Album Review: New Noize #1 by Various (Australian) Artistes

I'm not a big fan of U.S. indie music. Laugh all you want, but I listen to the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack and Barenaked Ladies. Yet the idea of Australian college indie music intrigues me. I expected Flugelhorn Music's new compilation New Noize #1 to stimulate me culturally, not aesthetically. The opposite happened. Aside from a passing reference to frying UV rays (the ozone is thinning Down Under) and an occasional Aussie accent, I could easily mistake these songs as American. The five bands represented here sound very similar--forceful, loud vocals offset by catchy drum and guitar. There's no refined philosophical system being developed here--this is the "I-don't-give-a-damn" sense of fun that all college students feel (yes, even at Harvard). Epicure's "Airmail" stands out as the best by far. It is softer, slower, more serious, and rather mesmerizing with its unplugged feel--college indie music in Australia isn't all joyful clatter, it seems. Flugelhorn Music, formed in 1997, is the self-proclaimed "new kid on the block as far as independent record labels in Australia are concerned" and "prides itself on the development of its artists through pure hands-on involvement." Even my mainstream music tastes can see that Flugelhorn is doing something right.