Review

Doomsquad -
Kalaboogie

With song titles like 'Waka Waka' and 'Born from the Marriage of the Moon & a Crocodile', you'd be forgiven for thinking Toronto-based electronic trio Doomsquad (siblings Allie, Jaclyn and Trevor Blumas) were one of those quirky groups ­­— you know, more concerned with hazy photo filters and the number of nobs on their keyboards than creating genuinely affecting music. As it turns out, Doomsquad are anything but, firmly rejecting such self-limiting ideologies in favour of unbridled sonic discovery, an arduous yet free-spirited journey that sees the group dart and prance through their mazy jungle of rich, vivacious sounds. Kalaboogie simply breathes . 

Written by Isaac Powell

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Review

Black Knights -
Medieval Chamber

“ Things must change, ” croons John Frusciante on the second LP by Wu-Tang affiliates Black Knights, “ we must rearrange them ”. Apt for an artist who played guitar in one of Americas biggest bands before spending the majority of his solo career rewriting and redefining his sound in obtuse directions -- plucking and toying with his melodic sensibilities to create new sonic landscapes. This philosophy was never more apparent than with the experimental electronic direction his music has taken in recent years; with 2012’s intoxicating EP Letr Lefur, featuring samples ranging from Led Zeppelin beats to William Shatner dialogue and vocals from the RZA and Black Knights’ the Rugged Monk. Following from that was the full length PBX Funticular Intaglio Zone, boasting a bold mix of synths and beats that was as creatively risky as it was a challenging listen, chronicling an artist making incredibly interesting music at the expense of accessibility.

Written by Tom Robinson

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Review

The Mary Onettes -
Portico

All it takes to affirm your insignificance in the grand scheme of things is a glimpse of an uncovered night sky. To see all those stars as blinking pinpricks and mull over the incomprehensible distance between you and them, and to then consider the fact that what you're seeing is a minuscule fraction of the known universe. As far as concepts go, you can't get any grander than space. But for some, what's even more remarkable is that as humans we are equipped with the sentience to even ponder that great beyond. We think, we feel, we love, we mourn. We exist though we might not ought to. And it's this beautiful, vast dichotomy that imbues Portico, linking those qualities that are unique to humans with the esoteric emptiness of the cosmos.

Written by Ashley Collins

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Review

Thug Entrancer -
Death After Life

With hyponotic inevitability, Thug Entrancer's debut Death After Life unfolds a step at a time into a twisting maze of serpentine rhythm. Each individual cut pulls you deeper, turning back and forth through its angular labyrinth, rendering any previous point of reference becomes useless and seeps away. Death After Life doesn't just invite you to get lost; it challenges the very concept of location within the bounds of electronic music.

Written by Jonah Yonker

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Interview

Noted meet Foxing

As nuanced and intimate as The Albatross is on first impression, no small amount of mystery remains in repeat listens. Another run through affords the listener time to foc us on the soft noodling of each guitar, the quietly busy rhythmic undercurrent, or to try and piece apart some of the more interpretable lyrics. We took a little time with the band’s vocalist, Conor Murphy , and learned that while Foxing has only just begun to test the waters with their wonderful debut LP ,  t heir writing process and direction are anything but timid.

Written by Jonah Yonker

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Review

Against Me! -
Transgender Dysphoria Blues

That Transgender Dysphoria Blues would succeed was no foregone conclusion; in fact, that Against Me! would fail seemed incredibly likely. After a couple mediocre albums and frequent lineup changes, AM! seemed primed to fade even more. But the band has succeeded, thrillingly and swiftly. And more so, frontwoman Laura Jane Grace has completely reversed the image she held in the punk community as a sell-out and a has-been.

Written by Rob Rubsam

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Review

Icarus the Owl -
Icarus the Owl

The music community’s recent fetish for the genre suffixes 'prog-' and 'post-' has degraded them into a kind of catch-all for music that doesn’t fit squarely into any one style. To that end, when we read Icarus the Owl described as ‘progressive pop-rock’ or ‘prog-pop’, we assume the tag serves as a kind of lazy shorthand description as opposed to actually indicating experimental elements. If for only one album, don’t let the labels fool you; Icarus the Owl’s self-titled release brims with tasteful tinkering and racing enthusiasm that’s utterly unique amongst the mishmash of prog-somethings flooding the airwaves. 

Written by Jonah Yonker

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Review

Cleft -
BOSH!

Hoarding more intricacies than a warship replica made out of toothpicks and about as subtle as a stag do t-shirt, BOSH! cuts out the ambiguity of modern music so as to plug away at something a bit more primordial. Not in the 'back to basics' sense (though at a glance their two-piece set-up would have you believe otherwise), but in the way that the unity of the pair feels so intrinsic. The drums and guitar work hammer and tongs, mirroring one another with an astute exactness to maximise the cut of their jib.  

Written by Ashley Collins

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Review

Have a Nice Life -
The Unnatural World

Have a Nice Life don't do things by halves. In fact, their critically acclaimed 2008 debut Deathconciousness was a staggeringly ambitious double album with a repress that came equipped with a meaty 70 page book of lore, a move which further delighted the conceptual revellers who had already elevated the record into something of a cult classic. At heart, it was a nihilistic, mercurial pick 'n mix of shoegaze, drone and dark ambience, muddied up to the knees with peripheral black metal and industrial influences. In truth, it was a difficult album for me to break down for a long time. I found its dense, somber disposition to be almost too uncomfortable to fully enjoy, and I felt smothered by its heavy atmosphere. Looking back, I suppose that was always the point.

Written by Isaac Powell

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Feature

Album of the Year, 2013.

When we approached the Ministry of Music Journalism with the interest of starting our own little website, they pulled aside before the final agreement and with a hushed voice said “...you do realise that you'll have to write an Album of the Year list?” We nodded with staunch resolve, not fully understanding the scope of the task at hand. “Let's do 50,” we said, thinking it was a large enough number that we'd be able to include every single album that rocked us in the year 2013. And yet, the task was like picking a favourite child, or a favourite flavour of Pringles. We know that we've omitted several top-class records, but that doesn't diminish the fact that we are wholly confident and pleased with our top 50. The list isn't just about our personal favourite music of the year, but a glistening plaque to commemorate our anniversary. So here's to Noted, and here's to quality music. Thanks to everyone for their dogged support, and here's to hoping that 2014 is just as giddy.

Written by Isaac Powell and Ashley Collins

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Feature

The Greek Files #071: Ruined Families

Over the past 12 months, we've given more digital column inches to Greece than any other individual nation. This was a conscious decision, born from ignorant intrigue and the pursuit to gain some authentic insight into a widely-known but under-reported downfall. The one silver lining, and I use that term apologetically, is the wealth of deeply effecting music which has left Greek shores -- sound that attempts to really say something, be it as personal escapism or unhinged vitriol. Our all-too-brief conversations with KU , LogOut , Keep Shelly in Athens and Mockbirth have shown us glimpses of an imperfect convergence between high-wire social disaster and musical expression, but it's in our dialogue with Takis Zontiros of Ruined Families that perhaps we find the most disturbing reality. 

Written by Isaac Powell

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Feature

EP of the Year 2013

We've listened to our fair share of releases over the past twelve months, and the humble EP has featured heavily in our coverage. As the distant step-brother of the full length, EPs are oft disregarded as mere platforms for rough experimentation or as precursors to something more 'legit', but we'd rather celebrate them as works of art in their own right. Join us as we raise our glass to our favourite 15 of 2013. 

Written by Isaac Powell and Ashley Collins

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Feature

Track of the Year 2013

2013 was a very important year for Noted, largely because it was our very first. Its very existence meant that we as music fans were able to open up our horizons wider than ever - the throngs of music that came flooding our way were, at times, overwhelming. But instead of drowning, we nobly donned our scuba diving gear, stood at the water's edge under the looming tidal wave and said "bring it". To that end, here are the 50 tracks we wish to hold aloft as our personal favourites of the year.

Written by Isaac Powell and Ashley Collins

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Feature

Noted's Winter Playlist

As winter sets in, music plays a big role in altering the perception of our surroundings. Some enjoy the whimsical, choosing to hibernate with more joyous sounds, blocking out the blustery winds with their noise-cancelling cans whilst waiting for brighter skies. Others choose to delve into the darker aspects on this most brutal of seasons, marching head on into the driving rain with just an Enslaved tee-shirt on. Most of us probably mix the two depending on mood, whih is why the Noted staff have come together to bash out a playlist, humbly comprised of tracks and full-lengths which we enjoy in these short days. Enjoy.

Written by Isaac Powell and Ashley Collins Jonah Yonker Lukas Hodge Rob Rubsam

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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