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CLASSICEXCELLENTGOODAVERAGE POOR NASTY
IVAN IVES
"Iconoclast"

IVAN IVES
Iconoclast
Russian born, Los Angeles native Ivan Ives has been a busy boy! This is the second LP I’ve heard from the MC this year. Ivan doesn’t rely on big name guests or producers to spread his message- his rhymes are accessible, his beats are funky head-nodders and he’s always entertaining. The majority of tracks on ‘Iconoclast’ are up-tempo bangers and party jams. Ivan Ives is obviously on his hustle and only getting better with time. This Cd is definitely on high rotation on my MP3 list!
(No Threshold Records) Boltz
Reviewed201207
THE SUICIDAL BIRDS
"Versus Life"

THE SUICIDAL BIRDS
Versus Life
Here’s a band that has completely out of left field. There is very little information floating around about The Suicidal Birds but I can tell you that they are a underground band hailing from Bakkeveen in The Netherlands.
To be blunt they sound like a weird mix of The Black Keys and Tegan & Sarah at their angriest, with the energy of a Fire Underground live show.
Tracks like ‘No Nada’, ‘No Way’ and ‘No Fun No Art’ are punk-orientated with heavy vocal distortion, while ‘Friendly Land’ is more the of the same with some experimental electronica thrown in for good measure, surprisingly it’s a mix that really works.
Anyone who enjoys the bluesy sound of bands like 72 Blues will adore tracks like ‘Into The Black’ and ‘Sensible Sinner’, the latter which also throws in some spoken word. One of my favorite tracks has to be ‘No Summer’ which sounds like The Beach Boys on speed and has a killer melody and sing-a-long lyrics.
This is probably one just for real lovers of this genre because apart from slower parts like used in ‘No Use’ and ‘No Light’ there is no real variation on this album, not that in my view that is a negative; as I think The Suicidal Birds have a great sound and I’m looking forward to hearing more from them.
(Tocado) Dave Griffiths

QUIET KID
"A Bright White Light"

QUIET KID
A Bright White Light
American Indie rock bands are a dime a dozen at the moment but Quiet Kid has something about them that separates them from all the others. This Chicago five-piece is unafraid to take risks, so much so they when they try to write a stereotypical love song like they do with ‘Mallory’ it sounds forced.
Quiet Kid are at their best with alternative poop-rock such as ‘The Soundtrack Could Be Better’ or ‘All Right’. The latter cements Quiet Kid in a niche of Indie Band such as The Cloud Room. It heavily calls on an 80’s sounding riff but good music like this never sounds outdated.
The wah-wah pedal gets a work out on bluesy rock tracks like ‘Boots’ and ‘Jets, Baby!’, but these guys are from Chicago, so what do you expect.
The experimental vocals on ‘Crash Palace’ bring a new element to the album while ‘Lightning Crashes’ would have worked well in an episode of ‘The OC’. Quiet Kid also bring the North Shore Community Choir into the studio for a sample on the track, ‘Hey Monday’, a track that becomes a cruisy road-trip song.
With their brand of guitar-pop Quiet Kid outshine some of the other Indie bands trying to break through at the moment.
(NeedleDrop) Dave Griffiths
Reviewed 131107

Reply from the band:
While I appreciate Dave Griffiths' review of my band, Quiet Kid's album, A Bright White Light, you are not doing my band, or yourselves any favors by running such obviously unedited and un-proofread material. Typos like, "poop-rock" instead of "pop-rock" and referring to one of our songs as "Lightning Crashes", when in fact the title is "Lightning strikes" ("Lightning Crashes" is a song by 90's shit stadium rock outfit, Live - seriously, the fucker can't even read the song list from the disc in front of him?!) are an embarrassment to both of our organizations. That's not even mentioning the countless errors in punctuation for such a short, and not particularly well-structured written piece.
For what it's worth, I have submitted a proofread, re-written version of Dave's review (Ahh, the miracles of the American educational system). Apparently, as with all things, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. I guess that's why I'm in indie rock. Perhaps Dave could use a course in Journalism 101, and perhaps The Buzz could step up their editing process. Second rate, amateur shite, I say.
Balls to y'alls,
-Jamie Bachmann of Quiet Kid

Ah isn't it nice to read about the superiority of the American educational system and how their use of correct punctuation will demonstrate their fitness for world leadership. I always thought that swearing indicated a profound sense of insecurity.
'Poop' rock it is.

Various (Compilation)
"Stainless"
STAINLESS (COMPILATION)
Label compilations are normally an exciting way for music lovers to discover new bands while for the record label provides a good way to promote their artists and encourage music-buyers to buy their wares.
Unfortunately Dutch label Tocado Records’s latest compilation, ‘Stainless’ does several things wrong.
‘Stainless’ features nine of Tocado’s metalcore artists (When All Life Ends, See My Solution, Last Breath Denied, Return To Reason, Mindscan, Drainlife, Until We Bleed, Dominator and Facewreck) all playing live at Holland’s “Roestvrij”. It’s a good idea but live tracks aren’t normally the best way to sell a metal band to an audience.
Secondly the best tracks on this compilation are ‘Blindfolded’ by Mindscan and ‘Remain Inside’ by Return To Reason, who are unfortunately the only two bands who have one track on the album and not two.
Some of the bands are disappointments but old-style metalcore band See My Solution sound great, as do Dominator and Facewreck.
This is a good label compilation that could have been made great by using studio tracks, all up though I still want to hear more of Mindscan (who co-incidentally feature Nico Beemster and Mandy Struyk who run part of the label) and Return To Reason.
Anyone who finds surgery-pictures make them squeamish may also want to give the front cover of this compilation a wide berth, but don’t let that put you off a compilation that introduces an international audience to the world of Dutch Metalcore.
(Tocado) Dave Griffiths
Reviewed 151007
Can Of Be
"Don Quichot"
CAN OF BE
DON QUICHOT
Can Of Be’s (????) studio album, ‘Don Quichot’, will be one of the musical gems of 2007 for the serious music lover. Hailing from The Netherlands, Can Of Be are a band that have produced a twisted experimental album that mixes genres as at pleases and mixes your standard guitar, bass and drums with instruments such as the cello, the singing saw and a harmonium.
On the first listen you find yourself hearing an amalgamation of artists raging from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, The Dresden Dolls, through to The Superjesus. But on subsequent listens you realize that this is a re-invention of the music that stoner rock group, K’S Choice, was producing in the 1990’s.
‘Don Quichot’ is an album that takes its listener on one hell of a journey. While lead singer, Julie Scott’s voice will take you to heaven and back; the rest of the album will take you an emotional journey that you will never forget. Every song builds up into a dramatic crescendo that leaves you breathless.
There are some brilliant tracks on ‘Don Quichot’. ‘Again’ sounds like a haunted Tori Amos classic while ‘Gail’ take the classic alternative rock sound and strangles it with some Nu-Blues sounds. A much darker Nu-Blues sound then raises its head on ‘Mistletoe’.
In fact the whole second half of the album takes an unexpected dark turn with tracks like ‘Today’ calling on dark, heavy lyrics over some very experimental instrumentation. The best track on ‘Don Quichot’ are clearly ‘Weeping Song’ which introduces some grunt and has a strong use of violin and is calling upon the sound bands such as The Tea Party.
All up, this is a moody haunting album that is well worth listen and shows that over time Can Of Be will become a spectacular band.
(Tocado Records)
Dave Griffiths
Reviewed 151007
Podunck Nowhere
"Self titled "
 

Podunk Nowhere
Self-tited
Don’t let Californian two-piece Podunk Nowhere fool you into thinking they are something they are not. Pressing the ‘random’ button on the CD player could have you believing they were a country band, or maybe grunge? Alt-rock or folk? Whatever they may be classified as - if they must be at all - on their self-titled debut album the band show off an impressive range of style and talent.
Opening with the subtle acoustic ‘Junkee Love,’ a busker-rock style country tune and leading into ‘Rain,’ with vocal styling falling somewhere between Missy Higgins and Kasey Chambers, one could easily think they had Podunk Nowhere picked. And this is a big part of this album’s appeal: Just when you think you have Podunk Nowhere pegged down, a song like ‘Embroidery Queen’ wafts out of the speakers. Slow and threatening, it is difficult not to get caught up in the steady drama of the tale as delivered by Heather Marie’s sultry intonations over an underlying electric riff just waiting to build into something deadly. This is the stuff urban soundtracks are made of. But, then it’s over and before I know it I am swaying along to ‘It Might Never Be.’
‘Podunk Nowhere’ have released an impressive album, made all the more so by the fact that they have covered so much ground with, more or less, only the pair of musicians. This is a catchy album that’s easy to sway along to from the first listen, and by second I was singing along.
Reviewed 151007
Daniel Gardner
The Sunny Era
"Connection Lost "

        THE SUNNY ERA
CONNECTION LOST
Who are The Sunny Era? Take a look for them on the Internet and you’ll find absolutely nothing on them, but let’s hope it doesn’t stay that way for long because ‘Connection Lost’ is a stunning debut album.
The five-piece band who hail from Twin Cities use just about every instrument known to man over their album. Listen carefully and you’ll hear violin, cello, flute, melodica, recorder, guitar, baritone, bass, percussion and organ mixed with vocals that make you feel like you are swimming under the sea or floating in a cool breeze over the countryside on a hot summer’s day.
Tracks like ‘Connection Lost’ and ‘Saturn Blue Smoke’ are beautiful songs that could be likened to an experimental folk rock sound that hasn’t been heard before. The Sunny Era call on the sounds of bands such as The Mountain Goats, The Waifs, Dave Graney ‘n’ The Coral Snakes and Paul Kelly And The Stormwater Boys to create their own sound.
Sometimes instrumental tracks on an album like this can drag, but tracks like ‘Marked By Exceptation’ breeze on effortlessly while at the end of the heavenly ‘Hope Beyond’ you click repeat so you can hear it’s beauty again. Tracks such as “Heart Of Chrome’, ‘Rules Of The Game’ and Secrets Bought And Sold’ are just joys to listen to, while even epic tracks such as ‘Pictures Of Your Older Life’ and ‘The Casual Fix And The Shaped Wrong’ fail to drag down this quality album.
Let The Sunny Era take you on an ethereal journey with ‘Connection Lost’ and you definitely won’t be disappointed.
(Modern Music) Dave Griffiths
Reviewed 100807
Sputnik Munroe
"Wake The Sleeping Giant "

SPUTNIK MONROE
WAKE THE SLEEPING GIANT
It’s been a long time since an Indie band has broken out of California that has been as promising as Sputnik Monroe. On their debut album ‘Wake The Sleeping Giant’ the listener is taken on a massive journey as the band mish-mashes rock, pop, punk and emo together and creates what is definitely an experimental sound. Experimental… but nice.
Tracks such as ‘Shouts At The Requiem’ and ‘Leaving America’ are in the vein of legendary bands such as Porcupine Tree, The Mars Volta, All India Radio and Radiohead. In fact ‘Leaving America’ is the track that shows just how great Sputnik Monroe.
One of the better tracks on ‘Wake The Sleeping Giant’ is its first single ‘EEE Funk’. To put it simply ‘EEE Funk’ is everything a single needs to be. It’s catchy and showcases how experimental Sputnik Monroe can be. The use of electronica on the track should jar with its punk/rock sound but instead it seems to flow in so naturally. ‘Tokyo Sky Surprise’ continues this unusual sound and it’s these two songs that will win over any listener to the album.
It’s unusual to hear an Indie band so willing to chop and change their sound in a bid to experiement and find what works but then Sputnik Monroe have also had the benefit of working with producer, Ryan Hadlock (who has previously worked with bands such as The Strokes and Modest Mouse).
I know the Australian market has been recently flooded by a lot of American Indie bands claiming they are ‘the next big thing’, but give Sputnik Monroe a listen. ‘Wake The Sleeping Giant’ is a brilliant album and the scary thing is these guys are only going to get better as the years go on.
(Nine 12) Dave Griffiths
Reviewed 100807
Jeremiah
"Dog Days "
 Jeremiah
Dog Days
Jeremiah has released 5 tracks that have some gorgeous guitar melodies. The songs sit somewhere between rock and soft rock and are very easy to listen too. They carry a good solid beat with some great guitar leads. Track 3 ‘Aint No Angel’ gives off some lead guitar work to die for and melodically the music cannot be faulted. A sweet ditty is ‘Always Dreaming of You’. This is also a great recording, the sound is not overdone or too shallow, it has been mixed beautifully. The only thing that turned me off was the album cover. I actually dreaded putting it in the player but as they say, ‘never judge a book by its cover’ well let me say that this cover is nothing like its content. I was half expecting something much nastier but what I got was surprisingly pleasing.
(International) BN
Reviewed 200607