Cam MacKellar – ‘Glebe Point Road’

In an ideal world, all singer-songwriters would have the qualities Cam MacKellar posesses in spades – life experience, a strong musical skill-set and a great voice. That said, the lackustre competition just highlights the how rare it is to find talent like his.

An accomplished musician, MacKellar has worked along Shane Nicholson as a guitarist and received considerable critical acclaim for his work as a composer on Silent Soundtracks, a soundtrack project featuring Paul Kelly, The Necks and Paul Grabowsky.

His debut EP Saudadé is a gorgeous piece of work. MacKellar has crafted five strong songs, his voice carried by piano, strummed guitars and impeccable string arrangements, best showcased on the title track. The whole package is pressed onto a mock-postcard disc in mock-fabric packaging, a nod to MacKellar’s years spent travelling overseas.

www.myspace.com/cammackellar

Paul Dempsey – Out The Airlock

Sia | Soon We’ll Be Found

Eskimo Joe – ‘Foreign Land’

In the ten years since “Sweater” made the Triple J Hottest 100, Eskimo Joe have surprised many by making some of the most intelligent rock music to come out of Australia. The band have hit the sweet spot with “Foreign Land”, blending post-Coldplay modern rock with Arabian instrumentation in a way that isn’t as pretentious as it sounds. Really.

New album Inshalla is out on May 29.

www.myspace.com/eskimojoemusic

French Rockets -‘Scopin’ The Radar’

When a band (note: not a DJ) lists a lighting designer/operator as a band member then you know they’re going to be dabbling in some kinda out there shit. Psychedelic. Kaleidoscopic. The kind of stuff you see in old Velvet Underground clips and imagine LSD fueled parties of the late 60s to look like.

Though there are shades of the VU in the monotonous, almost anti-structure of this song, it sounds more like a shoegaze band covering something from the krautrock canon – which, from their list of influences, seems to be exactly what they’re going for. Points for executing your vision, guys. Is it unoriginal  though? Perhaps a touch, but when the synthesis of influences is this tight then who cares.

I concede that ‘Scopin’ The Radar’ won’t be for everyone – it’s long and repetitive, but I found it definitely worked its way under my skin. Near unwavering, metronomic drums plod along beneath chugging guitars and other sorts of squall and reversed noises. Perhaps a good reference point is to imagine a drawn out version of those transitional songs on Cut Copy’s ‘In Ghost Colours’ – but with vocals. If you like that album but skip those tracks then you’ll probably really enjoy this song for about two minutes and be bored for the next five. Even the detractors will find something to like, though – it’s got style, that’s for sure. And as for substance, well, maybe taking some substances yourself…

www.myspace.com/frenchrockets