STACK #179 Sept 2019

MUSIC REVIEWS

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!!! Wallop

Beth Hart War In My Mind

The McNamarr Project Holla & Moan Two of Australia's finest soul and blues singers, Andrea Marr and John McNamara, began their collaboration in 2018 winning that year's Blues Performer of the Year in the MBAS Awards. Part of their prize was to represent Australia at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee, the home of Stax Records, where in the 1960s Otis Redding and Carla Thomas recorded a batch of timeless duo hits. On hearing The McNamarr Project, long-time Stax producer/ arranger Lester Snell put together a band of legendary Memphis musicians to record the backing tracks for this outstanding album. Both singers complement each other in a special way on these 10 original songs, singing in harmony or bouncing off each other. I can't recall the last time I heard a female/ male vocal act as exciting as this. (Only Blues) Billy Pinnell

Bat For Lashes Lost Girls

Recorded in vocalist Nic Offer's Brooklyn apartment, !!!'s eighth album distributes AAA party passes to Angus Andrew (Liars), Maria Uzor (Sink Ya Teeth) and Cameron Mesirow (Glasser) – all of whom feature within Wallop 's liner notes. As well as a healthy dose of lyrical humour ("We wrote every single note and chord of every single song/ Lived through every stupid argument about being legit"), Serbia Drums boasts an earworm hook (toy piano?); Rhythm Of The Gravity barges in with The The-channeling vocals; UR Paranoid chronicles drug-fuelled 'moments'; and This Is The Door is a jubilant conga line punctuated by brass stabs with Meah Pace on sassy vocals. These bossy beats are comin' atcha ready or not, so just shut up and dance! This !!! record packs a Wallop. (Warp) Bryget Chrisfield

If I was asked to describe singer/ songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Beth Hart in one word, it would be 'real'. Throughout a recording career that began in 1993, the multi-Grammy nominated artist – who has collaborated with Jeff Beck, Slash, Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa, and sang the lead role in Love, Janis, an off-Broadway musical based on Joplin's letters home to her mother – has found the courage to express her life experiences, good and bad. On her newest release she continues to bare her soul in rock songs and ballads whose themes will not be unfamiliar to most of us. At 47 this great artist continues to raise her musical bar. (Mascot) Billy Pinnell

Natasha Khan, better known as Bat for Lashes, has become renowned for her cinematic soundscapes, creating a distinct world of her own within each of her records. Lost Girls is no different, Khan turning to the '80s and coming-of-age romances across the album’s ten tracks. Khan evokes an incredible atmosphere in her songs, with early highlight The Hunger combining organs and inventive percussion to great effect. Khan’s voice is full of emotion and range on Desert Man and Safe Tonight , while taking on a breathy, seductive quality on Jasmine . This is an album full of potent feminine energy, one that is bold with the vibrancy of lust and the powerful feeling that is to be in love. (AWAL Recordings) Holly Pereira

Killswitch Engage Atonement Killswitch Engage are one of

HammerFall Dominion

Tanya Tucker While I'm Livin' Outlaw Country is otherwise

Lucky Oceans Purple Sky Lucky Oceans – he of nine-time Grammy-winning act Asleep At The Wheel, who moved to Australia from the States some years back – pays tribute to the late, great Hank Williams, an artist pivotal to Oceans throughout his music career. It’s understandable why Oceans is one of Australia’s most sought-after slide guitarists; Lucky’s crying steel is the hauntingly beautiful accompaniment to some of his favourite Australian artists paying tribute to the one and only Williams: Kasey and Bill Chambers, Vika and Linda Bull, Jeff Lang, Tex Perkins, Paul Kelly, Matt Walker, Don Walker, and special guest Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges. You’ve got Hank, Lucky and the cream of the crop – you just can’t go wrong. (Universal) Denise Hylands

Heavy metal has gone through so many changes over the course of its 50 year existence. The developments are either positive or negative depending on your tastes, but it's great to know that there are bands that still hold onto the classic style of the '80s. A band like HammerFall only released their debut in 1997, but their love of good old, warts-and-all heavy metal is to be admired. What they may lack in originality, they more than make up for with deft songwriting, that focuses on melody and hooks. Bands like Dio and Judas Priest built careers on giving fans an avenue to escape the drudgery of everyday life. HammerFall continues this tradition with Dominion . (Napalm/Rocket) Simon Lukic

modern metal's most renowned bands. They injected much needed energy and musicianship during the noughties to help bring the scene out of its nu-metal slump. Atonement is another example of why they are still so highly regarded. After a somewhat restrained beginning that is Unleashed , the album storms out of the gate with The Signal Fire , which features the band's former vocalist Howard Jones, and it's all systems go. Atonement may not push the envelope in terms of songwriting, but the band's signature sound is present, ensuring the album retains a familiarity without sounding like a rehash of the past. (Sony) Simon Lukic

defined as ‘too country for country’, and Tanya Tucker is one amongst this particular subgenre. She had her first hit in 1972 as a 13 year old with the song Delta Dawn , and has just released her 25th studio album, and between has been a multiple-award- winning and chart-hitting artist. Produced by Shooter Jennings and Brandi Carlile, While I'm Livin ' saw the pair encourage and guide Tucker into the studio to record her first album of original songs in 17 years. Carlile – along with longtime collaborators Tim and Phil Hanseroth – custom wrote most of the songs highlighting Tucker's life. Tucker is a real deal outlaw country legend. (Concord/Fantasy) Denise Hylands

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