The Fireworks – Switch Me On (Shelflife)
By David Callahan Switch Me On by The Fireworks A major factor in keeping indiepop – genuinely underground guitar pop, as opposed to major label ‘indie’ – alive through the years and generations has been the fact that it is impossible to play convincingly without a hefty injection of energy and naïve enthusiasm, and that […]
Jimmy Whispers – Summer In Pain (Moniker)
I’m not out to shoot down folks that wanna sing with their synths. It’s not in me to be cruel. I have to imagine Jimmy. Would he sit in the corner of the club after his gigs, afraid to talk to anyone lest his tongue locks up at the worst time? Is he a chatty […]
Bouquet – In A Dream EP (Ulrike / Folktale)
I’ve been bitter lately. It comes and goes, like the ghost limp that jumps between legs. There is this weight in the air, a nagging fear that’s set in with the humid breath left by the rains. In two months, I may not be here. I may be. But if I go, I’ll leave the […]
Surf City – Jekyll Island (Fire)
By Mel Echo Surf City have been around for 10 years, moving from NZ nun-pop to stoner rock in that time, with a few good Pitchfork reviews along the way. Their fourth release (the second on Fire) sees a meatier Surf City emerge. I’ll plead ignorance and profess that I don’t know what Jekyll Island (in […]
Love Of Diagrams – Blast (Bedroom Suck Records)
As I sit down to write this, I am acutely aware that I’m looking at one of Collapse Board’s own: Melbourne’s offspring, Love of Diagrams who – since the early noughties – have cemented their position on the city’s live music circuit with their disengaged melancholy and bracingly loud riffs. But whilst England, for example, […]
Charli XCX – Sucker (Atlantic)
I’ll admit right here that I’m not the most qualified person to write this review. But then, you don’t read Collapse Board for qualified persons anyway, do you? I’ll also admit that, the third time I chugged down Sucker (for that is indeed how you consume Charli XCX – bottle held high over yr lips […]
Wildhoney – Sleep Through It (Deranged/Forward!)
By Liz Ham I can’t help but judge a book by its cover, a wine by its label and a band by its name… which is probably why I blindly chose this album for my first album review. Wildhoney sound like they should. I knew I would like them. Not because itʼs the sound of ʻnowʼ, […]
Emily Jones – Autumn Eye (Owltextures)
By Eliza Muddle Out of time in a fuzzy land both familiar and strange, gentle melodies enchant like Laudanum, cutting me free from these worldly chains. This is musick (with a ‘k’) of the earth, her roots sprawling under spiced soil, reaching deep into the nourishing moisture of creation and invisibly, through thick air, absorbed […]
Sonny & the Sunsets – Talent Night at the Ashram (Polyvinyl)
God damn it, Sonny. You’re a charming guy. I didn’t care for the first album, the slavishly 50s garage stomp one, and couldn’t see how anyone could choose you over, say, that dude from Unknown Mortal Orchestra as one to fall in love with. And I didn’t even bother with the one that everyone called […]
Bedroom Suck sucks
By Heath Sledger Go Away and Leave it all Behind : 2014/15 is a new (free) sampler from Brisbane-incepted indie label Bedroom Suck Records. The name invokes the will to get out there in the night and have a good time seeing bands or mates’ bands instead of staying in. Commendable enough, but the songs […]