Sydney trio Talons are perfectly of their time and that time is right this minute. Dancing and thrashing themselves upon a high-wire act, this proto-punk band are balanced in a tug of war between melody and bristling, visceral energy.
This debut album of ten swift left/right punches swims the same shark-infested seas as bands like Die! Die! Die!, Les Savy Fav and The Blood Brothers. It only takes a few minutes for the band to reach its first (of many) musical precipices, during the second track ‘Redheads’ – guitars squalling like Sonic Youth in full flight, the vocals of Christian Best ripped red raw and the song merely seconds away from spontaneously combusting. Balance this with the stalking moodiness of ‘Dazzling Metallic Stallions’, which could whiplash into a frenzy as easily as it could shift down into a jazz break, and again it’s the polarising internal combustion of the music itself that firmly holds your gaze.
Digging down into the songs reveals a complexity that is negated at first by the sheer audacity of the delivery. The borderline moments of hardcore (‘Keys & Codes’, ‘Scoffers & Understanders’) always seemed stuffed with countermelodies and backbeat scholastics that thankfully give way to focused that allow you the chance to breathe. Even with the addition of woodwind in ‘Mudrockets’ and strings bolstering ‘Dazzling Metallic Stallions’, it’s the fact that new and exciting things are still being done with our well-worn three-piece rock band mould that make Talons a damn fine way to wash 35 minutes from your life.
"Talons blew the fucking place apart! There’s a cut-throat brutality to their sound, a brittle teeth-grinding severity that’s distinctively un-Melbourne in a way – an underlying cynicism
indicative of Sydney life perhaps? We pride ourselves on the quality of rock music coming out of this town, but my word when Sydney produces diamonds they are jagged, robust
little fuckers and they’re not afraid to tell it like it is. Talons blew my fragile little mind and turned a killer night into one of the gigs of the year."
“Their EP is some of the best music you will hear this year and if it didn't leave us with such a thirst for more it would certainly be a clear frontrunner for our favourite release of 2007.”
www.polaroidsofandroids.com
“Thundering out of your speakers with unnatural force, Ducats is a punk rock EP of the highest order – steeped in the sounds of Australia’s rich punk/alt rock past but also veering off in previously unheard directions. Talons are one of Sydney’s tightest live bands right now, but luckily, their songs lose none of their power when transferred to tape.” www.timeoutsydney.com.au
“It's raw stuff, and gloriously so….[Talons] could well end up fostering quite a deservedly wide fan base, despite their brutally noisy tendencies.” www.dbmagazine.com.au
“Talons are a great band, nice guys and shit they know how to dismantle your ears. Check them out live if you get a chance.”
www.makeyourself.homestead.com
“Sydney’s Talons sound as though they’re from another generation of Australian punk… Yet it’s not a certain time period I’m hearing, its timelessness.”
www.ravemagazine.com.au
Below is a classy "video teaser" for a compilation titled 9.
Along with ourselves, some of our very good friends are on it also,
and you can get it somewhere for 5 bucks i hear.
Heyy! Thanks for accepting :)
How are you?
If you have the chance, I'd love it if you could drop by my page and check out my photography
Cheers
- Lu. x
Hey aussie-noise-brethren,touring down under would be fantastic!Make sure you guys come to our shores as well,you are a really awesome sounding band.Cheers to you all!/P
Hey,
Hows it going?
are you doing anything interesting?
Just a note to say that we've got some gig's in june so check 'em out and come along!!
Our 3rd Birthday show is on the 27th June so make sure you come along to that one, It'll be HUGE!!
Tim
Assault City
Hell yeah!Trade the cold and gloomy aussie "winter" for the perpetual light of the Scandinavian summer and bring another great Sydney band, like Ghosts or Nunchukka, with you.You seem to have a couple of interesting,genre-defying bands there.Cheers!
I'm not even going to be in the COUNTRY when you play here on 3 July. BULLLLLSHIT! You guys can crash in my bed but, three stooges style, just don't set it on fire or nothin, I don't have "you let drunk dudes stay in your bed while you were overseas" insurance.
also 11th of Aug looks good so let me know what your stadium rock tour dates end up looking like.
hey boys, you coming over our way sat night? Couldn't do last w/e - vomiting all day... anyway hope you can make it for edan + brendan's, its at mine sat night x x
