Batrider - ‘Legs’

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New Australian growlers with NZ roots, Batrider announce their local album debut with a double-sided single. Legs sets the trickle drip of one guitar against the skulking threat of another, while singer Sarah Chadwick mutters and threatens her way over the top. Pink Guitars takes a different route, with a humming, lo-fi rhythm section and a gentle pop melody that moves away from the art rock threat of their reputation. Both tracks are clever and beguiling, promising big small things for this unique indie outfit.

www.myspace.com/batrider

Bang Gang - LSD Minimix

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One night whilst hanging out in Kings Cross’s watering hole World Bar I bumped into an old housemate Rashida who told me she was on her way to the Bang Gang party (not the Icelandic band) up in the Moulin Rouge, just around the corner from where I was. The venue was an old strip joint turned nightclub and access inside was strictly for the overly fashionable so I didn’t go that night. I did however get a ticket for a show for the very popular (back then) Mylo who was riding high on his Destroy Rock n Roll album was in the country to tour said album doing DJ gigs. He was quite ordinary as a record spinner, but I clearly remembered the vibe of the night, of what became the beginnings of the electro movement in Australia’s clubbing scene.

It was a good year or two before I went out to another Bang Gang night, this time at the venereal Club 77 on William St. This time the scene has fully exploded, punters were decked out in very expensive Tsubi (now Ksubi) jeans and apparel, hell bent on getting wasted on whatever rainbow mix was available at 78 that night. The Bang Gang DJ collective was now familiar names in raves, clubs and festivals around the country. Led by Ajax, the night also made names out of the younger djs Jaime Doom, Gus Da Hoodrat, DJ Damage and Dangerous Dan, also known as Dan Single, founder of the Tsubi label. When Ajax won some DJ of the year awards last year, he said in an interview that in the beginning only he was making a living as a professional DJ, but now all these guys are in the same category. The night and the culture turned these partyheads into a significant player in the dance music scene in Australia.

Many might scoff at the suggestion of calling Bang Gang DJs musicians, some still think DJs are like cover bands, they’re just replaying someone else’s art. I used to think the same way but the more I go to these nights the more I realized that for a lot of the punters, these are the only chance they get to hear new music, a lot of them original Australian productions. Kind of like how music videos are the only chance many young people get to see abstract art, clubs are very often the only place where they get to hear music very often not available on commercial radio playlists or even on CDs. The music that gets played here are also the ones that gets noticed in parallel scenes overseas in the Europe and America. Regardless of intent, Bang Gang and their fellow electro artists in the scene are getting heard on dance floors of clubs to thousands overseas.

Of course the natural step for Bang Gang, just like UK’s Ministry of Sound, is to start a label and put out dance compilations. So now they are releasing the Light Sound Dance double disc out through Modular. This ten minute minimix is a sample of what headspin you can expect from this release when played in the right party. Rainbows optional.

http://www.myspace.com/thebanggang

This video has been nominated for ‘Best Music video’ at the Australian/NZ Urban Music Awards

Barrage - ‘Only Only’

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Feral Media, a Sydney based record label, have launched a new music initiative worth paying attention called Pow Wow. Over a 12 month period starting July 2007, the initiative will release 10 original releases each by a different artist. Each release will feature a generic screen printed custom cover. The first artist we’ll blog from this series is Melbourne’s one man outfit Barrage. This song if featured on his first 7″ vinyl release 2.
www.barragemusic.com

Bachelor of Arts - ‘Bang Bang Boom Boom’

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I’ve seen this band a few times now and if I have to pick a description for their sound, I’d say they’re very Melbourne. You know, big bottom end, dark vocals and overall a dark grey mood, just like the skies are out here. I asked Angus, who also drums for Treetops, more info on the band and he gave me this:

“Bachelor Of Arts started as a electronic studio project when I was living in
Tasmania. It had really Kraut leanings and 80s synth stuff like Eno and
Bowie. When we moved to Melbourne to study and added another member, things
moved into more of a organic, harder sound. We started listening to a lot of
Shellac, early Trans Am, Fugazi, etc and through about ten gigs around
Melbourne we refined our sound. Pretty much straight away we recorded our
current EP and got about the business of further songwriting and touring. We
just arrived home from Brisbane. It feels pretty cool to get out on the road
and meet so many people whilst playing really fun gigs. “

www.myspace.com/bachelorsonline

Soma For Kinder - ‘Spooked’ (mp3)

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Named after Pnau and Teenager’s Nick Littlemore heard the song we’ve blogged here, Soma For Kinder are a two-piece (but four piece live… when they actually play… OK, that’s harsh, but I’ll come back to it in a sec) who reside in the beachside suburb of Bondi, in Sydney. Sultry vocalist Tanya Horo originally hails from New Zealand, but when she moved to Oz she was befriended by Jono Ma, who has produced acts like Lost Valentinos (when they had the “The” in their name) and teenagersintokyo, and is one of the DJs in The Knife Machine. The two then formed this rather dreamy indietronica act.

The group has released one EP, and now they’re basically in hiberation (hence my dig before: “when they actually play“). But news from their MySpace site says they’re working on a new album, so keep a lookout for that. If you love Decoder Ring, you’ll love Soma For Kinder. It’s the perfect nocturnal soundtrack.

http://www.myspace.com/somaforkinder

The Brunettes - ‘Her Hairagami Set’

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The first time I saw these guys they had a toy drum kit and they took turns playing instruments and stage positions. The second time around they were still a four piece, but this time they had a full kit with even more instruments, and stayed at their respective sides of the stage. Now they are a full seven piece band, and this song is the first taken out of their Structure & Cosmetics album. It’s really easy to trivialise a band that banks on retro sounding songs, but I feel that Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield could not write these songs any other way. Their genuine take on innocent 50s pop can be compared too their on stage chemistry: it may not be the real thing (they were a couple once) but it’s damn close, and sometimes better.

www.myspace.com/thebrunettes

Wons Phreely - ‘The Rules of Nature’

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Immediately intoxicating, Wons Phreely shares the rich breath of Chris Martin’s voice and the sharply sweet songwriting of Ben Kweller, to whom he is often compared. This is the very first release from the West Australian talent and it spills over with beautiful rhymes and bubbling melodies, with four distinct shades on the four track EP. Another Thing bursts with muscled pop bounce onto the landscape, in the naïve indie bluster of a Ben Lee or a Badly Drawn Boy, unrelenting in its good humour and energy. Wons’ deft, literary lyricism shines on Rules of Nature as a balladry love emerges warmly ironic from his smiling words, and Temper Temper dances lightly half way between The Eels and Bob Evans. Closing with Soldiers, a fitful folk fable of unexpected melodic twists, Phreely puts his voice out front and winds his sunny way through whipping words of beguiling intelligence. A great new talent.

www.myspace.com/wonsphreely

Proudly made for $200 this clip opened a lot of doors for this independent roots band after being youtubed over 300,000 times.

www.myspace.com/bluekingbrown

The awesome and hilarious Sydney funk outfit bluejuice offer one of the funnier Aussie videos of this year for their infectious single ‘Vitriol’.  I blogged about it a few weeks ago, and since then it’s been doing the rounds on Triple J and local stations around the country.  And why not, it’s such an upbeat number, with its nasal, Hammond organ and synthesised bass lines.

Submit to the Church of Big Fish with bluejuice.

http://www.myspace.com/bluejuice

Shooting At Unarmed Men - ‘Sometimes The Best Thing You Can Do Is Die’

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We welcome with open arms the rabid punk ranting of Jonathan Chapple, bass player with the dearly departed Mclusky and brand New Australian, who has left the cold climbs of Cardiff for the morbid greys of Melbourne. Unsurprisingly, his music is still pretty grouchy. This single, chock full of piss, vinegar and grinding guitar vengeance, sees Jonathan band together with a few local lads for a third Unarmed Men album. Expect the usual mind-mashing excellence.

www.myspace.com/shootingatunarmedmen

Mia Dyson - ‘I Meant Something To You Once’

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Australia’s very own travelling blues muso have released three albums so far, the latest of which is Struck Down. She’s currently touring the world to promote this release, but I want to blog this particular song because in my recent mulling of past relationships, this one makes a pretty good soundtrack.

I suppose watching Annie Hall for the 20th time will get anyone in this mood, but even though I know what I feel and how to deal with it, blues can always say it better. It doesn’t even have to be exact, I definitely never had anyone similar to the object of loss in the song but that is just minor detail. The important part is always the chorus, the big hook line, when delivered right it will hit straight inside and stir shit up. The flood of images conjured to my head is heavy and slow everything down. Good song.

www.myspace.com/miadyson

Sherlock’s Daughter - ‘Bang Hotels’ (mp3)

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Tanya Horo is one interesting character.  Although she’s best known in Australia for her work in the quirky electronica act Soma For Kinder, she’s basically led a completely different life in another country.

Although she was born in Adelaide in 1978, she moved with her parents to Auckland in New Zealand when she was only a year old.  To say she has a creative upbringing is something for an understatement.  She appeared in a slew of NZ television commericals, was a host on a show called Destination Auckland, appeared in a number of short films, played the character Christine Hastings on a show called Shortland Street and also popped up on a couple of other TV shows such as Spin Doctors and Jackson’s Wharf.

Then there’s her music side, which seemed to kick off when she moved from Auckland to Christchurch.  She fronted an all-girl group called Growler before going solo under the moniker Kapala, before changing it again to Marvey King. 

She became friendly with Pnau when they toured New Zealand and she ended up singing on one of their tracks, and it may be through those guys that she met fellow Soma-rian, Jono Ma.  But now Tanya is residing here, and Sherlock’s Daughter is her electronic side-project that seems to have come together during Soma for Kinder’s downtime.  It’s more upbeat than Soma; more akin to acts like The Hate Game and those synth-infused ’80s revivalist acts. 

If you’re in Sydney, you can catch Sherlock’s Daughter at the Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills on Wednesday July 25.

.hinge - ‘Just.As’

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One of my most anticipated local releases has finally hit the shelves - Melbourne rockers .hinge have dropped their fantastic second LP, The Rise & Fall of Living Great, and it certainly lived up to my expectations.

They’ve always been a phenominal live act, and their first record, Something to Adore, while musically solid, lacked the impact that their live shows had. After hearing tracks like ‘This Time I Take The Wheel’, ‘Man In The Desert’ and ‘We Might Just Kill You’ live before they even hit the studio, I knew the material would be extremely strong, but would it translate to record?

Thankfully it does, very well. They’ve teamed up again with Peter “Reggie” Bowman, former guitarist for legendary Aussie pop/rock act Southern Sons, and made a record that’s sonically massive and musically diverse, combining a variety of different elements to create a really unique album.

The first cut off The Rise & Fall of Living Great is ‘Just.As’ and the band have hopped in the Tarago and are travelling up and down the East Coast over the next few weeks to launch the album and have a party. If they’re near your town, go see them! These are the dates:

Thursday July 19 - The ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
Friday July 20 - Annandale Hotel, Sydney, NSW
Friday July 27 - The Globe, Brisband, QLD
Saturday July 28 - Sands Tavern, Sunshine Coast, QLD
Thursday August 2 - The Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills, NSW
Friday August 3 - Sodens Hotel, Albury, NSW
Thursday August 9 - Rydges CBD Sportbar, Wollongong, NSW
Friday August 10 - 5 Crown Lane (instore), Wollongong NSW
Friday August 10 - Bar Broadway, Sydney, NSW
Saturday August 11 - Utopia Records (instore), Sydney, NSW
Saturday August 11 - Caringbah Bizzos, Caringbah, NSW
Saturday August 18 - Peninsula Lounge, Moorodoc, VIC
Friday August 24 - The Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne, VIC

http://www.hinge.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/hingemusic

Airbourne - ‘Stand Up For Rock ‘n’ Roll’

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Some two years after a feverish music industry rumour mill began to slaver over what giants Airbourne might be, they finally get around to releasing an album. This single is a joke, sponsored by cynical industry hacks hell-bent on reproducing Jet’s international success by serving up another 70s rock cover band. That Airbourne look and sound exactly like AC/DC is apparently irrelevant; so long as you can don your skinny leg black jeans and bang your head like some sad parody of a real music fan, they win your vote. The whole thing is pathetic. If this idiot parade sells any records I’m gonna move into a cave and seal off the door with a big pile of rocks.

www.myspace.com/airbournerock

Saw these guys last week in Melbourne. The singer Kiss is crazy, he was running into crowds and shouting into people’s faces and generally being a punk. Great show.

www.myspace.com/thescare

www.myspace.com/jacksonjacksonmusic

A Friend Like Mine - ‘Cry Like You Mean It’ (mp3)

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A full and fierce debut EP from the ambitious songwriting team that is A Friend Like Mine. Heavily informed by a late-period Radiohead, the boys also cite Mogwai, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails and Neutral Milk Hotel as influences and bear the marks of all these bands. Rich, dark and deeply creative, they move from glitch-based dreamscapes to murky ballads to industrial gothica in an album length collection of oblique but powerful tunes. Very, very interesting.

www.myspace.com/internetwhores

bluejuice - ‘Vitriol’ (mp3)

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I’m not sure why I’m really writing a blog on bluejuice because I really don’t know much about them at all.  But I do know this: they won a MusicOz Award in 2003, they’ve released two EPs - Zebraaazz and The Good Luck Pig - and they’re about to release their first full-length album, Problems, next month.

I also hear they’re funny as fuck and one of the greatest Sydney bands to see live.  I haven’t heard anyone say they didn’t enjoy a bluejuice gig.  Because these guys don’t really take themselves all that seriously.  You get that vibe from their funk/hip-hop hybrid songs. 

They’re getting lots of radio lovin’ from their new single ‘Vitriol’.  And you can hear it here!  It’s one of my favourite tunes at the moment - the organ is just awesome.

http://www.bluejuice.info
http://www.myspace.com/bluejuice

Melanie Horsnell - ‘Kiss You Again’ (mp3)

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I became aware of Melanie Horsnell purely for the fact that a few of my mates were members of her backing band The Inflatable Girlfriends.  But it wasn’t until she released ‘Kiss You Again’ from her record The Adventures of that I actually heard any Mel Hornsell material.

Invoking images of ’60s pop acts such as The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel, ‘Kiss You Again’ is a really sweet singer/songwriter tune, in the vein of more contemporary artists like Regina Spektor, Cat Power and KT Tunstall.  She’s currently on tour with Red Ghost and Laura Imbruglia on the Once, Twice, Three Times A Lady Tour.  The dates are:

Thursday July 12 - Sodens Bar, Albury, NSW
Friday July 13 - Yahoo Bar, Shepparton, VIC
Saturday July 14 - Wesley Anne Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Sunday July 15 - The Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA
Thursday July 19 - Oxford Tavern, Wollongong, NSW

http://www.melaniehorsnell.com
http://www.myspace.com/melaniehorsnell

Evermore - ‘Never Let You Go’

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Like a bicycle with only one gear, Evermore are only good for the seamless flatland that is the middle of the road. ‘Never Let You Go’ opens with the trademark harmonies of Evermorean standard and builds through the verse towards a chorus of soaring vocals and orchestral drums. I swear to God, they’re just changing the lyrics at this point.

www.myspace.com/evermore

Lost Valentinos - ‘17 Deaths’

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The begot Los begot Lost… so now we arrive at Lost Valentinos, a name change for the Sydney four piece to avoid a throng of lawyers syphoning money from them. It begs the question: what’s the big difference between “The Valentinos” and “Lost Valentinos”??

Along with the name change comes two things: a new drummer, replacing Dan Stricker (who’s now behind the kit for the Midnight Juggernauts), and a new single, ‘17 Deaths’ produced by uber-rad UK-via-Berlin producer Ewan Pearson. He’s worked with bands like The Rapture and Goldfrapp, and that electro-dance element is noticable from the first few seconds when the rave synths kick in. It’s more of a progression for the band, whose popularity has plateaued somewhat since the release of their EP Damn and Damn Again.

You can only buy this one on iTunes and it’ll be on their album which will be out sometime - I don’t think the band even know!

http://www.myspace.com/lostvalentinos

A moodier and, dare I say, darker Crowded House return with ‘Don’t Stop Now’, the first song lifted from their new album Time On Earth, their first album in nearly 15 years and their first since the suicide of their fantastic drummer Paul Hester. 

www.crowdedhouseofficial.com
www.myspace.com/crowdedhouse

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

The Paper Scissors - ‘Yamanote Line’

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Jagged funk and blues from Byron act The Paper Scissors, whose lazy tempo idles along beautifully until a burst of speeding rhythm takes the song in an entirely different direction for the final third. A catchy chorus of crowd holler and some sunny swift guitar work make an interesting mix early on, but I’m not sure about the shift – the rhythms are too late nineties drum ‘n’ bass for my taste.

http://www.myspace.com/thepaperscissors

I Heart Hiroshima - ‘Punks’

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Don’t be fooled by the title: the brand new single from Brisbanites I Heart Hiroshima is the antithesis of punk. Jangly clean guitars ring beneath girl vs boy vocals that are delivered with a life-or-death urgency. Kind of like the way Win Butler from the Arcade Fire sounds like he’s singing every song from a podium, orating people who aren’t listening, trying to get the message out before it’s too late. Too late for what, you ask? Fucked if I know…

It’s kinda twee, in an Architecture in Helsinki kind of way, which everyone seems to love at the moment. Not that it’s bad, it’s just in vogue, and that’s cool. ‘Punks’ seems to belong in that casket, and there’s something about its simplistic nature that’s rather endearing. It’s the first taste of their new album Tuff Tuff which will be out soon. It’s not going to set the house on fire, but you won’t want to burn it down out of anger either.

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

Midnight Juggernauts @ Fabric, London:

So I’m in London having a look about the live stages here, and first on the Australian agenda is Australia’s electro outfit Midnight Juggernauts who played a late night slot in one of London’s most well-known nightclubs. Though it’s not my late night haunt of choice, it was 2am when the Melbourne duo plus ex-Valentinos tin-master came out on stage. On record, I think The Jugger’s have some killer dance tracks, but have yet to impress me live. In their defence, the mix wasn’t great, with the dials set at “blow your ear drums out with VOOM”, it was definitely a show for the ravers. Nonetheless, the UK kids seemed to dig it, and there were a few familiar faces in the crowd.

www.myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts

photo by Michael Curtis

Repeat Offender - ‘Amphetamine’ (mp3)

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Anytime a band manages to notch up 190,000 profile views on MySpace with fairly limited radio play, it’s time to sit up and take notice.

Straight off the bat, there’s a lot of people who are going to loathe Repeat Offender: they’re a bastard mixture of rock, pop, punk and alternative sounds. But even if it’s not your thing, you have to admit that these guys are very good at what they do. They’ve got an extremely polished sound, which you may want to put down to studio trickery, but trust me these kids can pull it off live as well.

They’ve done some big gigs, most namely The Butterfly Effect and The Veronicas (weird mix I know, but one of the Repeat Offender dudes is shagging one of the Origliasso twins). The last thing they recorded was their EP To A Modern Love… and now that they’ve shed some weight off the lineup (they were once a five-piece, now they’re a four-piece), we should expect their debut album very, very soon.

They’re playing a bunch of gigs in their home state of Queensland soon, and some shows in Sydney as well, so if you dig ‘Amphetamine’, go and support them.

http://www.myspace.com/repeatoffendermusic

Crowded House - ‘Don’t Stop Now’

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Perhaps not the indelible instant classic of past singles, ‘Don’t Stop Now’ still throbs with a great, sensitive heart and a unique charm; Neil’s voice as vulnerable and clear today as it was twenty years ago and the melody as energetically lovely. A sweet Phoenix.

www.crowdedhouse.com
www.myspace.com/crowdedhouse

The last clip made under The Valentinos moniker, and with Dan Stricker on drums (he’s gone to the Midnight Juggernauts).  Next time we talk about these guys, we’ll refer to them as The Lost Valentinos.

http://www.valentinoteamfighting.com
http://www.myspace.com/lostvalentinos