The Music Network: Porcelain at the Oxford Art Factory Basement

Woolongong pop rockers Porcelain are back home in Australia after being based in Los Angeles making and recording their debut album Freedom And Release. After their short forty-minute gig in the basement of The Oxford Arts Factory I was left thinking perhaps they came back a little too soon.

Female front Lo Roberts was the only member of the five-piece group that reminded us we weren’t at a school band recital. “Come closer, I’m affectionate,” she marshaled before they played.

Lead guitarist Ben Richards seemed bored and hid behind his dreads. Drummer Ritchie Schafe thumped his way through the whole set on autopilot and bassist Ewen Penberthy-Groves hid behind electric violinist Asha Mevlana, who choreographed each stroke of her instrument with jagged precision.

The second track was radio released single The Last Song I’m Wasting On You. Lo’s facials were a highlight; she has an amusing stage presence which made up for her band mates tedium. She winked at the front row and did a few throw-downs sending her bright blonde hair skyward. Songs Desert Dressed In Lights and When I’m Gone had the same punchy pop sound as their radio single. Lo sung of heartbreak and how hard a time they had in L.A trying to ‘make it.’ The songs were similar in their obvious desperation to become a hit single.

It wasn’t until the last song Fuck The Radio that they started to perform with vigor and unify as a band. This was a shame because once I saw them enjoying themselves I wanted to stand up and dance. But it was too late.

The Music Network Live Review: Stereophonics

It has been twelve years since we have seen indie/rock band Stereophonics tour in Australia. After six studio albums including a Best Of album it was about time. Their sold out show at the Enmore Theatre was not to promote their seventh album Keep Calm And Carry On, nor was it to show a reinvention of the band (they dressed all in black as they have always been famous for); it was to entertain with the same unspoiled fervor that we have been missing.

Opening with the vibratory tracks A Thousand Trees, I Got Your Number and Pick Apart That’s New, the stage filled with a pulsing rainbow of different coloured flashing light that changed to a deep blue during the middle-eight of Stuck In A Rut.

The set was pristine, alternating between the dirty interludes of older tracks and the ornate, introspective Keep Calm And Carry On songs. The renowned Kelly Jones struck his rock star pose and smiled to himself when the audience cheered at the beginning of every song, knowing we were about to sing each lyric with him. His acoustic tracks I Wouldn’t Believe In Your Radio and Bright Red Star saw senior citizens contented and many a man-hug shared.

New songs Uppercut, Trouble and Innocent showcased the bands unified energy. Stereophonics bassist and guitarist Richard Jones and Adam Zindani had fun with each song. They hit each grit-filled note perfectly, a more raw and loud rendition of the album. Heat rose in a clouded aura above shirtless drummer Javier Weyler. He raised his hand and asked for applause, the band did this often and each time we willingly obliged.

If you didn’t get the meaning behind their music, you did after this concert. Kelly’s sarcasm was incredibly apparent in his track Mr. Writer about the British media. He said, “This song took me ten minutes to write and ten years to fuckin’ explain it.”

The crowd pounded the floor, hoping to entice the band into playing an encore of She’s Alright. The Stereophonics retook the stage and fulfilled the audience’s wish, making it the stand out sing-a-long of the night and then appeasing them with two more songs, the finale being Dakota. The whole concert had been planned pandemonium.

The Music Network Live Review: Katie Noonan and The Captains-Oxford Art Factory

Katie Noonan and The Captains joined forces on Thursday night at The Oxford Art Factory to create what can only be described as an honest and beautiful collaboration. This was the last show of their national Page One tour and the night before their debut album Emperor’s Box was released.

Vines and red velvet curtains bordered the stage and a single chandelier set an intimate dark mood. The Captains (Stu Hunter – keys/bass, Cameron Deyell – guitar and Declan Kelly – drums) stepped straight out of an Oxford Street vintage store and onto the stage; the tweed jackets and bowlers caps warmly welcomed by audience members. Katie Noonan glided up to her keyboard and microphone facing half towards her Captains and half toward the audience; she wore a boat in her hair, made entirely from tulle.

She opened in true Noonan style, her strong falsetto delivering Radar. By the time she reached the song Sweet One (co-written with Sia), shallow baths were filling up behind our eyes. Emperor’s Box tracks Cotton Wool, After the Rain and Golden swept us away on an expressive journey where the audience was left captivated and embraced.

Noonan has reinvented herself from her days with George and has done so with conviction and an unwavering pitch. During her keyboard solo in Space Between The Captains shied away from their instruments is respect. She sung of loss, female friendship, postnatal fatigue and the joys of her marriage, all while involving the audience and informing us of each song’s origin.

The Captains complimented Noonan’s haunting whispers with eerie percussion and guitar sounds and who could forget the glockenspiel. A simple touch which added precise chimes to her soulful operatic.

The Captains talent was showcased during Never Know Your Luck during the second half of their set. A song Noonan co-wrote with Tim Finn beautifully proving her rejection of trends and pop music.

The final song was the joyous and energetic Page One. With poetic lyrics and the dynamic backing band, this edgy debut single has the formula of a hit song.

Before the bitter-sweet encore Little Voice, Noonan said “This is a lullaby to sing you all to sleep.” We were left feeling dreamy and full; credit to their aptitude.

The Music Network Album Review: Justin Nozuka - You I Wind and Sea

Canadian soul singer Justin Nozuka delivers his second album You I Wind And Sea, taking us on a predominantly acoustic journey, and expressing a sound that seems wise beyond his twenty-two years.

Nozuka's previous album Holly (named after his mother) was already in the works when he was at the tender age of twelve, with some of the songs on the debut written at just fifteen. This latest album similarly portrays a soulful, rational approach to teenage angst. You I Wind Land And Sea retains a lot of the maturity featured on Holly, but with less onus on his jaded love-life and more of a focus on external, heavier subjects such as world events and abuse.

It's obvious Nozuka is influenced by soul legends like Lauryn Hill and Marvin Gaye, but like many new artists, Nozuka attempts to define his music by allocating his sound to his own genre: alt/soul.

The track Gray has a tribal feel to it, using chimes and soft percussion to introduce us to an album in which the mood changes in every track. In the song Hollow Men, his growing maturity is showcased in his lyrics, while the melodies emanate a more confident musician, and here it is clear that Nozuka is growing up through his music.

This maturity could be attributed to his work with charities like World Vision, Free The Children and War Child. Nozuka, along with fifty other Canadian artists, also donated his vocals to a reworked version of K'naan's Wavin' Flag to help Haiti. Clearly, his passion for greater issues is reflected in the themes of this album.

With internet buzz labelling him a 'Canadian-cutie' when the album hasn't even charted yet, Nozuka will no doubt be seeing success with his second offering. Let's hope he keeps his raw soulful edge and doesn't sign any modelling contracts just yet!

The Music Network: MGMT - The Metro Theatre, Sydney

You wouldn’t know the MGMT Sydney concert had sold out in just four hours if you arrived early enough to see the supporting act at the Virgin Metro last night. With just over 100 spectators during The Bang Gang Deejays set and only four people dancing, my outlook was dismal. The Bang Gang Deejays didn’t engage with us at all, perhaps knowing that if they did look up, an empty room awaited them. But as the room filled with energy so did their performance. They played the classic Johnny Cash song Get Rhythm and we started to pay attention.

Connecticut indie duo MGMT came out with Matt Asti (bass, backing vocals, Will Berman (drums, backing vocals), and James Richardson who impressed by singing, playing guitar and sporadically rocking the keyboard whilst thrusting his long tresses back and forwards in a hypnotizing head-bang. Vanwyngarden and Goldwasser donned a geek-chic look with Goldwasser in thick black-rimmed glasses and Vanwyngarden in an open black tie. They were welcomed by the crowd as all five members chanted in perfect unison during It’s Working, the first track on their latest album Congratulation’s. They appeared well rehearsed but unprepared for our reaction.

Electric Feel from their previous and debut album Oracular Spectacular was the third song in, the room screamed at its mere intro. MGMT could have been saving their energy but the audience enjoyed their old songs more than they did. Onlookers looked bored, almost blocking MGMT’s new songs out by putting up a wall of chattering nonchalance. Was it because it was a school night or because their fans weren’t ready for this new sound?

Songs from the yet to be released Congratulation’s album stood out, but not necessarily in the way the audience were expecting. The tracks blurred into one synthesized unrequited romance. MGMT did warn their fans that Congratulation’s would have “no hits and no singles,” they lived up to that with not a hint of commercialism in sight.

The encore song Kids was clearly a homage to the audience. MGMT sung along to a backing track and left me with a mutual feeling of satisfaction, that it was over.

Soundwave - Twenty Ten

I had a long list of expectations for Soundwave 2010; but with a line-up including Taking Back Sunday, Faith No More and Jane’s Addiction I would be stupid not to. As I stood in line with my Pump bottle filled with Vodka in one hand and my I.D and ticket in the other, I could never have foreseen the madness which lay behind those rusted gates at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane.

Taking Back Sunday, an American foursome from New York released their latest album New Again last year; they were first on my list of bands to see. I’m short and fast so I was able to make my way to the front of the stage quickly. As I was maneuvering via a crouched sprint through the sweaty bodies, Cute Without The E was knocking at my ear drums. The singer, Adam Lazzara was bent down over the ledge on the stage and knowing full well that we knew all the lyrics he pointed the microphone toward us and let us sing all the best parts. Lazzara is renowned for performing drunk so I was surprised to see him in control of his movements; he didn’t slur a word when he said:
“Man I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten anything today, maybe I should have had a sandwich or something, jelly and peanut butter maybe…”
Oh how I wished I had a sandwich in my pocket at that moment.
Taking back Sunday was definitely one of the stand-outs for me. Mainly because my obsession with them has been going on for over eight years; but also because Lazzara sang the last half of MakeDamnSure hanging upside down like a bat from the stage’s scaffolding.

Throughout the earlier shows at Soundwave I came to a few observational conclusions:
1) It is beyond easy to sneak alcohol into Soundwave.
2) If you are on your friend’s shoulders for more than five songs there is a large chance they may resent you for the rest of the set.
3) Aside from the technical difficulties at the beginning of Motion City Soundtracks set, they sounded just like they do on their album My Dinosaur Life.
4) When on a ride, acting like a toddler having a temper tantrum screaming “Again! Again! Again!” will get you another turn.
5) Paramores Hayley Williams looks even more like a child in real life than the girl in their Brick By Boring Brick video.
6) The vibe at Placebo was ‘everyone for themselves.’
7) If you play UFC in the drinking area you will get kicked out of it.
8) Crowd surfing to get out of the mosh is a valid and legitimate reason.
9) Screaming at AFI to play a song from their Answer That album will not make them play a song from their Answer That album.
10) Jumping around like a crazy woman will result in a broken foot.

Jane’s Addiction stood out as the most theatrical and entertaining performance. Sky-high cut outs of two naked women loomed over the band, changing in colour with each brutally loud riff and chord change. PVC clad dancers groggily mounted podiums and gave us a bitter tasting feast for our eyes. But, as expected, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Dave Navarro. His thin, white, half naked body struck androgynous poses that made me quiver. Although he wasn’t singing the lyrics, he performed them in a way I can only describe as introvert and rehearsed. They played Up The Beach and Whores from the album Kettle Whistle and ended with Jane Says from their self-titled debut album. I was fixated on Navarro throughout the whole set and figured out why when vocalist Perry Farrell complained of not being able to find any good heroin in Brisbane, saying they had been ripped off by a local dealer.

I watched the beginning of Faith No More, they were very cute in their suits with pocketed flowers. My broken foot was slowing me down (thank goodness for the numbing powers of alcohol) and I had just ten minutes until A Day To Remember were due to start! I made my friend carry me to their stage, leaving a trail of the weak or bad-balanced in our wake. Waiting for them to come onstage was like waiting for a bad hair cut to grow out, it seemed to take forever. They played the first song off the album Homesick, Downfall Of Us All. I was so ecstatic I actually cried. This band had so much energy and we were the first to hear songs from Homesick live in Australia. It was obvious how thrilled they were to be there and judging by all the shirts with their name on them around me, this show had been a long time coming. The aching of my foot was dulled away as adrenaline pumped through my ready veins and convinced my brain I could fly. Plot Bomb To The Panhandle started, so I signaled to the guy next to me that I wanted up; he grabbed me and threw me forward. I took a photo as I lay flat and waited for the security guard to catch me. I gave him a big sweaty kiss and thanked him. Right after that A Day To Remember were thanking us and it was over. Only a year until the next Soundwave!

The Getaway Plan, Hi-Fi Bar Brisbane

The Getaway Plan have broken up! They released a statement on their Myspace page which said:
“There comes a point in everyone’s lives where they must sit back and assess if everything is working the way it should be. We have come to a decision that the Getaway Plan will no longer continue to make music together.”
I was lucky enough to attend their show at Brisbane’s Hi-Fi Bar in June. It was one of the last run of East Coast dates.
Now, before going to the gig I had seen them once before at Big Day Out this year and had no idea they were splitting. I was one of the very brave, right at the front of the stage, my collarbone mashing against the iron barrier. It was halfway through the show when I noticed how separate they all seemed as a band. The singer Matthew Wright sang only to the audience and guitarists Clint Splattering and Dave Anderson didn’t interact at all. I remember thinking “They sounded more like a band at Big Day Out.”
It was obvious that all the energy they got was from us, the audience and not each other. The band was tight, professional and the 10 song set was pretty much perfect overall. They performed they’re encore song Where The City Meets The Sea with no signs of fatigue BUT they lacked bandmanship!
The Getaway plan ended the show by thanking fans for encouraging and supporting them during their final tour. To be honest, instead of a thank you I wanted an apology for not giving it their all on one of the last few shows they would play together.