backseat downunder
EP Review: Dan Baker’s ‘From Corner’s Quiet’ is an elegant and beautiful collection of heartbreak, despair and hope.
Dan Baker‘s single ‘Freeze Dried Coffee’ last month indicated an enigmatic and visceral power. His new EP, ‘From Corner’s Quiet’ provides a broader and even more compelling collection of deeply evocative tracks that have an ethereal beauty and presence. There is a folk-infused air to the songs, but such a description is too reductive – …
Track: Romanie’s shining ‘Stranger in my Skin’ is a reflective and contemplative ode to uncertainty and isolation, and comes off her newly announced EP ‘Little Big Steps’ due out on 13 August 2021.
Originally from Belgium, Romanie relocated to Melbourne a few years ago and found herself in the midst of the COVID pandemic and a number of lockdowns: events that can create anxiety and uncertainty for locals, feelings that can only be even more exaggerated if you are far from home. This bleeds into Roanie’s new single, …
Track: Amyl and the Sniffers aren’t looking for trouble – new single ‘Security’ is a terrific noisy blast of rock’n’roll goodness, plus album news
Clearing out the cobwebs in the brain cavity with a thoroughly eviscerating blast of pure Aussie pub punk rock, Amyl and the Sniffers‘ new single ‘Security’ is a romping foot-stomping cathartic delight. Filled with the ineffable charms of lead singer Amy Taylor, the raucous delivery is audacious and deliciously sneering over the top of an …
Album Review: Ron S Peno and the Superstitions release the stupendous ‘Do The Understanding’, and announce launch gigs
The legendary and charismatic Ron S Peno fronted the iconic Died Pretty since the eighties, with time off for bad behaviour and a band hiatus. Having moved to Melbourne, he formed Ron S Peno and the Superstitions while his Died Pretty partner in crime, guitarist Brett Myers, stayed near Sydney, playing with Joey’s Coop. For Peno, 2019 …
Album Review: Infinity Broke swagger out on to the streets with ‘Your Dream My Jail’: a brilliant and visceral coating of indulgent excess and cathartic chaos – plus tour news.
Infinity Broke are a band that does not go gently into the night: their new album ‘Your Dream My Jail’ is an excoriating, driven, thunderous slice of post-punk cake that is angular, studded and visceral. Guitars wail and caterwaul, drums crash like waves on an exposed coast and singer Jamie Hutchings (formerly of nineties indie …
Album Review: Sydney’s Darren Cross (Gerling) creates a little ‘DISTORDER’: a splendid electronic fugue for our dystopian times
Darren Cross is a pillar of the inner city indie scene in Australia: one of those hyperactive artists who never stands still. In the nineties he was in Gerling – a genre-defying iconic indie band that transgressed the boundaries between guitar-based indie rock and electronica. Later as part of Jess and Dep, he delved into …
See: Brisbane’s Fingerless release an all consuming video for the psychedelic and brilliant track ‘Leaf of Stone’
Featuring a coterie of their Brisbane friends, Fingerless have just released an all consuming video for the track ‘Leaf of Stone’, premiered by us last month. And consumption is certainly the theme as chips are devoured with an intense seriousness (as well as the odd beer). Irreverent, dry and with a tongue firmly planted in …
Track: New Zealand’s Isla Noon releases a piece of yearningly smooth pop with single ‘Talk About Us’.
New Zealander Isla Noon‘s single ‘Talk About Us’ is as perfect as a pop song can be – luscious layers of smooth music and a melody that enamps inside the brain, puts up its feet and sets up residence. All burnished by Noon’s gorgeous yearning vocals that have a greater range than the Southern Alps …
Track: Sydney’s Imperial Broads jangle their way in ‘Control’ with a studied assurance and swagger.
Sydney’s Imperial Broads, on the strength of their new single ‘Control’, are a perfect amalgam of day-glo bubble gum pop and cutting, excoriating gritty indie rock with shabby leather jackets. It’s a delightful mixture: a jangling , ringing, shimmering guitars, muscular wandering bass and celestial layered harmonies with a pop sensibility and euphoric afterglow. The …
Track: Melbourne electronic artist Dull Reality sparks ups the voltage with ‘Daffodil’, the title track to the newly announced debut EP.
With earphones on, ‘Daffodil’ from Melburnian Dull Reality – the solo work of Ben Shields – positively bubbles and snaps from one side of your head to the other – syncopated, arpeggiated popping sonics that massage, confuse and delight the ears. Over the top, Shields’s voice glides, swoops and circulates with melody: a contrapuntal force …