Posts By David Payne

Battleships – ‘Your Words’

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Battleships – ‘Your Words’ (mp3)

The battleships presser talks about a band that comes along every now and then, with the sound of something fresh and promising. Sydney band Battleships know folks love that shit. The truth is they’ve just picked up where Art of Fighting and Sparkadia left off but I’m sure they’ll continue to receive plenty of radio airplay. It’s the follow up to ‘In Retrospect’ that I’m plugging. ‘Your Words’ has an authentic sound of building drums and guitar, sweet vocals and the emotion of love and hope that makes you feel… something. Sharpen up the grooming and get a band pic that doesn’t look like someone lost their keys and I’m sure they’ll build as much hype as Cloud Control.

‘Connect’ with the band here – http://www.facebook.com/battleshipsband

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Sui Zhen – ‘Two Seas’ LP Launch at The Grace in Pictures

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Sui Zhen launched her new record ‘Two Seas’ last night at the Grace Darling in Collingwood. A nice cosy affair with a crowd littered with fine Melbourne muso’s and a lot of love in the air to kick off her East Coast tour. Sui Zhen was uniquely dressed by Lady Petrova and supported by drummer Joe Gould and her very hip brother Dan Freeman on everything else. Playing tracks from the ‘Two Seas’ record in a more straight forward way, the sound was impressive. There is a tendency to file this vibe in the cutesy section of frankie mag but I think Sui Zhen rose well above the pack last night, not only with her self-deprecating charm but with a soulful heart that had the crowd captivated all night. More pics after the jump.

Check the dates for the ‘Two Seas’ tour here – http://www.facebook.com/events/414834225212525/

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Lyyar – ‘Afterall’

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Lyyar – ‘Afterall’ – mp3

Lyyar, pronounced ‘lee-ar’ have released their debut ep Outside, Elsewhere. This is the first track off what is a post prog rocky, dark winding, wave of dirty guitars with heavy bass and solid drumming. It gets darker and heavier, then takes a slight pych detour and back again. They really step it up in the last minute of the ep but overall I prefer the loose mish-mash of the first track. These guys would def be worth seeing play live.

You can check it out on their bandcamp and mail away for vinyl too – http://lyyar.bandcamp.com/

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Summer Flake – ‘On the River’

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Summer Flake – ‘On the River’ – mp3

Stephanie Crase’s first solo release and self-titled ep is ‘Summer Flake’. I’ve posted ‘On the River’ from this release, which you can download for free here. ‘The Summer Flake’ is a straight forward DIY (shudder at that term, but it’s accurate) recording of lo-fi indie rock tunes. So if your feeling like getting blue with some downer fuzz, this might be your bag. I’m rarely in that mood being that I left my angst in high school, despite what my mum says, but there is something catchy about this ep and it’s crept up on me a few times following Sui Zhen in my library. A real slow burner that is def worth a listen.

Facebook for Steph here – http://www.facebook.com/stephcrase

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Emma Louise – ‘Boy’

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Emma Louise – ‘Boy’

Listen up boy! If Emma Louise believes in you then best you pick yourself up, live up to your potential and stop disappointing this girl. OK. Good. Now that that’s outta the way, ‘Boy’ is the new single by Emma Louise. Another fine example of her incredible voice and intimate song writing ability. This is a rather restrained track that is as catchy as ‘Jungle’ but deploys more smokey vocals with subtle instrumental hooks and beats that compliment her melody. ‘Boy’ speaks of youth, love, hope and distance and will no doubt feature on a lot of winter soundtracks.

Emma Louise has also announced a string of East Coast tour dates – sure to sell out so check it fast – http://www.facebook.com/musicemmalouise

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Sui Zhen – ‘Cupboards and Sand’ Video Premiere

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Sui Zhen – ‘Cupboards and Sand’ Video Premiere

This ephemeral video was lovingly filmed and directed by Imogen Heath and Sam Icklow of NowMomentNow. Becky Freeman is the artist Sui Zhen and she studied with Imogen and Sam who have founded NMN, the Berlin based arts collective. Becky contributed with some of the drawings used in the animation and the live action was captured in Berlin at Teufelsberg, an abandoned spy tower. The shaky cam would surely upset David Stratton but I like the shots and the natural light plus the contrast of the green forest and ghetto look of the spy tower.

Her very sweet record ‘Two Seas’ is available now from suizhen.bandcamp.com/

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