1. Born With A Broken Heart
2. Deep Water
3. Tied Up
4. Spin the Miracle Dice
5. Black Friday
6. Can’t Scare the Devil In Me
7. World Is Blinding
8. Cos I Miss You Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Only Australian Music
Coz it's world class and underrepresented on our own radio stations
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Dirty York, Say Goodbye To Diamonds
On July - 31 - 2010
Heartless Vendetta, Epidemic
On June - 8 - 2010
Epidemic is the first full length album from Frankston rockers Heartless Vendetta. It’s a highly polished melodic rock album, easily accessible, yet with enough rawness to satisfy the harder rock aficionados.
It is at times melancholic without falling into the trap of being to maudlin or boring. It also has its fair share of good rockers, such as the first single “Lose Your Mind”, which promises to be a great crowd pleaser with its soaring solos, thundering drums and sing-along chorus. Read the rest of this entry »
Quadbox, Album Review
On April - 18 - 2010
The Quadbox is a Melbourne based four piece band consisting of
Drucindy Chin Quan-Vocals/Guitars
Justin Dwyer-Drums
David Williams-Bass/background Vocals
Will Cook-Guitars/background Vocals
They were formed originally as an all girl group, but the final recording lineup has evolved to three guys (pictured below) and one girl, the throaty Drucindy (pictured above).
They have recently released their debut album, simply called “The Quadbox”, and what an album it is. Recorded in just one week, the album is self written, self produced, self released and self marketed. It’s the ultimate “indy rock” album.
40 minutes of pure bliss with catchy hooks, huge riffs massive drums and a voice to die for.
Drucindy sounds like a cross between Suze DeMarchi, Melissa Etheridge and Nikki Lamborn, with the leather clad rock chick attitude of Suzi Quatro.
The album opener “Belittled” sets the scene for whats to follow. A monster riff with an very catchy chorus which promises to be a crowd favorite.
“Hypnosis” is a touch more funky
“Heat Of The Night” is as close as Quadbox get to a ballad on this album, and it’s an excellent showcase song for Drucindys soulful voice.
“Love Me Longtime” has hit single written all over it. A radio friendly tune without being the soulless mush radio usually dishes up.
“Fall Like You” Jumps straight into full throttle right from the opening note, another great hook and anthemic chorus. This would make a terrific show opener.
“Hard “N” Long” is a slower bluesier tune with right in your face guitar and drums.
“Kill Me, Kill You” is another sing along type song sure to go over well live.
“Beautiful Scar” Has arguably the best riff so far. Tony Iommi would be proud. In fact, I think it has a Dio Era Black Sabbath feel to it, with some fantastic lead breaks.
“Nikki” For me, Nikki is perhaps the lesser of the 11 songs, although it probably suffers from being sandwiched between the previous killer song and….
“Young Hearts” If Love Me Longtime has hit written all over it, Young Hearts is it’s natural partner in single world. This song has it all. Great vocal, huge drums and soaring guitar, it’s powerful yet melodic and instantly attention grabbing.
“Hot Enough” is a cool closer with Drucindy managing to growl and sound seductive at the same time. This is another pub rock anthem sing along, but perhaps not reaching the same heights as the previous foot stompers.
In short, there is no reason at all why this album can’t be successful. The fact that it took a whole week to record and is totally self made goes to show the depth of talent within the band.
Given the right promotion and the right backing, The Quadbox could easily rise to the top of the Aus rock tree.
(4.5/5)
Will
Dave
Justin
The Drum/bass/guitar engine room of this band is a perfect compliment to the vocal prowess of Drucindy. If they can hold it together long enough, they will go far.
Fastrack, Hit The Ground Running
On January - 13 - 2010
Fastrack have had what could be called a meteoric rise through the ranks of local Ausrock bands. Barely 1 year old (actually 1 year old on the 17th of January), they have an EP available and are soon to be embarking on a national tour to plug it.
15 Jan 2010 8:00 P
Club Blink @ the Agincourt Hotel Sydney
16 Jan 2010 10:00 A
Castle Hill BMX Championship ALL AGES Sydney
6 Feb 2010 8:00 P
Enigma w/ Burn’Collect Adelaide
7 Mar 2010 8:00 P
The Rosemount Perth
21 Mar 2010 8:00 P
The Duke of York Adelaide
28 Mar 2010 8:00 P
The Espy Melbourne
11 Apr 2010 8:00 P
The Roundhouse UNSW Sydney
18 Apr 2010 8:00 P
The Jubilee Queensland
Fastrack are
BRAD MARR // vocals + guitar
BEN SARROS // drums
SIMON KLAAYSEN // bass
JIMMY DEE // lead guitar
Their success is not only due to hard work, but also their incredible stage presence and musical dexterity.
Their 5 song EP, Hit The Ground Running, is a fair representation of their live show, which is pretty high praise considering that they, like most hard rock bands, are best experienced in the flesh.
It opens with the title song, Hit The Ground Running, a ballsy rocker highlighted by some great drumming courtesy of Ben Sarros, along with a catchy chorus. Last Train Home is a faster still rocker which only a skilled vocalist such as Brad Marr could pull off with any success. Truth About Me, is sure to be a live favorite with it’s huge singalong interludes. Believe is far and away the best song here. It showcases the full extent of the talent Fastrack have to offer, from Brad Marrs versatility as a vocalist, to Guitarist Jimmy Dee’s delicate to bone-crunching skill. Believe could be called the EP’s only ballad, but it’s far from the soulless radio ballad mush one might expect. The last track Loaded Gun is another fast paced rocker with Ben Sarros and Brad Marr again shining.
Lyrically this effort is so much more intelligent than some of the nonsensical garbage masquerading as songwriting these days. Musically it’s fair to say they are not reinventing the wheel, however they do what they do extremely well and have a huge future.
By this ep here, It might just become a very collectible item in years to come.
(4.5/5)
Listen to the title track for below