HTRK

I’m not even sure if I could call this music. It’s definitely not popular music, maybe like sound art, definitely sound effects-y. HTRK (pronounced hate-rock) are a mysterious trio from Melbourne who recently relocated to Berlin, for what I assume is an artistic led decision in order to develop their curious musical leanings. The band was formed as a middle finger gesture to the retro rock revival that dominated their hometown scene of Melbourne (think Jet). Good friends of other rock haters My Disco, their shows are also played in excessively loud volume. So the song below, or maybe I should say the next piece, should be played the same way. Crank it up.

HTRK – ‘Hate Rock Trio’

www.myspace.com/htrk
www.yourcomicbookfantasy.com

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photo by Esther Mitchel

Augie March – ‘One Crowded Hour’

Sometimes a song would get played hundreds of times on the radio and I wouldn’t pay much attention to it until all of a sudden it would hit me just how good a tune is. And that’s how it is with this Augie March ballad, which has a Jeff Buckley feel of emotional reprieve attached to it, though upon closer listen it’s all about scoring with a girl the singer has known since school:

“Should you expect to see something that you hadn’t seen,

In somebody you’d known since you were sixteen.

If love is a bolt from the blue, then what is that bolt but a glorified screw? “

Augie March formed in Melbourne in ’96 and has so far released three albums, all through Sony/BMG. They’re one of those bands that work the United States a lot so chances are most people into this kind of music would’ve heard of them. Their latest album Moo, You Bloody Choir got rave reviews in Australia though I believe it’s still unreleased overseas? I could be wrong. The album was nominated for the J award, a yearly prize given by music station Triple J. I get the impression that they ride that success-overseas-now-back-for-local-shows wave here, but it’s alright for this band because they actually had a core fanbase since early on in their career. I’ve missed both their tours here this year so if anyone has seen them live let me know what they’re like.

http://www.augie-march.com
http://www.myspace.com/augiemarch

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photo by Wayne Dennon

Sunk Loto – ‘Help’

No your ears don’t deceive you – there actually is a metal band being posted about in the predominantly indie-dominated blog scene. Let’s face it, metal ain’t the most popular genre at the moment. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t good bands out there, and Sunk Loto is one of them. These guys have had a very rocky history – they were signed to Sony at around the age of 18 after winning a band comp in Queensland, they then released a fairly popular EP entitled Society Anxiety, and followed that up with the less well-received Big Picture Lies LP, both of which were heavily nü-metal influenced. They were being pushed by their label to be the next Silverchair, and were gaining huge supports and travelling around the country on the Big Day Out tour.

Two years after the release of Big Picture Lies they dropped the pummeling Between Birth and Death, a complete 180-turn on their previous style. Instead of nü-metal, accessible songs, Between Birth and Death was a full-on metal album inspired by the likes of Poison the Well and Killswitch Engage, and dealt with issues such as a friend’s suicide, drug addiction and divorce. Of course, the old material was at complete odds with their new material, so the old fans didn’t like it and those who would of liked the new material had already been turned off from their old stuff. Geddit??

So the band were struggling with a falling popularity, as well as dealing with managers who were ripping them off. Then the SonyBMG merger resulted in Sunk being dropped from the label. Recently, the band lost their long-time bass player Sean Van Gennip, who has now been replaced by ex-Full Scale bottom-ender Robkaay. But now the band are about to hit the road with Cog and Mammal, and are holding auditions for a second guitarist and writing for a third album. So maybe things are on the up. Let’s hope so.

http://www.sunkloto.com
http://www.myspace.com/sunkloto

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photo by boudist.com

Lenka – ‘Follow’

Lenka started out her career as an actor in tv and films but soon discovered a true a bigger passion for music. I find it impossible not to fall in love with her voice. Dom has blogged about Decoder Ring previously, but thanks to some lucky myspacing I discovered that she is writing and recording solo material. She has kindly given us the exclusive on her solo track ‘Follow’ produced by Decoder Ring’s Xavier Frjac. Opening with sweeping harmonies, this track’s minimal production is what I’m used to hearing from her, but I’m excited to think what she would come up with in the future. Lenka is heading off on an international writing trip to LA, NY and London, hopefully we get to hear some new tracks before too long.

http://www.myspace.com/lenkamusic

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The Crayon Fields – ‘Choir of Tiny Boys’

When I was 18, Melbourne band The Crayon Fields were a three piece who made vaguely arty indie pop (I used to compare them to Pavement, but in retrospect I think I have compared every indie band I like to Pavement at some stage). When visiting their home town for a little less than a week, I saw them play twice. I also got two copies of their first EP, Worms, Worms! and a badge bearing their name in colourful writing that adorned whatever god awful v-neck sweater I thought was sweet at the time.

That was 3 years ago. Since then I have purchased their The Good Life EP, as well as a three inch mini CD and a whole bunch of badges. I have organized poorly attended shows for the band and have spent an hour trying to find the then drunk, now ex-drummer in Surry Hills at 2am one Saturday night. I have been disappointed upon discovering that they did not make a patented Crayon Fields sweater in my size (borderline pregnant), and overjoyed when seeing them support amazing bands like The Unicorns, Deerhoof and Calvin Johnson.

Most recently I have been overjoyed while listening to their debut release, Animal Bells, out now through Trifekta/Chapter Music, two amazing Melbourne indie pop labels responsible for releasing some of the greatest indie records in my collection. And Animal Bells is possibly the greatest indie record either label has released, an incredible soup of harmonies, twangly guitars and sleigh bells.

I’m certain that every review is going to describe this record as “Melbourne’s answer to Brian Wilson, The Byrds, blah blah blah incessant comparisons”, but I think the most accurate way any writer could review Animal Bells is by simply posting a picture of their pasty mug, grinning madly as they listen to the doo’s, da’s, ooh’s and la’s heard throughout second track ‘Would it be so Strange?’, or to the handclaps that hold ‘Impossible Things’ together.

There are several songs available to listen to and download at the bands MySpace, but I thought I’d post album opener ‘Choir of Tiny Boys’. The album is full of longer, larger pop songs, yet I find myself continually coming back to this, a short, simple and perfect introduction to my favourite Australian album in years.

http://www.thecrayonfields.com
http://www.myspace.com/thecrayonfields

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Snowman – ‘Smokes and Mirrors’

Inspired by my post on Snowman a few weeks back I chatted to multi-tasking band member Joe McKee about what to expect from their debut full-length album, released on September 23rd. By chat, I mean via email, because real life is such a chore for me these days. Though not for Snowman, it would seem. Their album sounds like it’ll be kind of something… “It takes what we do live and feeds it with acid” (Joe McKee, Q&A with Sophie Braham, Who The Bloody Hell Are They? September 2006) would be the obvious contender for a press release. They’ve also heroically offered us their new single for a listen, which has been tearing up the airwaves on local sydney radio stations FBi, 2SER and national broadcaster Triple J.

How is this album different to your last one? You all played quite an array of instruments on you last album, have you picked up any more this time round?

Yeah…we like to attempt to play with all sorts of toys… trumpets, string quartets, sax, theremin, pianos/keys, toys (literally), violin, guitars, noises, harmonica, lots of percussion. The album differs from our first EP because the songs are far better and the sounds are more full… there are more colours in the sounds, they have more depth. This is partly to do with the chap we recorded with, Mr Dave Parkin. Basically, it is a completely different kettle of fish to the EP. It takes what we do live and feeds it with acid.

I reckon your music would make a great soundtrack to a horror flick. Do you watch a lot of movies?

I think that film is kind of the ultimate form of creation because so many art forms go into it, but it doesn’t really leave much to the imagination for the viewer like music does. We like the way sound complements imagery and we certainly take that on board to a degree when writing. As for horror flicks: I can’t really be bothered with them anymore… that was the ‘zombies…’ EP for us. The new album is vast in scope and covers more ground than the EP.

Have you made any video clips?

Yes, we have just completed shooting a video clip for ‘Smoke and Mirrors’. Lots of shadows and lamp lighting and smoke has been used. Keep an eye out.

Are there some other Australian bands you’re getting excited about at the moment?

Well… we like bands that don’t necessarily influence us. It’s a bit difficult to pinpoint what artists are influencing us… from this to that to whatever. I think we are currently more influenced by ourselves. As for new stuff: I think the new Liars record is good. And the new Wolf & Cub. I still get excited about the Dirty Three also.

Do you feel far away from the rest of Australia in Perth? Do you like the isolation?

I think the isolation has been a benefit for us… it gave us a lot of time to work on our sound before some bigwig fatcat purchased our soul!!!

Have you guys toured at all outside of Australia? Where would you love to go?

We have never played outside Australia. There are vague plans to do so next year. We would like to tour every corner… we are very keen on the idea of getting to Japan and playing. We like playing to virginal snowman audiences and getting a confused response.

The people who makeup your band hail from all across the globe [Snowman are pretty much the UN, with band members from England, Iceland and Indonesia] , has this had any impact on your sound or the way your band works?

Yes I think it has… we have been exposed to different cultures from a very early age so different sounds have been drilled into our heads… abnormal experiences in general…these things would contribute to our ‘other worldly’ sound perhaps. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we all came from a farming town in WA… actually I can, and it scares me.

http://www.thesnowmanempire.com
http://www.myspace.com/thesnowmanempire

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The Butterfly Effect – ‘Reach’

The Butterfly Effect (named long before the Ashton Kutcher film) are one of those bands that seem to divide people – either they love them, or they hate them. They first came to the attention of the Australian public courtesy of Triple J radio presenter Costa Zouliou who fell in love with their song ‘The Cell’ off their debut EP. At the time, the band were still independent – and I ended up seeing them in 2001 at a small pub in Sydney called Bar Broadway supporting Cog and now both bands have become two of Australia’s biggest alternative-rock acts. The band had an incredible knack of creating the right blend of melody and heavy riffage, and the soaring, operatic vocals of Clint Boge topped it all off. It wasn’t long before these guys took off.

Which takes me back to my original point – people love or hate them. I think it may come down to Clint the vocalist – some people love his voice, and others can’t stand it. Also, he exudes a fair amount of confident on and off the stage and a lot of people take that as arrogance. Earlier this year he went on a drunken tyrade on the band’s official message board (funnily enough the band no longer have a message board on their site), so that didn’t help Clint’s image. But I interviewed him earlier this year and found him to be a really nice guy, so the question remains unanswered.

The band released the rock-fueled Begins Here LP a couple of years ago (their debut long player) which cemented their place at the top of the Aussie rock contingent. They then took a step sideways and released the far-more melodic Imago a couple of months ago, which they recorded in the States with producer Joe Barresi (Tool, Tomahawk, Queens of the Stone Age). The sound on the album is nothing short of huge, and contains some fantastic songs. It’s taken me a while to get into the album because even though I love melodic music, Imago is a big change from Begins Here, but still excellent nonetheless.

http://www.thebutterflyeffect.com.au/
http://www.myspace.com/thebutterflyeffectau

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