The Mint Chicks – ‘Don’t Sell Your Brain Out, Baby’

NZ’s The Mint Chicks have just put out their third album Screens on Flying Nun and, well, it’s probably my fav album from these parts this year. I won’t gush too much – instead I’ll just direct you to this review at Polaroids of Androids, which pretty much sums up why you should go and buy it.

The third and latest single to be released off it is streaming above and the rad film clip for the even-better ‘Hot On Your Heels’ is below. Yes, two songs, mainly because it deserves two songs and also mainly because that video clip is awesome. So nice one on all fronts.

FYI, The Mint Chicks often get tagged with generic labels like ‘noise rock,’ ‘punk,’ ‘experimental’ or even ‘shit-gaze,’ but not only do none of these labels fail to fully describe their sound, they also play down the fact that The Mint Chicks’ songs are some of the most catchiest power-pop around. I literally haven’t stopped singing some these choruses since I first heard them.

So, so very good.

Mint Chicks – Hot on Your Heels from Mint Chicks on Vimeo.

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DRAMA FOR YAMAHA – Island Pop

So I agree that the whole Tribal/Island pop/Afrobeat thing that’s been happening in music this year is starting to sound a bit done… but then, new music shouldn’t always be judged solely on how far it pushes things forward. After all, a good song is a good song.

Defensive diatribes aside, Drama For Yamaha are from Melbourne – and the above track is lifted from their forthcoming debut, ‘Archipelago’.

myspace.com/dramaforyamaha

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The Parking Lot Experiments – ‘Remembered Light’ (mp3)

The Parking Lot Experiments are four young Melbournians who make inventive, unconventional yet totally unpretentious tunes, fluctuating between fiercely danceable loops, folky interludes, and playful banter.

With a level of DIY grace, these guys master ticklish, shiny melodies enmeshed with fresh, quirky electro rushes. Communal yelps and harmonies adorn Dave Connor’s excitable, and brilliantly childish, vocal lead. And if Dave is the driver, younger brother Andrew, arched eagerly over his drumset is the ceaseless engine. The man needs no seat. He’s Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, commanding those steal drums like he knows how.

Meanwhile, Justin Schacter and Lloyd Pratt provide the middleground, smoothly yet unpredictably utilising a bass, a casiotone and a laptop to emit sonic funtimes. Instrument swapping is rife as the mood builds from pensive to rampant to euphoric, but the transition is somehow natural and appropriate.

Earlier this year they supported their hero, the one-man-party-starting Dan Deacon, and they posses a similar ability charge crowds into masses of vehement giddiness. That got them some considerable momentum, landing them a residency at The Birmingham and more gigs than they knew what to do with. But alas, Lloyd, praised techgician, disappeared to Europe with a backpack leaving a deep and lonely void in the soul of the band. They even set up a We Miss Lloyd website.

So Lloyd gets back next Friday, and the band, eager to resume their upward trajectory, have a string of Melbourne gigs, and a La Roux support in Sydney.

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High Fangs – “A Lot to Think About” (mp3)

Erupting in a flammable barrage of abrasive garage punk, High Fangs raucous debut is almost on par with their throttling live stints. Produced by Mikey Young of Eddy Current Suppression Ring fame, there were definitely high expectations surrounding the Melbourne trio’s debut release. And boy do High Fangs deliver.

Swamped out in a killer plague of fuzz with an unpretentious base coat of boisterous melody, Tear Their Hearts Out is what you would get if The Nerves and The Cants made sweet, sweet love. Swag a copy, turn it loud and throw yourself down the backstairs.

Tear Their Hearts Out EP is out now.

www.myspace.com/highfangs

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The Gifthorse – ‘North In Exposure’

I’ve been a little bit slow with this one, but better late than never, right?

If you’re the kind of person who craves honesty and intensity in the music you listen to and the idea of a music marketing plan makes you feel ill,  give The Gifthorse a go. They’ve been cranking out heartfelt melodic punk for a few years now, playing alongside luminaries of the genre such as Blueline Medic and Hot Water Music and feeling feelings.

Their newest EP From The Floor Up is out now on Poison City records.

www.myspace.com/thegifthorseband

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‘Blood’ The Middle East

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