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Cub Sport
This Is Our Vice
They started life as Cub Scouts,
but were forced to change their
name after some legal issues with
Scouts Australia. But this Brisbane
band has put all those dramas
behind them to deliver a sparkling
debut album. “I’m on fire,” singer
Tim Nelson declares; “don’t put
me out.” There are some obvious
’80s influences, but this is no
nostalgia trip. With producer John
Castle, Cub Sport have crafted a
clever collection of shimmering
indie pop, with grand choruses
and classy hooks. “Heading into
the sun,” Nelson sings at the start
of the album. Indeed. Their future
is bright.
(Cub Sport)
Jeff Jenkins
Black Mountain IV
Can you give an album a five-star
review after only four seconds
listening to it? Yes, if it’s Black
Mountain. Six years since the
Sabbath-infused Wilderness
Heart, the Canadian space
Vikings return with an album
of further cosmic medieval joy.
After the epic slow burn of
Mothers of the Sun we crash
into the power (crackle and...)
pop of Florian Saucer Attack.
An instant smile creator, it’s
then a tidal wave of Floyd/
Hawkwind proportion with
Defector – synths and space,
folks, oh yeah! Not high enough
for you? Try Constellations; it’s
as if Endless Boogie and Led
Zeppelin just bought a cowbell
and bashed the sh-t out of it all
the way to Saturn. Just buy this,
okay. (Inertia) Chris Murray
Luka Bloom
Frugalisto
Irish singer/songwriter Luka Bloom
loves Australia, and on the eve
of his current Australia tour – his
12th since 1992 – he’s announced
that it’s here that his new album
will premiere. Bloom’s songs are
as authentic as folk music gets, in
that he writes about real people.
The title song was inspired by
a group of his Irish neighbours:
surfers and activists who promote
sustainable living.
Others include his tribute to
soldiers who died in World War
One, the story of an Irishman who
returns home after forty years, and
there’s an instrumental lullaby and
sentimental ballad called Australia.
(Planet/MGM)
Billy Pinnell
Matt Corby Telluric
It’s finally here. Few Australian artists have been
as successful or as experienced as Matt Corby
before releasing their debut album. Reality singing
shows love to use the word 'journey', and Corby
has certainly been on a journey since we first
got to know him via Australian Idol in 2007. Since
then, he’s released no fewer than five EPs and
taken home two trophies for Song of the Year at the ARIA Awards. But
the intriguingly titled Telluric (apparently it means “of the earth”) comes
nearly three years after Corby’s last EP. Word is he shelved one album
recorded in America, before recording in Paris and then Berry in NSW. “I
was never lost,” he states in first single, Monday. “I only chose to never
go home.” Corby ended up completing the album with producer Dann
Hume, the inventive youngest brother from Kiwi band Evermore. Fiercely
independent, Corby is blazing his own trail. “You go your way,” he sings in
Good To Be Alone, “I’ll go mine.” Telluric contains no obvious pop hits; this
is an album to immerse yourself in, with Corby creating an irresistible feel.
It’s a journey, if you like. And Corby’s passionate fans will enjoy the trip.
(Universal) Jeff Jenkins
visit MUSIC REVIEWS
16 MARCH 2016
MUSIC
Bibio A Mineral Love
Memories – real and imagined –
fascinate Bibio. He's spent years
exploring and inventing them,
creating a catalogue of songs
that seem to have a pre-existing
history already embedded in
their DNA. They're there in
his early detuned, tape-worn,
psychedelic instrumentals, and
they've remained a constant in his
evolving sonic palette. A Mineral
Love features collaborations with
like-minded friends such as Gotye,
and draws inspiration from pop
orchestrations of the '60s, hazy
soul from the '70s, mutated disco
funk from the '80s and more
recent synthesised sounds. They
combine to create a very personal
celebration of record making and
record collecting. There are no
samples, but each of the songs
conveys a timeless quality.
(Warp/Inertia) SimonWinkler
Palehound Dry Food
Her name is Ellen Kempner and
her best friends are guitar pedals
– and that's counting the guys
playing bass and drums. Such
is the dome of introspection the
Boston debutante weaves on this
lo-fi rock purging of pet peeves
and self-loathing. Molly disses
some selfish foil for openers; the
sweet meander of Healthier Folk
is a moody gaze into the medicine
cabinet mirror and Easy wallows
through heavy fuzz and hung-over
resentment. Cinnamon is more
sprightly but the melancholy nylon
strings of Dixie cut closest to
this hound's bones. Luckily her
parents, sister and dogs turn up
on the coach in Sea Konk, so you
know she'll bounce back OK.
(Heavenly/Liberator) Michael Dwyer
Emmy The Great
Second Love
Emmy the Great has a traveller's
instinct for exploration and a
storyteller's sense of detail. She
initially intended her third album
to be a collection of songs about
technology and the future, but they
shifted form and focus as Emmy
moved from London to LA to New
York to Tokyo and beyond. There
were different jobs, including as
a cultural chronicler for Guardian
and Vice. And there were new
friendships and experiences that
found a way into Emmy's songs
of connectedness, transience and
transformation. Her lyrical craft
is matched by musical strengths:
a vast physical and imaginative
journey is reflected in R&B
rhythms, synths and vocal samples,
and personal field recordings.
(Bella Union/Mushroom)
SimonWinkler