Regular John – ‘Abbattoir Noir’

Regular John are a grunge/garage revivalist band who relocated to Sydney from the sticks and have, in a short period of time, amassed some impressive support slots and media coverage.

‘Abbattior Noir’ sounds like early BRMC soundtracking a spaghetti western in the early 90s. The wet, fuzzed-out bass rolls along beneath alternating spider-y guitar work and beefed up powerchords while the vocals work the full spectrum from slurring and slinking to strained shouting. The thumping toms during the song’s bridge/faux-outro make for an exciteable rhythmic bed for the minimal but effective solo.

The track is taken from their forthcoming debut, ‘The Peaceful Atom is a Bomb.’ The track can be downloaded for free from JJJ at http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/mp3s.htm

www.myspace.com/regularjohnmusic

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Lost Valentinos – ‘Midnight’ (Parts 1 & 2)

What more need I say about Lost Valentinos? You’ve read about them here previously and probably on several other sites as well. They’ve been inviting media attention for a couple of years now but they’ve only recently announced details of a long-awaited debut. Suffice to say, we’re shivering with anticipation.

‘Midnight’ is another exercise in indie-meets-dance, again featuring great production courtesy of Berlin-via-UK producer Ewan Pearson and again sounding like they’re spending equal time figuring out arrangements as guitar pedal settings. Whereas other bands try to achieve a blend between rock and dance by mixing guitars and electro pop, these guys go for straight dance like deep house and work pop arrangements into the repetitive, grinding structure. Opening with a rubbery bassline, ‘Midnight’ soon moves to sound like a Stone Roses offcut with spaghetti western guitars replacing John Squires’ ‘wah-wah’ fuss. These guys have really mastered the art of surging rhythms, which push forward unrelentingly until a brief respite in between parts 1 and 2, only to re-emerge as a four-on-the-floor house beat.

I’m less excited about news that their album will be a concept record about finding a lost city of gold in a volcano on Mars or something. Still, ‘Midnight,’ ‘Serio’ and ‘The Bismark’ bode well for things to come. Seriously, at three singles deep this album is still sounding like total winner. Hopefully they can maintain that streak.

www.myspace.com/lostvalentinos

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Shazam – Pool Party 2009 (mp3)

Munk – Down in LA (Shazam remix) (mp3)

Muscles – Sweaty (Shazam remix) (mp3)

Perth wonderkid Shazam made his name with the a girl-vocal version Muscles’ trance track Sweaty. He’s since done a killer rework of Munk’s Down in LA, remixed Dizzie Rascal and Calvin Harris’ Dance With Me, Empire of the Sun’s We Are The People and is now signed to Bang Gang 12″.  His first single Pool Party 2009 is currently sitting pretty at the top of the Beatport chart, very impressive achievements for this 19 year old self taught producer!

www.myspace.com/shazamperth

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Via Tania – If I Know You (mp3)

Ex-Sydneysider, now US based Via Tania collaborated with Finnish producer Jori Hulkkonen to cover The Presets’ If I Know You, resulting in a brooding dark groove. Tania has previously released two albums Under a Different Sky and Dream Of, and was also in the band SPDFGH.

www.myspace.com/viatania

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Sugar Army – ‘Acute’ (mp3)

I’ve been hearing this track a fair bit on Triple J and it’s starting to grow on me. Haven’t seen them live yet but I’ve been told that I am missing out on a great live rock band.

www.myspace.com/sugararmybarracks

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(Photo courtesy of Elle Green)

Dukes of Windsor – ‘Runaway’ (Jackson and Perry trance remix) (mp3)

Fellow Australian music blog Electrorash, in conjunction with Universal and Nova 937, recently ran a remix competition for the Dukes of Windsor track ‘Runaway’. Perth trance tastemakers Jackson and Perry took out the top spot, as crowned by the Dukes themselves. Here it is, for your listening enjoyment.

myspace.com/dukesofwindsor
myspace.com/jacksonandperry

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