Massive HURRRS in my direction for posting this so long after its release. According to lead singer Amandah, the clip’s aesthetic is inspired by “Carmen Miranda minus the fruit.”

www.myspace.com/operatorplease

WTH: You’ve known Claire Bowditch for quite a while?

EL: We became friends when I was nine and she was 16. We went to the same hippy school and somehow found each other. We even wrote some songs together back in the 90’s. Our early work never really broke through onto the scene though.

WTH: Did Harry Angus (Cat Empire) direct Tinpan Orange towards a ‘bigger’ sound? What did he bring to the table during the working process of the record?

EL: He brought a lusciousness to our sound…sweet melodic lines, little hooks and riffs subtely layered to create texture and richness and drive. We don’t have drums and bass so we needed to be creative about making the songs have groove and evolution. He also had a lot of confidence that we could make a beautiful album, despite the fact that we all had little production experience.

WTH: I can’t keep track of how many guest musos walk in and out of the Cat Empire.

EL: They are a musos band. They love jam… I mean a jam.

WTH: You describe yourself as ‘gypsy infused’ folk. What does this mean for the rest of the population who are wary of pick pocketing musical vagrants who smell like hashish and patchouli oil?

EL: The gypsy thing is phasing out a little bit in Tinpan. Alex is straying from his Ukrainian Jewish gypsy roots and embracing his Ukrainian classical heritage. Behind that iron curtain those kids can really play Bach…

WTH: Bearing the estrogen in the trio, how does musical conflict go down?

EL: I usually win.

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Georgia Fair – Times Fly 

Sydney duo Georgia Fair have recently returned from the US where they’ve been working on their debut record with Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses). Times Fly is a balmy folk gem, shrouding sweet surf coast atmospherics in sedate harmonies and melancholic hooks. Those chiming chords and that jovial tambourine makes the outro sound like it’s been plucked from a scottish hymnal. I’ve got a soft spot for these kind of tracks that remind me of days driving down to the coast and burning my feet on the hot pavement in summer. A charming, temperate track that reads like a mellow sepia photograph. Nice stuff.

Catch Georgia Fair supporting Darren Hanlon on Friday the 13^th at the Factory Theatre.

www.myspace.com/georgiafair

Wintercoats – ‘Cathedral’ (mp3)

Melbourne’s Wintercoats (aka James Wallace) recently released his Cathedral EP, which you can grab for free by following this link. With track names like ‘Cathedral’ and ‘The Overture,’ it’s a suitably lush release that rests heavy on strings, piano and reverbed vocals. The title song is an aching and beautiful orchestral number built on a deceptively tribal loop of flute stabs and yelps that soon dovetails in a wash of layered violins and Wallace’s repeated refrain of “It’s all I’ve wanted for a while.” This is a truly great EP and is definitely worth the 43MB of your monthly download quota.

www.myspace.com/wintercoatsmusic

The latest video from Self-Destruct, the solo album from No Through Road’s Matt Banham.

‘Lifeblood Flow’ (Turkish Prison remix)

‘Michael’s Deadline’

Some new tracks from the Midnight Juggernauts including ‘Michael’s Deadline’ and  Turkish Prison’s spin on ‘Lifeblood Flow’.

Catch the dudes at Splendour In the Grass or on one of the dates below before they fly off to do a run of dates across the UK.

12/8 – The Gov, SA

14/8 – The Capitol, WA

19/8 – The Forum, VIC

20/8 – The Forum, NSW

21/8 – Hi Fi, QLD