New Music

LISTEN: Velcro – ‘Tidal Wave 2009 – 2013’

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velcro tidal

Curtis Wakeling was tinkering around with his computer one day when he dropped his tiny screwdriver down the back of his desk. He crawled in under the desk, past boxes of old records and footy jumpers, and came across a large gray box with a funny shaped lead running out the back. It was a hard disk drive (HDD) from 2009.

Intrigued, he plugged it in and discovered a series of audio sketches for tunes he had been writing over the last five years.

After having a sandwich, he decided to complete what has become a collection or compilation, of complete songs, which has served as the perfect release for his housemate’s new label Osbourne Again. Tidal Wave (2009-2013) is a limited-edition run of 50 cassettes complete with very lovely artwork or a digital download off bandcamp.

‘Rise’ is a freebie on the bandcamp page and it’s a nice lazy-morning track. Kinda demotivating actually. You can feel hungover just by listening to this one. ‘Dreamboat’ is way more romantic. This is the kinda track that sooths me like a snuggled baby being cooed by its mother. Despite describing an anxiety dream, Curtis executes the perfect dole-pop sound with catchy guitar and sincere vocals.

If you’ve been playing at home than you’ll recall that Curtis recently spent an extended stay in the wonderful city of New York, New York. ‘Stoned’ was written there and is an honest account of what many young Australians experience abroad. Loneliness. Despair. Boredom. And masturbation. Sounds like a good Saturday night because he somehow manages to make it sound like something you’d want. What Curtis does so beautifully in every track is take these experiences and put them into song without a filter. I’ve said before how honest the Velcro music is and this compilation lays it all out for you. It’s quite remarkable that the result is such a warm and easy to listen to record.

Velcro will be launching the tape very soon so we’ll keep you posted but for now check out the other tracks on bandcamp or Curtis’ other band The Ocean Party, who were recently picked up by Spunk. Wow.

UPDATE: Brisbane Tape launch Sep 6th 2013 – details here.

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LISTEN: Manor – ‘Architecture’

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Aside from cheap vinyl and tinnitus, coupled-up duos are probably one of my favourite things about music. While that’s possibly just the Thurston/Kim truism I’ve been harbouring for forever – or the general assumption that tormented bed friends make better musicians (true?), I’ve always found that these kind of musical partnerships give a depth and a truthful backlog to artist’s songwriting, something that a group of boys, or girls clamouring on about their hormones could never provide.

Manor are Nathaniel Morse and Caitlin Duff. Both Morse and Duff previously played in now sadfly defunct Adelaide band Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, before relocating to Melbourne. I really doubt these two are even a couple, but in respectable dream-pop tradition ie. Tennis, Chairlift, Wye Oak, Big Deal – they are for the sake of this write up.

The duo’s previous single ‘Afghan Hound’ may have been equitably more math-rock on the outset, but the band’s new single ‘Architecture’ is timeless pop right from the first off-beat. To the main point, the fledging groove here sounds waaay too much like Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek doing a cover of Men At Work’s ‘Land Down Under’ for anyone to ignore.

Manor are releasing their debut EP at the end of 2013. GET THIS IN YOUR EARS.

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LISTEN: Zone Out – ‘This Place’

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‘This Place’ is the new single from Zone Out, Melbourne’s latest incarnation of the twee spirit, led by Ashley Bundang. Zone Out’s music is an affable blend of gentle strumming and fey vocals, replete with the lulling effect of xylophones, oohs and aahs, and woollen scarves and mittens. The band’s core line up of Bundang and Zahra Khamissa has been expanded to include ScotDrakula‘s Dove Bailey and Totally Mild‘s Elizabeth Mitchell. With the fuller sound that the new members provide and the song’s spacious, warm production, ‘This Place’ may be Zone Out’s loveliest release yet.

Bundang is part of the unfeasibly productive Osborne Street group, based in the suburb of Brunswick. She plays in Velcro, Pencil and Hot Palms, all of whom make some form of loose, meandering indie pop (I’m trying so hard not to use the word ‘jangly’). She’s also got a couple of solo ventures up her sleeve, under the working titles White Australians and Obviously. Written on casio and guitar, these songs are more insular than anything Zone Out has done – largely because Bundang buries the vocals beneath synth tones and effects that sound like a UFO landing rendered through computer speakers.

Zone Out is the most accessible of Bundang’s projects. A comparatively obscured version of ‘This Place’ appeared on Obviously’s Mondayitis EP. The promise of the song’s progression was already clear, but Bundang’s melodies fare much better under the warm, full-band treatment that Zone Out provides. It sounds as though she swallowed the complete Twee as Fuck compilation and assimilated it bodily, to churn out gorgeous, tea-cosied pop songs forever more. ‘This Place’ reminds me of the Shop Assistants, the Softies and Blueboy in particular, but Bundang pulls off this style so convincingly that the fact it’s been done before seems kind of irrelevant.

‘This Place’ is the teaser for Zone Out’s Something Less EP, which is due out on 23 August. The EP will also feature previous release ‘What’s Missing?’. It will be available digitally, as a limited run of 50 cassettes through Osborne Again and on CD through Why Don’t You Believe Me?
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INTRODUCING: HOY

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HOY

 

My first exposure to HOY was the rose-tinged video clip for ‘Words’, an early cut from the band’s upcoming album, Aquaslum. Shot on 8mm film around a tumble-down chateau at St Erme, outside Paris, the film is striking for its unabashed romanticism. Both visually and sonically ‘Words’ summons up the naivety of 60s pop acts like Peter, Paul and Mary, Love and Francoise Hardy, as well as early 90s twee – bands like Belle and Sebastian, who still sound refreshing for their outright refusal of toughness or irony.

HOY (formerly Houlette) is Felicity Cripps, Cecilia Dowling and Liam Linley. There’s a distinctly francophile vibe to this group; it’s all turtlenecks, flares and white roses. All three of them are totally dreamy: Cripps is a Jane Birkin lookalike, and Linley’s a dead ringer for a young Keith Richards – before the heroin took its toll, I mean. A mix of chamber pop and classic folk, much of Aquaslum was conceived during HOY’s European tour. The tracks were laid down at St Andrew’s Church in Talbot, Victoria, the old stone building providing the ballads with just the right amount of warmth and echo.

‘Get Some Sleep’ is the first official release from the album. It’s a simple and elegant number, led by Linley (each member contributes songs to the band) embellished by a light touch of viola and the girls’ soft backing vocals. Being something of an #introvert myself (has this been trending in anyone else’s Facebook feed lately?), my inner child weeps a bit when I hear the lyric, ‘You’re so deep in yourself / that you don’t need anyone else’. The video, in which the very European looking threesome stand around in a distinctly Australian landscape, was shot in a faded paddock somewhere in the Victorian goldfields.

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Aquaslum will be out early next year. In the meantime, HOY will be joining The Basics on their east coast tour in September. Here are the dates:

Thu 19 Sept – Fresh on Charles, Launceston

Fri 20 & Sat 21 Sept – Republic Bar, Hobart

Thu 26 Sept – Theatre Royal, Castlemaine

Fri 27 & Sat 28 Sept – Northcote Social Club

Sun 29 Sept – Corner Hotel, Richmond

Thu 3 Oct – Transit Bar, Canberra

Fri 4 Oct – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney

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LISTEN: Barbiturates – ‘Look What the Internet Did to Us’

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The name ‘Barbiturates‘ tells you quite a lot about how this track is going to sound. A side project of Roland Hlavka and Elliot D’Arcy from Brisbane’s Cobwebbs, Barbiturates characterise their music as ‘alienwave’, ‘UFO dub’ and ‘made from the bottom of the ocean’ – all of which are pretty accurate descriptors. With the guitar and analogue synths caked in delay, Barbiturates’ songs seem to bend unnaturally; a bit like light refracted in oily water. On previous releases they’ve used elements of shoegaze as well as a kind of zonked out hip hop that brings back memories of Dr Octagon (and also Salad Fingers).

‘Look What the Internet Did to Us’ is a comparatively upbeat number, driven by a propulsive lead guitar and synthetic beats. It’s about the bottomless internet sinkhole that opens up when there’s important work to do, with links generating links and email inboxes to refresh. ‘It’s always the same / it never changes’ Hlavka points out, ‘so why did I waste my time?’. (Don’t take that message as inspiration to navigate away from this page or go outside or something: there’s more new music coming up).

‘Look What the Internet Did to Us’ is taken from upcoming album Shades, due for release through Lost Race on 26 August. You can preorder the 10″ vinyl, which is limited to 50 pressings, or a digital copy of the album here.

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MAP August 2013

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It’s that time of the month where you can snack on Argentinian folk, Estonian doom-metal and the musical genius of 30+ countries (including ours) while holding a fag in one hand and a cheeseburger in the other. Music Alliance Pact is back for August with a heap of amazing new tracks from our blog friends around the world.

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 full 30-track compilation through Ge.tt here.

ps. If you haven’t peeked over at our new MAPCAST podcast segment or aren’t stalking our new Soundcloud account yet – get to it slackers.

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ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Pablo Malaurie – Pasto En La Espalda

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After psychedelic pop act Mataplantas broke up in 2009, their guitarist and singer Pablo Malaurie started a solo career by releasing a minimalist folk album called El Festival Del Beso. In 2011, he was chosen by Devendra Banhart as the opening act for his Buenos Aires concerts. Pasto En La Espalda is our favorite track from El Beat De La Cuestión, his second effort, where he shows the consolidation of a growing career, which includes extensive touring and collaborations.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Esc – Atomic Shadow

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Esc are a Melbourne four-piece making music in the great Australian tradition of depraved pub-rock spliced with post-punk. The band’s latest single, Atomic Shadow is both menacing and danceable, with a tight rhythm section and harmonies that lighten Max Sheldrake’s terse vocal.

AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
Maur Due & Lichter – Faces

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Much like Klangkarussell’s über-hit Sonnentanz, hugely successful in German-speaking countries and the Netherlands, fellow Austrians Maur Due & Lichter produce light, loungy and summery electronic music that works equally well in clubs, hotel pools and urban beach bars. This Night Was Meant To Stay, from which Faces is taken, is a concept album portraying a night out in Vienna.

CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
EONS – Brothers & Sisters

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Arctic Radio, the debut album from Toronto-based musician Matt Cully aka EONS, is aptly named; the melodies are crisp like bitter north winds and his lyrics penetrate past even the warmest of winter gear. There is a warmth, though, a deep passion in the music that holds back the cold, as evidenced in Brothers & Sisters. Cully is joined on vocals by Misha Bower, and both are members of Bruce Peninsula, another Canadian treasure worth exploring.

CHILE: Super 45
Melié – Partir

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Melié, who take their name from the French filmmaker Georges Méliès, released their first EP, Compartir, this year. Here, they deliver atmospheric, calm post-rock, highlighting their vocal harmonies and dreamlike melodies, giving birth to a complex but focused sound. Neighbouring Grizzly Bear and Local Natives’ imagery, Melié is one of the most interesting new acts in Chile’s indie-rock scene.

COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
Schutmaat Trio – You Died In My Future

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Despite their name, Schutmaat Trio is actually a quartet, led by Alvin Schutmaat, who experiment with post-rock and refresh the local scene with well-produced and elaborate sounds. You Died In My Future is taken from their album 6:15, released this year as a pay-what-you-want download.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
PRE-Be-UN – X-ray Pop

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PRE-Be-UN aka Nicolai Kleinerman Koch (also of Oh No Ono, Choir Of Young Believers and Boom Clap Bachelors) releases his debut solo album Clean Spasms this month. I call it ‘bit-pop Beatles’, with first single Mysteriously In Love already grabbing online attention with its wonderful fusion of the 1960s and 1980s – not least visually. Here’s X-ray Pop, a MAP exclusive download.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: La Casetera
Chino Sing – Me Voy

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Dashed hopes, tropical imagery and fresh reggae beats combine on Chino Sing’s latest song, Me Voy. Chino has made music with a host of local musicians, friends and artists, but now he’s working on his first solo album which will feature a blend of reggae, roots and various Caribbean themes and sounds.

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INTRODUCING: Soda Eaves

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soda eaves

Soda Eaves is Melbourne-based, Hot Palms guitarist Jake Core. ‘Doll’ is the first single from his debut album Like Drapes Either Sides, which will be released on vinyl early August. This is one of those tracks we’d like to call warm and fuzzy but it has an eerie darkness that I find very attractive. Like how girls like bad boys, I like moody, bleak Australian accented vocals. Swoon.

Update: You can nab the full length record on bandcamp or purchase the sweet vinyl edition here or at these shows:

16 Aug – * Red Wheelbarrow Books, Melbourne 7pm
w/ Popolice, Rory Cooke & Garth Madsen

21 Aug – The Front Gallery, Canberra 7pm

24 Aug – Hibernian House, Sydney 6pm
w/ Shiver Like Timber, Joseph Liddy & more

25 Aug – Yours + Owls, Wollongong 7pm
w/ Catman

30 Aug – Terrace Bar, Newcastle 8pm
w/ Joseph Liddy & Charles Buddy Dabouul

31 Aug – * Roots Records, Bellingen 1pm
(instore)

7 Sep – * The Waiting Room, Brisbane 7pm
w/ McKisko, R.L. Jones & Hugh Middleton

13 Sep – * The Cot, Townsville 7pm
w/ guests

14 Sep, Cairns* (to be announced)

*The Finks not appearing

 

 

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