Live Review: Day Ravies, Naked Maja, Nite Fields, Barbiturates

Starting Trainspotters off tonight is Barbiturates – they're brash, loud and with a more punk rock sound to their comparatively atmospheric past. New drummer Alec Tullio is a great addition to the band and helps drive things along in a melting pot of echoing guitars and grizzly vocals.
A bit of a delay follows before Nite Fields make their triumphant return to Brisbane with tonight marking their first show in close to six months; however, it's clear from the start that the mix is wrong for them. In no way the band's fault; the lush, textural sounds are just lost in what can simply be described as a poor mix. The band do perform stupidly well despite all this, with tracks old and new mixing together to form a solid and well-executed set with the brooding Vacation being a notable highlight, and the free popcorn following the band somewhat making up for the ear-piercing frequencies courtesy of the sound desk earlier.
Launching their new EP, Disillusion, Naked Maja are notably different to everyone else on the bill tonight and their mix is too quiet, yet lush as hell. Everything about the set is solid from the start and the band sonically experiment within the constructs of each track to great result. Recent single, #59 stands out, and if tonight and their recent output is anything to go by, things ahead are looking bright.
Day Ravies have been in town a couple of times this year and their dream-like pop songs have always gone down a treat. Tonight they're locally launching their latest full length, Tussle, and bloody hell, like most acts tonight they're noticeably heavier than times past and it's bloody bad arse rock'n'roll from the word go.
Nite Field's guitarist/keyboardist Chris Campion joins the band for backing synth, and the sound is amplified to the point where they should have the man in the band, and it's a shame he only stuck around for a few tracks. However, when the soothing summertime sounds of I Don't Mind kick in he's quickly forgotten, with the track's peaks being aided by a mean fuzzed-out guitar with a well-constructed tone behind it.