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I must admit that I hadn’t actually heard of Trial Kennedy until I read a great review for their upcoming album on Bombshellzine back in June. Despite a couple of EP releases (Present For a Day & Picture Frame), and frequent support tours with the likes of Gyroscope, Kisschasy & Fall Out Boy, its taken them about four years to finally release their first album. After receiving a record deal with Sony BMG, these four Melbournites headed over to Atlanta and worked with producer Nick DiDia (Stone Temple Pilots, Powderfinger, Incubus & Audioslave) to develop their debut album New Manic Art.
After an initial fade in Sunday Warning jumps straight into the fray with a self titled chorus that’s accompanied with catchy cries of “Hey! Hey!” and melodic vocals. After a deceptive fadeout at the 3 min mark the band hits back in the final minute to leave a lasting impression. This impressive sound is carried into the next track Neighbors which features a rise & fall structure supported by some crashing drum work from Shaun Gionis. This track is an obvious choice as their first single as it features one of those classic melodies that is liable to have you humming away at inopportune moments of the day. It’s understated chorus also alludes to the issue of global warming but thankfully it’s subtly inclusion doesn’t feel like the message is being crammed down your throat.
Colour Day Tours is another highlight (and their second single) from the album and features a fantastic buildup leading into a memorable rock chorus which is just begging to be played in the live arena. This song was actually written for fellow tour mate Mark Stewart (Horsell Common) to combat his homesickness while on tour. While the catchy “da di da da’s” are meant to remind him of his daughter, they actually end up sounding a little creepy when they’re sung by a four year old girl during the breakdown section. The track then belts back at the last minute with another fantastic guitar riff from Stacey Gray that just leaves you wanting more.
Hollowood is another rousing rock number that stands to attention with a tight pace & anger that comments on the nature of politics & justice. Sun Eyes also leaves an impression with an arpeggio style guitar intro, choral like vocals and a slow rolling beat that helps breaks up the pace of earlier tracks. Just when you think you’re getting comfortable with Trial Kennedy’s sound they diverge from their traditional rock roots with tracks like Mississippi Burn & Sweet Alley Rose. With haunting vocals, acoustic guitars & percussive and violin accompaniments these songs have slow yet dramatic build ups that may take a while to grow on you but effectively show that Trial Kennedy are capable of much more than the usual rock melodies. The strutting beat of The Great Escape,the jogging drum roll of War King and the synthesizer infused rock & roller Eldorado also help round out the track list with diverse & atmospheric melodies.
It’s obvious what an effect DiDia’s has had on the album as his engineering contribution really pushes everything to the forefront and lends everything a real epic sound that effectively showcases what the band is really capable of. The inclusion of numerous instrumental accompaniments such as lap steel guitar, piano, microsynth & mellotron also give the album an amazing level of depth, with every listen revealing even more layers that may have been missed the last time. The interesting and wacky addition of a tiny five key piano & the trippy Theremin (check it out on Wikipedia) also highlight the multi talented nature of the band.
The real strength of this album, however is Tim Morrison’s soaring lead vocals, which are perfectly showcased on the title track New Manic Art. His unique timbre gives everything a real powerful quality that brings to mind stadium filled arenas packed with thousands of fans singing to every word. Therefore to get the most from this album the songs really benefits from being cranked up loud in a good set of speakers or headphones. Speaking of which, the ‘podmix’ of tracks available from itunes are an Australian first and are said to offer a whole new spatial experience for headphone listeners by using left/right panning & high frequency effects.
While this itunes version is ridiculously cheap ($15), I would still suggest picking up the physical CD/DVD package currently available at JB-Hifi. The fold out cover art which was created by the Eye Candy Design company really looks fantastic & features personal pictures that revolve around the story of each song. This version also deserves a special mention as it’s undoubtedly one of the best valued packages I’ve ever seen and includes the 11 track album plus a great T-shirt and an interesting hour long documentary on the making of the album for only $18! After watching this DVD it was also good to see that Trial Kennedy are a great bunch of guys (maybe because in their downtime they love to play some 360) and hopefully after this album they’ll receive the recognition they rightfully deserve.
Final Verdict: If your a fan of stadium fueled rock anthems then I would strongly suggest giving the fantastic New Manic Art a listen. Along with Horsell Common this 4 piece band from Melbourne are really flying the flag for great locally produced music. The absence of any filler tracks & the perfect placing of a diverse set of memorable songs means this album comes a close runner up to Horsell’s The Rescue for my favorite Australian (if not internationl) release of the year.
88 / 100 Pennies
Highlight Tracks
(Pretty much all of them, but my personal favorites include
Color Day Tours
Neighbors
War King
There are a few shows returning in September and Dexter Season 3 is one of them. The teaser trailer above looks like we’re in for another killer (see what I did there) season and if the progression from season 1 to season 2 is anything to go by we’ll be expecting good things for season 3.
When Less Than Jakes last release In With The Out Crowd was critically panned for sounding too pop & commercial they mutually split from their previous partner Warner Bros. to start up their own label Sleep It Off. After listened to the fans they then decided to go back to basics for there follow up album GNV FLA. Chris Demakes (guitarist/vocalist) and JR (saxophonist) stated that “We should do what we’ve always done, and do what we do best” which resulted in “a quintessential Less Than Jake record”.
The name for the record is an airport & area code abbreviation of their home town Gainesville, Florida. This reference is carried through the rest of the album which contains an overall theme involving the love/hate aspect of their city which is featured in most of the song titles & their lyrics, “Between the garbage and the concrete, to the construction grounds under our feet, a boomtown gone bust, a goldmine to dust that’s disintegrating”.
The album don’t get off to the best start with the low key, slow paced City Of Gainesville, and at only 1min 50sec this one actually feels like a fadeout song that would be better placed as an end track. Thankfully The State Of Florida, picks things up with a fast pace & token LTJ riffs, but without any prominent horn work, this one brings to mind their earlier rock sound featured on Borders and Boundaries or Losing Streak.
The next track & first single, Does The Lion Still Roar Tonight? is the real highlight of the album and delivers the ska goods with an up tempo beat & blaring horns that give it a get up & jive feel. This is followed up with Summon Monsters which contains a story of shady dealers & pill poppers which starts with some growling guitar feedback that leads into LTJ’s usual blend of punk rock & trumpets. Abandon Ship is another memorable track that hits the mark with the horns blasting out at the right parts of the rousing chorus.
Unfortunately by the half way mark the album starts getting predictable & despite the usual vocal swapping from Roger Manganelli (bassist) & Demakes a lot of the tracks blend together. Despite the negativity surrounding their last album, sound wise it actually had a lot more going for it, with pumped up production values that pushed the brass instruments into the forefront & gave the tracks a more unique sound. While Settling Son, Handshake meets pokerface, Golden Age Of my negative ways and This Ones Gonna leave A Bruise, are alright rock tracks they just don’t bring anything real exciting to the table. Guests appearances from Trumpeter Scott Klopfenstein (Reel Big Fish) & drummer Neil Hennessy (Lawerence Arms) should have given the album some extra flavor, but in the end it’s hard to pick out their individual contributions and it’s surprising how one dimensional this five ‘plus’ piece band end up sounding.
Another example of wasted opportunity is heard on Malachi Richter‘s liquor’s quicker which is the self titled story of a man that set himself alight in protest to the Iraq war. Despite this interesting subject matter this song doesn’t really stand out from the rest and features rather repetitive lyrics and a simple rock melody.
The infectiously bouncy The Space They Can’t Touch and the stick in your head “nah na na nah” pop punk melody of Conviction Notice lift the slump in the latter stages of the album but another lifeless filler track (The Life of the party has left the building) & the bland Devil In My DNA end things on a boring note.
Final Verdict: After 16 years & uncountable live shows it’s slightly disappointing that Less Than Jake have decided to rehash their old punk rock formula. With the exception of a few fun energetic ska heavy songs, most of the tracks on GNV FLA just end up sounding stagnant and don’t push the band in any new direction. While old school fans will lap up this up, others will probably be over this album after a few repeat listens.
65 / 100 Pennies
Highlight Tracks
Does The Lion Still Roar Tonight?
The Space They Can’t Touch
Abandon Ship
On Monday I saw my second MIFF movie called Not Quite Hollywood. This time my trick of arriving a little earlier was to no avail as one of the ‘organisers’ -a loose term as they didn’t know what the fuck was going on- told us that the movie was delayed by about 15 min and just to rub it in she then condescendingly added that we should enjoy our time in the line. Thankfully this film was well worth the final 30min delay as it turned out to be one of the most funny & entertaining documentaries I’ve seen. As an added bonus there was even a Q&A session from it’s director and two others that had films featured in the doco.
As mentioned in my previous post it follows the rise & fall of the Australian made ‘Ozploitation’ movies that were released in America during the 70’s & 80’s. It’s best described by it’s director, Mark Hartley as containing “lashings of gratuitous sex, violence & fuel injected muscle car mayhem”. Throughout the documentary everything is told from the enthusiastic viewpoint of the actors & the maverick directors that really pushed the envelope within this period of films. The lack of droll voice overs and boring movie snobs (with the exception from one hilarious critic), also lends this film a real infectious fun quality to it.
The rock & roll credits -reminiscent of the film noir setting in Sin City- really got things off to a great start with the best looking opening credits I’ve ever seen. It then heads straight into the first set of movies from the 70′s appropriately subtitled under the category of boobs,tubes & pubes. It’s easy to see why these films were often labeled as exploitative as they really took advantage of the lax censorship board at the time and featured as much gratuitous sex & nudity as they could get away with (making all of today’s American Pie type movies look lame in comparison). This section of the doco is full of funny anecdotes – all the sections featuring Barry Humpheries are hilarious – and is definitely the highlight of the movie.
With self deprecating humor, full frontal nudity & exsessive doses of smut it wasn’t really surprising to find out why movies like Stork, Alvin Purple and The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, did so well at the box office. It was also interesting to hear that these unsung movies actually provided the funding and paved the way for the seminal classics that Australian film critics still rave on about today (Sunday Too Far Away, Picnic At Hanging Rock, My Brilliant Career, Breaker Morant, etc).
The next section of the documentary that obviously interested me the most was the focus on horror movies of the 80′s. While a lot of these definitely fit under the schlock category, some of them have a ‘so bad they’re good’ appeal including Turkey Shoot & The Howling III which have to be seen to be believed. In contrast I found it surprising to see how well some of these other genre films still stand up today, including Patrick which was the biggest selling movie in Italy at the time and includes a scene that was directly ripped off by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill. There was also the thriller Roadgames featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and the nature fights back genre established with Razorback & Long weekend. The later film contains a hilarious scene were a man gets attacked by a possum. Watching the footage from these films has definitely made me want to track down some of these hidden gems. In particular I can’t wait to get my buzz on while watching The Night after Halloween which features a maniac goes on a killing spree in a Mr Whippy van. This story obviously has nothing to do with John Carpenter’s massive hit, but by keeping with the exploitation theme it was obviously trying to cash in on it’s popularity.
The documentary then discusses the action genre films of the 80′s which features stories of renegade directors & ridiculously dangerous stunt scenes. These memorable instances of chaos were prevalent during the filming of Mad Dog and involved Dennis Hopper always being blind drunk on set, an Aboriginal actor that disappeared for days in the outback & multiple scenes that involved shooting live rounds of ammo next to actors heads. Another particularly entertaining story revolved around the directors of Stunt Rock who spent most of the films budget at the bookies. Since they had run out of time & money they couldn’t afford to get a real rock band for the lead part and just ended up hiring stage magicians instead.
Up next is the muscle car genre that obviously gave birth to the iconic classic Mad Max’ and ‘um’…. BMX Bandits? Personally this was the only part of the documentary that slightly lost my interest but this could just be a combination of the late running time and the fact that I’m not a rev head. Paraphrasing Tarentino’s words the cars featured in these cult film were ‘Orgasmic’ and therefore this segment of the film will undoubtedly be more appealing to those that dig their car chase films, which only seem to be making a comeback again with the likes of Death Proof and Death Race.
Final Verdict: I could keep going on about the other interesting stories featuring in this fantastic documentary but they’re much better told in the movie. If you’re a fan of dodgy and/or cult films this is a must see documentary. If fact even if you’re just a movie fan in general do yourself a favor & check this one out. Keep an eye out for it’s release on the 28th of August.
90 / 100 Pennies
Ten years and six albums since Zebrahead’s first studio album and the boys are back with their latest release Phoenix.
With each album spaning so many genres and different sounds & considering that their last release (Broadcast to the World) was over two years ago, I was jumping with anticipation to see what would come out of Phoenix.
Opening with the line “Ladies and gentleman welcome to the show” track one HMP kicks you in the nuts with what can only be described as a frantic, fast paced, disco, hardcore sound. This track encompasses what Zebrahead is all about and even though I’m still trying to decide what exactly this is after 10 years, I do know that I love it. This is a perfect start track with a great energy that really helps set up a good time for the rest of the album.
With the first single, Mental Health consisting of clapping, “Hey,Heys!”, “1 2 3 4s”, catchy guitar riffs and sweet breakdowns I’m starting to get the impression that this album is all about the ever popular punk pop sound. Fortunately there’s that extra twist of Zebrahead which helps Phoenix avoid being dumped with other lame bands that continue to push their own generic version of the pop punk formula.
Some of the songs that fall heavily into the pop punk hotpot are The Juggernauts with its chanting chorus, Be Careful What You Wish For and Brixton, to name a few.
The signature combination of rap and melodic vocals are platinum Zebrahead and are present on most songs in Phoenix. Even if Hell Yeah does somehow remind me of The Offspring, it’s hard to hold it against them as this is a band that has done their time and delivered the goods on each and every album.
Another familiar characteristic of Zebrahead is that they don’t fit into any particular genre and have covered everything from funk metal, pop punk, alternative rock and rapcore. For the second half of the album the band tends to veer away from their pop punk sound and stretch their boundaries. This keeps things interesting by providing you with a couple of tracks that compliment and break up this festival of pop punk.
Ignite is a more funk/punk driven track with some great use of guitar and bass to really make it stand out and provide a rather upbeat sound which is easy to get your jig/skank on.
Mike Dexter Is A God, Mike Dexter Is A Role Model, Mike Dexter Is An Asshole is all ska baby with great guitar work and if you listen closly you can even hear an organ thrown in for good measure. As with any Ska song this ones great to listen too while drinking beer in the sun. I’m assuming that the title of this song is a throw back to 1998 film Can’t Hardly Wait.
The Junkie and the Halo has a distinctive surf/spy rock feel to it which allows for some great 5-0 guitar moments, more organ and great driving rhythms.
Other stand out tracks that round out the album include, Morse Code For Suckers and more rapcore with Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three rights make a left.
Final Verdict: If you’re a fan you’ll love this album as it delivers exactly what you would expect and want from Zebrahead.
90 / 100 pennies
Highlight Tracks: All of them but in particular, HMP, Mental Health, Ignite, Brixton and Hit the Ground
Today I got a chance to check out the new Apple store in Sydney. It is an impresive store and designed like all apple products with style and class.
The store is very large with 3 levels it is all spaced out well and has a large amount of staff. All the products are set up and can be used including Internet access. The stores remind me a lot of borders book stores in the relaxed atmosphere where they allow you to test products and use the net.
All up if you are in sydney I recomend dropping in.
On Saturday night I was lucky enough to attend the Australian premier of the Diary Of The Dead at the Melbourne international film festival. On the night, all horror fans were in for a real treat as the legendary director of horror, George A. Romero was there in person to give a short introduction & 15 min Q&A at the end of the film.
This may explain why the movie line was spread out all the way down Swanston St & around the corner, 10 min before it was even set to begin. Thankfully the time was quickly passed by watching some dress up zombies nonchalantly smoking cigarettes & chatting with staff (some of the makeup nearly looked as impressive as the effects from the movie). After bypassing some pools of blood on the stairs I finally made my way into the near full capacity of the Capitol Theater & took a seat near the back, ready for the fun to begin.
The film starts with the general premise of the outbreak (someone gets bitten, turns undead, eats flesh,etc) and a voice over then explains that a bunch of student film makers are capturing the experience of the aftermath on camera to help depict the true nature of the events surrounding them. Rather than focus on the overall how & why of the zombie breakout, the films narrow viewpoint on these seven individuals is rather fitting as it helps you make up your own mind about what really happened
This filming method serves as an analogy for todays media which is the ‘white noise’ (Paraphrasing Romero’s words) that divides opinion, alters perceptions and obscures the truth to the public. This subversive message is particularly apodictic in the initial scene, when the original footage of the first outbreak ends up being altered by the media to allay public concern.
While the rest of the straightforward story – a bus load of people trying to make their way home – does rely on staple horror cliches (a scene near the end taking the piss out of these elements is particularly funny) all is forgiven when you remember that this film was made by a director that practically invented the zombie genre. As with all of Romero’s work there’s also some political & cultural undertones at play but their subtle integration can easily be ignored if you just want to view the film as a simple horror movie.
When the shit blood hits the fan, there’s also plenty of fun to be had with the usual terror stables. The inclusion of memorable death scenes (which are a must for any, unique horror film), will either have you squirming or laughing in your seat. These inventive death scenes are a lot of fun & range from someone stabbing themselves in the head with a scythe, a zombie that gets its brains melted away by sulfuric acid and another that has it’s eyeballs melted via some CPR electro shock paddles. In particular there’s also one scene involving a mute Amish man that’s almost slapstick in it’s delivery (similar to Dawn Of The Dead) & yet still doesn’t get in the way of building up the tension & horror.
While the camera work brings to mind Blair Witch & the recent Cloverfield (which was made after this movie), Romero makes maximum use of the digital medium without the usual camera shake phenomena that seemed to plague the above mentioned movies. Close up shots & reliable acting from the unknown cast also help to really build up a creepy atmosphere & pull you straight into the claustrophobic setting. While the ending is fairly open to interpretation it fits in with the overall theme of the film and ends up turning the camera upon ourselves & asking the question if we really are worth saving.
Final Verdict: Considering Diary Of The Dead was made in just under 4 weeks on a relatively minuscule budget (~$20 m) it’s impressive how overly tight it feels. The fact that it’s got George A. Romero’s touch to it, gives the film a unique viewpoint on the nature of todays media and helps to distinguish itself from the usual zombie fare. While it doesn’t quite have the same dramatic buildup and punch of his earlier works, its still a bit early to tell if his latest film will stand the test of time and achieve cult status. If your a fan of the old style horror film mixed with the new age of hand held filming then I would heartily recommend you check this one out.
80 / 100 pennies
This week the boys chat about E3 review the new batman movie and have a look at some movie trailers.
Agony & Irony is Alkaline Trio‘s 6th studio album & sees the Chicago threesome split from their previous independent label to join with Epic records. While this has resulted in the usual backlash of sellout remarks (The band recently endorsed a limited edition set of Nike Alkaline Trio shoes), this is still a solid release that will should appeal to those that like their punk rock laced with a good dose of pop.
The opener number Calling All Skeletons is an great kick start to the album & sets the scene with the appropriate lines of “It’s only just begun, it’s been fun, we were fucked up and numb”.The catchy chorus filled with woah’s and hand claps may not appeal to those that didn’t enjoy the commercial (heavily produced) sounds of Alkaline Trio’s last album Crimson but it’s still a lot of fun never the less. The same could also be said for the majority of other pop rock tracks like Hold Me, In Vein and Ruin It, which may alienate a few of their older fans.
In contrast there’s also the darker edged material that the Trio are renounced for including Lost & Rendered which features alarm bells & ticking clocks that lend it an imposing sense of menace. The melancholy imagery and lyrics of previous Alkaline material is also present on Over & Out and Live Young Die Fast but unfortunately their slow pace & dull melodies only seem to hamper the flow for the rest of the album.
For me the most interesting tracks are those that continue to push the band into the direction they were heading with on Crimson. Help Me is a tribute to the late Joy Division front man Ian Curtis (inspired by the recent biopic Control). Their first single contains plenty of poppy “la la la’s” and some subtle piano work that brings to mind the story telling work featured on Sadie.
This is followed with the incredibly addictive In Vein. This wastes no time with a buildup & instead cuts straight to the chase with clickity clack of drumsticks & thumping lead guitars. With a punchy chorus “You recognize this shape, it’s the back of your hand; you placed it on my face here again, and again” and plenty of Whoa-oh’s & No-oh’s this ones got a great catchy beat that reminds me of the Against Me song Stop. I Found Away is another memorable & solid rocker that taps into the head with a dance/disco beat from drummer Derek Grant.
Overall the heavy production values and synthesiser effects really lend this album an energetic grand sound. While these inclusions won’t please punk purists out there, they effectively push the drums & vocals into the forefront & give the songs a rousing sing along quality.
Vocal wise there’s the usual swapping of duties from Matt Skiba & Dan Andriano. While Do You Want To Know demonstrates a greater expansion of range from Skiba, in general his singing style is still an acquired taste that may put some new comers off. Personally I would have liked a few more songs to be sung by Andriano as I’ve always found his vocals to contain a bit more anger that complements the edgy sound of their earlier work.
As a side note I also found the darker lyrics to not have the same appeal that they used to. It’s found it a bit hard to relate to the lines in Lost & Rendered, “ I hope you hear my cries;My will to live is wearing thin“, when they’re coming from a band who’ve hit the big time on MTV. While the same could be said of the self describing chorus of Love Love, Kiss Kiss, (blah blah blah), the bitter cynic in me actually enjoyed the message of this song “Do you curse the happy couple? Do you cringe at wedding bells? Do you drink up all the punch while you wish ‘em all to hell?”.
Final Verdict: Agony & Irony comes highly recommended to those that enjoyed the pop’ier material on Crimson. On the flip side, this commercial sound does give this album as certain disposable quality with a few too many skipable tracks for it to be classified as a truly great release. I’m not sure if this one will leave the same lasting impression as their earlier releases (Good Mourning and From Here to Infirmary), but in the ends it’s still a worthy addition to the Alkaline Trio catalog.
80 / 100 pennies
Highlight Tracks
In Vein
Ruin It
Hold Me
I Found Away
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