Posts By Annie

MAP June 2014

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This month’s Music Alliance Pact features 27 brand new tracks from around the globe – everywhere from India to Ecuador. The Australian contribution for June comes from Perth artist Kucka, whose brilliant single ‘Unconditional’ is out now.

This month we’re also welcoming new blogs from France and Canadia, Your Own Radio and Ride the Tempo.

Keep your eyes peeled for Robbie’s latest Mapcast – due mid-week – over on Soundcloud. While you’re waiting you can check out last month’s MAP Eurovision spectacular and subscribe to Robbie’s monthly podcast on iTunes.

Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the full 27-track compilation through Dropbox here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie

Temper – Quitapenas

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Temper is an instrumental rock band with influences that encompass tango, jazz, surf-rock, Hindu movie soundtracks and psychedelic music. This catchy track is from their third album, Clitoxismo: 10 Neurotransmisiones En Círculos, released last year by La Boca Se Te Haga Un Lago, a local independent label which specializes in instrumental music.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?

Kučka – Unconditional

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Perth native Kučka, aka Laura Jane Lowther, makes tinsel-y RnB that falls somewhere between the smooth, subdued sounds of 90s-era Janet Jackson and the cartoonish decadence of K-pop. With her vocals featured on two tracks from A$AP Rocky’s debut album, LONG.LIVE.A$AP, and with a brand new EP due out later this year, Kučka is definitely an artist to keep your eye on.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado

Russo Passapusso – Paraquedas

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Russo Passapusso, the lead singer of BaianaSystem, is about to release his first solo album. In single Paraquedas he displays a deep appreciation of Brazil’s musical roots. It’s a mixture of samba rock, funk and hip hop to make you dance.

CANADA: Ride The Tempo

Once A Tree – Howling

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Hayden John Wolf and Jayli Wolf may show some Europe electronica inspiration in Howling but the duo are indeed from Toronto. Each time Once A Tree drop a track on SoundCloud, they deliver with creative vocals and eargasmic production. Howling proves to be their best tune yet, experimenting with trap-like beats and chilling atmosphere.

See the full list after the jump

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INTRODUCING: Rat Columns

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leaf

David West started Rat Columns in Perth, where he also played in a bunch of punk, experimental and hardcore bands, including Burning Sensation, Whalehammer and Pauline Manson. When he left for San Francisco, he took the Rat Columns moniker with him, on top of joining local post-punks Rank/Xerox and maintaining a role as a touring member of Total Control. More recently West formed a fascinating protopunk/disco outfit, Lace Curtain, alongside the omnipresent Mikey Young and Total Control drummer James Vinciguerra.

 

In contrast to these projects, Rat Columns is a vehicle for introspection – a counterpoint to the forward-looking extroversion of punk rock. The bent drones and damaged pop of the self-titled EP and first album, Sceptre Hole, hit on the same zone between desperation and disaffection occupied by Shocking Pinks, the alias of mopey New Zealander Nick Harte. On early single ‘I Wonder’, the nihilism conveyed through West’s flat intonation and submerged production is offset by the prettiness of the riff and the warble of a theramin. It’s loneliness rendered with a pure pop heart. Like Shocking Pinks, Rat Columns’ urgent, home-recorded drumming sits at the forefront of the tracks and sounds like someone kicking the shit out of a cardboard box.

The latest Rat Columns single, ‘Another Day’, abandons some of the dust and grit of West’s earlier work, instead delivering the sheen and wide-eyed romanticism of British New Wave. It moves in a similar direction to ‘Flesh War’, the brilliant new track from Total Control. West’s upcoming album, Leaf, was recorded in San Francisco by Kelley Stoltz, on a tape recorder that reportedly belonged to avant-garde obscurantists the Residents. It features contributions from Young, Vinciguerra and San Francisco band members Jonathan Young and Matt Bleyle. Leaf should be arriving in record stores next week, via R.I.P. Society.

 

Rat Columns will be joining an excellent line-up at the Opera House this Saturday for R.I.P. Society’s fifth birthday bash as part of Vivid LIVE. The live band changes depending on West’s location; the current incarnation features the Stevens’ Alex MacFarlane and Callum Foley. West can also be caught playing solo sets as Lace Curtain, including a sneaky appearance at MONA’s Dark Faux Mo on 21 June.

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PREMIERE: Baptism of Uzi – ‘Believe’

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buzi

2013 was a good year for Melbourne’s Baptism of Uzi. Their single ‘Stray Current’ was on high rotation on triple j, and it received a bunch of positive reviews – including from the King of the js himself. They performed at Laneway Festival and scored a slot at Splendour in the Grass as winners of that year’s Unearthed competition.

So it came as a surprise when in February a series of elliptical posts showed up on B’uzi’s Facebook page that seemed to announce a hiatus, or even a premature split for the band, the last post closing with an ominous ‘To be continued…’.

As it turns out, Baptism of Uzi were experiencing something of an identity crisis in the wake of the Daft Punk/MJ-inspired pop excursions of the Stray Currents EP. This is, after all, the same band that once took its cues from Tony Iommi and toured alongside Krautrock greats Michael Rother and Damo Suzuki.

With the departure of drummer Leif Gordon-Bruce earlier this year, the tension came to a head. Singer Bojan Stojanov told me:

“After the success of ‘Stray Current’, which was an experiment with pop, B’uzi were a divided band. … We come from a ‘heavy’ background and the tune was a departure, and it split B’uzi in two sides: the pop side and the rock. This made for some pretty weird shows, with power metal songs like ‘Fist of the Western Suburbs’ being pitted against songs like ‘Believe’. In the end we stopped playing those pop tunes and just did our rock set because it seemed more like us.”

B’uzi are now airing the last of the material produced during the Stray Currents period in order to move on, in search of The New Sound…

First up, we’re premiering the video for ‘Believe’, the EP’s breezy second single. The clip was directed by Thomas Russell, who’s also responsible for the band’s previous video and album art. It features Bojan in a starring role, as he prepares a neat conjuring trick with romantic results.

According to Bojan:

“[The video] combines a few influences: the show Around the Twist, sigil magic, the movie Evil Dead and the idea of being committed to a belief regardless of how incredulous it seems. Some people call it a ‘leap of faith’, like that guy Kierkegaard. T. Russell did a great job with the edit and Artemis Ioannides was terrific and a good sport to get in the freezing cold water in a dress at a beach on the Mornington Peninsula. It was filmed at a spooky old house in Sassafras and Half Moon Bay.”

Finally, guitarist Tom Battersby has made film clips for a couple of ‘Stray Current’ remixes – one by the Go! Team, the other from Melbourne’s own Yolke.

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PREMIERE: The Zebras – ‘Try’

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zebrassiesta

It’s been six years since we last heard from the Zebras, who brought their shimmering pop to Melbourne via the sunshine state in 2007. Well, the twee-lovin’ kids out there can finally quit biting their nails because the band is back, with their third full-length release, Siesta, due out in June.

We got a taste of the album late last year with the punchy ‘Chase’, which featured on Lost and Lonesome‘s 15th birthday sampler alongside gems from the Icypoles, Milk Teddy and more. Today the Zebras are following up with lead single ‘Try’, a pop song written in classic style that again shows off the band’s effortless feel for melody – and what appears to be something of a fetish for analog synths.

‘Try’ is a bubbling track that showcases the tight interplay between musicians who’ve been working together for almost a decade. The gorgeous production and mixing were done by band leader Jeremy Cole and Architecture in Helsinki‘s Gus Franklin. 

‘Try’ is available now on Soundcloud as a free download.

The lush Siesta – which is, in part, a tribute to the band members’ childhood home of Cairns – will be out on 27 June through Lost and Lonesome (Aus) and Jigsaw (USA). The Zebras are gearing up to play some dates in the US at the end of the month along with label mates Bart & Friends and Monnone Alone. Keep your eyes peeled for launch dates upon their return.

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PREMIERE: Spartak – ‘Nightshift (Power Moves remix)’

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Spartak

Starting out as a duo, comprising guitarist/knob-twiddler Shoeb Ahmad and drummer Evan Dorrian, since 2007 Spartak have produced three albums of largely improvised material, ranging from meandering, glitchy free jazz to noise.

Following the release of their last full length, 2011’s Nippon, the band reached something of an impasse and turned their efforts instead to a rhythm-focused side project called Savages alongside bassist Matt Lustri. The new, song-oriented approach worked so well that they decided to dissolve Savages and incorporate its aesthetic into Spartak, bringing Lustri onboard as a permanent member of the original group.

Spartak’s first release completed under the new arrangement was Five Points, which came out through Feral Media in April. Influenced as much by techno and microhouse as krautrock, noise and raga, the EP is Spartak’s most immediately engaging work to date. Reminiscent of Liars in its repetitive, Zen-punk attitude (if that isn’t an oxymoron), Five Points is both meditative and a little abrasive, and peculiarly moreish.

The textured and melodic ‘Nightshift’, a highlight, is led by guitar and vocals, with rim-heavy percussion and muted cymbals. (Incidentally, the track first appeared on New Weird Australia’s The Sound of Young Canberra compilation, curated by Dream Damage and Ahmad’s own hellosQuare imprint).

‘Nightshift’ has been given a thorough reworking by Power Moves, the beats project of Austin Buckett (Golden Blonde, Pollen Trio). Power Moves put out a debut mixtape, Psycho Shower Scene, last year, referencing southern rap and the so-called ‘intelligent hip hop’ of the 1990s. His ‘Nightshift’ remix emphasises Buckett’s penchant for loops and abstraction – not to mention footwork. It’s a frightening snippet of mutated vocals and clattering snares; a very different animal to the original track. Sample both versions below.

 

‘Nightshift (Power Moves remix)’ will be available as part of a Five Points special edition that includes reworkings of the tracks by Gatherer, Scissor Lock and Andrew Pekler. Get a copy from Bandcamp.

Spartak will launch Five Points on 24 May at FBi Social in Sydney (Facebook event) and on 6 June at Canberra’s Transit Bar, with shows in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to follow.

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PREMIERE: Dark Fair – ‘Poison’

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darkfair

Dark Fair is guitarist Ramona Moore and drummer Ellie Dunn, and they make rock’n’roll music. I mean properly: leather jackets and Chrissie Hynde hairdos. The pair met in Brisbane – where presumably they grew up on a strict regimen of Hole and Magic Dirt – on the live circuit, playing together in Ramona’s band Kate Bradley and the Goodbye Horses.

Via their own circuitous routes, both ended up in Melbourne in 2012 and promptly recorded the debut Dark Fair EP, Penny Universe. Second release, You Shouldn’t Be Mine, is due out in May, and they’ve just dropped the single ‘Poison’.

A driving ballad led by Ramona’s frayed vocal and insistent open strings, ‘Poison’ is punctuated by a sharp bass cameo from pal Adalita – who’s championed the band since catching them live at Yah Yah’s about a year ago. Check out the track below.

Dark Fair are launching the new EP at Old Bar in Melbourne on Saturday, 31 May. You can also catch them playing the final show of their April residency at the Tote tomorrow night, alongside Ohms and tinsmoke.

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INTRODUCING: Adults

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adultsgronkcity

Sydney trio Adults was formed in mid-2012 by former members of Step Panther and Joystick, and debuted last April with the coarse blues of lead track ‘Ominous’. A year later they have followed up with their first EP, Gronk City, which is out now on Bechamel Records – a Popfrenzy offshoot specialising in 7” releases and run by Adults’ own Greg Clennar.

The band’s sound sits somewhere between post punk and C86 jangle, the twee vocals underwritten by scouring guitar and a rhythm section that’s forever to the point. Thematically, Adults embrace a punk notion of the intellectual degenerate. On the lurching peripatetic fantasy ‘Freight Ship’, for example, the protagonist, stowed away with criminals and lunatics, has a taste for the high brow: ‘got me a copy of Rimbaud/got me a copy of Miller’.

In their mix of aesthetic threat and thoughtfulness Adults resemble the gentle punk of Television Personalities. Closer to home, their music has an affinity with the Stevens’ concise interpretations of the Dunedin sound – a relationship that’s particularly clear on Gronk City highlight ‘Rain’.

There’s some genre hopping on the EP, which skips from the twee pop of the opening track to aggressive closer ‘Snail Woman/Women’ with its Sonic Youth-inspired interludes. Adults’ work, however, is extremely satisfying in its bare bones construction, tunefulness and wit.

Stream Gronk City in full after the jump, along with the video for first single ‘Ominous’.

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