Posts By Melissa Tan

LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR: HDSPNS

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Love_Thy_Neighbour

Someone pointed out that there wasn’t enough NZ love on this blog. In case you missed last week’s spoiler, we’re teaming up with NZ mega-blog Under The Radar who’ll be bringing you a Kiwi band every week for your ears.

This week, UTR’s Courtney Sanders talks HDSPNS:

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HDSPNS

HDSPNS (pronounced HDSPNS) are a four piece who have been playing the shit out of Auckland recently, mainly because they’re that rare breed of creature: an incredibly hard working band. They released a five track album – the EAI EP, late last year and it represents the sound they have been honing nicely: driving post punk heavily influenced by the glitchy maths-rock of Battles, Foals and Liars.

‘Total Clarity’ is the single from the aforementioned EP and I’m bobbing up and down to it on my clinical office chair while I write this because that is what it does to me / everyone. Relentless, icy drumming compliments the lyrics nicely. Sitting high in the mix they’re like a monotonic call to arms and arguably the track’s centre point. HDSPNS are due to release an proper album this year and I’m look forward to a full-length rhythm zone-out at work…

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Blurst of Times Festival

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blurstoftimes

So Blurst of Times Fest is happening this Sunday in Brisbane. There’s always a pal in every group who pulls out a stale Simpsons reference at a given time, but used in this context, against this ridiculous line up – Blurst of Times will get very, very loose.

The guys from Bedroom Suck, Fans Group and Hairy Mexican have pulled together their collective forces to bring a </DREAM> lineup that includes:

VIOLENT SOHO
VELOCIRAPTOR
SCOTT & CHARLENE’S WEDDING
GUNG HO
BORED NOTHING
THE CAIROS
SURES
BITCH PREFECT
WITCH HATS
TERRIBLE TRUTHS
DRUNK MUMS
KEEP ON DANCIN’S
TINY MIGRANTS
CIRCULAR KEYS
MAJOR LEAGUES
PIRATES ALIVE

Some of Oz’s best acts will hit the stage this Sunday the 31st of March across Alhambra Lounge, Black Bear Lodge and Coniston Lane (formerly Woodland). There are a handful of tickets left available HERE. If you’re not occupied with consuming chocolate or shackled to any other pious duties on Easter, get yr tune on. Blurst Fest will get very, very loose.

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EXPAT: Islander

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islander

We’re pretty grateful for the volume of amazing new artists that email us every day. That said, every now and then it’s real good to hear new music for what it is, without the intention of trying to verbalize or justify why it sounds the way it does. Hugh Gavin emailed us late last year with material from his band Islander. Somehow his email only resurfaced recently, but I’m real glad it did.

Hugh’s dad is an opera singer. While that could go on to make a good Donny Benet style bio in theory, Hugh’s done a notable share of us own solo work. He made the move over to London when he was 15 after some convincing from his opus-toting dad. Impressively, the first support slot he played was with Laura Marling and Myles Mumford (who played as a solo act at the time). Hugh spent the next few months touring with Communion Records with his band Wise Man Said.

However, he soon realised he wasn’t a “folkster”. Since taking a break from that side of things, he’s spent the last few years developing his songwriting, forming his band Islander two years ago.

Hugh has kindly taken a series of photos for us – from his home in Kentish town, to the studio, to night lights and back again.

 

(PS. Worth having a look at this Loudon Wainwright cover too. Such a voice.)

 

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WATCH: Major Leagues

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Major Leagues Teen Mum

In high school, a friend and I used to play a game where we’d sit in the local Westfield foodcourt watching people eat. While the crux of fat suburbia would devour their goods, we’d make corresponding bestial ‘eating noises’ for each person based on reasonable moral grounds such as appearance, weight and assumed saturated fat content of their food-court meal fare. It was a terrible game. But one I kinda have strong urges to repeat after watching this new one from Brissie’s Major Leagues.

Thirty five people in a room, eating in slow motion. Reads like the plot outline for a work of custom erotica. Thankfully, Major Leagues have made the whole thing heaps of fun! The cast here look like the types who spend more time taking photos of their food rather than scoffing anything, but there are some outstanding table manners and scenes of some dudes bonding over breast meat.

Easily one of my fave clips so far this year.

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LISTEN: GRRL PAL

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GRRL_PAL

Dolly Doctor quiz time, GRRL PAL. ‘What does your band name really say about you?’

Bands who have a strong disposition for removing vowels in titles should be approached with relative to high caution. Most of the time. Grammatical farts are all the rage, y’know. If we’re talking the symbolic clusterfck of the current music rainbow (△△△), then these guys should sound reasonably accessible.

GRRL PAL are a new three piece from B̶r̶o̶o̶k̶l̶y̶n̶ Perth. Only 55 people vibing on these guys on Facebook right now. Babies, really. Digits like those don’t stay stagnant for long when you look like an American Apparel clothes horse and tell the kids your tunes are directly influenced by Futurama episodes.

‘Amazon’ is the first taste of the band’s debut EP. This track files in with the type of pixelated indie-pop that America usually stamps all bragging rights to. Geo-speaking, GRRL PAL have departed from the typical expectations of the usual prog/psych and guitar weighted stuff we’re all used to from Perth. While there’s a great wave of upcoming experimental artists springing out of Perth too (fostered by guys from New Weird Australia especially), these guys don’t really fit in either category.

Influences are worn on the sleeve here; you can definitely point out bits of Chairlift, Glass Candy, Cults and Grimes‘ breathy woo-ing swimming around in with your cereal. Lyrically, it’s more style than substance, but definitely still a highly likeable first track. With a bit of time and love, I think these guys have the potential to hitch a ride on the hype wagon pretty fast.

GRRL PAL are releasing their debut EP next month.

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LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR: Popstrangers

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Love_Thy_Neighbour

Last December, I went to New Zealand. Rode a horse, ate my weight in burgers, hung off the side of a cliff, had a good time.Really don’t know why any able minded Kiwi would bother moving here to live in a small suburban shack. Or bother refining their vowels for that reason either.

We’ve got away with pillaging from our pals across the Tasman for a long while, so we’re settling years of bad-blood with some happy blog trading instead. For that reason, we’ve decided to team up with NZ mega-blog Under The Radar who’ll be filling that Kiwi shaped void in your life with an NZ band every week.

First up, UTR’s Courtney Sanders gets y’all reacquainted with one of our old favourites…Popstrangers!

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popstrangers

Popstrangers are a three piece band who have been kicking around Auckland for several years now. Drawing on The Dunedin Sound (they were also briefly signed to Flying Nun Records) for inspiration the trio – lead by understated frontman Joel Flyger – have gone about marrying The Verlaines and The 3D’s to heavier compatriots Bailterspace. Never derivative, these influences are stripped down and applied to Popstrangers contemporary observations; ones that suggest a lot of time hanging around listening to Bradford Cox and co. It’s slacker rock sans flannel shirts, and all the better for it.

Earlier this month Popstrangers released their debut full length album Antipodes on cult New York-based label Carpark Records and played a bunch of album release shows at home and in your fair country. The album’s title suggests endless days in idyllic locations, and while this is partly true, Flyger admits it was the darker side of isolation that he was concerned with while writing: It’s all about isolation and wanting to do something different. When we wrote these songs it was kind of a weird time: I’d been doing the same thing for like five years. I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I wasn’t happy with what I was doing”.

‘Roy Brown’ is the third single from Antipodes and combines the pop sensibilities of earlier singles ‘Heaven’ and ‘What Else Could They Do’ with the thematic palpability of the instrumental tracks on the album. A lot of conflicting emotions vie for attention here and considering this band are defining the ‘New Zealand Sound’ of this generation, that makes perfect sense.

 

Listen to

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MAP March 2013

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map

Our monthly global playlist is back for March, get psyched (¡emocionarse! aufgeregt! منفعل! etc).

Jesse Davidson is our boy representing Oz this month with his gorgeous track ‘Winter’.

If you’re an Aus artist or band and would like to have your tune repped on the 40 blogs below for the next edition of MAP, drop us a line at editors@whothehell.net.

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Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the full 40-track compilation through Ge.tt here.
ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Carmel – Tu Momento

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A musical project led by Alan Soifer and Pablo Antonietti aka Panto, young folks in their own right (they both just blew out 21 candles). El Buen Retiro (on Estamos Felices, one of our favorite independent labels) is Carmel’s first album, in which they manage to combine experimentation with electronica and melodies. Tu Momento is the first single from the record, available on iTunes.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Jesse Davidson – Winter

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Jesse Davidson is a 16-year-old songwriter from Adelaide. The track we’ve chosen may be called Winter, but we think it sounds more like Grizzly Bear recording a leisurely acoustic session somewhere off the Caribbean coast. Alongside muted drums and blissful guitar embellishments that resurface every so often, there’s something really pure about Jesse’s music. He manages to capture the beauty of isolation in a way that never seems forced. Honest, effortless indie-folk.

AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
Kidcat Lo-Fi – Life Sucks

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A singer-songwriter with a feminist tendency, Kidcat Lo-Fi’s songs range from love to hate and from protest to irony. Her self-titled debut album, out in April, is consciously kept raw and will feature songs called I Will Not Marry Or Reproduce and I Want To Be A Cat. Don’t we all?

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Karina Zeviani – Update

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Everyone should learn Portuguese to get the true feeling of Update, a ballad about the end of a relationship. Karina Zeviani, the former singer of Nouvelle Vague and Thievery Corporation, released her first solo album last year.

CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
Eagle Lake Owls – Little Brittle Bones

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You can hear the world thawing from winter’s cold grip on Little Brittle Bones, from Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Eagle Lake Owls. The slow and steady vibration of spring echoes through the song’s opening moments, before it shakes the last shards of ice off and swells into life. Songs like this are what keep you going through the isolation of a prairie winter.

CHILE: Super 45
WatchOut! – Guayabita

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Although in the beginning WatchOut! stood out with a sound strongly influenced by Los Saicos’ primitive punk and North American psychedelic garage, they’ve now turned to Latin America. In Guayabita, the first preview of their forthcoming album Tribu, to be released by local label BYM Records, the spirit of tropicalia, fusion music and Chilean psychedelia come alive to shape the new sound of WatchOut!

COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
Dorado – Out Of Her Depth

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David Triana aka Dorado is an electronic music producer and DJ from Bogota. His style is a coalescence of UK bass, techno and house music, although in his early life he was greatly influenced by hardcore punk. Triana is currently working with Downpitch Recordings, a new label from his home city. Out Of Her Depth is taken from Tribute EP, his first release.

CUBA: suenacubano.com
Karamba – Vivir La Vida

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We are happy to begin our participation in MAP with a different approach to what is generally known of Cuban music. Vivir La Vida is an ode to self-esteem. It’s a song that invites reflection on our path to being and behaving in these troubled times. With his own particular stamp, Karamba uses cumbia, hip hop and rock ‘n’ roll, combining the freshness of his lyrics and refrains to recreate the impeccable taste that permeates Cuban music.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Bite The Bullet – I Feel Love

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The first five songs by Bite The Bullet are released in Germany this month, one being this MAP exclusive download. Comprising one half of one of my favorite Danish bands, the sadly defunct Highway Child, BTB rock in the same retro vein as HC (the abbreviations end here) and still seem a live force to reckoned with as this video shows. A full vinyl release is coming up this fall and I for one can’t wait.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: La Casetera
Ocean Lips – Submarine

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Ocean Lips take inspiration from Brit-rock, modern art and, of course, the ocean. Their first single Submarine evokes breezy feelings with the wavy sound of their guitars, taking us for a ride to the bottom of the sea.

ECUADOR: Plan Arteria
Munn – En La Obscuridad

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Munn is one of the country’s best new bands. Their first EP Espirales mixes an electronic rhythm section with different types of samples, analog and digital synthesizers, acoustic instruments, bass, electric guitar and layers of voices, generating atmospheres of trip hop and downtempo. En La Obscuridad is Munn’s second single and its video was directed by Lucia Romero.

ENGLAND: The Guardian Music Blog
YYZ – Into The Night

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Into The Night is a sublime blast of ravey pop from the synth prodder, DJ-cum-FX-whiz and perky chanteuse known as YYZ. Formerly members of Ting Tings surrogates Ghostcat, and with a CV that includes remixing a single by Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud, YYZ are now purveying an even more commercial brand of mainstream nu disco and fizzily addictive technopop aimed at the shopping mall massive, not the Hoxton passive.

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