LADYHAWKE – Black White & Blue

(Modular/Universal)

 I can literally hear various “a new Ladyhawke song – about f***ing time, hey!”-type exclamations as I’m typing this. No surprise Pip Brown’s long-awaited new album (set for a March release) is called Anxiety: it’s been, like … forever since the Melbourne-residing Kiwi released her debut LP and occupied the FM airwaves with My Delirium – AKA the only Ladyhawke song everyone knows. Alas, Black White & Blue, while being a formulaic pop track, doesn’t pack anywhere near as much of a punch as the aforementioned stomper or even Paris Is Burning. It does, however, contain a reasonably catchy verse with strategically-placed “oh-oh-oh”-s and a cool sub-hook in the bridge, yet the hackneyed two-chord chorus – with inane lyrics about the “black, white and blue” Milky Way – is nothing to write to mum about. “Life in your head has come undone”, the singer coos over a dead synth throb with the seductiveness of an asylum doctor. Credit where credit’s due: Brown recorded the whole thing pretty much from scratch, which is what Prince used to do in the ‘80s, but evidently forgot that the Purple man paid even more attention to crafting a glorious refrain. Surprise us with the next single, Pip.

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

ANNA CALVI – Wolf Like Me

(Domino/EMI)

A killer guitar player with a unique style blending flamenco, blues and rock and a singer of elemental power, Anna Calvi – whose self-titled 2010 debut made quite a buzz and was a fixture in many critics’ lists – can’t seem to put a foot wrong at the moment. Her recent rendition of TV On The Radio’s signature song Wolf Like Me is a pretty intriguing, yet decidedly non-idiosyncratic choice for a single. Does it sound like Anna Calvi covering TVOTR? You bet – and then some. Here, the indie-disco staple gets stripped to bare bones after being ripped open with razor-sharp fangs. Recorded live at the end of last year, Calvi’s slower-tempo reading also manages to rock harder than the throbbing original. It’s sexier, too, kicking off with a lupine snarl from the half-Italian Englishwoman’s six-stringer and generally dripping with danger throughout. A bona fide master of the Telecaster, Anna lets rip with a slashing slide break towards the song’s end; her vocal performance, on the other hand, seems somewhat more restrained in comparison – which still doesn’t diminish the overall knockout effect. Turn it up loud.

HOODOO GURUS – Use-By Date

(Sony)

Having been in the game for over three decades, Aussie rock perennials Hoodoo Gurus know how to cut a no-bullshit rock track: one of their more recent singles, 2010’s Cracking Up was right on par with classics like Bittersweet and Come Anytime. A new track recorded for the soon-to-be-released greatest hits compilation Gold Watch, the Kim Salmon-produced Use-By Date is a crunching mid-tempo rocker containing all the right Hoodoos ingredients: Dave Faulkner’s unmistakable nasal vocals, Brad Shepherd’s saturated vintage guitar tone and a four-on-the-floor backbeat. “My use-by date says I’m no good to live anymore / But I’m walkin’ around”, sneers Faulkner during the chorus as Sheppard chugs away. Meat-and-potatoes stuff for sure, but a good ‘un all the same and anything but whiffy. As is the rule with the Sydney four-piece’s finest output, this one’s best listened to in the pub – or in the car.

HUSKY – The Woods

(Liberation/Mushroom)

Upon emerging last year and making a Triple J-assisted buzz, Melbourne’s Husky have found themselves at the forefront of the currently-hot homegrown “music made by sensitive dudes with beards” brigade (one of the things Bon Iver’s got to answer for). Right from its title, The Woods – the latest single from the hotly-hyped Forever So album – appears to tick every imaginable indie-folk box. Facial hair-friendly leader Husky Gawenda does his best yearning croon on top of earnest minor-to-major acoustic progressions that never seem to hit the jackpot otherwise known as “the hook”, gliding along pleasantly instead. Overall, it’s not a bad tune as such – just a little too anodyne to fully register. Still, depending on your gender, there’s a high degree of possibility you’ll either swoon or accumulate a couple millimetres of stubble after listening to The Woods (if you haven’t already). It won’t make you move to a cabin in Wisconsin and start chopping logs and hunting deer, though.

THE KILL DEVIL HILLS – The Week In Pictures

(Beast)

WA’s The Kill Devil Hills have been making rough-hewn alt-country music for a number of years now, with three albums and countless gigs under their vintage-buckled belts. They’ve also been progressively getting wilder and wilder. Arriving as a taster for their forthcoming fourth LP, The Week In Pictures has “a no-nonsense Aussie grit-rock single” written all over it. The title number – or A-side, depending on your liking – is a gnarly two-chord rocker punctured by atonal, Marc Ribot-inspired lead breaks. It’s the kind of a song you’d imagine soundtracking a barroom brawl in a gritty arthouse film; singer Brendon Humphries leads the racket with his trademark wounded wail-croon as the guitars slash and screech around him. A mournful ballad with some very Warren Ellis-like violin courtesy of Alex Archer, B-side The Bends (no relation to the Radiohead number) is a less menacing, but no less moody proposition. The sound of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds reaping what they’ve sown; make mine double on the rocks, barkeep.

CATHERINE TRAICOS & THE STARRY NIGHT – Let You Go

(An Ocean Awaits)

These days, writing a simple, honest tune with lyrics that don’t make you cringe is a quiet achievement regardless of the musical genre. Sydneysider Catherine Traicos may sound like someone who’s done their homework as far as alt-country sirens are concerned, but that’s hardly a bad thing given the unassuming quality of her latest single. A slow-paced, subdued number, Let You Go is essentially an “un-sad” break-up song – meaning it doesn’t so much tug at the heartstrings (which is what great break-up songs tend to do) as gently uplifts. A classically-trained pianist, Traicos is also a fine singer – think a less-raspy Lucinda Williams with a touch of Beth Orton. Her backing combo The Starry Night are likewise commendable, with Darren Nuttall adding sparse-yet-tasteful electric guitar and Gareth Skinner – a formidable solo artist in his own right – bowing an understated cello line. Ah, the subtle joys of moving on.

DENIS SEMCHENKO

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