New Music

LISTEN: Martyr Privates – ‘Something to Sell’

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Martyr Privates

With a greater knowledge of tunes than test tubes, Martyr Privates name is surely a play on words with a well-known Brisbane hospital. But it doesn’t matter if they don’t have medical degrees, because the band is a tight musical unit.

Martyr Privates comprises Cameron Hawes (formerly of I Heart Hiroshima and Slug Guts), Sam Dixon and Ashleigh Shipton. The band have been kicking around Brisbane for a while, putting out releases through Bon Voyage and Tenth Court, before finding their current home at Bedroom Suck. This track is a tasty morsel from their upcoming LP due mid-year to be released by the Brisbane based label.

‘Something to Sell’ is a meaty and merciless ode to neglect, parasitic relationships and self-interest. Whether it’s all based on a personal story or is fictional is irrelevant; this is a fine addition to the current batch of Australian murk lingering on the fringes of music and hopefully the whole album follows suit. Until we find out, we’re better off self-medicating to this song a few more times.

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PREMIERE: Lowtide – ‘Blue Movie’

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Lowtide

Since releasing last single ‘Underneath Tonight’ back in 2011, Melbourne four piece Lowtide have returned with their new track ‘Blue Movie’. It’s obviously not the real deal (sorry fans), although it was probably was only a matter of time before the band named a track to resonate with every slow-burning euphemism used by music journos to describe shoegaze, ie. astral lullabies, torrential walls of guitar, climatic ennui and all the other volitional melancholia that comes with the sort. Plus, the 90s are ‘back’ – all the kids are fornicating to Slowdive again, right? Good.

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The video for ‘Blue Movie’, which features some brilliant bokeh effects & camera work, was directed by Melbourne visual artist Jamieson Moore.

The band are launching the track next Friday, 23rd of May at the Worker’s Club in Melbourne. Lowtide’s self-titled debut will be released via Lost & Lonesome on July 18th. The LP will be be available digitally, but god-damn, buy the vinyl for date night/your euphoric listening pleasure.

 

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PREMIERE: The Zebras – ‘Try’

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zebrassiesta

It’s been six years since we last heard from the Zebras, who brought their shimmering pop to Melbourne via the sunshine state in 2007. Well, the twee-lovin’ kids out there can finally quit biting their nails because the band is back, with their third full-length release, Siesta, due out in June.

We got a taste of the album late last year with the punchy ‘Chase’, which featured on Lost and Lonesome‘s 15th birthday sampler alongside gems from the Icypoles, Milk Teddy and more. Today the Zebras are following up with lead single ‘Try’, a pop song written in classic style that again shows off the band’s effortless feel for melody – and what appears to be something of a fetish for analog synths.

‘Try’ is a bubbling track that showcases the tight interplay between musicians who’ve been working together for almost a decade. The gorgeous production and mixing were done by band leader Jeremy Cole and Architecture in Helsinki‘s Gus Franklin. 

‘Try’ is available now on Soundcloud as a free download.

The lush Siesta – which is, in part, a tribute to the band members’ childhood home of Cairns – will be out on 27 June through Lost and Lonesome (Aus) and Jigsaw (USA). The Zebras are gearing up to play some dates in the US at the end of the month along with label mates Bart & Friends and Monnone Alone. Keep your eyes peeled for launch dates upon their return.

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PREMIERE: Spartak – ‘Nightshift (Power Moves remix)’

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Spartak

Starting out as a duo, comprising guitarist/knob-twiddler Shoeb Ahmad and drummer Evan Dorrian, since 2007 Spartak have produced three albums of largely improvised material, ranging from meandering, glitchy free jazz to noise.

Following the release of their last full length, 2011’s Nippon, the band reached something of an impasse and turned their efforts instead to a rhythm-focused side project called Savages alongside bassist Matt Lustri. The new, song-oriented approach worked so well that they decided to dissolve Savages and incorporate its aesthetic into Spartak, bringing Lustri onboard as a permanent member of the original group.

Spartak’s first release completed under the new arrangement was Five Points, which came out through Feral Media in April. Influenced as much by techno and microhouse as krautrock, noise and raga, the EP is Spartak’s most immediately engaging work to date. Reminiscent of Liars in its repetitive, Zen-punk attitude (if that isn’t an oxymoron), Five Points is both meditative and a little abrasive, and peculiarly moreish.

The textured and melodic ‘Nightshift’, a highlight, is led by guitar and vocals, with rim-heavy percussion and muted cymbals. (Incidentally, the track first appeared on New Weird Australia’s The Sound of Young Canberra compilation, curated by Dream Damage and Ahmad’s own hellosQuare imprint).

‘Nightshift’ has been given a thorough reworking by Power Moves, the beats project of Austin Buckett (Golden Blonde, Pollen Trio). Power Moves put out a debut mixtape, Psycho Shower Scene, last year, referencing southern rap and the so-called ‘intelligent hip hop’ of the 1990s. His ‘Nightshift’ remix emphasises Buckett’s penchant for loops and abstraction – not to mention footwork. It’s a frightening snippet of mutated vocals and clattering snares; a very different animal to the original track. Sample both versions below.

 

‘Nightshift (Power Moves remix)’ will be available as part of a Five Points special edition that includes reworkings of the tracks by Gatherer, Scissor Lock and Andrew Pekler. Get a copy from Bandcamp.

Spartak will launch Five Points on 24 May at FBi Social in Sydney (Facebook event) and on 6 June at Canberra’s Transit Bar, with shows in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to follow.

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PREMIERE – ‘Bending Over Backwards’ – High-tails (Snowy Nasdaq Remix)

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Snowy Nasdaq

Liam Halliwell is Australia’s biggest band slut (second to Simon Lam). As seen on the internet and several stages across Aus, Liam is Snowy Nasdaq. The man who co-brought you bands like the Ocean Party, Velcro, Ciggie Witch, Mining Boom, Pencil and the Menstrual Cycle now has a string of remixes to add to his illustrious list of things he does when he’s not eating on the loo.

Here’s his remix of High-tails‘ ‘Bending Over Backwards’. The original has been warped with generous cowbell and ample fade-outs. A Kraftwerk-ed dance party happening in the local pool…

High Tails and Snowy Nasdaq are heading out on the road in the next few weeks. Catch them on the dates below:

Thurs 8th May – Rad, Wollongong 

Fri 9th May –  Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst

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High-tails – Facebook / BUY

Snowy Nasdaq – Facebook / BUY

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LISTEN: Popstrangers – ‘Don’t Be Afraid’

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Popstrangers

Popstrangers’ first record Antipodes made a lot of people sit up and pay attention to New Zealand music. They also released one of my favourite singles last year, the understated ‘Rats in The Palm Trees’. So when new stuff from them ambled onto my radar, I got psyched.

And they didn’t disappoint. Typically for these guys, ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ has the kind of vocal hook that runs around in your head for days, annoying if it wasn’t so bloody good. Where ‘Rats In The Palm Trees’ and previous single ‘Country Kills’ were pretty straight, kinda disillusioned slacker rock songs, ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ has so much going on it’s hard to know where to start.

What’s going on with that bass sound? I’m into it. And hey, it gets cool and dark with just bass, drums and vocals in the verse, and wow, then things go like full Grizzly Bear-pretty (which is ultimate-boss-level prettiness) with that guitar in the chorus. Hang on, I gotta listen to it again.


‘Don’t Be Afraid’ will be out on Popstrangers’ second album Fortuna, hitting shelves and the internet on May 27th.

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INTRODUCING: The Infants

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The Infants

The Infants are a post-punk group formed in Geelong in 2012. They put out a self-titled album mid-last year – complete with creepy, cephalopod-based art work – that sounds tightly wound in comparison to the new, creeping single, ‘Halves’.

The track was recorded in the basement of the band’s current home in Brunswick, and the result is the sort of ghoulish, lurching stuff that wouldn’t sound out of place on the score of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s a kind of gothic pop, or macabre cabaret – like Bushwalking getting a carnivale makeover.

‘Halves’ is the first release from the Infants’ forthcoming EP, due out later this year.

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