BLEEDING KNEES CLUB

BLEEDING KNEES CLUB
NOTHING TO DO
(IAMSOUND / Columbia Records)
****

Surf-pop is smashing through the music industry like a tidal wave right now, and Bleeding Knees Club are right at the heart of it. Alex Wall and Jordan Malane are the derelict duo behind it all, and Nothing To Do is their debut offering, recording in just five days.

Kicking off with last year’s single Teenage Girls, it isn’t difficult to tell that each song on the record was written by two lads with short attention spans and a one-track mind. Beach Slut and Lipstick are evident standouts, littered with shoo-wops and oo-wahs. Both sound unabashedly like songs that might feature on a more adult version of the Grease soundtrack – but in a really, really good way.

Let it Go is the darkest song, and it’s almost as if Wall and Malane were, er, influenced by illegal substances for the first portion of the album, and this was their comedown.

Each tune on Nothing To Do is no more than a couple of minutes long, and that’s the perfect length to ensure it doesn’t get repetitive. There’s nothing deep in terms of lyricism on this record, but there’s some seriously sharp production.

Nothing To Do is 26 minutes of fast, easy, dirty-pop that’ll make you want to simultaneously pop some bubble-gum and make out with a stranger.

_CHLOE PAPAS

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.