Do The Robot – ‘Europe’

Do The Robot – ‘Moon In The Sky’

Do The Robot are Brisbane husband/wife duo Matt and Sarah Deasy whose Myspace once listed ‘Twin Peaks’ in their ‘Sounds Like’ category. I was pretty much hooked since then and, while their new material seems less synth-pad heavy than this reference point might suggest, it’s still a good indicator of the dense and lush sound the pair manage to piece together with only a few instruments.

One thing that DTR do have over ‘Twin Peaks’ is Mrs Deasy’s vocals. At time icy and disconnected and elsewhere warm and inviting, she sounds more like Juanita Stein (of Howling Bells) these days, which is totally a good thing. The vocals have plenty of room to move in the mix, which is filled out with sparse, ringing guitars and simple drum machine patterns atop subtle pads. This ultimately combines to sound like a more skeletal Cocteau Twins (especially on DTR’s first album, Amp On Fire), though they’ve been pedaling this brand of dream pop for years before it became super cool again.

Their second album is about to be released and I’m definitely looking forward to these guys getting back on the live bandwagon.

www.myspace.com/idorobots

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No Anchor – ‘Everything You Say’ (Part 1)

No Anchor – ‘Everything You Say’ (Part 2)

Here’s something a little different – some thrash drum and bass metal in the form of Brisbane’s No Anchor. Not only do these guys have an insane live show and the best physical packaging for their albums, they manage to transpose that energy and excitement onto disc.

Firstly, ‘Everything You Say’ is not a two part song – I had to split it up to fit onto our server because it’s such a huge mother of a song (nine minutes of aural assault) and even then I had to crunch the bitrate (so apologies to the boys if I’ve ruined the sonic nuances of the track). Before you fickle indie kids (myself included) flick past this post, keep in mind that I don’t particularly like metal myself. No Anchor are a different beast to what that creepy guy in the Sepultura T-Shirt with long greasy hair at the back of the bus listens to (no offense to any Sepultura-loving and/or long, greasy-haired readers intended). No Anchor may have shouts and sheets of distortion but there’s hooks in there too – hell, the second half of the song even features a tight groove.

Also, if I were an independent band then I’d definitely be offering these guys a cut of my album sales in exchange for some of their sweet packaging designs. Did I mention that they’re rad? (NB: I’m not sure whether they do this, but it would be worth begging).

http://www.myspace.com/noanchorband

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Bearhug – ‘Snow Leopard’

I was initially excited about this track because it shares a name with the opening track off Shearwater’s excellent album ‘Rooks.’ Fortunately, Sydney’s Bearhug manage to effortlessly shrug off the weight of my perhaps unfairly-imposed expectations with the nonchalant, crawling bassline that opens ‘Snow Leopard.’ Shortly thereafter the lo-fi drums, wavering vocals and trebly, fuzzy guitars are introduced and imbue the song with an early 90s slacker charm and aesthetic. Feeding into the endearing simplicity is the measured, repetitive structure of the song, effectively built around glimpses of memorable and aching post-Yellow falsetto lines. Perhaps the track’s biggest strength is that the last minute somehow builds to a climax without breaking from the same unforced and modest shuffle of the first two.

There’s a big difference between not trying and not caring and Bearhug manage to embody the right side of both, creating a yearning song of effortless beauty that I hope gets the coverage it deserves. Definitely one that you’ll find yourself hitting ‘repeat’ on.

http://www.myspace.com/bearhugtheband

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The Drones – ‘You’re Acting Like The End Of The World’

So The Drones are possibly my favourite band. I say ‘possibly’ because I don’t necessarily feel comfortable being held to such a grand statement but I’ve seen them live more than other band (around eight times) so they’re coming out on top on paper at least.

Their last album Havilah was great, as were the albums before it.Funnily enough, the latest single off it is ‘You’re Acting Like The End Of The World,’ which is possibly the least Drones-esque song in their oeuvre. They’ve done acoustic stuff before but this is more rollicking and less sinister than what fans might be used to. I kinda prefer my Drones a bit looser and darker but that’s mainly because it’s an aesthetic they’ve perfected rather than a reflection of the quality of this song. Get set for The Drones in jaunty mode – not as odd a match as you might expect.

They’re about to set out on tour so maybe sure you see them if you haven’t already – one of the best live shows for any band, not just an Australian one.

www.myspace.com/thedronesthedrones

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Talons – ‘Keys & Codes’

Our friends over at Polaroids of Androids have been talking up this band for a while. I’ll admit that I took a while to warm to them but there’s only so long that Talons could exist in my periphery before finally catching my attention. This is my favourite track of theirs so far. In a few words? Unrelenting. Aggressive. Engrossing.

Not nearly as atonal as some have labeled them, Talons produce traditionally constructed, concise songs – the tension is in the distortion, thumps and shouts that they smear their tracks with. There’s hooks in this song if you listen close enough and the guitar itself isn’t nearly as overdriven as you might expect, which suggests a more considered ferocity than many of their contemporaries.

Consider me officially on the Talons bandwagon.

http://www.myspace.com/talonsband

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Echo9 – ‘Stutter Freeze’

Echo9 – ‘Rekindling’

So there’s this guy called Echo9 and apparently he recently wrote and recorded an entire album in nine days (it was meant to be done in seven days but he went overtime). He’s released the fruits of that project for free, the link to which is at the bottom of this post, and it’s an impressive result regardless of the time frame in which it was produced. I enjoy his music. I enjoy the concept. I enjoy his socialist approach to distributing that concept.

The hardest part of this post was picking which of the seven tracks on the album to post (one track for every day of the intended seven day day recording period). The whole album is instrumental and consists largely of major-key electronica arrangements atop some IDM-inspired programming. ‘Stutter Freeze’ opens with several minutes of dark synths clashing with standard arpeggios over a straightforward beat, which works to paint a fairly beige musical canvas before throwing fistfuls of colours at it when, halfway through, the fast, micro-produced rhythms kick in. ‘Rekindling’ closes the album with one of the more straightforward but driving beats on the album. The subdued, layered synths map out an icy sonic landscape before building to an uplifting M83-like neo-shoegaze climax, trading on huge dynamic shifts and sheets of distorted guitar.

This is exciting music and the circumstances of its creation only make it more vital. Whilst it’s clear that a lot of that nine days went to beat programming (often signalled by the repetitive synth lines), it still combines to form a cohesive and impressive whole. Kudos, Echo9.

www.myspace.com/echo9music

The album can be downloaded for free at: www.mediafire.com/?w4bmppu231g

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Papa Vs Pretty – ‘Arrestem’

This song… I don’t know what the fuck it is. I don’t know what it’s trying to be – by the sound of it, everything. At times dissonant and sparse, at other times sounding like the score to an old superhero movie, ‘Arrestem’ is the sound of a band dismantling a song and putting it back together with as many different, sometimes even ill-fitting, parts as possible. Far from being detracting, the clashing styles that grind against each other only make this Frankenstein’s monster of a song far more interesting. Suffice to say, ‘Arrestem’ would be a bitch to dance to.

Even just a cursory listen to some of Sydney’s Papa Vs Pretty  output reveals a deconstructalist ethic that is applied to traditional song structures. There will inevitably be critics who deride the lack of shape and focus in some compositions but that experimental outlook is complimented by some fine production strokes and a pop sensibility that informs even their least pop-inspired moments.

The vacillating arrangement may be too abrasive at first but a lucid charm emerges from the musical mire that is ‘Arrestem.’ Give it a few spins and decide whether these guys are inspired or just schizophrenic.

www.myspace.com/papavspretty

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