STACK April 2016 Issue 138

90 / 98

visit MUSIC REVIEWS
18 APRIL 2016
MUSIC
Tonight Alive
Limitless
Tonight Alive’s guiding light and
fearless leader Jenna McDougall
always had the vocal capacity
to lead the band in whichever
direction they so desired. She's
lent Tonight Alive strong but
saccharine vocals to their pop punk
sound to great effect over the last
two albums but it’s unsurprising to
hear now that the punk is all but
a footnote in their latest album.
Their new, supremely polished,
mainstream rock sound works but
it also robs them of that scrappy
charm which made them so
endearing. RIP the unique depths
they may have explored if they
hadn’t aimed so predictably for
arena rock.
(Sony) Emily Kelly
The 1975 I Like It When You
Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet
So Unaware Of It
So it’s 1986; Duran Duran’s shine
is waning, yet Scritti Polliti and
MJ are doing just fine. There’s a
lot of keyboards being played by
kids on Saturday afternoons in
Brashs stores before catching a
screening of Ferris Bueller… yes,
it’s the world of The 1975 (oh,
the irony!). Having spent a lot
of time in Cheshire, northwest
England where these guys
reside, it all makes sense; it’s
such a sh-thole one must catch
the happy butterflies before
they get hit by a passing goods
train. Music to listen to with your
bestie, in a onsie, on a Sundee
in front of the TV. Actually it’s
pretty cool, but just not Jack
Ladder cool. (Sony) Chris Murray
Elliphant
Living Life Golden
Providing the kind of music not out
of place on, perhaps, an angsty
teen flick soundtrack – especially
in a timelapse montage – Elliphant
is growing on the music scene
like a proverbial mighty oak from
the tiniest of acorns. Perhaps
you may know her better by her
actual name – Ellinor Miranda
Salome Olovsdotter – but you
probably don’t. Her latest, Living
Life Golden, is a true homage to
her beginnings, with tracks like
Step Down and Hit and Run really
bringing the beat back. Keep an
eye out for the Major Lazer collab.
And remember, an elephant never
forgets.
(Sony) Alesha Kolbe
The Dandy Warhols
Distortland
If you were ever to be jealous of a band’s
projected lifestyle, these cats would be atop
the short list. “Rules be damned, we have all
our own sh-t and we’re cool, man!” was clearly
the mandate from Courtney T.T. as The Dandys
promptly drove their magic bus through valleys
of LCD Soundsystem, all the while looking like nonchalant elders and
confusing their tired peers. Catcher in the Rye will warm your heart
and loins in equally pleasurable measure, as will the hard-edged tech
of Semper Fidelis – the kind of track Class-A sales rely on for mass
consumption in basement parties across the world. But it’s STYGGO
that ticks every Dandy box with a bouncy and infectious gusto, all the
while oozing an effortless panache. Pity summer’s ended as this is the
track you want with an elbow out the window cruising a vast sunset
into Smilesville. How can they keep on doing it!? An amazingly trippy,
arrogantly fun and reflective record – further proving not only does this
band not care, they don’t f-cking need to. Hats off!
(CookingVinyl) Chris Murray
Primal Scream Chaosmosis
Opener Trippin' On Your Love
will scare you, be warned. Let’s
put that aside and forget we
ever heard it, yeah? Cool. Ahem:
(Feeling Like A) Demon Again is a
quiet, beat-driven, late night drive
in a rain-soaked taxi – a grower,
albeit a derivative and smart bait
choice for millennials. Taking a
leaf from Goodbye Johnny comes
the slow dance groove of I Can
Change, a minimalist samba-
style heartbreaker cementing B.
Gillespie’s love of strong cheese
most rare. Then there’s Bobby
singing alongside acoustic guitar
as though he’s about to check
a fob watch and pick some
flowers!? This album is odd, off
script and schizophrenic at best…
the jury is out, perhaps it’s just a
‘passing thing’?
(Warner) Chris Murray
Ben Harper & the
Innocent Criminals
Call It What It Is
The reunion of any band after nine
years would seem to signify a
return to familiar, if not nostalgic
territory but Ben Harper is mostly
right-on when he says he and
his band are "here to forge new
ground." When Sex Was Dirty is
a suitably filthy fuzz-rock workout
for starters. Deeper and Deeper
is steeped in Tom Petty harmony.
Things get more predictable in the
agitated slide blues and seething
social comment of the title track,
which posits that "it's a crime to be
black" and "what it is" out there in
America "is murder". There's shades
of John Lee Hooker, reggae and a
cheeky grinder called Pink Balloons.
Whatever can he be thinking of?
Mostly there's 11 good reasons to
do what these guys do: hit the road.
(Caroline) Michael Dwyer
DOWNLOAD THE
FREE
STACK
APP FOR EXTRA CONTENT
stack.net.au/stack-app
Mogwai Atomic
Scotland’s finest/darkest offer up
some reworked magic from their
unreleased soundtrack to an artsy
doco on all things that go BANG!
which screened on the BBC last
year. It’s certainly nuclear to say
the least; soundscapes of molten
steel cascading down rivers of
death, which every now and then
offer some glimmer of hope,
usually dashed with quiet beauty
which doesn’t care. Bitterness
Centrifuge (ha!), as an example
track title kinda’ says it all… it’s so
f-cking dark you’ll need a torch to
see your own growing smile in the
mirror; just the way we like it!
(Rock Action Records) Chris Murray