Speakers: John Cheong-Holdaway
John Cheong-Holdaway: Hey there, I'm John from kids punk band, Riot Baby. Balinese Gumelan Orchestra, Gumalan and DanAnda and a bunch of other musical projects. I got this record. Sounds from Newy and the Hunter from Suitcase Records to review. Now, I feel like I'm pretty across local music generally, but this compilation showed me, I guess I'm pretty much just across Melbourne bands. Every band on this comp was new to me. So let's dive into my picks. First up is Mucho Sonar with Flogging a Dead Horse. I think I'm a bit biased because I have the exact same instrumentation as Riot Baby with a sick horn section on a super tight punk band, intense riffage, really super tight horn section with trombone and sax. And every part of the song is just like a master class in punk arrangement. The bit where the band drops in for the guitar rif continues. Solid gold banger. Next is Bleach by Jan or Jann maybe. Are they Dutch? Beautiful prog like emo pop song gets a little screamer near the end. Like really beautiful, like virtuosi guitars and great vocal hooks. Loved it. Coming out of the heavy music. We've got Butter Knife by Death Wish, which is this real, eighties throwback pop track with like beautiful FM synth tones. And I really like the syncopated vocal hook. It's like dancing around the beat. Nice and finally Broad Arrow from Boudicca really like walks that line between metal and hardcore with great female vocals and I really love the breakdown outro overall, really fun comp and thanks so much for sending it my way. See you around.
