Australia isn’t necessarily the first place you think of when it comes to country music. Aside from Keith Urban, the antipodeans haven’t necessarily had many country music exports since the 60s, but over the years they’ve constantly nurtured their own homegrown scene. Queensland native Kasey Curwen – professionally known as Kasey-Michelle – really grabs a hold of the poppier end of the genre to provide the core sound for her debut EP ‘Young & Reckless’. It isn’t the work of a country purist but, that said, most of this release is still going to be far too country for those who come out in hives at the merest hint of a knee-high boot, and run for the desert plains screaming at the threat of a newer country music and it’s shiny pop fusions. Those who like a bit of a country influence, on the other hand, are likely to find at least two unpolished diamonds within this EP’s five songs.
DOGSTRUM – Murtsgod EP
Dogstrum? Dog? Strum? It’s true – all the great band names are spoken for. You’d have to wonder how many other supposedly worse names this Seattle band discounted before deciding that Dogstrum would be their best. Luckily, though, for this particular power trio, their music shows more than a glimmer of greatness. Labelled ‘grump-punk’ (whatever that might mean) by a local paper, their sound is hard and dirty, energetic and sometimes raw in spirit, though fidelity-wise, these six tracks are well recorded with plenty of punch in all the right places.
LIGATURE WOUND – Ligature Wound
Death metal is never easy listening, but it often comes with varying degrees of accessibility and with the best stuff you can always tell where the talent is. This album from Ligature Wound goes firmly against the grain, pushes all the dials into the red and never cares about allowing any kind of melodies – no matter how obtuse – get in the way of the band’s musical art. For it must be considered a kind of performance art, as it’s hard to believe that there will be people out there who’d have enough patience to tackle this debut willingly.
Louise Distras: Upcoming tour dates
UK-based punk oriented singer songwriter Louise Distras has a run of live dates upcoming. The dates follow her appearances at this years Rebellion Festival and coincide with the release of a new single, ‘Aileen’, which is available via Street Revolution Records on September 30th.
Someone who uses her position for social activism and change, recently, Louise joined Real Gone, Stay Up Late and Skin Back Alley in our fight surrounding the release of the new Descendents album and against the usage of the word sp*z. (Real Gone’s original piece can be found here…and a follow up can be found here.)
Louise and her band’s next live dates are as follows:
KAMIKAZE GIRLS – Sad EP
Aiming to “stamp out gender stereotypes in music for good”, UK lo-fi duo Kamikaze Girls not only identify with the feminist anger of the 90s riot-grrrl movement, but also do so whilst being fifty percent male. Their music, an angry melting pot of riffs and social commentary, is unrelentingly vibrant.