Darryl Beaton Band - ‘Shoulders’

I thought it was high time someone blogged on these boys, seeing as they are ludicrously talented and need some serious exposure upon the release (finally!) of their album. Sydney-based band leader Darryl Beaton is pretty well known in muso circles; he writes tracks for everyone from Aussie Idol Guy Sebastian to Ego-Maniac Kanye West.

Essentially, that means that he’s the bomb. But no bomb works without a fuse, which in his case is his backing band, with whom he plays at Melt Bar in Kings Cross every Thursday night. Largely comprised of the Chilean Martinez brothers (who play bass, keys and guitar), this outfit is a sight to behold. Though Darryl is largely steeped in the soul genre, these kids have latin-funk coursing through their veins, and you can hear it all through through their debut, especially in the syncopated rhythms of drummer Kevin Mendoza. Anyone who loves sweet soul music will dig this. For fans of Prince, Jamie Lidell and Stevie Wonder.

Bonus points: it’s safe to play around your parents, and you’ll enjoy it too. If you live in Sydney, you’d be mad not to check them out. After all, they play for free and continue on well into the wee hours of Friday morning. And who really does anything on a Friday, anyway?

http://www.myspace.com/darrylbeaton

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teenagersintokyo – ‘Very Vampyr’

teenagersintokyo – ‘Robocat’ (Knife Machine remix) (mp3)

I’m very late on this one, but in case you haven’t heard our friends teenagersintokyo are finally making headway into the UK scene where they just finished their first tour. They’ve signed to BackYard recordings, the UK home of Chromeo and The Gossip. Their latest single is a good old fashioned dancy grrl riot anthem. Sydney based remixers Knife Machine have also made a banging electro incarnation of the track ‘Robocat’ fit for the best of ravers out there.

www.myspace.com/teenagersintokyo

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Princess One Point Five - ‘I’m Onto Something Good’

They’ve always been one of those acts that have been lurking in the shadows, but perhaps it’ll be their third record Vous Je Vous that thrusts them into the limelight.

Princess One Point Five (or 1.5, depending on where you read it) is the brainchild of Melbournian Sarah-Jane Wentzki (who, from memory, is Princess 1.5 – well at least she started creating music on her own under this moniker) who joined forces with drummer/producer Richard Andrew, who was the stickman for cult faves Underground Lovers.

‘I’m Onto Something Good’ is the first track from the band’s new record, a positively upbeat indie pop tune which reminds me, for some reason, of Frente. And that’s never a bad thing. It’s a movement towards organic music, as her debut disc At Long Last, released in 2005, relied heavily on soundscapes and synthesisers to create electronic music more akin to Decoder Ring circa Fractions.

If you like the sound of P1.5 and you’ll be in Sydney on Saturday night, they’ll be launching Vous Je Vous at Spectrum on Oxford St.

http://www.myspace.com/princessonepointfive

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theredsunband – ‘The Eagle’

Sydney based indie fuzz band theredsunband returns with a not-so-shoegaze quickie ‘The Eagle’. They’re down to a two piece now to siblings Sarah and Lizzie Kelly, which is good because they’ve been so quiet I was under the impression that they disbanded, especially seeing that Sarah is in Dappled Dave’s new venture The Curse Of Company. I liked a few songs from their last album but as a whole it was a bit of a let down. Let’s see where the new songs takes us this time.

www.myspacepage.com/theredsunband

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Firekites - ‘Same Suburb, Different Park’

Since the release of The Bowery, the Firekites‘ stunning leave-me-speachless debut album, I’ve been yammering on about it to anyone in earshot who’ll put up with me for more than 20 seconds.

Put simply, I fell in love with this record from the first moments I heard ‘Last Ships’. Coming out of Newcastle in NSW, Firekites feature a roll-call of musos from other established acts: Tim Mcphee from post-grunge instrumentalists The Instant, Jane Tyrell from hip hop outfit The Herd and Jason Tampake, who moonlights as a member of Josh Pyke’s backing band.

Where the Firekites truly excel is in the guitar work of Tim and Rod Smith – two acoustic guitars playing symbiotic countermelodies, notes woven together in choreographed harmony. The way these two work together is magic, and it’s the beauty of their intertwined lines that lays the foundation for the Firekites’ idiosyncratic music. When Jane’s vocals kick in, it’s like waves of warm melody crashing over the guitars. She plays off the more subdued and introverted male vocals; vocals which murmur and accompany the guitars rather than overshadow them.

I’m at a loss though to label Firekites’ music, or even find a reference point, although acts like Kings of Convenience and the early work of The Sea and Cake mirror similar musical sentiments. Firekites could be referred to as indie folk, but that doesn’t encapsulate the melancholic aesthetic or mood. Tim’s guitar work from The Instant is still recognisable, so it lacks the strummed chords of traditional folk, and you could almost claim to hear some echoes of jazz in there. Plus, throw in Jason’s violin, intermittent distorted guitar frenzy and electronic beats – and handclaps – and you get a sound that truly defies genre casting.

http://www.myspace.com/firekites

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The Curse of Company – ‘All The Mines’

Well! Dappled Dave has created himself a new band with a few of his fellow musician friends and they call themselves The Curse Of Company. It’s very conceptual and if you do get into the arty cue card and the cleverly designed website and the beautiful photos before listening to this song then it’s an easy ride to their collective musician minds. What? Oh, you probably haven’t got the instructions. I’ll just cut and paste it down below here then:

Hey Bloggers, With the amount of support you’ve shown Dappled Cities over the last few years, I wanted to not-so-formally introduce you to my brand-spanking-new band The Curse of Company. It’s a real band (not a supergroup!), and one that I’m hugely proud of, and it’s sightly birth is quite exciting! So call this a make-shift advance press release if you will; some info on the band to be used at your mercy:

The Curse of Company consists of myself as Wiley Rennick (songwriter, co-producer), the redsunband’s Sarah Kelly, Tim “Jack Ladder” Rogers, Mr Bungle and Secret Chief 3′s Danny Heifetz, and Gerling’s Burke Reid (co-producer). The debut album, titled Leo Magnets joins a gang, is due for release later this year in Australia and USA through Hollywood-based indie label Dangerbird Records.

The debut single, All The Mines, was taken to JJJ and FBI last week and was immediately slapped on high rotation on both. RRR are also in the loop. And just and hour ago, I put the All The Mines Single Bundle up on www.thecurseofcompany.com for FREE DOWNLOAD for the duration of one month. The bundle includes the single, the filmclip, the demo, and the photographic artwork files. And yes, the free download is literally ‘buried” in the site, so only the cluey visitors may actually find it… ummmmm good luck!

The Curse of Company play our debut full-band show next Tuesday 27th May at the Hopetoun Hotel, with special guests Adrian Deutsch and Des Miller, $8 tix. There will not be many shows like this for us – I imagine the next batch will occur later in the year following the release of the album.

That’s it! A press shot is attached, as is a bio card with some more formal info. Go crazy…

thanks, dave wiley rennick

http://www.myspace.com/thecurseofcompany

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Paris Wells - ‘Dat Du Dat’

Non-sensical titles worked for The Police, but will they work for Melbournite Paris Wells? No, probably not. Visually a cross between Gwen Stefani and latter-era Christina Aguilera, Paris is somewhat of an enigma. How do you market a girl who’s pushing ostenible pop tunes, but has spent time playing at St Jeromes and jazz bars in Melbourne, and supported both Jamie Lidell and Justin Timberlake?

A lot of records labels are still under the delusion that it’s the late ’90s – that people will still buy CDs and that pop is the easy selling medium. Judging by the sounds on her MySpace, her label could have as easily (and better, in my opinion) marketed her as the next Sia, infusing soul and jazz melodies with bottom-heavy beats (check out ‘What Do I Deserve?’ on her website, it’s Sia circa Healing is Difficult for sure, and sounds like a great track to boot), but as it is, releasing ‘Dat Du Dat’, a fragmented and stilted tune, Paris will land herself squarely in the dance-pop corner. That’s a shame because evidently she’s a grass-roots girl playing commercial pop, and the shoe doesn’t seem to fit. Something like ‘Grace Baby’ would have slipped nicely into the slipstream of acts like Gabriella Cilmi, Amy Winehouse, Adele and Duffy, and would have had a far better chance of finding Paris success than a song with the lyric “I can feel you in my Dau Du Dat.” Uhhh… what?

Let me speak to all those involved in record labels – don’t insult and underestimate your audience. They’re smarter than you think.

http://www.myspace.com/pariswells

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Chasm – ‘Rise of the new’ (feat. Damajah, Jeswon & Tuka)

My knowledge of hip hop, to be honest, is pretty limited. I know what I like, but I couldn’t elucidate the reasons. Questions like ‘Why are the Hilltop Hoods so massive when someone like, say, The Herd isn’t?’ go unanswered. If the beats make me nod, if the synths are melodic and if the rhymes are smooth, then I’m into it.

So it is that Elefant Trak’s omnipresent DJ, Chasm, has corralled all his friends together to release what I reckon is a pretty top-notch example of Aussie hip hop in the form of Beyond the Beat Tape. For a man who’s worked with Ozi Battla and Astronomy Class, it’s unsurprising that the beats on here are quality. There’s a tonne of excellent MCs featured within – Ozi Battla, The Tongue, Pegz, Dialectrix, Diafrix, Muph (sans Plutonic), Hau from Koolism and probably more whose names I don’t really know, though I’m sure there’s people picking up this CD yelling, “Holy shit, JESWON is on this fucking CD!”.

‘Rise of the new’ is a sweet track, and one of my faves from the disc. Now’s your time to get excited if you’re a Jeswon fan.

http://www.myspace.com/chasm1 

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Dan Segal - ‘Revelation’

It feels good when somebody from your school is doing good things in the music world. My place of learning has produced a fair swag of highly successful commercial artists, including Valentino-cum-Juggernaut Dan Stricker, Macromantics, bass wunderkind Tal Wilkenfeld and, of course, Ben Lee. Next in line to the graduate crown is Dan Segal, a highly talented, multi-instrument-playing generally lovable kind of guy.

Dan used to front the funk band Camera Four, who were moderately well-known but eventually stagnated, prompting Segal to pull the cord and go it alone. In hindsight, that was a very good decision. In a solo context, Segal can fully spread his wings, taking on lyrics, vocals, guitars, bass and whatever else he can fit in a song, recording it all on his home computer in Maroubra (for international readers, yes, that is where The Bra Boys come from. Please note that Maroubra isn’t really such a scary suburb in reality!) Segal is a bass player at heart, and that comes through in all his writing, which are guitar-lead but really bass-heavy. Ever the wounded romantic, most of his tracks centre around unrequited love, or love gone sour. But sometimes, as in this case, Dan just feels like waxing lyrical about life itself.

‘Revelation’ is the kind of track you want to play at your next party. It’s got that killer, pogoing bass line, MSTRKRFT-esque handclaps and some seriously whack vocoder shit going on. It’s like a ballad in an electro song. If that sounds interesting to you, that’s probably because it is. And there’s a seriously Daft Punk moment about two and a half minutes in, where the effected guitars go mental and it feels like ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’ all over again. God knows we all need more Daft Punk in our lives. Dan’s also a designer, so he creates all his own cover art, and even has a patented ‘Pixelman’ concept which I can’t reveal or I will be gunned down outside my house. He’s doing an album launch at Will and Toby’s in a few weeks, with his band, who are cutely labelled ‘The Pocket.’ If you dig this track, head to his myspace or hit up the show. Rock on.

http://www.myspace.com/segalsongs

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Evidently, lately we haven’t stuck to the Who the Hell ethos of giving you a blog post every day of the week (excluding weekends when we inexplicably turn into trashbags and lose the ability to construct sentences). This boils down to two reasons: one, because I’m playing Editor at The Brag for the next couple of weeks so free time is at a miniumum and two, my home computer has been infected with the world’s most annoying adware virus – if someone can shed some light as to why someone would invent such a virus (seriously, who’s dumb enough to click on those ads??), that’d be awesome.

Here’s something new from one of my favourite Aussie acts, Pivot, currently in the UK no doubt blowing audiences away (maybe Tash will fill us in on that). ‘In the Blood’ is the first official single from the band’s forthcoming second (but Warp Records debut) album, which finds the three-piece venturing into new wave territory and, as Pivot like to do, fucking with it. The filmclip looks like what would happen if Adam Jones from Tool was given the duties of creating a Thunderbirds episode.

http://www.myspace.com/pivotpivot

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