Posted by Joel Werner on September 10, 2010
Live/Sound/Slides is a new media approach to one of the most staid and unchanging formats in journalism – the live music review. Kluster's reviving the potential in the dormant, dusty behemoth. We have the technology to give the people who care about music a voice and a face. And we’re going to.
Richard In Your Mind, Manning Bar
Posted by KB on August 10, 2010
I may have been assaulted on my way into the venue. I mean, I can’t tell. I feel like I was assaulted. The memories of early that night come infrequently; a glazed, dream-like translucence when they do. I lay out on the floor – feet facing away from the stage. My eyes mostly closed. It was 1980-ish. A jaded Cyndi Lauper tribute show working through tired attempts at Fleetwood Mac. The feet around my head stood unmoving, planted. The most familiar hand, reaching down – recognition, pulling me up to comparatively fresh air, standing. It was over. Praise be to anything.
She lived in another city when Antidotes came out. In a Zach Braff pitch that almost was, the album became part of the soundtrack of that time; the first choice weeknight jacket hung on the coat hanger of drinking until you forget how much you miss her. In truth, the soundtrack fit better than most jackets of the time. Tension mounting all week – the strummed, yelping definition of a crescendo – to places seemingly beyond where you imagined tension was capable of being mounted.
Then suddenly, arrival.More...
foals, manning bar
Posted by Miss Kat Jade on August 8, 2010
Surfer Blood are some sweet looking Californian boys, who sound like a mix of Weezer blended with the Beach Boys, with a dash of falsetto camp added for jazz.
The boys played their last Australian show at the Manning Bar after some hectic touring with Splendor. Manning Bar, slap bang in the middle of Sydney Uni, was teeming with indie kids, students and bad haircuts, throwing me back to the days of beer in plastic cups and hangovers on Tuesdays. A fitting location for this campus-driven rock music.
They seemed a little worse for wear; even ‘Swim’ one of Pitchfork's 100 Best Songs of 2009 sounded a little dull. Regardless, the set was punctuated with great power-cord guitar riffs and hooks that kept you swaying and your foot tapping along. The wild-haired percussion player was the most enthusiastic of the lot, bouncing and belting his cow bell with enthusiasm.
Lyrics about girls, confusion, Twin Peaks and youth make up these simple, catchy songs of summer. With a little more studio time it feels like their music may get another layer of complexity to it, but at the moment it’s unashamedly fist pumping and hook riddled. The future of Surfer Blood shall remain to be seen with a new album and a few years under their belt. It’s not brain surgery, but for indie, heavy, guitar-laden pop songs it fits the bill to a T.
surfer blood, manning bar, splendour, sydney