KIM – ‘BTTTTRY’

Continuing our weekend of exclusive material here on Who the Bloody Hell Are They, this is the brand new track from KIM, better known as Kimberley Isaac Moyes from The Presets.  It’s called ‘BTTTTRY’ which is short for “By the time that they reach you”, which is yelled out through the song.  It’s the next single to be released on Bang Gang’s new Twelve Inches record label.  It’s a hyphy, jungle inspired track – steel drums galore!  There’s also a Bag Raiders remix of the track too, though it doesn’t really drastically change the song much.  

Thanks to mnky for pointing out that this track is actually from KIM’s Japanese-only mini album System Breakdown.  Expect to hear it on dancefloors everywhere in a couple of weeks.

http://www.myspace.com/kimberleyisaacmoyes

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Superb Lyrebird – ‘Insignificant Appendage’

One of my favourite bands to emerge from the Sydney alternative scene in the past twelve months are these guys, Superb Lyrebird.  Like all sub-scenes, it becomes a bit incestuous after a while, and Superb are a good example of that, because all the members come from different bands who, during one point or another, have shared the stage with each other. 

Superb Lyrebird brings together members from two defunct Sydney outfits: Endusk (who programmer/keyboardist/percussionist/general beeps and blips James McKenna was a member of) and Fat Slinky (who dummer Nathan Tuffin and bassist Wesley Von Grabill were a part of).  For vocals and guitar, they’ve borrowed the talents of Dave Bleus, who moonlights as the frontman for Sydney outfit Self | Is A Seed (once called Self, but there’s already a band in the States called that).

This is easily my favourite of all the members’ current and prior projects: it’s a far more mature alternative sound, combining dissonant, foreboding melodies with driving riffage, similar to bands like Cog and Karnivool.  Though while most alternative bands these days are trying to be the next Cog, and you come across clone after monotonoua clone, Superb thankfully put their own spin on it, so rather than sounding like some rehashed, second rate rock band, they’ve developed their own style.  Their debut EP Anoised has just been released, and if you’re a prog rock fan it’s a great listen.  Though, as good as it is, it doesn’t really match up to seeing them live, at their most visceral, because that’s where it all clicks.

http://www.myspace.com/superblyrebird

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Ghetto Pussy – ‘Cassette Sex’ (mp3)

Just when dirty electro couldn’t get any dirtier… along comes Sydney’s Ghetto Pussy.  Hell, it’s bordering on 90s happy hardcore!  With members like Pussy Tiger Lyck, Samurai Pizza Phat and CJ Hooker, it’s hard to know who these people actually are.  I did a bit of MySpace scrounging and found out that one member is Craig McVea from Lucy and the Pheromones and Charchie Ink.  The other two members may be someone named Rizzo (I don’t think it’s the same Rizzo from Rizzo & Pizzo though) and Anastasia.  But I may be waaay off the mark.

It’s late-night, liquor-soaked party music for kids in dark indie clubs wearing stovepipe jeans to be dancing til they pass out from heat exhaustion.  It’s in your face, bold and brash and unabashed sex music. This kind of uber-dirty electro seems to really be taking off now, with acts like the aforementioned Rizzo & Pizzo and Gameboy/Gamegirl gaining a lot of popularity.  I guess it’s just fun music to dance to.  What more could you ask for!

www.myspace.com/ghettopussymusic

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The Evening Son – ‘Lemming’ (mp3)

Who said that Silverchair were the only good band to come out of Newcastle?  ‘Lemming’, from Novocastrian three-piece The Evening Son, has been getting a flogging on my stereo lately.  It has an old-school Stone Temple Pilots vibe to it, especially because of the electric and acoustic guitar combo.

The band formed in mid-2005 out of the ashes of another great Newcastle band, Paperhalo.  They’re hitting the studio soon to record an EP, so hopefully that’ll mean these guys will start playing around more often, particularly in Sydney.

http://www.myspace.com/theeveningson

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Batrider – ‘Trouble (demo)’ (mp3)

A DVD just hit the market here in Australia called Sticky Fingers which is a “rockumentary” on the underground Melbourne music scene, and in particular the punk-rock sub-scene. Amongst the blurred amateur live footage which poor-quality, and some even poorer-quality bands, a few stood out. One such band was Batrider, a visceral four-piece punk rock band.

Originally from Wellington in New Zealand, I’m not sure when they immigrated to Australia because there’s not a lot of info on the band on the net. Blogs such as Polaroids of Androids and Get Big, Little Kid have screamed the praise of the band, and there’s a great interview with the intense frontwoman Sarah Chadwick at Mess + Noise.

Sleater-Kinney and Young & Restless are two bands that Batrider have been compared to, and I guess that’s because of the female vocal onslaught. It’s dark, it’s punk, it’s angry. There’s not much more to say.

http://www.batrider.com
http://www.myspace.com/batrider

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FourPlay – ‘Reptilia’

FourPlay describes themselves as a “Sydney, Australia based indie rock band who happen to be an electric string quartet”.  And I couldn’t put it much better myself.

This is not your average string quartet.  In a similar vein to other string quartets such as Kronos (the troupe who composed the score to Requiem for a Dream), their style and compositions are quite non-traditional and left of centre.  Also, a typical string quartet is made up of two violins, one viola and one cello, whereas FourPlay use two violas, one violin and one cello “to produce a thicker, deeper sound”.

They’ve also been known to do some amazing cover versions of popular songs, such as The Strokes’ ‘Reptilia’ which I’ve posted with this blog.  They also do a stunning version of Radiohead’s ‘2+2=5’, which is one of my fave Radiohead songs.  Their most recent album Now To The Future came out last year and you can hear a few tracks from that on their MySpace page. 

http://www.fourplay.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/fourplaystringquartet

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Photo by Melinda Comerford

Nina May – ‘The Feeling’ (mp3)

Wanna know what the kids are going crazy about at the moment? Then say hello to Brisbane four-piece Nina May and their new song ‘The Feeling’, which I think may be the demo version of a track that will make it onto their EP which is coming out at some stage during the Year of the Pig.

Aside from amassing around 1000 times more friends on MySpace than I, at the point of writing this blog, Nina May were the top-rated band on Australia’s premier music website Faster Louder.  Hell, they’ve even got a street team!  Talk about a lot of l-o-v-e.

Though it doesn’t look like the troupe have toured much outside their home state of Queensland, no doubt with their burgeoning success you’ll see their name around your state fairly soon.

http://www.myspace.com/ninamaymusic

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