Concave Scream
Horizons
[EMI]

by Lumpy

With a long pedigree of awards and accolades lauded over them since their formation in the mid 90s, Concave Scream are certainly no strangers to the scene and their latest release is an effort that reflects and affirms their veteran position. Putting out an assured, confident and refined album that chugs along like a well oiled machine without sounding too cookie cutter polished.

An easily digestable album by my palate, you will find many instantly likeable tracks here that don’t require many listens to appreciate. But of course it only gets better and repeated listening will definitely yield greater depth to the album. Mixing is top notch and doesn’t come off sounding like one big garbled mess which is how some local albums turn out somehow.

The drums are really brought forward into the mix to be showcased and this is a wise move because they are one of the highlights of this album, with ‘Rewired’ and ‘Go’ being prime examples, complete with yummy double bass goodness that just pounds straight to your heart and complicated beat patterns that are neither excessive nor showoff-ish but serve to complement the other players as well as to give each song its raw energetic power. That is not to say that the guitars and vocals are not pulling their weight. On the contrary they gel together to serve up an aurally pleasing package that does not for once sound disjointed. These guys have been playing for years together and you will hear it.

There is a certain anthemic quality to most of the songs on Horizons with their pounding drum lines, indie rock-ish choice of guitar riffs and tasteful little nibbles of gooey delay and chorus effects. The band manages to incorporate their influences into their music without ripping them off totally and ‘Tides’ that reeks of Pink Floyd filled with atmospherics and random drum bits leading up to ‘High Places’. However, Concave Scream never sound like they are trying too hard to be like their western counterpart. There is a decidedly local tinge to this collection of songs without any of the bad vocal inflections and intonations and horrible lyric choices commonly associated with less established local bands. A very commendable job done with the vocals.

All in all, this album is one of the more inventive and creative albums to be released locally in a while. Definitely one for all fans of music, this is not just limited to fans of the local scene. A more indie sounding album than the eponymous Electrico debut (Ironically one is able to find a gushing review of Erratic done by Daniel Sassoon on the Internet), if Green Day can win a Grammy, this album deserves so much more. One destined for greatness.

Highrise
Stories EP
[Wallwork Records]

by emphibian

Quite honestly it’s been difficult to start pinning down Stories. Perhaps the surreptitious maturity in the music? Maybe the production? One thing is for sure: highrise is directing its advances towards something bigger than this island.

The EP opens with the track ‘Lost at Sea’ which happens to be a bloody fantastic idea for an opener. The entire imagery makes itself present just like that albeit a tad tacky for a track title, but nevertheless, gently sincere in nature. The climactic advances towards the first spoken verse is quite intense, letting the mood of the music sweep you into its intended captivity (in a good light, of course) without making it sound ridiculously elongated for the nature of its genre. Whilst the content is obviously spilling shrewd, amidst a tad dry, amusing (maybe depressing?) anecdotes about some form of life’s irony, it’s hard to see why ‘Lost at Sea’ became something to be prevalent about. Something, however, does seem to be sinking. Maybe that’s it.

As much as what has been done is purely based on an escapism intention, the music does direct our attention to its sincerity, leaving behind every ambitious musical progression for its warm, sweet, innards. However, this being a rather difficult path to thread, it has its odd impersonal moments where the lyrics just doesn’t seem to portray much sincerity as if giving away several passing comments as though stating “You like ‘nice’ today.” making several spaces within their songs seem a bit pedestrian.

“To the end of time / With you by my side / I’ll never let you slide”

Perhaps it could pass off as something “OK”? Everyone’s got an interpretation to something given I suppose.

The following tracks do, in many ways, compliment the opening track quite all right. At the end of it all, it does justice to the theme ‘Stories’ rather well. There are stories to take with you after Highrise is done, generously, sharing their hearty insights to your willing ears.

The production is mellifluous: pleasant at every other angle from wherever it’s coming from. The only questionable bit about the entire EP is the ending track ‘Thanks for Listening’. It does draw some stretchy and perhaps prose reference to the EP though. It seems like the sort of song you’d be playing at the end of an orientation camp. It’s about time those organizers start thinking of better ways to end those tacky camps anyway. But the idea is there, perhaps.

highrise has a tendency of making you feel encapsulated with the busy mechanics of the world around, and this very feeling should be treasured. It’s time we all took a break from our sweat engrossed “bosses of our lives” and really think through what we really would love to feel again. Somewhat redefining recreation for us all.

The Suns
20-2
[self-released]

by Lounge Lizard

The Suns are not a group which you throw their music onto a player and kick back your feet to listen to it. They are predominantly a live act with highly entertaining rambunctious over-the-top antics where you’d mosh alongside with sweating nubile young chicks. The CD only serves as a mere document of the immense energy they are able to generate during their shows.

The 1st track ‘Let’s Make Love’ kicks off with a The Clash-inspired intro and verse which swaggers to a reggae beat mid-song. Much like the British punk legends, The Suns are bitten by the ska-reggae bug as witnessed on a few cuts on the EP.

Taking a slightly darker turn is the anti-authority war cry ‘Under Control’. Frontman San Singer delivers his lines “Didn’t know it was against the law/ To speak the truth and open my jaw?” with a menace uncharacteristic of the trio. What’s atypical of the song is the more serious subject matter of freedom of speech which The Suns are usually not known to deliver. Theirmaterial is more geared towards the fun-loving aspect which they had previously developed in their Boredphucks incarnation, dropping the serious, albeit highly tongue-in-cheek, subject topics.

The tour de force of 2-20 has to be ‘Bootiful Day’, a rehaul from the Talking Cock OST which boasts a groovy bassline and San spewing his lines in a mock Indian accent. Hilarious. An interesting oversight on most listeners about The Suns is their fantastic vocal harmony arrangement which is showcased gorgeously in this tune.

However, the raw production and overtly boomy bass put a crimp to what might have been a fantastic album. While the lo-fi production works on some songs, it derails the listener from enjoying the others.