Tiger Choir – ‘Shotgun’ (mp3)

I really dig Tiger Choir’s self-titled EP. It’s well produced, inventive, catchy, and energetic and fuck. But I know some people are going to slander it because, at times, they sound a lot like Animal Collective – and people love to slander both Animal Collective and Australian bands who sound like popular international indie bands. I’m addressing this hate only to anticipate it rather than give credence to it. Calling Tiger Choir a ‘wannabe AC’ is fairly reductive when you consider that this EP contains five high quality and stylistically diverse tracks, most of which don’t sound anything like AC.

With that said, above is third track ‘Shotgun,’ probably the most AC-esque track on offer. With its strained, reverbed vocals, 6/8 time signature and a sneaky 3/4 beat dropping in halfway through, this could easily slip onto Animal Collective’s Feels. (That’s a good thing by the way. Feels is one of the best albums of the last decade IMO).

I know it sounds like I’m feeding into the comparison that I earlier labeled reductive. The fact is 1) I don’t necessarily think it’s bad to be compared to Animal Collective – even now that hipsters everywhere have had to disown them because Channel V picked up on ‘My Girls’, and 2) ‘Shotgun’ is just 20% of the songs on their EP. The rest doesn’t sound like this. I chose ‘Shotgun’ because it’s theor best track regardless of who it’s compared to.

Go ahead and listen for yourself, and check out the rest of the EP. It’s really great, and I’ll likely post something else from it in the near future.

www.myspace.com/tigerchoir

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Matt Van Schie – ‘Journey’ (Memory Tapes Remix) (mp3)

Matt Van Schie is the bass player in Sydney electro outfit Van She, who were pretty ubiquitous in Australia a couple of years ago. And just in case the ‘Van S(c)h(i)e’ name wasn’t floating about the electro world enough, the dude also has a solo EP called Balmy Nights. Make of that what you will.

I don’t think his main band really delivered on the promise of their early hype and decent live shows, but then I don’t own any fluero thus demarcating me outside of their target demographic. Either way, New Jersey resident and ‘chillwave’ bro Memory Tapes (aka Memory Cassette aka Weird Tapes aka Dayve Hawk) has leant his deft touch to lead single ‘Journey,’ after having earlier this year remixed Midnight Juggernauts’ ‘This New Technology.’ Apparently the dude likes his Aussie electro.

www.myspace.com/mattvanschiemusic

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Pikelet – ‘Weakest Link’ (mp3)

Depsite released over a month ago, it’s taken me this long to post about Pikelet largely because I’ve struggles to pick a track worth highlighting above the others. Stem is one of the strongest local releases this year, mixing bedroom pop with more experimental idiosyncrasies and the odd middle-eastern diversion.

‘Weakest Link’ has probably best endured many a-listen. Although I definitely appreciate the less direct tracks on the album and think they greatly contribute to its overall effectiveness, it’s this pop tune, appearing in the album’s final third, that is always stuck in my head.

Evelyn Morris catchy harmonies muse on the subject inadequacy above little more than a driving 8-note bass line. Simple structure, cute lyrics and an irresistible vocal hook – ‘Weakest Link’ is a top tune pulled from a top album that I recommend you check out if you’ve not already.

www.myspace.com/ovalyn

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Joseph Liddy and the Skeleton Horse – ‘Talking Humidity Blues’ (mp3)

This was one of those songs by dudes I knew nothing about. I was just chilling, doing some work with our SoundCloud account playing in the background and then BOOM. Joseph Liddy drops. Crunchy blues-punk guitar riffs leading into Liddy’s gruff howl. ‘Talking Humidity Blues’ is sloppy, lo-fi blues-punk the way it should be.

So I was like, “who the fuck are these guys?” Then I went to their Myspace and I was like, “woah, they look just like The Middle East.” Then I did a bit more google-ing (as a verb, yes) and was like, “woah, these guys ARE (kinda) The Middle East.”

Yes, THAT Middle East that plays every Australian festival and played SXSW and Coachella and has a shitload of blog buzz. The line-up isn’t identical, but it consists of the two lead singers and the banjo player. The big difference here is that whereas Jordan Ireland and Rohan Jones takes lead vox many a-Middle East track, this project is all about Joseph ‘Liddy’ Ireland tearing up the microphone.

Sometimes The Middle East are so quiet you can barely hear them. Joseph Liddy and The Skeleton Horse sound nothing like The Middle East, but they are pretty fucking awesome and likely to generate some buzz of their own.

www.myspace.com/josephliddyandtheskeletonhorse

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Midnight Juggernauts – ‘Get Connected’ (mp3)

I’ve never been a huge fan of Midnight Juggernauts. Good for them, they seem like funny guys and more power to Australian electro etc, but I’ve never considered their music to be as good as their bulging profile would suggest. Still, they have some great songs – and ‘Vital Signs’ is one of them, mainly because it breaks from the formula a bit (ie. it sounds like they went through more than a few synth presets before settling on its ‘sound’) (ouch). But the b-side to ‘Vital Signs’ is even better, even if it does eventually fall back on the same heavy handed space-organ chords that appear in every Midnight Juggernauts song and they should consider getting trademarked.

That song is ‘Get Connected,’ and if it’s a b-side then maybe their new album should be pretty rad. Or maybe they have terrible self-editing skills. I don’t know. I honestly don’t mean to dump on them since the stuff I’ve heard from them lately is pretty good. But you know, have a listen and let me know what you think.

www.myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts

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Nikko – ‘Wedding Song’ (mp3)

There was a time in in 2008 when it felt like I saw Brisbane’s Nikko play at least one a month. And then they kind of disappeared off my radar (probably had something to do with me being in Europe for a while, but whatevs). Anyway, these guys just came back onto my radar with this song.

I’m not going to lie: every Nikko recording I’ve heard so far has been inferior to their live show, which isn’t surprising. They often trade on that whole ‘wall of guitar crescendo’ that will probably always work better in concert than on record for any band. ‘Wedding Song’ isn’t a departure for the band, but it does suggest a growing confidence in their lyrics/vocal abilities.

‘Wedding Song’ is taken from their forthcoming debut The Warm Side. Dates for launch on their Myspace.

www.myspace.com/nikkoband

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