Northeast Party House - Any Given Weekend
27/05/2014
With the debut album, it’s often difficult for a band to project itself, consciously or otherwise, towards something that is bigger than the band. For example, Brooke Candy as a collective represents all the women and gay communities that wish to rise against oppression by doing whatever they damn well please. Arcade Fire represent all those arty fucks folks that could never find anything that really resonated with them in the mainstream. Even Cold Chisel represented every flanno-donning, schooner-sculling, pub-dwelling working man in Australia. But, of course, the youth have been left without a voice, or at least the university students. Given Joe Hockey and his recent slaughtering of the Australian budget, me and my fellow university students across the nation need an artist to obtain a strong grip on us all, and what we value, and to represent us in the way of song, now more than ever. While I did say that it’s difficult for a band to pull this off, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve found the band that can do just that.
Northeast Party House hail from Melbourne, and I was first exposed to them back in October last year when they supported the Jungle Giants. It was like nothing else I’ve ever seen; I’ve never seen a band party on stage as much as these guys. Naturally, when I received their album to review, I was a little nervous – was the album going to have the same vibe that their live performance did? The answer is yes, 100% fucking yes. I’m in awe of this Melbourne five-piece as they sonically explode on their debut album Any Given Weekend.
The masterpiece opens with a prominent bass/drum beat as lead vocalist Zac Hamilton-Reeves sings ominously “we all stand too long on the wrong side” in The Haunted. The album continues to have a sonic theme of darkness about it, complete with low synths and Hamilton-Reeves’ Kele-esque vocals. This then leads into one of my favourite songs of last year, the uni student-anthem filled with cowbells galore Youth Allowance. The whole song is anarchical, chaotic and completely batshit crazy. In saying that, it’s completely flawless in the way it speaks to every uni student. While, contrary to politicians’ opinions, uni students don’t always want to get drunk, get high, and listen to good music. However, that is a lot of what we want to do, and I feel like Youth Allowance embodies that perfectly.
What’s great about this album is that it doesn’t try to be incredibly deep, meaningful, or try to be anything at all, really. What it does do, however, is sound like a giant party, weaving its way through all the highs, the tears, the alcohol and whatever else a party held by these Melbourne boys would bring. Because of this, it’s easy to pass off some of these tracks on the album as fillers that are recycled versions of other tracks. Yes, these tracks could be a little more substantial, but I don’t care, and I’m sure the boys don’t care either. The album is overflowing with killer riffs, brooding synths and every track speaks to every 24 or under Australian that just wants a decent game of beer pong. “I’ve got the good time, you can be a hurricane,” says Hamilton-Reeves on Fake Friends, and rightly so because I tell you I am blown away. Hands down my favourite Australian release of the year.
Standouts: Youth Allowance, Embezzler, In The Water, The Haunted, Valium, Fake Friends
Score: 10/10