From the late 70s, into the early 80s, KISS were at the height of their musical success, and well known for, at the time, the outrageous makeup and stage outfits. October is Halloween month, and Michigan based ColeyKennedy (voice, keyboards, electronic drums, songwriter), has released the single “Just Like Kiss (Halloween’83),” which is about dressing up as your favourite original KISS character, to go trick or treating. He is joined by PeteJavier (guitars, bass guitar), HattieBlueKennedy, (vocals) and JudeKennedy (vocals).
The bass guitar is like the death nell of a church bell, while the rhythm plods along at an equally purposed pace. ColeyKennedy’s vocals utterly compliment the eerie atmosphere, like a dark memory of a nightmare that you might have had trouble waking up from. ‘Take your candy and run‘ because we can be “Just Like Kiss(Halloween ’83),”scaring old ladies with ColeyKennedy’s grave post-punk affair. Which KISS member will you be?
TylerBurgee, from Maryland, is a young man with a huge amount of talent, creating his own version of dark alt rock, crossed with trap. His EP, Leave The Line was an independent release in July, consisting of three tracks.
You can taste the darkwave rolling off the first track and single “FourFools“, between the programmed drum machine and the understated guitar, that echoes in this shadow place. Burgee’s vocals then add to the swirling, almost shoegaze feel. Yearning for that which has passed or can never be, seems to be the theme of “First A wall, Then A Maze“. There is an all consuming melancholy imbuing this track, with the single finger key playing and strumming guitar. “Something I Did” has a heavy guitar dancing between vocals. The vocals almost sound garbled or distorted on purpose, giving them an eerie quality, like something is not right with the status quo.
Darkwave elements mixed with the more modern emo aesthetic, and flirting with shoegaze is how I might describe the EP. TylerBurgee has a sound that is evolving with each track and you can hear the experimentation in Leave The Line.
They say Brisbane is a place out of time, and the Killtoys are a proud Meanjin band, back with their latest track “Another Realm,” as they serve up their concoction of heavy and dark on the rocks. This track is the second of a trilogy, where the first single, “BlindGod,” introduces you to the story of a human corrupted….tainted by vampiric blood and his struggle as he falls from the world he knew.
The beginning is a simple guitar and vocals, where you start to hear the unnatural joy replacing horror, as a monster realises that he is no longer constrained by human law, which is when the track rushes forth on doom laden wings. The drums and electric guitar vie for dominance, while the vocals are unsettling in their intensity.
“AnotherRealm” follows the tale up with the fiend, taking up the mantel of Prince of Darkness, conceding that he has lost the vestiges of humanity. The vampire staring off into the bloody night for the cover art has been created by the talented duo of ObscureMedium, whom are also based in Brisbane, and create some really rad horror toys/dollies and art pieces for those with an eye for the grimly beautiful. The track contains unholy vampires, blood/power lust, plus guitar riffs and intense vocals that early OzzyOsbourne and BlackSabbath would have been proud of. What is there not to like about this track? Not a damn thing!
I don’t think I can quite explain how much Glaswegian band, The Jesus And Mary Chain (JAMC), held me in awe, as a kid in the 80s, with drawling vocals and waves of guitar reverb filling your ears. Label, FuzzClubRecords, is poised to release the live album for JAMC, aptly named Sunset666, on August the 4th, where all tracks were recorded at the Hollywood Palladium, in Los Angeles, in 2018. The single “Half Way To Crazy” has been dropped to give us a taste of what you can expect on the album.
Rightly so, the quality of the recording is actually beautiful and clear. William Reid’s Gibson guitar transports us away, together with his brother, Jim Reid’s distinctive vocals, reminding is of what a magical powerhouse JAMC have always been.
“Half Way To Crazy” was originally released on the 1989 album Automatic, and the new Sunset 666, has all up, a whopping seventeen tracks, including “Blues From A Gun“, “Just Like Honey“, “Teenage Lust“, “Some Candy Talking” and “Head On“. Apparently, the recording isn’t a mirror, with occasional wrong notes, and imperfect timing, but that’s the point of live music, because it is alive at that very moment of time, and it has been captured in all its raw brilliance. As far as sonic rock music goes, The Jesus And Mary Chain have been responsible for creating songs that you feel in your gut, but also hugely influenced other musicians to push the rock envelope. This is bliss.
When the guys from the Swiss band, FarAwayFromAllThis, asked if I remembered them…. well, of course! The shoegaze/alt rock stylings of duo VEGA (guitars) and IX (vocals, bass, synthesizer, drums) are highly rememberable. And, too that end, we have the latest single, dropping on the 17th of July, called “ToDreamTheUniverse.”
The bright and upbeat beginning is a front. The glorious guitar laden wall of fuzzy sound, is crowned with the vocals that want to float away to other realms, unbound from this world. Delicate at times, causing shivers down the spine, and melodious shoegaze noise that reminds me ever so much of the late 80s rise of the genre, which then proceeded to mould the alt rock sound of the 90s with grunge. With the return of Scotland’s TeenageFanclub this year with a new album and touring, Far Away From All Of This are just adding to the mounting joy that this style of music brings, as they take you on the epic journey “To Dream The Universe“.
PTSD and depression are subjects that are often skirted around by both government bodies and medical institutions. Philadelphia band, DieTired, want to drag the spotlight onto the subject, and so the single “BetterOffAlive” addresses what, for some, has become the elephant in the room, mental health and how people can reach out to find help.
“Better Off Alive is about raising awareness of these serious concerns in our society and highlighting the available resources in our communities to those in need,” explains bassist Jim Lee.
“The additional focus on our military service members in the video hits close to home. With one of our band members being a veteran, we found it especially important to shine a light on issues with PTSD, depression, and suicide in our military communities.” – Singer/guitarist Matt DeAngelis
Even when one comes home, sometimes the war continues in our head. It’s a big, rollicking rock track, filled with sonic guitars, thundering drums, and lyrics from the heart, to find something to hold onto when everything is falling away.
DieTired are on the label SODEHRecords and consist of members MatthewDeAngelis (vocals/guitar), SeanBoyle (guitar), Jamieson (Jim) Lee (bass) and BrandonBallantyne (drums).
Personally, I don’t have any connection to the military, but in saying that, I have lost a fair few friends due to mental health and suicide. In Australia, we have R U OK Day, which asks Aussies to check in with each other and simply ask if ‘are you okay’? Three simple words can mean a lot to another, and you can do it all year round. Die Tired are trying to normalise the conversations we should be having.
June the 16th probably seemed like an ordinary day… but was it? From under your bohemian Aunt’s best velvet rug comes the debut single from ScorpionTea out on the label GIVE/TAKE. “ScarletMisquote” is the deathrock track in question and the band is made up of ChristianCruz (guitars), AnthonyDiaz (spoken elegance, ghost whispers, haunted keys), EdleyODowd (drums, percussion, backing vocals, samples, electronic manipulations) and FernPuma (bass).
Oh yes, that heavy bass brings the funk, and the drumming is harsh and ferocious. When the guitar kicks in…. it sounds slightly off kilter, definitely setting you at unease, before we get to hear Diaz courting your ears. There is a primal glam element, with a playfulness throughout.
Also, there is also the DEATHDANCEDrag On The Night mix, with it’s wonderfully heavier electronic feel, that borders on claustrophobic and ensuring you might not be sleeping tonight. If you are a fan of PsychicTV, you might recognise the name EdleyODowd, who was their drummer from 2003 and a close friend to GenesisP.Orridge for even longer. “ScarletMisquote” is a gem of a deathrock track, a little quirky and completely alt rock heaven from ScorpionTea.
Many Australian musicians are amazingly talented, and Melbourne’s Body Maintenance, saw in April, the release of their debut album Beside You, with the vinyl LP out on DrunkenSailorRecords and cassette on UnwoundRecords. Now I am going to tell you that if you love post-punk music, and if you haven’t listened to BodyMaintenance, then maybe you aren’t as cool as you think you are.
The tendrils of “SilverYarns” wind around you and unleash the gorgeous guitars, that run and take flight. The vocals are within the mix and yet still ring clear, and you know that any song that mentions sinners and martyrs has got to be good. In fact it is an amazing start. It is a gothic gun duel at high noon in “Circles“, or at least the dark spaghetti western guitars say be there or be square. The synths swirl between and you wonder where the rattle snakes are hiding.
“TheSpiral” feels like the most glorious vortex, berating your ears with tribal beats, and that is at complete odds with the far more reticent and thoughtful “TimeEnough” that curls within your chest, like a hand gripping your heart. The bass guitar steadily pushes forward in “It’sTheatre“, and again those synths soar in your ears, which has a beautiful chorus and the guitar playing that could take your breath away.
The title track is the heavenly forlorn “BesideYou“, which is about dedication no matter where it leads, and it has the air of freefalling. “TheFools, TheFrauds” is verbose and has tinges of VirginPrunes. The rhythm section pulls this track tightly in, while the guitars fight to contain themselves, all the while caressed by the vocals. The vocals in “Ends” catches your ears as does the big guitar sound and before we know it, there is the last track, “ACompliment“, which wanders in the ether of ghost like memories, gently roaming the shadowy paths.
Damn… how do I summarise this album. It is like chills down the spine due to the familiarity of the style, as it reminds me of British post-punk bands from another era, especially PlayDead, DanseSociety, RedLorryYellowLorry and closer to home Ikon and TheChurch. Probably because it is very much guitar driven, with the use of reverb and pedals, and yet for me, it is the fact there is an air of magic in BodyMaintenance’s sound, so richly dark and so invitingly warm at the same time. I am sure their influences are far more modern, but my hot take is BesideYou is a brilliant post-punk album by BodyMaintenance and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
July 13th marks the fourth single, called “WellOfWishes” from Naarm (Melbourne) based band SocietyOfBeggars, which is off the very soon to be released debut album Levitator. Members YianniMichalopoulos (vocals), DimitriosMichalopoulos (guitar), Tom ‘Dibi’ DiBiase (drums) with ZoëAlexa (bass) make up the band that has been playing and touring since 2016..
The bass and drums are the driving force, giving the track a heavy rock focus, while the guitars waver between galvanic and sinuous. The vocals both melodic and gravelly, tell the story of how you can’t spend your life wishing, otherwise you never act to create reality. The lyrics in particular, are beautifully crafted jewels.
There is a sweeping graceful vastness in what I would describe at a touch of 70s BlackSabbath, mixed with something that is so tangibly Australian rock. “WellOfWishes” is a precautionary tale of living for the moment instead inside one’s head, and giving one’s self to the darkness of the well. This latest single sees SocietyOfBeggars definitely rocking in style.
The lads from the Gold Coast hinterland are back with a new single. Which lads do we speak about? Why the Aussie duo, AtticusChimps, and the track “EyesSpeak“.
Grungy, and almost Black Sabbath inspired riffs, the rock and roll is laid down nice and tasty. Have you had fun with me?, is the chorus that plays through your head, in a not so playful jibe at the powers that be.
“EyesSpeak” is this really nice thumping, meaty chunk of heavier boogie rock’n’roll, nice and tasty, proving that AtticusChimps have the ability and talent, when it comes to changing up their sound.
Onyx Music Reviews 