Nada Surf - High/Low

YOURZ

Released right in the middle of the 90s, it always seemed to me that Nada Surf provided the link between the sounds of grunge, the nerd-rock of bands like Weezer and the smart art-rock of Sonic Youth and others.  This despite their first single being a huge anthem to the downside of being the coolest kid at school with Popular.

Unfortunately, while High/Low has travelled the years very well and more recently has achieved recognition as a defining piece of music, this was a long time coming.  It didn't help that the band, full of promise, were completely hobbled by a relentless record company, Elektra, looking for a follow-up hit.  When the band presented their second album, the record company basically turned their back on them, letting the album languish until they eventually dropped the band.

While the centre-piece of High/Low is undoubtedly the single, it is so different to the rest of the album, the way it sticks out from the rest of the album is a bit like a sore thumb (I imagine the band probably feel the same way about the song too).  While there is not a dud track here, I particularly like Treehouse, The Plan, Sleep and the closer, Zen Brain.  Definitely a Forgotten Gem for me, so...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Of course I remembered Popular but I hadn't heard any of the rest of the album before, and I was pleasantly surprised.  Good fun, well put together, nice hooks - a shame the "long dark corridor" of the recording industry didn't treat them better.

But it got me thinking - wouldn't this be a great Glee episode?  They could do all those school-type songs.  How about adding in Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus and of course Smells Like Teen Spirit? Then I guess we'd have to have Rock and Roll High School and Beck's Loser.  An episode about high school songs: an instant classic.

Anyway, I loved High/Low and I wasn't expecting to.  Yay!

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to http://www.nadasurf.com/

You Am I - Sound As Ever

MINE

Ladies, may I present You Am I lead singer Tim Rogers, thinking woman's crumpet.  Especially when he takes his shirt off, as he is wont to do. (Check out the website for some confirmation of his lean, ripped, tattooed torso.  Hoo.)  This album - their debut - might tempt you think of them as just another Aussie pub rock band, You Am I have come leaps and bounds since it was recorded in '93.  Their following album, Hi Fi Way, is the one that got them the most acclaim and cemented their standing in Australia's hearts.

I've not had that much of a history with the band, coinciding as they did with my voyage into all that is dance.  Not that I was unaware of them, just that I didn't won their music.  But if I'd been paying attention, I might have.  As I recall I got this album and another as part of a chuckout at the company I worked for.  Score!

One performance of theirs I particularly enjoyed was at the Sydney section of the Sound Relief concert (sample here) where they joined many other acts, including my local MP and Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, in raising funds for the victims of the Queensland floods and Victorian bushfires.  We love a sunburnt country, indeed.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

I’ve been looking forward to writing about this band pretty much ever since we started this blog.  They are, without a doubt, one of Australia’s premier rock bands, one who I’ve seen live more than any other Aussie act, in their various guises, from the early full on rock shows to their more stately, but still sweaty, latter years.  They have a well-deserved reputation are renowned for their live shows and Tim Rogers is considered to be one of the best singer/songwriters Australia has ever produced.  Over the years, I've owned a lot of their albums but living in group houses has seen the collection drastically depleted.

Consistently cited by both fans, industry insiders and some of the biggest bands in the world as a favourite, it is a mystery as to why they’ve never been able to grow a decent following beyond our fair shores.  That they have been a constant in the hearts of the Australian music-loving public for nearly 20 years and are the only band to have 3 albums in a row debut at the number one spot on the ARIA charts only adds to this conundrum.

Sound As Ever, their debut album, was produced by Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo who agreed to the job after he saw them perform at the Big Day Out in 1993 and was blown away by their presence and the songs they performed.  It is almost certainly because of his involvement at the early stages of You Am I’s career that gave the band the confidence they needed to continue.

There are so many good songs on this album, it is hard to pin down a single, defining track.  I really love their full on rock tracks like Off The Field, Corporalia and Berlin Chair but personally, the song that got inside  me the most was Jaimme’s Got A Girl, one of the more mellower tracks.  It not only highlighted Rogers sense of melody and his great voice but acts as a harbinger for the future sound of the band. 

Just about to release their 9^th studio album as a band (Tim Rogers has a well-established solo career as well), You Am I, while veterans of the Australian scene, are still as popular and probably more relevant now than they’ve ever been.  All they need is for the rest of the world to catch up.  And I need to add a few more to our list of must-haves.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to: http://www.youami.com.au/

In our collection we also have Hi Fi Way

If I Were A Carpenter - Various Artists

YOURZ

This is the first compilation we've done dedicated to the songs of a particular band or artist.  Fittingly, it is this 1994 tribute to The Carpenters, one of the most sublimely beautiful pop groups of the last 50 years.  Astoundingly, it is one of the most avant garde bands of the last 50 years, Sonic Youth, who provide the best track on this compilation, with their version of Superstar.  Its so good, it has pretty much ruined the original for me.

There are a couple of very pedestrian tracks on If I Were A Carpenter, none more so than the very bland version of Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft by Babes In Toyland.  Thankfully, it is tracks like Dishwalla's updated groove of It's Going To Take Some Time, Cracker's subdued version of Rainy Days And Mondays, Shonen Knife's hilarious Top Of The World and Redd Kross' rocking version of Yesterday Once More that make up for the few dodgy tracks.

If you're a die-hard Carpenters fan, you might want to avoid this but for the rest of us, this is a wonderful tribute to a truly talented duo.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

When we were looking for compilations to do, I voted for this album months ago - but weirdly it vanished, only to reappear this month, when we were looking for a different compilation to do.  How strange is that?  It reappeared in the kitchen, which is no surprise as I'd classify this as the ultimate in cooking music - all these songs I know all the words to, but done with a different twist.  Seriously, you can't listen to Shonen Knife's version of Top of the World without a smile on your face.

I once lent this album to a friend who was a mad Carpenters fan, and got it back pretty quickly with the verdict that it "ruined" the songs.  But I don't agree.  I'm a big fan of the tribute compilation album  (we have another, for Aussie band Cold Chisel, that's pretty awesome too) and fully expect to keep on buying them in the future.  (YourZ sez: don't we have one for The Go-Betweens as well?)

I have to admit I love Grant Lee Buffalo's version of We've only Just Begun  the most.  Makes me cry.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Were_a_Carpenter_(album)

Gerling - Bad Blood

MINE

Bangin' tunes.  Made we want to throw my hands in the air, hunt out some glowsticks and take a trip to the nearest nightclub.  BUT (sorry YourZ) I do have a problem with this CD.  Like a perfectly-ripened peach, like a sticky toddler playing on a shag carpet, like a drunk-driver about to make his debut on a Most Wanted reality show - this CD has FUZZ all over it.

Seriously, it's like they found the fuzz button on the effects box and thought "Oh, that'll fit in there - and there- and there..."  Plus there's the not-so-occasional shouty lyric.  And call me conservative, but I like listening to music where people sing.  As I've explained in boring length and detail on many other reviews, right here.  At least it goes to show I'm consistent.  Whether it's hip-hop, rock, metal or dance, Mine says PLEASE DON'T SHOUT.  Or only for effect, not right the way through the song.  Thankyou.

But the tunes are bangin'.  I could probably forgive the "We've Got  A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It" attitude Gerling have if I've had enough to drink and fancy shakin' my ass, but otherwise...

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ

Gerling are a great indie band from my home town of Sydney.  I've seen these guys around heaps but have only seen them perform live a few times which is truly an experience in itself as these are often organised chaos and a truck-load of crazy.

I really like their DIY ethic too.  They've always operated in their own space, taking very little notice of popular trends or music directions.  They are fearless in their adoption of electronica and were one of the first bands I heard that effectively combined both indie guitars and electronica into something much more interesting than I thought possible.  They were also one of the first bands where I heard the term 'indie-dance' applied to them.  It was this fearlessness that helped inspire me to set up my first home recording studio and start experimenting with digital technology.

Bad Blood, their third full length, is probably the most polished of their albums (although I haven't heard 4, the last album they released before going on an indefinite hiatus).  It certainly sees them expanding on their unique palette of instrumentations.  There is more than a little nod, in respects, to the musical adventurousness of acts such as Sonic Youth, although Gerling has a pop sensibility and a cheekiness not associated with Thurston and co. 

The album jumps from indie-rock to indie-dance and back again.  While this might sound like a confused playlist (and probably would be in the hands of lesser performers), Gerling move seamlessly from one mode to another, proving you can have your dance and rock it too.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP and let's get freaky

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/gerling

In our collection we also have Children Of Telepathic Experiences, Death To The Apple Gerls (EP), A Day Of Research (EP)

Girls Against Boys - You Can't Fight What You Can't See

MINE

It's kinda weird what this whole blogging-a-review-a-day is doing to my perception of music.  For instance, while listening to this CD (in the car en route to and from work, as is my wont) I became caught up in a train of thought about drum kits.  I was wondering if hard rock bands could forego the tinny sounds of the hi-hat, with a special foot pedal control instead operating another method of hitting a tom or a snare.  Because when you have a really hard driving rock sound, the hi-hat sounds positively - well, not to be delicate - pussy.

The drummer in Girls Against Boys is just so enamoured of his cymbal sounds, it's such a shame - because for my ears it takes away from what could be a really great example of post-punk New York style rock.  I also found the songwriting varied greatly, shifting from straight-and-boring rock to the post-punk variety.  I liked BFF and Kicking the Lights, and Let it Breathe is a nice way to close out the album, but generally - not impressed. 

Drummer - lose the hi-hat and stop banging that cymbal so much.  DRUM!

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ


This is another of those albums in our collection I totally forgot about.  I saw GVSB on tour with Australia's Magic Dirt some years ago now and remember being blown away by the twin bass guitar sound.  Up until then, I'd not even heard of the band.  But after the show, I went out and got You Can't Fight What You Can't See and was as impressed with this album as I was with their live show.

Theirs is a dark, rhythm-driven sound, heavy on drums and bass, naturally, nor are they not afraid to use new technologies to add to their overall driving sound.  Scott McCloud's sneering vocal delivery, coupled with the hardcore leanings of the music puts me in mind of a few other bands, most notably Fugazi and Sonic Youth. Thankfully, GVSB don't lean on these other acts too much, carving their own sound out of this template.

Favourites tracks include All The Rage, 300 Looks For The Summer (with its I don't like Hollywood repeated refrain), The Come Down, One Perfect Thing and Miami Skyline.  And while the band has been quiet for a number of years, I was pleased to read they've recently completed a tour of Europe and are also planning some recording time.  I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of this.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.gvsb.com/