Mining Boom in: ‘Patti Smith The Musical’.

Leadlight overhangs, stained wood panelling and musty carpet in all its patterned glory…Friday nights in the upstairs bandroom at the Gasometer always feel like a night in nonna’s lounge room rather than a suitable place to wig out.  This lounge room however, is beset by the slight fragrance of feet and lager, and everyone’s knitted attire has worked up the walls of the bandroom to the dewy consistency of a public sauna.

Bored Nothing are done when I arrive (sadface) but this is another typical occasion where I’ve missed a good support band in favour of food. No pity for the small group sitting on the floor for the first half of King Tears Mortuary’s set though. Are locals devoid of detaching their bodily vessels from musty carpet? Did the kids confuse King Tears for the bedtime story happening at the Snakadaktal show down the road? Standing room only pals…show some respect.

KTM plays ‘Crash Report’ and some other songs I don’t know the name of. Vocal tennis between KTM’s frontdude + woman and some edgy basslines offer a sullied ray of sunshine to all the background mumbling from everybody up the back. Dronesome surf-punk played well tends to hang it’s loose, lackadaisical fanfare over the room between sets. Since I’m stopping by at optimism, I should probably apologize for knocking over someone’s full pint of lager all over door guy (sorry Thom) + discretely blaming negligence on King Tears bassist.

There’s a dashing side profile of some guy with a mullet on the cover of Mining Boom’s EP. Their lead singer is wearing an akubra, while the keyboardist dons a ‘Slim Dusty: The Movie’ tshirt. No one is leaving disappointed tonight.

There are several times where Mining Boom’s lead guy wanders off with his back to the crowd to during solos, but by the time he turns around I can’t decide if I’m weirded out by the resemblance to Patti Smith, or aroused by the thought of Patti Smith stumbling across the Nullabor in a bush hat and a tropical shirt. Patti here sings songs about the land, lust and longing – notably, the subtleties of ‘Craigie’, where he repeats ‘ONE DAY I’M GONNA BASH THAT C*NT’ in time with some chimey keyboard major chords and the sort of sincerity that would make Gareth Liddiard narrating an Ambi Pur commercial seem a reasonably casual affair.

Thanks to All I Do Is Listen, as well as JACK YOUNGER who took maneuvered his way around limited lighting to take the set of rad photos below.

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Look. Winter’s about mid-way through. And thus, awaits the clichéd Australian summer. Do broken train lines, pink British ex-pats, and that distinctive smell of bluestone cooling on a hot summer’s night ring any bells? (Well, if you’re in Melbourne at least).

Here’s an outfit which should hopefully ease us into what’s headed our way. Velma Grove, also out of Melbourne, echo the sounds of the British nu-folk scene, only with a distinctive Australian touch. Gentle guitars, sombre vocals, and muted percussion form their broader sound. Think Jose Gonzales, Laura Marling, and even a little bit of Cloud Control. You can almost imagine it now, a cooling summer’s night, Velma Grove’s gentle harmonies lapping at your ears, the sun forming an orange arc over the horizon – yep, I know you’re there.

And that’s all you need to do, take a listen to their EP, Head for Heart. Velma Grove play Collingwood’s Grace Darling Hotel on Thursday the 30^th of August.

velmagrove.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/VelmaGrove

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Texas Tea – ‘Head Says Yes (Heart Says No)’ (mp3)

Texas Tea are Brisbane’s classiest exponents of heartfelt, country pop tunes. Their latest single ‘Head Says Yes (Heart Says No)’ is a cautionary tale, which advises against over thinking affairs of the heart, cause what’s the worst that could happen? Though I don’t know how wise this advice is, the track itself is a definite winner. It kicks off simply with twangy guitar and Kate Jacobson’s commanding voice, before the chorus brings kicks in and the song becomes a lush alt country ballad; complete with ’60s style backing vocals.

If you’re in Brisbane, catch Texas Tea launching this song on…(wait for it)…CASSINGLE, Friday August 17 at The Blackbear Lodge.

www.facebook.com/texasteamusic

www.texastea.bandcamp.com

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MAP has rolled out for the month of August! Listen to choice tunes picked by us, The Pop Cop, The Guardian UK and 31 other blogs around the globe.

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 whole 34-track compilation through Ge.tt here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Liza Casullo – Rojo Lojojo
After alt-rock band Doris broke up in 2007, most of its members started their own musical projects (Onda Vaga and Valeu!, among others). Singer and guitarist Liza Casullo decided to go solo, but she took some time off to develop her acting career. A couple of months ago she released her first official album, Velvetbonzo. It’s a great record in which a minimalistic acoustic sound blends with psychedelia, garage and folk. Rojo Lojojo is our favorite song, which we also managed to capture on video during one of her shows.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Cogel – Felusine
It’s a guarantee that tidy string sections and pulsating drums will typically heighten melodramatic feelings of bad love and melancholy, but you can’t pass over this glorious track from Sydney’s Cogel. Those violins and cascading treble guitars which duck and weave out of the chorus provide a nice backdrop to the band’s quieter moments and slight Arcade Fire stylings that mesh together so well. If Felusine is a pitch into the musical void, someone needs to sign these guys real soon.

AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
Plaided – Freaks And Geeks
“Would you run run run run run run run to my place and watch Freaks and Geeks all night long?” We totally would! Plaided is an acronym that was inspired by a Girls Rock Camp participant’s band and thus matches the feminist background of Veronika Eberhart and Julia Mitterbauer. The duo will go on a US tour with Grass Widow in September and also record a 7″ record there. Freaks And Geeks is taken from their debut album Playdate, recorded by Wolfgang Möstl (of previous MAP act Mile Me Deaf).

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Iconili – O Rei De Tupanga
The fusion of jazz, experimentalism and African beats is the guideline for Iconili, formed by eight young musicians from Minas Gerais. O Rei De Tupanga is their new single, taken from their forthcoming album.

CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
Expwy – Warm And Stricken By Lashes
With Little Hand Fighter, Expwy’s fifth album in two years, one-man band Matt LeGroulx sets his sights on the oft-neglected genre of bossa nova, imagining how it might have sounded if, instead of originating in the 50s and 60s, it was borne out of late century indie-rock sensibilities and lo-fi production values.

CHILE: Super 45
The Paintings – Sunrise
Eija-Lynn and Hieronymus are The Paintings. Besides being a couple in real life, the duo revisit the vigor of 70s garage, Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and the apathetic rage of The Jesus And Mary Chain. The music speak for itself, though, and this song Sunrise is their newest single.

COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
Planes (Estudios Universales) – Lonelii
Within the new movement of pop/rock bands in Colombia, Planes (Estudios Universales) feels like a blast of fresh air. The quintet have no borders or limits in their search for folk and electronic sounds. As we wait for their first studio album, enjoy Lonelii.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Alcoholic Faith Mission – Running With Insanity
Released in 2011 in Denmark, Alcoholic Faith Mission’s fourth full-length, Ask Me This, is now available worldwide and thus there are no good reasons not to check out the outfit’s alternative pop. Begin here with the excellent Running With Insanity.

ENGLAND: The Guardian Music Blog
Stealing Sheep – Shut Eye
This all-girl Liverpool trio’s debut album Into The Diamond Sun is more Staves/Warpaint than Atomic Kitten. The fact that one of the members (more…)

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