STACK #133 Nov 2016

MUSIC

REVIEWS

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DOWNLOAD THE FREE STACK APP FOR EXTRA CONTENT stack.net.au/stack-app 102 Palms Crazy Rack ( Ivy League) DougWallen

Custard Come Back, All Is Forgiven “I woke up on the road again, my hands upon the wheel.” So starts Custard’s first album in 16 years, the wonderfully titled Come Back, All Is Forgiven . It’s a wistful wander down the dark alleyways of the early ’90s, and the Brisbane bon vivants maintain a lovely laidback feel. If you aren’t familiar with their work, imagine a comedic version of The Go-Betweens, less literary, more laughs. Check out first single We Are the Parents (Our Parents Warned Us About) , and their wry reflections on contemporary art ( Contemporary Art ) and their university days ( Queensland University ). Custard songs are slight, but impossible to dislike. ( ABC Music) Michael Dwyer

Don McGlashan Lucky Stars

Don McGlashan is loved in the land of the long white cloud. A quality songwriter, he found fame fronting The Mutton Birds. Lucky Stars – his third solo album and first in six years – is a compelling collection of melodic pop, sitting comfortably alongside work by Kiwi contemporaries Neil Finn and Dave Dobbyn. There’s a simplicity to the record, but it’s filled with subtleties and a sense of foreboding. “I can feel the storm coming,” he warns in When the Trumpets Sound , and in the closing cut he muses, “If I should vanish, if my story was done.” If that’s true – and one hopes not – McGlashan is going out on a high. ( Only Blues Music) Michael Dwyer

Ben Folds So There Ben Folds has had his fair share of offbeat projects. But this solo album still comes as a surprise, split between eight orchestral-minded pop songs and a concerto in three movements. Both are collaborations – with New York ensemble yMusic and the Nashville Symphony, respectively – and their shared emphasis on strings and horns does

make the pairing feel more natural. But it’s an album of two halves. The concerto is purely instrumental, flitting between modes with Folds’ typical playfulness: the first movement teases with a piano boogie, while the more manic runs evoke Bernard Herrmann’s scores for Alfred Hitchcock. Folds sings on the first eight songs, turning in some of his wryest lyrics to date. “How could I forget you when there’s nothing to forget?” he quips on the title track, while Yes Man doles out self-applied fat jokes and F10- D-A goes overboard with the refrain “F’d in the A with a D.” That last tune aside, though, the pop section is surprisingly free of bombast, and Folds’ vocals remain tender even when the lyrics drip with venom. The whole album proves as spotty as it is ambitious, at once gorgeous and unwieldy. ( NewWest/Warner) DougWallen

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My Disco Severe For a long time My Disco worshipped at the temple of Steve Albini, recording every

The Winery Dogs Hot Streak

W.A.S.P. Golgotha W.A.S.P. were once a band

Sydney’s charismatic Palms write bruised, lovesick garage-pop that runs thick with gnarled hooks and airy vocal harmonies. Led by Al Grigg (Straight Arrows, ex-Red Riders), these fuzzed- up singalongs are driven ahead by ultra-catchy bass lines. In My Mind evokes the stoner bubblegum of early Weezer, while No More detours into a nostalgic, Lemonheads-esque ballad. Palms aren’t too fussed about putting their own stamp on such things; they’re happy to just crank out a party album for anyone who cherishes noisy guitars, nonchalant vocals, and nagging choruses.

The union of Richie Kotzen, Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy was always going to prove interesting. Their self-titled debut was a success and Hot Streak will no doubt be another hit for the band. Hot Streak covers a broader palette than its successor, which stayed true to the classic rock trio format; here the band spreads their wings, making for a richer experience with subtle nuances discovered after repeated listens. The beauty of The Winery Dogs is the way the group sound so effortless and soulful. Each player is a virtuoso in their own right, but never do they sacrifice a good hook over musical chops. ( Sony) Simon Lukic

notorious for their over-the-top stage antics and vocalist/guitarist Blackie Lawless’ circular saw codpiece. Yep, W.A.S.P. weren’t the most tasteful band in the world, but they sure could write a heavy metal anthem – and to their credit, they have many to their name. Lawless is now a born again Christian and Golgotha is inspired by texts lifted from The Bible. Religious devotion aside, the ever-faithful W.A.S.P. colony are in for a treat. Golgotha is jammed with hooks and Lawless is in fine voice, giving the album an '80s vibe without sounding dated. ( Napalm Records/Rocket) Simon Lukic

album with him and evoking his various noise-punk bands too. But they’ve taken their increasing minimalism to game-changing new depths on Severe , mining the full potential of determined restraint and thundering reverberations. Quiet moments hang in the air on tracks like King Sound , before the trio come crushing down on us again. There are also more effects than ever before, adding a surreal, charred quality to their ominous meditations. ( Temporary Residence) DougWallen

NOVEMBER 2015

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