Cogel first came to our attention a few months back with their track ‘Felusine’.

The Sydney band have teamed up with director Tim Gibbs for their new video, and it’s pretty impressive stuff (apart from reinstating my trivial fear of 3D head moulds). Gibbs’ idea does well at wringing out every ounce of melodrama possible – and there are definitely some beautiful moments which capture the brunt of all the emotive dynamo going on here. It all starts off reasonably mild, but there’s no short supply of frames past the 1:58 mark which makes this one go down with other slightly creepy/arresting, but surely memorable clips (this +definitely this).

The band’s EP Nowhere Near will be released next month, with the launch happening Nov 2nd at the Beresford with the Bell Weather Department.

www.cogelband.com

Cogel Facebook

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Ahh. Atluk. It’s time you two got acquainted.

A five piece based out of Melbourne, the band produce the most beautiful folk I’ve heard this year. Australiana is one genre-specific vein that they fall into. Think Sally Seltmann, Sarah Blasko (without the melodrama), and hints of The Waifs, and you’ve got a basic picture of their sound. Chuck in some quaint boy girl vocals – ala Belle and Sebastian – and you’re presented with something special. Vocals are their strong suit.

It’s also worth mentioning that Atluk aren’t shy of accentuating their Australian vocals. They’re quintessentially Australian, and that’s not a bad thing in this case. It’s natural, they doesn’t sound tokenistic – it just clicks. All power to them. Just don’t mention Angus and Julia Stone.

If you’re in Melbourne, they launch their debut EP this coming Saturday at 1000 £ Bend.

‘Woody’

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Glad all these lo-fi larks are getting out of their bedrooms and projecting their multi-instrumental talents above and beyond into the great outdoors. Velcro (Curtis Wakeling) is chaperoning himself around Brooklyn as I write this, while today’s music news says Bored Nothing (Fergus Miller) is gearing up for his ‘best of’ (four editions of home recordings..plus a few), AKA his first proper release through Spunk in early November.

Sean Anthony is another guy who’s up in the league. The Perth native has released stuff under his own name, plays in Braves and in this side project Sunny.

‘Explain’ is everything you’d expect from the low saturation kaleido-art on the cover. Says Sunny: ‘seems like there’s always someone on my mind, when I lose interest I’ll go back to you…’. And it sure is the light, un-committal ode it promises to be.  The tune flags a novelty chorus, xylo for twee-cred and a memorable melody once you’re done wading through knee deep reverb – not a bad thing if you dig your pre-summertime beach jams. This is a keeper.

Facebook  /  Bandcamp

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Sunny – ‘Explain’

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Kitchen’s Floor is the sometimes-solo-sometimes-not project from Brisbane’s Matt Kennedy, who makes rough and ready garage tracks with depressing titles and surprising melodies. The latest one of these is ‘Bitter Defeat’.

The first thing you notice about this track is how gentle it is. There’s a soft jangle of tambourine, hazy keyboards, and simple acoustic guitar. Even Kennedy’s vocals are markedly less harsh under a heap of echoing effects. In Kitchen’s Floor’s previous LP, Look Forward To Nothing, there was (almost) always that thick layer of noise, heavy with loud and ugly guitar sounds to distract from the emotional centre of the song.

Here, there’s nothing but hopelessness, a bleak melancholy that never lets up for the entire 3 minutes of the track. But it’s also really great. This track makes you feel ‘something’ and that alone, is addictive. You want to listen to in on repeat while looking out at the ugly Brisbane skyline in your shitty share house that smells like cat piss. Or maybe that’s just me.

Get the track on a 7” with B-side Downed through Bandcamp.

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Kitchen’s Floor – ‘Bitter Defeat‘

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