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Bleeding Knees Club – ‘Bad Guys’ (m4a)

Bleeding Knees Club only started in March and have already secured east coast tours with DZ and Yatch Club DJs, recorded and EP and secured a label and distribution with Melbourne party crew I OH YOU. Pretty solid first six months – more than some bands achieve over six years. Admittedly, BKC trade in a certain brand of music that doens’t require/intentionally avoids precision, planning, and cleanliness. Not that this music is any less valuable, but you can imagine these guys bashing out an EP within the amount of time it takes some bands to soundcheck.

‘Bad Guys’ is a badass song that improves on their previous gem ‘Have Fun‘ – and that was a pretty sweet jam itself. Looking forward to the full EP, which drops October 15. Keep an eye and ear out for these bros – ‘Bad Guys’ suggests potential mega radness.

BKC recording from TAKENNEVER.COM on Vimeo.

www.myspace.com/thebleedingkneesclub

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Echoplex from Miami Horror on Vimeo.

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Deep Sea Arcade – ‘Keep On Walking’ (mp3)

After the stunningly awesome ‘Lonely In Your Arms,’ Deep Sea Arcade are back with another slice of retro pop.  ‘Keep On Walking’ continues the motif of wire-y guitar lines and smooth, escalating vocal melodies. The organ stabs in the verses and the half-speed bridge differentiate it somewhat from their previous singles, and it definitely leans closer to straight rock than the harmony-laden pop. Ultimately they’re all very similar songs, if only because these guys know their strengths and apply them liberally – and you can’t fault a young band for playing their aces on every 7″ release. The have a sound that, although not entirely unique, has more cohesion than a lot of bands manage even after two or three albums.

‘Keep On Walking’ is probably the weakest of their three big singles, not because it’s a case of dimishing returns but because of the strenght of its predecessors. They’d probably need to mix things up on an album, but right now I’m happy for them to churn out a new pop jam every 6 months if it’s going to be this good.

www.myspace.com/deepseaarcade

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Surf City – ‘Teachers’ (mp3)

New Zealand’s Surf City have been bouncing around the blogosphere for a while now, mainly on the back of much love from Rose Quartz. But at the peak of surf rock’s reported revival, you can hear bands that sound like this on almost any Hype Machine top 50 blog. This makes it hard to get super excited about a band based on one track alone. Surf City were a bit different in that I actually remembered their name, but I still wasn’t totally sold on their wares until I heard their stuff packaged as an album. And this shit is tight. When listened to consecutively, the greatness of these tunes really starts to shine. The songs sound stronger and the strengths and quirks of the band become more distinct.

Those cunts bros over at POA beat me to the punch in posting album highlight ‘Icy Lakes,’ an eight minute collision of krautrock and beachboysripoffwave. In it’s place, I present ‘Teachers,’ my second favourite track on the album. It’s a shorter, tighter pop song – full of infectious “ooos” and the like. If you listen to both then you’ll have a pretty good idea of the awesomeness to expect from their debut Kudos.

www.myspace.com/killsurfcitygo

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How good are viral videos? They can do amazing things like make me site through two minutes of Yolanda Be Cool…

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Awesome new clip for PVT’s ‘Light Up Bright Fires.’ The ‘one-take’ thing is still totes ‘in.’

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