Kisschasy – ‘Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night’

First off, I have to say… that is a terrible promo photo.

Now I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about Melbourne boys Kisschasy.  I’ve never been a big fan of their music, but it certainly doesn’t offend me.  But when I was a budding little music jounro, getting paid nothing to write (thanks to the music mag which shall not be named), I got a chance to interview Darren and Joel from the band who really couldn’t be any nicer. 

Kisschasy write very solid pop rock tunes – the kind that you just can’t get out of your head for days and days.  They’ve just released a brand new album called Hymns for the Nonbeliever (cool title) and their first cut from the record, ‘Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night’ is a pretty good summation of the sound of the album.  If you like this song, you’ll like the album.  If you don’t, then you won’t.

http://www.myspace.com/kisschasy

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Something for Kate – ‘The Futurist’

It’s the oldest trick in the record label book: release a Best Of album by one of your top selling artists – in this case, Something for Kate – and tack on a new song so all the die-hard fans rush out to buy it.

The problem is, in the day of iTunes, this method doesn’t work, nor do people actually buy Best Ofs anymore.  Firstly, they can just purchase the new song for $1.69 (that’s how much a song costs off iTunes in Australia), and secondly, they can buy their favourite songs and create their own Best of anyway.

So the legendary Victorian three-piece have bandied together some of their best songs (which, to be honest, is a hard task, but I guess that’s why there’s 2 discs) as well as a new song, ‘The Futurist’, and thus we have The Murmur Years.

Sydney’s sultry singer-songwriter Bertie Blackman… whoa, alliteration ahoy… contributes some barely-audible vocals to a track that really isn’t one of Something for Kate’s best, but my guess is that it was just a song they had lying around that they recorded just for the hell of the Best Of.  It kinda sounds like Bruce Springsteen after a severe bout of laryngitis.  The song lacks any spark, and Paul Dempsey has sounded a lot better than this.  Gone is the dynamic ebb and flow of prior SFK tunes, as is the rich melodies. 

If this is your first listen to Something For Kate, make sure you check out their older material – anything off Beautiful Sharks and Echolalia is highly recommended – before you make a decision.

http://www.somethingforkate.com/
http://www.myspace.com/somethingforkate

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Someone told me that Nick Cave is the Christopher Walken of Australian music. How true.

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Ahhh Tim, a.k.a Faux Pas… always entertaining! From the album Entropy Begins At Home.

http://www.iamfauxpas.com/
http://myspace.com/iamfauxpas

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So So Modern – ‘The New International’

Continuing with the New Zealand content, So So Modern is a band from Welington, NZ who somehow managed to skip usual Australian touring time and got signed to the very cool Transgressive Records in the UK, one of my favourite labels who have released Ladyfuzz, The Young Knives, The Subways, Pipettes and Regina Spektor (!!). This song is taken from their 2006 EP and has a great synth bass grooves and is almost instrumental. Great sounds. They have just finished touring with Cut Off Your Hands in NZ and are off to a UK tour, and then onto a European trek with Robocop Krauss.

www.myspace.com/sosomodern

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Eddy Current Suppression Ring – ‘Demon’s Demands’

I’ve been wanting to blog this band for a long time but never could do it cos I’ve been told this band is to be experienced live. Since I still haven’t seen them, I can’t really tell you if they’re any good on stage. But they’ve done something as interesting: the supplied the title track to a free online movie called Constructing Fear, it’s about industrial relations in Australia. I’m not that big of a fan of Michael Moore type of political films, but I am keen observer on how the internet can be used to spread , music, film, messages and maybe films that involve all three. You can download the film, and the accompanying song, for free on their site www.constructingfear.com.au. As for the music, it’s very garage gritty rock, not my kind of thing but I’d still go see them.

www.myspace.com/eddycurrentsuppressionring

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The Brunettes – ‘B.A.B.Y’

Yessss another song from their upcoming album Structure & Cosmetics, I’m quite excited about this release! They are playing small shows in the Troubadour in Brisbane on 23 August, at the East Brunswick Club on 24 August and at The Hopetoun on 25 August, supported by another whothehell.net favourite Sui Zhen in the Sydney show. This makes me sad as I will be missing out on both the Melbourne and Sydney shows due to work commitments, but you should make yourselves free and check them out before they jet to the US & Europe for an extensive world tour.

www.myspace.com/thebrunettes

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