• The Valley’s eclectic BarSoma looks set to host another interesting night of live music on Thursday Nov 27 when gritty post-punkers Sweetness Sweetness return to the live arena, accompanied by the latest configuration of New Manic Spree and Repeat Offender spin-off act The Arctic. Doors at 7.30pm.
• Miss Bertie’s cabaret and burlesque mini extravanganzas are on at the very cosy Smoking Joynt in West End once again, with the latest featuring a Best Little Whorehouse In Texas theme. Check it out the evening of Thursday Nov 27.
• Don’t forget experimental math-rock types Pivot are set to play at The Zoo on Friday Nov 28, supported by the raw and minimal My Disco and Brisbane doom rock collective Secret Birds. All three acts have acclaimed recent releases floating about, and this gig looks to be heaven for the experimental rock set. Start stockpiling earplugs, candles and angular dance moves now.
• Orange-based singer-songwriter Amber Cashell visits Brisbane for two shows next week, playing songs from her debut album One Iota & Everything That Follows one more time before completing work on her second album. You can catch her at West End’s Lock’n’Load on Saturday Nov 29 (with Aaron Wynne) and at The Troubadour on Sunday Nov 30 (with Madeleine Page and Aleesha Dibbs).
• Many-limbed Israeli funk act Funk’n’stein are about to embark on their inaugural tour of Australia, the 8-piece band pulling into The Zoo on Wednesday Dec 3. Head along to see how they bring the funk in Tel Aviv. (www.myspace.com/funknstein)
• Sydney indie types The Devoted Few, featuring Sarah Blasko-backer and Purple Sneakers DJ Ben Fletcher, are hopping in the van to play a few shows up the east coast, stopping in at the Step Inn on Friday Dec 5 with a local indie all-star support line-up of Rocketsmiths, Grand Atlantic and Hungry Kids Of Hungary. They’ll be playing tracks from their new album, Baby, You’re A Vampire, due out February next year.
• www.Brismetal.com Records are launching a new compilation CD on Friday Dec 5 with a launch show as part of Rosie's Live. It’s $15 entry from 8pm, and the line-up includes Born From The Ashes, Paroxysmal Descent, Sedition, Limb From Limb, The Dead and Bonesaw.
• Brisbane alternative pop outfit The Quills are bypassing a studio debut and will launch their first live record on Saturday Dec 6 at The Globe, supported by The Frets and The Travelling So & So’s. A Thought In Your Head: The Quills Live In Concert showcases songs from their debut EP Some New Place as well as new material, eventually to turn up on their first studio full-length. Recorded live at The Zoo, the two disc CD/DVD is a perfect introduction to the band, and should appeal to fans and newcomers alike.
• The Gin Club will play their 4th annual Xmas party on Saturday Dec 13 at the Old Museum, Bowen Hills, accompanied by Jacob S. Harris, Aerial Maps, Texas Tea and Clinkerfield. Tickets are $17+bf and available now from www.oztix.com.au

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Jim Ward (pictured) has shifted his Saturday Dec 13 show to The Red Room at UQ’s St Lucia campus. That’s good news for under 18s, with the show now a licensed all ages event. Kevin Allen, the creative force behind One Small Step For Landmines accompanies Ward in support. Tickets should be available through OzTix.

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Everyone’s favourite guru-touting troubadour, Ben Lee (pictured), is teaming up with the Queensland Orchestra to play a very special one off performance at the Brisbane Convention Centre Sunday Nov 23. A far cry from his stripped back Splendour headline slot earlier this year, this is a performance fans cannot afford to miss … and besides, orchestras are the new black. Grab one of the few remaining tickets through Ticketek.

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Photo: Elleni Toumpas

If someone was looking for complex soundscapes and dramatically epic songs, you couldn’t hope for a much better location than the cavernous Powerhouse Theatre, tonight home to Sydney’s Charge Group. With elongated musical passages that weave delicate polyrhythms through evocative guitar work, they create slow-burning dramatic pieces, continually stoked by the longing violin or intricate drumming. But let’s not forget the ornate bass lines or Matt Blackman’s simplistic lyrics as he floats around the stage. It’s sad bastard music, but the perfect type of sad bastard for a Sunday evening which, last time I checked, was raining like an English mopefest.

It doesn’t take too long for the audience to fall in love with the elfish Emiliana Torrini. About halfway through her introductory tale of last-minute wardrobe malfunctions and we’re eating out the palm of her tiny hands. A crack backing band accompany her songs of folky beauty, as well as the more exploratory elements of new album Me & Armini. Guns is her epic mood-creator, her screams combining with mounds of guitar and a highly animated drummer that uses a violin bow on cymbals for a truly moving experience. She moves from wine to whiskey halfway through the performance, denoting a desire to loosen up. A coy smile, many more stories about song composition and a sad song ends abruptly as Torrini bursts into laughter … I think she’s sufficiently loose. Mostly shying away from her first international release (Love In The Time Of Science), the songs from her last two albums illustrate diversity and a keen songwriting ear. Wrapping proceedings up with the sombre Beggar’s Prayer, as the five people onstage sing in a choral canon manner, Torrini gulps the last of her Johnnie Walker and we leave supremely content.

MITCH ALEXANDER

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TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION – Peace, Love And Total Fucking Destruction

(Enucleation)

The Skinny: the far out Brutal Truth spin-off strikes again!

Full disclosure:There is a long list of bands comprised of members of seminal grind act Brutal Truth. Varying in degrees of awesomeness, bands like Venomous Concept, Exit-13 and Nuclear Assault serve as reminders of the BT legacy. Though for all of these reminders, drummer Rich Hoak’s project Total Fucking Destruction is the only band that stands equal to Brutal Truth. Peace, Love And Total Fucking Destruction eliminates all doubt that this is the case. Quickly returning after their 2007 full-length debut, Hoak and TFD have taken their frantic grind to a higher level with tighter songs, jazzier experimentation and a psychedelic guitar tones. Taking sounds from celtic punk, death rock and spoken word, the album is mind-boggling cohesive and relentless. As a lyricist, Hoak’s tongue is razor-sharp, if they went for more than 30 seconds songs like Doublespeaker and Fuck The Internet could very well be the soundtrack to violent uprisings.

It’s Worth Checking Out For: The (blast) beat poetry of Last Night I Dreamt We Destroyed The World

*****

THE DEAD – Nocturnal Funeral

(Independent)

The Skinny: Doom and gloom … and death metal.

Full disclosure: The dudes from The Dead sent their new EP in to Rave HQ and I misplaced it. They obligingly sent me another copy after I emailed them and explained the predicament. The day before the second copy arrived, I found the first one. It was in my backpack. That in mind and The Dead out the cost of TWO stamps, I would feel horrible saying anything ill of Nocturnal Funeral. Upon listening to Nocturnal Funeral, my ethical crisis dissipates, the band’s offering is the shit. From opener One Man Genocide, the EP manipulates an eerie atmosphere reminiscent of early Sepultura and crushing mid-tempo death metal riffs. The longer title track and At One With Evil see the band flesh out there colossal jams and indulge in some good old fashioned amplifier worship. The only thing wrong with these six tracks is that I don’t know when the full-length follow-up will be.

It’s Worth Checking Out For: monumental heaviness

****

THE AMENTA – n0n

(Listenable/Stomp)

The Skinny: why did they hold out on us?

Full disclosure:Ever since Occasus dropped and blew the collective mind of metalheads, the prospect of The Amenta’s second record has had extreme metal fans salivating. Having been promised and anticipating release for nearly two years, n0n isn’t the mind-blowing debut, nor is a disappointing second album. Recording the album in seven studios in three different countries, utilising the services of two drummers, six vocalists and two bass players, n0n sounds pretty much exactly the same as Occasus. Tracks like Vermin and Slave could have just as easily been on the band’s debut. It’s largely business as usual on n0n for the Melbourne/U.K. band. The dissonant keys, super-distorted guitars, lyrical misanthropy and industrial drum beats simultaneously conflict and mesh to create a brutal, wholly depressing and highly intelligent Frankenstein’s monster.

It’s Worth Checking Out For: hearing the band experiment with dub.

****

CAPTAIN CLEANOFF – Symphonies Of Slackness

(Tri-state Recordings/Goatsound)

The Skinny: Aussie grindcore larrikins, the other Blood Duster

Full disclosure: The new album from Newcastle’s Captain Cleanoff is reminiscent of most of Anal Cunt’s output. Song titles like Gore Grind, Thrush Attack and Hardcore Fashion Parade are instantly hilarious, but like the majority of AxCx songs (because let’s face it, some are just stupid) Captain Cleanoff have priorities, grind first, jokes later. On tracks likes Frog Dog and Mr. Serious blast beats trump buffoonery, the result is a grind album that stands up on slick riffs, tight drumming and thick, powerful vocals rather than knock-knock and fart jokes.

It’s Worth Checking Out For: Aussie grind!

****

TOM HERSEY

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