Posts By Ryan Saar

INTRODUCING: Prints

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prints

There are three things that dogs leave behind: poo, good times, and little prints that will lead you to both the poo and the good times. If you have access to the Internet and enter in the search terms “Sydney” and “band”, you’ll be led to another source of good times: the superbly pleasant foursome of Prints.

Having just released their debut EP Some People Will Listen to Anything, Prints have delivered a casual brand of power-pop garage that recalls the spritely likes of the Strokes having a delightful evening at home with Deep Sea Arcade. It’s well put together music for lovers of guitar and break-up songs.

Although Prints have been around for over three years, this EP is the first real taste of material from the band. They don’t have a heap of live shows under their belt either – which is a shame, because from their driving hooks to their preppy lyrics (“If you’re gonna let me go, I think you oughtta know, I’m gonna take it pers-onally”), Prints are looking to be Sydney’s own little Vampire Weekend.

Whilst we bop our heads to these sincere, torn tunes from Prints and wait for more material, we can at least comfort ourselves knowing that out there somewhere, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zach Braff are staging a cage-fight to the death to see who gets to use “Lady Penelope” in their upcoming indie film.

GIGS:

27 November – The Public Bar, Melbourne

13 December – Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar), Sydney

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LISTEN: Cull – Nasty Drought

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It’s here – the first taste from Sydney shoegazing wunderlords Cull’s debut album. They’ve been floating into our earholes with streamlined Deeerhunter-via-interdimension-travel-through-the-cosmos since early 2013, when their track ‘Good People Disappear’ first surfaced on the WTH waves.  Since then, they’ve dropped their gorgeous Ba Noi EP, and a fantastically ethereal cover of Pavement’s ‘Shady Lane’.

But not simply content with ruling our hearts with mere singles, Cull have decided upon an album release for early 2015, simply titled Aloft. The name rings surely with their sound, simple pop music that’s held mightily high upon swirling masses of pedal effects and distortion.

‘Nasty Drought’ is the first taste of the album, and it indicates the record will be a colourful and engaging one indeed. Sticky vocals ensue, before unfurling into the kind of unfurling shimmer that we all <3 Cull for.

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WATCH: Charging Stallion – ‘Eddie McGuire’

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Everybody loves a good local hero. Austria’s got Arnie Schwarznegger, Canada have Nickelback, and even bloody Belgium can hold up Gotye as their own. However, that’s not to say that Australia is lacking in the talent department. We’ve got a plethora of folks on the Legends Board on the RSL, from Damo who skulled 12 beers before passing out, and Jimmy, who ran into Oprah and managed to cop a sneaky snap for the pool room. But Melbourne comic pub-rockers Charging Stallion, they know exactly who their idols are, and even breathing the name can cause shivers down the spine of even Buddy Franklin. The one, the only: Eddie. Fucking. McGuire.

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Charging Stallion, they need the world to know about the bloody legend, nay myth, of Eddie McGuire. With a sound that slots alongside mates like Drunk Mums, The Living Eyes and WOD very nicely, Charging Stallion pay their dues via a Collingwood ‘n’ mullet adorned clip. And why not? This is a bloke who is “more Melbourne than a scarf out of a window” and “drinks tomato sauce right out of the bottle”. Although Charging Stallion probably won’t meet their idol any time soon, the least they’ve done is create one hell of an anthem around it. This is an anthemic riot worth even Mr McGuire’s ears.

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INTRODUCING: Motel Love

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Motel-Love-600px

Motel Love, now that’s a name. Instantly, seedy images of late-night rendezvous and the seeds of impending divorce spring to mind. Reality bites though – Motel Love are just a new band that like to thrash around (and who probably really, really like The Replacements.)

Besides the obvious indicator as to where these guys grab their sound, they also slot in quite easily with a whole bunch of other Melbourne bands doing heartfelt rock ‘n’ roll really well, such as The Pink Tiles and Scotdrakula.

Unlike their namesake, which is tapered with shitty wallpaper and basic cable, Motel Love are as jolty and alive as an electric chair thrown in a pool. They’re semi-sloppy, but instantly loveable and adorable. Kind of like Eeyore. Or Steve Urkel. They seem like a band ready-made to pump out the singles, with their track ‘Dance On My Grave’ making for a fun entrance to their upcoming debut album, due in 2015.

If anything, Motel Love, besides The Replacements, recall a throwback to an easy, no-pressure summer fling, where everything’s bright and sparkly, and the hedonistic tendencies are layered on thick. I’ve never had one myself, but who ever said Grease wasn’t educational?

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INTRODUCING: Weak Boys

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weakboys

There’s nothing quite as manly and striking as a bunch of blokes in a band called Weak Boys. I mean, that’s a name that instantly assumes a Bon Scott-like confidence, a title worthy of a king. ‘Hello, we are Weak Boys’, is all one has to bellow in order to send all the other blokes running in terror, and for every girl in the vicinity to swoon.

Weak Boys are a Sydney trio made up of Matt Banham, Craig Lyons, and Chris Yates. Some of the other bands these guys have played in include Dollar Bar, Disgusting People, Little Lovers and Summer Flake‘s Sydney band. (You’re not a success until you have a band ready to go in every state, so congrats Summer Flake). So it comes as no surprise that their own lil’ supergroup is something you’ll want to spend all your hard-earned cash on.

After making every drongo on a Sunday do a collective ‘Oath!’ with the release of their single ‘Hangovers’ earlier this year, they’ve gone and released their first LP, Weekdays/Weekends. It’s a soulful ode to living in modern day Sydney and being, in the eternal words of Lethal Weapons’ Murtaugh, ‘too old for this shit’.

Besides ‘Hangovers’, Weekdays/Weekends is crammed with beautiful slices of mope-pop, and every track abounds with happily depressed Yo La Tengo-isms. ‘Dog Farm’ is a track that should get all the Cool Dog Group participants excited, and ‘Deal With It’ is like if Bart Simpson discovered The Ocean Party. Weak Boys – they’re probably one of the most underrated bands in Australia right now.

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WATCH: Day Ravies – This Side of the Fence

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Day Ravies

As a solemn patron of Sydney’s best bands, I was noticeably more bright and cheerful in the following days of the release of Day Ravies’ latest single, ‘This Side of the Fence’. The dreamy shoegaze foursome had been out for while due to some injury, while side-projects such as Shrapnel and Disgusting People were getting a little bit more love time.

But Day Ravies have bounced back from the sideline, and have adopted, maybe even ‘modernised’ their lax sound. The new single features bouncy synth lines strutting next to wobbly guitar belches. Tie all those sounds together with some pixie-like vocals ala. Bilinda Butcher, and the result is goodness to your ears.

They’ve also just put out a great new video, which is a bit like Lewis Carol and an episode of Art Attack on smack. The video is as fun and bright as ‘This Side of the Fence’ itself.

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INTRODUCING: Pronto

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Pronto Press Photo

Hold your bloody horses, garage fans. Forget about that sick new band you saw on the weekend, cos I’ve found your new favourite act: Pronto. Of course these guys are out of Melbourne, and obviously they’ve been living on a steady diet of Eddy Current Suppression Ring. They’re fast, furious and insanely addictive.

Pronto, like many of Australia’s best garage punk bands, have helped an old genre grow up a little bit. They take early 70’s proto-punk, like The Troggs, and brutalise it into something that Hozac Records would eat slugs to put out. On their debut album, When You’re Gone, Pronto speed through their 11 tracks with frightening ferocity. They do bands like Dead Farmers, Royal Headache and Straight Arrows proud.

Between the gale force guitar solos, the crunchy, hollow vocals and stampeding drums, there are a few particular standouts. If you’re any sort of fan of loud, fun guitar music, you’ll love songs like ‘Soldier’, ‘Red Flag’ and ‘Cry’. These tracks will blow down your house like it’s a greedy wolf and you are soon-to-be bacon. Best played loud.

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