Borough Music - Artists & Releases

MYSPACE / FACEBOOK

"Rock is an amorphous beast that is so many things to so many people that it’s hard to ascertain what it is that makes it so captivating and what makes the sound that belongs in the stadium any different from what resides in basements across the land.

The above conundrum is a small part of the equation with this Brisbane three-piece, this debut album leaving an instantaneous impression of cavernous arenas filled with the soaring melodies and cathartic releases of rage washing over masses of people. And why? Because these 11 songs are completely flawless! That’s right, there’s not one note that shouldn’t be there or one chorus that won’t rouse you inside - every song on Borrowed Ears, Borrowed Eyes is perfect! And again, that’s what makes this recorded document different from the live experience, for whilst the songs are immaculate and the sharp-dressed individuals on time every time, there’s grit on stage that’s missing from this album. It’s beautiful rock music with its fingernails kept clean and, while strange at first, there’s every chance that same grit would probably detract were it present here. This is music that could not only stand side-to-side with that of bands like the Foo Fighters, but easily betters the last 10 years of their recorded career. The unique caterwauling of singer/guitarist Skritch is both compelling and convincing - the impassioned screams in ‘Jump Like You Wanted To’ is like a triple-hook into your ear, while the explosive guitar throughout ‘Grand Central’ is dam-busting and Tanzie’s bass sucks ‘Molasses’ straight down into Kyuss territory.

There’s some strange and awesome shadows cast by songs such as ‘Ugly Song’, with its frenzied and distorted Nirvana-esque mood or the repressed beauty of ‘Eating Through The Debauchery’, but ultimately an album brimming with this much confidence and skill can hardly be believed to be a debut."

BORROWED EARS,
BORROWED EYES
(2008) PLUS ONE RECORDS

PS...SITUATION
(2006) PLUS ONE RECORDS

WEBSITE / MYSPACE / FACEBOOK / REVERBNATION

SKRITCH'S musical styles vary as greatly as the roles he fulfils in each performing project. For example, take the intensity and dynamics of his constantly evolving rock band MARY TREMBLES (one of his all time favourite projects) in which he sings and plays guitar as well as penning the songs, or the versatility in his association with the seminal Australian band THE BEASTS OF BOURBON for whom he has played drums and produced and engineered their latest album "Little Animals".

The minimalism, simplicity and lamenting beauty of SKRITCH'S solo work ranges from lyrically driven songs accompanied by haunting banjo, guitar or piano to lush instrumentals that transport the listener through a movie of sound.

His current rolls within bands such as THE SMOKESTACK ORCHESTRA build upon SKRITCH'S reputation for the extreme versatility of style which he has developed over the years with bands such as TEX PERKINS' DARK HORSES, GOTA COLA, BROKEN HEAD, RAWFISH and many many others.

SKRITCH brings this same ethos and versatility to his roles as a producer and engineer. He has built up vast studio experience recording projects such as heavy rock bands, smooth acoustic country and diverse musical scores for film and television. His ability as a programmer is as unique as his individualistic use of more traditional recording methods illustrated in much of his instrumental work, both solo and his film scores.

With all his composition, performance and production work he maintains a very strong 'organic' simplicity that time and time again results in an understated clarity of expression.

THE INTERVENTION
(2010)

JANUARY 2ND
(2009)

PANORAMA
(2008)

MYSPACE

THE SMOKESTACK ORCHESTRA
Ten years into a particularly casual career The Smokestack Orchestra have switched gears and opened up the throttle once again. After spending the first half of their Tin Anniversary working on the follow up to 2008’s Salute Heavy Industry, a record which displayed all the ferocity and bombast of a live Smokestack show, the Orchestra is ready to release EMD-12.

Named for a series of Electro-Motive Diesel engines, EMD-12 lives up to the torque. It breathes smoke, spits tar, burns rubber and screams bloody murder. Singer/guitarist Tal Wallace, guitarist Dean Hunt and drummer Skritch holed up in Skritch’s new studio Borough Music in Brisbane, where they took their time to forge an album that steams ahead of the pack. Unconstrained by Father Time, this was the first occasion the band was able to write in the studio, as well as experiment with additional instruments and arrangements.

Built around the Orchestra’s foundation of dual guitars and drums, songs were textured with bass, thundering piano and horns, as well as the smoking vocals of Texas Tea’s Kate Jacobson. The post-apocalyptic tango of ‘Wrack & Ruin’, a duet, is a perfect example of some of the band’s experimentation. Smokestack’s heavy energy roars along the length of the record, such as in the dislocated rhythm of ‘(Do The) Black Shakes’, the industrial revolution grind of ‘1851’ and the relentlessly marching ‘Semaphore’.

Elsewhere, more finely wrought cogs spin in the atmospheric haze of ‘Diesel’, ‘The Bones’ and instrumental closer ‘Dangeresque’, which was recorded on the band’s second ever run through the song, though these still have plenty of teeth.

Continuing the machination of trying new things, The Smokestack Orchestra has also decided to make the digital release of EMD-12 free. It is available to download from the Borough Music website, while physical copies will be available to order online and at shows.

EDM-12
(2010)

SALUTE HEAVY INDUSTRY
(2008) PLUS ONE RECORDS