Recent Posts

teenagersintokyo – ‘Black Bones’ video

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Black Bones from Rhett Dashwood on Vimeo.

Here’s a new clip for an old song –  teenagersintokyo’s ‘Black Bones’ – by Australian Rhett Dashwood. I believe this isn’t an ‘official video’ but the band are endorsing it nonetheless – and as if you wouldn’t. This is definitely worth checking out.

And while on the topic of teenagersintokyo, here’s a remix by (personal album-of-the-year conenders) Seekae from earlier this year that never made it onto whothehell.net. In case you missed it…

teenagersintokyo – ‘End It Tonight’ (Seekae Remix) (mp3)

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www.myspace.com/teenagersintokyo

www.myspace.com/seekaemusic

Numbers Radio – ‘Automatic’

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Numbers Radio – ‘Automatic’ (mp3)

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If you turn up the volume on your speakers, you can hear drummer Mark Henman counting Numbers Radio into the start of  the song, kicking off  their debut album Acquiring Satellites. By recording the bulk of the album “live” in an actual “garage”, NR have blitzed every other indie-pop band in town with the sheer quality that can only come with bashing out song after song until they are good.

In the two years since their inception, Numbers Radio have played Homebake, made a sweet film clip and released an EP and an album, all on independent label Valley Trash.

If you like the songs, buy the album – it has great fifties-style sci-fi artwork and with more play money behind them, they could overthrow Children Collide as Australia’s best power trio.

www.myspace.com/numbersradio

Faux Pas: 'Silver Line'

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Faux Pas – ‘Silver Line’ (mp3)

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Melbourne’s Tim Shiel aka Faux Pas have always been sending us his tracks since this blog started. Recently I heard that he finished a new album and was trying to decide how to release it on his own blog. Just yesterday he sent this track and it sounds amaaazing. I can’t wait for the rest of the album!

www.iamfauxpas.com

The Juan MacLean- ‘Happy House’ (Cut Copy ‘Space is the Place’ Remix) (Radio Edit)

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cutcopy

The Juan MacLean – ‘Happy House’ (Cut Copy ‘Space is the Place’ Remix) (Radio Edit)

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Americans The Juan MacLean have ties with Cut Copy through NY uber-label DFA, and also toured Australia for the first time as support artists for our Modular poster boys. This remix draws heavily from the second half of the original ‘Happy House,’ which starts as a bongo-happy keys jam before shifting into the house music territory that Cut Copy have an affinity for. If their cheesy disco-house leanings weren’t apparent enough on the first EP and album, check out their DJ sets or, better yet, their release under the Fabric Live banner.

The ‘Space is the Place’ remix has a sequenced bassline, house piano, soaring female vocals, mini-break down, and the occasional arpeggiated synth – all the tropes you need to get a party started. Honestly, this track will likely make more sense when Dan and Tim are behind the decks, but it has enough legs on it’s own. Besides, Cut Copy have earned themselves a lifetime of coverage on account of the awesomeness of their output this decade.

The full version of this remix is an Aus/NZ iTunes exclusive.

www.myspace.com/cutcopy

www.myspace.com/thejuanmaclean

Joysticks – ‘Leave Her Alone’

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joysticks

Joysticks – ‘Leave Her Alone’ (mp3)

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This is an odd track – if not for the distorted synth that dominates the mix during the verses, this could could have been pulled from the ’60s. It has that same Zombies-esque sound to it that’s creeping back into popular music consciousness… but just, you know, with a loud synthesizer. It’s a tad jarring – in a good way. In fact it’s the largely synth-less middle 8/outro, with its jump in pace, that doesn’t really for work for me. Still, a decent effort from a promising band.

Joysticks’ previous tracks have traded on repetitive instrumentation and simple refrains. This track seems a bit more complex but has that same intuitive-feeling groove to it. And the chorus, when it does land, is pretty repetitive as well and sounds almost like a lo-fi Franz Ferdinand.

Not as good as ‘Purple Berries‘ but I’ll still be keeping my eye on these guys.

www.myspace.com/joysticksmusic

Clue to Kalo/The Lifted Brow

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cluetokalo

Clue to Kalo – ‘To Guyana/Greenest Grass’ (mp3)

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In 2008, with the relevance of the album format continuing to dwindle, Clue to Kalo put out a narrative-driven concept album revolving around the titular character, full of quirky character studies told through complex art-pop songs. Its ambitiousness was both its anchor and wings, but even those songs that forgot where they were going at least made the meandering sonic journey interesting.

‘To Guyana/Greenest Grass’ is similarly eclectic to their previous output and is actually quite a tight pop song. It’s equal parts orchestral and tropical; sparse passages swelling with string sections before dropping into a bossa nova-esque groove, while the playful arrangement rubs against Bianchi’s earnest delivery.

‘To Guyana/Greenest Grass’ is from The Lifted Brow No. 6, which comes with two discs of new material from the likes of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The E.L.F., Guy Blackman, Francis Plagne, Yeo + the Fresh Goods plus other local and international artists.’To Guyana/Greenest Grass’ is a standout track amongst a fairly solid set.

www.myspace.com/cluetokalo