Matt Corby – My False (mp3)

Let’s be frank here. Reality TV hasn’t bred much musical goodwill. Apart from John Foreman’s attempts at matching an Andre Rieu face, Marcia Hines using any opportunity to wear a jumpsuit on live TV or watching Bug Eye introduce every song with an expression that looks like he’s being constantly raped from behind, I’d rather digest my dinner with some with something of substance. Natalie Gauci? Anthony Callea? Can’t forget my personal favourite, Casey Donovan. I’m sure they’re all forging their music careers fronting 80‘s cover bands out in the eastern suburbs, frying fish and chips for the local community or gatecrashing the e-grade social pages at the back of the Herald Sun.

So what really does come after the big hoo-ha of winning a crappy Hyundai and a big ass record deal that requires you to personally polish Jay-Dee Springbett’s bald patch and shit out an album in three days? Mass rotation on the generic Kmart store CD, perhaps the 5 dollar bargain bins at JB, regular Westfield gigs maybe. If you’re lucky like a former top 20 contestant your track may get the opportunity to feature in a UK laundry detergent commercial. Contest me if I’m wrong, but if I was a muso, the thought of a domestic British female scrubbing the skidmarks off her toddler’s cloth nappy in perfect 4/4 time to my my track probably wouldn’t measure the crux of where I’d want my career to be heading.

It was inevitable that when I went to a gig when I was visiting Sydney earlier this year – and saw that Matt Corby was on the bill, I smirked a very wry little smirk. However, hidden away at the back of a Spanish restaurant, walking into the intimate, amber lit gig space was something on an entire different level.

I’ve never used the words ‘moving’ to describe a gig. For me, going out to see bands in Melbourne means having drongos spill beer on your good pants and watching incompetent garage band vocalists abuse sound dudes. Gigs are usually brash, raw and somewhat energetic, but far from compelling the shudder-and-goosebumps sort of thing.When I walked in to this Syd gig, Corby was already in the middle of his set. Although I’m quite fond of hyperbole, I’m far from exaggerating when I say you couldn’t hear a fucking pin drop in the place.

The great thing about Corby is that this guy can sing. You could feel each tempered phrase and each swathing falsetto engulf the tiny, dimly lit space in some sort of creepy supernatural aura. Could have been just the combination of some eerie Bon Iver-esque sample cues, a heavily potent glass (can’t you Sydney people mix drinks?!) and a hazy cloud of smoke billowing from the Spanish kitchen next door – but Corby’s set was incredible. I’ve seen a lot of bands try and compensate for the meagre skills of their frontman by recruiting an attractive female to hit a triangle in the background, whacking in overbearing solos or donning hideous matching outfits to fill the void (you know who you are).  At the end of the day, there is nothing more refreshing than a voice that compels and convicts. There are no wasted phrases here.

‘My False’ kicks off with a ghostly call to arms, before moving into a wave of pastoral nostalgia. The progression of the melody has a beautiful folk-hymnal quality to it. It’s all angelic falsettos, gospel stomps and cascading vocals, so if you were looking forward to a thorough Idol bashing, you probably won’t find it here from me.

(For the record, I still own two copies of the ‘Angels Brought Me Here’ (limited edition, mind you) I purchased as a completely clueless thirteen year old.The first copy sits at the bottom of my wardrobe filed next to Delta Goodrem, Evanescence and a wad of tragic So Fresh compilations, while the second copy doubles up as a coaster.)

Epithets – ‘As Far Away As Amsterdam’ (mp3)

Nick Smethurst has been responsible, whether indirectly or indirectly, for many of the better things to come from of Brisbane’s music community. Sadly missed Valley venue 610 and the brilliant guitar work on Mr. Maps’ 2009 EP come to mind, as well as his membership in folk collective Lion Island.

Epithets is the latest incarnation of his solo work, and it’s best described as wistful pop-songs in the vein of Bright Eyes, Ben Gibbard and other sad white American dudes. The album is due out in late May – I eagerly await its arrival.

www.myspace.com/letsnotbutsaywedid

Joseph Liddy and the Skeleton Horse – ‘Talking Humidity Blues’ (mp3)

This was one of those songs by dudes I knew nothing about. I was just chilling, doing some work with our SoundCloud account playing in the background and then BOOM. Joseph Liddy drops. Crunchy blues-punk guitar riffs leading into Liddy’s gruff howl. ‘Talking Humidity Blues’ is sloppy, lo-fi blues-punk the way it should be.

So I was like, “who the fuck are these guys?” Then I went to their Myspace and I was like, “woah, they look just like The Middle East.” Then I did a bit more google-ing (as a verb, yes) and was like, “woah, these guys ARE (kinda) The Middle East.”

Yes, THAT Middle East that plays every Australian festival and played SXSW and Coachella and has a shitload of blog buzz. The line-up isn’t identical, but it consists of the two lead singers and the banjo player. The big difference here is that whereas Jordan Ireland and Rohan Jones takes lead vox many a-Middle East track, this project is all about Joseph ‘Liddy’ Ireland tearing up the microphone.

Sometimes The Middle East are so quiet you can barely hear them. Joseph Liddy and The Skeleton Horse sound nothing like The Middle East, but they are pretty fucking awesome and likely to generate some buzz of their own.

www.myspace.com/josephliddyandtheskeletonhorse

Midnight Juggernauts – ‘Get Connected’ (mp3)

I’ve never been a huge fan of Midnight Juggernauts. Good for them, they seem like funny guys and more power to Australian electro etc, but I’ve never considered their music to be as good as their bulging profile would suggest. Still, they have some great songs – and ‘Vital Signs’ is one of them, mainly because it breaks from the formula a bit (ie. it sounds like they went through more than a few synth presets before settling on its ‘sound’) (ouch). But the b-side to ‘Vital Signs’ is even better, even if it does eventually fall back on the same heavy handed space-organ chords that appear in every Midnight Juggernauts song and they should consider getting trademarked.

That song is ‘Get Connected,’ and if it’s a b-side then maybe their new album should be pretty rad. Or maybe they have terrible self-editing skills. I don’t know. I honestly don’t mean to dump on them since the stuff I’ve heard from them lately is pretty good. But you know, have a listen and let me know what you think.

www.myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts

As announced by Scott on Twitter – “Went back to school, made new friends, joined choir, shot this video.”

I love the enthusiastic music teacher and the shout of “WE ARE AWESOME!” at the end.

http://scottspark.bandcamp.com/

Nikko – ‘Wedding Song’ (mp3)

There was a time in in 2008 when it felt like I saw Brisbane’s Nikko play at least one a month. And then they kind of disappeared off my radar (probably had something to do with me being in Europe for a while, but whatevs). Anyway, these guys just came back onto my radar with this song.

I’m not going to lie: every Nikko recording I’ve heard so far has been inferior to their live show, which isn’t surprising. They often trade on that whole ‘wall of guitar crescendo’ that will probably always work better in concert than on record for any band. ‘Wedding Song’ isn’t a departure for the band, but it does suggest a growing confidence in their lyrics/vocal abilities.

‘Wedding Song’ is taken from their forthcoming debut The Warm Side. Dates for launch on their Myspace.

www.myspace.com/nikkoband

Everyone’s favourite vagabond sons Tame Impala are preparing for the release of their debut album Innerspeaker, which will descend on all your curious Australian ears on the 21st of May and on the 8th of June for the rest of the world.

Shows have completely sold out for Tame Impala’s Melbourne and Sydney dates, but tickets to second show in Sydney at the Gaelic Club on Sunday 16th of May have just been released.

Continuing the psychedelic pursuit, the Tame Impala lads will trip up to the States during June with buddies MGMT, before venturing back home to play Splendour In The Grass.

Below is the brand new clip for the first single, ‘Solitude is Bliss’. It’s been getting some decent digs from Pitchfork and is the ‘most viewed’ new vid on the site.

Directed by Megaforce, the clip features a whole load of post-pillage dancing, flailing post-it notes from the sky and a rather unfortunate dog.