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INTRODUCING: Tropical Strength

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Tropical Strength is the work of brothers Alastair and Russell Webster, who are also members of Austinmer outfit Shining Bird. What I love about both these bands is the way they manage to convey a sense of Australiana without subscribing to the usual conceits of ‘Australian’ music – i.e. the ‘jangly’ pop put out by the many lost children of the Go Betweens or the style of industrial goth that was born in dingy Melbourne pubs during the 1970s.

Shining Bird’s take on Australian music is closer to that of Men at Work or the Warumpi Band. They pulled it off wonderfully in their last single, ‘Distant Dreaming’ – a subtle, engrossing jam which sounds a bit like David Byrne in a tender moment and revolves around the line ‘I’m caught in a distant dreamtime’. The video clip even features cameos from Uluru, the Opera House and a giant kangaroo.

Tropical Strength are slightly less indebted to the 80s than Shining Bird, but the Aussie references are everywhere here, too. The band’s Soundcloud profile credits the music to a gentleman called Harold Holt living in Seychelles (so that’s where he got to!), and their first single is named after Australian cinema classic Wake in Fright: a nightmare of alcoholism and sodomy in the outback.

‘Wake in Fright’ is broadly divided into two parts. Opening with the sounds of rainfall and bird song (not to mention a lyrical reference to ‘Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree’), the first half is a mix of melancholic synth drone and a found-sound evocation of the brothers’ south coast home. The vocal is processed so that when it hits the lower registers it sounds something like the rumble of a didgeridoo. In its second half the song opens out into lush choral harmonies and Beatles-esque piano chords, travelling from the unsettling to the euphoric in about five minutes. ‘Wake in Fright’ is the kind of song I’ve been hoping to hear for a long time: a unique expression of Australian identity that goes beyond games of knifey-spoony and grandma’s hills hoist.

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Tropical Strength are putting out an EP later this year on Inertia subsidiary Antelope Recordings. In the meantime, get your ears around a gorgeous Beatles cover the band have put up on Soundcloud as well as this video. And keep your eye out for a new Shining Bird single coming out next week!

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PREMIERE: The Ocean Party

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We love these guys. Most bands don’t usually don’t make more than twice an appearance on this blog (so many new bands, so little time), but these guys have somehow found a way around that. Dave has a blatant man crush on everyone in this band – while The Ocean Party’s member spawn-out into other local acts like Velcro, Kins, I’lls, The Removalists, Pencil, Ciggie Witch and Mining Boom makes shirking away from Band Bias almost impossible.

Amidst this band’s thread of solo projects, side projects and gratuitous sharing of talents across acts that have, and still continue to make important contributions to local music, The Ocean Party is the constant fixture in the chaos. And in a way, their Brunswick sharehouse (which featured in our photo essay of the guys earlier this year) seems to have become a central meeting point, literally and lyrically.

The band’s new track ‘Split’ which we’re premiering today sums up the band. The song’s subject is about moving away, but it’s a bit of a homecoming really.

Much like the song title, the band has had it’s share of vagabond members traipsing off to the UK and New York before returning back to the band or leaving to work on other projects. The Ocean Party originally met in high school in Wagga Wagga, but didn’t become a band until years later when they all found themselves living in Melbourne. After drummer Ben Protasiewicz departed for Perth, Simon Lam joined when their debut record The Sun Rolled off the Hills was recorded. 

After the album tour, Simon left Australia for England with his other band Kins, while the band started penning their follow up, Social Clubs. Simon made a prodigal return, coming home to record the second album, before departing again to focus on his other project, I’lls. A few months later, Curtis Wakeling (Velcro) left for New York for six months, so Joe Foley (Aleks and the Ramps) joined on bass and Lachlan Denton’s younger brother Zac moved from Wagga as a drummer. Curtis eventually returned from NY, and after getting the songs together for the new album the band packed up the van and headed to Tarcutta in NSW to record new material.

‘Split’ was recorded on Lachlan and Zac’s grandparents farm. During recording, the band moved away from the traditional idea of Lachlan Denton being the lead singer. Instead, the band took a literal approach to the song title, with every member of the band writing and singing their own songs. Zac penned ‘Split’ after moving from Wagga to Melbourne. “At the time I was just 18 and living with the rest of the band who had time to spare and less responsibility” Zac says, dividing time time for music and working as a plasterer for “shit wages and a hard-arse boss”.

Suburban nuances, the whole slave-to-the-man mantra is the obvious common thread through all our local bands denoting that token pop jangle. The point is to make the end result appear a lot effortless than the track’s intention/subject matter – and these guys do it well. ‘Split’ is a gorgeous, leisurely jam that could easily fool Shazam for a Real Estate b-side, but it’s not a sound we’ll tire of soon. The band have honed a much cleaner sound here, but those rolling guitar hooks and wistful lyrics are still hanging out right where they left off. The Ocean Party’s modesty and unassuming nature is what makes them so damn likeable. Knowing the nature of this band, the guys will probably see through a few more lineup changes. As long as they stick around chugging along making tunes about chugging along, we’re content.

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LISTEN: Straight Arrows – ‘Never Enough’

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The line up of Sydney’s Straight Arrows reads like a local who’s who. Fronted by Owen Penglis, a somewhat hands-off recording engineer (he records to tape in his kitchen) who’s worked with bands like Royal Headache and The Frowning Clouds, the band features Al Grigg of Red Riders and Palms fame, and Angie Bermuda from Circle Pit. Straight Arrows’ first full-length release, 2010’s It’s Happening, was a high-energy, low-fidelity offering, packed with jams inspired by 60’s UK garage. It was recorded at their mate Tim Done’s house on his collection of 50’s-era American gear.

The latest Straight Arrows release, ‘Never Enough’, is louder and brasher than anything the band’s done before. It’s also quite sludgy – in a bad-ass, high-octane kind of way, à la the Sonics. The song moves along giddily, the tempo lifting to deliver a call-and-response chorus before the drunk and wailing guitar lick pulls it back into the fray.

Chicago-based label Hozac Records has released the Never Enough EP as part of its exclusive 7″ club. The band have been selling any remaining copies on tour, but thankfully the EP is also available for a measly two bucks on Bandcamp.

Straight Arrows will be playing two Victorian single launch shows, supported by the charming Bits of Shit, on Friday, 16 August at the Barwon Club in South Geelong and Saturday, 17 August at Melbourne’s Grace Darling Hotel. They’re also on the bill for FBi’s 10th birthday party, which will be held at Carriage Works on Sunday, 8 September.

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LISTEN: Cow Parade Cow – Before The Sharks LP

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The follow-up to 2012’s Big Sky is Cow Parade Cow’s new LP Before the Sharks which has ossified their position as one the most exciting DIY projects operating out of the Western Australia right now.

 

‘Hallelujah Howl’

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The self-recorded, mixed, produced, and art designed project is the work of Mike Litton. With a healthy dose of trepidation, he handed a few tracks over to the ‘live-band’ bassist, Cam Stewart, but otherwise the production is his love-child. He opted not to auto-tune ‘Kanye style’ the higher parts, instead Litton brought in housemate, Janie Green who perfectly complemented Litton’s sketchy, heart-on-sleeve vocals illustrated nicely in ‘Lease the Sunset, Sell the Coast’.

‘Lease the Sunset, Sell the Coast’

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Before the Sharks moves beyond Cow Parade Cow’s previous releases not just in sound and production but also emotionally. It’s darker and somewhat more battered in spirit and there is a desperation in the explosions of sound and neurotic lyrics.

Litton tells me that “it almost feels like the huge rhythms and driving songs are the result of pure determination and stubbornness rather than for the joy of music”. Which is kind of how I always imagined an Architecture in Helsinki record getting made. A sound that is fun, bold, hypnotic and uplifting, but at the same time sounds like it was produced under duress. I can totally picture those hippies being held in solitude until the last ounce of pure chai-fuelled sunshine is burnt onto tape.

‘Beagle Personality’

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‘Beagle Personality’ is one of my favs for its pure recklessness which manages to sound so light and poppy whilst being utterly blunt and so honestly heartbreaking.

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Cow Parade Cow are venturing over to the East coast in early September playing shows in Melbourne, with a live band of friends kidnapped from other Perth bands. Look forward to a large stage of shenanigans with 6-9 members recreating the densely layered sounds of the recording. We’ll keep you up to date when more details arrive.

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PREMIERE: Audego – ‘Sleepy’

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If you’re in dire need of some 8 bit colour chroma to get your Thursday morning going, we’ve got you sorted.

Here’s a first look at the brand new video for ‘Sleepy’ from local producer/vocalist duo Audego – former TZU member Shehab Tariq (Paso Bionic) and vocalist Big Fella.

Don’t confuse Big Fella with some kind of skip-hop jaunt though. Under the nom-de-plume, ‘Big Fella’ is Tariq’s wife Caroyln. Together, they make trip-hop, breath-hop, whatever you want to file bedroom music under. Beth Gibbons and Mezzanine-era comparisons are sure to fly, but this duo have more grit. The pair released their debut album Abominable Galaxy last year and have been busy working on the follow up.

Trip-hop gets the comatose rep sometimes, but this clip is far from it. Created by Paul Andrew Rhodes of Negative Films, the concept of the clip was to “capture the mania of insomnia”. There are nods to Special Problem’s zoom-out style, and definitely no shortage of brilliant animation, seizure pixels, fast tracked 8 bit graphics as well as a cameo by Audego – in floating head form.

Audego’s second LP will be out later this year.

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WTH Mapcast // Podcast

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Podcasts are neat little things.

If you’ve been following the last 50 something editions of our global new music round up, Music Alliance Pact (MAP), you’ll understand that trying to digest Puerto Rican hip hop and Icelandic metal-core in one hit is the audio equivalent of drinking a whole gravy boat.

We’ve recruited new guy Robbie Ingrisano to host the WTH Mapcast, a 30min takeaway show of our favourite Music Alliance Pact tracks for the month.

For those 5 years late to the party – the Music Alliance Pact is a global round up of new music from 40 music blogs around the world each month. It’s been running since dear old 2008, when our pals at Scottish blog The Pop Cop invited us in to join. The idea was that each blogger would hand pick a song from the country he/she represented, and the complete collection of free mp3s would then be posted on all the blogs in the pact on the same day. The first ever MAP post took off in October 15th 2008 and five years later, the ‘pact’ has grown to span 40 countries and across blogs such as We Listen For You, The Guardian, Drowned In Sound and more.

There are a huge handful of MAP representatives in the past, posted while most were barely known inside of their own country. Notable MAP alumni include The xx, Ólafur Arnalds, Sleigh Bells, Toro Y Moi and our own Chet Faker, who we sent to glory via MAP back in 2011.

Back to the new guy – Robbie has a background in community radio & network television, did his thesis on Italian TV in the 60’s, jettisons to Europe every summer to eat good stuff and speaks Spanish or something. He’s a worldly kinda guy, so trust his taste in tunes. Mapcast will drops monthly to coincide with the MAP post of the month. The podcast will available as a free download from our new Soundcloud account.

Salud.
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MAPCAST // JULY

MAPCAST // JUNE

 

View previous Music Alliance Pact posts here.

 

INTRODUCING: Nick Lynar

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Not long ago I returned to Melbourne after spending two years in the UK. Upon returning I noticed two things: a) Australian public transport has not improved at all, and b) Flume is kind of a ‘big deal’.

I’d been following Harley Streten’s progress while I was overseas but didn’t actually realise the magnitude of his profile before getting back onto home soil. Although I listened to the album quite a few times before I left  and while his tracks found their way onto most of the party playlists I made. Maybe I’m going to the wrong parties here but it seems like he’s still a pretty big deal.

‘Sleepless’ is still being flogged on all the Smirnoff swathed iPods around Melbourne. People need to move on. There are plenty of local electronic producers who miss out on all the accolade. I’m pretty stoked I came across about Nick Lynar recently. Lynar is a 25 year old beatsmith from Illawarra, NSW who’s been making tunes out of his bedroom for just over 2 years.

Flume’s soundtrack might feed the masses, but Lynar seeks for more refined tastes, adding depth and melancholy with his slow burning tune ‘Twisted Angles’. The track is a fleeting, moody number driven by a continuous synth loop. Collaborator Rob Taylor’s vocals sound like Luke Steele in glitch mode, which makes this even better. Lynar experiments with a wide range of electronic percussion in this track and he’s definitely worth your attention.

If this track is anything to go by, we can expect to see the local EDM scene further polarised by this guy. He’s apparently releasing an EP soon, so watch this space.

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