Coda -‘Rocking Horse’

Coda sounds like they came from a place I’ve never been, some eastern European country I haven’t travelled yet. A lot of people compare their music to gypsy music, I wouldn’t know if this is true because I have never met an actual gypsy or done much research into the culture. There are seven members of this band, and they all just love to dress up in costumes on stage and put on a real big event, often featuring showgirls, aerialists and projections. In fact, I would say that the visual aspect of this band defines and lifts their image from mere world music contenders to almost performance art level. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re touring with Cirque du Soleil sometime. They are regulars performers in all sorts of music festivals around the world so it shouldn’t be hard to catch them live. The new album Calling Mission Mu is out soon.

http://www.codaplanet.com
http://www.myspace.com/codaplanet

Dukes of Windsor – ‘The Others’

The five boys in Dukes of Windsor all originated from the Melbourne suburb of Prahran, and contrary to local rumours they did not take that name from the now defunct rock venue in Fitzroy. Their music sounded nothing like the rock/punk/alternative description displayed on their MySpace, but lean more towards the heavier electro-rock territory dominated by low synth-like bass grooves and streaks of high vocal yelping that highlight the bulk of their songs of their debut album. Vocalist Jack Weaving has no trouble hitting those Darkness-like high notes when I saw them at The Espy a few months ago.

They’re getting decent airplay on national youth broadcaster Triple J, and the band are on the road as unlikely supports for hard rockers The Butterfly Effect. I wasn’t particularly taken by the whole album, there are some two or three standout radio tracks, but most of the songs just aren’t my kind of thing. But what I really find interesting about this band is how the whole record was made possible and brought together by some smart thinking management.

The traditional way of getting a commercial album funded is to record an EP, get some songs on radio, invite record label people for a showcase and if one of them was impressed enough, they band would sign a deal, get an advance to record with a name producer, and have a record that would hopefully get do well on radio. The Dukes and their management have completely gone around this whole process and married their music business approach with product endorsement and sponsorship. Taking a page out of professional sports marketing, portable music player manufacturer iRiver came on board the project agreeing to fund the album in return of logo placements on their website, CD, bass drum skin and all related advertisements. The Dukes of Windsor bravely took on corporate sponsorship in return of album funding, while still maintaining ownership of masters.

With big dosh to spend the five piece enlisted no less than hot producer Jonathan Burnside (The Sleepy Jackson, Dappled Cities Fly, Faith No More) to track the album in Melbourne and sent it off to Tonteknik Studios in Sweden to be mixed by famed hardcore producers Pelle Henricsson and Eskil Lovstrom. In case the names don’t ring a bell, Henricsson produced one of the all time best punk albums: Refused’s Shape of Punk To Come, which is on par with what Radiohead’s OK Computer is to alternative/rock music.

So with some ingenuine thinking, the band now has a top notched produced record with a promising live schedule to expose them to win new fans. Could this be the way independent records will be funded in the future, with corporate sponsorship? This strategy could not work with all forms of music, but it sure beats getting owned by major labels. This is a very different case from the Lenny Kravitz /Absolute Vodka cash in deal, and I’m looking forward to hearing more product endorsed bands and albums like this.

http://www.dukesofwindsor.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/dukesofwindsor

photo by boudist.com

N’fa – ‘Universal King (Left Right Left)’

It’s a momentous day for Who The Bloody Hell Are They – our first hip-hop blog! Though you overseas folk may not know, there is actually a booming Aussie hip-hop scene, and I’m sure many of the acts will be blogged about in the near future.

N’fa started his career in a hip-hop outfit called 1200 Techniques, who released two LPs – Choose One & Consistency Theory – before “going on hiatus” in 2005 after 5 years together.  1200 Techniques’ breakthrough hit was the track ‘Karma’ which entered the Top 40 charts in Australia, and had a great film clip which won Best Video at the 2002 ARIA Awards (the Australian equivalent of the Grammys).

So while 1200 are on “hiatus”, N’fa gathered some of his mates together including Roots Manuva, Mr Yoshiaki from the Black Eyed Peas, DJ Peril and the Deceptikonz and made his debut solo record, Cause An Effect.  While 1200 Techniques were more of a live hip-hop act, incorporating guitars and (I think) sometimes drums (someone will correct me if I’m wrong), Cause An Effect is more of a straight-up hip-hop release.  In typical Aussie hip-hop fashion, it contains a lot of solid grooves and the Australian lyrical flavour.  Some of this album I really dig, other tracks I’m not so sold on – it’s probably a bit long and can get a tad repetitive, but then again I’m not the world’s biggest hip-hop fan.  However, I love ‘Universal King (Left Right Left)’ – it’s got that great groove and you’ll be singing “left, right, left” for hours.

http://www.nfamusic.net
http://www.myspace.com/nfamusic

Dappled Cities Fly – ‘Cream’

One of the best bands in Australia, if not the world, just got better. Tonight I had the pleasure of watching Dappled Cities Fly showcase new material from their upcoming album Grandance. What Dappled have in store for us lucky listeners are amazingly crafted indie future classics, accentuated with typical high pitched filled with even more layers, courtesy of new touring member Ned (formerly of Sydney band Oblique/The Glass Age). I was very impressed with the sounds that came out from the four/five piece tonight, they’re very fortunate to have two vocalists both capable hitting high notes, giving them a large palette of songwriting material. Without a track of the new album it’s difficult to say how great the show was, so you’ll have to do with an old favourite ‘Cream’ – one of my favourite songs ever – taken from their debut album A Smile. Listen out for the incredible dual guitar riffs in the bridge.

www.dappledcitiesfly.com
www.myspace.com/dappledcitiesfly

HTRK

I’m not even sure if I could call this music. It’s definitely not popular music, maybe like sound art, definitely sound effects-y. HTRK (pronounced hate-rock) are a mysterious trio from Melbourne who recently relocated to Berlin, for what I assume is an artistic led decision in order to develop their curious musical leanings. The band was formed as a middle finger gesture to the retro rock revival that dominated their hometown scene of Melbourne (think Jet). Good friends of other rock haters My Disco, their shows are also played in excessively loud volume. So the song below, or maybe I should say the next piece, should be played the same way. Crank it up.

HTRK – ‘Hate Rock Trio’

www.myspace.com/htrk
www.yourcomicbookfantasy.com

photo by Esther Mitchel

Augie March – ‘One Crowded Hour’

Sometimes a song would get played hundreds of times on the radio and I wouldn’t pay much attention to it until all of a sudden it would hit me just how good a tune is. And that’s how it is with this Augie March ballad, which has a Jeff Buckley feel of emotional reprieve attached to it, though upon closer listen it’s all about scoring with a girl the singer has known since school:

“Should you expect to see something that you hadn’t seen,

In somebody you’d known since you were sixteen.

If love is a bolt from the blue, then what is that bolt but a glorified screw? “

Augie March formed in Melbourne in ’96 and has so far released three albums, all through Sony/BMG. They’re one of those bands that work the United States a lot so chances are most people into this kind of music would’ve heard of them. Their latest album Moo, You Bloody Choir got rave reviews in Australia though I believe it’s still unreleased overseas? I could be wrong. The album was nominated for the J award, a yearly prize given by music station Triple J. I get the impression that they ride that success-overseas-now-back-for-local-shows wave here, but it’s alright for this band because they actually had a core fanbase since early on in their career. I’ve missed both their tours here this year so if anyone has seen them live let me know what they’re like.

http://www.augie-march.com
http://www.myspace.com/augiemarch

photo by Wayne Dennon

Sunk Loto – ‘Help’

No your ears don’t deceive you – there actually is a metal band being posted about in the predominantly indie-dominated blog scene. Let’s face it, metal ain’t the most popular genre at the moment. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t good bands out there, and Sunk Loto is one of them. These guys have had a very rocky history – they were signed to Sony at around the age of 18 after winning a band comp in Queensland, they then released a fairly popular EP entitled Society Anxiety, and followed that up with the less well-received Big Picture Lies LP, both of which were heavily nü-metal influenced. They were being pushed by their label to be the next Silverchair, and were gaining huge supports and travelling around the country on the Big Day Out tour.

Two years after the release of Big Picture Lies they dropped the pummeling Between Birth and Death, a complete 180-turn on their previous style. Instead of nü-metal, accessible songs, Between Birth and Death was a full-on metal album inspired by the likes of Poison the Well and Killswitch Engage, and dealt with issues such as a friend’s suicide, drug addiction and divorce. Of course, the old material was at complete odds with their new material, so the old fans didn’t like it and those who would of liked the new material had already been turned off from their old stuff. Geddit??

So the band were struggling with a falling popularity, as well as dealing with managers who were ripping them off. Then the SonyBMG merger resulted in Sunk being dropped from the label. Recently, the band lost their long-time bass player Sean Van Gennip, who has now been replaced by ex-Full Scale bottom-ender Robkaay. But now the band are about to hit the road with Cog and Mammal, and are holding auditions for a second guitarist and writing for a third album. So maybe things are on the up. Let’s hope so.

http://www.sunkloto.com
http://www.myspace.com/sunkloto