Papa Versus Pretty – ‘Casanova 2.5’ (mp3)

Curious name for an intriguing band, because I can’t even find a photo for this post. Unlike other local bloggers I have not seen this very young Sydney trio comprised of Tom Rawle, Kristjan Garcia Lamerton and Andrew Brown, all aged 15-16. This song does not hint anything about their age tho, it’s got a very mature temperament and none of the lyrics show any inexperience in writing. I understand that this is just a demo to what is an upcoming EP. Polaroids of Androids wrote that they kicked off one of their live sets with a cover of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. I usually have low expectations from a band that covers one of the most randomly interpreted depressive tunes ever recorded, but somehow I’m hopeful with these guys.

www.myspace.com/papavspretty

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Rand and Holland – ‘It’s Alright’

I’m back in Sydney for a week and a bit for some work and also to attend the V Festival that has decided to skip Melbourne for some weirdo reason. I was at a dinner party on Sunday night, thrown by an ex-girlfriend who had decided to cook me a lamb roast as a thank you for showing her around Melbourne when she visited a few weeks ago. The soundtrack was provided by her Ipod, which I have filled up with albums that I thought she would like. On high rotation were The Shins, Of Montreal, and locals Rand and Holland. To my envy she saw the duo the night before at the Hopetoun the night before, which I had decided to spend quietly cos I didn’t think there was anything worth going out for. Anyway dinner was good but some people got drunker than I was so it got boring/annoying and I left as soon as I got the chance. The point of this story is, even though the dinner experience didn’t end up as great as I thought it would, as long as the soundtrack for the night is great you’ll remember it as a good night anyway. Especially if you have these guys on the stereo.
Melbourne people: catch them live at Northcote SC tonight!

www.myspace.com/randandholland

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Ghetto Pussy – ‘Cassette Sex’ (mp3)

Just when dirty electro couldn’t get any dirtier… along comes Sydney’s Ghetto Pussy.  Hell, it’s bordering on 90s happy hardcore!  With members like Pussy Tiger Lyck, Samurai Pizza Phat and CJ Hooker, it’s hard to know who these people actually are.  I did a bit of MySpace scrounging and found out that one member is Craig McVea from Lucy and the Pheromones and Charchie Ink.  The other two members may be someone named Rizzo (I don’t think it’s the same Rizzo from Rizzo & Pizzo though) and Anastasia.  But I may be waaay off the mark.

It’s late-night, liquor-soaked party music for kids in dark indie clubs wearing stovepipe jeans to be dancing til they pass out from heat exhaustion.  It’s in your face, bold and brash and unabashed sex music. This kind of uber-dirty electro seems to really be taking off now, with acts like the aforementioned Rizzo & Pizzo and Gameboy/Gamegirl gaining a lot of popularity.  I guess it’s just fun music to dance to.  What more could you ask for!

www.myspace.com/ghettopussymusic

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The Evening Son – ‘Lemming’ (mp3)

Who said that Silverchair were the only good band to come out of Newcastle?  ‘Lemming’, from Novocastrian three-piece The Evening Son, has been getting a flogging on my stereo lately.  It has an old-school Stone Temple Pilots vibe to it, especially because of the electric and acoustic guitar combo.

The band formed in mid-2005 out of the ashes of another great Newcastle band, Paperhalo.  They’re hitting the studio soon to record an EP, so hopefully that’ll mean these guys will start playing around more often, particularly in Sydney.

http://www.myspace.com/theeveningson

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Soft Tigers – ‘M.A.R.I.A’

Bucky of Soft Tigers gave me a demo of this song well before it went to radio and getting picked up by Triple J. I do believe this was the song that got them the Triple J Spotlight artist during Australian Music Month back in November. At the first few listens I cannot stop thinking how the feel of the guitar melodies in this song remind me of old Rick Springfield songs. They are different riffs, but just the general vibe of the song makes it very familiar and friendly. I love how they namedrop places in Sydney, makes me feel not as bad for spending too much time hanging out at those watering holes.

Simone’s Review:

Sydney love song where drunk kids carouse and out cool each other in the inner city. There’s a beery squall in the background and some bustling sound from the late night streets, a splash of colour here and there and a quiet break in the stop and start action at one point. Soft Tigers bring a hair’s breath of originality to the jarring jam of the Oz Indie Goes Eighties plague, but it’s a hair. Less with the fashion, more with the songwriting.

www.myspace.com/softtigers

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Donnie Sloan – ‘Call You Up’ (mp3)

Don’t really know much about this guy, there’s no bios on his myspace. Tried to get him to give me a bit of a story but he never really got back to me. I hear this song get dropped quite often in clubs here and it has that 1980s Miami Horror feel to it. Should be handy for your next party.

www.myspace.com/donniesloan

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Batrider – ‘Trouble (demo)’ (mp3)

A DVD just hit the market here in Australia called Sticky Fingers which is a “rockumentary” on the underground Melbourne music scene, and in particular the punk-rock sub-scene. Amongst the blurred amateur live footage which poor-quality, and some even poorer-quality bands, a few stood out. One such band was Batrider, a visceral four-piece punk rock band.

Originally from Wellington in New Zealand, I’m not sure when they immigrated to Australia because there’s not a lot of info on the band on the net. Blogs such as Polaroids of Androids and Get Big, Little Kid have screamed the praise of the band, and there’s a great interview with the intense frontwoman Sarah Chadwick at Mess + Noise.

Sleater-Kinney and Young & Restless are two bands that Batrider have been compared to, and I guess that’s because of the female vocal onslaught. It’s dark, it’s punk, it’s angry. There’s not much more to say.

http://www.batrider.com
http://www.myspace.com/batrider

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