Unconstructive critiscm, slagging and random disinformation from the Melbourne music scene.
Ok, so you are from melbourne, that means you are probly in a band . But chances are that band is a derivative, soulless heap of turd. Its ok, get over it ....
Dead Boomers. Northcote Social Club, April 7th 2014.
Tonite was the first time Id seen the Dead Boomers, and they were fuckin mind-blowingly intense. Noise, Noise, Noise and furious demeneted distorted vocal bark. With foot on monitor , Emo hairdo dangling over low slung equipment table and those concrete crushing Big Black binary beats : its just so Rock And Roll and so ANTI Rock and Roll.
I love those hand grip things the guys use ( hang on where did I see that before? Hans Harms? yep now I remember: batteries run out ..great set) literally SQUEEEZING the hideously mangled sound out (or whatever it is the thing actually does) in some sort of macho inverted muscle building death-grip spasm... Awesome.
School Damage. Northcote Social Club, April 7th 2014
School Damage are yet another side project for Jake Ausmuteant (alongside Carolyn Pronto who (wo)mans the keyboards) , the band have swelled from the initial 2 piece who recorded their debut cassette with a drummer and bass player making up the numbers. This was their first live performance ( the bass player had her flash/prompt cards spread all over the stage in front of her) but it was pretty impressive despite some hesitant moments: very melbourne, old skool, poppy, indie rock maybe but with some gorgeous echo's of the Shop Assistants in the vocals and tom-tom action (yeh : get a second drummer!!). Rumour has it there is a single in the pipeline and Im sure they will become a staple of the gig circuit as winter wears on.
The tunes on the (sold out) debut cassette are all a bit more fragile than the big band sound and well worth a listen from here:
Multiple Man were down to support the release of their new single Guilt Culture (released on the insanely cool Detonic Recordings label) , and they got both sides of that out of the way pretty quickly, along with the previous release Body Double, you get the impression that the brothers are finding it hard to keep on top of a flood of ideas and energy at the moment , and the new songs that made up the bulk of the set take them up to the next couple of levels in terms of dynamics, hooks and danceability.
The rhythms are monstrous and unrestrainable: I don't think I've been to too many gigs in Melbourne were the whole room is dancing to the band, but tonight the entire crowd was heaving. The NSC show was a little more restrained but still there was a pretty impressive amount of shimmying for late on a school night, you have to have something pretty wrong with you to stay standing still in front of these guys. Extra brownie points for the Heresy T-shirt too....a very obscure UK hardcore band from the late 80's...I think I saw them with the Stupids once,,, yeh I know: such a train spotter.
Vacuum is most of ASPS and some of NUN, so it was a fairly safe bet they weren't going to play acoustic folk covers. The women operated from and across a table loaded with synths, pedals, effects and god knows what else, feverishly working the gear into the release of a throbbing droning and oscillating electro pulse, the colossal beats and wash of the noise squall softened and textured by occasional dual moaning chant vocals riding over and through and meshed into it all as and when needed. The music was oppressive (in a good (?)way) and reminded me of some old industrial flagellation like Laibach or Neubaten , at times almost Swans like in its S&M delivery..
While I appreciate that its easier to wheel a pre-prepared table of cable spaghetti on to the stage it does become a bit of a barrier between artiste and audience, gimme kneeling on the floor, or a precariously balanced shopping trolley/bar stool/beercrate stack any day. ..more of an observation than anything though : the songs were as cold as ice , heavy as lead and as unstoppable as an avalanche..it would not be wise to get too close.
