The Naysayers: Hellfire Sing Sing album launch
“We made an album. Where’s our million bucks?!”
Music
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James Vincent McMorrow
Returning to Australia, James Vincent McMorrow has upgraded his digs; last time I saw him perform live, it was the venerable Corner Hotel, shitty viewing angles, background noise clatter, surly staff and all. This time around, he played the Elizabeth Murdoch hall in the Melbourne Recital Centre, that carved wood and acoustically isolated grand parlour.…
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The Punch Brothers, at the Melbourne Recital Centre
The stately Dame Elizabeth Murdoch Hall at the Melbourne Recital Centre is no stranger to hosting top-of-their-game musicians, virtuosos with something to prove. So to some degree, it’s no surprise the MRC programmers have taken another bite of the cherry in having the Punch Brothers return to play this space. The audience milling around the…
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The Decemberists at Hamer Hall, 29 March 2016
The Decemberists are one of my favourite, all-time bands. Hands down. Right up there. Ever since my sister introduced me to the band in the early 2000s, I’ve devoured each of their albums voraciously, from the consistent, folk-rock-sea shanty-heavy to the increasingly country-rock to the progressively conceptual. The Decemberist’s last visit to Melbourne several years ago…
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Broken Man
[stag_intro]If I’m being completely honest, I came really late to loving country and bluegrass.[/stag_intro] [stag_dropcap font_size=”50px” style=”normal”]I[/stag_dropcap] liked guitar-heavy singer-songwriter types, and loved me some folk, but it took a while of slow genre-absorption before I realised that – indeed – I kinda liked country. Of course, not all country, but that whole batch of music…
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No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross, Sufjan Stevens
[stag_intro]Official audio for Sufjan Steven’s No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross, from his upcoming album Carrie & Lowell (available via Asthmatic Kitty).[/stag_intro] https://vimeo.com/118270296
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Adaptation
[stag_intro]Adaptations, the new EP coming out from indie outfit The Animators, is a tight quartet of alt-rock tracks.[/stag_intro] The Animators have been building a following since 2009, from a kickstart providing the soundtrack for a documentary film, through to supporting acts like Bonjah and winning over Triple J audiences. Adaptations takes four tracks from front…
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Lincoln Le Fevre at the John Curtain
With Lincoln Le Fevre (say it like “Fever” you ignorant bastard. FULL DISCLOSURE: I SAID IT LIKE “FEV” WITH AN AWFUL ACCENT UNTIL POLITELY CORRECTED), on stage at the John Curtin, you can trace a few things back to the crystal clear purity of the Tasmanian waters from which he sprang: An immaculate beard, fully legitimate…
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Jumping on the Highwire
[stag_intro]I saw the Perch Creek Family Jugband at the Melbourne Recital Centre once. The band’s fun persona was a bit odd plopped into the MRC’s more formal auditorium (and more staid audience), but I really enjoyed the band’s relaxed style and enjoyment of playing together, ignoring the brutal deception of one band member not actually…
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Kishi Bashi at the Northcote Social Club
[stag_intro]We are all special, unique, intrinsically valuable snowflakes, however clearly some of us snowflakes have their neurons hacked together to handle complexity the rest of us can’t imagine. Kishi Bashi is clearly one of these magical fucking sprites.[/stag_intro] The setup couldn’t be simpler: one man, one violin and just a touch of dozens of pedals,…
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Declaration of Dependence
Described in iTunes and other reviews variously as ‘lo-fi’, ‘autumnal’ and ‘chill-out’, Kings of Convenience was an accidental stumble-upon when wandering the by-ways of iTunes Genius suggestions. A quick preview of a few tracks on Declaration of Dependence gave me the kind of things I’m clearly a sucker for: gentle guitar strums and fingerpicks, rolling…
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Seeing Things
After seeing an NPR All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Concert video podcast with a taciturn Jakob Dylan, I poked around in iTunes and picked up Seeing Things, Dylan’s 2008 full-length album. Acoustic and mellow, the real feature item across the track list is Dylan’s voice – similarly unadorned to his father (no prizes for guessing whom), but with…