STACK #163 May 2018

MUSIC REVIEWS

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West Thebarton Different Beings Being Different Like a warm hug from a new friend at the pub, listeners have embraced West Thebarton from their inception, and debut album Different Beings Being Different should be welcomed no differently. Being a seven-piece, it’s easy to see how the Adelaide band have created this huge sound, but DBBD is much more than noisy ‘pub rock’ – it’s intricate, soulful, gut-wrenching, and hard as nails. Opener Moving Out busts its way out of the gates with the aggressive enthusiasm it has embodied as the opener for Thebbie’s live set for so long, and personal favourite Bible Camp is one for the Australian rock history books. On Different Beings Being Different , frontman Reverend Ray isn’t just delivering a raspy 40-minute sermon – he is preaching straight out of the Lord’s pint glass. (Domestic La La)Tim Lambert

Dave Hole Goin' Back Down

Various Johnny Cash: Forever Words (The Music) When someone as legendary as Johnny Cash passes away you will always expect some previously unheard material to surface. For this project we hear the words of Cash – discovered poetry, lyrics and letters – put into song by artists who had a personal connection to the man. Forever Words: The Music is the musical companion to the best selling book Forever Words: The Unknown Poems . Curated and produced by John Carter Cash and Steve Berkowitz, The Music features new performances by Chris Cornell, Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, The Jayhawks, Alison Krauss & Union Station, John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson with Willie Nelson, and more. A special and personal insight into a master of song. (Sony) Denise Hylands

Slowly Slowly St. Leonards Melbourne band Slowly Slowly are making gold on their sophomore effort, St. Leonards. Opener Dinosaurs gradually builds through frontman Ben Stewart’s wordplay, and transitions straight into the triumphant hook of Extinction ; the two tracks are interwoven into a five-minute epic. The four-piece go on to show careful restraint: drum and bass lines act as anchors to ground strained riffs, and set the score for Stewart's dynamic lyrics and metaphors. There are swirling emo throwbacks ( Smile Lines ), slow- burning lighter-wavers ( St. Leonards ) and triumphant, fist-pumping sing- a-longs ( Sorry ). This is the kind of album teens of years past dreamt of making, while they lay around their emo poster-adorned rooms and played The Devil And God Raging Inside Me louder than their parents approved of. (UNFD)Tim Lambert

Emerging from Perth in the mid-'60s, slide guitarist Dave Hole's unconventional method of playing over the top of his guitar's fretboard, with the slide on his index finger, earned praise from Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with whom he guested on two European tours. For his first new album in more than a decade, Hole pushes the boundaries, using loops and samples on some tracks while playing most of the instruments himself. Among his signature high-octane original material are two Elmore James covers, a nod to Dire Straits ( Arrows in The Dark ) and a ballad, Tears For No Reason , featuring a nylon-stringed classical guitar. (Only Blues) Billy Pinnell

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MAY 2018

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