‘Test Pattern’ clip – Directed by Buzzard Mountain Ranch

Previous post: Damn Arms

Damn Arms – ‘Test Pattern’

Three out of four members of Damn Arms were in a previous band called Snap! Crakk!, before they replaced some members and picked up the pace of their songs upon the name change. Much of their sound lingers on that electro tinged new-rave sound, though that’s probably not a fair description because they were there before NME decided to push this new sub genre revival. The name came from the Matt Groening animated series Futurama, when the main character Fry exclaimed ‘I could fit [into the drain] if I didn’t have these damn arms!’ You probably have to be a fan of the series to get it. The band have had a few tours through Europe, and even got on the road with the now imploded Test-Icicles. I believe they are heading out to the UK soon early next year after they recorded their new album with producer Lindsay Gravina of Birdland Studios in Melbourne.

damnarms.com
www.myspace.com/damnarms

Gotye – ‘Coming Back (Faux Pas remix)’ (mp3)

Two of whothehell.net’s favourites has been doing some remixing. This one is available off Faux Pas‘s site.

Previous posts: Gotye, Faux Pas

Smoke & Mirros video clip shot by Steve Mcallum in Perth.

Blue King Brown – ‘Come and check your head’ (mp3)

I’m not a big fan of the roots music scene – I can’t tell much difference between the songs. They all seem to revolve around politics, anti war creed or legalising weed. The message is usually about getting along with one another by way of discouraging racism, sexism, classism, materialism, or any other (insert here)-isms. Don’t get me wrong I’m not an ignorant bigot – I’ve had my share of discrimination. It’s just that I get tired of listening to acts who are hell bent in getting their ‘message’ out there that they don’t work hard enough on the melody or the actual music of the song.

So I was quite surprised to be cruising along in my car when this song came on and I really enjoyed it. Blue King Brown has managed to put the rhythm, melody and beat so far in front in this song that they are the highlight, not the message. And that’s the way it should be. Two members of the band are originally from Byron Bay but they packed up and drove down to Melbourne to find the right crew to eventually form the current line up. They play all the usual rootsy festivals like The Great Escape, Blues and Roots Festival and Woodford Festival, and this month are the main support for Michael Franti’s Spearhead national tour of Australia. As suspected, they are active in the political field, and they have important messages in all their songs, but it seems that aspect of songwriting isn’t so full on as Spearhead. The female voice makes it a much easier listening.

http://www.bluekingbrown.com
http://www.myspace.com/bluekingbrown

photo by Josh Logue

Howling Bells – ‘Setting Sun’

I don’t like the name Howling Bells (sounds like a bad 80’s glam-metal act, possibly fronted by Bret Michaels), and for a while I didn’t like their music either. It took me quite a while to warm to their shoegaze/dark indie rock – plus I’m always wary of ‘hype’ bands ’cause quite often they’re shit, it’s just that the ‘right’ people think they’re cool. OK, enough of my tirade against the fickle music industry. Also, it helps when shit TV shows passed off as “drama” like The OC play one of your tunes (oh yeah, I hate The OC too – I watched half an hour of it once and had to turn it off. Come on, the acting is so bad, the script is full of cringe-worthy lines and the plot… well, who are we kidding, there is none! Oh, and people think I look like Seth!)

So, who are Howling Bells? Well most people only care about sexy frontwoman Juanita Stein (there was a rather obsessive-like tone to a certain Howling Bells article in Sydney street press music mag Drum Media a couple of months ago) – but the band consists of three former members of Waikiki who found a small amount of success in Australia with their pop/rock tunes. One minute they were there, and then they disappeared! And then, just as magically, Howling Bells appeared in Waikiki’s place.

Juanita Stein, live at the Annandale Hotel – photo by boudist.com

Howling Bells recorded their self-titled debut album with Coldplay producer Ken Nelson (interesting note – Juanita recorded her vocals in the dark), and there’s a definite Coldplay-esque sound to the recording, especially in the tone of the instruments and the mix. The album has been criticised for lacking variety throughout, and while they’re not a band I’d actively seek to see live, there are a couple of really solid tracks on the album which helped me to enjoy it more. At the end of the day, it’s nothing spectacular, but it’s not offensive, nobody’s gonna be pissed off ’cause it’s on, and it’s got a handful of solid tracks. Everyone’s gonna have a different opinion on this band… mine is that I like them, but I don’t love them. Listen and judge for yourself. The band are touring round Australia at the moment supporting Placebo before they embark on their own headlining tour of Australia and the UK.

http://www.howlingbells.com
http://www.myspace.com/howlingbells

P.S. Big shoutout to Daniel Boud (boudist.com) and the bloggers from whiteboydancefloor and The Sandwich Club who I met for the first time on Thursday at Candy’s Apartment for the launch of The Knife Factory. Excellent guys who run excellent blogs – we’re looking now towards a meeting of all Aussie blogs… kind of like a Blogapalooza or Blogacon…

photo by Glen Wilke

Adrian Klumpes – ‘Weave In and Out’

Thanks to the lovely folks at The Leaf Label, we’ve been given an exclusive track off Be Still, the debut solo record by Adrian Klumpes, who you may know as the keyboardist from Triosk who I blogged about a little while ago. ‘Weave In and Out’ further explores similar territory to Triosk, with Boards of Canada-esque beats and rhymths beneath sparse, ambient piano melodies. If you check out Adrian’s MySpace page, there’s another track off the album that’s more piano-based, whereas ‘Weave In and Out’ demostrates Adrian’s more experimental edge. Can’t wait to hear the album – I was a big fan of Triosk’s LP and I’m sure Be Still will be just as good!

http://www.adrianklumpes.com
http://www.myspace.com/adrianklumpes