Sauce Magazine

Midnight Juggernauts

Sauce Magazine — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:40:20 +0000

Sauce Magazine sits down with Vincent from the Australian alternative electronic rockers, Midnight Juggernauts

Phil K

Sauce Magazine — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:26:50 +0000

Sauce Magazine’s interview with Melbourne DJ and producer, Phil K

Hermitude

Sauce Magazine — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:16:06 +0000

Sauce Magazine interviews Luke Dubber from the Australian hip hop group, Hermitude

Grinspoon

Sauce Magazine — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:02:59 +0000

Sauce Magazine sits down with Joe from the Australian rockers, Grinspoon.

Frenzal Rhomb

Sauce Magazine — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:52:27 +0000

Sauce Magazine sits down with Jay from the Australian punk band, Frenzal Rhomb.

Dig Cave Dig – A Tribute To The Music Of Nick Cave

Sauce Magazine — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:18:43 +0000

Tribute albums have been a dime a dozen in the last decade, often cynically put together by record labels cashing in on the success of an established artist many years past their prime. Some of the early tribute albums dedicated to writers of the caliber of Bacharach and Cohen were magnificent, but before you knew it every man and his dog had a tribute album, when Duran Duran and Elton John have one, the genre is on very shaky ground indeed. The ones that work tend to feature artists who are great songwriters. Attracting big name artists to cover the songs is not always a guarantee for success, in this case the list of contributors read like a who’s who of the Melbourne music scene which lends this collection a genuine coherency (albeit with at least one former Idol contestant along for the ride).

‘Dig Cave Dig’ has been lovingly and painstakingly put together. This release could never live up to the high expectations of Cave’s die hard fans but it will trigger fascinating debates about its artistic merits in the pub. In one instance, Vasco Era’s ‘Dig Lazarus Dig’ comes close to topping the original. Your Animal are probably the one group taking a major risk with a stripped back minimalist version of ‘Weeping Song’ with a female vocalist putting a very fresh spin on one of Cave’s greatest songs. My only criticism of this compilation is that I would have thought the Birthday Party warranted a tribute in their own right.

Hunter and Morter – Fear and Loathing

Sauce Magazine — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:16:33 +0000

Correct me if I am wrong but if you’re a cutting edge Australian hip hop artist, are you legally immune from prosecution for failing to acknowledged the blatant sampling of a famous films in your music? In particular, as brilliant an idea as it is, a pivotal track on this album directly and un-subtly samples Pink Floyd’s “Learning To Fly” and in the process turns the most un-danceable band in the world to one of the most danceable. Elsewhere Tom Jones croons from his classic “It’s Not Unusual.” Not since, Vanilla Ice refused to acknowledge he had even heard the Queen / David Bowie song “Under Pressure” has an artist been so arrogant.

Although reading the crude, offensive, barely literate and misogynist linear notes, the rapper sounds like he may have terminal liver cancer, in which case maybe he doesn’t care about earthly issues like copyright and getting sued. Legalities aside, this album with it’s extreme subject matter is somewhat of a concept album, loosely inspired by Hunter S Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas”, even going so far as to draw on an iconic image from the Terry Gilliam adaptation for the album cover, in which the duo pose for a portrait with their faces worked into the picture. The rhymes are nasty, drawing on drugs and booze for inspiration, occasionally rapping about sex with midgets for good measure, this is an evil little album and a great concept. Spontaneous, hardcore, Aussie Hip-Hop at it’s most extreme and dangerous.

Kate Bush – Director’s Cut

Sauce Magazine — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:13:34 +0000

In an otherwise stella career song critics have rated 1989’s “The Sensual World” and 1993’s “The Red Shoes” as among Kate’s weakest work, certainly her least successful in a commercial sense. “Director’s Cut” sets out to re-record and re-work the original recordings into what is essentially a new album. Kate herself was unsatisfied with the original recordings and felt they had dated badly, so just as film directors set about re-editing their work for modern audiences, this perfectionist artist set out to re-make her music. The idea came to Bush in unusual circumstances, when she originally released her song “The Sensual World”, James Joyce’s grandson refused to give her permission to use his famous relative’s words in her lyrics. One day before the copyright was due to expire, he contacted Bush and she re-recorded the song as she had originally wanted it to be heard.

It would be fair to say that with the exception of “Rubberband Girl” which degenerates into boogie woogie 12 bar blues and seems horribly out of place, all these songs improve significantly on the originals. The truly exceptional moment is “Deeper Understanding” with its computer generated voices and strange rhythmic patterns. The minimalist synthesizer underlying “This Woman’s Work” reminiscent of the Korgis “Everyone’s Got To Learn Sometime” offers a new dimension to this song that was originally a piano based ballad.

My Friend The Chocolate Cake – Fiasco

Sauce Magazine — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:11:45 +0000

Having won three ARIAs and survived 21 years in the business, it has been a long time between albums for MFTCC. The signature sound features Helen Montfort’s cello and Hope Csutoros’s violin, as well as drums with brushes and double bass. “A Quiet Place” is a slow and beautiful song and it is the ballads that really shine in this collection. ‘Great Expectations” with it’s dancing wooden dolls percussion and lyrics like ‘I will never bowl like Curtly Ambrose’ is quiet whimsical but perhaps like the great fast bowler, better appreciated in the 1990’s. Perhaps in trying to be all things to everyone MYTCC have re-visited every aspect of their past, rather than attempted to deliver a coherent and satisfying album.

Ballads like “Black Ice”, “Take This As Read” or instrumental “Sister Bernice” work best, slower more melodic sad songs is what this group do best. “25 Stations” where with its storyline about a guy traveling on a train and the observations he makes about the journey while the backing singers make the sounds of train whistles, as the song builds no train clique is left unsaid or unexplored is a real highlight. One dictionary definition defines Fiasco as something between the sacred and the ordinary and at the end of the day that is a pretty accurate description of this album with its mish mash of genres and diverse themes.

Jennifer Lopez – Love

Sauce Magazine — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:07:09 +0000

What has set J-Lo apart from the Britney’s and the Ga Ga’s was her Latin roots, which are entirely lacking in this generic collection of songs cannibalized from friendly generic chart fodder from the past few years. This album could literary be one of thirty or so female artists. Lead single “On The Floor” featuring Pitball and “I’m Into You” featuring Little Wayne are slightly more listenable than the other tracks, but frankly unless you are a 12 year old girl there is nothing much to hear here. You know something is up when album credits list more people involved in the photography and make up area than the musicians and producers.

On the comeback trail after becoming a judge on American Idol and collaborating with Lady GaGa on two tracks, “Invading My Mind” and “Hypnotico” this album is being hailed as the big comeback album after disappointing sales for 2008’s “Brave”. Perhaps these days receiving more publicity for becoming the mother of twins than for musical innovation, “Love” is jam packed with dancehall, disco and hip hop grooves and a few auto tuned bland ballads like the confessional, “Starting Over” and “Until It Beats No More”. “One Love” is a bitchy song inspired by her past relationships with P Diddy, Chris Judd and Ben Affleck while elsewhere she sings songs inspired by her relationship with famous husband, Marc Anthony.