Review –
NoKTuRNL “Neva Mend”
Matthew from NoKTuRNL answered a recent call for
contributions to the website
which resulted in the receipt of their current single Neva Mend on Mushroom through Festival, hot on the heels of the
high-rotation success of New Era on Triple
J and the Cutting Edge appearances around the country.
NoKTuRNL strike me, from my exposure to them
through New Era alone, as one of the very few ‘indigenous rock’ acts
that successfully combine their own with American and Western-Suburban
Australian cultures (ergo Superheist,
Heifer, etc, as examples of
the latter). It’s not until the rap in the middle-eight of New Era does
the uninitiated learn of NoKTuRNL’s
background, as both Neva Mend and No Respect are more your African-American
urban-culture NWA
styled works with RHCP
leanings and underlying hip-hop ambience.
Few singles nowadays give an accurate picture
of where a band is headed, opting for two completely different tracks and a
multitude of remixes. Neva Mend on Mushroom
through Festival is one that
does and provides more than a hint of the future success that NoKTuRNL can expect!