With a strong focus on the Australian music scene, Australian Guitar is a rich source of information on playing techniques, styles, the wide range of instruments available and all the technology that guitarists have to consider in the 21st Century.
WILLOW SMITH TRADES POP BEATS FOR SICK RIFFS ON NEW TRACK R&B singer-songwriter Willow Smith has unveiled her latest single, “Transparent Soul”: a guitar-heavy track that sees the rap star take a significant sonic shift and swap intricate lyrical flows for thrash-y pop-punk powerchords. Wielding an Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent signature, Smith serves up a series of sweet melodic slides and oversized open-string chordal hooks over a moody bass guitar line, all of which are driven along by Barker’s high-octane drum part. Of her new punk-flavoured musical direction, Smith revealed that the upcoming album took inspiration from her mother’s [Jada Pinkett Smith] nu-metal band Wicked Wisdom, which introduced her to a huge array of bands outside the R&B scene. “I never felt like I could sing that kind…
ACOLYTE THEY ARE an equally operatic and eruptive five-piece from Melbourne, whose monolithic records make even the most destructive riffs feel elegant. To put it succinctly, they’re the future of Australian prog-metal. THEY SOUND LIKE a blindfolded ride on the world’s most unpredictable rollercoaster. We have a theory that when people with synaesthesia listen to Acolyte, they’re able to see colours that don’t actually exist - the quintet will them into existence with the sheer might of their sonic volatility. YOU’LL DIG THEM IF YOU LIKE Karnivool, Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend, and hiking your way to the top of a mountain to stare in awe over the horizon, astonished by the widescreen beauty of the natural world… Then racing back down to thrash away in the mosh at a sweaty,…
TYNE-JAMES ORGAN HAILS FROM MELBOURNE, VIC PLAYS SOLO SOUNDS LIKE SUMMERY, SOULFUL POP WITH BIG GROOVES AND EVEN BIGGER HEART LATEST DROP NECESSARY EVIL (LP OUT NOW VIA UNIVERSAL) What’s your current go-to guitar? My Martin 000-15m is my baby. It’s a three-quarter-scale mahogany. I bought mine in 2014 and it’s served me so well every day and at every show since. I used to watch this guy from England on YouTube and he played one. His videos had no edits and I couldn’t get over the tone and look, so I just went searching. I knew it was mine from the first strum. I’ve got the LR Baggs Anthem pickup in there, which makes it a dream whenever I plug it in. How did you initially fall in love…
WHEN: SATURDAY APRIL 17TH + SUNDAY 18TH, 2021 WHERE: THOMAS DALTON PARK, WOLLONGONG NSW REVIEW: MATT DORIA After the past year of cancellations, routine postponements and general dream-crushing, it felt indescribably euphoric to boogie at a proper, full-fat outdoor music festival. Yours & Owls’ hotly awaited return to Wollongong marked the first large-scale, free-roaming festival on NSW turf in over a year - there were some minor hiccups, as to be expected, but nothing could dampen the excitement of spending a day in the sun, soaking up the vibes and revelling in the energy of Australia’s biggest and brightest live acts. To comply with government-sanctioned COVID-Safe guidelines, the festival was split into four colour-coded sections, each with their own entries and exits, bars, food trucks and amenities. There were definite…
AMENDS Tales Of Love, Loss, And Outlaws RESIST Meddling fierce emotional strain with raw, whiskeyed angst à la belting bluesrock riffs, Amends hit a staunch ream of jaw-dropping highs on the suitably titled Tales Of Love, Loss, And Outlaws. It’s impressive, the dexterity with which the band play into the smokiness and sleaze of their Southern influences - hadn’t we known any better, we’d swear these Western Sydney vagabonds were hard-worn Nashville lifers. The tense emo slick they pierce it with fits unyieldingly, too, injecting into the mix a pertinent sense of umbrage and despair that makes their songs infinitely more impactful. Top-loaded with hits, our choice pick is the Laura Jane Grace-starring “Walking Backwards”, a barnyard banger carried by bold and balmy semi-hollow jutting, roaring harmonicas and deeply emotive,…
Gardens DEW PROCESS In the five years since we first heard their self-titled debut, Sly Withers have undergone a seismic transmutation. Gone is the dirty, loose ’n’ livid shredding and abrasive DIY tracking - the cuts on that first record still pack a punch, but in comparison to the Perth quadrant’s current output, they feel like demos laid down on a MacBook. If the 2019 EP Gravis was a soft reboot to the adventures of Sly Withers, Gardens plays out like the big-screen adaptation - huge emotional stakes, captivating story beats and seven-figure production. Instantly striking is how dynamic and three-dimensional the LP is; the band wade through a jungle of peaks and valleys across its 12 tracks, ebbing and flowing between heartrending slow-burners and big, mosh-ready punk anthems. The…
