Mac Demarco's Live set at The Shadow Electric, Melbourne.

Earlier this year, when I was employed and enjoying the youtube benefits that an office job could bring, I found myself watching a couple of Mac Demarco's live shows. They were brilliant - the band were animated, they played their songs even better than the album versions, told rude jokes, did all sorts of crazy shit...

And I'm glad to say that that experience was brought to their show on Monday.

It was absolutely fantastic. The support acts were pretty cool too, Jesse Davidson was a bit like a two man Two Door Cinema club with thrashy guitars and nice trembling vocals, and I bought his 7" which had a dong on the cover. Scot Drakula (dunno how it's spelt?) was pretty surf punk/rock and played a decent set, a few songs were actually eye openingly decent... but Mac was something else.

I think what really sealed it for me were that they were out to have a good live show. When playing a lot of their old or slower songs, the band sped it up and transformed both the song and the audience into an absolute boogie fest and it really gave off the vibe that this would have been fantastic at a festival. Other highlights include Mac and his bass player making out on the stage, flashing of penises, flashing of Mac's penis, a giant medley jam of various artists - Tool, Led Zepplin, Limp Bizkit and more, dragging punters on stage, the list goes on.

The crowd were a bit placid, unfortunately. I think it's safe to say though that the band would have been amazing at Meredith festival the previous weekend - Mac also hinted at a possible return to Australian shores, and my buddy reckons 6 months tops and he'll be back. If you get the chance to go see him, drive to Sydney! Drive to Melbourne! Just do it! 10/10 performance and you will not be disappointed! Unless you're a pessimistic fuck-wad in which case you shouldn't be leaving the house anyway.



Side note - Only one issue with the gig is that the one time I got to meet the guy was when I was running to the toilet. He was hiding in the corner of an alleyway and instead of saying something about how it was good seeing his popularity shoot up because of hits on my blog, I pretty much dorked out and said 'OH HAY MAN' and then went off to piss in shame while I talked to another awe struck punter who jokingly said he nearly told him he loved him.

Love Of Diagrams - Nowhere Forever

2009 saw the release of Love Of Diagrams' 3rd studio album - Nowhere Forever. The album is a palpable feast of indie jams and spaced out dynamics, but I can't help but think it could have been something more.

Instrumentally, the band has a great sound going on. They've given the bass guitar more of a presence than your average band and it pays off, giving the guitar time to go off into these airy solos or set up some grungy backing noise. You also hear a lot of different drumming styles varying from normal rock to a deep jungle like rhythm depending on the track. Overall, you end up getting a sound can be really involving, mosh friendly indie, a summery art punk vibe holding similarities to Sonic Youth, 90's era grunge and a tinge of that signature noise the Australian folk indie scene was making back around the early to mid 00s.

However, while it's apparent that these guys are talented musicians, there seems to be a real inconsistency in the quality of tracks across the whole album. There are points where I found myself listening through the whole thing and feeling that some of the slower songs lacked a certain 'dynamic' - the lyrics wouldn't be memorable, the jams would be rolling on for too long - it'd feel like nothing was actually happening with the music.You'd start to wonder if the better songs on the album were the result of some sort of fluke, before another strong track would come on and remind you why the album is good.

Like I said though, they are talented musicians and despite the way the album seems to draw on in places,  it still opens strongly with a lot of catchy, in your face tracks like Forever, Mountain and Static Information. Even though the album does draw on, if you nitpick a few tracks from Nowhere Forever and give those a listen then they'll make a good addition to any indie rock enthusiast's playlist.

Listen to the whole thing here: http://loveofdiagrams.bandcamp.com/album/nowhere-forever

Reccomended for: Lovers of Sonic Youth, Bloc Party, The Ex.

Side note - 2013 was scheduled to hold a new release from Love of Diagrams with Steve Albini doing the production work. While it's unlikely we'll see the release until 2014, Albini has produced albums for smaller bands who have then sky-rocketed to fame and critical acclaim. Three examples being The Pixies first album, Cloud Nothing's 'Attack on Memory' from last year, and McLusky's quintiesstial rock album 'Mcklusky Do Dallas'. As a band, Love of Diagrams shows as much potential as any of these three and if Albini's track record is anything to go by, their next album *will* be a masterpiece... assuming it gets released. Watch this space, guys.

New 'Have A Nice Life' - Defenestration Song revisited

Connecticut's most independent, strange and progressive band are at it again. With a new release set for February 4, 2014, this is the first teaser we're getting off the album, a revisit to their track Defenestration song which was released back on their Voids EP.

As for the track? I'm undecided on it so far. I'm super excited for new HANL, but Defenestration song was one of those ones I would just hammer out every day (still is) and I really liked that raw noise it had. The polish is cool but it's missing a certain oomph. Probably through the change in vocals and the mellowing of the percussion.

You can find it here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2013/12/10/250002714/vikings-choice-this-song-is-literally-for-throwing-stuff-out-the-window?sc=tw&cc=twmp

Future Of The Left - How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident

Good news people! I submitted this to an upcoming streetpress magazine and they liked it! The bad news is that they only want reviews of Melbourne bands. That's pretty cool however.

Anyway on to the review!

The end of 2013 sees Welsh band Future Of The Left returning once more with the release of their fourth studio album, 'How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident'. After what some consider a lacklustre album that preceded it, it's good to say that the band is back to fine form with this hard hitting release of obscene noise rock.

One of the great things about this album, and maybe of Future Of The Left in general, is that they keep their music interesting. The band isn't afraid to mess around with a few styles in order to stop an album from going stale - the album starting off to heavy riffs, unpredictable vocals and a thunderous finish with the track 'Bread, Cheese, Bow and Arrow', - after this, however, the second track conveys a vastly different sound - both catchy and a little bit poppy with zero trace of the thump and distortion of the previous track. It's these kind of curve-balls that keep the album interesting, and beyond this we get more tracks that mimic the musical styles of metal, folk, post-grunge and even finishing on a blues track.

The other thing that the band does right is that lead singer Andy Falkous goes the extra mile in order to separate himself from the other vocalists. He's not afraid to get weird with the delivery of his already weird lyrics, screams of 'Her cock is so hard', Elvis style warbles of 'He was good with his hands' amongst many other obscenities are dotted all over the album, and might make it a little hard for the conventional listener to enjoy. However, he has his serious moments too, a particularly good lyric from 'French Lessons' goes along the lines of saying 'You could kid yourself that your dreams amount to more than counting backwards from four' as if to attack a perceived feigning of ambition in those who really only look forward to the weekend.

I can't say that I think this album is for everyone. At times it's abrasive, confronting and noisy - but for those of us who took the time to appreciate those louder, weirder and ultimately more unique albums, this is an absolute gem for the noise-rock/post hardcore enthusiast and a solid middle finger to most of the conventional rock that dominates the pop music market today.

Give this a spin if you're into At The Drive-In, The Men, or Shellac.
Do not give this a spin if you are elderly, easily offended, or listen to Nickelback.

Johnny Borell Afterlife - second track off the album. 

See what I mean about the weird but poppy sound? Great track.