Original Pressings – Death In Vegas (2003)

Released at the tale end of last year, “Scorpio Rising” saw Death In Vegas mix electroclash-cum-squelch with such elements as Indian music and Liam Gallagher. Their upcoming appearance at Splendour In The Grass marks their first trip to Australia. TUNE FMs’ Garry McKenzie chats with Tim Holmes about the making of the album.

“I’d been to India on an extended vacation/exploring thing”, remembers Tim Holmes. “In a place called Kerala, which is a southern state of India, I heard some music by Dr. Subramaniam, a classical piece of music called “Beyond”, which I felling love with.

Original Pressings – The Mountain Goats (2006)

The Mountain Goats didn’t appear on the Australian radar until releasing “Tallahassee” in 2002, their first release on 4AD. However, John Darnielle and bassist Peter Hughes seem to have taken a shine to our wide brown land. Their upcoming tour will be their third in just over a year. Three albums in two years show Darnielle as a questing figure, always pushing his own boundaries. His latest, “Get Lonely”, is the most stunningly realistic take on break-ups heard on record. Rockus caught up with Darnielle, who desperately missing meat pies and just before vegemite was banned in the US.

This will be your third trip to Australia in just over a year. What
keeps bringing you back?

Is it really that many? To us it seems like the time between visits is
too long! We just really enjoy the shows – it’s hard to qualify in what ways the Aussie shows are different, but they are – they’ve got a very pleasant, exciting, inspiring vibe to ‘em. Also, Jester’s Pies and vegemite. We don’t have Jester’s Pies in the US you know. We are a savory-pie-impaired country.

Original Pressings – Jodi Rose (Singing Bridges) Interview

Australian artist Jodi Rose talks to Garry McKenzie about singing bridges, bemused engineers and her role in creating the largest ʻorchestraʼ in the world.

WHEN the $55.5m Eleanor Schonell Bridge opened in late 2006, it offered pedestrians a much more beguiling experience than your average river crossing. The structure, which connects Dutton Park to the University of Queensland in St Lucia, Brisbane, is a 400-metre long cable-stayed bridge and is the first bridge in Australia to be designed exclusively for use by buses, bicyclists and pedestrians. However, this is not the only first the bridge can claim. It is also the only bridge in the world to contain a permanent sound art installation which allows pedestrians to hear the bridge sing.

Original Pressings – Steve Towson Interview

On a spring evening in Sydney, a crowd of punters line up along George St, outside the Metro. They are there because of Billy Bragg. So too, in a roundabout way, is Steve Towson. He stands outside the venue, with his guitar is in hand, singing his own brand of political protest songs. He is adamant he is not busking, but one of the crowd just won’t take no for an answer. They remove Towson’s black, full-brimmed hat, shove some money in it, and jam it back on his head. Towson shrugs and keeps playing, as he will outside every gig on Bragg’s Australian tour, from Byron Bay to Perth.

Original Pressings: Destroyer: Destroyer’s Rubies (Merge 2006)

This album is staggeringly good. Dan Bejar’s previous albums may have left me nonplussed or indifferent, but this, his seventh under the moniker Destroyer, is excellent.

“Destroyer’s Rubies” works because it successfully merges dynamic musicianship, diverse influences with Bejar’s speak-sing vocals.

Original Pressings – Ease – “Heyman” (LittleBIGMANrecords 2005)

Ease – “Heyman” (LittleBIGMANrecords)

Ease hail from Perth whose music references that circa-Britpop experimental/pastoral rock ala the Beta Band and Gomez; Asian techno UK style and that old chestnut, dub. Lackadaisical is the word, with the title track of this EP loping along with slow bass, brassy sounds and laconic, multilayered vocals. Their music is a diverse instrumental mix that includes sitars, Hammond organ, melodica, ebow and dulcimer, all mashed in with subtle programming, samples and studio tricks. This translates into a heady and lush mix. The short Indian clatter of “Sitar George” soon gives way to the township stomp of “Saving The Day”, which reminds me of that album Damon Albarn put out after hauling his melodica around Mali. Like Albarn, Ease tries the same synthesis of traditional influences with an urban bent, as if bridging a gap to our hectic city lives. “A Stream Of Consciousness” is another instrumental merging the sitars with beats, while “It’s All Good” returns to the lazy catch-phrase style singing of the title track. Last up there is “Wolverine Dub”, big on the wheezy ambience, organ, vocal cut-up, melodica and the required deep, deep bass that thud/floats along in the way only dub can do.

Ease have put out a promising EP, and I wonder what they would achieve if someone throws some money their way. That said there is some charm about this Indie release, and while they can’t be accused of originality, they have produces a nice’n’lazy soundtrack to these warm summer evenings. Recommended.

7.5/10

I’m throwing this up because I honestly predicted Ease would be the next release for The Collector. I am presently surprised they aren’t, though this is not a slight on the band or this release. Reading back on this review, I hope Steph at Rockus gave it a good edit, because I certainly didn’t at a time of other distractions. I’ve cleaned up the grammar but otherwise left the review otherwise as is. Meanwhile, who ever starts of the E section of my collection will be revealed in a few days.

Interview – Tara Simmons (25/5/2007)

Tara Simmons sits in front of her computer, bathed in the light of her large red lamp, her beanie clamped onto her head. She sings in a soft, soulful voice, as her computer emits strange sounds like cello drones and bass bleeps. To her left, sitting on her green couch, a young guitarist picks at his acoustic. To her right, a drummer adds flourishes from his kit. Her piano sits to one side, momentarily ignored. I watch this domestic scene as part of a small crowd dwarfed by the size of the QUT performance space where Tara Simmons has recreated her lounge-room.

Electrelane – “Singles, B-Sides & Live” (2006)

It is as it says on the box. B-sides, a non-album EP, and original and new versions make up this collection, arranged in chronological order. For those who have never heard the band before, go out and grab one of the band’s three albums. For those who have the organtastic “Rock It Tor The Moon”, chicly arty “The Power Out” and the experimental, though clichéd “Axes”, ownership of this disc depends on your level of fandom.