The Dirty Secrets - ‘Lighthouse’
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Perth synth rockers sends us their brand new song, hot off the mastering studio. The singer’s rather unusual singing voice fits quite well with the groove, this song sounds like it’s ripe for remixing.
Jan
29
Machine Translations - ‘You’ll Change’ (mp3)
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Bedroom musical maestro J. Walker has been making sounds under the moniker Machine Translations since 1997. For many, though, he first bleeped onto the musical radar with his 2002 album Happy and the quirk-pop of ‘She Wears A Mask’.
Since then, his brand of abstract pop has never seemed to gain the collective attention like ‘She Wears A Mask’ did. But he’s made a name for himself as a deft producer, lending his skills to other musicians, and the construction and composition of his own tunes are testaments to J’s incredible musical ear.
However, his singing voice isn’t strong enough to carry his own straight-foward pop songs, which ‘You’ll Change’ demonstrates. Built around simple open acoustic guitar chords, when J’s required to drive the song forward with the vocals, it stagnates. Subtlety in the layering of instruments help give ‘You’ll Change’ enough variety for its noticably short 2:30 duration, which makes it a good song, but not a great one. It’s no ‘She Wears A Mask’.
http://www.machinetranslations.org
http://www.myspace.com/machinetranslations
Jan
28
Pnau - ‘Embrace’
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This track features one of the most exciting feature up and coming talent Pip Brown aka Ladyhawke, originally New Zealand. Another great cut from one of the best albums to come out in 2007. If you are not yet convinced on how much of a talent Ladyhawke, well you’re a fool.
A week or so ago I managed to catch one of the most-hyped bands going round the Sydney scene at the moment, Cassette Kids, at Candy’s Apartment. Expecting an audience full of Mogans I was surprised to find a small but passionate crowd of CK fans getting their groove on.
I really dig Cassette Kids’ Klaxons-meets-YYYs brand of post punk / indie rock. and it was good to hear it in a live context. I still think they’ve got a little way to go with their performance, as the lack of charisma made parts of the set seem a bit cold and distanced the band from those watching, but those skills will come in time.
Oh man, bluejuice are the funniest, and most insane, band in Australia. Another hilarious filmclip by these funksters, they had to sky-jump three times while lip-synching the words to their new single ‘The Reductionist’. This is the result.
The Jezabels - ‘Disco Biscuit Love’
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I don’t really know that if it was ten years ago today, if I’d enjoy listening to this song during one of my post rave comedowns, as when I was coming down, I was really down. Down to the point where listening to trip would brighten up the day. But kids nowadays don’t go to raves to take pills, they go to gigs. Since the whole gig-and-club type nights got really popular a few years ago, you can get away downing smileys in the middle of the gig so you can really peak when that DJ really hit his stride right when the band finishes. Anyway, my wondering words is not being fair to this song, because The Jezabels have written a good song, whether you are an ex-pill popper or not.
Death Set - ‘Distressed (Bonde Do Role remix)’
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Well Brazillian fun band Bonde Do Role is no longer together, shame they split just before their Australian tour and ended up cancelling their dates. But they did manage to squeeze in a remix under the name for Australians-now-New-Yorkers Death Set. Check out their Baile Funk (or is it Baltimore? I can’t really tell) infected treatment of this pseudo-screamo outfit.
Jan
23
The Arrogance - ‘Pillars of Dust’ (mp3)
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Unknown band from Sydney, formed late 2007. I’m digging the mean bassline.
Jan
22
Peacocks - ‘Hit It Up’
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Melbourne band Peacocks may have only played four or so gigs, but their band members are nowhere near short of experience. Comprising members of now defunct band 1QA and Puppetman, these guys have got the pop awareness and stage know how to make a party out of any crowd. Guitarist Josh Moriarty is a bit of band slut, he plays guitar for Young and Restless, has another band Rise and Demise, slated to do vocals for Miami Horror and a few other projects I can’t really remember the names of. Look out for a gig near you soon.
Damn Arms - ‘Edie (Tybalt remix)’
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Sydney remix crew Tybalt has come up with another re-edition, this time of Melbourne’s Damn Arms.
Video directed by Sydney filmmaker Dave Regos.
Jan
18
Cut Copy - ‘So Cosmic’ mix (mp3)
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Soooo apparently I’m the only one who’s been missing out on this mix that Cut Copy made and released for download. It’s a selection of new songs and old songs that has inspired Cut Copy in making their new yet to be released album. There’s a lot of ’80s dance songs and disco beats, and I’m not that excited hearing the new songs being mixed in and out of the set. Still, looking foward to their album since the first one was such a grower.
Jan
17
CHAINGANG - ‘Get Off My Stage’
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So if you were wondering after yesterday where the punk went from Pinky Tuscadero, it went straight into CHAINGANG which features feisty vocalist Hayley and Mike from PT. Taking the lead from the darker spectrum of ’70s punk, CHAINGANG straddle the line between indie and punk, much like their contemporaries Die! Die! Die! and Young and Restless, though they do it with a slight touch of morosity; almost Nick Cave in its darkness.
Live, Pinky Tuscadero soared mainly due to the impressive stage presence of Hayley, and I could probably guess CHAINGANG will have the same response as she’s a formidable figure live. Combine that with the rawness and bite of the boys behind her, and heads will roll and faces will melt when this four piece hits the stage for the first time in February.
http://www.myspace.com/chaingangpower
Jan
16
Lions At Your Door - ‘LAYD’ (mp3)
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In a split worthy of an At The Drive-In comparison, Sydney’s high energy indie punksters Pinky Tuscadero split in 2006. And just like The Mars Volta and Sparta forming out of the ashes of ATD-I, so did two bands from the demise of Pinky Tuscadero - one of them being Lions At Your Door. The other, CHAINGANG, will be featured tomorrow, so check back yo.
Lions At Your Door feature Dave, Kirsten and Dirk from Pinky Tuscadero playing keys, drums and guitar respectively. Lions At Your Door maintains much of the frenetic dance energy that Pinky Tuscadero had but imbue their music with a stronger sense of rock rather than Pinky’s punk roots. It’s easy to see why Lions have snuck their way into Sydney’s music hearts: infectious, in-your-face and living up to their name - the lions are roaring at your door, are you game enough to let them in?
Jan
15
delSanto - ‘The Best Thing’ (mp3)
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One more for the black-clad crowd, delSanto are the new incarnate of former Southern Sydney metallers Tripgauge who had a successful run supporting heavy hitters like Cog, Sunk Loto, Switchkicker, Karnivool and Full Scale… not a bad list of names for any band to be sharing the stage with.
But the boys have laid off the blugeonding Sevendust-esque riffs and given way to more melody with this first offering from delSanto, a demo version of their tune ‘The Best Thing’, mixing Butterfly Effect style riffs and anthemic choruses with Matt Bellamy-like vocals. Expect to see them supporting some of the big names in the alternative crowd very soon if they keep up this kind of quality.
But first, you can catch them at their debut show at Caringbah Bizzos in Sydney this Friday January 19.
http://www.myspace.com/delsantoband
Purpose (featuring Okwerdz) - ‘Turn It Up’
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Purpose, to crib Mr G’s catchphrase, is a triple threat: an accomplished battle emcee who can write as well as he freestyles, plus produce his own tracks.
‘Turn it up’ (featuring the usually lacklustre US rapper Okwerdz in a surprisingly entertaining turn) is straight fire. The track itself sounds like vintage Just Blaze, and the hook! An 18 yo from Radelaide has no right to declare “Real Hip-Hop’s dead, and it aint never coming back!”, yet somehow I’m entirely convinced. If only he’d stop saying ‘fagget’ so much in his battle-raps, I’d happily proclaim him the most promising all-rounder of Oz Hip-Hop.
http://www.myspace.com/purposeafm
In a song that sounds like Fugazi covering Autechre, Sydney’s [insert gushing superlatives here] Pivot (in dual Pike Bros mode) demonstrate why they’ve become one of Sydney’s must-see bands.
Performing at the amazing new venue Oxford Art Factory, ‘Didn’t I Furious’ offers a glimpse into the band’s forthcoming album, the release date of which - though unannounced - is not soon enough for this self-confessed fanboy.
… good, because I never liked you either Rogue Traders. Bernard Zuel from the Sydney Morning Herald wrote one of the best reviews of 2007 when he labelled Rogue Traders Australia’s worst band during his tirade on their woeful Better In The Dark album.
Both this song and the clip, which seems to be blatantly ripped off from Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ video, are vomit-inducing. Natalie Bassingthwaite doesn’t even show her legs enough in this filmclip for it to be mildly palpable.
http://www.roguetraders.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/roguetraders
Jan
11
Lakoda - ‘Forget It All’ (mp3)
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From the forgotten state of Australia, Tasmania (for our international visitors, that’s the little island at the bottom of Australia… and no, not New Zealand), comes Lakoda. Tassie bands traditionally haven’t featured much on the musical landscape because, to put it bluntly, they’re fucked geographically. Whereas bands on the main part of our continent can travel easily (albeit far distances) to different states to reach new crowds, Tassie bands have to travel over water, which means you have to have lots of cash! This isolation means word of your band doesn’t travel much further than the pub down the road.
So I was surprised to find out that Lakoda’s 2005 debut EP - from which ‘Forget It All’ comes from - was recorded at the now defunct (which is a tragedy for the Australian music scene) Modern Music Studios in Brisbane. This band reminds me a lot of current Queensland darlings Nina May with their female vocals, anthemic hooks and love of pop punk and progressive rock sounds. Sadly for Lakoda, that kind of competition is very much a David vs Goliath musical battle, but Lakoda have elements in their music which show a lot of potential. We’ll see what they’ve been cooking up for the last two years when they unveil some new material in the first quarter of ‘08.
It’s just a shame for them that they’re stuck in Tasmania.
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