Saint Jude : Saint Jude II (August 2015)
After the dust settled a year ago on the band’s second album Saint Jude II, Melbourne’s cosmic wayfaring country-soul statesmen, Saint Jude, have taken an exploratory leap further into an exceptionally lush writing and production style, pointing the ship towards Laurel Canyon from the hallowed grounds of Muscle Shoals. Taking rambunctiously sweet, harmonic rock’n’roll into new, rich folds, all tethered by their jangling guitars, swirling keyboards, thumping rhythm section and the quintet’s southern gospel harmonies, this is by far their most accomplished and satisfying record to date.
Pony Face : Pony Face Presents Nebraska (October 2014)
Pony Face continuously defy definition. They can appear unconventional, though further unravelling of their songs and sonic textures draw links between crystalline, dark rock and that uniquely Australian feel. They are a band equally at home in the registers of indie rock and shoegaze as they are country and folk music, drone, psychedelia and kaleidoscopic noise merchantry. Pony Face presents Nebraska is a calculated, meditative and stunning reimagining of Bruce Springsteen’s towering masterpiece, Nebraska – taking the record down a path the E Street Band wouldn’t/couldn’t have travelled.
Cherrywood : Book of Matches (September 2013)
Cherrywood’s music features tales of lightning strikes, broken hearts, bar stools and prisons; all brought to life through an array of battered acoustic instruments and a bunch of bar-room vocals. The quartet’s love of traditional country and folk music sits harmoniously with their punk and rock’n’roll lineage to give Cherrywood a sound of their own. Book of Matches proves an earnest portrayal of the band’s live show – full of raw energy, fast paced and explosive sing-alongs. Catchy and immediate, Book of Matches shouts the listener a drink and dances them around the room.
Baptism of Uzi : Stray Currents (June 2013)
Baptism of Uzi’s Stray Currents is a swirling, five-track sonic expedition exploring a fully realised sound from a band traversing newfound pop arrangements with meticulous detail. Punctuated by the mercurial Carnal Need, which lilts and shifts with volcanic compulsion and the effortlessly precise Believe, Stray Currents is as robustly eccentric as it is a self-assured articulation from a band at the vanguard of tangled, affected pop music.
The Bowers : Odds or Evens (October 2011)
This sophomore full length captures The Bowers in full flight, expanding upon the garage rock and power pop sensibilities that they’ve become renowned for. Although those elements are absolutely still present on this release, The Bowers delved into territories of personal history, mythology, memory, loss and redemption. The result: a breakthrough in songwriting and a subsequent leap forward in an extremely well rounded and satisfying record. Here stands a band who’re not confortable repeating themselves in an industry that demands repetition.
