Dappled Cities – ‘Answer is Zero’ (mp3)

In music blogland, there’s a loose hierarchy of blogs somewhat determined by Hype Machine’s blog popularity list. The biggest one of the all Stereogum have leaked a track from Dappled Cities upcoming Zounds album. I believe they are featuring it for one day only, so in case you missed it I’ve posted it up here. A few weeks ago Dappled and their team did an amazing launch show / exhibition in a storage warehouse, where they got 12 local artists to put up art installations inspired by each song on the album. It was a very original approach to reveal the album to the media and long time fans such as myself, definitely beats the art gallery with a gig approach. Boudist has photos of this event.

You can Dappled Cities them touring in August-Septemer :

THURSDAY 13 AUGUST – PELLY BAR, FRANKSTON
FRIDAY 14 AUGUST – KAROVA LOUNGE, BALLARAT
SATURDAY 15 AUGUST – CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE
SUNDAY 16 AUGUST – REPUBLIC BAR, HOBART
THURSDAY 20 AUGUST – CAMBRIDGE HOTEL, NEWCASTLE
FRIDAY 21 AUGUST – ANU BAR, CANBERRA
SATURDAY 22 AUGUST – THE METRO THEATRE, SYDNEY
THURSDAY 27 AUGUST – GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL, BYRON BAY
FRIDAY 28 AUGUST – BON AMICI, TOOWOOMBA
SATURDAY 29 AUGUST – THE ZOO, BRISBANE
THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER – JIVE, ADELAIDE
THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER – JIVE, ADELAIDE
FRIDAY 4 SEPTEMBER – AMPLIFIER BAR, PERTH
SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER – NORFOLK BASEMENT, FREMANTLE

www.myspace.com/dappledcities

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Generation Why is the new single (clip below) from the boys in Kisschasy, taken from their forthcoming album ‘Seizures’ which hits shelves on the 21st of August.

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Mr. Maps – ‘Your Heels in Sand, Soul in Pursuit’ (Lines version)

Mr. Maps is a band borne of precision and practice. The songs that form the group’s debut EP were originally guitarist Chris Perren’s honours degree submission, a product of hundreds of hours worth of recording, editing and programming. When Perren assembled a band to play the songs to punters in small venues across Brisbane, he and his fellow musicians found that collaboration had changed and energised the songs enough to warrant a fresh recording.

The group’s debut EP, Mimicry of Lines and Light, is a double-disc showcase of Perren’s compositions, first in their shiny master-planned glory and then roughed up a little by the idiosyncracies of live performance. It sounds a tad self-indulgent and perhaps it is, but if you appreciate music which somehow manages to tell stories using details, layers and everything except vocals, you’ll appreciate this.

I was at Mr. Maps’ first gig at Brisbane’s infamous Lofly Hangar in mid-2008 and I am quietly ashamed that it has taken me this long to put a post up about them. They are truly special.

www.myspace.com/mistermaps

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Eunuch Schools – ‘Birds and Bees’ (mp3)

There seems to be a community of musicians in Western Australia at the moment who are rather musically incestuous – and instead of breeding white hair, red eyed freaks – we’re getting some bloody awesome bands.

Eunuch Schools are at the forefront of this fresh crop of artists. These acts, including Sparks Vertigo, The Chemist and Wolves, all play vastly different styles of music but they all do it very well.

Eunuch Schools has obviously benefited from this hive of inspiration and activity by producing music that breaks from convention enough to keep things fresh and interesting while packing in enough hooks to make each tune memorable.

Their songs seem to often be at the longer end of the spectrum when it comes to length.  This might lead some people to call them self-indulgent – but I never listen to those people and neither should Eunuch Schools.

www.myspace.com/eunuchschools

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Howl – ‘Black Out’ (mp3)

I am constantly impressed, surprised and to be honest slightly jealous at the level of talent that some of the fast emerging younger bands in Australia posses and these guys have to be up there with the best of them.

Howl are a group of brash and reckless high school kids from Ballarat who hold firm in their hands the kind of musical talent, live flair and self-confidence that most of us can only wish we had now, let alone when we were in fucking year 11! The boys are quickly making a name for themselves around Melbourne with their exciting and catchy brand of garage punk which is headed up by the raspy prepubescent wails of vocalist Lachlan Morrish and followed by some cleverly used and simple guitar riffs and group harmonies.

Live Howl possess a confidence (near cockiness) that defies their school uniforms with members of the band often joining punters off-stage and sparking the kind of movement that is sadly not often seen at shows around Melbourne nowadays. It’s this sort of behaviour that has seen the boys earn the right to support acts such as British India, Reptiles and The Scare.

There’s still a bit of room for improvement in the way of song structure with some parts in songs occasionally being a bit excessive (even though still filled with some very clever ideas) but you definitely can’t hold that against the boys who are surely on their way to some bigger things.

www.myspace.com/thehowlmusic

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