Bad Ezzy is one third of the all girl sydney party machine Hoops, along with Anna Lunoe and Nina Las Vegas. She’s made a cracker of a dj mix, a must to download and play for your parties this weekend.

DJ Bad Ezzy – April Club Mix (mp3)

Moody Bang – Ajello (Tensnake remix)
Move – CSS (Cut Copy remix)
Kilometre – Sebastien Tellier (A-Trak remix)
Samo Ti – Fagget Fairys (Zombie Disco Squad remix)
Do My Dance – Afrojack (Sidney Samson remix)
Afreaka – Solo
Amelie – Butch (Format:B remix)
Touch My Horn – Jesse Rose
I Can’t Stop – Sandy Rivera (David Penn remix)
Float My Boat – Lazy Jay
Id Engager – Of Montreal (Mad Decent remix)

wearthemhoops.tumblr.com

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Do The Robot – ‘Europe’

Do The Robot – ‘Moon In The Sky’

Do The Robot are Brisbane husband/wife duo Matt and Sarah Deasy whose Myspace once listed ‘Twin Peaks’ in their ‘Sounds Like’ category. I was pretty much hooked since then and, while their new material seems less synth-pad heavy than this reference point might suggest, it’s still a good indicator of the dense and lush sound the pair manage to piece together with only a few instruments.

One thing that DTR do have over ‘Twin Peaks’ is Mrs Deasy’s vocals. At time icy and disconnected and elsewhere warm and inviting, she sounds more like Juanita Stein (of Howling Bells) these days, which is totally a good thing. The vocals have plenty of room to move in the mix, which is filled out with sparse, ringing guitars and simple drum machine patterns atop subtle pads. This ultimately combines to sound like a more skeletal Cocteau Twins (especially on DTR’s first album, Amp On Fire), though they’ve been pedaling this brand of dream pop for years before it became super cool again.

Their second album is about to be released and I’m definitely looking forward to these guys getting back on the live bandwagon.

www.myspace.com/idorobots

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Paul Dempsey – ‘Out The Airlock’

Early this year singer/guitarist Paul Dempsey quietly took himself away to  Chris Joannou’s studio on the New South Wales coast and recorded his first solo album under his own name.  After fourteen years and five albums with Something For Kate and a little-known known solo album released under the pseudonym “Scared of Horses” in 1998, it seems well overdue.

If you liked the more alt-country moments of SFK’s recent releases or Josh Pyke’s new album you’ll probably like this. I found the double-tracked vocals a bit distracting, but frankly Dempsey could have done a lot worse.

www.myspace.com/pauldempseysolo

Jerry Soer:

I went through a good chunk of my university years listening to Something For Kate and got to see them in action at a free uni bar gig at the Roundhouse. Good to see Paul Dempsey still going at it. You can download this mp3 at his site: www.pauldempseymusic.com

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No Anchor – ‘Everything You Say’ (Part 1)

No Anchor – ‘Everything You Say’ (Part 2)

Here’s something a little different – some thrash drum and bass metal in the form of Brisbane’s No Anchor. Not only do these guys have an insane live show and the best physical packaging for their albums, they manage to transpose that energy and excitement onto disc.

Firstly, ‘Everything You Say’ is not a two part song – I had to split it up to fit onto our server because it’s such a huge mother of a song (nine minutes of aural assault) and even then I had to crunch the bitrate (so apologies to the boys if I’ve ruined the sonic nuances of the track). Before you fickle indie kids (myself included) flick past this post, keep in mind that I don’t particularly like metal myself. No Anchor are a different beast to what that creepy guy in the Sepultura T-Shirt with long greasy hair at the back of the bus listens to (no offense to any Sepultura-loving and/or long, greasy-haired readers intended). No Anchor may have shouts and sheets of distortion but there’s hooks in there too – hell, the second half of the song even features a tight groove.

Also, if I were an independent band then I’d definitely be offering these guys a cut of my album sales in exchange for some of their sweet packaging designs. Did I mention that they’re rad? (NB: I’m not sure whether they do this, but it would be worth begging).

http://www.myspace.com/noanchorband

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Bertie Blackman’s video to her latest single Heart was shot on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour and directed by Danielle Zorbas.

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Redcoats – ‘Devil’ (mp3)

This Melbourne band first graced my musical radar when I returned from Berlin last year, with their dusky, blues-laden rock the perfect antidote to a summer-long of minimal, minimal, minimal, and the occasional avant-pop italo-disco dalliance. They were promptly filed under ‘awesome’ and briefly forgotten, until ‘Devil’ reached my inbox this month via my friend/housemate/partner in crime. Thanks Ms S.

And Melbourne-siders listen up – Redcoats are nearing the business end of their April residency at the Evelyn Hotel on Brunswick Street, so if you’re free this Tuesday or next you should definitely put in some face time. And yes people, it’s FREE, so you can keep your purse strings double knotted (unless of course you recently got stimulated – then I’ll have a G & T, thanks.)

http://www.myspace.com/officialredcoats (more…)

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Skinny Jean – ‘Aliens‘

My world is ending, how ‘bout you? / I’ve got a million things to do.

So begins Skinny Jean’s “Aliens”, a song about singer Shem Allen’s ex-workmate’s bizarre but firm belief in alien rescue from the impending end of the world.

Allen’s performance unashamedly channels Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley but his songwriting is so mature and the band so tight  you barely notice.

Skinny Jean’s debut album Dolce Doggerel is one of the best releases to come out of the river city this year. Get your hands/download quota on it.

www.myspace.com/skinnyjeanband

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