STACK #121 Nov 2015

MUSIC REVIEWS

STREAMYOUR FAVOURITE ALBUMS AT JBHI-FI NOW... NOW!

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard I’m In Your Mind Fuzz Six albums in three years: seriously, WTF? Who cares? It’s all been great so far, and this is no exception. The first four tracks are essentially one long jam, and a great one at that. Fans of Jeff The Brotherhood and the like will wet themselves over what I’ll coin “ The Mind Fuzz Suite ” ...an urgent flurry of fun-times, twang and well, fuzz, to be sure. Sometimes all you need is a good voice. Tim Rogers’ (not that guy) pipes are so powerful to the heart, it’s unfair. Unsure? See the vids for the magnificent Cold Feet and the newbie from this album, Come On Back This Way. Sold! The ‘Jack Ladder’ moniker is smart. He’s tall, ‘Jack-ish’, and the word combination is cool. Ladder’s craft is a winning combination of cheese and confidence. Not bad cheese; rather that personal trigger which makes one feel young, fun, wise and melancholic – all in a blink. It reminds you of innocence and regret. Here, Mr. Ladder dives into brave territory; equally an alternate soundtrack to Winding Refn’s Drive (the seductively sleazy, Her Hands ) as a pseudo- industrial pop-romp with Reputation Amputation. Then there’s the alternate exotica extraordinaire of Let Me Love You . Essentially a pop album, the type Nick Cave may have made in his 20s if he’d lived in NY. Perhaps the real secret: Ladder created this in the Blue Mountains. He’s clearly unworried about what you or I think. More power to him. Inertia (Chris Murray) Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders Playmates

The Church Back to the Front Many Church devotees were aghast: guitarist Marty Willson- Piper was out, replaced by Powderfinger’s Ian Haug – and the band’s 21st studio album opens with a track called Vanishing Man. But fear not, this is one Church that hasn’t failed its congregation. Haug’s addition hasn’t altered the trademark sound. Further/Deeper has the classic Church ingredients – drama and tension, part psychedelic, part spiritual, part dreamy. And it rocks. It’s tempting to call it a return to form, but The Church never really lost it – it’s just been up to the listeners if they’re along for the ride. A beautiful contrarian, Steve Kilbey croons “I gotta go in the other direction,” in the engrossing Lightning White . They reference Laurel Canyon and Miami, but no American band – or Australian band – sounds like The Church. Need proof of their genius? Hear the aptly titled Delirious. This is the album U2 should have made this year: experimental but accessible, unpredictable and meandering, but always compelling, and filled with majesty and love. Jeff Jenkins ( Unorthodox/MGM)

Guy Pearce Broken Bones

Rewind nearly three decades and Kylie, Jason and Guy had a band in Ramsay Street. Kylie and Jason moved out and pursued pop careers, but Guy – the most musical of the trio – resisted the urge to record, trying to avoid the soapie star- turned-singer stigma. After doing some soundtrack songs for the low-profile movies Heaven Tonight and A Slipping-Down

Meandering none too dissimilar to Mink Mussel Creek with never-ending batteries, but faster, crazier... and harder. Just listen to Hot Water : it’s eons ahead in intelligent folk-psyche experimentation with a twist of strychnine. Wayne Coyne would be a proud father to these bright young things. ( Remote Control/Inertia) Chris Murray

Life, Pearce has finally issued his first solo album, and it’s a quiet triumph. This is adventurous, mature pop, alluring and absorbing. Fans of Mark Seymour and David Bowie should investigate. ( MGM) Jeff Jenkins

Lamb of God As the Palaces Burn (DVD)

Lagwagon Hang It’s been a long nine years since Lagwagon’s last original studio album, and the face of punk has evolved. The landscape in which Lagwagon nestled during the release of 2005’s Resolve is an entirely different beast to the wildly lucrative, arena- conquering, major label mayhem that now dominates the scene. It’s immediately apparent that vocalist and mouthpiece Joey Cape is all too aware of this as he insists that the album needed an identity and a purpose before it could be released, and the band – long heralded as defining genre giants – could reform. But the heartbreaking conclusion is that the sound and message enveloping Hang can be desperately sad at times. In fact, it borders on intolerable in moments like One More Song , in which Cape pays tribute to friend and collaborator, the late Tony Sly. Thankfully there’s an effervescence that permeates the overall tone. An enduring – if often obscured – hopefulness prevails, and most importantly, there are more than a handful of skate punk bangers that have us ultimately convinced that it’s time to get back on the wagon. ( Shock) Emily Kelly

As the Palaces Burn was originally shot with the intention of documenting Lamb of God’s 2012 world tour. But things changed drastically when vocalist Randy Blythe was arrested on manslaughter charges in The Czech Republic. Blythe was charged with the death of Daniel Nosek, a 19 year old fan who died after stage diving at a 2010 concert – Blythe had allegedly thrown Nosek off stage, so he was seen as being responsible for his death. As the Palaces Burn captures the powerlessness of his situation, because while Blythe was eventually, and correctly, exonerated – no one really won. From concert halls to the courtroom, As the Palaces Burn is a gripping experience. ( Sony Music ) Simon Lukic

Machine Head Bloodstone & Diamonds

Such Gold The New Sidewalk

Having achieved the impossible by resurrecting their career with The Blackening , Machine Head have slowly, if surely, regained fan credibility. The Burning Red/Supercharger era has been conveniently swept under the carpet, and I’m sure the band is now conscious of what works. Bloodstone & Diamonds doesn’t overstep the mark. While the songs

New York melodic hardcore lads Such Gold are fairly unapologetic in addressing the direction of their new album. They have assertively and deliberately bolted from the pop punk pen that bred them, fed them and granted them a name on the world stage, and had a crack at being a little more ‘innovative’. What does innovation sound like? Swirling time

do differ in length – falling within the 3 to 9 minute mark – the lack of solid riffing slightly weakens the impact. With a collective past including membership in Vio-lence, Sacred Reich and Juggernaut, I will always (perhaps unfairly) expect sightly more from Machine Head. ( Nuclear Blast/Caroline/Universal) Simon Lukic

signatures and bold, gutsy riffs. It also sounds a lot like A Wilhelm Scream. If you’re unsatisfied with punk by numbers, The New Sidewalk offers a bold new path for you to follow. ( Razor and Tie/Cooking Vinyl/Universal) Emily Kelly

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