Darren Cross goes DIY for the film clip to ‘Cockroaches’, the first offering from his solo project The E.L.F.

Hey, check it out… it’s our fourth “The” project in a row. Look down. Really. Wow.

http://www.myspace.com/theelff

Read Post →

The Hotel Charlie – ‘Rock Rock Dance’ (mp3)

It’s been a while since I found a song that I could just put on repeat and listen to over and over without getting bored of it, but that’s exactly what I’ve found since I stumbled upon The Hotel Charlie – which highlights the benefit of MySpace and the whole friends-who-are-their-friends thing. You get to find some awesome shit!

Hailing from Sydney, this five-piece has been kicking around in some form since 2003, finally hitting the live scene last year, and in that time have developed a very solid sound. The vocals of Timothy Hay are spot-on, the rhythms are driving and infectious and the song grooves along at a great pace. ‘Rock Rock Dance’ is catchy without being gratuitously pop; rock enough to jump around your bedroom to; not heavy but not soft; perfect enough to make any band who tries to mix melody and rock green with envy.

More demos are up on their page, though ‘Rock Rock Dance’ is the best of the three. They’re planning an album for late this year so keep an ear out.

http://www.myspace.com/thehotelcharlie

Read Post →

The Veronicas – ‘Hook Me Up’

Brisbane’s most famous twins, The Veronicas, are back with a brand new single and a new sound. (By the way, I think this may be an exclusive for music blogs… though the song itself has been on YouTube and radio already.) ‘Hook Me Up’ sees the Origliasso twins ditching the punky Avril Lavigne-style sound and writing a song aimed squarely at the kids on the dancefloor.

In fact, any semblance of a “real” instrument is absent in this track which is brimming with trance-inspired synth hooks which sound like Marty McFly’s pulled them from the 90s. But it’s catchy as hell, and that damn chorus is pretty sweet – it’s like dumping a whole bag of popalicious Whizz Fizz. To be honest, I’ve got no idea what they’re singing about in this song, and I really don’t care.

The song is co-written by two of the world’s premier songwriters: Greg Wells, who’s worked with everyone from Jesse McCartney to the Deftones (WTF!!!) and pop queen Shelly Peiken (Ashlee Simpson, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Ronan Keating, Joe Cocker, Brandy… the list goes on) and explains why it’s so infectious.

The filmclip for this song probably toes too close to the incestuous line to actually be sexy because, sure, twins can be hot, but incest really isn’t. I’m not sure how much sister-to-sister touching is too much…

http://www.theveronicas.com
http://www.myspace.com/theveronicas

Read Post →

The Cat Empire – ‘No Longer There’

This song, which is in the very broad neighbourhood of a Coldplay ballad, speaks volumes about The Cat Empire’s confidence. Clearly, the ska hop kings feel their audience will follow them down any old path of musical whimsy they fancy having a stab at, no matter how random or self-indulgent. For cahones alone, they deserve a round of applause (but it’s hard to clap and block your ears at the same time).

www.myspace.com/thecatempire

Read Post →

DJ Waxmaster – ‘Mr. Ice Cream’

We blogged this song in March, though it is finally getting an official release via on the Below Par label last Saturday. Included in the B side of this single are remixes by Japanther, Girl Talk and DJ Waxmaster, featured above.

Melbourne producer Miami Horror also had a go at remixing/covering this track:

Miami Horror – ‘Mr. Ice Cream’

www.myspace.com/softtigers

Read Post →

I do believe this is the first blog to feature this video clip, an exclusive of some sort. The second signing from Levi’s Jeans Levity label, hypesters Mercy Arms dish out this rather fun take of the slightly over-used stop motion trick.

www.myspace.com/mercyarms

Read Post →

The Elana Stone Band – ‘Beautiful Sound’ (mp3)

It’s time to bring the jazz and soul to Who The Bloody Hell Are They! The Elana Stone Band come to us as a fairly decorated band: best jazz artist at the 2004 MusicOz Awards, winner at the National Jazz Awards at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival in 2005 and a semi-finalist in the Montreaux Jazz Festival vocal competition.

The voice of Elana Stone has graced the recordings from artists like The Cat Empire and Who the Hell faves Jackson Jackson, and her backing band consists of members from bands like King Curly, Bertie Blackman and others. Also, for you music trivia buffs, her brother is in bluejuice.

‘Beautiful Sound’ comes from an unreleased album she recorded in 2006. There’s a few more tracks on her MySpace to check out too.

http://www.myspace.com/elanastoneband

Read Post →