BigSound 2013 – Day Two, Thursday September 12
The Middle Names
Alhambra Lounge
All the way from
Tasmania they come, five of them, away from the cold into the heat, Alhambra
Lounge a sweat box early in the evening which suits The Middle Names just fine.
They play hard-edged pop ‘n’ roll, and they play it well, pogoing when the need
arises, hard riffs too, because sometimes you need that, dedicated to their
craft, you can tell they mean it. Ali Probin, on the end, seems to spend more
time tuning her guitar than she does playing it, which detracts from the
overall unit-ness of the situation, but you can’t win ‘em all. Decent and
tight, good at what’s happening, but not blowing minds – the road’s a long one.
Twin Beasts
The Zoo
Psychedelic
spaghetti western. Flying sweat and moustaches so bad they’re good, checkered
shirts and cowboy boots, but with a healthy dose of Rove Live to tone it down and make it real, appeal to the people,
but fuck the people, those people don’t know what’s going on. If they did, then
Twin Beasts (formerly the Toot Toot Toots), would be bigger than fucking Jesus
in this country, or whomever you care to worship, and so it should be – this is
music with stories, tales set to tune as rambunctious as your Grandma after a
few sherries, you know it, Twin Beasts know it, and so you should get the hell
on board. This is real.
Mr. Cassidy
633 Ann
I’ve been
approached by this folky, bluegrassy duo (as they were at the time) before,
filed the disc away, dug on the ethos they displayed, but was underwhelmed by
what they wrought from same. Tonight, with an upright bass player / acoustic
guitarist, and a drummer, this banjo / fiddle combo didn’t quite hit the mark.
They’re aiming for the realm in which Gillian Welch inhabits (to their credit,
they’re not just ripping it off), but they don’t quite get there. Their vocal
harmonies are sugar-sweet, but there’s an experience, a knowledge, a wisdom
that Mr. Cassidy don’t yet have. I hope they find it.
Lime Cordiale
Coniston Lane
I’m in the process
of reviewing Sydney-siders’ Lime Cordiale’s debut EP for another publication,
and so am quite familiar with the tunes, and yet I expect the worst. It’s late
on the final night of BigSound, I’ve been drinking. Haven’t we all…? And yet I
climb the stairs, grab a drink and am immediately, and somewhat surprisingly,
taken by these tunes. It’s pop-laced, those catchy hooks, melodies etc, but
there’s a hardness in there that you wouldn’t normally associate with such goings
on. I find myself really getting into what they’re pedaling, I find myself
tapping my worn out feet, I find myself becoming engrossed… I find myself being
surprised that I like this so much. One of the finds of the week I’d say, as
nice a surprise as one can get at the dreg-end of a happening like this. Keep
your eyes peeled, this is good stuff.
Samuel J. Fell
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