Whether it’s a post about Gotye or The Basics, anything with Wally de Backer generally takes up space on this blog. And, when we’re a little too busy with our respective jobs to post a song, we post a video - and why not make it a Gotye clip? This is Wally performing live in the Triple J studios.
Aug
29
Hazards of Swimming Naked - ‘Dreams Don’t Come True, That’s Why We Dream’ (mp3)
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Truth be told, I was ready to blog about Hazards of Swimming Naked just from the name alone. It’s so absurd, especially since they play ambient instrumental tracks rather than frat-boy party punk/ska.
Hailing from Queensland, it doesn’t seem like these guys have been around all that long, but their music has an assured sense of maturity about it. The music swims (no pun intended) in the same vein as acts like Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mogwai in their more unassuming moments, such as on the Zidane soundtrack.
Maybe not the greatest band to listen to when driving home late at night, but it’s sublime, relaxing music.
Aug
28Sorry peeps, we’ve been a little busy the past couple of weeks, hence the sporadic posting. So, what do we do when we can’t post songs? Post videos instead! Here’s some soul and funk courtesy of Kid Confucius to wile away your Tuesday (depending where you are in the world and when you’re reading this).
http://www.kidconfucius.com
http://www.myspace.com/kidconfucius
Emma Davis - ‘I Believe It’s True’ (mp3)
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More sweetness courtesy of British ex-pat turned Sydney troubadour Emma Davis who’s been garnering kudos from Triple J head honcho Richard Kingsmill. If you’re looking for something to do this Sunday, Emma’s playing at the Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills.
Aug
23
Agnes Kain - ‘All Time High’
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Sometimes all it takes is one listen to fall in love with a song, which is all it took for me to become smitten with ‘All Time High’. I discovered Agnes Kain on my very first radio shift and it was such a sumptuous sound, like a happy folk version of Arcade Fire jammed into a duo…. yep, you’d think it was a Seabellies-size band on here.
They’ve had a couple of recordings floating around, and it’s finally been compiled into one album entitled Keep Walking Or I’ll Kill You which is a highly recommended listen. If you’re in Sydney, they’re going to be launching the album this Saturday August 25 at the Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills.
So So Modern - ‘Upgrade Your Chasis (It’s a Pythagorean Party)’
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One more song from this exciting new NZ talent, showing their rockier/punk side that could only be a good hint of what their live shows is like. Here’s tube of them doing a different song, but check out the guy in green, keytars are making a comeback!
Aug
21
Kisschasy - ‘Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night’
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First off, I have to say… that is a terrible promo photo.
Now I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about Melbourne boys Kisschasy. I’ve never been a big fan of their music, but it certainly doesn’t offend me. But when I was a budding little music jounro, getting paid nothing to write (thanks to the music mag which shall not be named), I got a chance to interview Darren and Joel from the band who really couldn’t be any nicer.
Kisschasy write very solid pop rock tunes - the kind that you just can’t get out of your head for days and days. They’ve just released a brand new album called Hymns for the Nonbeliever (cool title) and their first cut from the record, ‘Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night’ is a pretty good summation of the sound of the album. If you like this song, you’ll like the album. If you don’t, then you won’t.
Something for Kate - ‘The Futurist’
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It’s the oldest trick in the record label book: release a Best Of album by one of your top selling artists - in this case, Something for Kate - and tack on a new song so all the die-hard fans rush out to buy it.
The problem is, in the day of iTunes, this method doesn’t work, nor do people actually buy Best Ofs anymore. Firstly, they can just purchase the new song for $1.69 (that’s how much a song costs off iTunes in Australia), and secondly, they can buy their favourite songs and create their own Best of anyway.
So the legendary Victorian three-piece have bandied together some of their best songs (which, to be honest, is a hard task, but I guess that’s why there’s 2 discs) as well as a new song, ‘The Futurist’, and thus we have The Murmur Years.
Sydney’s sultry singer-songwriter Bertie Blackman… whoa, alliteration ahoy… contributes some barely-audible vocals to a track that really isn’t one of Something for Kate’s best, but my guess is that it was just a song they had lying around that they recorded just for the hell of the Best Of. It kinda sounds like Bruce Springsteen after a severe bout of laryngitis. The song lacks any spark, and Paul Dempsey has sounded a lot better than this. Gone is the dynamic ebb and flow of prior SFK tunes, as is the rich melodies.
If this is your first listen to Something For Kate, make sure you check out their older material - anything off Beautiful Sharks and Echolalia is highly recommended - before you make a decision.
http://www.somethingforkate.com/
http://www.myspace.com/somethingforkate
Someone told me that Nick Cave is the Christopher Walken of Australian music. How true.
Ahhh Tim, a.k.a Faux Pas… always entertaining! From the album Entropy Begins At Home.
Aug
17
So So Modern - ‘The New International’
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Continuing with the New Zealand content, So So Modern is a band from Welington, NZ who somehow managed to skip usual Australian touring time and got signed to the very cool Transgressive Records in the UK, one of my favourite labels who have released Ladyfuzz, The Young Knives, The Subways, Pipettes and Regina Spektor (!!). This song is taken from their 2006 EP and has a great synth bass grooves and is almost instrumental. Great sounds. They have just finished touring with Cut Off Your Hands in NZ and are off to a UK tour, and then onto a European trek with Robocop Krauss.
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - ‘Demon’s Demands’
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I’ve been wanting to blog this band for a long time but never could do it cos I’ve been told this band is to be experienced live. Since I still haven’t seen them, I can’t really tell you if they’re any good on stage. But they’ve done something as interesting: the supplied the title track to a free online movie called Constructing Fear, it’s about industrial relations in Australia. I’m not that big of a fan of Michael Moore type of political films, but I am keen observer on how the internet can be used to spread , music, film, messages and maybe films that involve all three. You can download the film, and the accompanying song, for free on their site www.constructingfear.com.au. As for the music, it’s very garage gritty rock, not my kind of thing but I’d still go see them.
Aug
15
The Brunettes - ‘B.A.B.Y’
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Yessss another song from their upcoming album Structure & Cosmetics, I’m quite excited about this release! They are playing small shows in the Troubadour in Brisbane on 23 August, at the East Brunswick Club on 24 August and at The Hopetoun on 25 August, supported by another whothehell.net favourite Sui Zhen in the Sydney show. This makes me sad as I will be missing out on both the Melbourne and Sydney shows due to work commitments, but you should make yourselves free and check them out before they jet to the US & Europe for an extensive world tour.
Aug
14
John Columbus - ‘The Toll’
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Just heard this band on the radio, a new four piece from Sydney yet to release their first EP. This song stuck out amidst all the everyday fm noise, so is well worth a listen. Interestingly there is a different version up on their myspace, so check it out before they just settle on the one version.
Joe Hardy vs Gotye - ‘Hearts A Mess (3AM Mix)’
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It’s a bit hard to improve on perfection, but if there’s a remix that comes close, it’d be Joe Hardy’s recombobulation of the as-close-to-perfect-as-possible Gotye song ‘Hearts A Mess’ which was originally found on the album Like Drawing Blood.
Last week I blogged about the new Gotye remix / covers album Mixed Blood and in particular, Karnivool’s heavy re-working of the song ‘The Only Way’. This week I thought I’d showcase one remix in particular, and the song that I think is the best remix on the record. For some reason, there’s three different versions of ‘Hearts A Mess’ on Mixed Blood but none seem to come near Joe’s remix. It retains the beauty of the original, but adds a sublime melancholie that’s truly captivating. Joe adds his own subtle flavours whilst still showing reverence for the original track. The song really comes into its own around the 4 minute mark when the off-kilter drums enter the picture.
Like Faux Pas before him, Joe also maintains his own blog at http://joe.hardy.id.au/blog/. It’s a great read, very diverse and in-depth. He’s also posted some early versions of his ‘Hearts A Mess’ remix so it’s interesting to see how he got to the final product.
The incomparable Mr. Percival dropped into Mornings with Kerri-Anne (which is a morning show on Channel 9 here in Australia) to show how he creates his spellbinding music and perform ‘Down in Africa’ from his amazing, AMAZING album Out of the Loop.
You get a sense of what he does live from this clip, but it doesn’t compare to actually being there. If you only see one artist this year, make sure it’s Mr. Percival. You won’t be disappointed!
These rad New Zealanders return with another song.
Aug
10
Art Rush - ‘Penrith Chicks’ (mp3)
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Sometimes you can uncover gems lurking within the library of FBi 94.5fm - and this is definitely one of them. I’ve completely fallen in love with its DIY / bedroom aesthetic, overprocessed vocals and simple Fruity Loops beats.
I think what I love most about this song is the lyrics: they’re just so obvious, not poetic at all and that makes it so hilarious. So he saw girls from Penrith on the train, they were fucking annoying and they pissed him off, so he wrote a song about them. It’s gold! Drop in the cultural MySpace reference and you’ve got the underground lounge version of Muscles.
(For those out of towners, Penrith is a suburb west of Sydney.)
This song comes from a homemade album entitled Primary School Disco which are just CD-Rs with a hand-drawn cover to continue the DIY feel. It’s actually his second album, following on from Lunch 6. There’s truckloads of cool content on his MySpace page, so make sure you check it out.
Aug
09
BoWsER - ‘Soldier’ (mp3)
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Now this is rock - pure get-naked-and-drink-til-you-drop kinda rock. Fitting, too, that BoWsER (who hail from the Gold Coast) supported the Eagles of Death Metal on their tour of Australia. There’s a definite Queens of the Stone Age vibe to ‘Soldier’, one of the songs off BoWsER’s EP Modus Operandi that’s been getting some radio lovin’ around the place.
This is one of the most infectious rock tunes I’ve heard in quite some time, and no doubt would rock the house live. It’s a simple four-to-the-floor song, but damn it’s good. Short and sweet, like a good rock song should be.
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