New Music

MAP – November 2014

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Our feature act for November’s instalment of our monthly MAP series are pop stalwarts Open Swimmer. The band features members of The Harpoons, Seagull and Melbourne via Glasgow singer Ben TD. You can listen to all the other good stuff our pals from blogs around the world are featuring this month in the list below.

Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the full 22-track compilation through Dropbox here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Tomás Ferrero – Cuando Te Hablo

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In March 2013, a mixed group of musicians gathered together in Cordoba and Buenos Aires to play some songs and sound pieces composed with lyrics taken from the work of a federal collective of artists called Esta Vida No Otra. Some of them recorded the results several months later, and those tracks were then released as a compilation titled 15 Artistas Cantan Esta Vida No Otra. The song we have selected from this album, also available for free at Bandcamp, is Cuando Te Hablo by Tomás Ferrero from the band Rayos Láser.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Open Swimmer – Sugar Bowl

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Open Swimmer’s version of pop is jarring, even discordant at first, but it’s this blatantly simple approach that has us hooked. (Dirty Projectors fans, pay attention now.) Sugar Bowl is a brilliant introduction to the band; playful yodelling is cut and pasted along a steady 4/4 drum beat, while witty banter takes the fore. Songwriter Ben TD was based in Glasgow for seven years, touring extensively and landing multiple sessions on BBC Radio One and a stint at T in the Park before settling in Melbourne. The band comprises some of Melbourne’s most admired independent music alumni (The Harpoons, Seagull). Expect to hear a lot more from this group.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Alessandra Leão – Mofo

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Alessandra Leão shows off her experimental side with Mofo, taken from her new EP, Pedra De Sal. Avoiding the world music sound from other works, this song has dark music and some weird programming that fits the angst of the lyrics.

CANADA: Ride The Tempo
Beach Season – Midnights

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There’s not actually much out there on Beach Season besides the fact the project is from Calgary. The smooth vocals of Midnights complements the hip-hop influenced rhythms. This is a duo that won’t be much of a mystery for long.

Listen to more below:

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PARADISE MIXTAPE: Planète

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Planete

In the lead up to boutique Aus music festival Paradise, which takes place on the final weekend of November, we’re running a series of mixes from artists featured on the bill. Kicking things off is Melbourne producer Dion Tartaglione, aka Planète, who’s sent us a pristine and expertly mixed selection of minimal techno jams.

Planète’s gorgeous two-track EP, Snow Sketch/Visions, is out now through Brisbane/NYC label Silo Arts. You can also download his blissful, Jon Hopkins referencing remix of Tincture‘s ‘Similar Circles’ via XLR8R.

 

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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: Total Giovanni

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Newly signed to Two Bright Lakes and Remote Control, Total Giovanni last week released their debut single, ‘Human Animal’. The band’s reputation for outrageous live shows preceded them, and before the public got a taste of Total Giovanni’s recorded efforts they were booked to play Dark Mofo, Melbourne Music Week, Golden Plains and Paradise Music Festival. But even the on-stage spectacle of five grown men in berets and leopard-print hot pants, performing synchronised dance moves to the strains of crotch-sniffing Italo-disco, could not have prepared us for how accomplished Total Giovanni sound in the studio.

A part of this year’s sweeping boogie revival, ‘Human Animal’ is also heavily indebted to the Talking Heads and LCD Soundsystem (its opening lines – ‘I’m having so little impact/I’m having so little impact’ – immediately recall the melancholic jibes of James Murphy’s ‘Losing My Edge’). Total Giovanni jammed together for months before embarking on their many live dates, and they sound great as a result – as ‘Human Animal’ demonstrates. This is smooth, tight and extremely danceable stuff.

Catch Total Giovanni this Friday at Melbourne Music Week’s opening night, and on the final weekend of November, at Paradise Music Festival.

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LISTEN: Teen Sensations – ‘Monster Beach Party’

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Jeremy Neale seems to have a new hobby: releasing what are ostensibly novelty songs, but then making them too goddamn good to be novelty songs. With his solo band earlier this year he put out ‘Stallion Rider’ – a power metal song so outside his usual sound it had to be at least kind of a joke, but done with an obvious love and respect for that kind of music. It was so badarse it gave meaning back to a way overused descriptor: fucken EPIC.

Now with Beach Boys worshipping surf-pop outfit Teen Sensations he’s gone and done it again, releasing the Halloween-themed single ‘Monster Beach Party’ on new Brisbane label Heath Street Wax. Sure, this kind of thing aint for everyone (lookin’ at you, SRS Music fan), and I know, I know – you’re ten seconds in and you’re hearing teen-idol vocals and lyrics about zombies and werewolves and it’s all a bit cute. But then that vocal hook in the chorus comes in, and the wonderful songwriting that makes this band so hard to dismiss as a joke shines through.

Yuri Johnson’s also given it a bit of sad surf guitar in the chorus, which is a smart move because this, combined with Neale’s semi-pleading ‘I avoid the sunlight baby, so stick around’, gives you some emotional pathos that takes this song out of the realm of ‘forgettable fun’ and into ‘Hang on – this is actually good’ territory.

You can check ’em on tour on the east coast in the next couple of months, on the following dates:

Sat 29 November – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane (with Love Signs)

Fri 5 December – The Gallery Bar, Sydney (with The Electric Vogues & Dr. Spaceman)

Sat 6 December – The Toff, Melbourne

Thurs 11 December – Alhambra Lounge, Brisbane (with Pluto Jonze).

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PREMIERE: Born Joy Dead – ‘Hey Blood’

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Born Joy Dead

Is that an extended Kanye sample at the start of your track, Born Joy Dead? (Mix it backwards for reference by association, guarantee #1 hit tune). Even sans sample, this new one by Brisbane four piece Born Joy Dead is a bit of a belter, we think. The band’s new track, ‘Hey Blood’ kicks off with a generous lot of pop verve and stadium-rawk merit. There’s no wasting hum-a-long guitar licks and flail-ya-hands in the air choruses when a former Hungry Kids of Hungary member (Ben Dalton) is at the helm here. Happy days!

‘Hey Blood’ will be available on iTunes as of tomorrow.

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INTRODUCING: Motel Love

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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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