Knightlife – Cobra Dukes’ ‘Leave The Light On’ Remix

Melbourne based producer and Cut Copy’s label Cutters signee Knightlife has remixed one of England’s up and coming bands Cobra Dukes. I found this track through Gill Mills excellent weekly podcast called The Best Of Myspace. She was in Melbourne recently but unfortunately our schedules meant that we were in different cities almost the whole time and meeting up was an impossibility, but she did get a healthy dose of new Australian music and she dedicated a whole episode just for that.

www.myspace.com/dancewithknightlife

Lover – ‘Never’ (mp3)

The faux Brit accent starts me off on the wrong foot, but that aside, these three lads from Newcastle (in NSW, despite what you may think) have taken a batch of contemporary influences and fashioned themselves a rather toe-tapping tune. Treading dangerously close to being nothing more than a pastiche of English bands like The Smiths, Gang of Four and New Order, Lover peak at the chorus with up-beat hi-hats, choppy guitars, stabs of synthesiser and layered vocals belting out “I never, I never, I never made it home last night / I lied / When I said I made it home.” The lyrics to the whole song actually don’t make a lot of sense, but when you’re on the dance floor D&M tunes are the last thing you really care about.

http://www.myspace.com/lovertheband

Bag Radiers – Kid Sister: ‘Pro Nails’ Remix (mp3)

Anyone else excited about Kid Sister and A-Trak touring? Anyone? I think it’s pretty exciting. To celebrate, here’s a remix of Kanye’s favourite Kid Sister track (of which, to be perfectly honest, there isn’t much choice; there’s this, ‘Control’, and…?) by Sydney’s Bag Raiders.

PS don’t just wait for the beat to drop, then decide you’ve heard everything this remix has to offer… with about a minute and a half to go, everything goes a little crazy.

http://www.bagraiders.com
http://www.myspace.com/bagraiders

www.myspace.com/cassettekids

Red Jezebel – ‘Lost My Gun’

If you’ll please allow me the liberty to get on my podium for a minute…

We get our fair share of emails here at Who The Hell, from bands who want to be featured, from labels who want their bands to be featured. It gives us a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling that people want to be a part of this little project of ours.

But lately we’ve been receiving a lot of emails from non-Aussie acts wanting to be featured. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you kind reader – on a blog that features only Australian and New Zealand music, bands from America and the UK believe they can be featured too. Please, if you’re one of these people, do us the courtesy of reading the blog before flogging your wares to deaf ears. We don’t hear any music that’s not Australian or New Zealand. Seriously. It’s a rare medical condition.

Now back to your regular programming…

Come the turn of the century, Australia’s musical epicentre moved westward when, perhaps with the proliferation of the internet and MP3s, the usually insular and distanced Western Australia began to unload a barrage of top-quality pop rock acts upon the scene: Eskimo Joe, The Panics, Sleepy Jackson and The Panda Band were just a small number of bands who were coming out with a sweet, idiosyncratic Perth pop sound.

Red Jezebel is another group worthy of illumination. ‘Lost My Gun’ is a cut from their new record How I Learned to Stop Worrying, a track that is equal parts Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Ryan Adams-esque alt country. Dirty Fender guitars crunch in the background with strummed acoustic guitar chords while sweet, harmonised, Sleepy Jackson-esque vocals and tinkling piano hold the melody up front.

Arresting sounds from the wild West.

http://www.redjez.com
http://www.myspace.com/redjezebel

Liam Finn – ‘Better to Be’

Well Liam Finn has done some great things. I got this from a press release, but it’s cause for celebration nonetheless. His album I’ll Be Lightning have scored number #13 on the Billboard Heatseeker charts. Now I don’t know if anyone here give a rat’s arse about charts anymore, but this is pretty impressive. Especially for a one man touring musician. I mean just go to his MySpace and check out the dates he’s doing. He even has a spot on Letterman coming up. Nice one.

http://www.myspace.com/theliamfinn

Fergus Brown – ‘Last Winter’

I don’t know if it’s the rainy weather tonight in Melbourne, but this sounds really good and is perfect for my mood. And I’m not even drinking wine at the moment. One of our readers submitted this so I’m grateful, thank you. According to the email, Sydney based Fergus Brown is working with producers Paul Mac and Tony Dupe for an upcoming album due out in May. This song was apparently picked to be in the American TV series The Starter’s Wife.

www.myspace.com/fergusbrown