On the breathless whirlwind that was May, Josh and I just did what we could to keep up with the steady stream of live music brilliance, new music, and album/EP releases. Here’s the highlights of what happened in May!
Pridelands
Pridelands featured firmly for Depth in May. We enjoyed a sit down chat at Corner Hotel with Liam Fowler and Mason Bunt about the band’s EP Any Colour You Desire, and the band’s growth and evolution leading into it. It was easy to feel the the infectious excitement that the band had for the EP which would be their first release since 2016. Upon release, Pridelands owned the deserved praise they received for Any Colour You Desire, as well as the overwhelming love that was felt at the Workers Club launch.
Find our Pridelands articles here:
* Interview
* Any Colour You Desire review
* EP launch @ Workers Club
New Music
As usual, we devoured a bunch of new music like it was going out of fashion. We consumed a full spectrum of sonic bites, from sweet alternative rock tracks through to blistering heaviness. Take your pick of one of these, clicking the artist/track name below to read more. This is only some though, you can also catch all the new music we’ve covered HERE.
Semester – Attention – “Warm and real, “Attention” is an anthem for generous hearts on the verge of giving up on trying to exist in the life of another who is closed tightly.”
Flowermouth – Gown – “The catchy feel and harmonies make us almost forget that we’re stuck in limbo with Flowermouth as they want to know if they’ll be ‘stuck here forever’ or not.”
Caged Existence – Human Disease – “Crushing heaviness reflects the doomsday march of arrogant existence, where a dead end of destruction leaves no possibility for revival.”
Dream On Dreamer – Let It In – “In the fluid and polished sound of “Let It In” we lose sense of self, and start to feel a burning sense of there being something else and something more; some other option aside from the hurt.”
Valley Ends – Dark Emu – “The instrumentals really draw you in, and make you feel like you are in your own world. They take you out of the song and make you feel as if you are floating, propped up by the soothing yet upbeat guitars, and propelled forward by the soft melodic vocals.”
Antagonist AD – No Justice – ““No Justice” doesn’t just rattle at the cage of authority. It dismantles it; tearing the bars of the cage out one-by-one with measured strength while we watch.”
Sensaii – Bipolar Bears – “The verses are fast and rough, like sandpaper, yet are still technically fantastic as the constant fast guitars coexist perfectly with the screams and the drums.”
Tired Eyes – A Place, A Space, A Symphony – “A goosebump-inspiring desire for freedom washed over me while I listened. While poetic and flowing at times, the song’s lyrics push determined points with repetition and emphasis.”
Trophy Eyes – You Can Count On Me – “Instead of screaming hoarsely about loneliness, we’re faced with frustration at this fan-musician relationship where the fans keep wanting more.”
Reviews
Our reviews at Depth are typically deep dives where we take inspiration from the lyrics, emotion, and instrumentation to understand more about what the creator was intending to express. In May we reviewed some impressive collections of music that are definite Album Of The Year 2018 contenders. Whether they were sing-in-the-shower ‘bops’, honesty buried in metaphor, sharing about overcoming addiction, relationship turmoil, we had a lot of love for these very different pieces of music. You can catch all our reviews HERE, or click the album art below.
Shows
We had the pleasure of witnessing some massive and inspiring shows in May! Live music is such a uniting experience. Access the full show review and photos by clicking/tapping the photos below.
Stuck Out made a huge impression at their You Won’t Come Home launch.
Deadlights celebrated their beauty of an album Mesma with a headline tour of their own.
Ocean Grove hit the suburbs making for their show at The Manhattan a very intimate and sweaty affair.
生 Conform 死 made their way from Perth to share their nu metal/hardcore goodness on their ‘Circa 94 Mini Tour’.
Features
The majority of our feature articles on Depth come from “Wouldn’t it be cool if we…” thoughts and conversations. This is our favourite online music magazine, and we create what we’d want to see. In May, an article which goes deep into the nuts and bolts of hardcore ‘weirdos’ DREGG was created, in response to a dream that I had had some time ago. Vocalist Christopher Mackertich kindly shared the story of DREGG and the underlying philosophies behind the stage costumes and the way of life that the guys of DREGG appreciate. DREGG fans (or newcomers), treat this like your bible.
With persistent adoration for 生 Conform 死, and my continued return back to Statues‘ No Grave, No Burial, I decided to showcase these bands as well as other standouts that hail from Perth. I’d like to share that this article went as viral for this ever-growing zine. The number of website hits on it surpassed any other article in the history of Depth, and easily broke our record for number of website hits in a day on the day that it was shared as well as subsequent days. Thank you to everyone who read it and loved it enough to share it! We are so grateful for people enjoying what we share about music.
With this response, we were encouraged to explore music in different ways. Josh decided to give appreciation to songwriters who created the lyrical moments that moved him; showcasing the creative work of people such as John Floreani, Christopher Vernon, and Matt Gravolin. It was again great to see people sharing this and reading it.
Continuing into June, we have begun a series of articles which focuses on women in music. Whether behind the scenes or fronting a band, I wanted to hear from women who were succeeding in their craft in the music industry, and know direct from them their experience of gender inequality.
In May I shared the take on this topic from Deathproof’s Emily Kelly, and Make Them Suffer’s Booka Nile. I’m very excited to continue this Women In Music series into June, as there are many women kicking butt in their own creative field who deserve recognition as well as adding to the conversation on gender inequality.
Onward to June: In Hearts Wake, Slowly Slowly, and Better Half shows already planned, and more new music every day!
Follow what we’re up to here, and tell your music appreciating friends where to find us:
Twitter – DepthMagazine
Facebook – DepthMagazine
Instagram – DepthMagazine
Spotify – The Depth List: 2018
