Ladyhawke – ‘Back Of The Van’

I’ve been hunting down this song for ages and finally got it from a friend who emailed it to me a few days ago. It’s one of the catchiest tune I’ve heard in ages and though it is shamelessly retro, it has a timeless mood and melody to it that I know you will enjoy. As mentioned previously Ladyhawke aka Pip is from Sydney and she plays guitar for Teenager. Rumours are she has a deal in the works with a major and is currently going round the world on a writing trip…whatever that means.

www.myspace.com/ladyhawkerock

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photo by boudist.com

Belles Will Ring – ‘Mad Love’

We’ve blogged them before, but this single has scored Belles Will Ring national airplay on Triple J. It is taken out of a three track EP that will lead to an album soon, entitled Mood Patterns. This song takes the same path of the revivalist mod pop of their previous material, but with a bit more beat and build up.

www.myspace.com/belleswillring

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The Instant – ‘Drifting Westward’

Here’s the new single of Notes & Errata, the brilliant debut album by The Instant.  Yes, who would of thought a plus 10 minute song would actually be a single! 

Though the album’s been out for a while, the band are officially launching it tonight in Sydney at Boobytrap (Melt Bar: 12 Kellett St, Kings Cross), with support from Warhorse, Pivot DJs and I’m sure there’s more, but it’s early in the morning and I’m still not functioning at full capacity.  But since I can’t go to the gig tonight, you must go instead!  Yes – you!

http://www.myspace.com/theinstantmusic

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Red Riders – ‘My Love Is Stronger Than Your Love’

Sydney four piece Red Riders have been kicking around the scene for around four years now.  Throughout the years they’ve gained a tonne of supports, most notably Franz Ferdinand, The Shins, Kaiser Chiefs and Death From Above 1979, as well as release two popular EPs in Red Riders (2004) and The Plan A (2005).  The band’s momentum culminated in October last year, with the release of their debut full-length LP Replica Replica. 

The first time I saw the band live I have to admit I wasn’t entirely sold on them.  They were one of those bands that had the potential, but just weren’t pulling it together live.  But Replica Replica actually surprised me: I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I do.  The firsr single off the album, ‘Slide In Next To Me’, went to #96 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown this year.  That’s not a bad effort really, considering there’s tens of thousands of songs released a year. 

The Red Riders create music with an indie inflection but which manages to maintain a driving pulse; good enough to dance to.  They’re obviously influenced by British acts, and you can definitely hear it in the vocals.  But their new single, ‘My Love Is Stronger Than You Love’, is one of my favourites off their album.  Definitely a band to keep an eye on.

http://www.redriders.net
http://www.myspace.com/redridersmusic

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Warhorse – ‘Kotter’

So you don’t have a significant other to spend Valentines Day with this year? Sydney band Warhorse is staging a St. Valentines Day Massacre to honor the unlucky in love or those in love and want to kill each other anyway. I’m not quite sure what to expect from the night but Warhorse, having been together for about a year and play a type of sub-psyche rock, should be well worth the heart break. They’ve recently come out of the studio where they have been working with Burke Reid (Gerling) recording their E.P, and have played a number of shows around Sydney. Presently going through a change of line up with the drummer, last time I saw Warhorse was at the Snowman album launch show in Sydney and it was a pretty dirty show. If you’re in Sydney, you can catch them this Friday the 16th at Boobytrap at Melt Bar, this time supporting The Instant for the launch of their album Notes & Errata. Jasper is a rather obnoxiously entertaining front man but if you want something other than flowers and chocolate, Warhorse just might be the perfect date.

www.myspace.com/warhorserocknroll

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Wolfmother – ‘Woman’ (Avalanches remix)

Well congratulations is in order. Who would’ve thought they’d go all the way to winning a GRAMMY? From their early gig in Hopetoun, their legendary industry gig at 161 in Melbourne, many many gigs, festivals and radio play later their very first song ‘Woman’ wins the golden grammaphone. Well done boys, and to all the label and management team too of course, was one hell of a good punt!

www.myspace.com/wolfmother

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Oh Mercy – ‘We Shouldn’t Miss The Market’

Oh Mercy are the Triple J Unearthed winners of the Big Day Out competition in Victoria. Two Sundays ago they opened the local stage and played to 500 people which I was told their biggest crowd ever. The band is really Alexander Gow’s vehicle for performing self penned songs and well arranged covers. I’ve seen them twice in Melbourne, both times they manage to gather indifferent punters in the venue and got them standing up and transfixed to renditions of relaxed, down tempo folk tunes that at times borders on alt-country. This command over the audience is largely to Gow’s easy going stage charm and natural troubadour’s swagger, qualities that is all too often missing or worse badly faked in most young singer-songwriters. It is quite a hard genre to stand out of, partly because there are so many players in the game and partly because these kind of songs don’t exactly jump and grab people’s attention. It’s challenging for such a young band such as Oh Mercy, all of whom are under 20, to write folk tunes relevant to most of the genre’s fans because most of the anecdotal experience needed occurs after living through one’s early 20s. Nevertheless this is a very promising start for Gow and his band, and I hope I will keep hearing more from them in the next few years.

www.myspace.com/ohmercyband

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