Jumbledat – ‘Fiends’

Last weekend my band and I ventured down to Katoomba, a little town in the Blue Mountains, to play support for a band we had never heard of, Jumbledat. As we came into the bar to escape the cold, we were introduced to each member of the group one by one, and it just kept on going! It soon all made sense; Jumbledat are the kind of party funk band Sydney could only pray for, boasting a horn section, percussionist, Fender Rhodes player and two MCs in their ranks.

With an average age of only 20 years old, these kids play way too well live to be consigned to Blue Mountains obscurity any longer. Not that they’re complete unknowns; the boys have made a couple of trips to the big smoke playing with local bands like King Farook and bluejuice. But that Friday night, they were in their element, playing to a home crowd of over 250 people for over two and a half hours without switching off the power for one second. I was in awe, and if you have a listen to their music, you probably will be too. It was produced at the bar (Triselies) in-house studio, which clearly gives good results because the recording is as crisp as a fresh apple.

The rhythm section is impeccable, creating the perfect groove template for the rappers to go ballistic over. Just like bluejuice, it’s always refreshing to hear a distinctly Aussie flow coming out of your speakers. Especially given that so much US hip-hop is lamentably awful nowadays. I predict big things for Jumbledat, they’ve got the style and the substance to go far in the music game!

http://www.myspace.com/jumbledat

Lola Flash  – ‘Sweet Smog Children’ (mp3)

Sure, it’s early in the morning – much earlier than I’m used to writing a blog post, may I add, so the cogs in my head aren’t turning at full speed just yet – but did I miss something here? Let me take you back for one minute…

Thursday night. Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney’s modish Surry Hills. Ostensibly I was there to catch the Firekites, whose album I’m completely smitten with, but when I walked in a young five piece from Wollongong by the name of Lola Flash were playing a subdued, yet strangely hypnotising, set to a crowded room. (OK, so 10 people in that pub could be considered ‘crowded’, but there was a decent sized audience in attendance.)

Fast forward to now. After undertaking my ritual pre-blog internet trawl for MP3s, images and info, it seems that the teenage brainchild behind Lola Flash is Emma Russack who’s some sort of internet meem!! Where have I been?? Her steely-gazed, almost pseudo-sexual YouTube clips, performing covers of Neil Young, J.J. Cale and Echo and the Bunnymen have amassed a staggering amount of hits, but none more than a clip of her own song, ‘Swimming’, which is closing in on one million clicks (clip at the bottom of this post).

So why all the attention? Her (and Lola Flash’s) lo-fi, melancholic brand of Cat Power-esque pop has an emotional depth and maturity that belies their low age average, or perhaps its the unabashed brashness and bravado in which they pull off their music. The promo photos of members of Lola Flash pashing each other is an uneasy aside to their impetuousness.

But, perhaps more than anything to do with their age or attitude, just like it was on Thursday night, their music houses a haunting, ethereal quality that’s both subdued and hypnotising. Nothing about Lola Flash’s music is extravagent: from the Dirty Three-style violin to the scattered drumming, the reticent vocals to the unassuming guitar lines, no musician is jostling for the spotlight. Everyone knows their place in the Lola Flash universe and the end result are sublime musical nebulas.

Here’s Emma’s video of ‘Swimming’. Check out how intensely she stares at the camera like she’s looking into your soul…. well, maybe not. The measure of a video’s success are the number of responses and “remixes” done to it, so check out YouTube for some extra ‘Swimming’ action.

http://www.myspace.com/lolaflashmusic

Darryl Beaton Band – ‘Shoulders’

I thought it was high time someone blogged on these boys, seeing as they are ludicrously talented and need some serious exposure upon the release (finally!) of their album. Sydney-based band leader Darryl Beaton is pretty well known in muso circles; he writes tracks for everyone from Aussie Idol Guy Sebastian to Ego-Maniac Kanye West.

Essentially, that means that he’s the bomb. But no bomb works without a fuse, which in his case is his backing band, with whom he plays at Melt Bar in Kings Cross every Thursday night. Largely comprised of the Chilean Martinez brothers (who play bass, keys and guitar), this outfit is a sight to behold. Though Darryl is largely steeped in the soul genre, these kids have latin-funk coursing through their veins, and you can hear it all through through their debut, especially in the syncopated rhythms of drummer Kevin Mendoza. Anyone who loves sweet soul music will dig this. For fans of Prince, Jamie Lidell and Stevie Wonder.

Bonus points: it’s safe to play around your parents, and you’ll enjoy it too. If you live in Sydney, you’d be mad not to check them out. After all, they play for free and continue on well into the wee hours of Friday morning. And who really does anything on a Friday, anyway?

http://www.myspace.com/darrylbeaton

teenagersintokyo – ‘Very Vampyr’

teenagersintokyo – ‘Robocat’ (Knife Machine remix) (mp3)

I’m very late on this one, but in case you haven’t heard our friends teenagersintokyo are finally making headway into the UK scene where they just finished their first tour. They’ve signed to BackYard recordings, the UK home of Chromeo and The Gossip. Their latest single is a good old fashioned dancy grrl riot anthem. Sydney based remixers Knife Machine have also made a banging electro incarnation of the track ‘Robocat’ fit for the best of ravers out there.

www.myspace.com/teenagersintokyo

Princess One Point Five – ‘I’m Onto Something Good’

They’ve always been one of those acts that have been lurking in the shadows, but perhaps it’ll be their third record Vous Je Vous that thrusts them into the limelight.

Princess One Point Five (or 1.5, depending on where you read it) is the brainchild of Melbournian Sarah-Jane Wentzki (who, from memory, is Princess 1.5 – well at least she started creating music on her own under this moniker) who joined forces with drummer/producer Richard Andrew, who was the stickman for cult faves Underground Lovers.

‘I’m Onto Something Good’ is the first track from the band’s new record, a positively upbeat indie pop tune which reminds me, for some reason, of Frente. And that’s never a bad thing. It’s a movement towards organic music, as her debut disc At Long Last, released in 2005, relied heavily on soundscapes and synthesisers to create electronic music more akin to Decoder Ring circa Fractions.

If you like the sound of P1.5 and you’ll be in Sydney on Saturday night, they’ll be launching Vous Je Vous at Spectrum on Oxford St.

http://www.myspace.com/princessonepointfive

theredsunband – ‘The Eagle’

Sydney based indie fuzz band theredsunband returns with a not-so-shoegaze quickie ‘The Eagle’. They’re down to a two piece now to siblings Sarah and Lizzie Kelly, which is good because they’ve been so quiet I was under the impression that they disbanded, especially seeing that Sarah is in Dappled Dave’s new venture The Curse Of Company. I liked a few songs from their last album but as a whole it was a bit of a let down. Let’s see where the new songs takes us this time.

www.myspacepage.com/theredsunband

Firekites – ‘Same Suburb, Different Park’

Since the release of The Bowery, the Firekites‘ stunning leave-me-speachless debut album, I’ve been yammering on about it to anyone in earshot who’ll put up with me for more than 20 seconds.

Put simply, I fell in love with this record from the first moments I heard ‘Last Ships’. Coming out of Newcastle in NSW, Firekites feature a roll-call of musos from other established acts: Tim Mcphee from post-grunge instrumentalists The Instant, Jane Tyrell from hip hop outfit The Herd and Jason Tampake, who moonlights as a member of Josh Pyke’s backing band.

Where the Firekites truly excel is in the guitar work of Tim and Rod Smith – two acoustic guitars playing symbiotic countermelodies, notes woven together in choreographed harmony. The way these two work together is magic, and it’s the beauty of their intertwined lines that lays the foundation for the Firekites’ idiosyncratic music. When Jane’s vocals kick in, it’s like waves of warm melody crashing over the guitars. She plays off the more subdued and introverted male vocals; vocals which murmur and accompany the guitars rather than overshadow them.

I’m at a loss though to label Firekites’ music, or even find a reference point, although acts like Kings of Convenience and the early work of The Sea and Cake mirror similar musical sentiments. Firekites could be referred to as indie folk, but that doesn’t encapsulate the melancholic aesthetic or mood. Tim’s guitar work from The Instant is still recognisable, so it lacks the strummed chords of traditional folk, and you could almost claim to hear some echoes of jazz in there. Plus, throw in Jason’s violin, intermittent distorted guitar frenzy and electronic beats – and handclaps – and you get a sound that truly defies genre casting.

http://www.myspace.com/firekites