Bad Wives – The Bad Wives Mixtape
Download Here: http://www.zshare.net/download/51629492d7e06c0b/

In terms of DJ duos around town – let alone female DJ duos – Bad Wives are pretty much incomporable. (And I’m not just saying that because both of them work in the same office as me.) No, these ladies come complete with serious deejay cred – Vivienne Kingswood was formerly of the Purple Sneakers DJ collective, while DJ Crane has been spinning discs around Sydney for a couple of years now.

So this ain’t no gimmick peeps – and to prove it, they’ve put together a pretty kick arse mixtape featuring acts like Mr Oizo, Modeselektor, Treasure Finger, Kid Sister, Metronomy and Roots Manuva. The link is above so you can download it for free!! Freeeeeeeeee!!!

http://www.myspace.com/badwives

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After The Fall – ‘Break Me’

Weighting the rock side of the pop-rock equation more heavily, After The Fall arose out of a booming Central Coast scene in the early ’00s and released their breakthrough album Always Forever Now in 2005 which spawned a handful of extremely catchy tunes like ‘Concrete Boots’ and ‘The Fighter’. In a time and place where bands were trying to out-emo each other (In The Grey we’re looking at you), After The Fall bucked the trend enough to sneak away from the emo tag, but had just enough energy and swathes of guitar that they could play to fans of 30 Seconds to Mars and have them tearing up the dance floor.

So things have been quiet for our Central Coast quartet for a number of years but now they’ve dropped on us another stupidly infectious song called ‘Break Me’ which is perfectly built for radio; it rises and falls at exactly the right times and contains a great hook – “She is a vampire / looking for answers.” Thanks to Stephenie Meyer, vampires are so in vogue right now.

http://www.myspace.com/afterthefallaustralia

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Former Rogue Trader Natalie Bassingthwaighte has unveiled the first taste of her solo record. In the video for her debut single ‘Alive’, she’s challenging Kylie Minogue for the queen of hot pants. And I think she just might win.

Wait… what about the song? What song? OH! There’s music here too… well, it’s pretty much your average suburban house shit.

http://www.myspace.com/nataliebassingthwaighte

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The Nation Blue – ‘I See Colours’

For a while there, The Nation Blue were Australia’s premiere post-hardcore / rock’n’roll band, garnering some big-name supports and trekking across the globe, making it as far as Brazil. Their 2007 disc Protest Songs built them quite a fan base and a few friends (such as Dave Grohl, which publicists LOVE to include in their press releases). And then… they kinda fell off the radar.

‘I See Colours’ is the latest release from this Melbourne trio and it comes with a pretty harrowing backstory courtesy of vocalist/guitar Tom Lyncoln.

“‘I See Colours’ is about having my drink spiked on New Years 1999/2000 and falling down a flight of stairs onto a slate floor and then waking up during a CT scan and thinking I was dead… I ripped the tube outta my arm and bent the needle and destroyed my arm…took me three days to sit up in bed, four days to walk again and a week of phone calls to find out what happened to me.

“Still don’t really know but think it was a girl at party… toxicology report says I had 3 x the maximum dosage of MDMA in my system and this song is a description of what I saw when I first woke up. In contrast I wanted to write a really tweaked chord progression and pack the song full of ghost notes. Tick.”

The band are playing a couple of shows this week, and they’re on their MySpace page.

http://www.myspace.com/thenationblue

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Much-loved Who the Hell sons Pivot are back in Australia this week and playing some shows. If you’ve never seen them before, here’s what you could be potentially missing out on. The song they’re performing above is ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’ recorded in France. It’s such a crushing song live with its simultaneous infectious and annihilating rhythms.

The remaining tour dates are:

Friday 21 November
Rocket Bar, Adelaide

Saturday 22 November
The Corner, Richmond, Melbourne

Friday 28 November
The Zoo, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

Saturday 29 November
The Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills, Sydney

Friday 5 December
The Bakery, Northbridge, Perth

http://www.myspace.com/pivotpivot

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Bridezilla – ‘Forth and Fine’

Arguably the most promising young band in the land, Bridezilla made a name for themselves with their serene debut EP which touched upon melancholic PJ Harvey and cinematic Dirty Three and pulled it together into pop form. ‘Forth and Fine’ is the latest single from the Sydney quintet which will be released in January on 10″ vinyl; a split release with The Tren Brothers (Mick Turner and Jim White from The Dirty Three no less).

I saw the ladies – and gentleman – perform ‘Forth and Fine’ as an encore last year at the Annandale Hotel. It was a little loose then, but recorded it comes across as a beautifully paced tune, pushing and pulling with the ebb-and-flow dynamics that Bridezilla are so adept at. They make an atypical combination of guitar, saxophone and violin work so well.

Its release will coincide with Bridezilla’s appearance at the inaugural Australian All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in January ’09 curated by none other than Mr Nick Cave.

http://www.myspace.com/bridezillaa

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Dead Letter Circus – ‘Next In Line’

I was pretty excited when I first heard Dead Letter Circus because here was an alternative rock band not concerned with aping either Cog or The Butterfly Effect but instead were interested in forging their own sound – a rock onslaught that brought together a multitude of influences.

They quickly found an identity, and one that appealed to people – lots of people. They found a large fanbase fast, despite years of slogging it out in the rehearsal studio, honing their sound. But since their eponymous debut EP, they’ve become stagnent, merely twisting their chosen formula into different contortions and not looking to evolve their sound. ‘Next In Line’ is disappointing not only because it demonstrates a paucity of ideas coming out of the Queensland four piece, but it’s a fairly pedenstrian effort. It’s heavily over-produced, clinically polished courtesy of ProTools.The chorus, which doesn’t rear its head until about half-way through, lacks the infectiousness of previous tunes as well.

But I’m not just lambasting DLC for the sake of it and there are positive aspects to ‘Next In Line’. The addition of synths are a nice inclusion, and Kim is keeping his vocals in check nowadays and not reaching for notes that he can’t hit live. Still, for all the potential DLC showed from the outset, it’s disappointing that they’re yet to completely capitalise on their success.

http://www.myspace.com/deadlettercircus

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