Yee-haw, it’s time to dust off your cowboy boots, rustle some cattle and get really drunk, because Hellyeah have released another album. Comprising of members from Mudvayne, Nothingface and Pantera, they are the reigning hard rock supergroup and their latest cowboy rock album is just as heavy and rootin’-tootin’ as anything they have done before.
Hellyeah set the tone right off the bat with Stampede’s first song, Cowboy Way, a song all about having fun the cowboy way. This is basically what the album is all about – unlike other western albums there aren’t any songs about their dog dying, wife leaving or ute breaking down. They don’t just focus on alcohol-fuelled fun and frivolity, either – there are also serious issues tackled; such as friends, family and hookers.
It isn’t all fun, heavy groove rock, with some slower, maudlin songs on the album. Luckily they aren’t overused or whiny, instead they are used to break the album up nicely.
There isn’t a lot of pretence when it comes it comes to Hellyeah – they are what they are. They don’t skip around anything and they don’t write boring, sad songs. Instead they focus on the simple fun things in life - with lyrics like ‘I’m built to lose, I’m built for booze’ and a song finishing with a cracking of a beer you get exactly what you expect and you won’t be disappointed.
Michael Wickham

It’s a little incredible to discover that Portland rockers Nice Nice’s latest release Extra Wow was created by only two pairs of hands – that of a drummer and a guitarist. As a record that simply overflows with tumultuous, snarling symphonies of noise and other-wordly tribal mixes, its larger than life sound certainly doesn’t sound like it was borne of a mere two musicians. Extra Wow is strongly reminiscent of electro stalwarts Animal Collective, but with easier to follow beats. This record will either make you daydream technicolour worms, or make your teeth grind.
A blend of guitar drone and tinny drums provide the skeleton of this album, giving Extra Wow a lo-fi feel that, essentially, gives them the green light to make as much racket as they like. Which they do. The songs are then fleshed out by with varying licks of psychedelia, crunches of distortion or electro splash.
A Way We Glow stands as an entry point for Extra Wow’s true experimentation to begin. As it veers away from the domineering lo-fi, the track taps into an otherworldly tribal beat with Animal Collective type chanting in tow. As its name suggests, On And On continues in this vein as it seemingly warps and speeds up its predecessor track into something that sounds like an acid trip jungle rave.
The rest of the album unfolds as a geometric pound-out of electro songs. The vocals become less and less present, until they are nearly weaned out. Other highlights include the stoner prog of Make It Gold and the wonderfully tranquil New Cascade, which despite sounding like a Deep Forest song somehow made it onto a record full of gritty grunge. Well, now we know: a Japanese shamisen thrown in works every time.
Miranda Freeman

London musician Dan Black seems to be all the rage at the moment among the indie kids, but for me it really is hard to understand why. Black seems to be another run of the mill UK act who hasn’t really delivered anything remotely exciting or memorable. It is interesting how the British press describe him as ‘wonky pop artist’ – I’m pretty sure I could come up with something more descriptive and to the point.
Black was originally a member of alt-rock band The Servant before they split and then appeared as a guest vocalist for Italian group Planet Funk. At this point a solo career was in the offing to bolster his ego and the spotlight shone with the 2009 single U+Me, with downloaders scrambling to pick it up for free while it was iTunes’ Single Of The Week (I wouldn’t have paid for it either).
U+Me’s parent album UN verges on frustrating and if I had a fork I wouldn’t have any eyes left. Strip back the electronica and I would say there is very little substance at all. Black’s nasal and whiny vocals are quite annoying, with 12 tracks plus three bonus tunes making for an arduous listening experience. If anyone makes it to the end some 57 minutes later, you’re doing well.
It probably is worth noting that Kid Cudi features on the bonus remix of Symphonies, making for contrast to Black’s version which opens the album. UN is one album I won’t be playing again by choice.
Rob Lyon

A decade ago a blonde Christian girl named Katy Hudson released an innocuous 10-song album that sounded like Alanis Morissette finding God. Changing her name and ideals as easily as her hair colour, 2008’s million-selling major label debut One Of The Boys launched the newly christened Katy Perry into the commercial stratosphere via unbeatable pop singles such as I Kissed A Girl, Waking Up In Vegas and Hot ‘N’ Cold. Two years on, MasterChef is still giving the latter tune more blanket coverage than a Pakistani relief effort.
Teenage Dream ups the sweety-pie-and-sauce routine, but many songs lack the sassy ingénue qualities of their predecessor. The brash and fun wink of I Kissed A Girl has been replaced with an overt sexuality which isn’t as flavoursome as the candy-scented CD would initially suggest.
Whereas the comparatively chaste Waking Up In Vegas gave a perky recollection of a night on the tiles, its Teenage Dream counterpart Last Friday Night raises the stakes with a ménage a trois. In an obvious outcome, the reality doesn’t match the fantasy. Even more disappointing is Peacock, which even Perry’s friend Ke$ha would surely baulk at. Considering the comedic prowess of Perry’s fiancé Russell Brand, it’s surprising the green-eyed gal would go for this half-entendre nonsense.
While Perry’s musical mojo decreases the more clothes she sheds, Teenage Dream’s still comparatively stacked. ET’s robotic glide harks back to tATu’s Russki treats, Hummingbird Heartbeat’s set to take over radio with the force of an aggravated home invasion and Not Like The Movies is a lovely piano lullaby finale that shows the sweet Katy Hudson hasn’t totally been lost in the glitz. Best of all is Circle The Drain, an awesome, angry kiss-off that sends loser ex Travis McCoy from Hero to zero in 270 seconds.
Equal parts steamy and dreamy, Perry’s lolly pop remains a guilty pleasure.
Scott McLennan

The Boat People are one of this country’s quiet achievers. Arriving on the scene with their Squeaky Clean EP of 2002, the casual listener might be surprised to learn that their newly-released album Dear Darkly is actually their third. And if the criminal neglect and underwhelming reception they’ve so far received in the music press has put The Boat People off in their artistic endeavours, they’re certainly not showing it on Dear Darkly.
At the risk of completely missing the point of this deeply-considered and pre-meditated record, it seems as though The Boat People have taken everything they’ve laid out on their previous two records, mushed it all up into musical plasticine and then attempted to pull bits out of it in every direction possible. The end result is a much more experimental and free-flowing experience than what we’ve heard from the Bribane collective in the past. The wailing, Dappled Cities-inspired rock of Soporific is vintage Boat People, but it fades into the multi-coloured harpsichord art-pop of Echo Stick Guitars.
Mainly they stick to familiar territory here but, as the album’s title would suggest, with a much darker edge. It’s like there’s nothing joyous left in James O’Brien’s life for him to wax so effervescently lyrical about anymore, and so the themes of Dear Darkly occupy a gloomier headspace. Even the upbeat Too Much In My Mind sees the singer getting down on himself: ‘Sometimes I wish my body was something that I didn’t need. It’s just a vessel for my brain, just another mouth to feed’.
Dear Darkly sounds like The Boat People have stopped caring whether or not they get high rotation on Triple J or nominated for the AMP. And typical of most artists, it’s when they’ve stopped caring about such trivialities that The Boat People have produced their finest work to date.
Jimmy Bollard

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-NEWSLETTER!