(Tenzenmen)

Chinese noise-rockers debut with 2010’s most schizoid CD so far

China’s bustling indie rock scene is overdue for exposure in the West, with Muscle Snog a prime example. Formed in 2006 in Shanghai, the five-piece explore areas neither Deerhoof nor Deerhunter have trodden on their remarkable debut album Mind Shop. With priceless song titles like Mind Shop Is On Sale, Happy Dreamer On A Sad Bed, The Reverse Cowgirl and Think And Shit (also the best number here), the CD is as trippy and odd as it is exhilarating. From the spooky Intro onwards, it’s sheer noise-rock nirvana as effects-pedal hell breaks loose. Offset by vocalist Maimai’s astonishingly clear delivery, guitarist Hei Xiongmao’s eardrum-piercing assaults often bring to mind Agatha of cult Japanese noiseniks Melt-Banana. The mercifully brief Specimen Of Chicken and Cat are concise slices of whacked-out guitar-rorism complete with animal noises, while on the opposite end of the songwriting scale, the ’90s-style Call It Pop Song would do Teenage Fanclub proud. The closing double of the Sonic Youth-meets-MBV Boy With Burning Legs and the JAMC-goes-berko take on The Beatles’ perennial A Day In The Life (which would probably rattle John Lennon’s spirit with its nothing-is-sacred abandon) gradually melts down like a dying distortion stompbox. Enter The (Fuzz) Dragon.

DENIS SEMCHENKO

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(Independent)

Impressive debut outing from local indie-pop comb

Having formed in 2008 “on a full moon, when Sagittarius was on the cusp of Venus”, Brisbane five-piece The Brunswicks showcase their impressive songwriting and performing chops on first LP Otherwise Forever. Singer/keyboardist Rebekah Davis’s clear tone is complemented by Andrew Wheeler (who wrote the majority of the songs here) and Matthew Blair’s guitars; cue plenty of classic indie wistfulness combined with jangle and chime. Echoes of Wilco and Bends-era Radiohead occasionally resonate through a clutch of numbers, yet it’s the Neil Finn influence that singularly hovers over the record – the opening Indelible Fear even starts in a somewhat similar manner to Crowded House’s Weather With You. The musicianship often veers into dream-pop territory commonly inhabited by acts like Elysian Fields and their more recent Melbourne counterparts The Orbweavers – albeit fronted by Neko Case. Standouts like Moment With You, Pandora and In Silence quietly entice, Davis’s vocals covering the span from quiet sighs to emotive, exclamatory peaks. With an extra (subtle) gloss given by the pristine mix, Otherwise Forever is a remarkably even listen.

DENIS SEMCHENKO

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(Independent)

Folk Tales in four-part harmony

At its heart The Willow Tree, the debut four-track EP for Melbourne-based seven-piece Into The Woods is a guitar-based folk album. But it’s more than that: the all-male band’s strength lies in their numbers; sporting several vocalists and a number of multi-instrumentalists they are able to craft a very rich palette of sound. In their pop moments they conjure the big-band exuberance of the likes of the John Steele Singers. Indeed, the brass solos on several tracks provide a nice twist to the classic folk-pop formula. When in true folk mode, their vocal harmonies are reminiscent of a more rough-hewn Fleet Foxes, soaring over country-influenced melodies. Not to be confused with US and UK bands (or mediocre 2006 horror film) of the same name, Into The Woods have combined pop sensibilities and lush instrumentation to produce an album for folk lovers who want just a little bit more.

NILS HAY

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(Independent)

Y’all don’t know what it’s like…

The Fak remind me of the music that I used to listen to when I was an angry teenager. Fuck conformity! My parents don’t understand me! I can’t get laid! Pass the eyeliner, please! You know what I mean. Spooky goth influences, sleazy bass lines, snarling nu-metal vocals and frequent distortion pedal abuse makes up The Fak’s sound. It’s a bit all over the place. Title track Girl Dancing shifts awkwardly between prog and nu-metal, with bursts of Fred Durst-style shouting/rapping. The Fak’s more adventurous electronica moments make things more interesting than your average proggy nu-metal fare, but get lost easily under more dominant sounds. The Fak have potential and will surely be more likeable once they pick one sound and stick to it.

ELLIE FREEMAN

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(Independent/Vitamin)

Tea Leaves that are kept within the teabag

Imagine the resurging world of indie folk to be a high school. Bands like Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons would be the cool kids, while The Tea Leaves would most likely be the kid who everyone likes, but who eats their lunch alone in the library. The Tea Leaves’ self-titled debut is a mix of what is good and bad when it comes to indie folk. They capture the beauty that lies within the genre through the near-perfect harmonies between John van Cuylenburg and Jess Wilson. Lullaby and the Magnetic Fields cover, It’s Only Time, are without doubt the album’s highlights, grabbing the listener’s attention from the outset. There are moments where the influence of Simon And Garfunkel can be heard, although it seems John Denver has had much more of an impact on von Cuylenburg’s writing. Overall the album is very bland. With songs that are very radio-friendly, others that are very underground and the rest somewhere in the middle, it makes it hard to get a clear picture of who The Tea Leaves actually are.

BRAD CAMERON

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(I Say Go!)

“Go to Brisbane, you big-talking man…”

Local four-piece J-Pan Fan – named for June Carter-Cash’s pronunciation of ‘Japan fan’ in the song Jackson – sound like they could easily have slotted into that period of late ’90s rock-chick frontwoman boom, somewhere between Magic Dirt and Garbage. Maybe I just think that because of the riot grrrl shouts at the end of their song New Skies, straight out of the Kathleen Hanna playbook. It’s not all about Emma Carton’s man-eater voice, however. Those shouts come at the end of a particularly epic guitar break; Number One Song has an almost country twang and fuzzily potent rising action. 12:30 is a bluesy late-night song about the feeling you get when you’ve worked too much and stumble out into the real world at an ungodly hour, disconnected and vacant. I’ve never heard anyone do a song about that feeling before and I doubt I’ll hear it done again as well as J-Pan Fan do.

JODY MACGREGOR

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