Category: Buzz Chart

NIGHT BIRDS
‘Born To Die in Suburbia’
Grave Mistake Records

Some great albums have dropped so far in 2013, and this new long-player from Night Birds is destined to be right up there in a lot of Year End Top 10’s. Read on folks, cuz it’s an absolute blinder.

Having cemented their reputation with a bunch of EP’s and 2011 album “Other Side of Darkness” they lost guitarist Mike Hunchback. The wheels might have come off the trucks, but luckily for us an able replacement was enlisted – PJ Russo. They got back to business, and the resulting songs are possibly their best yet. I’ve been playing this album to death, and it still sounds great on each and every listen; it’s a record that’s built to last.

What’s the magic? Well, for an old guy, who’s been listening to Punk Rock longer than you can imagine, this is music that captures the wild-ride of early 80s north American hardcore, but is delivered in a fresh and vibrant manner. They classically combine the tough sarcastic bite of East Coasters like The Left, Chronic Sick, and The Freeze, with the snotty SoCal beach belligerence and swagger of D.I. and Agent Orange. I’ll throw the DK’s and Damned in to the mix too, what more could you want?!

When some Hollywood upstart decides to remake “Suburbia” (ask your Dad) one of these days, cue Night Birds to play that hall where the brawl goes down. I suggest they play “Nazi Gold”, which is not only my favourite song on this album, but one of the BEST songs I’ve heard all year. And it’s one of 4 tracks here (inc. the Fat Wreck single “Maimed for The Masses”) that break the three minutes sound barrier to barreling effect. The rest of the songs mostly barely trouble the 120 seconds mark, and all shred good ‘n hard.

So, there you have it, killer album, and it might only be August, but this is already shaping up to be my Record of The Year.

Pete Craven

THE HELL
‘YOU’RE LISTENING TO THE HELL’
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The Hell sound just like that other band featuring that other dude who was in that other band that was good once and now isn’t. But they’re a far cry from Captain Dracula and the Receding Three. Yeah, there’s a bunch of other dudes from others bands in The Hell and it’s kinda Watford.

Some writers will probs call it a ‘brodown’. Some writers are noncey kiddie courting cunts. The Hell have put out a free album that will make you flip your computer off your office desk. It ain’t nice. It ain’t clever. Best of the year.

Masked Avenger

Stream and/or Download it for free below:

Scott and Charlene’s Wedding

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Craig Dermody is back with a second LP from his indie pop project Scott and Charlene’s Wedding. Any Port in a Storm is an autobiographical account of a rookie year in New York. Dropped straight from Melbourne into NYC, Dermody wears his heart on his sleeve, telling tales of adjusting to the jeopardies of the Big Apple, homesick for Oz.

His vocal warble sets the tone of this record perfectly in opener ‘Junk Shop’ sauntering into the slacker groove of this charmingly sluggish batch of tunes. Track by track you’re invited further into Dermody’s daily struggles, offering you to share his burden. ‘Fakin’ NYC’ sees him adjusting to a new expat life, finding a new job and feeling out of place, doing anything for coin.

Lyrically, this album feels personal and poignant, but thankfully humorous at times too. ‘Lesbian Wife’ is a humble story of loneliness. Caught up in the middle of freak storm, Dermody is reduced to cooking his tea on a camping stove, enduring the toils of Hurricane Sandy alone, pining for Australia.

Musically, Any Port in a Storm is a real ode to the lo-fi. A whiff of the 13^th Floor Elevators lingers comfortably on tracks like ‘Downtown’ boasting a retro groove and guitars that jangle more than a wind chime in a hurricane. But while it’s safe to say that Dermody’s a garage man, it’s comforting to hear modern similarity too, the quick intricate riffing on ‘Charlie’s in the Gutter’ remind of fellow New Yorkers Beach Fossils.

Never hurried or rushed, Craig Dermody’s Any Port in a Storm is jammed full with 11 slack tracks, each laced with true garage swagger. This is a great summer album, so grab a copy and soak it up.

Any Port in a Storm is out now on Fire Records.

Dave Palmer

True Widow
‘Circumambulation’
Relapse Records

It doesn’t seem too long ago that True Widow graced us with a long player. I guess it has something to do with the fact that music this laid-back is so timeless. It captures life in slow motion, leaving a form of stoned paralysis so brutal that you instantly crave more once the fix is delivered.

These Texan stonegazers have seriously upped the dose on this new offering. The medicated tones that made up their last release “As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth” back in 2011 were strong, but this three piece have delivered another slow-burning classic that is guaranteed to poach the circumference of your inner ear.

Kicking off with a murder ballad masterpiece by the ever-moving ‘Creeper’ their new collection of haunted darkness slowly drives into ‘S:H:S’, a comfortably numbing track picked for their latest promo video packed with Dan Phillips’ dulcet tones and deep nodding riffs. ‘Four Teeth’ is the closest to pop that you will find on this album with Nicole Estill’s vocal mesmerizing as they drip over the track; its economics may be simple but it will lodge inside your system like a bad dream. This is followed by an administered injection of sleepy drone and fuzzy stoner bliss that makes ‘Numb Hand’ feel short ahead of the stomping metallic throb from the riffs of ‘Trollstigen’, the longest track on ‘Circumambulation’. It’s fairly easy to get lost in the seven minutes that pass by making it one of the weakest of the pack unfortunately.

The pace picks up for ‘I:M:O’, but only by a feather. The light soundscapes here roll without vocals before ‘HW:R’ see Phillips and Estill join forces on verse and chorus duties perfectly. “I’ve done so many things with my time, or so I think…” says Phillips nonchanlty. It’s a phrase that belongs to us all and lyrically DP is speaking for everyone growing up on this track. Blissful, melodic and smoking from top to tail – it’s a perfect example of the beauty that these Dallas stoners can produce. The album winds down to a staggering low pace with the final fix of sleepy drone and fuzzy stoner bliss on ‘Lungr’. It’s heroin in WAV form and it should be your soundtrack of the summer. Stream it here.

9/10

Zac