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LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR: Joe Blossom

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Courtney from Under The Radar has selected a track from Wellington based musician Joe Blossom this week.

This guy epitomizes the modern man half of Fitzroy will never be. He writes lyrics about the cosmos, Dylan Thomas and has a strong aversion to vowels. He also sounds like David Byrne on sedatives if you’re vaguely drunk or trying to write about music on 2 hours sleep (wouldn’t advise it). Plus, the origins of that lush, grain-fed moustache can only be traced back to NZ anyway.

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Joe Blossom

 

Sean O’Brien A.K.A Joe Blossom is a Wellington-based musician who released his debut album Nocturnes in 2011 and spent the next two years living out of a suitcase across the United States of America. It was all the things you imagine a trip like that would be: handkerchief rucksacks, cowboy boots on dusty, deserted roads and American muscle cars and derelict trains on endless highways. In actual fact, I have no idea what his travels were like (and have apparently been reading too much Steinbeck) but Blossom’s new single ‘Tyger Tyger’ evokes all of the aforementioned in the loveliest, most intellectual (true story: it’s about the poet William Blake) of ways.

‘Tyger Tyger’ is available as a free download on Joe Blossom’s bandcamp.

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LISTEN: Tiger Beams – ‘Beat It’

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 Tiger Beams

‘Beat It’ is the first thing we’ve heard from Brisbane duo Tiger Beams since their incredible (and criminally underexposed) debut album In Your Dreams, which came out in 2011. Plenty of other projects have kept singer/drummer Jesse Hawkins and guitarist Jeremy Neale busy, but it’s still massively exciting to see them back and in fighting form. ‘Beat It’ comes strutting out of your speakers, dark and tough (even while referencing Willow Smith), with Jesse Hawkins’s spikey, erratic beats starting out front and centre and staying there throughout the whole track.

The song builds up a great sense of rising suspense, Hawkins’ vocals are cool and snarky in the verse, the choruses exploding with that howling thing that these guys do so well. With ‘Beat It’, Tiger beams have found a sweet spot of music that’s both sparse and dangerous, and supremely danceable and catchy. Here’s hoping another album isn’t too far away…

The video is also very cool, and very creepy – watch it here.

Also, do yourself a favour if you haven’t already and snag a copy of In Your Dreams.

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LISTEN: Eddie Numbers – Let Me Breathe (S.F.T Remix)

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Don’t you just love it when Soundcloud suddenly cuts to a track that you actually really dig?

Enter this remix by S.F.T, a Kiwi producer signed to Auckland’s Renaissance Music. We all know that all NZ urban music puts its Australian equivalents to shame, and this is no different. This remix of fellow Auckland native, Eddie Numbers, is one thumping track that all urban/beat lovers should get on to, pronto (you can take a listen to Numbers’ original EP Try Before You Buy, here). The verses in this track are tight, not to mention the killer choruses. This definitely fits snugly with the current melodic flavour hitting Triple J at the moment – but it isn’t naff.

I strongly suggest that you stop what you’re doing and just take a listen the opener (plus his entire Soundcloud) to lap up all this Kiwi hawtness.

LOOK: Hand Games – 1st Birthday Party

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First birthday parties, hey? Usually reserved for seedy uncles, blow-up castles, and mediocre cameos that somehow entertain the lucky babe to be. Do you remember anything from the space between popping out and entering into 13 years of education at age five? Nope? Glad I’m not the only one.

Last weekend Sydney-based label Hand Games celebrated the big 365 in Melbourne, after parties in Sydney and Brisbane earlier this month. I was lucky enough to head down to The Liberty Social and catch a stellar line-up of acts that didn’t include Fesbo the Clown, sadly. Castlemaine’s own D.D Dumbo opened and I’m forever in debt to Mel for reminding me to get down early to check him out. He’s got one hell of a voice, and truly great musicianship to boot. Oliver Hugh Perry, wrote and recorded his self-titled EP in 2012, and when this transpired live, I must say that I was taken aback. Stop what you’re doing and take a listen to ‘Tropical Oceans’ now, just do it.

Speaking of veiled hype, let’s not forget Client Liaison and NO ZU. While you’ve probably heard of the latter with their brand of unquantifiable calypso-pop, you probably haven’t heard of the former. Go get familiar with their deal. Self described as ‘international in flavour, cosmopolitan in style’, these guys are unashamedly reclaiming the supposed glory days of post-bi centenary/Sydney 2000 Australiana.Don’t believe me? Head to their blog to check out their mood board. They’ve yet to release formal tracks as such, but the video for ‘End of the Earth‘ makes up for everything. Forget that Crowded House ever happened, think the best of old ‘Farnsy, concocting all those power-Casio elements into something that’s actually quite good. At times you stop and catch yourself legitimately enjoying this: because the line between satire and performance is quite thin.

Though, you wouldn’t question the that from the This Thing boys, Electric Sea Spider and Andras Fox. Both hot off the back of successful releases, and in Fox’s case, one half of the hype-riddled Fox + Sui (and rightly so), these guys were a perfect fit for the party. Mirroring the label’s recent success in signing Oisima and Nakagin, Hand Games seem to have caught on to a burgeoning Australian experimental beat scene.

Big love to Hand Games for booking innovative first birthday entertainment.

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INTRODUCING: Readable Graffiti

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Readable Graffiti

Melbourne three-piece, Readable Graffiti, have been quiet as of late in terms of new material, since dropping their 2012 EP Male Mood Swings – although news has it they’ve recently recorded a bunch of demos, so stay tuned.

The electro-rock outfit have now officially released a new single, ‘Tokyo Speed Thrills’, from the EP, accompanied by mind-bending surreal video featuring sliced up eyeballs and ants crawling out of a man’s palm. Sound familiar?

Well, they’ve taken snippets from the 1929 silent film, ‘Un Chien Andalou’ written by none other than the surrealist king himself, Mr Salvador Dali (alongside co-writer and director Luis Bruñel), the Melbourne trio have done them the honour of providing an equally obscure soundtrack (gritty-guitars, casio-tone disco beats and all). The idea of combining the two seems incongruous, but instead you get a big phat bizzaro-slap in the face. Marvelous.

Their driving riffs and furious disco beats makes for an adrenalin-rushing experience (along with the sweat-inducing cinema noir courtesy of Mr Dali). Hear more of their twitchy grunge-electronica on their Bandcamp page.

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WATCH: Beaches – ‘Send Them Away’

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Check out the new Beaches clip for ‘Send Them Away’ created by Ben Montero. The single is taken from She Beats, the new LP from Beaches. We’ll have an in-depth feature on the new record coming up next month. You can get your hands on it May 3rd. Details of the She Beats tour below:

Friday May 31

Hobart – Brisbane Hotel

supports to be announced

tickets $10 on the door

 

Saturday June 1

Melbourne – Northcote Social Club

with Bushwalking + Early Woman

tickets $15+bf from NSC / $18 on the door

 

Friday June 14

Brisbane – Black Bear Lodge

supports to be announced

tickets $10.70+bf from Moshtix / $14 on the door

 

Saturday June 15

Sydney – Goodgod Small Club

supports to be announced

tickets $10.70+bf from Moshtix / $14 on the door

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