.hinge – ‘Just.As’

One of my most anticipated local releases has finally hit the shelves – Melbourne rockers .hinge have dropped their fantastic second LP, The Rise & Fall of Living Great, and it certainly lived up to my expectations.

They’ve always been a phenominal live act, and their first record, Something to Adore, while musically solid, lacked the impact that their live shows had. After hearing tracks like ‘This Time I Take The Wheel’, ‘Man In The Desert’ and ‘We Might Just Kill You’ live before they even hit the studio, I knew the material would be extremely strong, but would it translate to record?

Thankfully it does, very well. They’ve teamed up again with Peter “Reggie” Bowman, former guitarist for legendary Aussie pop/rock act Southern Sons, and made a record that’s sonically massive and musically diverse, combining a variety of different elements to create a really unique album.

The first cut off The Rise & Fall of Living Great is ‘Just.As’ and the band have hopped in the Tarago and are travelling up and down the East Coast over the next few weeks to launch the album and have a party. If they’re near your town, go see them! These are the dates:

Thursday July 19 – The ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
Friday July 20 – Annandale Hotel, Sydney, NSW
Friday July 27 – The Globe, Brisband, QLD
Saturday July 28 – Sands Tavern, Sunshine Coast, QLD
Thursday August 2 – The Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills, NSW
Friday August 3 – Sodens Hotel, Albury, NSW
Thursday August 9 – Rydges CBD Sportbar, Wollongong, NSW
Friday August 10 – 5 Crown Lane (instore), Wollongong NSW
Friday August 10 – Bar Broadway, Sydney, NSW
Saturday August 11 – Utopia Records (instore), Sydney, NSW
Saturday August 11 – Caringbah Bizzos, Caringbah, NSW
Saturday August 18 – Peninsula Lounge, Moorodoc, VIC
Friday August 24 – The Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne, VIC

http://www.hinge.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/hingemusic

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Airbourne – ‘Stand Up For Rock ‘n’ Roll’

Some two years after a feverish music industry rumour mill began to slaver over what giants Airbourne might be, they finally get around to releasing an album. This single is a joke, sponsored by cynical industry hacks hell-bent on reproducing Jet’s international success by serving up another 70s rock cover band. That Airbourne look and sound exactly like AC/DC is apparently irrelevant; so long as you can don your skinny leg black jeans and bang your head like some sad parody of a real music fan, they win your vote. The whole thing is pathetic. If this idiot parade sells any records I’m gonna move into a cave and seal off the door with a big pile of rocks.

www.myspace.com/airbournerock

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Saw these guys last week in Melbourne. The singer Kiss is crazy, he was running into crowds and shouting into people’s faces and generally being a punk. Great show.

www.myspace.com/thescare

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www.myspace.com/jacksonjacksonmusic

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A Friend Like Mine – ‘Cry Like You Mean It’ (mp3)

A full and fierce debut EP from the ambitious songwriting team that is A Friend Like Mine. Heavily informed by a late-period Radiohead, the boys also cite Mogwai, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails and Neutral Milk Hotel as influences and bear the marks of all these bands. Rich, dark and deeply creative, they move from glitch-based dreamscapes to murky ballads to industrial gothica in an album length collection of oblique but powerful tunes. Very, very interesting.

www.myspace.com/internetwhores

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bluejuice – ‘Vitriol’ (mp3)

I’m not sure why I’m really writing a blog on bluejuice because I really don’t know much about them at all.  But I do know this: they won a MusicOz Award in 2003, they’ve released two EPs – Zebraaazz and The Good Luck Pig – and they’re about to release their first full-length album, Problems, next month.

I also hear they’re funny as fuck and one of the greatest Sydney bands to see live.  I haven’t heard anyone say they didn’t enjoy a bluejuice gig.  Because these guys don’t really take themselves all that seriously.  You get that vibe from their funk/hip-hop hybrid songs. 

They’re getting lots of radio lovin’ from their new single ‘Vitriol’.  And you can hear it here!  It’s one of my favourite tunes at the moment – the organ is just awesome.

http://www.bluejuice.info
http://www.myspace.com/bluejuice

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Melanie Horsnell – ‘Kiss You Again’ (mp3)

I became aware of Melanie Horsnell purely for the fact that a few of my mates were members of her backing band The Inflatable Girlfriends.  But it wasn’t until she released ‘Kiss You Again’ from her record The Adventures of that I actually heard any Mel Hornsell material.

Invoking images of ’60s pop acts such as The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel, ‘Kiss You Again’ is a really sweet singer/songwriter tune, in the vein of more contemporary artists like Regina Spektor, Cat Power and KT Tunstall.  She’s currently on tour with Red Ghost and Laura Imbruglia on the Once, Twice, Three Times A Lady Tour.  The dates are:

Thursday July 12 – Sodens Bar, Albury, NSW
Friday July 13 – Yahoo Bar, Shepparton, VIC
Saturday July 14 – Wesley Anne Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Sunday July 15 – The Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA
Thursday July 19 – Oxford Tavern, Wollongong, NSW

http://www.melaniehorsnell.com
http://www.myspace.com/melaniehorsnell

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