New Music

WTH PRESENTS: Fifth Floor Warehouse Party #2

, , No Comment

wolf & cub

 

We presented Fifth Floor’s first warehouse party back in early August. The Murlocs and a host of other bands played to a packed warehouse, while Thom Russell from Astral Projection and a selection of other local visual artists had their work projected onto the roof. 

We’re stoked to reveal that we’re presenting the next Fifth Floor event on the 23rd of November. Wolf & Cub and WTH faves Damn Terran, Hollow Everdaze & ESC are headlining a huge 12 band bill over two stages. The party’s taking place before the Fifth Floor troupe heads overseas to host Fifth Floor #3 in an arts warehouse in Berlin on the 30th of November.

Footage from the last party filmed on 16mm was released over the weekend, check it out below.

YouTube Preview Image

PS. No-one told us about the go-go dancer (necessary but unnecessary) someone hired to flay about during The Murlocs set at the last party. Since it’s 2013 and there’s no room for gender/motor skill bias stuck in the 60’s – if you’re a slightly overweight male willing to shake some action during Damn Terran’s set, we are volunteering you.

Looks like this lineup is going to be EXCELLENT. Ticket details below!

_____

Who The Hell, Tonedeaf, Beat & Faint Magazine present:
FIFTH FLOOR #2

Wolf & Cub
Damn Terran
Hollow Everdaze
I, a Man
ESC
Warmth Crashes In
Meth Leopard
The New Pollution
Sooky La la
Mangelwurzel
Lands
Jack Barclay
Visuals by Astral Projection

_____

 

Buy tickets via Oztix.
Attend on Facebook HERE.

 

Read Post →

LISTEN: Popolice – ‘Would You Believe’

, , No Comment

 

oppo

I picked up the first two Popolice EPs on my brother’s recommendation back in about 2006, and I was glad that I did. I loved Marc Regueiro-McKelvie’s angsty, angular indie pop and those dynamic progressions – there are no overwrought two-chord dirges here. I’ve still got a copy of Middle Ground in my glovebox (the only place for CDs these days), which I spin from time to time on my way to the shops.

Although he’s been making music since around 1997, Regueiro-McKelvie doesn’t seem to have had a strong PR machine behind him (or maybe he’s just been flat out playing with Teeth and Tongue, Enclosures and New Estate) because he ought to be a local sensation. That’s all changing now: this new track has been popping up all over the place, and a debut album (!) is due out soon.

Though he was citing crossover bands like Gerling way back at the turn of the millennium, ‘Would You Believe’ has got to be the most danceable Popolice track yet. The song’s catchy, stop-start rhythm matches Regueiro-McKelvie’s scratchy delivery perfectly, and it’s got a chorus that just keeps on getting bigger.

The accompanying video was made by Matthew Cribb, who recently filmed clips for WTH favourites Teeth & Tongue and The Ocean Party. It features Popolice striding along a Melbourne boardwalk as though caught up in a private rock stadium fantasy, Stratocaster hooked up to headphones and elegant legs encased in a sweet pair of tights. Meanwhile he’s being trailed by some sort of entropic VHS vortex…

 

‘Would You Believe’ is available now as a free download on Bandcamp.

Facebook / Bandcamp / Website

Read Post →

WATCH: I Know Leopard – ‘She’

, , No Comment

she

“A few years ago, the members of I Know Leopard left behind their picturesque one-pub town in the Adelaide hills. Upon arriving in Sydney, they were confronted not only with the prospect of broader horizons but also with the unmistakable feeling of displacement. With this as a central trope, ‘She’ was born”. And so goes the presser.

My first watch of this video was with bleary eyes at 6 in the morning and for just one sec I thought I tripping. It’s been shot really… dreamy. Damn, I swore I wouldn’t use that word. But how can you help it. It’s so god damn dreamy. Shot by Hari Jago featuring a very nice tune that opens with a throwback to animal collective but moves into a thunderous mind melting breakdown with catchy drum rolls and layered vocals.

YouTube Preview Image

Touring the new single ‘She’ on below dates:

Thurs, 7th Nov – MELBOURNE Prince Public Bar w/ special guests

Fri, 8th Nov – WERRIBBEE @ Mynt Lounge w/ special guests

Sat, 9th Nov – MELBOURNE @ The Workers Club w/ special guests

Fri, 15th Nov – SYDNEY @ OAF Gallery Bar w/ special guests

Sat, 16th Nov – BRISBANE @ Trainspotters, Grand Central Station w/ special guests

Fri, 22nd Nov – ADELAIDE @ Ed Castle w/ special guests

Website/Facebook

 

Read Post →

INTRODUCING: Little May

, , No Comment

Little May

I love Australian folk music. I’m in Canada right now, and being away from home has made me appreciate the distinct sound of our local singer/songwriters on a whole new level. Right now, it’s Sydney outfit Little May who are helping with the queasy feeling of homesickness.

Little May’s debut single ‘Boardwalks’ is such a wonderful package of everything you love about folk music: soft, weathered vocals, a driving rhythmic section and lyrics that offer something a bit more. It’s difficult not to fall in love with the trio as they send you down a pensive spiral with their words and sounds. Taking inspiration from Fleetwood Mac and Local Natives, the trio features Liz Drummond, Hannah Field and Annie Hamilton. While the trio are relatively new, having formed only last year. They may be a folk outfit, but they are also undoubtedly resonating.

The three piece have handpicked certain elements to create their own fusion of percussion-heavy, guitar-driven folk. Coupled together with some intriguing storytelling, they’re doing it right.

 

‘Hide’ is the second taste of Little May’s upcoming EP, due in November.

Facebook / Bandcamp

Read Post →

PREMIERE: Unity Floors – ‘Day Release’

, , No Comment

unity-floors

 

Here’s the first listen of ‘Day Release’ from Sydney duo Unity Floors. Words that could be used to describe this track are ‘shabby’, ‘friendly’ and ‘pleasurable’ (especially the former). Those descriptors sound like real estate copy for a fancy smack-den, but mouldy suburban lounge rooms do plenty of good for the imagination. Following ‘Nice Fit’, ‘Day Release’ is the next excellent track off the band’s upcoming debut LP Exotic Goldfish Blues (which I’m assuming is the shitfaced, slightly more humorous cousin of ‘Sharkfin Blues’).

‘Day Release’ is an exemplary snippet of ‘polite’ garage. The band have a mutual affinity for bands like The Clean and Dinosaur Jr, as much as they like digging on lost love, petty theft and women’s golf. The new track is a fun cut-and paste project with Henry Gosling’s nod-along drumming at the wheel and Gus Hunt’s choppy riffs chugging away back and forth on all ends of the good-time spectrum. All I can hear when I listen to this is Gerling’s 4 record – eternally chuffed. I’m so glad Sydney bands are bringing back some optimism, because the sad majority of what I’m wringing out of Melbourne at the moment are skinny things wanting to 2 B THA FUTURE, trying to fart out appropriations of R&B in drop-crotch pants and double-mounted hair buns (prove me wrong).

Unity Floors have been quick to dismiss their jams as ‘scrappy rock music’, but the whole two-piece setup lends Unity Floors a weird connectedness that’s both slapdash and completely engaging. I’ve been nodding along to this one for the last hour. You’d be hard-pressed not to as well.

‘Day Release’ will be available on Unity Floors’ debut LP Exotic Goldfish Blues, available on November 15th via Popfrenzy.
Facebook / Bandcamp

 

Read Post →

PREMIERE: Sleepy Dreamers – ‘Bike Song’

, , No Comment

Sleepy Dreamers

I listen to reasonably aggressive music when I ride my bike on the morning commute (makes me pedal faster, bro). Not condoning multi-tasking or listening to music while on the road (don’t do it) but if it’s any indicator of personality, I’d imagine that the Sleepy Dreamers guys would probably be the gentle, passive, half baked folk who give you creepy smiles at the lights and always give way to traffic.

‘Bike Song’ is the brand new track from the Melbourne band. The band’s previous Creatures EP was full of  ‘homecoming’ tracks – you know, the type of soft, lulling folk-acoustica stuff that used to make you reflect on nice things and feelings before you became a hard arsed adult with a shit job and a need for music to match. The wager for upbeat, ‘feel-good’ tracks seems to be getting more complex, so it’s kinda nice to hear something simple once in a while. ‘Bike Song’ effectively ticks the trifecta – graduating treble hooks, handclap things and the sort of bouncy drumming that bands like Givers and Crystal Fighters flash when they want to good time. Sweet, simple travellin’ music indeed.

 

‘Bike Song’ will be available for purchase on Bandcamp from the 18th of October. The band are gearing up for a stint at Inca Roads Festival during Nov 29 – Dec 1st, more details here.

 

Facebook / Twiter / Bandcamp

 

Read Post →

LISTEN: boatfriends – ‘Sport Billy’

, , No Comment

boatfepcover

boatfriends are a Newcastle band who’ve recently moved to Melbourne, based around the songwriting duo of Shanna Watson and Clinton Edwards. In two years they’ve put out just two singles, but this June the pair finally met their Pozible campaign target to fund a debut release and supporting tour and the boatfriends EP is now up and streaming.

The band’s first singles had a brash, EDM feel, with hints of Nu Rave (‘Kaleido’, for example, has been tagged ‘Skrillwave’ – with more than a little self-awareness, I assume – on Soundcloud). New track ‘Sport Billy’, on the other hand, is a veritable psych banger, falling somewhere between Twin Sister and the Klaxons on the dance-punk spectrum. Watson and Edwards cite the British shoegaze scene as an important influence, and there is something here that’s reminiscent of Warp band A Sunny Day in Glasgow, who’s whirling dream pop involves at least as much synth as Jazzmaster. boatfriends have well and truly absorbed the lessons of this approach, creating a stellar EP closer in ‘Sport Billy’. The track opens with panned snares that are as heady and disorienting as Watson’s distinctive vocal which comes through like it’s beaming in from outer space. There are synth flutters and some high-pitched glass-factory ambience, all underwritten by propulsive bass and plenty of kicks.

Be sure to keep your eye out for the upcoming tour – and official EP release, including vinyl!

Facebook / Bandcamp / Website

Read Post →