STACK #135 Jan 2016

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Reviewers' Choice

We asked our nine esteemed genre pundits which two albums they applauded harder than any others for STACK this year. Here are the results; read up and get in the know! Full versions are online at stack.net.au.

DOUG WALLEN

EMILY KELLY

BILLY PINNELL

DEAF WISH PAIN "After eight years of slept-on albums and repeated hiatuses, Melbourne quartet Deaf Wish have signed to Sub Pop to release their best record yet.

DRUG CHURCH HIT YOUR HEAD "The best thing about New Yorkers Drug Church is their staunch swagger. Their music has tough guy guts that could amp your ego

STEVE TILSTON TRUTH TO TELL "The recent release of Al Pacino's movie Danny Collins , inspired by the true story of a musician (Tilston) who receives a letter of

Pain showcases all the invigorating noise-punk you’d expect, but there’s much more happening too... a devastating brute of an album with surprising subtlety throughout." (Sub Pop/Inertia)

on your lowest days. Not unlike your standard, shitty hardcore band, this new album is swathed in attitude, big riffs and all of the feels, but has none of the generic breakdowns and monotonous vocals that hardcore seems to have thoroughly exhausted over the past decade." (Shock)

encouragement from John Lennon 34 years after it was posted, will no doubt raise Tilston's profile. Featuring 10- and 6-string acoustic guitars, double bass and autoharps, he sings of his early days in London, the passing of old friends and global destruction." (Planet/MGM)

MOUNTAIN GOATS BEAT THE CHAMP (Remote Control/Inertia) HONORABLE MENTION

SLAVES ARE YOU SATISFIED? (EMI) HONORABLE MENTION

JUDITH OWEN EBB AND FLOW (Planet/MGM) HONORABLE MENTION

SIMON WINKLER

MICHAEL DWYER

CHRIS MURRAY

JULIA HOLTER HAVE YOU IN MY WILDERNESS "There’s something timeless, classic, yet utterly unique in the structure and arrangement of each track that defies easy

VARIOUS THE WIZARDS OF OZ: A MONSTROUS PSYCHEDELIC BUBBLE (EXPLODING IN YOUR MIND) "Imagine there’s no country. It isn’t hard to do when entering the

NEW GUM SARN NEW GOLD MOUNTAIN "A bunch of kids punching eons above their age/weight division... imagine Radiohead with Tim Rogers’ crown-of-thorns

MUSIC

monstrous psychedelic bubble of London DJs Gaz Cobain and Brian Dougans. Their Amorphous net is cast across Australia/NZ for a third, thrilling trip of seamlessly blended psychedelic rock nuggets... there’s a fantastic self-contained universe to be discovered." (Festival)

description. There’s power – and restraint – in the performances, underscoring the emotional effect of the lyrics that explore subjects of love, trust, and balance in relationships. It's packed with ideas and sounds that reveal themselves over multiple listens... endlessly rewarding." (Domino/EMI)

reflection ( Bad Soy ), slice that between Girl’s most heartbreaking anthems, and add an odd, off-kilter twang and groovy unease which great New Zealand bands exude seemingly without effort... frighteningly amazing." (Spunk)

SUI ZHEN SECRETLY SUSAN (Dot Dash/Remote Control) HONORABLE MENTION

THE GO-BETWEENS G STANDS FOR GO-BETWEENS (Domino) HONORABLE MENTION

KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD QUARTERS (Remote Control/Inertia) HONORABLE MENTION

JEFF JENKINS

DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE NASHVILLE OBSOLETE "Rawlings steps forward to take the lead while still supported by longtime musical companion Gillian Welch... the pair are a DENISE HYLANDS

SIMON LUKIC

MARK SEYMOUR AND THE UNDERTOW MAYDAY "This is the story of modern Australia, where it’s 'one rule for the filthy rich, another one for the weak', the nation is filled with

TRIBULATION CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT "Retro rock is peaking at the moment with Ghost leading the way; unlike Ghost, Tribulation maintain their heavy metal

'celebrities and sycophants', desperate people seek asylum, shock jocks are 'screamin’, and musicians are searching for meaning. The Undertow might lack numbers, but they’re capable of delivering both power and poignancy... Mayday is deeply moving." (Liberation/Universal)

songwriting force keeping country music real and traditionally true. Great songs and impeccable, distinctive Rawlings guitar... it doesn’t get much better than this." (Acony/Redeye)

roots. Jimmy Page once said that Led Zeppelin never wanted to copy the blues, just capture its mood. Tribulation do the same with heavy metal, emulating Zeppelin’s creativity, free spirit and occult tendencies for the modern metal fan." (Century Media/EMI)

PERRY KEYES SUNNYHOLT (Laughing Outlaw/Inertia) HONORABLE MENTION

EILEN JEWELL SUNDOWN OVER GHOST TOWN (Redeye/Yep Roc) HONORABLE MENTION

IRON MAIDEN THE BOOK OF SOULS (Parlophone/Warner) HONORABLE MENTION

JANUARY 2016

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