Batrider – ‘Legs’

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

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Bang Gang – LSD Minimix

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

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

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Barrage – ‘Only Only’

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

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Bachelor of Arts – ‘Bang Bang Boom Boom’

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

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Soma For Kinder – ‘Spooked’ (mp3)

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

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