Souvenir Folder Of Beautiful Arlington, Va
28/09/2006
For mine, the work of the Jenny Toomey-led indie act (and Simple Machines flagship), Tsunami, still seems to remain a little under-acknowledged in the whole historical scheme of things. Bearing a distinct similarity in sound (and the added trait of two integral female band m
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Lemonade
28/09/2006
On “Lemonade”, The Somatics revel in a dreamy and remarkably welcoming brand of Brit-pop that is as dense and intriguing as it is enjoyable. The lead track is a warm, melodic gem – exceptionally well-constructed with a rewarding eye for detail, and attractively enhanced with
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Can't Stop These Things
28/09/2006
China Drum were a melodic punk band from the north of England who boasted a powerful, biting sound. Referencing a few of the more reliable names in punk rock - Leatherface, Pennywise, Bodyjar, Somerset, No Fun At All - China Drum always took a fairly brawny, straight ahead
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Bored Spy
28/09/2006
When people think of the San Diego-based indie-rock boom of the 90’s, they inevitably think of Rocket From The Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, and I guess to a lesser extent, fluf, Tanner or even Lucy’s Fur Coat. But not so much aMiniature. That’s a shame, or perhaps a faux pas even
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Forever Young
28/09/2006
Hmmm. Well, I guess that’s one way to get your music played on “The O.C.”. I hear the sounds of struggling artists the world over, kicking themselves for not thinking of it first. “Gee, if we’d only known it was gonna be that simple…” And to add insult to injury, there’s no
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Germany To Germany
14/08/2006
Smart, contagious, razor-sharp IDM shares living space with prog-metal-lite guitar riffs in an outcome that sounds a little like Jimmy Tamborello fronting Rush. (Or Marcus Acher fronting The Fucking Champs. You take your pick.) Keyboards hum and beats blip. And I’m hip. An
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Who Could Win A Rabbit
14/08/2006
Forceful acoustic strumming, tom-heavy drums and assorted busy percussion noises team up on a swirling, wonderfully rousing melody that recalls XTC being dragged backwards through a Neutral Milk Hotel hedge. Very ace. Colour me shocked. And enjoy it, folks, cos’ it’s one of
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Somewhere In The World Ep
14/08/2006
The Secret who ? Ah, I love digging up an obscurity for y’all, and this would fit that bill just fine. Basically unknown over here in Australia, I know very little about this Scottish band other than that they were on the very cool Marina imprint, ditto Creeping Bent, and th
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Banana Chips
14/08/2006
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last decade, Shonen Knife are an all-girl Japanese trio who sing cute, catchy trash-pop songs about things they like. In this case, “Banana Chips” !!!!!! The track is an intricately woven, post-rock-infused slow-burn
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Air
14/08/2006
I must confess I haven’t really kept up with a lot of Sparta’s work. I wasn’t a huge fan of their debut Ep, “Austere”, and I guess that kinda soured me on the band. They seemed to sound a little flat and uninspired. Not as dull as The Mars Volta, mind you, but kinda nothing-
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The Pirates Anthem / Danny Carey / No, No…Pirate
24/06/2006
Missing McLusky since their split ? Well, have I got some good news. Melbourne band, The Pirates, have a cure for what ails you. They come barrelling out of the speakers with the very same pissed-up, piss-taking abandon as the infamous, all-conquering Welsh trio, and perhaps
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Ready
24/06/2006
Coming straight outta…errr, Norway, Madrugada quickly set about proving that Scandinavians aren’t always about sweet, girl-fronted pop music and high-brow, post-rockin’ indietronica. “Ready” is a bracing, Iggy Pop-tastic blast of intelligent, well-penned, garage rock. Lendin
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Tokyo
24/06/2006
Ah, bless their cotton socks. You just gotta love Mach Pelican – 3 wacky kids from The Land Of The Rising Sun who came to Melbourne and then plain forgot to leave. And on this likeable ode to their homeland’s most famous city, these affable lads give their fairly straight-up
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27 Air
24/06/2006
Despite being something of a flagship for the esteemed, globally-recognized Summershine label, (who seemed for a time, to have some sort of loose relationship with the critically-lauded Sarah imprint in the UK), Autohaze were, sadly, a largely under-acknowledged act during t
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On The Avenue
24/06/2006
Generally speaking, The Potatomen always stood a little apart from the majority of bands on Lookout. For a start, they always favoured the jangle above the crunch…the pretty above the noisy…the measured above the frantic or the plain, balls-out rockin’. Truth be known, The
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Up In The Air
08/05/2006
This may have been 3 years in the making but, lyrically anyway, it only takes Sekiden a mere matter of seconds to move from “arrogant” to “paranoid” before shifting back to “vain”. Don’t be alarmed, the track’s basic, repetitive, easy-to-follow, lyrical cues will guide you t
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Commerce, TX
08/05/2006
Damn you, Kweller. Although “Commerce, TX” strictly adheres to a well-worn pop formula and thus tends to display all the subtlety and nuance of your average porn flick, what it does do is remind us all of how crap Weezer are now. Because “Commerce, TX” harkens back to a time
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A To Z
08/05/2006
Candle Records’ guitar-pop romantic, Darren Hanlon, excels yet again with a simple, vaguely shanty-esque, acoustic ditty that charms the socks right off the listener’s feet. Initially consisting of just Hanlon on vox and plaintive guitar strum, and a straight waltz-time tem
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Cosmopolitan
08/05/2006
On the hip, in-form Melodic label. Beginning with a single, taut guitar line that gives the listener the impression that they may be just about to bear witness to Franz Ferdinand #3,984, the guitar immediately upshifts to “slashing”, and all of a sudden we’re back in Pixies
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Oh Yeah…You Look Quite Nice
08/05/2006
Hmmm, weird. Entertaining…but most definitely weird. On “Oh Yeah…You Look Quite Nice”, Mother & The Addicts (or, as I prefer, MATA) sound just like…Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits heading a band comprised of members from The Gun Club, The Black Keys, and The Supersuckers. S
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