Major Major – ‘The Beast’

This song’s been doing the rounds on music blogs lately – and rightly so. It’s a great slice of indie pop from a band who, when I saw them only twelve months ago, seemed incapable of producing something so professionally bold and catchy (which is a glowing appraisal of their progression and not a back-handed compliment).

‘The Beast’ combines a strong, stuttering back beat, stereo guitars and the odd ‘group chanted’ vocal to elevate its modest melody into near-anthemic territory. In addition to their penchant for effective embellishments, the band are fortunately also adept at knowing when to drop the bells and whistles. At various times throughout ‘The Beast,’ both dynamics are on display and work well when played off against each other. Adrian Slattery’s smooth and consistent voice contrasts nicely with the distorted guitars but is also, in itself, rough and emotive enough to avoid transgressing into dull competency. Perhaps the coolest thing about this song, and the best indicator of its success, is that it would sound equally at home in both small clubs and large stadiums.

Chances are that you’ve seen this song floating about already. Even if you have, you should listen to it again – it keeps getting better. I swear.

http://www.myspace.com/thisismajormajor

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Crayon Fields – ‘Mirror Ball’

Here’s something new from Crayon Fields – their first 7”, and our first taste of their second record (due 2009).

‘Mirrorball’ is delicate do-wop from one of Melbourne’s most revered guitar pop ensembles. Try not to feel giddy when Geoff O’Connor (songwriter and shyest man in Australian music) sings, “I look at you and suddenly I’m a virgin” (who are these people that have love songs written about them anyway?)

www.myspace.com/thecrayonfields

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Ben Lee – ‘Yoko Ono’

Figured I’d get this one up quickly.

So, new Ben Lee. It seems like this guy hasn’t taken a break in the last four years.

His latest song, ‘Yoko Ono,’ is from his upcoming album The Rebirth of Venus (released Feb 7th) and continues Lee’s obsession with straight-forward pop songs filled with rolling, unassuming hooks. Acoustic guitars, quirky lyrics, and a double-tracked chorus keep this song within the sweet-pop aesthetics he’s mastered with ‘Catch My Disease’ et al.

Though perhaps not as successful as some previous outings, ‘Yoko Ono’ still sees Lee continue to strive for the perfect pop song he’s been trying to write for on his past three albums. He’s come pretty close before. Maybe there’ll be a revelation somewhere on the album. ‘Yoko Ono’ may not be it, but it’s still likely to be as contagious as previous outings.

www.ben-lee.com

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Comatone & Foley – ‘Electric Sheep’ (mp3)

Comatone & Foley‘s Electric Sheep would be equally at home on Ed Banger or Modular these days as it would on be on Warp in the mid 90’s. It’s also is the stand-out centrepiece of their latest album, Trigger Happy.

The song (which began its life as a remix of a song by The Colours) is something a bit different and more than a little memorable from these two Sydney exponents of IDM. Though not entirely indicative of their typically more subdued, experimental output, it’s proof of a strong pop sensibility that lurks beneath.

Electric Sheep mixes robotic vocoders and a dirty synthesised bass with floating keys and glitched-up IDM beats before finally grunging out. Comatone & Foley tread through several genres and do them all well, and also successfully invoke both mellow and euphoric moods.

Put your headphones on and enjoy.

www.myspace.com/triggerhappysound

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Bad Wives – The Bad Wives Mixtape
Download Here: http://www.zshare.net/download/51629492d7e06c0b/

In terms of DJ duos around town – let alone female DJ duos – Bad Wives are pretty much incomporable. (And I’m not just saying that because both of them work in the same office as me.) No, these ladies come complete with serious deejay cred – Vivienne Kingswood was formerly of the Purple Sneakers DJ collective, while DJ Crane has been spinning discs around Sydney for a couple of years now.

So this ain’t no gimmick peeps – and to prove it, they’ve put together a pretty kick arse mixtape featuring acts like Mr Oizo, Modeselektor, Treasure Finger, Kid Sister, Metronomy and Roots Manuva. The link is above so you can download it for free!! Freeeeeeeeee!!!

http://www.myspace.com/badwives

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After The Fall – ‘Break Me’

Weighting the rock side of the pop-rock equation more heavily, After The Fall arose out of a booming Central Coast scene in the early ’00s and released their breakthrough album Always Forever Now in 2005 which spawned a handful of extremely catchy tunes like ‘Concrete Boots’ and ‘The Fighter’. In a time and place where bands were trying to out-emo each other (In The Grey we’re looking at you), After The Fall bucked the trend enough to sneak away from the emo tag, but had just enough energy and swathes of guitar that they could play to fans of 30 Seconds to Mars and have them tearing up the dance floor.

So things have been quiet for our Central Coast quartet for a number of years but now they’ve dropped on us another stupidly infectious song called ‘Break Me’ which is perfectly built for radio; it rises and falls at exactly the right times and contains a great hook – “She is a vampire / looking for answers.” Thanks to Stephenie Meyer, vampires are so in vogue right now.

http://www.myspace.com/afterthefallaustralia

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