Sia – ‘I Go To Sleep’

Australia’s sultry expat Sia has, like many Aussie musicians, found more sucecss abroad than on home turf. It’s been a while since she released her own solo LP – the last being Colour the Small One in 2004 – but January 2008 will see her release her fourth solo record Some People Have REAL Problems.

The first single off the album is ‘Day Too Soon’ and there’s a sweet remix of that tune I’ll post up soon, but ‘I Go To Sleep’ is another taste from the forthcoming record and sees Sia chanelling Chrissie Amphlett in this lush reimagining of the Pretenders hit. Stirring strings and a soft piano melody are the perfect accompaniment to Sia’s distinctive husky, jazz vocal tones. Its dreamy, slow-paced aesthetic recalls much of the material off Colour the Small One and is quite faithful to the original, with the strings replacing the harpsichord and muted trumpet of The Pretenders version.

http://www.siamusic.net/
http://www.myspace.com/siamusic

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The Evening Son – ‘One’

Newcastle’s a funny place. You can turn up at 6pm and find most of the city shut down… except for an Oportos in a back street, a restaurant that’ll only give you one serviette even when there’s clearly two people eating…

The whole of the NSW Central Coast seems to be populated by rock bands at the moment. Probably because there’s nothing else to do. The Evening Son are from the town that brought us such bands as Silverchair and… ummm, Silverchair. I’m having somewhat of a personal 90s musical revival (remember Nada Surf? Tripping Daisy? Primitive Radio Gods? yeah…) and The Evening Son pander to my current aural fixation.

I had forgotten that there was a time before pop-punk that rock bands weren’t too scared to play it slooooow, and grooooove, baby, groove. Stone Temple Pilots used to do it. So did Alice In Chains. And Pearl Jam too. And now the Evening Son are bringing back the rock. Awesome stuff.

http://www.myspace.com/theeveningson

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The Jezabels – ‘Noah’s Ark’ (mp3)

Dear Sandwich Club, we beat you to this one you bastards! The Brag threw one motherfucker of a Christmas party last Saturday in Sydney, taking over four venues in what was more of a mini-festival than a festive season party. If you missed out, then you suck. Offically.

There was one band on the night who made the biggset impression of all. The Jezabels were the talk of the night, with many “Did you see The Jezabels?” floating around. There’s nothing flashy about the four-piece. Their songs and stage show is suitably lo-fi and their singer comes from the Peter Garrett School of Dancing, but it’s rad. She gets into it. So do you. Everyone has fun.

They subscribe to the Arcade Fire brand of indie rock, with a hint of Nick Cave darkness, especially in ‘Noah’s Ark’. The Jezabels are the next big thing in Sydney music. Look out for them in 2008. Guaranteed. Plus they’re awesome peeps too, which always helps.

http://www.myspace.com/jezabelsband

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Flamingo Crash – ‘It’s Mystery Music!’

I don’t mean to be a negative-nancy, but I really didn’t expect too much of Brisbane band Flamingo Crash’s forthcoming Magoo-produced album… until I heard the first single, ‘It’s Mystery Music!’. Now my expectations are sky-high. It’s Architecture in Helsinki reminiscent quirk-pop made 4 stars with a Neptunes keyboard line and surprising saxophone interludes, and the freshest thing to come out of Brisbane in forever.

Honestly, it sounds like a house-band segment from the Young Ones, and who else sounds like that at the moment? Eat shit my low expectations.

http://www.myspace.com/flamingocrash

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