CHILDISH GAMBINO

Camp
Island

Donald Glover’s day job is as an actor and comedian, starring in US sitcom Community and working as a staff writer for cult comedy series 30 Rock. By night he’s both the rapper Childish Gambino and, as it seems from this album, a part-time Kanye West impersonator.

However, a fascinating public persona is not synonymous with fascinating musical output, and while Glover’s attention-seeking behaviour may be grotesquely compelling, the 20-something rapper himself is not. He fancies himself a tortured artist, but his mixture of ego and self-loathing could not be more cliché. He thinks he’s an aesthete, but his taste (college girls, white society, getting crunk) is tired.

Worse still is Glover’s sad attempt to skewer his own hipsterhood, with one of the record’s most cringe-worthy lyrical turns of phrase arising from a description of a bathroom rendezvous with a girl who’s “Got ironic tattoos on her back/That ain’t ironic bitch, I love Rugrats.” Unfortunately, the rest of the album’s tunes feature Glover flagging up more of these self-satisfied, laboured jokes.

To make matters worse, the production (at the hands of Community composer Ludwig Göransson) sounds like a straight-up pastiche of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; with soaring synths, melancholic piano and thumping beats all thrown into the mix without any of the brilliance or distinctiveness of Kanye’s Record.

_LINDSAY WEIR

BALLS OF STEEL

Hair metal throwbacks Steel Panther are “more infectious than a bad case of herpes” and they’re set to bring the love back to Perth this year. After rocking the main stage of Soundwave back in March, the LA rockers will hit the stage of Metro City on Wednesday, October 10.

RIDE WITH ME

Do you remember what you were doing in 1992? Well, Mark Gardener does: he had just released the masterpiece Going Blank Again with his British alt-rock group Ride. To celebrate that momentous year, Gardener is heading to Australia on an acoustic tour where he will revisit some of that shoegaze classic as well as other hits from across his career.

BAKED SALMON

With his name synonymous with The Scientists, The Surrealists, Beasts Of Bourbon, and oh so many more, Kim Salmon is one of the most influential musicians ever to have cut their teeth Perth. He promises to “guitarfuck” Perth when he drops by The Bakery on Saturday, July 28.

SKY’S THE LIMIT

Combined their talents on full length album Songs Of The Southern Skies, Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp are now joining forces for an Australian tour. The album features contributions from the likes of artists Iva Davies, Gurrumul, The Living End’s Chris Cheney and heaps more.

GROWING UP

You may have seen them on the Rage couch over the weekend, but you will have to wait until August until you see them again. They are Melbourne rockers Children Collide and they’ve just released their third album Monuments.

SKULL CANDY

Fresh from the announcement that On The Bright Side is taking a year off, we get one more Splendour In The Grass sideshow announcement. UK trio Band Of Skulls are returning to our shores for their Sweetening Up Winter tour and they will step into The Bakery on Monday, July 23,

SMILING POLITELY

It’s official: there is not going to be an On The Bright Side festival in Perth this year, but we can tell you that at least one of the Splendour In The Grass headliners is making their way to Perth in 2012! The Smashing Pumpkins are true survivors of the ‘90s grunge movement.

WAKE ME UP

After pulling the pin on his proposed stop in WA earlier this year due to a stirring bout of pneumonia, George Michael has announced dates to make up for it, including a stop in WA which will go down in history.