Clue To Kalo – ‘User to a Carrier (By the Sister)’

Adelaide outfit Clue to Kalo have been kicking around for a number of years, although they haven’t made much of an impact on the Aussie musical landscape. Instead, they’ve been focusing most of their energy on the overseas market, particularly the US, where they’ve toured a handful of times, including this year with lo-res popsters Casiotone for the Painfully Alone.

The main man – and progenitor of the sounds – of Clue to Kalo, Mark Mitchell, records all of his group’s music on computer and then takes it to the rest of the members so they can embellish it in a live setting. It’s amazing the sumptuous sounds that a record like the latest (and third) Clue to Kalo one, Lily Perdida, has despite it being recorded on a cold and clinical Mac. That’s indicative of Mitchell’s innate pop sense. A concept album of sorts, the whole disc is based upon this character Lily Perdida who we never hear from on record, but instead we hear songs from people that know her. So by the end, we’ve got a picture of who Lily is through those that know her best. This song, ‘User to a Carrier’, is sung in the voice of Lily’s sister… if you didn’t guess that one already.

http://www.myspace.com/cluetokalo

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Ernest Ellis – ‘Bad Blood’

In his use of layered, reverb-soaked vocals and a sublime falsetto, Ernest Ellis echoes the likes of Bon Iver and TV On The Radio.

Anthemic folk may sound like an oxymoron but it neatly encapsulates Ellis’ ‘Bad Blood’. Applying his expansive, organic production to simple, repetitive melodies ‘Bad Blood’ sits halfway between the sounds of Americana and out of space.

Little information about Sydney-based Ellis is available which serves only to build anticipation for new material. As one of the first signings to the new Dew Process publishing arm and a guest on the recent ‘Blogger’s Delight’ lineup, Ellis is making an impression on the the right people. Expect big things…

www.myspace.com/ernestellis

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Skipping Girl Vinegar – ‘Sift the Noise’

There’s an irrepressible positivity to Skipping Girl Vinegar and their debut record Sift the Noise that makes them instantly appealing. I mean, the emo parade have the monopoly on depression in music, so why not explore other emotional avenues? And if anyone has a reason to be upset, it’s their chief songwriter Mark Lang, who lost family members during the four-year making of his band’s debut. Yet it’s a loss that doesn’t phase him, because throughout Sift the Noise he consistently looks through the negatives to discover the positives. There’s a lesson in there, I reckon…

http://www.myspace.com/skippinggirlvinegar

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Qua – ‘Circles’

If you’re wondering who the handsome man with the ’70s mo is, that’s Qua. Well, it’s actually Cornel Wilczek but he performs under the name Qua. His music is constantly shifting, evolving. Prolific might not cover it, either. He onlt recently released the minimal Silver Red, an EP borne out of live improvisations he conducted with Pivot’s Lawrence Pike on drums. Now he’s about to release his new album, Q&A, which ‘Circles’ comes from. It’s thumping, beat-heavy electronica, with drums courtesy of Mr Pike as well as former Architecture in Helsinki stickman James Cecil. (I believe both Cecic and Wilczek went to RMIT in Melbourne together, along with Tim Harvey from Hot Little Hands!)

Artist bios are usually full of shit, but I love this quote: “Foregetabout folktronica, kiddietronica, or even pigeonholetronica as Qua is operating in his own league. This is Quatronica”

http://www.myspace.com/quamusic

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Because of Ghosts – ‘The Battle of Mount Royal’

Post rock usually gets a lambasting these days, which is probably fair considering so many bands of that ilk are intend on recycling the same, tired ideas peddled by better bands that have come before them like Mogwai, Mono or Explosions in the Sky. Because of Ghosts, though, have a few more tricks up their sleeves than the usual ersatz instrumental rock outfits. This Culture of Background Noise is the Melbourne trio’s latest offering of spare, cerebral and minimal music, built around rambling drum iines and angular, at times amodal guitar riffage. Most of the songs on the disc are five minutes plus, and while ‘The Battle of Mount Royal’ might not be representative of the build-and-release structures that inform the majority of the music, it’s still a killer tune.

http://www.myspace.com/becauseofghostsband

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