A group of young talents from the other East Coast capitals took over The Standard in Sydney last night, officially celebrating the debut LP of Ball Park Music, Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs, released in September. Fellow Brisbanites The Jungle Giants opened up proceedings, one of the latest additions to the indie pop regiment coming out of Brisbane, following firmly and successfully in the footsteps of the Hungry Kids and indeed Ball Park Music themselves. Like these established acts, The Jungle Giants mould a perfect blend of catchy tunes with high energy performances. There really is something fine in the waters up north! Current single “Mr Polite” ended the entertaining set.
Melbourne six piece Northeast Party House seem like a surprising breath of fresh air in an overcrowded music scene, blending elements of bands like Foals, The Dears and TV on the Radio. The band creates impressively well layered, complex and exciting music which would bode well on any radio, anywhere in the world – not to mention on any live stage. Lead singer Zach Hamilton-Reeves has an impressive voice, which he occasionally loops through some effects and tambourines, while the rest of the band – two guitarists, a bassist, keyboardist and drummer – perform with the sort of energy and gravitas that suggests they have total confidence in their craft – and rightly so.
Though I’d heard their name floating around for a while, tonight was the first time I’d been exposed to their music, and I have to say that Northeast Party House are without a doubt one of the most promising bands Australia has seen in quite some time. If they’re just getting started I can’t wait to see where they end up. The sound effect driven “Embezzler” was a highlight of the set, which is available now on their debut EP. You can check it out below!
Though it was Ball Park Music we were all here to see, Northeast proved a difficult band to follow. But if anyone could do it, it’s Ball Park… and indeed they hit the ball out of the park on that front.
Sorry, had to do it.
The band’s standard high energy, supremely entertaining set was cranked up to eleven as they celebrated their final night of the tour. “All I Want Is You” was an early crowd favourite, while the Trombone was kindly ripped out for “Culture Vultures in the Year 2008” off their debut EP. Indeed, though the set was new album focused, there was plenty of older tunes to keep the most fanatical of attendees happy.
“Alligator” was a personal set highlight, with some great strobe light action and an excellent opportunity for the supportive crowd to get their dance on. “Sad Rude Future Dude” and “It’s Nice To Be Alive” rounded out the ‘hits’ portion of the main set, before they jumped into the jovial (dare I say epic) closing track of their new album, “Happy Healthy Citizen Of The Developed World Blues”, which saw The Jungle Giants join them on stage during the songs climax. Definitely the highlight of the night.
The band returned for an encore which included an impressive “Beautiful People” Marilyn Manson cover (who knew Trombones would work so elegantly!) – proof once and for all that all pop bands are a metal band at heart! This excellent night of music closed out with “iFly (I Fucking Love You)”, which saw Sam crowdsurf the packed out room in style.
A high energy set from start to finish, no one left the room disappointed and I would suggest with confidence that the more curious of the attendees left the room pretty big fans. They do know how to impress, that’s for sure… like I said before, there really is something in the waters up north…
