Cassette Kids - ‘Forwards Backwards’
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Those crazy kids and their cassettes are back with a newie, this one sounds like a fresh one after their signing with biggie SonyBMG. I hope an album is out soon. They’re touring with The Presets in July, check them out.
Jun
29Don’t ask me what, but I was seeing different in my head with this song. At the very least I expected the clip being shot with Paris as a backdrop. This clip is rather underwhelming.
Children Collide - ‘Social Currency’
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Finally we get to hear some new material from Children Collide. After leaving their previous label they have signed with big timers Universal who had the dough to send these guys to the states to record with Dave Sardy, a major label producer who did career launching albums for Wolfmother, Jet and Dandy Warhols to name a few. I’ve always liked these guys because so much of it reminds me of the grunge era I grew up in, but it remains to be seen however if the buying masses are ready for such a revival.
Jun
25
photo by Boudist
Hell City Glamours - ‘White Trash Hot Love’
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Word on the street is that those long-time stalkers of the night, the Hell City Glamours, have got a new self-titled album coming out in early July. There aren’t many bands left these days who dedicate themselves to tongue-thrusting, leather pants, long hair and sweat but shit if you’re going to do rock’n’roll, you may as well do it right.
Cut Off Your Hands- ‘The Witch’ (mp3)
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I know Dom already posted a COYH cover recently but this would be my personal pick, a live favourite and just down right punky song that shows off Nick’s crazy howl that has to be experienced to get the full effect. I’ve seen them so many time, can’t wait for the album!
Jun
23
Art vs. Science - ‘Flippers’
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Sydneysiders Art vs. Science seem to have a very clear game plan. They make upbeat music for excitable people. Their style is uncomplicated, energetic and most critically, fun. They even provide simple to follow instructions on how best to enjoy it. This, for example, is what you should do when listening to Flippers:
1) I see you dancing with your flippers
2) I see you swimming with your flippers
3) I see you clapping with you flippers
4) Getting Happy with your flippers.
Of course you don’t have to follow these rather cryptic instructions. You could just wave your hands and feet in a way that would look unbelievably stupid if you were to do it in any other context. Ah, the liberating quality of music. Everybody should know what it feels like to dance like a giant penguin in the snow.
Jun
21
Cut Copy - ‘Hearts On Fire’ (Midnight Juggernauts remix) (mp3)
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This song is pretty old now, coming out almost a year (or is it over a year?) ahead of the no.1 album, being reworked and remixed by DFA generals over that time. It’s still one of the highlights of the really good album, which I admit I didn’t expect much of but really enjoyed once I had a listen through. Seeing it get a treatment from another of great Australian export of Midnight Juggernauts is reason enough for another post.
Jun
19
1-2-3 Amazing - ‘Tender Is’
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It’s always great to see a new local band, and even better if they show the potential of Sydney’s 1-2-3 Amazing. Their natural presence onstage gives them the appearance of a much more established band, and with only a handful of songs to their name to date we expect big things to come. Sadly they’ve had to cancel their next gig due to injury, so how about a spin of ‘Tender Is’ to tide you over until they’re back on their feet again?
Jun
18
Gin Wigmore - ‘Hallelujah’
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Upon further googling, Gin Wigmore turns out to be a more experienced songwriter than I originally thought. In 2004 at just the age of 18 she won the Grand Prize in the International Songwriting Competition with this song. It was written for her father who died of cancer, and it is pretty amazing for a then-18 year old to be able to capture her grief in such remarkably simple but mature goodbye.
Jun
17
Wellyn - ‘The White House’
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This band isn’t exactly new though I just found out about them, Wellyn has been around for six years. In that time they’ve recorded a debut album full of collaborations of Melbourne indie identities such as Dan Kelly, Ollie Brown (Art of Fighting), Andrew Coates (Black Cab), Danny Griffith (SubAudible Hum), Ned Collette, and Chris Altmann (The Vandas). This choir-like singalong starts of slowly and builds into a big jam of multiple guitar harmonies and rhythms that eventually overlap the singing to a climatic end, a good way to be introduced to their music.
Jun
16
Philadelphia Grand Jury - ‘Wet Winter Holiday’
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With an impending EP release on the cards, this might be a good time to get acquainted, if you haven’t already had the pleasure, with Philadelphia Grand Jury. The band, that is. Not the investigation about abusive priests that shares the same name.
Although the group itself has just recently appeared on the radar, the band members are no strangers to the music industry. You might have known them in previous lives as one part Berkfinger, two parts The Sweats. Combined, they channel an updated retro rock style that somehow manages to both pay homage to Elvis and sound incredibly cool. Not an easy feat, so respect where it is due.
Jun
14
Lauren Horton - ‘Silence In a Can’
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One of those rare direct submissions which I thoroughly enjoy. Lauren Horton posses a beautiful classic voice that would please fans of Holly Throsby and Jack Ladder. Her songs are perfect for those rainy solitary nights when you’re just happy with the company of yourself. She’s recorded an album over the last 18 months and is trying to get it released by end of year. Go check out her gig at the Hopetoun on the 20th of June.
Jun
13
Gin Wigmore - ‘These Roses’
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One of my random discoveries while trawling through the internet, 22 year old Gin Wigmore has the very enviable combination of a unique voice and songwriting experience that so many singer-songwriters crucially lack. This New Zealand born young artist is signed to a rather big major label, so I hope that she is marketed the way that she is personally comfortable with, and not another nu-soul angle. Not that anything is wrong with that, I am a fan of Amy Winehouse and Adele, but if Gin were to take the same positioning she could be in danger of missing the whole soul revival and be dismissed unfairly by the listening public. But I’m sure the powers that be know this already.
Jun
12
photo by Boudist
Pnau - ‘With You Forever’
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Yes yet another post of Pnau. Why? Cos they’re GOOD. This time Nick Littlemore collaborated with Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele. As weird as Luke’s singing style is, I’m quite the fan. And the good news here is that turns out this collaboration went further than just one song: Steele and Littlemore, along with Pete Mayes have started their own project entited Empire of the Sun, and I am privileged enough to have listen to snippets of the new album even though it was over the long distance phone line. Can’t wait to hear more.
Jun
11
Tame Impala - ‘Remember Me’
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Since we’re on the topic of psych bands I thought I should mention that I heard some certain people in the industry are trying to pick on the next trend and they’ve decided that psychedelic bands could-just-be the next big retro revival. And that this Tame Impala band is the one they’ve picked on to capitalise on that could-just-be true trend return. When I got to their MySpace, the first song that came on was a cover of Blue Boy’s 1999 ‘Remember Me’, which uses a sample of an obscure 1970s song called Woman of the Ghetto sung by Marlena Shaw. In all it’s fuzzy demo glory, this cover is pretty enjoyable.
Wolf & Cub - ‘One To The Other’
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Adelaide psych rockers have come back with a new song that is actually better than what I thought it was gonna be. I had reservations when I was told that Christopher Colonna of the Bumblebeez was recording their next album. I mean no disrespect to the man but since he took so long to finished his own debut album I didn’t really think much of his production skills then, but seems like he’s pulled it off here. This song is unexpectedly more approachable and probably somewhat more Triple J / community radio / blog friendly. I’m quite interested to hear the new album now.
Jun
09
Beaufort - ‘I Don’t Wanna Die’
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A couple of shy and elusive kids who I am yet to catch live, Beaufort nonetheless have produced some killer tracks best suited to early evening dancefloors, coming of age movies and the start of an epic road trip. Music, if you like, for anticipating things. Good things.
Distinguishable by sharp, musing lyrics and a penchant for dirty French accents, they’ve also thrown out a couple of excellent remixes and directed the latest Bag Raiders film clip in their short life together. Let’s hope they can’t dance too, or we’ll have to call them a triple threat and regard them with ill-disguised bitter jealousy. Kidding.
Jun
06
CHAINGANG - ‘Holiday’
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The perpetually-evolving and prolific recording CHAINGANG have kindly offered us something new from a weekend holed up in Sydney’s Big Jesus Burger Studios (hanging out with Daniel Johns… so the story goes).
Wearing their ’80s influences proudly on their sleeves on ‘Holiday’, this may be as pop as CHAINGANG ever get, but still with a self-assured punk aesthetic and frantic energy that bubbles out from Hayley’s dry, wordy vocal acrobatics. Just when you think you’ve got this band figured out - BAM, they’ve got another trick up their sleeve.
Jun
05
Dean Michael Smith - ’Lady’
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Australia has seen a boom in acoustic acts in recent years taking lead from 1960s folk troubadors. There’s a similar situation occuring in the States as well, though it’s a trend spearheaded by bands like Alexisonfire: heavier acts moving away to more subdued tunes.
Sydney’s Dean Michael Smith fits more comfortably into the latter category. Like Dallas Green’s side project City & Colour, Dean borrows heavily from alternative and heavier styles of music to create his vocal-driven, emotional acoustic songs, rather than becoming an aping Dylan or Donovan artist. Flirting with distortion earlier on, Dean seems to have found his comfort zone with simply an acoustic guitar. It takes a brave soul to get up and strip everything back, leaving nothing to hide behind, but Dean pulls it off confidently. And not just that, his live shows are humble, disarmingly funny and engaging.
PLUS - he does a killer cover of Seal’s ‘Crazy’ live. If for no other reason, check him out just to watch him belt out that tune.
Jun
04
This isn’t something we’d usually blog about, but last night on SBS Television, the discussion program Insight screened their episode entitled MiTunes, focusing on the multifaceted issue of illegal downloads - should music be free, how much is it costing artists and the music industry, and what should be done to curb the phenomenon.
In a time where the debate is so convoluted, Insight did their best to sift through the issues and devise some interesting and creative solutions. There were a slew of special guests on the show including Phrase, Tim Levinson (a.ka. Urthboy), The Audreys, Sharman Network’s Markus Kern (responsible for KaZaA), and respresentatives from ARIA, Australian ISPs, record labels and the downloading public.
So instead of checking out some new music today, head to the SBS website and watch the show online. (The episode is divided into three clips you’ll find on the right-hand side.) I think the resounding message from the episode is that there’s no one fix for the problem, a range of solutions need to be implemented to stop people downloading. To me, the first step needs to be eliminating any avenue by which people can download (well, let’s say “steal” shall we?) music, and I personally vote on the side of warnings from ISPs. If people have a way of downloading music for free, why would they pay for it? To me, that’s the crux of the problem. Secondly, a system needs to be set up to encourage people to purchase music at a resonable price, and the idea of a subscription-based initiative (which is discussed in the program) bodes well with me.
One billion songs illegally downloaded was the figure bandied around by ARIA. If that’s true, it won’t be long before music is no longer a viable career for individuals, and then there’ll be no more music to download. (Then we’re screwed, right?) And while we may look at international superstars and think they don’t need anymore money, they fall in the miniscule minority of musicians, many of whom struggle to make a living doing what they love.
Check out Insight and wade into this pressing debate. It’s an issue that the Australian govenment seem nonplussed on, but as a music devotee, I feel illegal downloading should be something we tackle urgently.
Jun
03
Jumbledat - ‘Fiends’
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Last weekend my band and I ventured down to Katoomba, a little town in the Blue Mountains, to play support for a band we had never heard of, Jumbledat. As we came into the bar to escape the cold, we were introduced to each member of the group one by one, and it just kept on going! It soon all made sense; Jumbledat are the kind of party funk band Sydney could only pray for, boasting a horn section, percussionist, Fender Rhodes player and two MCs in their ranks.
With an average age of only 20 years old, these kids play way too well live to be consigned to Blue Mountains obscurity any longer. Not that they’re complete unknowns; the boys have made a couple of trips to the big smoke playing with local bands like King Farook and bluejuice. But that Friday night, they were in their element, playing to a home crowd of over 250 people for over two and a half hours without switching off the power for one second. I was in awe, and if you have a listen to their music, you probably will be too. It was produced at the bar (Triselies) in-house studio, which clearly gives good results because the recording is as crisp as a fresh apple.
The rhythm section is impeccable, creating the perfect groove template for the rappers to go ballistic over. Just like bluejuice, it’s always refreshing to hear a distinctly Aussie flow coming out of your speakers. Especially given that so much US hip-hop is lamentably awful nowadays. I predict big things for Jumbledat, they’ve got the style and the substance to go far in the music game!
Jun
02
Lola Flash - ‘Sweet Smog Children’ (mp3)
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Sure, it’s early in the morning - much earlier than I’m used to writing a blog post, may I add, so the cogs in my head aren’t turning at full speed just yet - but did I miss something here? Let me take you back for one minute…
Thursday night. Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney’s modish Surry Hills. Ostensibly I was there to catch the Firekites, whose album I’m completely smitten with, but when I walked in a young five piece from Wollongong by the name of Lola Flash were playing a subdued, yet strangely hypnotising, set to a crowded room. (OK, so 10 people in that pub could be considered ‘crowded’, but there was a decent sized audience in attendance.)
Fast forward to now. After undertaking my ritual pre-blog internet trawl for MP3s, images and info, it seems that the teenage brainchild behind Lola Flash is Emma Russack who’s some sort of internet meem!! Where have I been?? Her steely-gazed, almost pseudo-sexual YouTube clips, performing covers of Neil Young, J.J. Cale and Echo and the Bunnymen have amassed a staggering amount of hits, but none more than a clip of her own song, ‘Swimming’, which is closing in on one million clicks (clip at the bottom of this post).
So why all the attention? Her (and Lola Flash’s) lo-fi, melancholic brand of Cat Power-esque pop has an emotional depth and maturity that belies their low age average, or perhaps its the unabashed brashness and bravado in which they pull off their music. The promo photos of members of Lola Flash pashing each other is an uneasy aside to their impetuousness.
But, perhaps more than anything to do with their age or attitude, just like it was on Thursday night, their music houses a haunting, ethereal quality that’s both subdued and hypnotising. Nothing about Lola Flash’s music is extravagent: from the Dirty Three-style violin to the scattered drumming, the reticent vocals to the unassuming guitar lines, no musician is jostling for the spotlight. Everyone knows their place in the Lola Flash universe and the end result are sublime musical nebulas.
Here’s Emma’s video of ‘Swimming’. Check out how intensely she stares at the camera like she’s looking into your soul…. well, maybe not. The measure of a video’s success are the number of responses and “remixes” done to it, so check out YouTube for some extra ‘Swimming’ action.
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