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| Thyla |
Brighton's Thyla kicked off this show at The Crossing. Thyla are one of the newest bands to take inspiration from the early 90's late 80's Shoegaze and dream-pop scenes. Thyla were shrouded by layers of dry ice and their sound is a heady mix of reverb laden guitar riffs, not that dissimilar to recent bands such as Wolf Alice or Pumarosa. Singer Millie may have bemoaned this show being the last of their tour with RBCF and having to go back "to steaming milk, which sucks", but on the promise Thyla are showing and an EP round the corner, she may be able to say goodbye to lattes soon. (
6.8/10)
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| RBCF's Joe White |
To music listeners who have been paying attention over the past few years it may seem that Melbourne has become the musical centre of the world. In recent years the city has produced acts such as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Courtney Barnett, Tropical Fuck Storm, Amyl & The Sniffers, and many more. Last year I decided to take a trip to Australia and owing to my love of some of those bands, I made sure that I took a trip down to Melbourne while i was there. What I found was a music lovers dream. Where every bar, seems to have a gig on every night, each day The local gig listings have more shows listed than my native Birmingham has in a month. I caught local heroes such a Deathbeat and Sophisticated Dingo on stacked bills where for a measly $10 you can catch 5+ bands on shows that regularly finish at up to 1am. I didn't get to catch Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever while I was over there but I did listen to their debut album "Hope Downs" on repeat. It's an infectiously brilliant album of summery indie rock bangers from a band who wear their aussieness with pride. When RBCF took to the stage the first thing that occurred to me was how ordinary the band look. With their plain clothes and short haircuts RBCF look more like extras on The Almighty Johnsons* than a gang of Melbourne hipsters. The occasional moments of chatting to the audience didn't really change this impression. With jibes about how stressful it is buying underwear from the bullring and the politicalish statement "our guys called sco-mo your guys called bo-jo" this is 'a song about how stupid fences are'. Any rejection of the division pushed on us by polticians and media is welcome, but it's hardly the sloganeering of an IDLES gig. It was when RBCF started playing tunes from 'Hope downs' that everything started clicking into place. 'Talking Straight', 'Sisters Jeans', 'The Mainland' and 'An air conditioned man' are the kind of tunes that lesser bands would kill for. RBCF have clearly had to work their asses off to get noticed in the vast swamp that is the Melbourne music scene and it shows. There are no gimmicks here, just a band of incredibly tight and talented musicians playing some of the best rock tunes of this decade. RBCF are also refreshingly ego free, all taking turns to be the lead singer. While Joe White deserves prises for his fantastic lead guitar work, its the way all 5 musicians come together that makes the band stand out. After a brief encore and finishing redition of the title track of their breakout EP 'The French Press, it became clear what makes RBCF so special. Free from trends or pretension, just good tunes and fantastic musicianship, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are the every mans indie band.
(8.8)
*New Zealand TV series about Norse gods living everyday lives, google it.
Links
www.rollingblackoutsband.com/
www.thyla.co.uk
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