STACK #132 Oct 2016

MUSIC

REVIEWS

visit stack.net.au

Moving Pictures Picture This Some great bands are unfairly forgotten. Moving Pictures should have been massive. Sure, they had a huge debut album, but their success was overshadowed by one song, and then some record company dramas prevented that song from becoming a smash hit internationally. In a terrific new tune, Traveller’s Tales , Alex Smith sings about “a dream snatched from thin air.” Thirty-four years after their debut, the band has reformed to reinvent its songs acoustically. Works a treat, with Smith in fine voice and Andy Thompson’s sax adding vibrant colour, and it shows that there’s much more to Moving Pictures than just What About Me? ( Liberation) Jeff Jenkins

Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters Father's Day

Terrible Truths Terrible Truths There aren’t many bands in Australia pursuing the sound Terrible Truths are: tight, rhythmic post-punk smeared with melody. Half a decade after the band’s formation, the now Melbourne-based trio are finally releasing an album. It’s just 23 minutes long, and while it doesn’t quite bottle the locked-on intensity of their live show, it’s triumphant in other

This new album from veteran blues guitarist Earl and his long time band The Broadcasters (bass, drums, keyboards, horns) differs from earlier releases in that it features vocals on all but one track. Singers Michael Ledbetter and Diane Blue shine on a repertoire that is very much a tribute to Chicago blues guitar icons Otis Rush and Magic Sam, while B.B. King and Fats Domino are also referenced. Earl's intense, soulful playing on the jazz standard Moanin' (the only instrumental) and the title track (dedicated to his father, a Holocaust survivor who died in 2014) will take your breath away. ( Only Blues) Billy Pinnell

ways. The songs thread together the dual vocals (whether harmonies or call-and-response) of guitarist Rani Rose and bassist Stacey Wilson, as drummer Joe Alexander keeps the pace alternately loping and exploratory. The dub-licked Don Juan is almost radio-friendly (at least community radio), Lift Weights matches its danceable bob to serrated guitar, and the murkily poppy Mixed Feelings will appeal to Sleater-Kinney fans. Wilson has had plenty of bands to her name (including Rites Wild and Regional Curse), but what sets Terrible Truths apart is the constant interaction with Rose and Alexander; yet her bass lines are arguably the central instrumental here, pulling along each stormy outburst while the guitar slithers overtop with woozy uncertainty. Anyone who loved Iceage’s first couple of albums or remembers Love Is All should gravitate to this album’s blend of prickliness and desperation. ( Bedroom Suck/Rocket) DougWallen

STREAMYOUR FAVOURITE ALBUMS AT JBHI-FI NOW... NOW!

Larry Gus I Need New Eyes Greek singer/producer Larry Gus injects his textured electronic bounce (think Animal Collective) with a bold multi-cultural sweep. While more subdued than 2013’s Years Not Living , his new LP again merges his delicate singing and rhythmic jumpiness. Taking the Personal Away has flashes of an old-school Nintendo soundtrack, while Nazgonya channels giddy Afropop, and other tracks approach jazz. There’s a real warmth to it all, and the pulsing ballad Belong to Love proves a low-key gem amid the more danceable bits. ( DFA/PIAS/Liberator) DougWallen

Tam Vantage Life In High Definition

Flour Morbid Thoughts

Steve Tilston Truth To Tell English folk singer-songwriter- guitarist Tilston has been recording outstanding albums since the early '70s while quietly flying under the radar outside of the UK. The recent release of Al Pacino's new movie Danny Collins , inspired by the true story of a musician (Tilston) who receives a letter of encouragement from John Lennon 34 years after it was posted, will no doubt raise the musician's profile while drawing attention to acoustic guitars, double bass and autoharps, Tilston sings of his early days in London, the passing of old friends and global destruction. ( Planet/MGM) Billy Pinnell his brilliant new release. Featuring 10- and 6-string

Cheeky move, naming the first song Puberty Blues . But then, Melbourne quartet Flour don’t shy from the past: their debut album channels the punky 1990s melodicism of bands like Superchunk, The Meanies and Samiam. Lead single Lonely Girl edges closer to Nirvana, and Tom Lyngcoln (Harmony, The Nation Blue) records Morbid Thoughts with bracing noisiness. Shouted vocals and squealing guitars wait around every corner of these rough-cut anthems. Nothing new, but it’s a densely hooky assault

Melbourne may have an abundance of jangly pop bands continuing the legacy of Flying Nun Records, but not many possess the Kinks-worthy wryness of Tam Vantage. His quietly acidic lyrics on songs like Sympathy and The Boy Who Always Wins are a delight, while the music bridges the gaps between The Chills, Robyn Hitchcock and classic John Hughes soundtracks. It’s throwback guitar-pop delivered with a dawdling, sun-baked air, as if merely out for a summer stroll. ( Lost & Lonesome/Rocket) DougWallen

landed with perfect aim. ( Poison City) DougWallen

OCTOBER 2015

100

jbhifi.com.au