6 January 2011

Unearthed Review – AstroChem ****

| johnboy
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Astrochem unearthed screenshot

There are nearly 700 Canberra bands with tracks on the TripleJunearthed website. In 2011 we’re going to explore them.

Second off the rank, selected at random with my trusty THAC0 iphone app, is Astrochem who describe themselves thusly:

When the four elements of sound gathered in council, across the vast expanses of the cosmos- They fused their musical prowess, and formed a single consciousness. The pure soundwave energy released, gave birth to a universe, and thus: the Astro-Chemist was born.

AstroWhat? ASTROCHEM!

So what is this band of young, vivacious and quite dashing squires all about- Whom iz dey? How did they get here and why? Who was it who said a picture is worth one BILLION words? Follow my voice as we venture into the dancing wheel of time, and take a trip into a day in the life of AstroChem

Another band with just two tracks up, with infuences like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Muse I’ll confess to being a tad nervous.

Tracks:

Funkadelic Samurai:

Pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a song with a title like this. A big meaty funk bassline dominates with what might be a j-pop keyboard thing playing around in the background.

Primus would have put it on an album without any hesitation, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of in the recording.

Having said that the multiple volume dropouts don’t really add anything to the sense of drama, but are really annoying.

Tyrant:

The Muse influence is a lot stronger here.

The vocals are powerful, and the music is still fun.

The production and arrangement are really a step above a lot of local fare, and in the second half of the song it really rocks out.

Unfortunately they saw fit to open with a largely unnecessary flourish.

Overall:

If you only book one band for a party these guys would work well. More just good clean fun than anything more serious.

You might not remember their songs in a week’s time, but you can have a lot of fun with them in the here and now.

****

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WonderfulWorld10:07 pm 14 Jan 11

Thanks far_northact.

Maybe they could come to the house, I’m attached to triple J and not doing Canberra things, rather than pool and hot 100.

far_northact2:28 pm 06 Jan 11

They’re playing the Australia day music event in Canberra I believe…

WonderfulWorld5:29 pm 05 Jan 11

thanks JB, they sound alright, does anybody know when, where they play in ACT or surrounds so we can see them live?

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