MTNS are buzzing. Or blowing up. Hype’n you might say. But who are they? Well that is all part of the intrigue. They are currently purporting a clever definition-type bio ie MTNS: noun, band etc. If you wanna remain elusive, that’ll do the job. They have just released a video. Featuring mountains. Shot & edited by Theresa Fryer, so we can share that but otherwise let’s just speculate that it’s actually a side project of Last Dinosaurs.
The Trouble With Templeton have had lots of love on here since Alan’s heart was captured by the folky sounds of Thomas Calder. Originally doing his solo thing he now has a debut record Rookie with TTWT, had a successful North America jaunt and even got picked up for Carson Daly‘s show.
The Jungle Giants have similarly had plenty of joy on here courtesy of our old buddy Alex Watts plug’n them back in 2011. Their LP Learn To Exist is out at the end of the month and follows a bunch of successful singles and the catchy as hell EP She’s A Riot.
Kyson is the musical project of Jian Kellett Liewis. Adelaide born, Berlin dwelling. Kyson is a composer/beat-maker who was recently signed to Friends of Friends with a debut due later this year. This remix of the Wintercoats track ‘Everyone Seems To Be In On Something’ adds a heavier beat but retains the spacious melody with fragments of the original vocal. Wintercoats is being remixed more and more and it’s no surprise really, as he is a multi-instrumentalist with exceptional production, which provides a wealth of sound to stretch, layer, and build upon. Check the original EP Heartful on Bandcamp as a ‘name your price’ download.
Sydney artist Rainbow Chan‘s debut EP, Long Vacation, has arrived. It’s named after a 1996 Japanese soap that the Chan family watched together after moving from Hong Kong to Australia. Unable to understand the Japanese dialogue, and too young at six to read the Chinese subtitles, it was the the show’s soundtrack that resonated with Chan. In fact, she’s got a thing for all kinds of oriental populism; J Pop, old anime theme songs, Chinese folk music – these influences crop up in one way or another in her music.
Chan recorded Long Vacation in her bedroom closet. Whether that was for acoustics or out of necessity I wouldn’t have a clue, but a girl called Rainbow (yes, that’s her real name) playing harp and sequencing beats in her wardrobe is a fitting image to accompany the skewed pop that she’s created. Made using tape loops, vintage toys (a circuit-bent toy cow is a recent acquisition Chan’s cited), keyboards, music boxes and glockenspiels, Long Vacation matches Chan’s experimental streak with playful organic sounds and a great sense of melody.
‘Haircut’ is the second single from the EP. According to Chan, it’s “a tongue-in-cheek song about that old cliche, the post break-up haircut”. The point is pretty much summed up with the line ‘I don’t need you anymore, honey – I got a haircut today’. Featuring a detuned harp, programmed beats, what sounds like a kid’s keyboard and a bunch of sample-based sequences along the way, the song is basically a showcase of everything that’s good about Rainbow Chan. She can sing, too, and her voice is on full display in the gorgeous, multi-tracked chorus.
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Chan is already working on a follow-up album, and she’s got plans to start a noise pop band with her sister. A tour taking in capital cities around Australia and New Zealand has been scheduled for August.
Be sure to catch her on these dates:
Thursday 8th August – Lambda, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 10th August – Ghost Ships, Adelaide VIC
Friday 16th August – Civic Underground, Sydney NSW with Moon Holiday & Black Vanilla
Thursday 22nd August – Boney, Melbourne VIC with Sui Zhen
Saturday 24th August – The Front, Canberra ACT
Friday 30th August – Cassette Nine, Auckland NZ
Saturday 31st August – Mighty Mighty, Wellington NZ
No one likes repeating themselves. I often do, with good intention though. I keep harping on about how excellent these guys are. And this album proves that point even further.
Melbourne via Bacchus March band Hollow Everdaze are releasing their self titled debut on August 2nd, and we’ve got an exclusive album stream you can fawn over below.
The album was recorded at Birdland Studios and produced by Lindsay Gravina (Hungry Ghost, Cosmic Psychos and Rowland S Howard).
For the critics…I don’t think these guys are a ‘psych’ band at all, they’re a lot more malleable than that. The band have perfected the art of rehashing standoffish, slacker-drag alt-pop, translating the sound into something that’s a little more poignant than paranoid. Sometimes Splashh, sometimes early Alex Turner vibes, sometimes moody Psychocandy type stare-downs. Those who are familiar with the band’s previous singles like ‘Ships, ‘Selfish’ and ‘Handsome Sums’ will know that there’s two sides to their sound. This album shows that off that in it’s entirety, shifting from lazy garage tracks (‘It Will Never Really Sing’), driving harmonies (‘Excitation’) to starry-eyed waltzes (‘Ships’, ‘Still Raining’).
While there’s a certain rainy day weariness lingering around this record, that feeling seems to stem more from the band’s sharp wallflower observations/lyricism than anything. It might have taken 6 years to put out an LP, but Hollow Everdaze have saved us the best dregs. Impressive stuff.
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Following on from the band’s recent residency at The Tote and their upcoming Unknown Mortal Ochestra support slot, Hollow Everdaze will be hitting the road throughout August. Eye On Eye label mates Contrast are tagging along, so it should be an awesome jaunt. Tour dates after the jump.
If you’re wondering how a generation brought up on American cultural imperialism translates musically, then look no further than Melbourne’s Banoffee (Martha Brown). This chanteuse seems to have come out of nowhere, until you unpick her linage as part of Otouto, and sister of Two Bright Lakes head-honcho, Hazel Brown.
It’s fair to say that Banoffee has been long-awaited.
I first came to discover Martha through Otouto, a band which I think is peerless. Brown’s vocals are distinctly Australian (but not), whimsical (but not forced), and most importantly, in a class of its own (and underrated). It’s rare to find an Australian vocalist who manages to stamp a definitive identity through the mic, and Brown has this in spades. Here sits a voice that belies classification – vaguely reminiscent of the subtlety of Pikelet’s Evelyn Morris, but not quite.
On ‘Ninja’, you’ve got this mixed in with Brown’s reclamation of a certain late-90s, early-00s R’n’B aesthetic. This track’s antecedent is clearly Destiny’s Child’s ‘Cater 2 U’, and that’s really refreshing. Looking at Two Bright Lakes’ roster, Collarbones and Oscar Key Sung have done enough to instill R’n’B throughout the Melbourne-based collective. And this is where I feel acts like Banoffee mark a paradigm shift in Australian music. Considering the dominance of American urban music at the close of the last millennium, it’s high time for musicians brought up on this to translate this to contemporary audiences. In an Australian context, our failure to produce credible urban music has always been a chip on our shoulder, but with Q-Tip collaborating with Hiatus Kaiyote, times seem to be a changing. With Brown touting UK Bass and Detroit Synths as influences, here comes an artist that will most definitely shake up connotations of Australian ‘alt-pop’.
In sum, you need Banoffee in your life.
This song has been around for a little while now but it makes me so flipping happy that I’ve decided to bring it back. A collaboration between Jeremy Neale and Go Violets, ‘In Stranger Times’ is a terrific, 60’s-indebted tune that conjures up daydreams of milkshakes, roller-skates and TV dance parties.
If you haven’t already heard of him, Brisbane playboy Jeremy Neale fronts the 12-piece band Velociraptor (so named because ‘Dinosaurs rule’, obviously), as well as his solo work. He’s basically the Australian Jonathan Richman, with his effusive charm and knack for writing naive and catchy pop songs.
Fellow northerners Go Violets love 60’s soul and garage too. They’re one of a wave of new Aussie bands referencing the riot grrrl movement. We posted their single ‘Teenager’ last year (it also featured on NME and an American Kellogg’s commercial) and we’re still vibing the girls’ latest release, ‘Josie’.
Check out the video for ‘In Stranger Times’ co-directed by Neale and Jesse Hawkins. It’s a technicolor mod gem.
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Both Jeremy Neale and Go Violets are scheduled to play Brisbane’s Four Walls Festival on 3 August. Keep your eyes peeled for Go Violet’s debut EP, which is due out some time this Spring.
Latest Comments
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Still trying to purchase!!!ANTHONY J LANGFORD
Cool track. Congrats Joshua. Hope the release is a success.Tristan
Man I love these guys. I can't believe they are not releasing any new music. I've been to so many…sophie
^^ I love Grimes! Banoffee is one of my new favorite music artists! :) I love With Her, Reign Down,…Ace
Read your review then listened to the EP. Fantastic ! Different to most hardcore punk I listen to. Somewhat more…