Tagged By rock

Calling All Cars

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Calling All Cars – ‘Animal’

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Calling All Cars is a collision of myriad different styles – lo-fi garage rock (just listen those overdriven single-coil electric guitars), punk rock (there is a definite palpable energy here), pop-punk (inflected within the chorus) and straight-out Aussie pub rock (ummm… I’m stuck for another bracketed sentence).

Real Aussie rock seems imbued into the collective unconscious of Australians; there’s something about a rough’n’ready band sweating it out on a pub stage that automatically endears us towards them. There’s an exploding Aussie rock scene at the moment, although sadly there’s a tendency towards mediocre output on record (Gyroscope, I’m looking at you). Calling All Cars is perhaps slightly generic in their delivery, but their point of difference is a gruff heart that bleeds out onto their music. It’s not blowing me away, but it’s not shunning me either. And it’s certainly an evolution in the right direction. I reckon the chorus would rock live.

I’m intrigued.

http://www.myspace.com/callingallcars

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British India: ‘I Said I’m Sorry’

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British India – ‘I Said I’m Sorry’

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I’ve never got British India. Are they a hard rock band, or an indie band? Their popularity seems to have exploded, despite the fact they’ve never released anything that’s actually worthy of such grand acclaim. I guess there’s something to say for a catchy chorus. ‘I Said I’m Sorry’ is OK, but there’s nothing all that exciting about this song. Sure, they’re aping the Clash in the chorus, but aside from that the song is just one big plateau.

http://www.myspace.com/britishindia

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Mammal: ‘Smash the Pinata’

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Mammal – ‘Smash the Pinata’

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Mammal are moving further and further away from Ezekiel Ox’s former band Full Scale and finding a sound of their own, which sits somewhere in the middle of a triange of metal, funk and alt. rock. The typically loquacious Ox is again preaching to the masses, but he’s the ultimate frontman: his effusive personality and unbridled energy which is the key to Mammal’s blistering live shows is captured perfectly on their new tune, ‘Smash the Pinata’. It’s not as simplistically catchy as their other material, but it’s still got that stomping beat.

http://www.myspace.com/mammaltheband

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You Am I: ‘Dilettantes’

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You Am I – ‘Dilettantes’

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A gift courtesy of Andy Kent from the band, this is the brand new song from arguably one of Australia’s greatest rock bands, You Am I. ‘Dilettantes’ is the title track from the band’s forthcoming album, set for release in September. Gone is the dirty, garage rock sound that this band is so renowned for; in its place is a beautifully country-inflected tone, similar to what their iconic frontman Tim Rogers was doing with his solo material. A lush orchestration really lends this song a sense of melancholia, and it’s a fitting backdrop to Rogers’ always-engaging lyrics.

http://www.myspace.com/youamiofficial

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Nucleus

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Nucleus – ‘Dissolved Girl’

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Sound familiar? Sydney’s proponents of prog-rock goodness, with a penchant for Tool and Dream Theater, Nucleus have lent their hand to a reinterpretation of Massive Attack’s ‘Dissolved Girl’ on the band’s second EP, Circumvolution. The whole EP was an in-house affair: the band’s guitarist Dylan Mitrovich produced, engineered, mixed and mastered the six tracks, and for a home studio the quality of the Circumvolution EP is top notch. And this isn’t a bad cover, either!

Sydney-siders, Nucleus are launching Circumvolution at the Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills on Saturday August 9 if you feel like some heavy guitars for your post-Splendour weekend.

http://www.myspace.com/nucleusband

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Birds of Tokyo: ‘Broken Bones’

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Birds of Tokyo – ‘Broken Bones’

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Although I haven’t really settled down and got cosy with Birds of Tokyo‘s new disc Universes just yet, my initial reaction to the album is that it’s a fairly hit-and-miss affair. Having said that, ‘Broken Bones’, which is essentially the opening track on the disc (there’s an ambient intro song), is a wicked tune, and the best track on Universes.

http://www.myspace.com/birdsoftokyo

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Snowman: ‘Daniel was a Timebomb’

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Snowman – ‘Daniel was a Timebomb’

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While the proprietors of Who the Hell argue over the merits of Snowman‘s brutal new beast The Horse, The Rat and the Swan, I’m unequivocally on the “Pro” side for this album. It’s fucking menacing, like a Birthday Party record, completely visceral and incendiary; it feels like the four piece won’t just bring down Perth, but the whole of Australia with the force behind these songs. The music darts from raucuous punk rock like that found on ‘Our Mother (She Remembers)’ – what an opener! – to the weighty darkness of ‘The Blood of the Swan’ and ‘She Is Turning into You’, two songs that’d fit almost too well in the soundtrack to Wolf Creek or a similarly evil Aussie outback film.

‘Daniel was a Timebomb’ is the closest thing Snowman have to a pop song on this album – that is, if you like your pop songs to explode your eardrums.

http://www.myspace.com/thesnowmanempire

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