It is clear from the first listen of their debut EP, Foreign Future, that young Melbourne band Orange have grown into their own sound. Influence from bands such as The Wombats and The Kooks still shines through, but alongside distinctly ‘Orange like’ youthful lyrics, buzzing synths and continuous changes of pace.

Lead vocalist Edvard Håkansson’s voice is reminiscent of a young Matthew Murphy throughout opening track Collateral Damage, adding to the prominent teenage vibe that the song carries. At times the track can err on the side of over production, but the solid riffs carry it through smoothly from beginning to end.

Homing Pigeons, one of the most synth based tracks off Foreign Future has a somewhat ‘spaced out’ theme to it. Håkansson’s far away vocals combined with constant accompaniment of synths creates a pleasant toe tapping track, although at times it can get slightly crowded. Orange’s experimental additions should be commended, but when they’re at their simplest, they’re creating their best sound.

Showing the strength of Orange’s riff creating ability is track A Little. Balanced perfectly with Håkansson’s breathy lyrics, the track had a wonderful cohesion to it, that had been built up to in the tracks beforehand.  Upon hearing the intricate riffs present throughout the song, it was hard not to draw a comparison with bands along the lines of Two Door Cinema Club, or Australia’s own, The Jungle Giants.

Embracing simplicity throughout Time Is Now, you can clearly hear the lads from Orange making catchy, enjoyable music without distractors. And it is a fantastic experience. At times the back up vocals can be slightly misplaced, but if anything this adds to the youthful exuberance that carries over in Orange’s music.

Slowing down the pace on Foreign Future’s final track, Translation proves to be a winner. Showcasing another side to Orange’s musical ability, the track builds to an emotional peak. On some occasions the vocals are a bit off the mark, in regards to the tone of the song, but this is forgivable as Translation is so wonderfully and uniquely different from other tracks of the EP.

This is only the beginning for Orange, with the power of youth and passion behind them, expect to see records which grow in sound, technique and depth as Edvard, Gilbert and Jack grow as young musicians.

By Rochelle.

Garbage NOT Trash. Big Difference!

There are some bands that no matter how many times you see them, manage to outdo themselves every time. Just when they blow you away, they are amazing all over again, and proceed to make your mind implode. Garbage is one of those bands.

Last time I saw them in Melbourne was on their ‘Bleed Like Me’ tour in 2005 at the Palace in St. Kilda but although their performance was incredible the vibe of the audience left a lot to be desired. Shirley Manson even noted from the stage that she was less then impressed with the people who had the best seats in the house acting like they couldn’t care less. However, Wednesday, February 27th’s performance at the Forum Theatre in downtown Melbourne was perfection  – not just the performance but also the crowd’s interaction and the venue’s atmosphere.

Opening with one of my favourites, ‘Supervixen’ they had the audience Jonesing for more! Shirley’s stage presence is always beyond incredible and Duke, Steve and Butch were flawless. The set list comprised mostly of songs from the album ‘Version 2.0′, undoubtedly a fan favourite. The stand out songs for this reviewer were: ‘Push it’, ‘I think I’m Paranoid’, ‘No.1 Crush’, ‘Vow’, ‘Stupid Girl’, ‘Queer’, ‘Metal Heart’, ‘Blood For Poppies’, ‘Cherry Lips’, ‘Man On A Wire’ and the classic ‘Milk’.

During the performance of ‘When I grow up’ Shirley lost her place but Duke was quick to the rescue and the audience more than happy to help her out with the lyrics. To make up for what she called ‘a colossal cockup!’ the band offered a choice from two songs that were not on the set list. From ‘The World is not Enough’ or ‘Cup of Coffee’, the fans picked the latter. It was great to hear the band praise the crowd and state, “Melbourne is pretty much where it all started for us”. I think we got more songs out of them than most of the other cities on this leg of the tour because of this special connection!

This tour was in conjunction with the release of Garbage’s newest album ‘Not Your Kind Of People’ and the Soundwave Music Festival. If you missed them this time but have always liked their music, I encourage you to get tickets to their next gig. Garbage despite their name, is well worth the money!

By Mary Jane.

On February 26th Ivan & Alyosha’s All The Times We Had will be released via Missing Piece/Dualtone Music Group. The four piece from Seattle have kicked off this month with the release of a music video clip for their song Running For Cover.

The clip is directed by Christian Hansen, and has the most beautiful selection of pastel colours. The stillness and simplicity of the clip paired with the thoughtful lyrics and tune make the package truly captivating feeling pure bliss for 3 minutes and 52 seconds.  I have a feeling that Ivan & Alyosha will be taking the world by storm with their talent very soon indeed!

The beautiful LA based band Big Harp have just released their new video for their catchy tune You Can’t Save ‘Em All. This is the lead single from their album Chain Letters which is out now on Saddle Creek. 

Chris and Stefanie formed Big Harp in December of 2010, they fell in love, moved all over the country, made two beautiful babies and  have produced a ton of gorgeous music. You Can’t Save ‘Em All is a funky alternative song which lyrics although seem sad speak truth and understanding. The quirkiness of the animation, storytelling, costume design makes the music video somehow feel genuine and sweet to watch.

Animator Jaime Margary for nine months worked on this incredible piece of story telling to bring to life Road Kill Ghost Choir’s song Bird In My Window. The video is composed of illustrations, watercolour paintings, digital animation and more, creatively collaged together to tell a beautiful surreal story.

The song and the visuals are the perfect pairing and compliment each other immensely. This explosion of beautiful breathtaking art will make your senses dance.

Go on an amazing journey and watch/listen to the video below.

Rock girls really do it for me and this grungy duo (Lindsey Troy (vocals/guitar) and Julie Edwards (drums)) from LA really get me going. Deap Vally last week premiered their new music video Lies which is a track from their debut 4 song EP Get Deap, which will be released in North America on April 9 through Cherrytree/Communion/Interscope/Island Records. It was produced by Lars Stalfors (The Mars Volta, Matt and Kim, and Funeral Party).

The clip and tune is filled with sexual energy seductively mixed with that dirty strong feminist rock sound which has made me fall in love.

Take a look and listen, be prepared to let Deap Vally take over your body and mind.

ON AN ON have released the Dan Huiting and Isaac Gale directed music video for their singe The Hunter from their up and coming album Give In. 

Gale explains the inspiration behind the video. “The song has all this explosive energy and power… and recently I’d been re-watching all of these movies I loved as a kid like Over The Edge and Gleaming The cube, movies where kids just going nuts, so the explosions were combined with these magical headbanger dudes, and it was settled.”

I think this is an awesome song and the clip looks like it would of been a whole lot of fun to make, I am sure if I was old enough in the 80′s I would of spent my days playing out the PG version of this moment.

Take a look at this dope clip.

ON AN ON are currently on tour:

January 

28.01.2013 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress

29.01.2013 Phoenix, CA – Rhythm Room

30.01.2013 San Diego, CA – Casbah

31.01.2013 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore

February 

01.02.2013 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo

06.02.2013 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge

07.02.2013 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands

12.02.2013 Paris, France – Flech D’Or

14.02.2013 London, UK – Brithdays

15.02.2013 Brussels, Belgium – Botanique

17.02.2013 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso

18.02.2013 Hamburg, Germany – Turnzimmer

19.02.2013 Berlin, Germany – Flux Blau

March 

SXSW dates to be announced

June

07-09.06.2013 New York, NY – Governors Ball Music Festival

Highlights from The Falls Music & Arts Festival @ Lorne, 29th December 2012

Photography by Raj Pandita

The Falls Music & Arts Festival is a lot of things to a lot of people. There are the seasoned veterans who wait for those four sweet days a year in quiet anticipation, there are the camping festival freshman who (in their manic excitement) manage to forget things like a tent or more than two items of clothing. Those who hotly await the late night drum and base sessions in the at the top of the hill mix willingly and happily with the punters marching the opposite direction to catch the next burlesque show down in The Village. Whatever it is, the team behind falls set out to put on something special to celebrate what’s become an institution on the summer music calendar hitting the big 20th year in business.

It was a beautifully four days of get down and shake your ass parting with Falls repeat offenders being called back to the line-up; Ball Park Music, Ash Grunwald and those crazy swedish cats The Hives were just a couple of the musical geniuses gracing the festival stage not for the first time. Don’t let their absence thus far fool you though; the young, up-and-coming magical musical wunderkind weren’t in short supply either with the holy-crap-your-gorgeous First Aid Kit, the brain shattering King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and my favourite alone-in-the-car-danceparty boys DZ Deathrays all smashing out sets for your aural enjoyment.

In Lorne, headlining and new years eve bragging rights went to the cut and polished Two Door Cinema Club delivering an as always high energy, poptastic set to bring us into 2013. Personally however I was still on a musical hangover from the previous nights performance of the popularly ignored, critically acclaimed live stage performance super stars The Flaming Lips who absolutely destroyed the previous night by delivery what is undoubtedly my favourite live performance that I have witnessed in my now (in the cold light of day and the absence of confetti) seemingly lackluster lifetime.

Festivals are what they are, if you don’t see the attraction you never will so there’s no use appealing to you, and those who love it will never satisfy their thirst. Good, crazy, amazing, exciting whatever screw the review. let’s just say see you next year…

But just in case you’re teetering on the edge let me leave you with some of my favourite fragments of four days that are permanently burned into my memory for safe keeping:

• Briefly Visiting the Nation of The Hives: and then having my Tourist Visa revoked. Seriously when Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist he has some kind of Nordic magic forcing you to follow his every command.
• A Standing Ovation for The Girl That Works at Dominoes: Felicity Ward you are a gentleman and a scholar and we salute you, and also your crowd participation.
• Laser Hands!!!!!!: or basically every single second of The Flaming Lips entire show right from the moment Wayne Coyne leaped into the crowd inside a Zorb.
• 10-Minute Dance Parties in The Village: also a great way to meet people dressed as animals I later discovered.
• Glenn & The Wizard: Some people will remember Falls Festival 2012 for the people they met, or the music they heard. For a special few it will be remembered for the cosmic twist in crowd participation that happened during one of several stand-up performances by Xavier Michelides

Two Doors, One Adventure. A special gig seen through the eyes of a dedicated fan, who just happens to be me.

Saturday morning on December the 29th could easily be said as a defining moment in my life. However after an early morning start, it didn’t exactly kick off all that well (me no morning person… At all). Then, about two hours into the seemingly never ending bus trip to Melbourne, I realised that my shorts, which I was planning to go to the gig in, in fact had a massive hole in them.

Cue the crushing embarrassment and the swift action of getting out of them in a tiny little bus toilet cubicle, then into my choice of trusty Black Milk soup leggings. It was a gig after all, I had to standout. And that I did.

Arriving in the flurry of activity that is Southern Cross station, I realised how hungry I was. This was resolved shortly with red rooster and a hazelnut churro (one of many over this big weekend of mine). I was in dire need of the sugar to fuel my body for the mammoth day that laid before me.

Officially starting Saturdays proceedings, I left my hotel room after a quick rest and fluids stop, and walked down the road for a few hundred metres when suddenly I was out the front of Festival Hall. It was only 12pm, so naturally there wasn’t that many people, only a few diehards like myself. It was lonely at my door at the backside of the hall, so I ventured to the front of the front and befriended two other fans. We soon realised that we all knew of each other, through friends of friends and the interlinked network which the fandoms of tumblr weave. Soon enough, another interent friend showed up and I finally got the meet the lad who I knew so much about on the interwebs, but not in real life.

The boredom soon got to me and I kicked into observant investigator mode, scouring the perimeter for any signs of the bands or telltale clues of their scheduled arrival. I put forward a tentative estimation that soundcheck would be around 3 o’clock to the group, which was discussed thoroughly. We were bored. We jumped on any conversation topic and discussed it at length.

My guess of the time of soundcheck was somewhat right, with Two Door Cinema Club arriving in their chartered mini bus at about 3.20 in the afternoon, obvious as soon as we saw Alex’s glistening red hair through the window. While filing out of their mini bus they all waved at us while we screamed hello across a distance of about fifty metres. There arrival scheduled a time for many of us where we could ask our new found friends in the line to save our spots, while we ventured to find a toilet in the isolated industrial wasteland that is West Melbourne.

The Vaccines were the next to arrive in their little bus, with Freddie peering out the window and watching the crowd that had started to form before doors opened. Like Two Door, they were off the bus within seconds and into the stage door, which unfortunately for me, that meant I missed them by… That much! And in the process failed to achieve two of my goals that I had set for the evening, touch Freddie and Pete. For the time being at least.

The wait on the cold hard concrete and asphalt was quite rough on your body, and I found myself having to lap the perimeter every so often to keep myself from turning numb. On one fateful lap, I stumbled upon the last person I’d expected to see casually sitting on the alcove beside the back stage door. I looked up as I passed, and saw the boots. Then I looked up again and saw the face of Freddie Cowan.

Taking me by surprise, I walked over to Freddie and asked for a photo (and in the process got to bump shoulders meaning yeah, I touched Freddie Cowan mothafuckers) he politely obliged and we started chatting, about how delighted I was to see them, how I’d been a fan from pretty much the very beginning, how he was enjoying Australia and finally, my leggings. “Got a bit of Andy Wahol there, nylon soup?” He asked amused yet slightly confused, to which I replied explaining the Australian fashion brand Black Milk and their leggings. I politely wished him well for the gig and told I’m how excited I was before walking off again, back to my seat and all of my new found friends around me, to tell them that I, Rochelle Flack had achieved her goal and touched Freddie Cowan. And he complemented my leggings. Win.

The first support act to play turned up about half an hour after The Vaccines. Making it to the hall in a maxi taxi and a sedan with P plates clearly visible as well as after a lengthy conversation with the parking attendant, The Jungle Giants has finally arrived.

With no more band arrivals scheduled, sitting and waiting got REALLY boring. So it was a relief when the hours ticked by and before we knew it, we found ourselves lining up in twos whiles the big black doors rattled in front of us. Waiting 7 hours did have its perks, as I found myself one of the first in and found prime position right on the barrier just to the right of stage.

Then came the even more nervous wait until we were finally allowed off our asses to leap up and grip the barrier. A few of us passed the time by yelling ‘Squiiiiiiiibbbbb!’ At the tops of our lungs, just to show our dedication to Two Door’s lighting extraordinaire. I never have been all that athletic, but let me tell you when I saw the signal I was off and leaping to secure my spot on the damn barrier. I stayed clutched to the barrier for most of the night supporting myself through every wave and surge. However, during Two Door’s encore, I dropped into the crowd so I could dance. And boy did I dance.

In perfect positioning to interact with Andrew Dooris, The Jungles Giants bassist, I spent the majority of their amazing set eyeing him, smiling at him and, at one stage blowing kisses. I can’t tell you exactly what came over me, but shit it was fun. It was my second time seeing The Jungle Giants and yet again they did not disappoint. I sang, I danced and had a wonderful start to the evening.

Having previously seen The Vaccines at Big Day Out, I knew what was coming. And boy was I looking forward to it. As expected, they came out hard and high on energy. Soon enough I was head banging along and screaming out every single word. Being on the barrier and clearly getting a bit carried away, I certainly caught the bands attention. Namely Pete, but I’ll get to that story later… Throughout their set Justin’s eyes fell on me as I performed as well, singing along, shouting and dancing. My efforts awarded me with his signature guitar point and the crazy eyes! But best of all was the point and stare that I received during Bad Mood. Or was it Teenage Icon? I can’t remember which song, but I can remember I was embarrassed when he did it because it was timed with the only part of the song I didn’t know… And couldn’t sing to. It still had to be a highlight of the set, which was pretty damn amazing and as fun as ever. Especially when Freddie would silently complain about his volume across stage in charades. You just had to laugh when he gave a cute little wave to say that everything was okay. The reasons why they are one of my favourite bands was certainly clear, just from that short set.

Then begun the waiting. Again. However this time there was classic hip hop played through the breaks. Picture a whole room of people singing the chorus to Ride Wit Me by Nelly. Yeah, it was pretty friggin awesome. As the roadies were quickly set up the stage, elements of Two Door’s stage design started becoming clearer. The synths were hidden behind two panels with white strips, which at first didn’t look all that impressive, but then once the show started… Looked amazing. Squib really had undone himself with all of the different lighting elements and effects which built on the show and took it from amazing, to extraordinary.

The constant awareness of the pain in my chest from being pinned to the barrier and the building restless pressure behind me evaporated as soon at the band took to the stage. Sam, looking as cute as ever, Kevin looking badass, especially with the bandage he had wrapped around his hand, and Alex looking amazed at the crowd before him. He said it himself later, it had been too long since they were last in Melbourne. Hear, hear.

The first thumping beats of Sleep Along flowed through the crowd and provoked an instant reaction. Suddenly hundreds of bodies were jumping, hands flailing. And that is pretty much what it was like the entire time. Crazy and fun, even when the band slowed it down with The World Is Watching, one of my personal favourites which was a delight to hear. The atmosphere was intense, and Two Door were blown away by it. They loved performing, and we loved them for it. So much so that the entire building shook with calls and stomps of feet for an encore. A win win situation in gig world. For me there was hardly any brag worthy moments of catching picks, set list or like. However, I did make eye contact and garnered a smile out of Kevin. And that made up for all of the times I was crushed into various security guards armpits while they distributed water to those behind me throughout the night.

A mesmerised crowd was treated to a bit of Hall and Oats after Two Door walked off stage and the show had officially ended. Again, an entire room was all singing a chorus, dancing too, but this time it was to You Make My Dreams Come True. It seemed fitting, because I don’t think anyone walked out of Festival Hall with their dreams having not come true. Mine certainly did, I saw two of my favourite bands of all time. But little did I know, it was going to get a whole lot better.

The usual procession of people home after rehydrating, buying merch and wringing out their clothes of both their own sweat and that of others began. But you also had a group, which was significant at first, that waited at the side of the building at the stage door. Seizing the first opportunity I had to be a stalky, waiting fangirl, I found a place in the gathering and waited. And waited. Annnnnnnnddddd waited. Alex and Ben sneakily made their way out of the building and onto their bus, unbeknownst to the group waiting.

Stealthy move guys.

The waiting continued, before half the group which had gradually thinned, were distracted by a maxi taxi on the move, which meant The Jungle Giants were departing. I wanted to speak to them about how a friend of a friend knew them and blah blah (no actually it’s true, just replace ‘friend’ with ‘sister’) so I went up and had a chat to Keelan, before he was unfortunately hug attacked by a giggling gaggle of girls. It was then that I saw old mate Dooris, (I got shy) who was speaking to none other that Pete Robinson. Seizing the opportunity yet again, I asked Pete for a photo. Enthusiastically agreeing, he then moved on to say that he’d seen me singing away. I laughed and replied with ‘yeah I got pretty into it‘ before it actually occurred to that I must of been going pretty hard for him to see me behind his drumset. I then followed up and explained to him how I love the music so much that it just takes me to another place, and I can get lost in it and that makes me so happy. Looking delighted, he told me that they love to hear things like that and it really encourages them as a band. Safe to say there was a bit of mutual heart warming going on there. Waving goodbye, I went to join the group again and it wasn’t too long before Justin and Freddie emerged. They came over, despite they were in a pretty serious hurry, and signed away on Polaroids, tickets and other forms of hard surfaces. I managed to snare a picture with Justin right before he had to leave. His face in it… It’s absolute gold. Both of them soon headed off, and Freddie left a half smoked cigarette behind. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity, a few members of the crowd got the security guard to retrieve it off the ground for them. Soon enough, those people had another claim to fame than just getting a photo of something signed by Freddie. They also had smoked his cigarette.

Once again, the group was forced to wait. It’s not like we weren’t used to though. We had been at a concert after all. For a moment though, we all thought we had been waiting in vain, when a security guard walked past a yelled, ‘who are you all waiting for, they’re all gone!‘  I don’t know what convinced the group otherwise. Maybe it was the fact that there was still a charter bus which they came on, parked in the side street. Hmm, nice try though buddy.

Just shy of ten minutes later, Sam and Kevin emerged to a screaming crowd. They came straight over, with Sam stopping just in front of me. A few seconds later, I politely asked for a photo and he obliged. And damn if it isn’t the cutest photo ever. As you can tell, I have quite a soft spot for Sam. I moved over along so everyone could shuffle around and take their opportunity to meet two thirds of Two Door Cinema Club. Well technically, if we’re speaking in live line up, it was only a half, can’t forget Ben now can we!

Moving down I found myself at the end of the line that Kevin was making his way down. I had plans to say something I’ve always wanted to tell the band when I met Sam, but nervousness took the words straight out of my brain. So I took the opportunity to say them to Kevin before I asked for a photo.

“I just want you to know how happy your music makes me feel. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as happy as I have tonight. Especially when you started playing “Sun”, it’s my absolute favourite. So thank you for tonight… Shit, sorry I’m crying.”

Mid way though, the tears started to stream and my voice got all choked up. The night really did mean the world to me, and I wanted them to know that. Kevin gave a consoling chuckle and told me that I didn’t need to be sorry and that he loved hearing things like that. Then I got my camera out and turned it to classify selfie position to snap the last picture of the night. Unfortunately it turned out horrifically blurry, but it’s the conversation we had beforehand that was what I really wanted to remember. So thats why I’m writing it down.

Hell, I’m writing it all down because I never want to forget one of the greatest nights of my life. Although I don’t think I ever will.

By Rochelle.