New Music

PREMIERE: Woody Pitney – ‘You Can Stay’

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woody-pitney

Woody Pitney is a 22 year old singer from Melbourne. His debut EP garnered traction after hitting top spot on the JJJ Unearthed charts and he’s previously notched up some great support slots for Vance Joy and Big Scary. Did I mention he has a great beard? (Apparently a necessary commodity for being a successful artist nowadays…see here, here.)

The video for Pitney’s new track ‘You Can Stay’ plays out like a Smith Journal reader’s wet dream. Pitney is seen doing ‘manly’ stuff, like harpooning trout, lying in dirt and splashing his chiseled beard/good looking face with mineral water from some free-flowing stream. There’s also a great shot of Woody and his band playing instruments made out of driftwood and looking really stoked, despite the obvious splinters. Whattaguy.

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‘You Can Stay’ is taken from Pitney’s forthcoming EP Afterdust, which will be released on the 30th of September.

 

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PREMIERE: AXOLOTL – ‘My House’

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AXOLOTL_My_House

When I heard this track I felt like throwing up. IT’S THAT GOOD.

‘My House’ is the newest track from Axolotl and the latest single taken from their forthcoming debut album, set for release in early 2014. While the Melbourne five piece have previously supported acts like Bonobo and How To Dress Well, I think this track makes it very clear that these guys are prepped for some serious airtime. ‘My House’ is the closest thing I’ve heard to a near perfect pop track in a while. It’s a visceral, violet-hued pop number with the a bit of stage production chutzpah. Ella Thompson (The Bamboos) has some damn fine fixating vocals which walk the line between hesitancy and desperation here; her refrain reminds me a bit of Alisa Xayalith – or maybe a female version of M83’s Anth Gonzalez. The band have previously carved their way through some beautifully produced tracks so the standard of this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. Last year’s Autonomy EP was an enjoyable slice of ‘dream-pop-nice’, but the backbone of ‘My House’ has way more grit (and bass). Also – HUGE chorus disclaimer on this one, but all intentions are good.

The band recently secured publicity and financial support from Arts Victoria to produce their debut LP. I get a really good feeling about this. Ready for the international music market in 3, 2, 1…

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LISTEN: Full Ugly – ‘Drove Down’

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fullugly

Full Ugly started out as a side project of Love Connection‘s Nathan Burgess and Michael Caterer, but since half of Love Connection relocated to New York it’s become more of a full-time venture. Caterer’s amongst those who up and left town, but Full Ugly retains its all-star cast, with the recent addition of Thomas Mendelovits from Milk Teddy.

‘Drove Down’ is the A-side from the band’s first official release, a 7″ due out through Bedroom Suck on 6 September. The track starts out with Burgess singing about working a dead-end job at a hotel and looking for love, and it ends, uncertain but hopeful, with a long drive down a highway at night, on the way to something new. Although it’s only a couple of minutes long, ‘Drove Down’ feels stretched out, as though to convey literally its sense of longing. It reminds me of ‘Amber’, a highlight from Dick Diver‘s Calendar Days, or Lower Plenty single ‘Nullarbor’ in its delicate unfolding of tension and laconic storytelling style.

You can preorder the ‘Drove Down’ 7″ here. Full Ugly will be playing BIGSOUND on 10 September at Brisbane’s Alhambra Lounge, and a debut album is on the way.

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LISTEN: Elizabeth Rose – ‘The Good Life’

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‘The Good Life’ opens with dark sounds suited to A Clockwork Orange but quickly bounces back to dance-pop and Rose’s very high-level production. Writing of her aspiration to leave the family home and start searching the world for her own piece of the elusive ‘Good Life’, this track is as catchy as any dance party anthem but somewhat understated by Rose’s reserved indie vocals. Mastered in London with award winning engineer Matt Colton (James Blake, Coldplay… what??), ‘The Good Life’ follows her awesome debut EP in 2012, Crystallise.

Get along to one of her spectacular live shows at Bigsound or the OutsideIn Festival:

Wednesday 11 September – Bigsound, Brisbane

Thursday 12 September – Bigsound Showcase at Bakery Lane, Brisbane

Saturday 21 September – OutsideIn Festival, Sydney

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WATCH: Violent Soho – ‘Dope Calypso’

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The official video filmed by director Timothy O’Keefe for Violent Soho’s ‘Dope Calypso’, which is the opening track from the band’s third studio album titled ‘Hungry Ghost’ out September 6, 2013 through I OH YOU.

Back to their roots, rocking the streets of Brisbane and getting blazed with Adalita. And is that music’s most influential under 30, Johann of IOHYOU smoking up? Great song. Great band. Get on the tour bus:

Thursday Oct 24 – Great Northern, Byron Bay NSW

Friday Oct 25 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney NSW

Saturday Oct 26 – The Zoo, Brisbane QLD

Thursday Oct 31 – Mojo’s, Fremantle WA

Friday Nov 01 – Amplifier, Perth WA

Saturday Nov 02 – Uni Bar, Adelaide SA (Lic AA)

Monday Nov 04 (Cup Eve) – Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC (This will be HUGE)

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INTRODUCING: Gentlemen

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Gentlemen

 

When I first heard Gentlemen I had no idea what to expect. I saw one of my favourite London bars were putting a free show on for a mysterious band who had yet to perform live in any capacity. Their Facebook page only had a few likes, no photos and definitely no music to give myself and other punters a real great reason to brave the cold.

Surprisingly, their performance exceeded expectations. It didn’t take long for the quintet to bring wide smiles, closed eyes and loose bodies to the front of the stage. Although based in London, Gentlemen’s singer, keyboardist and drummer are Australian and relocated to provide for a denser and more accessible scene. The lead guitarist and bassist are Italian and English respectively – altogether bringing a unique influences to cook with, evident in their brand of dreamy psych rock.

Gentlemen stray from the pack of the pseudo vintage rock bands over-saturating the streets of North London. They may play ‘psychedelic rock’ by definition, but the band’s music is carried by a strong pop sensibility. The hypnotic blend of heavily reverbed guitars and warm synths allow for the vocals to take on a ‘less is more’ approach; serving as a player to the melody rather than a lead.

Since their debut show, the band have quickly picked up support slots for popular acts such as Foxygen and Childhood as well as performing at small festivals. With Tame Impala and ‘new’ kids on the block Jagwar Ma already marking a strong impression in the UK, it’s safe to say that Gentlemen are currently in the right place at the right time. Let’s just hope they can strike while the iron is hot before every other band turns the delay pedal up to eleven.

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INTRODUCING: Jimmy Tait

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Apologies to any Sarah Blasko fans out there, but acoustic guitar-slinging songstresses have never really been my thing. You know, the ones who write weepy ballads about their ‘man’ or, possibly worse, peppy empowerment jigs about moving on. The same thing goes for the boys, I guess. Hopefully one day John Butler’s dreadlocks will strangle (or at least gag) him.

For some reason, these lightweight, folksy ballads irk me more when they come from women. That probably makes me sound like some sort of iron-trousered, neo-Thatcherite anti-feminist, but hear me out. In an industry that’s still mostly male-dominated, when a woman gets herself out there I just don’t want to see her ‘femininity’ come off so darn cliched.

What I do want to see are post-punk hellraisers like Savages, fall-down drunks resurrected like Cat Power, psychedelic mums like Beaches‘ Alison Bolger, digression-prone eccentrics like The Orbweavers‘ Marita Dyson. Or jaded cynics like Jimmy Tait front woman, Sara Retallick.

‘All my friends/Sitting on the fence/They’ll never rush to my defence,’ Retallick sighs on new single, ‘All My Friends’. She sounds a bit mournful, but mostly just resigned. She’s been referred to as ‘Australian gothic’, but the result is less gauche than that might lead you to believe.
The new song creeps up on you, accruing some satisfying little touches as it goes along – like the bend in the main guitar riff and the low voice that shadows Retallick’s lead. With the swaying choral ensemble of the last few bars, it’s probably the most melodically beautiful thing Jimmy Tait has produced so far.

Retallick has been performing as Jimmy Tait since 2008. The band’s current incarnation features members of the Gin Club, The Orphanage and The Wintership. People like to point to the influence of slowcore on Retallick’s songwriting, and there are intimations here of Low’s Things We Lost in the Fire, but her music also calls to mind the deep drawl and simple riffs of Smog.

That alt-country link rings true to some extent – Jimmy Tait was named after Retallick’s drover grandfather James Tait, and the upcoming album was recorded in her home town of Katunga, a blip on the map of North-East Victoria. The record is due out some time in September. If it lives up to the promise of ‘All My Friends’, Australia’s got a new singer/songwriter worth getting behind.

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