Live Review: The Love Junkies, Atolls

Three-piece outfit Atolls start the night with their distortion-heavy style of chordy indie-rock. The band open with Mumble and the fuzz perfection of B-side, Water – two highly complementary singles. Lucas Skinner's hazy, tuneful vocals and Sam Ingles' punky drum patterns enhance the strong melodies of these utterly addictive songs. Atolls seem to draw on psych-rock and Britpop influences with a contemporary shoegaze twist. Their version of Here Comes Your Man by Pixies is a well-crafted cover with Skinner taking on both male and female parts. The warm timbre of his voice perfectly accompanies Atolls' smooth set.

The band's rhythmic pop tunes are well balanced with dense, intricate instrumental sections driven by growling distortion and pounding drums. It gives their brand of fuzz-pop that important extra edge. It's clear from their technical skill and tantalising mix of melody-driven noise rock that Atolls are superior to many of the local, dreamy indie bands currently popping up. They seriously deserve to be checked out soon.

Fremantle-based hard-rockers The Love Junkies head to the Retreat stage as part of their national Maybelene album tour. From the get-go their performance instantly conveys a much sharper level of intensity than their album achieves. The band's clever use of tempo changes is instantly enticing. Watching lead vocalist/guitarist Mitch McDonald perform, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was Kurt Cobain's long-lost cousin, not only due to his hard-rock aesthetic and screeching guitar, but also his enviable vocal range; McDonald similarly switches from metal screams to higher, sweeter notes with incredibly tuneful precision.

Maybelene's title track is a romping rock song that could be attributed to The Fratellis (if they seriously hardened up). The three energetic bandmates have fun onstage and their friendship is palpable, which enhances their intuitive, tight playing even though they generally don't take themselves too seriously. The band's furious-yet-controlled skill-set is clear and the violence they inflict upon their instruments sees drummer Lewis Walsh's cymbal flying off at one point. The Love Junkies' rough, high-octane performance inspires a fortress of spectators and draws many appreciative headbangers to the front of stage.

The band's penultimate song, and single, Oxymoron, takes a leaf out of the Queens Of The Stone Age songbook, pairing furiously deep, hard chords with a strong melody and smooth-to-rough vocal lines. The Love Junkies end their sweaty, animated show with a bang, promising longing punters they'll definitely be heading our way again soon.