Young And Restless
Self-titled
Dot Dash/Remote Control


It seems like a lifetime ago that Young And Restless made their mark on the Australian music scene by winning Triple J's Unearthed competition. After much hype and two radio singles, Y&R have finally released their debut album. From the word go, Y&R give us their dark edge with Need A Hit - an introduction that would give the Yeah Yeah Yeah's goosebumps. Vocalist Karina Utomo is mysterious and sexy as only Karen O knows how to be. However, the YYY comparisons that have been jumping around the place are pretty much blown out of the speakers with I Pointed At You And You Burst Into Flames: hard hitting, fast and in your face - certainly one of the highlights of the record.

New single Police! Police! shows off Utomo's natural singing ability, however it's a little hard for me to get past the over the top hi hats slash disco beat thing that keeps showing up in pretty much every song these days (think Bloc Party, Something With Numbers, any new indie-rave band that's released a single in the past year). Already a well-known track, Dirty Kicks is almost like a Hives/The Bronx hybrid with an old school rockabilly vibe, crunching guitars and one of the most insane bass riffs I have ever encountered.

Producer Tom Larkin (of Shihad) has tried really hard to keep the live integrity of the band breathing on this album, and while it's never going to be the same as having Utomo pushing her way through a crowd and wailing in your face, the recording certainly does grasp the fact that Y&R are an intense live act that need to be seen to be believed. Winning Unearthed single Satan delivers its intent with Utomo screaming her way through the choruses, and guitarists Ash Pegram and Mark Falkland making a huge impact with noise and fuzz that Magic Dirt would be proud of. Young And Restless have given us a great debut record and it will be exciting and interesting to see where they decide to go on their second.

Lauren Connelly