DZ Deathrays - Black Rat

My motivation for joining musooklub was simple - discover new music from different places. Over the years, through at least one revival, and a near half-dozen cranky emails from Raman, I've certainly discovered some great new bands that I would not have otherwise found. A few highlights for me over the years have been...

• The Decemberists (June, 2010 - Andy) - These guys have gone on high rotation for years and I've actually *paid* for several of their albums. Awesome stuff.
• Blitzen Trapper (September, 2010 - Andy again) - One I come back to once or twice a year and am always surprised at how much I enjoy it (not sure why) and why it doesn't get played more often.
• Portugal. The Man (April, 2014 - Francois) - Just brilliant album, I was obsessed for like a month! I bought some of their back catalogue, but nothing was as great as this one.
• Titus Andronicus (May, 2014 - Joshua) - This one took me a while and about 4 months, but it's on a regular playlist now. Some really cool music. Their back catalogue is on my wishlist.

More recently I've also really enjoyed Kelis, The Once Soundtrack, Cloud Nothings, Damien Marley and Mr Scruff. Musooklub has been hitting some good stuff this year, so go team. Well done.

Keeping in the spirit of sharing music with a global crew, I've always tried to share local bands that may not have a broad audience (okay, Nick Cave was an indulgence). However, they have always been bands that I already knew. It was almost like I was staking my reputation on my recommendations, which probably meant my reputation hasn't fared too well.

But not this time! This time I've taken the spirit of musooklub one step further and gone hunting for new, local music that even I had never heard of. Inspired by some of the recent rock postings, I hit up some of the girls at work with black nail polish for some local stuff and then took a gamble. Have to say, I'm not disappointed.

DZ Deathrays are Brisbane lads that have been around since 2010. In just four years they've released three EPs and two albums, Black Rat being their latest. They're box-holed as thrash pop, which is a new one for me and I take to mean catchy songs that also use distortion on their gi-tahs.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6ij8un98bv9i7qa/AAAA5aZiWfpgPuqFBRTJD_FNa?dl=0

But I don't think you'll be disappointed. There's hints of Arctic Monkeys, Beastie Boys, Killers, and a bunch of others, which either means their sound is quite contemporary or a complete rip off of what's already popular. Either way, I enjoyed the album and will seriously consider checking out their previous one (which one an ARIA in Australia, which is kind of like the tinfoil Grammy).

Best tracks for me are Black Rat, Gina Works At Hearts, and Northern Lights.

Like many great Aussie rock bands, I fear these guys will get picked up by the commercial stations, played to death, have a failed US tour, release an acoustic album, then retire as millionaires at 35 and take up respectable careers as teachers or federal politicians.

I give it 4 stars.