Posts Tagged ‘Melbourne’

TROPICAL FUCK STORM – ” Braindrops “

Posted: August 24, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Highly anticipated second album, one and a half years after their critically acclaimed debut LP. Featuring members of the now-defunct band The Drones. Recommend If You Like: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Nick Cave, The Slits, Protomartyr, The Drones, Gang of Four, IDLES.
“I’ve invented fake news as a genre of music,” Gareth Liddiard observes with a laugh. Heʼs talking about Maria 63, the closing track on Tropical Fuck Stormʼs sophomore LP “Braindrops”. The song takes aim at the once-marginalized alt-right conspiracy theories that now seem to be a driving force behind the rise of fascism in global politics. “It may be the most stupid song ever written,” Liddiard jokes. Heʼs wrong, Maria 63 is emblematic of Tropical Fuck Stormʼs keen ability to mine the extreme edge of pop cultureʼs periphery for potent musical and conceptual spice.

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Tropical Fuck Storm were formed around 2017 in the city of Melbourne, Victoria along Australiaʼs south-eastern coast. The band released their debut long-player A Laughing Death in Meatspace on Joyful Noise Recordings in 2018. Each of the bandʼs four members bring considerable experience to the group. Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin were part of the long-running and critically-acclaimed act The Drones, while Erica Dunn and Lauren Hammel have performed in a variety of well-received projects. Perhaps itʼs that wealth of rock and roll experience that allows Tropical Fuck Storm to so expertly deconstruct and distort the genreʼs norms. “Everything we do, we try to do it in a weird way. The whole album is full of weird beats, and just weird shit everywhere,” Liddiard explains. He cites Doc at the Radar Station-era Captain Beefheart as a key sonic touchstone, and Braindrops certainly shares the Captainʼs penchant for pounding abstract grooves.

It’s a amazing doozy, perhaps even more so than its predecessor — and keep in mind, this is coming from a band known for slinging tales of Soviet chess machines, shellfish-related conspiracy theories, and “antimatter animals.” Consider the tremulous guitar riff leading off album opener “Paradise” a facsimile for the record’s sun-poisoned strain of dadaist pop: an prolonged, paranoid sirens’ song peppered with references to Pokémon, Eugene Leary, global warming, and leg-humping dogs. Highlights include “The Happiest Guy Around,” a rowdy cut that, with its chattered vocals and ebullient energy, recalls a Beegees simulation gone awry; and the bristling title track, a sprightly, staccato race against the doomsday clock.

Tropical Fuck Storm have achieved a uniquely off-kilter sound on Braindrops.

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HACHIKU – ” Hachiku (self​-​titled) ” EP

Posted: July 30, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS
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Hachiku, a.k.a Anika Ostendorf, 24, writes and produces dream pop with an an avant garde twist from whichever bedroom she is currently inhabiting.

Inspired by other do-it-yourself artists like Grimes, Hachiku AKA singer/songwriter Anika Ostendorf writes and produces her shoegaze/dream pop with an avant garde twist on operatic vocals from whichever bedroom she’s currently inhabiting. Born in Detroit but raised in Germany, Anika is what can be best described as a “global artist“ whose bedroom’s are continuously changing. She began to form her sound aged sixteen on a road trip round 42 of 50 US states (accompanied only by her dog, called Lexus), before moving to London and then to Melbourne, further developing her music with influences from across the globe. Her unique brand of layered “glitterpop“ paints dreamy landscapes of monumental sound, with each song carrying the listener on a melodic journey.

Her celestial bedroom beats are already creating a buzz – she opened for Courtney Barnett on her European tour in 2015 and continues to collaborate with Milk! Records.
Hachiku is now permanently based in Melbourne and plans to release her debut EP in June

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released June 2nd, 2017

TERRY – ” Who’s Terry ” EP

Posted: July 19, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“What to do with a spud like you?” Melbourne post-punk wags Terry return this summer with their new EP “Who’s Terry?”. Following on from last year’s huge-sounding I’m Terry album, this third EP from the band brings you right up to date with their wobbly politico-pop.

Spud is a class A toe-tapper that sees the band don fatigues and set their sights on the enemy. The rough and the tough, wrestled wrists and fools with crooked smiles all make an appearance as Terry sing as one over snare snaps and keyboard croaks.Bizzo and Tophat follows with a stride acrossthe underbelly, a thick slice of bop-heavy observation that gives way to one of Terry’s most elegiac refrains… “holding on and going forth”! Their gang vocal approach never sounding more resolute. Eggs then picks up the pace, a sure-footed romp that skips alongside prods of saxophone to join the parade.

Drawn for Days pulls the EP to a close, a sedate, melodic ponderance of strummy guitar, jangling bells and Amy and Xanthe’s soft-sung vocals. “Haunted by the big and small, hunted hanging for the fancy fall”. “I can’t stand up” the band decry in unison as the track scales its peak and gives way to warping synth noise. Who’s Terry encapsulates what Terry does best, the queasy marriage of the upbeat and traumatic, the catchy instant and the nagging distance. Their alliterative lyrics always sharp as tacks, their sense of melody and beat sunk deep in the heart of now.

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BANANAGUN – ” Do Yeah “

Posted: July 18, 2019 in MUSIC
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From the opening seconds of Bananagun’s “Do Yeah” – which stirs to life in an intoxicating blend of 1970s afrobeat, fuzzed out psychedelia and immersive pop – this very much feels like the case of discovering something different. this track comes from a brand new Melbourne band. With the aim of merging the proto-garage rhythmic fury of The Monks with the tropicália grooves of Os Mutantes, the band soon forged a sound that was as loose and unravelling as it was focused and taut, with an aim of creating a real sense of place and environment. “We didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing,” the band say. “We wanted it to be vibrant, colourful and have depth like the jungle. Like an ode to nature.”

There’s a deeply percussive element to the band’s psychedelic ode to mother nature, touching upon Fela Kuti-esque repetitions, exotica, jazz and 1960s pop-rock. Much like a lot of the influences it filters into its own unique spin on it all, it’s intended as “music for the people” – a unifying groove that spans genres. Even the seemingly innocuous band name has an underlying message of connectivity that matches the universality of the music. “It’s like non-violent combat! Or the guy who does a stick up but it’s just a banana, not a gun, and he tells the authorities not to take themselves too seriously.” This extends to the underlying message of their debut single too: “try to love and not hate because you’re the one who has to carry it around.”

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Releases September 6th, 2019

Nick vanBakel – Guitar, Percussion, Voice
Stella Rennex – Bass, Voice
Jimi Gregg – ThunderDrum
Charlotte Tobin – Djembe
Jack Crook – Guitar, voice of reason

Songs written by Nick vanBakel

EMMA RUSSACK – ” Winter Blues “

Posted: July 4, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In keeping with the way Russack recorded her two 2018 albums she made with fellow Melbourne musician and great friend Lachlan Denton, over a year with Liam Halliwell and Dylan Young on hand, each track on the album was recorded in one take and live to tape at Phaedra Studies and mixed immediately thereafter by John Lee. Hence, not only its rusticity and fragility but also its immediacy and authenticity.

Emma gave us a taste of the album in the single What Is Love? late in 2018. Recorded for the short film An Athlete Wrestling a Python, Emma writes about the simplicities of love, asking “What Is Love?”. During the song she asks, “is it borrowing a t-shirt?” or is it “reading over shoulders?”. It is many things! Apart from the personal lyrical content, the other prevalent thing in the song is the piano taking the lead. It also does soon the new single Winter Blues. The four-and-a-half-minute single is the album’s centrepiece. Incredibly subtle and incredibly beautiful, the song floats in a sombre key, intermittently dotted by Russack’s contemplations, “blame it on the winter blues”.

The piano is also showcased on the album’s quieter moments: Like the Wind, Horses and the album’s stunning finale Never Before.

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releases July 5th, 2019
Players: Liam Halliwell, Dylan Young, Emma Russack 

J. McFARLANE’S REALITY GUEST – ” Ta Da “

Posted: July 4, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The new project of Australian artist Julia McFarlane. J McFarlane Reality Guest ,As a member of the group The Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language. ‘Ta Da’ is the first recorded unveiling of McFarlane’s affecting, oblique songwriting panache. Originally released in her native Australia on Hobbies Galore, ‘Ta Da’ will be released worldwide by Night School Records in June 2019. ‘Ta Da’ showcases McFarlane’s songwriting immersed in psychedelic music and synths.

It’s a brilliant, deft concoction swimming in Young Marble Giants-type minimalism washed with bare pop and harmony similar to Kevin Ayers making sense of a Melbourne suburb full of faces half-recognised in the blanching sun. McFarlane’s vocal is straight forward, lyrically conversational but still not completely in focus, a surreal kitchen sink drama filtered through a dream where everything is in an unusual place. Reality Guest similarly draws on BBC Radiophonic Workshop-style noise synths, flute solos, palm-muted guitar and a sleepy, psychedelic tone that drifts away into the sunset, simple and direct.

From the album TA DA, available though Night School Records

TERRY – ” Spud “

Posted: July 4, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“What to do with a spud like you?” Melbourne post-punk wags Terry return this summer with their new EP ‘Who’s Terry?’ (July 19th). You can just make him out in his hobnail boots, peering from behind the sandwich board, wink, wink. Following on from last year’s huge-sounding ‘I’m Terry’ album, this third EP from the band brings you right up to date with their wobbly politico-pop.

Single from upcoming 7″ out through Upset the Rhythm soon..

JESS RIBERO – ” Love Hate “

Posted: July 3, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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If Jess Ribeiro can make a dud record we’re yet to see it. On this her third album, the darker, Australian gothic reverberations of Kill It Yourself are mostly gone, Ribeiro appears to be moving towards pop to detail the life cycle of love.  Ribeiro’s first two albums, My Little River (2012) and Kill It Yourself (2016) received a great deal of critical warmth but not a lot of exposure. The first was a dark acoustic folk-blues record with a minimum of instrumentation. Kill It Yourself, produced by former Bad Seed Mick Harvey, added strings and percussion, but still, the songs stood almost alone.

That they did is a testament to Ribeiro’s talent. But whereas those records are sepia-toned, Love Hate is an all-electric technicolour lunge towards pop, backed by guitarist Jade McInally and drummer Dave Mudie (the latter a member of Courtney Barnett’s touring band). The results are vibrant and clearly aimed at introducing the Melbourne singer-songwriter to a bigger audience.

A mess of emotions fuse together within love and hate, and Ribeiro has the scope to tackle all of them. Love Hate starts with the excitement and tension of a new crush, moving down through lust and contentment, anger and grief, detachment and acceptance. Each is examined through Ribero’s killer lyrics and an almost dissociative cool that only magnifies the peaks and troughs.

It’s not a strictly autobiographical album, but it is very true.

Named after opposing ends of emotional states, Jess Ribeiro‘s third album is however dedicated to extrapolating the in-betweens and nuances on which relationships can be built.

There are haunting shades and enticing textures which throw light on the side glances, sweaty palms and nervy awkwardness we sometimes wrestle with when a deep connection strikes.

Guitars waver and warble before joyously lifting off in ‘Stranger’, there’s the pulsing pensiveness of ‘Chair Stare’ and the expectant beat and sinewy synths of ‘Young Love’ make for a heady hormonal haze. Ribeiro easily jumps from sounding forlorn to alluring, from devotion to dejection, but always able to spare us a sly wink of the eye.

At all points LOVE HATE feels like a collection of characters and their tales of romantic intrigue told with a cinematic eye.

The bright spangles of guitar that burst through the dream-pop haze of opener (and single) Stranger, indicates Ribeiro is out to get your attention. Produced by New Zealander Ben Edwards, who has worked with Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams and Julia Jacklin, Love Hate is arguably more immediately arresting than any of their records.

ALEX LAHEY – ” The Best of Luck Club “

Posted: July 1, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Melbourne-based indie rocker Alex Lahey wasted no time on small-talk pleasantries with the release of her promising 2017 debut, I Love You Like A Brother. The Australian singer-songwriter’s  follow-up, “The Best of Luck Club”, and it’s accompanied music video for lead single “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” to usher in the good news.

The Best of Luck Club, was released May 17th on Dead Oceans Records, picks up where Brother left off, returning all of the sardonic lyricism Lahey charmed listeners with before, but this time, with a more refined finish—think of it like a backhanded compliment with a really good beat. (Okay, maybe not backhanded, but definitely charismatically sarcastic. )

Citing inspirations ranging from Paramore to Bruce Springsteen, Lahey’s sound is something that hinges on the sunshine-y rhythms of surf rock with a ‘90s riot grrrl-inspired edge, producing anthemic pop-punk not meant for sitting still to. Whether she’s singing about self-doubt and breakups, mental health and moving in with a girlfriend, or vibrators and generational ennui, Lahey’s attention to detail zeroes in and locks a moment in place with self-assured precision.

Lahey notes that the dive bar scene in Nashville was her inspiration for the album’s catchy title. “Whether you’ve had the best day of your life or the worst day of your life, you can just sit up at the bar and turn to the person next to you —who has no idea who you are— and have a chat,” she says. “And the response that you generally get at the end of the conversation is ‘best of luck,’ so The Best of Luck Club is that place.”

Lahey released a music video for its peppy and optimistic title track, “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself,” which features a return to her saxophone roots. If album #2 delivers anything like her latest single … consider us already dancing in anticipation.

Alex Lahey – Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself taken from ’The Best Of Luck Club’, the new album ,

POSSIBLE HUMANS – ” Everybody Split “

Posted: June 7, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Trouble In Mind Records is extremely honored to re-release Melbourne band Possible Humans‘ debut album “Everybody Split”. After selling out (in 24-hours no less) of it’s original 200-copy LP run on Melbourne label-du-jour Hobbies Galore, we are releasing it in hopes of getting this amazing album into more people’s record collections! ~ Pressed on Limited Red vinyl while supplies last (& unlimited Black Vinyl after that disappears!).

“It’s so easygoing that one might overlook its fascinating warps of a traditional jangle sound. There’s a beauty in that quality; Possible Humans never demand attention, but they deserve it anyway.”

“It’s a hell of a debut…they’re branching out from the expectations built up among an underground that’s constantly intriguing, but has also cannibalized its influences a few times over. Though the LP was scant, this one’s worth it in any format.”

the album “Everybody Split” (releases April 1, 2019 ) Label: Hobbies Galore

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