Brown Bear – ‘Was That It?’

Brown Bear are from Brisbane and write good, solid songs. Sometimes they try to get all clever with glitchy programming, but for that we should cut them a bit of slack – after all, they did meet whilst studying a tertiary music course.

‘Was That It’ is a little guilty of this whole ‘glitches=clever music’ thing, but is saved by the simple but effective piano part and Col Hockey’s lyrics and vocal melodies. Excellent arrangements and production don’t hurt it either – every band attempting this sort of music should have a film composer as a guitarist.

With Hockey having returned from a year in London, Brown Bear is currently raising funds and writing songs for their debut album.

www.myspace.com/brownbearblog

Read Post →

The Verses – ‘Running Away’

If the people in this promo photo for Melbourne band The Verses look familiar, it’s because they are. Almost ten years on from the major label debut of their previous band Killing Heidi (yes, it has been that long!), Jesse and Ella Hooper are back.

I saw The Verses perform during their first residency at The Toff in Melbourne back in the middle of the year. They played for two hours and I was captivated the entire time. Ella Hooper is arguably the best front woman in Australia and brings some much needed strength and sex appeal to the often limp genre of alt-country.

‘Running Away’ features guest vocals from Melbourne singer-songwriter Dan Sultan. More a sparring match than a duet, Sultan and Hooper belt out a song about love not so much lost as outright rejected.

The Verses play A Day on The Green with Jimmy Barnes and Kasey Chambers on the 31st of January before supporting Kate Miller-Heidke at the Melbourne Zoo on the 5th of February.

www.myspace.com/theverses

Read Post →

The Dandilions – ‘Three Inches’

The Dandilions are an all-female acoustic-folk trio… WAIT! WAIT! COME BACK!
Yes, they are an all-female acoustic-folk trio, but their music is neither insipid nor angsty – what a nice change.

Mentored by drummer Geoff Green of george fame, the girls met whilst studying music at QUT in Brisbane.
I love how vocalist Vanessa Hodgins delivers quite personal and often cutting lyrics in such a fragile voice. Their song ‘The Sea’ is a perfect example of this.

The Dandilions – ‘The Sea’

The Dandilions play around Brisbane sporadically. I wish they played more.

www.myspace.com/dandilionmusicaustralia

Read Post →

Yeo – ‘Two Sides of A Door’

Yeo (as in bust a cap in yo ass) is the solo project of Yeo Choong, member of Tragic Athletic and numerous other Brisbane bands. Seriously, it seems like every second band I see has this guy in it.

‘Two Sides of A Door’ is from his self-recorded and produced debut album, Trouble Being Yourself. It’s heavily influenced by 1980s popular culture, but the good bits, namely Super Mario and Prince.

Yeo and his live band The Fresh Goods have just finished a tour down the east coast. They will be supporting Adam Green from The Moldy Peaches at his Brisbane performance at The Zoo on December 17.

www.myspace.com/snackswithyeo

Read Post →

Sailmaker – ‘Build A Fire’

Sailmaker make music that would sound right at home in a mid-1990s Triple J playlist, slotted in nicely between Jebediah’s ‘Harpoon’ and Something For Kate’s ‘Captain’.

‘Build A Fire’ is the very sweet title track from their most recent EP and is all clean guitars, handclaps and plaintive vocals

The Sydney band has played supports for Operator Please, British India, Horsell Common and most recently Epicure.

www.myspace.com/sailmakermusic

Read Post →

The John Steel Singers – Rainbow Kraut (music video) from Moop Jaw on Vimeo.

Read Post →