Die! Die! Die! - ‘155′

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‘155′ is Die! Die! Die!’s first single of their new EP Locust Nights. It was recorded during their stay in New York at The Walkmen’s studio Macata with producer Kevin McMahon. The boys will be back in Australia and New Zealand doing a few shows including a stop at Homebake, before heading to Japan early in the new year and possibly to Europe again. This is the first release from their new label Etch n Sketch. An album is in the plans after promo for this EP is done.

www.diediedie.net
www.myspace.com/diediedienz

Wolfmother on the red carpet

Last night saw the 20th anniversary of Australia’s premier music awards, The ARIA Awards, held at the Acer Arena in Sydney (on the site of the 2000 Olympic Games).  The ARIA Awards are the Australian equivalent of the Grammys in the States of the Brit’s in the UK.  The awards ceremony was a fairly boring affair - as per most awards ceremonies - but there were excellent performances by Silverchair (who covered Midnight Oil) and Bernard Fanning who performed with Clare Bowditch and Kasey Chambers. Hopefully there will be some footage from the night up on YouTube soon.  The afterparty was a fairly uneventful affair as well, but with free alcohol I’m never going to complain.

There were some pointless guest appearances from Johnny Knoxville, Jesse McCartney and John Mayer.  Most of the award recipients were predictable and as usual those who deserved the awards didn’t receive them.  Though thankfully both Bob Evans and Clare Bowditch picked up deserved ARIA Awards. Below is a list of all the winners.

Best Breakthrough Album
Wolfmother - Wolfmother

Best Breakthrough Single
Youth Group - ‘Forever Young’

Best Ubran Release
Hilltop Hoods - The Hard Road

Best Pop Release
The Veronicas - The Secret Life Of…

Best Country Release
Troy Cassar-Daly - Brighter Day

Best Independent Release
Hilltop Hoods - The Hard Road

Best Rock Album
Wolfmother - Wolfmother

Best Adult Contemporary Album
Bob Evans - Suburban Songbook

Best Music DVD
Eskimo Joe - Eskimo Joe - The DVD

Best Dance Release
TV Rock feat. Seany B - ‘Flaunt It’

Highest Selling Album
Human Nature - Reach Out: The Motown Record

Highest Selling Single
TV Rock feat. Seany B - ‘Flaunt It’

Best Group
Wolfmother

Best Cover Art 
Debaser (Bernard Fanning - Tea and Sympathy)

Best Video 
Head Pictures (Bernard Fanning - ‘Wish You Well’)

Engineer of the Year
Matt Lovell (Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine)

Producer of the Year
Eskimo Joe (Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine)

Best Classical Album
Richard Tognetti - Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin

Best Jazz Album
The Necks – Chemist      

Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album
Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe Featuring Soteria Bell – Jindabyne

Best World Music Album
The Cat Empire - Cities: The Cat Empire Project

Best Children’s Album
The Wiggles - Running to the Rainbow

Best Comedy Release
Lano & Woodley - Lano & Woodley Sing Songs

Best Blues & Roots Album
The Audreys - Between Last Night & Us

Best Female Artist
Clare Bowditch

Best Male Artist
Bernard Fanning

Hall of Fame Inductees
Midnight Oil

Single of the Year
Eskimo Joe - ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’

Album of the Year
Bernard Fanning - Tea & Sympathy

http://www.aria.com.au
http://www.ariaawards.com.au

photo by boudist.com

Vendettas - ‘Too Many’ (mp3)

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Since posting their party track ‘Running’, Vendettas has been picked up by several blogs and got airplay on Caroline Tran’s Australian music show Home and Hosed on Triple J Radio. I have had the pleasure of a short conversation with Larissa Rate, vocalist for the five piece band based out of Sydney. Larissa’s background is in acting and theatre which she did for three years but quickly found out wasn’t for her, so she fell into music. In 2002-2003 she joined the band Prostitutes which was Simon Day of seminal Aussie band Ratcat. Last I heard of this band it evolved into The Subtitutes but I am uncertain if they are still active now.

Larissa went to school at Barker College in Hornsby, where she met Pete Mayes of PNAU. Pete got together with Canadian John Hardy of Soundworx Studio and they had the ideas of Vendettas for a number of years now, although probably with a different name. At one point they even considered doing stuff with Sia (now based in the UK), and rumoured to have a record deal in the works with a major for this project. Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter because with recording this good it’s bound to be released soon. In the mean time enjoy this track and hit their MySpace for a couple more tasty tunes.

Previous post: Vendettas

www.myspace.com/vendettasrock

HTRK - ‘Kiss Before The Fall’ (mp3)

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More moody music from this Berlin based trio, this one has some lyrics in it unlike the last post’s. Thanks to 20jazzfunkgreats for posting this song up. Their music reminds of those Australian movies like Somersault that focus on moments and breathtaking landscapes rather than plot twists or character driven storylines. HTRK are Jonnine Clementine Davis, Nigel Yit Mern Yang and Sean Stewart. They are releasing their album Mary Me Tonight next February in Australia. They’ve got shows coming up in the UK and Germany, supporting fellow Aussie expats The Devastations.

Previous post: HTRK

www.myspace.com/htrk
http://www.yourcomicbookfantasy.com/

Ahh, the things you find on YouTube.  When I wrote my Retrospective post, I spoke about Switchkicker, a great project that’s no longer around.  Well thanks to someone on YouTube, I’ve found the video for the first ever Switchkicker single, ‘Drown’. The song itself got a thrashing on national youth radio station Triple J so I thought it would make a nice reference point for those interested in hearing a bit of Switchy.

Sorry about the annoying beginning too!

Previous post: Retrospective #1

It’s not that new, but it’s the most recent single lifted from The Butterfly Effect’s new album Imago.

Previous posts: The Butterfly Effect

The Grates - ‘Feels Like Pain’

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I challenge you, nay, I dare you to find somebody who doesn’t like these guys. The Grates are leaders of the hyperactive, red-cordial-induced revolution, in which the only rules are to smile constantly and have fun. It’s really refreshing to find a group with a high level of professionalism that don’t take themselves too seriously. And it helps when the music is so damn addictive. Patience Hodgson (i.e Hottest Girl in Australian Rock) and drummer Alana Skyring make up the core of this 3 piece, while their sunny pop debut Gravity Won’t Get You High is getting serious airplay on Aussie radio. For a small group, they make a hell of a lot of noise, just ask anybody who attended their Enmore Theatre gig in Sydney last week.

Patience has a soaring voice which transcends the simplicity of some of the tracks, as she reprimands ex-lovers and schoolyard bullies. Like UK’s Lily Allen, The Grates produce candy-coated bombs, tunes which are sunny in their disposition but upon closer inspection, deal with complex issues and themes. But if you can’t be bothered worrying about all that, just dance around like a maniac, in true Grates fasion. With cuts like ‘19-20-20′ positively exploding on stereo, it looks like Patience and co. will have a long-lasting fanbase of teenage schoolkids and those young at heart. Viva la Cottee’s Cordial Kids!

http://www.thegrates.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thegrates

Sia - ‘Sunday’

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I know I just posted on her but I couldn’t resist this song. Much more upbeat this song will definitely make it into a lot of hangover/come down compilations. I was just talking to Sophie and we were surprised at her relatively low profile locally, considering her popularity elsewhere in the world and the calibre of talent she’s worked with. Usually Australia would be quick in claiming such an artist in the name of national pride. Perhaps she has not done enough tours here? Maybe Australians don’t dig the post trip-hop songs that she linger on. Whatever the reason, her story is yet another example of how moving out of such a small and restrictive town as Adelaide could be the best move any musician can make. As musically diverse as Australia wants to be the small population and isolated location restricts any ambitious artist. Sia is currently on tour all over UK and the US, check her site for details. She’s got a pretty cool video too.

Previous post: Sia

siamusic.net
www.myspace.com/siamusic

The Inches - ‘Dress Like Gods’

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Hot young things out of Melbourne, The Inches are living proof that the Aussie music industry does work in weird and wonderful ways. Signed before they had even played a single show, these boys are now part of the Red Label roster, an underground subdivision of the behemoth that is SonyBMG. With an average age of about twenty-one, the group posses a proficiency which far outstrips their years, as they rip through their modern take on 70s glam in the vein of T-Rex, Bowie, and perennial favourites, Deep Purple.

But it would be wrong to label The Inches as yet another ’scene’ band who wear their influences like a second skin. For they also meld punk-funk, disco and most importantly (for this author) extended psychedelic jams into their numbers, which makes for a highly unique sound. There’s alot of buzz surrounding these guys, and it’s pretty easy to see why. As drummer Manny Bourakis explains “Melbourne is a city with a good rock community, but lots and lots of shit bands.” Good to see that this outfit managed to inch their way to the top of the heap. Who needs the metric system anyway?

http://www.theinches.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/theinches

A cut from their older repertoire this was the first song from the Juggers that earned rotation on Triple J and put the national spotlight on them. They are currently touring the world, bumping into other Aussie bands breaking in the UK such as Children Collide, The Valentinos and Bang Gang DJ Ajax.

Previous post: Midnight Juggernauts 

Film clip for Josh Pyke’s new song ‘Memories & Dust’.  This probably won’t be available on CD until next year though.

Previous post: Josh Pyke

Laura Jean - ‘I’m a Rabbit, I’m a Fox’

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If that song title doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry neither does it to me. Everytime I hear this it on the radio I think to myself how silly it was, spend 10 seconds trying to figure out what it means before giving up. But it keeps getting played and I have grown to like the melody of the chorus. It’s weirdly catchy.

Laura Jean has performed alongside M.Ward, Ben Lee, Augie March, Claire Bowditch, Jen Cloher and Sarah Blasko. Pretty much the cream of the crop of Australia’s singer songwriter scene. She released The Hunter’s Ode EP in 2003, and then won a recording grant from the Victorian government Arts Council which enabled her to get a chamber orchestra for her next recording, results of which you are listening to right now. The Swan Song LP was released in May this year on one of my favorite named label, Unstable Ape Records which has released Love of Diagrams, No Through Road and Snap! Crakk!

Laura retells her dreams. Maybe daydreams even. They rarely make sense and that’s ok. That’s what this song means to me now, her fantasy-like imagination brought to life through melody.

www.laura-jean.com
www.myspace.com/edenland

I Heart Hiroshima - ‘Candy Cut’

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Right from the name, you can tell that these kids are going to be scruffy “scribble-our-name-on-your-schoolbooks” indie-pop darlings. Like every good lo-fi outfit, I Heart Hiroshima met at a house party last year, did some jamming, decided to ignore bass guitar (who plays bass these days anyway? That’s so 1990s..) and record a cute little EP. The result is A 3 Letter Word for Candy, a debut which, rather impressively, manages to encapsulate the spirit and fervour of some of the best indie acts of the recent years.

Equal parts Pavement, Sonic Youth and Tapes ‘n Tapes, the trio all share vocal duties, making for some interesting Subways-esque texture changes as boys and girls constantly swap from lead to backing. Needless to say, the girl’s a lot better, with a sexed-up yet eerily detached voice that would probably give Interpol’s Paul Banks nightmares. The production is, naturally, mediocre (as was probably intended), but the songs are tight - and the twin-pronged guitar attack actually works, rather than simply sounding contrived. When a grassroots label pumps some serious money into their studio time, these guys will be huge.

http://www.ihearthiroshima.com
http://www.myspace.com/ihearthiroshima

Sia - ‘Breathe Me’

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Born in Adelaide to musician parents Sia Furler had to relocate to London before finding deserved worldwide success. With background in the South Australian jazz circuit her worldwide travels took her to the UK where she scored a gig as backup singer for Jamiroquai. This in turn led her to collaborations with Massive Attack, William Orbit, Beck  and the current band she’s touring with, Zero 7. With a smooth, fragile voice that balances itself right in between jazz and soul stylings Sia gained more attention after ‘Breathe Me’ was featured in a scene of the TV series Six Feet Under.

The story was that she had some resistance from her old label in the UK about releasing an album overseas. So she wrote a pop album - Colour The Small One, and they responded by dropping her from the roster altogether! Luckily a music supervisor at HBO heard ‘Breathe Me’ and included the song in the series. Immediately after it was aired labels came calling - including the one that dropped her. That song saved her music career. It’s got a pretty cool video too.

www.myspace.com/siamusic
siamusic.net

In a comment by ‘ad’ in response to my post about Cog, he mentioned that they’re the best live band he’s seen.  So I’ve done a bit of digging around and thanks to everyone’s new favourite website YouTube, I’ve managed to find a live clip from Cog which was recorded back in 2002, just after the release of their first EP Just Visiting Part 1.  Recorded for a TV show called The Gig which airs (or used to air) on the Australian cable music station Channel [V], this clip demonstrates Cog’s great live performance and presence.  You also get to see the amazing drumming skills of Lucius Borich.

The band used to always open their sets with ‘Moshiach’ and now thankfully on their current tour, they’re opening with it again.  This song demonstrates the old progressive nature of Cog’s songs, and you can definitely tell by this song that the band started as an instrumental act.

Previous posts: Cog

The Basics - ‘Just Hold On’

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I’ve only recently heard the music of The Basics, although I’ve been aware of the band for some time.  I heard ‘Just Hold On’ on the radio and instantly fell for their retro-pop sound - it brings to mind acts like The Monkees, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and The Hollies.  It’s a welcome change from a slew of retro inspried bands who seem to be “influenced” by the same core groups.

If that voice sounds slightly familiar, that’s because drummer/vocalist of The Basics is Wally de Backer, the man behind the Gotye project.  The Basics maintains the pop sensibilities of Gotye, except unlike that project The Basics is a three-piece made up solely of drums, guitar, bass and the vocals of all three members.  They have an album entitled Stand Out/Fit In due for release early 2007 and two other tracks from the album ‘Speak to Me’ and the rocking ‘Rattle My Chain’ can be heard on The Basics’ MySpace page and a bunch more songs can be heard at their official page.

http://www.thebasics.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/the3basics

Although we haven’t actually posted about the Sick Puppies yet, I think that it’s still important to post their clip for ‘All The Same’ which has over 2 million views on YouTube and has been gaining significant media attention in Australia.  The film clip tells the true story of Juan Mann who walks around Sydney offering people free hugs.  It’s an interesting clip because on one hand it demonstrates the (often unfounded) trepidation we have towards others, but on the other hand the film clip shows how compassionate and loving people can be.  On top of that, ‘All The Same’ is actually a pretty cool tune. The Sick Puppies are originally from Sydney but now reside in LA.

http://www.sickpuppies.net
http://www.myspace.com/sickpuppies

The Red Paintings - ‘Walls’

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One of the more unique acts to be gracing the Australian music circuit at the moment, The Red Paintings are a 5 piece experimental/art rock band out of Brisbane.  Their performance reputation has overtaken their music - on stage the members dress up in costumes (usually Geisha outfits but occasionally alien costumes), they have canvasses at the front of the stage and members of the audience are able to paint during the performance if they feel inspired, and I believe on one tour the band had human canvasses. They often have a lot of religious iconography as props on stage, though I think on their Destroy the Robots tour they had robots as well.  I know that during that tour they brought with them a giant robot and would take pictures of it in different places around Australia and the world too.

The band have been around since 1999 but they first gained national attention with their song ‘Rain’ which was released in 2004.  Since then the band have gained a small but loyal following and recently supported the Dresden Dolls on their Australian tour.  I saw The Red Paintings a few years back and their live shows are fantastic - it’s great to see a band that puts so much thought and effort into their performances.  Their latest EP Destroy the Robots was a disappointing effort - I felt the band were attempting to craft a more mainstream sound and it didn’t work at all.  Soon the band split with their label Modern Music which is an imprint of Sony/BMG and the band are back to being a completely independent act. 

The Red Paintings are touring the United States at the moment before they head to London in November. Check their MySpace page for tour dates.

http://www.theredpaintings.com
http://www.myspace.com/theredpaintings

Intense.

Previous posts: Witch Hats

Cog - ‘Resonate’ (mp3)

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I was gonna get on my soapbox and make some rant about the general state of the music “scene” and the scenesters and everyone’s love for dirty synths and all that kinda shit that pisses me off as a music fan because while everyone goes nuts for bands without bass players that believe Wham! was the best band of all time, there’s Australian bands like Cog that get overlooked.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of some of the cool kids’ bands, but when it comes to overall music brilliance and world-beating ability, it’s hard to look past Cog. They’re as good, if not better, than most of the bands that sell millions of albums overseas. They’ve constantly made amazing music ever since they started. In terms of the Sydney music scene, their residency at the Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills is legendary - every Wednesday for three months they sold out the place, and they hadn’t even been together for a year! It helps that you’re playing music light years ahead of your peers, that your drummer is one of the best Australia has produced, and your live show is an phenominal tour-de-force.

So who are Cog exactly? Well, they’re a three piece from Bondi in Sydney, they were kicking around the Aussie scene for a couple of years and released two great but poorly recorded EPs called Just Visiting Part 1 & Just Visiting Part 2. Then in 2004 they jumped on a big ol’ jet airliner and travelled to Weed, California to record their amazing debut album The New Normal with producer Sylvia Massy-Shivy (Tool, R.E.M), which was released the following year It was the first time that Cog captured their massive live sound on a recording. The album shed some of the progressive rock/Tool comparisons Cog were generating, and it showcased a more mature and succinct act.

The band have also been quite political in the past - on one of their tours they screened the John Pilger documentary Breaking the Silence - The Truth and Lies on the War on Terror and much of their lyrical content deals with political issues. In their filmclip for ‘Run’, drummer Lucius Borich has “Bush, Howard, Blair Fuck Off” written on his drum kit and the filmclip itself was set in a detention centre to highlight the plight of refugees being detained by the Australian government. Check it out below!

A few quick notes to finish off - Justin Cotta of VAST fame was going to sing for the band. In 2003 Cog recorded a cover version of Leftfield’s ‘Open Up’ which opened them up (no pun intended) to a national audience. The band are about to go back to Weed to record their second album. They are planning on touring North America in February. They are touring Australia right now. Cog are the most promising act in Australia. Go!

http://www.cog.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/wwwmyspacecomcog