BADFINGER – No Matter What: Revisiting The Hits

Badfinger have long been considered one of the great power pop bands of the late 60s/early 70s. Scratching the surface of their career, hits like ‘No Matter What’ (covered by Jellyfish), ‘Without You’ (covered by Harry Nilsson and later turned into a monstrous hit by Mariah Carey) and the McCartney-penned ‘Come & Get It’ have helped them stay in the public consciousness. Other great, lesser heard tunes like ‘Baby Blue’ and well crafted album cuts give further examples of Badfinger’s enduring greatness for listeners who have bothered to dig a little deeper.

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INDONESIAN JUNK – Living In A Nightmare

Since their debut album appeared in 2016, Milwaukee’s Indonesian Junk have remained quite prolific. Following that release they cranked out a new record every year – each one better than the previous – up until the release of ‘Spiderbites’ in 2019. Although still raw, ‘Spiderbites’ contained many of the band’s best songs to date; the CBGB’s inspired garage punk sound they’d been slowly cultivating reached full maturity, and they could legitimately claim to be true successors to bands like New York Dolls and the Dead Boys.

Prior to its release in March 2021, their fourth album proper (not counting the EPs and the excellent rarities comp ‘A Life of Crimes’) attracted a bit of an early buzz among the band and label’s followers. People seemed keen for a strong follow up, but more than that, the promise of a couple of guests immediately seemed to set the album in a position of strength. …And indeed, the lead single, ‘Type of A Girl’ (used wisely to open the album itself) confirmed most people’s hunches that – despite some wobbly beginnings – Indonesian Junk were in top form and had approached the new record much in the same way as ‘Spiderbites’ and that ‘Living In A Nightmare’ would be an album big on hooks.

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Watch the new video from Hooveriii

Hooveriii (pronounced Hoover 3) are gearing up for the release of their new album ‘Water For The Frogs’. Due for release on April 9th, the new album finds the six person band going deep into guitar driven grooves and heavy psych rock. Taking Bowie’s Berlin trilogy and old Krautrock for influences, the band’s current material sounds both retro and current. There’s a fuzziness to the riffs that could draw in fans of the noisiest end of the indie spectrum, while working a core sound that manages to be experimental yet still strikingly accessible.

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EVEN – Down The Shops

There are a lot of Australian bands that have never had a huge breakthrough outside of their home country. For example, Powderfinger, You Am I and Killing Heidi all became massive Aussie stars, but only managed cult followings elsewhere. Even with bands like Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel – very much known entities in Europe and beyond – audiences at their UK live shows have often been packed out with expats on a night out. Maybe it’s merely about geography and finance; Australia seems fairly self-contained and self-sufficient. The lack of major overseas success for many Aussie bands certainly has nothing to do with a lack of talent.

Even are another Aussie rock band that probably won’t mean much to audiences in the northern hemisphere, but they’ve worked hard to build a following since the mid 90s. They’ve worked with Yeah Yeah Yeahs producer Nick Launay, had the legendary Ian McLagan guest on one of their albums, and their 1994 debut ‘Less Is More’ was voted one of the all-time great Australian albums by readers of Melbourne newspaper The Age.

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SEA OF SNAKES – World On Fire EP

Although ‘World On Fire’ is the debut release from Californian metal band Sea of Snakes, the musicians involved are anything but fresh faced players just starting out. The core of the band have been fixtures on the stoner metal scene for years, but with ex-Saul of Taurus vocalist Tracy Steiger joining forces with Motorsickle guitarist Jim McCloskey and The Shrine’s Jeff Murray on drums, this is a band with the potential for outgrowing its roots. Sea of Snakes’ debut EP has moments that are far more intense than the gathered musos’ previous works allowed.

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