New Music

Beni

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Beni – ‘My Love Sees You’

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Sydney producer Beni is best known as one half of Riot In Belgium, the club destroying duo who gave us 2007’s lip – contorting party jam La Musique. You know the one – with the excitable french girl moaning over lots of ridiculous buildups and bleepy fuzz?  It was just about inescapable if you spent any time in the clubs or even turned on your radio last year.  Anyway, it’s been many blog decades since then and with the Belgium bangers on the wane, he has turned his talents to this self-titled solo project.  My love sees you is Beni’s first official cut, and it combines the charged peaktime vibes of his earlier work with punchy bass guitars, highly strung synths and plenty of euphoric vocal samples.  The funked-up bass and disco influences sit nicely with Beni’s intense production – and will ensure a whole lot of slamming silliness on the floor.

Beni has just been picked up by international tastemakers Kitsune and appears on their new compilation (along with fellow Sydneysiders Ted & Francis), so this looks like another Aussie track to dominate overseas.  Hear this one now so you can throw your hands up and dance when you hear it out this weekend!
www.myspace.com/listentobeni

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Lenka: ‘Gravity Rides Everything’

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Lenka – ‘Gravity Rides Everything’

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Last week I had the pleasure of chatting to former Decoder Ring frontwoman, and now solo artist in her own right, Lenka, about her debut record. There’s a chance that if you were a fan of her former band that you won’t like her new solo material. It’s sprightly pop, bordering on bubblegum in some points, although the intelligent lyrical content helps save it from being more than just disposable sound.

Preceding her album a the release (digital-only… I think) called The Woodstock Sessions EP, named after the studio she recorded part of her debut in. It’s a completely acoustic affair, and includes this – a cover of Modest Mouse’s ‘Gravity Rides Everything’.

http://www.myspace.com/lenkamusic

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The Dawn Collective

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The Dawn Collective – ‘Ghosts Shod in Steel Shoes’

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Too many years in the making, Sydney’s The Dawn Collective have finally released their debut album, Save A Place For Us. Their music is hard to describe: it’s dramatic in the way that Sigur Ros is dramatic, but it’s heavily grounded in the folk traditions of someone like The Frames. But then at times (not in this song, but others) that these incendiary guitar lines kick in seemingly out of nowhere. It all makes for a rather idiosyncratic sound.

If you’re in Sydney this Friday, the band is launching their debut album at Spectrum on Oxford St in Darlinghurst. Definitely one to check out.

http://www.myspace.com/thedawncollective

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Kate Miller-Heidke: ‘Can’t Shake It’ video

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Quirky popstress Kate Miller-Heidke has a new disc out called Curioser that’s been garnering plaudits as of late, and ‘Can’t Shake It’ is the first single lifted from the album. Once again she’s throwing some varied influences into the mix – New Wave, Kate Bush, pop rock, ’90s dance – but it feels more focussed than the material off her debut, which at times had the tendency to run away with itself. This one feels a little undercooked at times, and that guitar riff reminds me a bit of the Rogue Traders (but it’s actually used intelligently, so I can deal with it) but it’s pop music with some edge. It’ll be a hit, and hopefully remind the Austereo audience that pop music doesn’t have to be bland or a facade like Katy Perry.

Actually… I pick Kate over Katy any day. Yep, in both senses of the word.

http://www.myspace.com/katemillerheidke

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An Horse

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An Horse – ‘Postcard’

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If you’ve never wanted to buy a Mercedes Benz more in your life then that’s probably because the song featured in their latest commercial is a great tune by Brisbane’s An Horse.

These guys have had a big year – they released their debut EP, toured through the US with Tegan & Sara, through Australia with Death Cab, performed at CMJ in New York, and somehow found time to record their first album (to be released in 2009). Judging by the quality of the EP, I’m Not Really Scared, there’s hardly a more deserving band nor hardly a more promising Australian release for next year.

The song itself is simple but bold, showcasing the duo’s ability to construct fuller sounds out of just guitar and drums than most could do with entire orchestra. Pop music with muscle and a heart on its sleeve.

If you haven’t heard it already then it’s definitely time to jump on the bandwagon.

www.myspace.com/anhorse

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The Woods Themselves

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The Woods Themselves – ‘Groove Wind’ (mp3)

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Sydney’s The Woods Themselves released their sophomore album, (C’Mon) Do The Beach Thing, earlier this year. Nestled toward the end of the tracklist is Groove Wind, a song that’s sparse in accompaniment but dense in atmosphere. It’s three minutes of dark pop bliss that washes over you in what feels like an instant due to its meditative feel.

An organic, percussive beat drives the song forward over lilting piano chords and splashes of minimalist guitar before shifting into an outro that chants the mantra, “this is not a scene/ we don’t exist.” It’s the kind of song that grabs you in a slow, subtle way – so that you don’t even realise until you’re pressing repeat for the fourth consecutive time.

A standout on what is a very solid release. For proof of their versatility, check out the rest of the album to hear a proficiency in warm, sunshine pop as well.

www.myspace.com/thewoodsthemselves

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