Max Bemis is an open book. His fourteen years as the front man of Say Anything have been nothing if not turbulent – and he’s not afraid to show it in his music. Ahead of the band’s Australian tour, the […]
Archive for October, 2014
Interview: Max Bemis of Say Anything
Monday, October 6th, 2014Antennas to Heaven: Ian William Craig
Monday, October 6th, 2014Your weekly submersion into new and experimental music.
Voices, either softly spoken or delivered with a harsh growl, have the power to spark deep emotions on the ear. With this in mind, it’s a wonder how few artists in the ambient/noise game mine its obvious potential; Ian William Craig’s latest album A Turn of Breath makes confident strides in this pursuing the quality of the voice.
Craig’s voice exists in the same way Barwick’s ghostly echoes successfully dwarfed the atmosphere of Nepenthe. A place where words were rarely decipherable, though human voice undoubtedly the source of its majesty.
Craig opts not to limit himself to vocals only as tape loops, guitars and field recordings splatter the canvas of his world, though never in a way you would stop to notice a particularly cool guitar riff or vocal phrase. Cohesive immersion is the aim here and it largely succeeds.
‘On the Reach of Explanations’ begins with the repeated click and whirr of what sounds like a record player, signifying the conclusion of a side. Here it serves as introduction to a chorus of Craig’s looping and ethereal, noisey vocals. Some sound peacefully serene, while others bear the distorted grit of hallowed static. Together, they combine for some of the most perfectly orchestrated moments of melancholy and sanguine noise this year.
Two Minutes With Child
Friday, October 3rd, 2014We spend a couple of minutes with Child bassist Jayden Ensor ahead of their support slot for Torche in Melbourne and find out what’s new…
What’s going on in the world of Child?
Our first album is soon to be released on CD and vinyl through Bilocation Records. We’re also doing a tour of Indonesia with our mates Dead City Ruins. The regular run of shows around Melbourne keep us busy. We’re about to start pre-production of our second album and hopefully record that soon.
What motivates you to make music?
When I was a teenager and playing in my first bands it was girls and free booze. Now that I’ve spent too many years playing music for that I forgot to go and get a real job, so I better make sure I give this a red hot go or I’ll be out in the streets in no time.
What have been the high and low points of your musical experiences so far?
High Points:
Supporting Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats was awesome, there was heaps of faces from big Soundwave bands at that show jizzing their pants over us, felt pretty surreal. Getting to play shows with our mates bands all the time is always heaps of fun.
Low Points
Wasting 6 months negotiating with a shitty record label to release our album only to get fucked over at the last hurdle. In hindsight it’s for the best. Getting pulled over and fined driving between 2 gigs on the same night. In hindsight we should have paid the registration on our van on time.
What music are you listening to at the moment?
Beach Boys — Surf’s up
Willow Darling — Dancer of the Day
Hobo Magic — EP
CSNY — Live 1974
If you were stranded on a desert island, which member of the band would get eaten first?
Mathias, so Michael & Jayden can start their 2 piece side project “Deep Space Squid.”
Here’s an opportunity to bitch about something, whether music related or not. What really pisses you off?
Small children not understanding footpath etiquette, they just run straight into you and then their parents glare at you like it’s your fault. Actually, small children in general.
You’re putting together your perfect gig featuring Australian artists. Who would you get to play and where? Feel free to include acts/DJs/bands/venues that no longer exist.
Sunbury Festival site
AC/DC
Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
The Masters Apprentices
Madder Lake
Spectrum performing part one
Chain
Blackfeather
Buffalo
Child join DEAD in supporting Torche on Saturday October 18 at The Corner in Melbourne. Tickets on sale now through life is noise.
Aythyr — Through the Ages
Thursday, October 2nd, 2014
It has seemed an age since I first caught whispers of the Perth-based studio project Aythyr. Given the busy schedules of the members involved, it is unsurprising that a first release has taken such time to find its way out there. There’s more to it than that, though. The patience and effort required to achieve the polished and atmospheric compositions Aythyr set out to create were substantial. The results on the band’s debut, Through the Ages, must be pleasing to them, given such vast time and effort, and resisting the temptation to pull the trigger before the time was right.
The band is the conceptual progeny of Dave Sandstrom, whom after a vast stint of playing bass for Pathogen, Vesper’s Descent, and Malignant Monster, returns to working with guitar. The sonic invocations of Celtic mythology and the occult are fleshed out by vocalist Drew Griffiths, whose work with experimental industrial solo project Onomy has been a brilliant and underrated local treat. The drumming is taken care of by Ben Stanley, currently in Perth metal band Sanzu after a previous stint in Malignant Monster.
Sandstrom’s love of early 90s Swedish death metal with melodic and prog influences is clearly celebrated on Through the Ages, as well as his expressed sense that overly technical work has left present-day death metal well and truly muddled and overwhelmed. The songs are distilled and precise in their direction without becoming simplistic. Nor is there the cut/collage effect that is often discussed about thrash and death metal. The atmosphere flows, rather than feeling constructed stone by stone.
The songs are brimming with superb guitar melodies, and understated synths that support rather than overwhelm the atmospheric approach to progressive death metal. Generally, Griffiths keeps the growls to a matter of effective punctuation, maintaining the ethereal tone through his strength with clean vocals that are particularly good in tracks such as ‘The Wheel Turns’ and ‘Moonlit Moor’. Blasts of speed are eschewed, with the mid-tempo gallop of early In Flames-esque ‘Initiation’ as frenetic as things get. The languid drift of Opeth’s and, at times, Arcturus’ first albums predominates to maintain the spiritual feel of the record, paying tribute to the elemental druidic invocations borne out of the cairns within foggy moors and forests.
Through the Ages is now available on CD and in digital format directly from the band’s website or through various music outlets on the web.
Aythyr — Through the Ages
Thursday, October 2nd, 2014
It has seemed an age since I first caught whispers of the Perth-based studio project Aythyr. Given the busy schedules of the members involved, it is unsurprising that a first release has taken such time to find its way out there. There’s more to it than that, though. The patience and effort required to achieve the polished and atmospheric compositions Aythyr set out to create were substantial. The results on the band’s debut, Through the Ages, must be pleasing to them, given such vast time and effort, and resisting the temptation to pull the trigger before the time was right.
The band is the conceptual progeny of Dave Sandstrom, whom after a vast stint of playing bass for Pathogen, Vesper’s Descent, and Malignant Monster, returns to working with guitar. The sonic invocations of Celtic mythology and the occult are fleshed out by vocalist Drew Griffiths, whose work with experimental industrial solo project Onomy has been a brilliant and underrated local treat. The drumming is taken care of by Ben Stanley, currently in Perth metal band Sanzu after a previous stint in Malignant Monster.
Sandstrom’s love of early 90s Swedish death metal with melodic and prog influences is clearly celebrated on Through the Ages, as well as his expressed sense that overly technical work has left present-day death metal well and truly muddled and overwhelmed. The songs are distilled and precise in their direction without becoming simplistic. Nor is there the cut/collage effect that is often discussed about thrash and death metal. The atmosphere flows, rather than feeling constructed stone by stone.
The songs are brimming with superb guitar melodies, and understated synths that support rather than overwhelm the atmospheric approach to progressive death metal. Generally, Griffiths keeps the growls to a matter of effective punctuation, maintaining the ethereal tone through his strength with clean vocals that are particularly good in tracks such as ‘The Wheel Turns’ and ‘Moonlit Moor’. Blasts of speed are eschewed, with the mid-tempo gallop of early In Flames-esque ‘Initiation’ as frenetic as things get. The languid drift of Opeth’s and, at times, Arcturus’ first albums predominates to maintain the spiritual feel of the record, paying tribute to the elemental druidic invocations borne out of the cairns within foggy moors and forests.
Through the Ages is now available on CD and in digital format directly from the band’s website or through various music outlets on the web.
