Paper Scissors – ‘T-T-Time’ (mp3)

The Paper Scissors have been around for a while, but 2009 has been particularly active. The ‘Howl’ EP, national tours, securing a a slot at Falls, and now the ‘T-T-Time’ single.

‘T-T-Time’ is light, short, and vibrant, bounding about on the back of some great drumming and affected vocal stutters. You could imagine Hungry Kids of Hungary or someone of that ilk putting out a smoother version of this song. ‘T-T-Time’ is better than most of that clean indie pop because because of its ‘rock’ moments, combining rough, guitar-heavy passages with bouncing melodies, handclaps and fun backing vocals (the intentionally-droll “ba-da-ba-da-ba” that repeats throughout). There’s a touch of twee to proceedings, and it’s the heavier parts of the arrangement that keep things in balance.

This recording is brimming with energy and ‘T-T-Time’ largely succeeds because of the great performance they managed to capture.

www.myspace.com/thepaperscissors

Toecutter – ‘Best Party Ever (Jordan Lightyear and Jimmy2Sox remix)’

Parrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttttttttttyyyy!!!

www.myspace.com/toecuttersyco

Red Shoes Boy – ‘Swept The Floors’ (mp3)

I just got a copy of Red Shoes Boy’s Stagger EP and it blew my mind. They’re a relatively unknown act in Perth but the 19 minutes of dirty, distorted blues rock on the EP are all killer no filler.

They’re a combination of the Black Keys blues guitar riffery and Ian Ball from Gomez’s husky vocal chords. This isn’t ‘boring old man in an Eric Clapton t-shirt’ blues – Red Shoes Boy sound raw and raunchy as fuck.

The EP comes out on December 5^th and I highly recommend you pick up a copy, a six pack of coldies and settle in to listen to it on repeat.

www.myspace.com/redshoesboy

Emma Russack – ‘By The Shore’ (mp3)

We’ve written about Emma Russack before under the guise of her previous band Lola Flash. She had some internet/youtube fame from her self taped home video recordings, but the now 22 year old Emma is back on her own with a matured and dare I say jazzy sound with the new single By The Shore. This short, pondering nostalgic number is a confident sounding follow up since we last heard her on Spunk’s Singles club released earlier this year. She is touring with another graduate of the Singles Club The Middle East this December before releasing her first official EP in January.

www.myspace.com/emmarussack

The Verses – ‘Everything At Once’ (mp3)

I posted about The Verses last year, when the group was playing small shows around Melbourne and their MySpace had a collection of demos the Hooper siblings recorded with friends in a church in their hometown in regional Victoria.

They’re back on the major label ride and I’m a little bit disappointed with their first offering with Warner. I don’t think the songs are as strong as their older material and the shiny production robs them of character.

That said, Ella Hooper could sing the fine print of the Tax Pack over a Timbaland beat and I’d still fork over good money to see her do it live. The audiences of their Fleetwood Mac support slots in December are in for a treat and will enjoy ‘Forever More’, which sounds very heavily, um, influenced by the Mac.

www.myspace.com/theverses