Mountains In The Sky – ‘X-Gamma’

Mountains In The Sky is the work of laptop extraordinaire John Lee, one of the leading lights in Australia’s burgeoning experimental electronica scene. While it may have taken over three years for his debut long-player to emerge, in the lead up he released a mini album (Celesstial Suns), had a song (‘Noah’s Arkestra’) featured in the NBA playoffs in the US and produced a 21-minute opus (‘Accipio’) that had industry types buzzing.

October saw the release of Electron Suite, which features the above track. You have to constantly remind yourself that the cavernous, layered sounds were all recorded by one guy in his bedroom. The beats are tight and kept fairly simple and the squelching synth-bass grooves along with an unassiming determination with the majority of the experimentation left to the filtered guitar squall and the wailing organ drones that drop in and out. A myriad of other indistinguishable noises appear throughout the song, flashing across the stereo spectrum with an orchestrated abandonment that lends the song its expansive feeling and displays Lee’s wizardry with a mouse and keyboard.

I saw these guys live at Laneway and they manage to translate it live fantastically well so check it out if you haven’t already.

www.myspace.com/mountainsinthesky1

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Flying Foxes – Lost In Low Cloud

‘Lost In Low Cloud’ is the self-referencing debut single from Flying Foxes. Replete with a military beat, yelping vocals, and Jonny Marr-like guitar work, the song is brings some whimsy to otherwise jaunty indie pop . The whole thing is over in just two and half minutes but chances are the bouncing chorus melody and glockenspiel line will bring back for another listen.

It won’t take much of your time (unless you get hooked) and it can be all yours over at www.flyingfoxes.tv/downloads/ at the cost of just an email address.

www.myspace.com/flyingfoxes

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The Devoted Few – ‘Don’t Listen To Us’

When not touring as Sarah Blasko’s guitarist, Ben Fletcher likes to pay some attention to his other band, The Devoted Few. Their latest offering is ‘Baby, You’re A Vampire’ and it was released this month through Inertia. I haven’t heard it mentioned around the virtual watercoolers too much so perhaps it slid by under the radar but it’s worth seeking out.

Don’t Listen To Us isn’t the strongest track on the album but it is definitely the most immediate and exciting. Like the album title, it’s a little bit dark, a little bit rock’n’roll and a little bit sexy. With the hypnotic hi-hats boosted high in the mix,  a fuzzed out bass line over a pounding backbeat and a wash of reverbed guitar distortion filling the negative space, the track is a great piece of well-produced indie rock with a dance-inspired rhythm section.

Although slightly stylistically removed from the rest their oeuvre, which leans more toward quirky pop, Don’t Listen To Us has all the makings of a killer lead single from a band whose depths extend beyond the merely immediately-gratifying. I’m still listening to the album as a whole but it’s definitely a grower.

www.myspace.com/thedevotedfew

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Seagull – ‘Trucks Are Sheep’

Seagull is the stage name of Melbourne singer-songwriter Chris Bolton who produces simple but affecting indie folk music. The broad sonic palette of the album’s production adds depth to his songs and elevates their aesthetic above the usual acoustic affair. ‘Trucks Are Sheep’ mixes stereo acoustic guitars and intimate vocals with minimal, ringing keys, a cymbal that occasionally crashes in the distance and subtle injections of guitar squall punctuation.

Seagull recently performed at Falls Festival as winner of the Triple J Unearthed competition. His debut album, Goodbye Weather, is out now and features the outstanding song that won him that festival slot, ‘Dust Storm.’ Definitely a destination for those interested to hear folk music with such diverse arrangements and interesting production.

www.myspace.com/seagullmusic

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Nikko – ‘Fists’

The prefix “post” is a fairly dangerous tag in music – it’s fairly hit and miss and not every genre needs to be reconstructed or extended into more avant-garde territory. Increasingly, it seems to me that “post” has come to signal the substitution of proper song-writing with reverb and IDM beats. My reductive view and cynical stance is the result of many years of listening to “post-(insert genre)” music and, as a result, having been over-exposed to the dregs of that musical terrain. Luckily, there are always songs out there like ‘Fists’ that remind you why you liked this stuff in the first place.

Like many other post-rock songs, ‘Fists’ is built around the tension and release of impending instrumental crescendos, but these louder moments aren’t included to offset the pedestrian slower/qiueter moments. Rather, the surging dynamics seems like the logical conclusion to the crawling anxiety of the verses. The fact that Nikko also manage to include a spoken-word sample without it seeming gratuitous or overly pretentious is further credit to their abilities within the genre.

They’ve only a couple of EPs to their name but they seem to pop up on stage every fortnight or so.

www.myspace.com/nikkoband

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Villians of Wilhelm – ‘Angelina’

Villians of Wilhelm are a  four piece indie rock band from Brisbane with a punk sensbility and style that belies the pop undertones of their songs.

‘Angelina’ – and I use this comparison as a point of reference and not to sound reductive or critical – sounds a lot like Franz Ferdinand with Australian accents. From the punchy guitars, bouncing rhythm section and the “Ba ba ba da ba” refrain, Villians of Wilhelm manage to convey the same sense of sexual angst through danceable guitar songs as their Scottish contemporaries have done for a while now. The chorus, however,  is more power-chordy, syncopated and shouted than anything Franz would include but this only helps delineate the band from their influences and exhibits a talent for arrangements beyond dependable but going-stale four-on-the-floor routines.

This is a great single that’s being launched around the country over the next month.

www.myspace.com/villainsofwilhelm

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