Young Revelry – ‘Old Souls’ (mp3)

Young Revelry’s debut EP ’You and I’ comes at you like some 90s era beast rearing it’s head and gnawing some pretty impressive and noisy chops.

It reminds me of the best things I loved about that era – loud guitars, messy solos, feedback and vocals that carry more weight than just the clever lyrics they repeat. There are some quieter moments tucked away here too – providing enough light to contrast the heavily distorted shade.

Don’t get me wrong though, this isn’t some 90s revisionist act with nothing new to offer. They’ve got plenty fuzz, groove, depth but what’s special is the hint that sometime soon the shit is going to hit the fan and peoples minds are going to shoot out of their ears.

Young Rev have been teetering on the edge of releasing something awesome for a long while now. They’ve been frustratingly close but to give them credit have been holding back until they found the perfect home. The EP is out August 13 on the newly formed Redcat label. Once that’s out keep your eyes on peoples ears.

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Red Shoes Boy – ‘Swept The Floors’ (mp3)

I just got a copy of Red Shoes Boy’s Stagger EP and it blew my mind. They’re a relatively unknown act in Perth but the 19 minutes of dirty, distorted blues rock on the EP are all killer no filler.

They’re a combination of the Black Keys blues guitar riffery and Ian Ball from Gomez’s husky vocal chords. This isn’t ‘boring old man in an Eric Clapton t-shirt’ blues – Red Shoes Boy sound raw and raunchy as fuck.

The EP comes out on December 5^th and I highly recommend you pick up a copy, a six pack of coldies and settle in to listen to it on repeat.

www.myspace.com/redshoesboy

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Leena – ‘Universe Can Wait’

What a bloody great pop song! Leena really knows how to nail a great smooth melody and some interesting instrumentation.

Universe Can Wait is the first single from Leena’s Mean Old Clock EP. The EP is a collection of smooth, well-crafted pop gems and its been sitting in, or at least within easy reach of my CD player for the past few weeks.

Although it’s definitely a pop record there is some real depth to the song writing that makes it an involving listening experience.

The songs on the Mean Old Clock were the product of sessions with some very well respected and well know producers; Josh Pyke, Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, Tori Amos, My Morning Jacket) and Mike Daly (Whiskeytown).

www.myspace.com/leenamusic

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Eunuch Schools – ‘Birds and Bees’ (mp3)

There seems to be a community of musicians in Western Australia at the moment who are rather musically incestuous – and instead of breeding white hair, red eyed freaks – we’re getting some bloody awesome bands.

Eunuch Schools are at the forefront of this fresh crop of artists. These acts, including Sparks Vertigo, The Chemist and Wolves, all play vastly different styles of music but they all do it very well.

Eunuch Schools has obviously benefited from this hive of inspiration and activity by producing music that breaks from convention enough to keep things fresh and interesting while packing in enough hooks to make each tune memorable.

Their songs seem to often be at the longer end of the spectrum when it comes to length.  This might lead some people to call them self-indulgent – but I never listen to those people and neither should Eunuch Schools.

www.myspace.com/eunuchschools

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Young Revelry – Came Back Today (mp3)

As a band Young Revelry are pretty fresh on the scene, with less than ten gigs under their belt so far. The members of the band however have cut their teeth over the past few years playing in some of WA’s finer and more popular musical exports (The Silents, Harlequin League and End of Fashion).

As some of those projects fell away it seems Young Revelry has sprung up in their place, and what a fine new growth it is. It’s noisy, it’s sweet, it’s got jangly guitars, fuzzy sounds and plenty of rhythm section punch.

Young Revelry make it hard to pin down a nice ‘band A meets band B’ simile to make a neat comparison but I think that is probably a good thing.

For all you Sydneysiders you can check Young Revelry out when they play Oxford Arts Factory on the 3rd of July. If you’re silly enough to miss that they’ll be back again for a residency in September.

www.myspace.com/youngrevelry

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Voltaire Twins – D.I.L (mp3)

I’m not really at the forefront of the new electro/indie-nu-rave thing that seems to be happening in Australia and indeed the world at the moment. Frankly some of it makes me sick-up in my mouth just a little bit.

One act that I do find as pleasing as a pack of quick ease and a glass of milk however, is brother-sister duo the Voltaire Twins. It seems that amongst a crowd of mediocrity they’ve not forgotten that melody and actual hooks are important in writing a catchy tune.

The Voltaire Twins’ debut single D.I.L. is set for release sometime soon (apparently the middle of the year) and the three tracks I’ve heard off it certainly put it head and shoulders above some of their ‘shout lyric, play chord, shout lyric’ comrades.

www.myspace.com/voltairetwins

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