Art Rush – ‘Penrith Chicks’ (mp3)

Sometimes you can uncover gems lurking within the library of FBi 94.5fm – and this is definitely one of them.  I’ve completely fallen in love with its DIY / bedroom aesthetic, overprocessed vocals and simple Fruity Loops beats. 

I think what I love most about this song is the lyrics: they’re just so obvious, not poetic at all and that makes it so hilarious.  So he saw girls from Penrith on the train, they were fucking annoying and they pissed him off, so he wrote a song about them.  It’s gold!  Drop in the cultural MySpace reference and you’ve got the underground lounge version of Muscles.

(For those out of towners, Penrith is a suburb west of Sydney.)

This song comes from a homemade album entitled Primary School Disco which are just CD-Rs with a hand-drawn cover to continue the DIY feel.  It’s actually his second album, following on from Lunch 6.  There’s truckloads of cool content on his MySpace page, so make sure you check it out. 

http://www.myspace.com/artrush

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BoWsER – ‘Soldier’ (mp3)

Now this is rock – pure get-naked-and-drink-til-you-drop kinda rock.  Fitting, too, that BoWsER (who hail from the Gold Coast) supported the Eagles of Death Metal on their tour of Australia.  There’s a definite Queens of the Stone Age vibe to ‘Soldier’, one of the songs off BoWsER’s EP Modus Operandi that’s been getting some radio lovin’ around the place.

This is one of the most infectious rock tunes I’ve heard in quite some time, and no doubt would rock the house live.  It’s a simple four-to-the-floor song, but damn it’s good.  Short and sweet, like a good rock song should be.

http://www.myspace.com/bowsertheband

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Ash Phoenix – ‘Bye Bye Bicycle’ (mp3)

You’d be forgiven for thinking you were looking at an Incubus promo photo circa Fungus Amongus… dude, check out those dreads!

But in actual fact it’s Ash Phoenix, a band who are slowly but surely generating a bit of a buzz for themselves around the Sydney alternative scene thanks for some fiery, energetic live shows and supports with the like of current Triple J darlings, Dead Letter Circus.

‘Bye Bye Bicycle’ (slightly dubious title, but each to their own) is the first single from their forthcoming EP.  Rhythmic chords ride the beat while Roddy Bottum-esque keys lines carry the melody underneath, before the soaring chorus kicks in with Tyrone unleashing a surprisingly confident voice (because usually “singers” in alternative bands are just crap).

They’re playing September 14 at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney – you’ve got a while to wait, but in the meantime stop washing your hair so you can fit in at their next show.

http://www.myspace.com/ashphoenixband

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Divisions  – ‘Witching Hours’ (mp3)

I don’t think I could come back from Brisbane and not blog about some Brisbane bands.  I managed to catch a couple of shows while I was up there – This Collison, .hinge (awesome as always) and De Ja Dan Dah (not the reggae band I was expecting) at The Globe in Fortitude Valley on a Friday night, then the next day I headed to the Turbot Street Party (which was obscenely loud) to catch Nina May tear through a great set.

Another band that played at the Turbot Street Party that I didn’t manage to catch because they were on too early in the day and I was holed up in a window-less recording studio was Divisions.

My main issue with this band is that there’s a blatant Muse influence, right down to the bass-driven verses, distorted vocals in parts and epic guitar lines… but that’s not to say these songs are bad.  If this Brissy three-piece found their own sound I reckon we’d be in for a treat.  Tonnes of potential for these kids, so keep an ear out.  I’ll be sure not to miss them next time I’m in the sunshine state.

And speaking of Brisbane music, the Courier Mail (that’s a Brisbane newspaper for you out of town folk) have an excellent blog set up called BrizBands – check it out at http://blogs.news.com.au/couriermail/brizbands/index.php.

http://www.myspace.com/divisionsmusic

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Karnivool – ‘The Only Way’ (Gotye cover)

Hey folks, I’m back!  Yep, I spent two weeks in Brisbane enjoying the warmth and sunshine (because I don’t think it’s rained there since the Jurassic period) but now I’m back, and I’ve got a lot of blogging to catch up on.

A fave of this blog, Gotye, is currently travelling around Australia on a massive sold-out tour; his first tour since the release of his breakthrough album Like Drawing Blood.  To coincide with the tour, Gotye’s just unveiled Mixed Blood, an extremely diverse remix/covers album with a myriad of artists re-arranging songs off Like Drawing Blood and Gotye’s debut Boardface, or just performing a completely new version of them. 

While it’s hit and miss, there are a number of gems on the disc which I’ll probably blog about in the coming weeks, but I thought I’d start at one of the more left-field collaborations on Mixed Blood – WA’s masters of the heavy, Karnivool, doing their version of ‘The Only Way’, which is found on Like Drawing Blood.

In the context of the album, it’s definitely the odd track out – there’s no other versions that sound like a metal song!  It’s a fairly straight-up rendition of the original, expect it packs much more of a punch with a massive two-guitar attack and Ian Kenny’s soaring vocals.  And you’d swear this was actually a Karnivool song – now that’s the marker of a good cover.

Who ever thought you could mosh to Gotye?

http://www.myspace.com/karnivool
http://www.myspace.com/gotye

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Soma For Kinder – ‘Spooked’ (mp3)

Named after Pnau and Teenager’s Nick Littlemore heard the song we’ve blogged here, Soma For Kinder are a two-piece (but four piece live… when they actually play… OK, that’s harsh, but I’ll come back to it in a sec) who reside in the beachside suburb of Bondi, in Sydney. Sultry vocalist Tanya Horo originally hails from New Zealand, but when she moved to Oz she was befriended by Jono Ma, who has produced acts like Lost Valentinos (when they had the “The” in their name) and teenagersintokyo, and is one of the DJs in The Knife Machine. The two then formed this rather dreamy indietronica act.

The group has released one EP, and now they’re basically in hiberation (hence my dig before: “when they actually play“). But news from their MySpace site says they’re working on a new album, so keep a lookout for that. If you love Decoder Ring, you’ll love Soma For Kinder. It’s the perfect nocturnal soundtrack.

http://www.myspace.com/somaforkinder

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The awesome and hilarious Sydney funk outfit bluejuice offer one of the funnier Aussie videos of this year for their infectious single ‘Vitriol’.  I blogged about it a few weeks ago, and since then it’s been doing the rounds on Triple J and local stations around the country.  And why not, it’s such an upbeat number, with its nasal, Hammond organ and synthesised bass lines.

Submit to the Church of Big Fish with bluejuice.

http://www.myspace.com/bluejuice

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