Tag: Tom Darlow

Charlie ASH – wake up (you’re not asleep now)

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock


Charlie Ash are back on the scene, and things are good. Despite some killer remixes of their gym-cardio-room classic O’Baby last year, I have heard little from the frizzy haired figureheads of four to the floor, dance pop for a while. Well, they’re back and in striking form. Of late, they’ve dropped a thrilling single, Wake Up (You’re Not Asleep Now), packed up their synthesisers and headed to the motherland for a string of shows and a good helping of life on the road. Wake Up, is a vocal driven floor filler, with Rosie’s tones oozing with docile husk and ever-shifting imperative. The chorus is more infectious than swine flu, has a synth line reminiscent of Radiohead’s Exit Music to a Film and drips with dance-floor chic. This track is another stepping stone to super stardom, and another peacock feather in the collective hats for one of New Zealand’s finest. Download it now!

MP3: Charlie ASH – wake up (you’re not asleep now)

:: Tom Darlow

Bang! Bang! Eche! and Batman Tiddabades @ Mighty Mighty, Wellington (14-03-09)

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

Finding myself as a new appendage in a newer city, it struck me like a tour bus yesterday that it was high time I absorbed a little Wellington culture. So I did, by heading blinkingly off into the night to see one of my favourite bands… from Christchurch. It had been a while since I’d seen the young scenesters, Bang Bang Eche, in person. Despite splitting a plane with them to Auckland in January, November was the last, where, sharing a stage with Wellington band New Friend, BBE embarked on a whisky fuelled debaucherous, yet comical, set, punctuated by missed timings and mid-song fistfights (Charlie and Zach spent Nike throwing shoes at each other). However, if BBE were a cow, last night’s set with Batman Tiddabades was the cream.

Sidestepping pre-teens with eyes glazed from indulgence at the Homegrown festival, I made my way to Mighty Mighty, and was lucky to get in. The smallish venue was packed to its offbeat and creaking rafters with opshop hipsters, all jiving to the brutish beats of Batman Tiddabades. Despite only forming this year, the boys have built quite an empire. Once they’ve ironed out a few geling issues and manage to drive their grooves from the pocket, they’re truly a force to party with.

BBE appeared around an hour later in a roar of synths and hi hats, and within seconds had toes twitching, heads nodding, pours dripping and floorboards creaking the room over. The kids have definitely permeated the Wellington market with on mass rap alongs and yelps of joy from kids who recognised the opening bars from each of their myspace classics. Four To the Floor evoked waves of fist pumps, and a choral sing along that could have been heard from Masterton. They did, however, grind out as many new tunes as old and their sound showed a new maturity and development. Their new songs are both dancier and punkier, and will sound incredible on record. Here’s hoping that SXSW is going to be the starting gun for future success, and the next time I see them is in an arena somewhere.

:: Tom Darlow

Did you go to the gig? What did you think? Have you say and comment down below or if you want you own review posted on Starlifter.TV, email it to: starliftertv (at) gmail.com

Mother & Father – ignored [song review by Tom Darlow]

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

Melbourne group ‘Mother and Father’ [who performed at Camp A Low Hum 09] are staying cutting edge by doing things the old way; their impossibly simple website oozes with self proclamation and loaded rhetoric, something no one has really mastered since axel dated models, their albums come in super limited, hand crafted, 100 unit runs, and their music is a beautifully filthy, antipodean-Seattle throwback. Their latest single, ‘Ignored,’ is a rollicking tip of the hat to the mightiest warlords 90s grunge. Characteristically rough, darkly melodic and clocking in at a mere 2:04 minutes, this tune is a double happy, bursting from the blocks in a blur of feedback and effective simplicity. Expect to see a lot of others follow the lead of these chaps, as they stand of the shoulders of the past, and look to the future. For a glimpse into the world of Mother and Father, check out www.myspace.com/samsarareasons and www.themotherandfather.com.  

MP3: Mother & Father – ignored