victims. 

Written by Isaac Powell

Read more

Review

Dott -
Swoon

Suspended in time is the buoyancy of guitar fuzz-driven pop, equally current and antecedent, able to pervade notions of what's trending simply because of its permanence. There'll always be room for it. There'll always be a market for that which reminds us of the 'glory days', and being the fixture that it is, it wouldn't be amiss to suggest that guitar pop will continue to provide this soundtrack for generations and hot summers to come. 

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Review

All The Bright Lights -
The Wind & The Waves

As the editor of a publication with a fairly well-advertised inbox, over-zealous post-rock press releases from budding labels and artists are amongst the most common items I receive, each busting their 'cinematic' guts a little more violently than the last as they attempt to convince me just how 'captivating' and 'beautiful' it all is. The problem with such a cocksure approach isn't the hyperbole -- promoters should promote , after all -- it's that it sounds so fake ; it's the musical equivalent of a second-hand car salesman looking you in the eye and promising 50 miles to the gallon on a clapped-out 2002 MG ZR when I know it can only do 19. Give me context and give me artwork, just don't give me a preemptive list of emotional reactions from a thesaurus.

Written by Isaac Powell

Read more

Interview

Oozing Wound

Oozing Wound are a band that aren't difficult to like. They play music for the same reason we listen to it --  it's fun, engaging, and hopefully unpredictable . It's fair to say that they aren't the most serious guys in the world, but at the same time, they definitely care about their output. In a world where thrash metal has become that dodgy uncle at a party, it's refreshing to see that the carnage from the old metal days -- massive riffs, stupid-BPM blast beats and Swanton Bomb's off stages -- still has a place. Oozing Wound are here to remind you that you're not that fucking important after all. We had a quick chat with them, and this is what we learnt. 

Written by Jonah Yonker

Read more

Review

Young Knives -
Sick Octave

Let's not get hung up on the 'Britishness' of the music of the Young Knives. While it's certainly true that their debut full-length Voices of Animals and Men supported itself with its distinctly British-sounding oddities – yelped lines like “You were screaming at your mum and I was punching your dad!” and acute, awkward instrument playing – their talents extend beyond poking fun at the mildewed mundaneness of suburban British life.  

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Feature

Fest 12: Freshman Class

By this point, if you're going to Fest this year, you've already pointlessly labored over a schedule of bands you want to see that will be rendered useless the moment you get your badge and that first free PBR. Here are 10 Fest freshman that are a testament to the fact that the future of this weekend is bright, and that not all bands in Gainesville this week sound the way that guitar player guy from Mixtapes looks. Fest is in Gainesville, FL from Oct 31st - Nov 3rd 2013.

Written by Lukas Hodge

Read more

Review

Agnes Obel -
Aventine

From the timid, chiming piano note that opens Aveltine like a budding flower, one can feel the 'leap in the dark' that composing a new record means to Agnes Obel. Just as her 2002 platinum-selling debut Philharmonics began with a restrained piano melody, opener 'Chord Left' is subtly reminiscent of that same invasive melancholy. Rarely does an album so boldly stake its claim with such stark minimalism, but this subdued deliberation serves as both a window and guiding hand into the depths of Aventine's sonic chasm.  

Written by Paul Smith

Read more

Feature

Yesteryear - Lux Interna

Lux Interna's latest release, There is Light in the Body, There is Blood in the Sun , was certainly ambitious in scope, presenting the idea that humans and stars are bound by mutual qualities, all products of the same universe. Combined with the religious studies of member Joshua Ian Levy, and the musical journey of Kathryn Mary , questions of inspiration are elicited. Graciously, the two have gone to great lengths to talk about five songs that have so heavily impacted their lives and careers.

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Review

Darkside -
Psychic

There's an obvious sentiment to be drawn from the unambiguously titled Psychic. It stays with you. It finds a vacant part of your mind and nestles in, unimposing. But you're not likely to catch yourself humming anything from the record as you go about your day; rather, it beckons for your return by way of association. Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington have created a sound that is above all else natural, to the point of defying the unworldly, manufactured fabric of electronic music. The minute attention they have afforded to the gaps and cavities is remindful of the everyday ambience so often lost in omission.

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Review

Oozing Wound -
Retrash

Thrash metal is like an action blockbuster. At its best, it embodies a raging assault or a relentless chase, a white-knuckle foray into badassery. However, macho is easily overdone, and any hint of excess quickly descends into self-deprecating silliness. Enter Oozing Wound, a Chicago based thrash outfit whose debut album Retrash doesn’t succeed by avoiding comedy; it celebrates the inevitable goofiness of the genre, all the while absolutely shredding. It drives the thin line between aggression and hilarity like a speeding Lamborghini with a blow up doll flailing out the window.

Written by Jonah Yonker

Read more

Review

Touché Amoré -
Is Survived By

As the probing tentacles of the information age continue to wrap themselves around every fibre of our existence, and as we begin to accept that it's no longer reasonable to assume we're in complete control of our own identities, catharsis without a caveat of self-defence has become a virtue. For Jeremy Bolm of Touché Amoré, it's something that he's acutely aware of -- 'I made a pledge to myself / if I was to raise my voice / to be direct as I can be / no matter what I may destroy' he screams with a steely fervor on 'To Write Content' -- and it's because he worries. Not necessarily because he thinks he'll ever deliberately sell his stories short, a dishonestly in his own words: 'If my joy comes with the price of my love / I won't pay if I have to pretend', but because he fears a disconnect between intention and perception will harm his legacy as both a musician and a human being. 

Written by Isaac Powell

Read more

Review

Yuck -
Glow & Behold

Any loss of a lead singer can potentially trigger the screeching halt of momentum, the death knell, and more often than not, a crippling identity crisis. That much seemed sadly inevitable when Yuck announced that they were ready to record their second album, yet quietly shoehorning in that Daniel Blumberg would not be involved. The brusque, vague nature of the announcement suggested hushed malaise between members, and with one of the defining, career-launching characteristics of Yuck's self-titled debut being Blumberg's youthful and nasal bawl, the continued success of one of the UK's more promising bands seemed to be hanging in the balance.

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Feature

The Smith Street 'Ampgate' Files

When Australian Punk trailblazers The Smith Street Band set out to play a gig at The Old Bar in Melbourne on Saturday night, I don't suppose any of them expected some asshole from the crowd to steal frontman Wil Wagners Fender combo amp from off the stage. It was a disgusting act, akin to stealing a child's cake at his 8th birthday party, but not altogether shocking. Fortunately, this is not the end of the story, and what followed this dramatic revelation was something magical; something so awesome that it deserves to at least have some formal documentation aside from the dozen or so Facebook status updates that Wagner scrawled on the bands' wall. This is the Smith Street 'Ampgate' files. 

Written by Isaac Powell

Read more

Feature

Noted Case Study - A Different Form of Piracy

Ever since the idea to create a music site was batted about in the latter half of last year, the ultimate aim of Noted was quite clear: to promote and provide exposure for the best new and lesser-known bands. We knew that there was an untold amount of music out there, begging to be listened to, and we wanted to tap into it as much as we could. It's why we're proud to allow user submissions – we've received some really great stuff and formed a number of friendships. However, whether it was malicious or not, this service got taken advantage of. We were tricked, an artist robbed, and we never want it to happen again.

Written by Isaac Powell and Ashley Collins

Read more

Interview

Lux Interna

We recently reviewed, and fell in love with, the new album from Lux Interna, ' there is light in the body, there is blood in the sun '. Filled with deep intrigue after surveying lyrics and accompanying artwork, we wanted to know more about the group's sources of inspiration and their decade-plus journey together. Thus, we spoke to the founding duo Joshua Levi Ian and Kathryn Mary and picked their brains, provoking some very insightful responses.

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more

Feature

One and Done

One of the most gratifying things as a music fan is to be able to follow a band throughout their career – to witness them progress as musicians and individuals, and to hear such reflected in their songs. Some bands chalk up an impressive number of albums, their fans tirelessly discussing and debating their ranking. Others release records with gaps of three or four years, or out of the blue after a decade-long hiatus. The vast majority, however, are doomed to fade into obscurity, be it due to creative difference, lack of funding or lack of interest. This article aims to celebrate three such bands who were only ever able to release one album, but did so with such finesse that sequels are craved whilst, perhaps, being entirely unnecessary.

Written by Ashley Collins

Read more