New Music

LISTEN: Contrast – ‘Less Than Zero’

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Contrast are from Melbourne and describe themselves as ‘a coupla blokes who like skateboarding and local music’. Of course. But as bored as you might be with all the ‘regular guy’ modesty going around at the moment, these dudes are making music that’s interesting enough to reveal actual underlying ambition and talent.

Listening to their new EP, Less Than Zero, you’d believe they were the latest English buzz band: a bit shoegaze-y, kind of punk, with smart lyrics and delivery that effortlessly transitions from snide to sincere. There’s Primary Colours-era Horrors in the expansive intros and atmospherics, echoes of Major Leagues in the sweetness of the guitar lines and apathetic vocals, and of course all the usual ‘80s shoegaze references – but with enough of their own pop smarts that it’s hard to care much about who’s done it before.

You can pick up a copy of Contrast’s EP Less Than Zero here.

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LISTEN: Lower Plenty – ‘On the Beach’

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It has never been more apparent how diverse the Melbourne music scene is than right now. It is a petri dish of musical experimentation where interchanging combinations yield different results and nearly each mutation leads to acclaim.

Case in point: Lower Plenty. Named after a Melbourne suburb, Lower Plenty is one of those bands that’s made up of musicians from other noteworthy groups (all Melbourne based) but manages to make a name for itself thanks to good music, not just goodwill.

For the curious, parent bands include UV Race, Total Control, Deaf Wish and The Focus. Take note though: Lower Plenty sounds different from all of these bands; less dissonance and more down-tempo honesty. Think acoustic pop – really low key but not under produced.

‘On The Beach’ is a song stripped to its bare bones. It’s soft and drawling, focusing on the minute details of musicianship to show how a good tune can be made up entirely of subtleties. Softly pattering drums, guitars dipped in languor and equally wistful vocals, with lyrics consisting of lamentations and daydreams; ‘On The Beach’ is a fantastic slow burner that eschews sharp peaks or crescendos in favour of graceful meandering.

Lower Plenty are releasing a new LP, Life/Thrills on Bedroom Suck in late June, the follow up to their acclaimed previous effort, Hard Rubbish. I’d keep my eyes on the horizon for this; it’ll be a good’un.

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INTRODUCING: Kučka

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I wouldn’t be surprised if Kučka‘s (aka Laura Jane Lowther) voice actually spun fairy floss. The latest single from the Perth native, ‘Unconditional’, is a decidedly smoother pop song than those on her debut EP, where her experimental tendencies (see ‘Polly’) saw her layer those sickly sweet vocals over glitch samples and sparse, syncopated drum machine beats.

‘Unconditional’ refines her penchant for the pop hooks and harmonies that were generously sprinkled over her debut, opting for a more structured approach to production that sees her embrace a (slightly) more traditional pop song structure. The slow-jam synth beats in the verses dissipate into a breakdown featuring a lone vocal melody before building back up into an R&B style call-and-response chorus line. It’s still avant-pop, but with a straighter synth pop vibe in place of the experimentalism of her debut.

Somewhat presciently, US rapper A$AP Rocky sampled Kučka on his 2012 single ‘Long Live A$AP’ – then asked her to contribute backing vocals to ‘Fashion Killa’. The brush with pop royalty perhaps reflects the future arc of Kučka career – or, at the least, it’s been a catalyst for her new off-kilter pop sound.

On top of that (and aside from the obvious Grimes comparison), the polyphonic textures and bright production on ‘Unconditional’ show more of an optimistic side to Kučka’s music. Must be all that Perth sun.

‘Unconditional’ is the lead single from a new EP, due out later this year. Kučka is launching the single at the Bird in Perth this Saturday, 7 July with support from ¹fm¹, Mudlark and DJs Rex Monsoon and Salut Barbut (The Monarchy). RSVP on Facebook.

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INTRODUCING: Bugs

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Bugs is the solo effort of Connor Brooker, lead singer from Sunshine Coast surf pop/goon rockers Pro Vita. He’s borrowed from the surf pop roots of the group but left any semblance of polish (and fruity lexia) behind. There are distorted shoegaze vocals, earworm-y hooks and gnarly guitar riffs crawling all over Bugs’ debut EP, Home, Alone. It’s lyrically sparse at one turn and raining feels at another. The back and forth between the two keeps his debut effort interesting, pushing away surf pop’s tendency towards monotony with one hand and embracing the structural simplicity with the other. Bugs’ penchant for pop-punk riffs is something that could have been plucked right out of Dylan Baldi’s head, a melodic sensibility that’s obvious in the noise pop delight ‘Get to Know Me’, a standout from the EP. It’s surf pop covered in gravel, but it goes down a treat.

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INTRODUCING: Rat Columns

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David West started Rat Columns in Perth, where he also played in a bunch of punk, experimental and hardcore bands, including Burning Sensation, Whalehammer and Pauline Manson. When he left for San Francisco, he took the Rat Columns moniker with him, on top of joining local post-punks Rank/Xerox and maintaining a role as a touring member of Total Control. More recently West formed a fascinating protopunk/disco outfit, Lace Curtain, alongside the omnipresent Mikey Young and Total Control drummer James Vinciguerra.

 

In contrast to these projects, Rat Columns is a vehicle for introspection – a counterpoint to the forward-looking extroversion of punk rock. The bent drones and damaged pop of the self-titled EP and first album, Sceptre Hole, hit on the same zone between desperation and disaffection occupied by Shocking Pinks, the alias of mopey New Zealander Nick Harte. On early single ‘I Wonder’, the nihilism conveyed through West’s flat intonation and submerged production is offset by the prettiness of the riff and the warble of a theramin. It’s loneliness rendered with a pure pop heart. Like Shocking Pinks, Rat Columns’ urgent, home-recorded drumming sits at the forefront of the tracks and sounds like someone kicking the shit out of a cardboard box.

The latest Rat Columns single, ‘Another Day’, abandons some of the dust and grit of West’s earlier work, instead delivering the sheen and wide-eyed romanticism of British New Wave. It moves in a similar direction to ‘Flesh War’, the brilliant new track from Total Control. West’s upcoming album, Leaf, was recorded in San Francisco by Kelley Stoltz, on a tape recorder that reportedly belonged to avant-garde obscurantists the Residents. It features contributions from Young, Vinciguerra and San Francisco band members Jonathan Young and Matt Bleyle. Leaf should be arriving in record stores next week, via R.I.P. Society.

 

Rat Columns will be joining an excellent line-up at the Opera House this Saturday for R.I.P. Society’s fifth birthday bash as part of Vivid LIVE. The live band changes depending on West’s location; the current incarnation features the Stevens’ Alex MacFarlane and Callum Foley. West can also be caught playing solo sets as Lace Curtain, including a sneaky appearance at MONA’s Dark Faux Mo on 21 June.

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PREMIERE: Baptism of Uzi – ‘Believe’

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2013 was a good year for Melbourne’s Baptism of Uzi. Their single ‘Stray Current’ was on high rotation on triple j, and it received a bunch of positive reviews – including from the King of the js himself. They performed at Laneway Festival and scored a slot at Splendour in the Grass as winners of that year’s Unearthed competition.

So it came as a surprise when in February a series of elliptical posts showed up on B’uzi’s Facebook page that seemed to announce a hiatus, or even a premature split for the band, the last post closing with an ominous ‘To be continued…’.

As it turns out, Baptism of Uzi were experiencing something of an identity crisis in the wake of the Daft Punk/MJ-inspired pop excursions of the Stray Currents EP. This is, after all, the same band that once took its cues from Tony Iommi and toured alongside Krautrock greats Michael Rother and Damo Suzuki.

With the departure of drummer Leif Gordon-Bruce earlier this year, the tension came to a head. Singer Bojan Stojanov told me:

“After the success of ‘Stray Current’, which was an experiment with pop, B’uzi were a divided band. … We come from a ‘heavy’ background and the tune was a departure, and it split B’uzi in two sides: the pop side and the rock. This made for some pretty weird shows, with power metal songs like ‘Fist of the Western Suburbs’ being pitted against songs like ‘Believe’. In the end we stopped playing those pop tunes and just did our rock set because it seemed more like us.”

B’uzi are now airing the last of the material produced during the Stray Currents period in order to move on, in search of The New Sound…

First up, we’re premiering the video for ‘Believe’, the EP’s breezy second single. The clip was directed by Thomas Russell, who’s also responsible for the band’s previous video and album art. It features Bojan in a starring role, as he prepares a neat conjuring trick with romantic results.

According to Bojan:

“[The video] combines a few influences: the show Around the Twist, sigil magic, the movie Evil Dead and the idea of being committed to a belief regardless of how incredulous it seems. Some people call it a ‘leap of faith’, like that guy Kierkegaard. T. Russell did a great job with the edit and Artemis Ioannides was terrific and a good sport to get in the freezing cold water in a dress at a beach on the Mornington Peninsula. It was filmed at a spooky old house in Sassafras and Half Moon Bay.”

Finally, guitarist Tom Battersby has made film clips for a couple of ‘Stray Current’ remixes – one by the Go! Team, the other from Melbourne’s own Yolke.

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MAP May 2014

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Our Aus submission for the Music Alliance Pact this month comes from our boy Yeo, with his seriously catchy track ‘Kobe’. Mapcast Robbie is back with the usual Mapcast podcast this month after returning (almost) unscathed from a ridiculous incident in Thailand where a dog chewed off half his leg (true story.) If you missed it last month, Robbie also recorded a Eurovision spin off featuring MAP tracks. Listen to it HERE.

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 27-track compilation through Ge.tt here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie

Shaman y Los Pilares De La Creación – Tierna Oscuridad

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Tierna Oscuridad is the opening track on Shaman y Los Pilares De La Creación’s second album, released by Concepto Cero, one of La Plata’s finest independent labels. You can hear the whole album via the band’s website. The song is also on the soundtrack for the film Arriba Quemando El Sol, so the sound prevails over the notes, creating a deep atmospheric musical environment.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?

Yeo – Kobe

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A little over a year ago, Melbourne’s Yeo gave his acoustic guitar the flick and turned to a new friend, the keytar. He had some success in 2013 with the dark, whirring Girl and now he’s back with Kobe, the second single from his forthcoming EP. It’s a big step up for the producer: a shining, ambitious pop song with brash synth stabs, jittery percussion and confident R’n’B vocals. Yeo played Canadian Music Week and some US shows this month. If he doesn’t break the North American market first time round, we reckon he’s got a promising future penning tunes for Justin Timberlake.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado

Quarto Negro – Quando o Mar Não Vem

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Quarto Negro are about to release their second album and have just brought out a movie about their time in studio, called GRU-PDX. Quando o Mar Não Vem is taken from debut album Desconocidos, released in 2011, and shows the band’s melodic excellence and sensitivity.

CANADA: Quick Before It Melts

[MP.G] – Black Mesa Rally Cry

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[MP.G] My Pet Genius released Might Strike Satellite in 1996 to much critical acclaim. For the past 17 years they have been recording, mixing, switching studios, re-recording, scrapping and re-mixing hundreds of hours of music that will become the colossal double LP, Empire Of Light. A teaser EP called EMP01 reveals what’s to be expected when Empire Of Light finally arrives this fall.


Listen to the full list of tracks below!

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