*IN RETROSPECT* BLUEBOTTLE KISS- PATIENT (1999)

In the early 2000’s, when Richard Kingsmill used to broadcast a program on the Triple J radio station called “The J-Files”, I was listening intently.

It was a weekly ritual. One night he profiled a band called Bluebottle Kiss. Now being from perth, I was relatively unaware of them, sure they had toured Perth, but over East they were much more prominent.

I hadn’t heard much of their music, the only song I knew of there’s was “Generic Teen”, off the Somnambulist Homesick Blues EP.

Kingsmill so eloquently told the story through anecdotes and featuring many of their tracks. Being a huge fan of Sonic Youth, I took to them straight away, and the strange melancholic timbre of Jamie Hutching’s vocals, together with chaotic deconstructed guitar sounds, perfectly captured suburban unrest.

I wanted to know everything about them. I purchased the following week, their latest (at the time) release Revenge Is Slow, together with another album, the one prior to that, Patient.

As an amazing sequence of indie-rock, I marveled at it’s beauty, it’s abrasiveness, it’s remoteness and it’s musicality. Bluebottle evoked a feeling of orchestrated destruction, taking something otherwise conventional and then slowly unravelling to reveal at it’s core, total discourse.

Return To the City Of Folded Arms. The opening track is amazing, the first time I heard it, in 2003, was a revelation. And then, at the time of writing, 2017, I revisited this song and remember visiting my home-town after a long abscence. I wasn’t returning to folded arms, but the song did remind me of home. 

The music feels like suburban Australia. The cover photos surely evoke it too. A rich tapestry of adolescent confusion and existentialism, woven into great lyrical and musical beauty.

Smother It In Honey, again continues on these themes of adolescence, at least to me anyway. The lyrics seem to me to be about never being enough, never feeling self content, trying to sugar-coat every part of your life, and not letting it be, what it is.

Girl Genius, the most gorgeous on this album, about unfulfilled potential. The feeling of abandonment, the yearning of attention, it’s brooding acoustic guitars complement Jamie’s amazing vocals.

The centrepiece of the album Homeless Blueless, had a lasting impact on me, still does.

Returning slightly to themes of hometown disillusionment, being stuck in purgatory in a place, where familiarity breeds content. The feeling of being trapped. The final refrain "because I’m not leavin’ town… I’m never leaving town…”. The soloing guitars blase into the stratosphere as the track comes to a climaxtic finish.. And we’re  only at track 4!

Running Around The White Picket Fence, with urgent fiery meta style lyricism, that evokes feelings, and never truly reveals itself in a coherent manner. Nevertheless, it churns on, all the pent up energy within the band explodes onto the master tape, and makes an imprint on your nervous system, in a good way.

It what seems like a melodic victory lap, Give Up The Ghost, could of finished this set off, and become the greatest ever EP released by an Australian band. But they weren’t done with yet. Probably the most jovial song on the album, yet still exhibiting themes of disconnect, the most upbeat song arguable on Patient.

Maps to Help You Lose Your Way. I think of The Drones (whom I have reviewed on this site), whenever I listen to this. A slow burning suburban story-song, which dissents into chaotic noise. Although I have no evidence of this, surely Bluebottle Kiss where an influence on The Drones’ output. 

To finish off Patient, Paddock Blues, a reverb-laden song of somberness, drenched in pity and reminding me a bit of Neil Young’s Hey Hey, My My. It’s a perfect ending.

When Bluebottle Kiss toured for their album Doubt Seeds in 2006, I went and saw them in Fremantle. They shortly dissolved the band after that. That would be the only time I get to see them.

I remember briefly talking to Jamie after the show, giddingly exclaiming, “Patient is the greatest australian album ever”. I still believe that.

I will never overstate this. If you haven’t heard it’s right up there. I’m thinking The Triffids “Born Sandy Devotional"good.  “16 Lover’s Lane” good. 

This album was released on Citadel records, after what seemed like an unceremonious axing from Murmur, whom I thought had better judgement that letting a band of this calibre go, but there you have it.

Bluebottle Kiss in general, fly under the radar for various reasons. They never really toured the prominent festival circuit, they were on the fringes of alternative radio, but didn’t quite get the recognition I believe they deserved. I tell everybody about Patient. I think it’s a monumental achievement in songwriting.

A lot of what I do in my own songwriting, I owe a great debt to Jamie Hutchings.

Nowadays, Jamie Hutchings, the former Bluebottle frontman, fronts another band called Infinity Broke, I also highly recommend checking them out. 

Listen to Patient, as soon as you can. It may change your life.

*REVIEW* Bon Iver- 22, A Million

8/10

I was working in a record store, when Bon Iver's debut album arrived. We all played it over the loud-speakers at work. It was on high rotation not just at work, but at home, at parties, this album actually for a period in my life was everywhere. In 2008, it seemed so quaint a record, that you couldn't help but revel in it's stark honesty and solemn beauty.

3 years later, I was in a different job, moved town and had a totally different outlook on things. The second Bon Iver record arrived at a different juncture in my life. While it retained the amazing balladry from For Emma, Forever Ago, it actually improved upon it and more instrumentation was used. It was an amazing accomplishment, and for me it actually left the debut in the dirt for a lot of reasons.. It was actually one of the few sophomore efforts by an artist to surpass their debut.

I was looking forward to what they were about to do next. I saw them when they toured Perth, (and actually played their song "Perth" to a hysterical crowd). It was amazing. But then the feeling of dread occured to me.... the blasted 3 year long wait between albums.

But it turned out to actually be 5..

So again 22 A Million shows up at yet again another juncture in my life.. I am actually 30 now..

Why does any of this back story matter? Well it probably doesn't, but Bon Iver's music tends to touch on different things inside the person listening to it. For most, it's transcendental.. You remember where you were when you first heard "Holocene" or "Skinny Love". This strange high pitched falsetto that became a signature for Justin Vernon, it permeates through the minds of listeners everywhere, it holds a special place, and it always feels like a campfire fanfare whenever on of their songs is being played.

The new album, further advances the Bon Iver sound. 

Opener "22 Over Soon" starts off with a plaintive tale of anticipation. What is about to end, what is about to begin, it's not certain, the only certainty is that everything and everyone changes all the time.

"10dEATHBrEAST" starts off with this embryonic slushy synth sequence that anchors the sound of the track. A very strange song.

The worst aspect of this record, are the tracks where auto-tune is used. "715-Creeks" uses this to exhaustion, and to the point where it becomes a parody of itself. I can understand why it's used in the studio for artist effect, but I feel it detracts from Vernon's haunting voice.

"33 "GOD". This is probably the strongest track on the record. It's melody is the most immediate thing on the record. I'm still really unsure whether this music was made impenetrable on purpose, or just came out that way.

"29 Stafford APTS" recalls For Emma era Bon Iver, the more organic early stuff. Having said that, the vocal effects on this again... they detract from the magic of the song.

"666" uses some over the top overdubs, including some squelchy blast beats over the top of pitched-up vocals. The song is actually quite good, but it suffers from over-production.

 A lot of 22, A Million seems to wallow in it's own indulgence mess, everything from the front artwork, to the ridiculous unpronounceable track titles. 

Underneath all the production flourishes, are the templates for a collection of amazing songs. 22, A Million works best when it is stripped back a bit. "8 (Circle)", even for it's grandiose overdubbing, doesn't seem to have anything that's not necessary in it. When the pitched vocal samples drop in, they don't feel overpowering like some of the other tracks. The horns come in and sound magnificent, recalling the best moments on the self titled LP.

Trever Hagen's foreword to this album, on the offical Bon Iver webpage, alludes to the fact that Justin Vernon felt disillusioned with his career. He had built it up, and put it out into the world and it became bigger than any one member of the group. 

During this time, some side projects and collaborations hinted at what would be next. I think at the time Vernon didn't quite know what that would be. So in analysing the cluttered artwork of the front cover, and the nature of the music, this set of songs were built around fragments. These fragments were stripped apart, put back together again or completely scratched. 

When the worlds of digital and analogue sounds unite on this record, it forms a harmonious marriage of past and present. Bon Iver like to look at remnants of sounds, that's why quite often you can hear saxophones or vocal samples, deep down in the mix.. Like washes of memories, faint reminders of the past.

"00000 Million" closes out this album. I feel polarised. I feel hope and excitement simultaneously. I remember where I was when I heard this. I will always remember.

*REVIEW* The Peep Tempel- Joy

9.5/10

Melbourne trio The Peep Tempel's latest album, is exciting, intense and oozes with kinetic energy. It's a further consolidation of their sound.

If I was to pick who sounded the most mongrel out of Tempel's vocalist Blake Scott and the drones Gareth Liddiard, I would be very hard pressed to.

The rural Australian dialect of the vocals is what these two acts share in common. Their fondness for suburban desolation, old fables and cynicism make them an act that offers an inward look at everyday     working class problems. 

Their new album "Joy" revels in these such themes. We have the opener "Kalgoorlie" in which Scott, in his signature half sung-spoken word narrative traverses the sparse and remote land of Kalgoorlie. 

The second track "Totality' riffs on the same ideas but features one of the best grooves on the album.

The pure hysteria of "We You Forgot", which sees Blake lament over "the rats THE RATS THEY'RE RAVENOUS". A song outlining the sheer horror of isolation in the outback. 

"Ray guns", here is where Blake Scott brings out his inner Johnny Rotten, with the accentuated lyrics reminding me the classic pistols track "Bodies".

So the first four tracks start of the album with a blast. Right now, The Peep Tempels are in a vanguard of their own, existing within their own musical universe.

The centrepiece of the album though "Constable" is utter perfection. It tells the tale of a police officer demoted to a rural town, here he narrates his everyday life, what he's seen, what he's done. It's all spoken word and is propelled by the wordless chorus that rises above. 

"Empathy will make your bones break, and you're heart bleed", "there's ghosts in my walls, but at least I own my own house". 

Scott quite often examines the human condition in his lyrics, and the complexities of being a man in the modern age, especially being an authoritative figure. 

The displacement of emotion to try and remain stoic in the heart of ugliness. The repressed feeling that as long as a material asset, like a house is owned, you can feel like someone. In this age of economic instability.

"Neuroplasticity" sees the band explore the existential crisis of a man trying to make sense of the world, trying to find joy in the crazy world. It's basically a call to arms to say, we have to adapt or die.

"Go Slow", heads down a soulful path, like a mid tempo swap soul blues track. With an insatiable bass line and key arrangement. This song I don't think tackles any deep issues here, it's just a great jam, a great band jam. 

"Brains" is pretty hard to pin down, Im not sure if it's about a maniac or not. It sends us on a slow descent into madness with the coda "I"VE BEEN LIVIN' ON YOUR BRAIN!!".. 

But like flashes of genius, they are brilliant and fleeting. This album lasts 37 minutes and not one minute is wasted on it. If you haven't checked this band yet, you need too! They are currently touring too, and are a forced to be reckoned with as a live act. 

Another brilliant release from this amazing trio.

*REVIEW* Leonard Cohen- You Want It Darker

7.5/10

Listening to Leonard Cohen's music most of the time, is the epitome of purgatory. Emotional purgatory. I think to be generally interested in his post 90's output you would have a hard time trying to decipher what is incredible past his usual impeccable lyricism.

Cohen's voice with age grew darker and distinguished, and from reading how he had trouble with back problems during the recording of this LP, it isn't surprising you can hear him labouring to get most of the vocals on "You Want It Darker".

I think arrangement wise, this album seems to just make a mere backdrop to Cohen's dark half spoken  croon, (if you could call it that) but that has been the case for most of his canon from the 90's onwards.

Now obviously, I will be met with blasphemy, if I consider this to be none less than a modern masterpiece from an elder statesman. Well to be honest, it's a listenable new release with some great lyrical ideas and competent but average arrangements.

I will be basing a lot of my verdict on the lyricism contained within. Because really if you take out the lyrics and Cohen's vocals, you will find soundtrack music for a nondescript film. There really isn't much beneath the lyrics on this. 

Cohen tries his best to tell the story, but in all honesty, I would rather him just release a spoken word album and be done with it. I get it, it's poetry to music, and that's Cohen's calling card. But there's absolutely nothing engaging in the instrumentation on this album. I actually found the arrangements on 2014's Popular Problems to be more absorbing than this.

The opener and title track, starts with the brooding voice of Cohen, with the sparse kick drum and choral vocals washing underneath Cohen's own. I actually perceive this title track, and it's choice for the album title, to be self deprecating and tongue in cheek. As if anybody would expect light listening on a Leonard Cohen record, the fans want it darker every time!

"Treaty" sees Cohen expressing frustration and disillusionment at the same time. He alludes to their being a tug of war between him and a lover;


"I do not care who takes this bloody hill
I'm angry and I'm tired all the time
I wish there was a treaty, I wish there was a treaty
Between your love and mine"

I guess this either signals that there's virtue in submission, or that there's virtue in transparency.

Speaking of transparency, in "On The Level" Cohen sings " let's keep it on the level, when I walked away from you, I turned my back on the devil..and an angel too". This track speaks in volumes more about Cohen's life philosophy, than the good and evil theme inferred in the track. The best of ten years Cohen spent practising Zen Buddhism, so it's apt to find him addressing the proverbial heaven and hell metaphors as just another distraction in a world where he is striving for clarity and peace.

"Travelling Light" is a tribute to the wondering spirit that Cohen is. Drawn from experiences he has gathered over the world. The quaintest track on this album.

"It Seemed The Better Way", deals with wavering faith. Asking the god that you pray to, the truth that was told in the past now appears to be false? He asks several times, he feels doubt, but still drinks the blood of christ. This is the friction between pragmatism and unconditional faith. Can the god that has lied to you be repentant?

"Steer Your Way" uses symbolic gesturing to tackle religion and modern consumerism. Cohen basically talks about how our society is delving further and further, into relying on material things for self gratification. 

As I harp back on the point that Leonard Cohen should release a spoken word album, there really isn't any glimmer of anything worth noting about the arrangements here. I don't believe instruments are a necessity in his music, although I do believe he has been more adventurous earlier in his career arrangement and production wise (see the Spector produced "Death of a Ladies Man" and the mid eighties gem "Various Positions"). 

Whether it be a way to work through an existential crisis in his twilight years, or to just exercise his right to be self deprecating and sullen, You Want It Darker brings Cohen's dynamic lyricism into the stratosphere. 

And it's on this, he prepares a dress rehearsal rag of a different kind.. 

I'm ready my lord..

*REVIEW* Young Animal You Yang

7/10

Within the continuation of this blog, I will be occasionally picking a random album I have no idea about. This is one of those. 

Doing a bit of background research, I found out that Lost Animal comprises of Jarred Quarrell and Shags Chamberlain. They have one other full length release 2011's Ex Tropical. They are signed to the Dot Dash Recordings, a subsidiary of Remote Control and Inertia Records which has been in existence for a little over ten years now. 

So with this scant amount of information, I proceeded to start listening to this record. 

The most obvious thing about the music that Lost Animal produces, is it doesn't jump out of the box at you. From the opener "Leave It On the Street" we get a pretty good idea of the sound of the track-list and lyrical themes that will permeate You Yang. 

Starting with some programmed beats and the sedated sound of Jarred Quarrell's vocals, I can equate to the sound of a contemporary Nick Cave on tons of valium or a slightly less talented Greg Dulli from The Afghan Whigs. It's a very slow drawly type of croon. If you have trouble enjoying this sound, then the entire thing is filled with this vocal style.

The first 3 or 4 tracks of the album start off very sluggishly. They don't tend to veer away from the sound represented in the opener. But as the album progresses, the arrangements get better, it starts to open up and sound more adventurous, it sort forms a foil to Quarrell's vocals, which they may have identified as being too monotonous with too few accompaniments. 

"Do The Yerk", basically represents the most accessible track on the album, and probably is the reason it was chosen for the lead single. The stomping beat is the only thing on this (with the exception of possibly Message of The Future and Too Late To Die Young) to feature anything remotely seen as mid tempo.

The lyrical content basically deals with relationships, the fear of losing a loved one, the feeling of emotional entrapment. It feels like these themes are in every single track, with the background melodies and instrumentation slightly changed. A dossier of broken dreams. 

The staggering "Cross The Water" provides an interesting tense account of what seems to be a predatory man coaxing a certain someone somewhere. It's not quite clear who this person is, but the pitched down vocals used as an overlay tell you this is a guy you don't want to mess with. 

The closer "New Years Day" I felt was the strongest track on You Yang. The serene and melancholic acoustic guitars and woozy background synths. You can listen through this quite easily, it feels like the internal struggle between treading water and looking optimistically forward. Do you revel in past loves, waiting for them to return, or do you look forward to new ones. It's so unsure of itself. Maybe that's the entire point of this record. 

This music is extremely laconic, it won't change the world but it's an engaging set of songs that you can sink into. For fans of The War On Drugs and other like artists, definitely check this out. 

*REVIEW* AMERICAN FOOTBALL (2016)

9/10

To look at this record subjectively, it really has to be assessed in isolation to their debut LP of 1999.

Otherwise, I think you will have a predetermined bias against the music. Of course it's natural to feel this way, given the almost god like status the first album has given over the last decade and a half.

American Footballs debut record was a huge sleeper hit, continuing to amass accolades from the listening public. In a way the band was like a mirage, you can't quite see them in the distance, but you're sure you've seen something. The music they created was so well presented and mystical, that it's hard to fathom that they only made this one album.

The members dispersed into other ventures shortly after recording the first album, and quietly dissolved the group. Mike Kinsella formed Owen, to which a lot of the style of AF can be heard in.

I think the fact that this band completed this project, then under a week later all moved to different towns, is probably very telling in the way they felt about the music. It was a good recording session, but none of them could of imagined the lasting impact the record has had.

Their reunion in 2014 was ominous, after some shows to rave reviews, and a reissue of the aforementioned debut, it seemed another studio album was on the cards.

So now we hear the first material in 17 years. It's a long time in between albums (except for Tool perhaps). A lot has changed.

The most notable thing is Kinsella's vocals. Over the years his voice had become more distinguished, so replacing the high end squeaky emo stylings of Mike Kinsella circa 1999, is a slightly lower octave mature vocalist, who can control his voice with the years of practice.

The other thing, probably the most here, is that all the band members are in their mid to late thirties now. they have all gone off to do various projects and have spent a good deal of time, detached from the music of American Football for a long time. We have to remember here, that this band before their hiatus, were around for only 3 years. So the spontaneity of the music, I think was captured so well, that I think listeners immediately took to it.

The opener "Where are we now" starts off the album brilliantly, with a slow fade in and the iconic twin guitar interplay being put to the front. Then we have a track that feels very forward thinking, but contemplative.

"Instincts are my enemy" carries the album through the same sort of themes.

"Give Me The Gun" is probably the best track on this album, for some reason it seems to hit a note with me, it's a high watermark for the album.

Where LP1 dealt with the disillusionment of youth, that angsty feeling of your teenage years, your inability to articulate your feelings properly without breaking out in a rage. LP2 basically has us in a totally different headspace. After all, everyone has grown up or has to grow up sometime. In our most solitary moments, our thoughts drift backwards, about what could of been, and forward, the future presents uncertainty.

And that's the thing about good music. It's in the moment. A lot of artists are interviewed and will talk about how many hundred times they did a take for a song in the studio, but remember the 1 that made the record and the other 99 were forgotten about. They know when the moment has come, we know when the moment is here. That's the approach the first LP took. They had nothing to lose, put it all out there, then left it, only to become this gargantuan cult classic.

So it's a big ask to try and get the band to recreate or emulate that feeling again after all this time. The blueprint for their sound is here, Lamos' stuttering drum style, the polyrhythmic guitar riffs, the brooding trumpets on some of the tracks. It's all here, and it's executed brilliantly. 

"I've Been Lost So Long" was a great single release in the lead up to the LP. It tends reel you in with the nostalgia hit I think a lot of people will be coming to this record for. Because if I'm to be completely honest, the critics and fans have put American Football so high up on a pedestal, that anything other than a ground breaking effort will result in their utter deflation. 

I think that is something the band will have to deal with. We can't expect miracles, but at the same time we can't live in suspended animation either and wish we were in 1999 for the rest of eternity.

This album is a well executed, competent album, with some great vocal delivery musicianship and lyrics synonymous with Kinsella's great musical output. Endearment takes time, because after all, we could be talking about this album as an un-desputed classic when the 3rd album drops in 2033.

Callan Cummings

*IN RETROSPECT* CICCONE YOUTH

SONIC YOUTH (AS CICCONE YOUTH)
THE WHITEY ALBUM

Some premier indie acts have been known to go on artistic detours, to the disdain of fans sometimes are waiting for the next "proper" release from them.

In recent times, Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, had a flurry of activity with side projects like Volcano Choir amongst a few others, in between major Bon Iver releases. Yo La Tengo's pet project Condo Fucks, the Wilco alumni involved in the band Loose Fur.

While these excursions are sometimes helpful in keeping a musician focused and well rounded, not letting the music they're playing to become boring, it gets channeled into lower profile guest appearances or collaborations on other bands albums.  Some of which the results are incredibly mixed.

If you are the kind of person who will look at your favourite band through rose coloured glasses, you will most certainly eat up anything they are associated with, you'll buy everything they release regardless of the content or quality.

Sonic Youth were among them, I don't  think these forays into different projects detract from their long-standing musical credibility, but what it does do, is endear you to them. They just really didn't care at all during their reign as possibly the greatest indie group rock that ever was (is) whatever..

I mean it can be argued that when they left SST and went to Geffen records, their own sound was watered down, but I think a lot of things happening in their music leading up to releases like GOO and Dirty, were precursors to the sounds of those albums.

They never seemed to lose their integrity throughout all the different phases of their career. In fact one way they knew they could fly under the radar musically with their avant-garde experiments, was to release them under different pseudonyms like their "difficult listening series" known in volumes as SYR, that was how Ciccone Youth was born.

A made up group comprising of Sonic Youth and Mike Watt from the minutemen, solely for the purpose of recording this album. The concept stems from an EP SY put out called Master=Dik. The first use of programmed drums in anything Sonic Youth related was a curiosity and at the time probably wasn't expected to be fleshed out into an entire full length project.

But that's exactly what they did, they also took inspiration from the most unlikely of sources, Madonna.

As we see a magnified photo of Madonna as the album cover, we are really none the wiser as to the music on this thing. Madonna had given her approval of the art work to be released, and who knows maybe she has a copy of this at home, it does after all contain covers of a few of her hit tracks like "Burnin' Up" and "Into The Groove".

All throughout we basically have a Sonic Youth record except with the addition of Mike Watt, drum machines and synthesisers. The guitars are still quintessentially Thurston and Lee, the occasional cool  Kim Gordon crooning appears a few times. We also have some nice instrumental tracks that border on industrial no wave (which goes back to their origins as a group).

The Whitey Album comes together like an pop art counterculture pastiche, with the two worlds of pop music and the fringe music of Sonic Youth colliding in a gloriously chaotic marriage of sound.

There are a couple of tracks with spoken word segments, and they remind me of some of the "concrete musique" elements of the Swans LP "Soundtracks of the blind". 

Sonic Youth reissued The Whitey Album in 2006, after being out of print for about ten years through their GOOFIN records imprint. It is definitely worth checking out if you are a Sonic Youth fan. If you're looking to get into them, I would probably suggest Daydream Nation or any of the post SST albums, as this one will be for the die-hards.

There's not much to make of it, it's not an unheralded gem in the Sonic Youth discography, an understood masterpiece. It's just a wacky curiosity, something they cooked up and had a good time with. It showed that Sonic Youth weren't just another pretentious art-rock group from New York.

Callan Cummings