STACK#127 May 2016

MUSIC

REVIEWS

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Miles Away Tide Surely one of the most hotly anticipated local heavy releases of the year, Miles Away’s new effort Tide will not leave fans wanting. Calling on friends from all corners of the globe – including members of Defeater, Fear Like Us, Cleave and Bane – Tide was conceptualised largely over email. Given that fact, it’s surprisingly cohesive, and a testament to a shared vision amongst like-minded musicians. Entitlement and Port of Call hark back to the band’s formative years while Terra Incognita is some of their most progressive material to date. Sonically satisfying at every turn. ( Resist/CookingVinyl/Universal) Emily Kelly

Roisin Murphy Hairless Toys

Now on her third solo album, ex-Moloko frontwoman Roisin Murphy is still charting new waters. Helmed by producer Eddie Stevens, Hairless Toys specialises in disembodied disco but veers into arty rock and electro-pop. Many songs stretch past six minutes, with Exploitation topping nine, and Murphy brings as much simmering emotion to the marathon dance cuts as she does to the diffuse ballads. The arrangements are fluid yet unpredictable, absorbing a vast range of genre cues. All club-ready pop should carve out room to explore this way. ( PIAS/Liberation/Universal) DougWallen

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Quarters "Didn’t these bastards release an album only yesterday?” Yes, is the answer to that, and at the rate these lads create sonic joy expect another three just before Christmas, no doubt. So what do we have to explore on this new four-track EP; punk, country, swamp, pop? This time it’s a loungey journey through each exactly timed

10min, 10sec offering. Actually, "lounge" is probably too explicit; the opener The River is more like a folk stroll through a cocktail bar in Vegas, circa ’68. Infinite Rise offers off-beat French-pop-bubblegum treats with an aura of silly grins and floppy hats in sunshine, yet as it creeps along the tone becomes almost sinister in that Residents-meets-Ween, nursery rhyme with a hidden butcher’s knife way. Then there’s God Is in the Rhythm , a ‘50s slow-dance ballad with Lennon flair and humour alongside the psychotic, hypnotic spell. But the best is saved till last with the true psychedelic wonder that is Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer . Anton Newcombe meets The Shadows, they start drinking at noon and wind up ordering pizza while watching a VHS of Floyd at Pompeii. Buy two and give one to a friend whose life is in need of spark, joy and inspiration. ( Remote Control/Inertia) Chris Murray

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My Morning Jacket The Waterfall This seventh album from the feel-good maestros delves even further into the Christopher Cross landscapes of wind-in-the- hair abandon and boating shoes. Not a bad thing, no matter how dangerously close to a feeling of religious righteousness it skates (opener, Believe , a case in point). Jim James is on a mission, plain and simple: cement a legacy of songs to last the test of time, evoking James Taylor, Glen Campbell, et al ; the type of stuff truck drivers listen to when sad, and lovers enjoy when smitten. It’s working; Get the Point is a prime example, which conjures

Joe Bonamassa Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks One of the world's finest guitarists pays tribute to his heroes Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf in this performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, backed by his road band which is augmented by a dynamic horn section. Each of the two sets begin with vintage footage of these blues titans in concert, before the Bonamassa band takes over. Muddy Waters' covers including I Can't Be Satisfied and You Shook Me precede classic Howlin' Wolf songs such as Spoonful and Killing Floor, the concert concluding with Bonamassa songs that do not sound out of place next to these vaunted classics. (Only Blues) Billy Pinnell

Billie Holiday The Centennial Collection Billie Holiday was the first popular jazz singer to draw upon the tragic events of her life, giving an audience the impression she had lived through what she was singing. While she didn't have the power of singers like Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan, she did have a gift for doing more with her voice than anyone before her – with the exception of Louis Armstrong, her idol. This collection celebrating the 100th birthday of Billie Holiday is the perfect introduction to one of the premier interpretative singers in the history of recorded sound. (Sony) Billy Pinnell

Stan Walker Truth and Soul

Every modern artist seems to succumb to the covers album concept, finding fame via the familiar. Stan Walker, Australian Idol’s final winner in 2009, released an album called Inventing Myself in 2013, but he plays it safe here. He could have gone deep, but he treads a predictable path, tackling some obvious soul classics. There are some highlights (I’ll Be There with Samantha Jade showcases two fine singers), but you can’t escape the fact that this is merely quality karaoke. There’s no doubt that Walker can sing. Here’s hoping that for his next album a change is gonna come. ( Sony) Jeff Jenkins

emotions to rival all model peers… perhaps to a fault. (EMI/Universal) Chris Murray

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