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Wolfmother

Postby Korzic » 10/9/2006, 8:09 am

Occasionally I'll spruik an Australian band if I deem them worthy of a spruiking. Today is such an occasion. The band is Wolfmother...

These guys just tore up the Triple J Hottest 100 with 2 songs in the top 10 and 6 in the top 100 in total making it a new record for Triple J's yearly countdown. Beating the previous 5 by Powderfinger and QOTSA. They talk about these guys being the resurrection of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin... well they live up to the hype at least in my humble opinion. Here's what Rolling Stones had to say

There's a certain ludicrousness here that's so pronounced it becomes admirable. From the lyrical imagery to the pounding riffs, there's no doubt where Wolfmother are coming from. Our time machine travels back, back ... we hear the stoner sounds of the Californian desert in the '90s devolve towards their point of origin. We see Spinal Tap flash past in an irrelevant wink. Destination: the turn of the '70s, just a few years before the birthdate of our Oz-rock heroes, a time of Led Zeppelin and Ozzy-era Black Sabbath, the dawn of heavy metal.

New (post nu-) metal is nothing new. But unlike the Darkness, Wolfmother appear to be playing it straight, without the winks and smirks. And this debut is all the more daring for it. When 29 year-old singer-guitarist Andrew Stockdale wails in his proto-stadium rock voice about drinking wine from the serpent's vine while lovin' in another time ("White Unicorn"), you forgive - or at least suspend disbelief at - the sentiments, just as you do the ripped off riffs and retro organ sounds. It's all to well-executed to ignore.

Dave Sardy famously produced Jet to world-beating punchy perfection, and he's done his rock-radio crossover job here, embellishing with tasty psychedelics without swamping Stockdale's voice - which tries to fuse Ozzy, the Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler-Rodriguez, and Robert Plant, and almost succeeds. As formulas go, this is a winner, and Wolfmother re-create it with genuine affection. Sure, no band can take us back to 1970. Anyone who saw the How the West Was Won DVD, let alone caught Led Zeppelin live, will understand that's an impossibility. But Wolfmother do stand tall like a living museum piece as the next best option.


I'll be sharing it on hub if you want the album.
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Postby Random Name » 10/9/2006, 3:39 pm

psh. Been there heard that.
:P
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Then you think you will inspire
Take apart your head
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Take apart your demons, then you add it to the list.

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Postby menomena » 10/9/2006, 4:37 pm

Ehhh, they're not that good. It just sounds like pointless cock-rock to me. Yeah, I think that describes their sound pretty well, actually. I just think there's better stuff out there to listen to.
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Postby Hope » 10/9/2006, 6:38 pm

:drool: pointless cock rock

anyway. i like their single because it makes me go headbanging crazy. but that's all ive heard from them.
turn your head
come back again
to here knows when

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Postby menomena » 10/9/2006, 7:25 pm

Well, if you like that song, you'll like the album, because every single song sounds the same. Literally. It's hard to pick up where one song ends and the other begins. It's all based off of a pop metal riff, but not catchy enough to be considered half as good as the putrid Guns n Roses.
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Postby laurel » 10/9/2006, 8:27 pm

i used to love "woman". then it got overplayed, and i got sick of it. i also downloaded a bunch of their stuff.....and liked one other song, "collosal", mainly because it sounds different than their other songs.

the lead singer's voice also reminds me of jack white for some reason.
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Postby Random Name » 10/9/2006, 8:47 pm

I was really into the woman song for about 30 seconds. Then it felt really repetitive. It was like they made a actual band that the darkness was making fun of.
-Sarah

Goodbye you liar,
Well you sipped from the cup but you don't own up to anything
Then you think you will inspire
Take apart your head
(and I wish I could inspire)
Take apart your demons, then you add it to the list.

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Postby iarecanadian » 10/9/2006, 9:11 pm

:lol:
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Postby Lando » 10/9/2006, 9:24 pm

I always hated the song Woman... It just sounded like another rip off. Their new song on the radio isn't too bad though. So I might not hate them anymore.
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Postby menomena » 10/10/2006, 10:20 am

Yeah, see, the lead singer is really trying hard to sound like Robert Plant, but falls somewhere short and sounds like Jack White.

And, I am probably going to get torn apart for this, but trying to sound like Led Zeppelin is not a good thing. I mean, their individual parts were great, and I still think John Bonham is one of the greatest drummers ever, but together, they were just too wanky. I mean, if you are looking for supreme musicianship, listen to King Crimson. They were much better at their parts, except they weren't a singles band like Zeppelin. Hell, Brian Eno is another great choice. If you've ever listened to "St. Elmo's Fire" off of Another Green World, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

But yeah, Wolfmother is annoying, Let's keep it on topic here. Heh.
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Postby VazValium » 10/10/2006, 11:00 am

To be honest, I don't think Wolfmother are that great. They have potential but at the moment they are just ok. Even though they do a a different type of old school rock, I think Silvertide are way better at what they do.
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Postby Lando » 10/10/2006, 3:23 pm

Jellybones wrote:Yeah, see, the lead singer is really trying hard to sound like Robert Plant, but falls somewhere short and sounds like Jack White.

And, I am probably going to get torn apart for this, but trying to sound like Led Zeppelin is not a good thing.


I agree, he is trying to sound like Plant, but kind of sounds like Jack White who sucks ass, which makes things worse.

Also, I agree that trying to sound like Zeppelin isn't a good thing, but not for the same reasons. I think Zeppelin is awesome and although King Crimson is good and many bands cite them as influences or one of their favourite bands, I think they're definitely overrated. Not in an exposure type of way, but in a way that so many big bands give them way too much credit.

Not that Zeppelin isn't overrated, but they're overexposed as a "singles band" type of way as far as international fame is concerned at least.
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Postby menomena » 10/10/2006, 5:45 pm

See, the only reason I dropped King Crimson there was for how amazing they were at composing songs. Hell yes, they are overindulgent prog rock, and I really don't like prog rock that much, but you have to admit, you'll never find a more technically advanced guitarist that Robert Fripp.

I am going to use Brian Eno's example of "St. Elmo's Fire" again. That song is honestly one of the catchiest pieces of pop music no one has ever heard. It's under three minutes, and though the lyrics are kind of, well, unnecessarily intelligent, but still, it's amazing. Now, listen to the guitar in this song. By all means, the guitar riffs in this song should really destroy it's composition, but Robert Fripp made it work. Just download the song. You will know what I am saying.
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Postby Lando » 10/10/2006, 8:27 pm

It is a good song, you're right about Fripp being a good guitarist too, but I think giving Fripp a lot of credit (as a guitarist) is different than giving King Crimson as much credit as they get. Not to mention your example was from a Brian Eno song. Not that King Crimson doesn't have noteworthy songs you could have given as an example instead, but I still think they're overrated.
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Postby Gimme_Shelter » 10/10/2006, 9:16 pm

all i have to say is this,


wolfmother fuckin sucks, they played them non stop on the radio when im at work
their single song is just the same thing over and over until you want to take this dudes guitar and swing it into his face with as much force as one possibly could
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Postby menomena » 10/10/2006, 11:27 pm

Lando, all I was saying is that I think Robert Fripp is an amazing, technical guitarist. I like what he does more than any of the stuff Led Zeppelin did. And I told people to download the Eno song because it's my favorite song of the moment. Everything really comes alive if you're lucky to get your hands on the vinyl copy of the album. Especially when you're lucky enough to find an original pressing of it, and the record store charged you $2 and it's in perfect shape.

Anyways, Wolfmother = bad.
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Postby laurel » 10/10/2006, 11:59 pm

WOMAAAAAN OH YEAH WOMAAAAAAN YOU GONNA BE A WOMAAAAN A WOMAAAAAAAAAN IS LOOOOVE

or something to that effect.
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Postby Hope » 10/11/2006, 12:01 am

pft it goes WOMAAAAAAAAAAN I GOT THE FEELIN OF LOVE.

Duh!
turn your head
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to here knows when

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Postby laurel » 10/11/2006, 12:04 am

oh sorry, i couldn't distinguish that out of his banshee screeches.
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Postby Lando » 10/11/2006, 3:03 am

Jellybones wrote:Lando, all I was saying is that I think Robert Fripp is an amazing, technical guitarist. I like what he does more than any of the stuff Led Zeppelin did. And I told people to download the Eno song because it's my favorite song of the moment. Everything really comes alive if you're lucky to get your hands on the vinyl copy of the album. Especially when you're lucky enough to find an original pressing of it, and the record store charged you $2 and it's in perfect shape.

Anyways, Wolfmother = bad.


Good, I agree with you and agree that Fripp is good.
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