Ball Park music is a six-piece indie rock band from Brisbane featuring Sam Cromack, Jennifer Boyce, Paul Furness, Brock Smith and Dean and Daniel Hanson. They have released two EPs (Rolling on the Floor, Laughing Ourselves to Sleep in 2008 and Conquer the Town, Easy as Cake in 2010), 7 singles and their first album, Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs, was released in September last year. They are currently touring Australia on their 180° tour and I managed to get tickets to the Brisbane concert at the Hi-Fi last night before it sold out.
Bass Drum of Death a gritty, punk/rock outfit from Mississippi deliver a brilliant debut LP in the form of GB City – an album with a penchant for badassery and the soundtrack for rebels without causes. From telling the tales of trying to make it with religious girls, to songs about drugs, depression and Elvis appearing in your dreams, Bass Drum of Death have produced a fantastically grungy debut that is “the soundtrack playing in your head when you’re fucked up and walking home in the middle of the night” (fatpossum.com). Dedicated to “friend, brother and bandmate” Peyton “Larry” Houchins who passed away in 2010, GB City was created mostly by guitarist and singer John Barrett who wrote, recorded, performed and mixed the original songs using only a drumkit, a guitar, a usb microphone and a computer. Made of Barrett and drummer Colin Sneed, Bass Drum of Death prove to be a rock and roll band with a lot of potential. 
Imagine a beautiful 1930s vaudeville cabaret theatre. Now, imagine the young, scruffy stage hand who spends his time soaking up the lifestyle of the eccentric director of the theatre and the tragic lives of the men and women who perform in it. And now put that into music form; throw in the influence alternative rock such David Bowie, Kate Bush Tom Waits and Muse, the vocals of what can only be described as a male Kate Miller-Heidke and then add a dash of gypsy style folk – what is your product? Fronz Arp is the answer. Emerging Sydney band Fronz Arp hail from the theatre of the strange, their music a twisting and turning combination of modern indie rock, folk and vaudeville cabaret. Made up of lead man Fronz Arp on vocals and ukulele; the band consists of members Seamus Kirkpatrick on bass and clarinet, Tony Dean on drums and Brisbane artist Emma Dean on violin and backing vocals. 
