I Heart Hiroshima – ‘Punks’

Don’t be fooled by the title: the brand new single from Brisbanites I Heart Hiroshima is the antithesis of punk. Jangly clean guitars ring beneath girl vs boy vocals that are delivered with a life-or-death urgency. Kind of like the way Win Butler from the Arcade Fire sounds like he’s singing every song from a podium, orating people who aren’t listening, trying to get the message out before it’s too late. Too late for what, you ask? Fucked if I know…

It’s kinda twee, in an Architecture in Helsinki kind of way, which everyone seems to love at the moment. Not that it’s bad, it’s just in vogue, and that’s cool. ‘Punks’ seems to belong in that casket, and there’s something about its simplistic nature that’s rather endearing. It’s the first taste of their new album Tuff Tuff which will be out soon. It’s not going to set the house on fire, but you won’t want to burn it down out of anger either.

http://www.ihearthiroshima.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ihearthiroshima

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photo by Michael Curtis

Repeat Offender – ‘Amphetamine’ (mp3)

Anytime a band manages to notch up 190,000 profile views on MySpace with fairly limited radio play, it’s time to sit up and take notice.

Straight off the bat, there’s a lot of people who are going to loathe Repeat Offender: they’re a bastard mixture of rock, pop, punk and alternative sounds. But even if it’s not your thing, you have to admit that these guys are very good at what they do. They’ve got an extremely polished sound, which you may want to put down to studio trickery, but trust me these kids can pull it off live as well.

They’ve done some big gigs, most namely The Butterfly Effect and The Veronicas (weird mix I know, but one of the Repeat Offender dudes is shagging one of the Origliasso twins). The last thing they recorded was their EP To A Modern Love… and now that they’ve shed some weight off the lineup (they were once a five-piece, now they’re a four-piece), we should expect their debut album very, very soon.

They’re playing a bunch of gigs in their home state of Queensland soon, and some shows in Sydney as well, so if you dig ‘Amphetamine’, go and support them.

http://www.myspace.com/repeatoffendermusic

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The last clip made under The Valentinos moniker, and with Dan Stricker on drums (he’s gone to the Midnight Juggernauts).  Next time we talk about these guys, we’ll refer to them as The Lost Valentinos.

http://www.valentinoteamfighting.com
http://www.myspace.com/lostvalentinos

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I feel like I’m watching a video clip that The Clash or the Sex Pistols would have made for an infant MTV.

http://www.myspace.com/mercyarms

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The kids are at it again…

http://www.bridezillamusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/bridezillaa

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The Go-Betweens & Patience Hodgson – ‘Lee Remick’

The history of The Go-Betweens is folklore amongst the Australian music industry.  They’re one of the most influential Australian acts of all time, coming to fame during the New Wave boom of the late 70s, and finding success during the 80s.

Though they were quiet during the 90s, the band reunited when the 21st Century came around, recording an album entitled The Friends of Rachel Worth with all three members of Sleater-Kinney.  However, the Go-Betweens came to a tragic end when frontman Grant McLennan passed away due to a heart attack in 2006 at the age of only 48.

So, what do you do when an iconic band dissipates?  You record a tribute album, that’s what!  It all came about from a tribute concert held at the Tivoli Theatre in Brisbane in 2006, spearheaded by Dave McCormack, best known for his work in Custard and his own band The Polaroids.  The original members of The Go-Betweens are all involved here, but Grant’s vocals are replaced by some of Australia’s best contemporary singers, including Sarah Blasko, Josh Pyke, Dan Kelly, Bob Evans and Dave himself.

Patience Hodgson from The Grates contributed vocals to ‘Lee Remick’, The Go-Between’s very first single, originally released in 1978.  I’m not sure if it’s about the actress or not, but I’d assume so.

http://www.myspace.com/writeyouradventuresdowntribute

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Cloud Control – ‘Buffalo Country’

The first time I saw Cloud Control was in a small back room of a venue in Sydney called World Bar, in Kings Cross, with an average PA and about 400 of my closest friends.  And even though I couldn’t really see them apart from the drummer, and with the room being brick the sound was bouncing all over the place, the quality of their songs still shone through.

These Sydney folk shot to “fame” when they won a Sydney University band comp.  The night I saw them they were supporting Who the Hell faves The Basics, and since then have been a regular fixture at many a Sydney indie gig.  They’re currently preparing to record an EP and ‘Buffalo Country’ is a demo of one of the songs that will most likely appear on said EP.  Vocalist Al Wright has a warble not too dissimilar to that of Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons.  I don’t really have a nice summary sentence so suffice to say, check it out!

http://www.myspace.com/cloudcontrol

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