The Spirits – The Other Half (mp3)

Amidst the clutter and tech-obsession of the Sydney scene, there is an uncomplicated quality and honesty in The Spirits music that has done well to make them a band apart.

“The Other Half” brandishes the typically dreamy, dark and cavernous indie sound you would expect from a band of their influence, yet the real exception here is the light that steadily pours in to become a bona fide flood by songs end. The ebb and flow of interweaving reverbed guitars is accompanied by a truly outstanding vocal delivery, yet the overall vibe is stripped of any excess sonic bramble and goes straight for the heartstrings first and foremost.

In fact, the romanticism here is so well executed that, very awesomely, it actually comes across as right proper genuine. Such sincerity in a young Australian band is so refreshing considering the palpable abscene of such sensibilities amongst their local musical peers. It’s even better to hear on record.

www.myspace.com/thespirits

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Peon & Stuttah – ‘Doodoo’ (mp3)

Peon & Stuttah are a new beat-making production duo (I assume) from Sydney. Above is their short track, ‘Doodoo,’ which sounds less like a self-contained song and more like one part of a flowing mixtape/album. It’s very much in the vein of J Dilla et al and, despite its brevity, it’s still worth checking out and bodes well for future releases.

The pair have just formed the Blind Boy collective along with members of Seekae, Ghoul and Cleptocleptics amongst others. Some great names from Sydney’s electronica/production scene there so it’s no surprise that their first mixtape is pretty fucking great, which you can get via their SoundCloud account below. And by “you can” I mean “you should.”

Click here to download the rad mixtape.

www.myspace.com/peonstuttah

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Richard In Your Mind – ‘Sumertime Boogie’ (Do The) (mp3)

Richard In Your Mind’s latest digital-only EP is full of the oddball, scatterbrain sounds we fell in love with on their debut and is their first offering on rad new label Rice Is Nice (Seekae, Talons, Spod, Traps et al).

This sounds like someone’s cool summer mixtape since it covers such broad sylistic territory. A lot of the tracks  fluctuate between entirely live performances and entirely sample based compositions, while vocals range from early-Beck slacker rap to the tender, folkier pastures. The above track is the opening instrumental number and features a sped up drum break over cut up brass, a dude shouting ‘woo’ a lot, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It’s intentionally hard to tell what’s been found and looped and what’s been recorded live since the track sounds like someone just mic’d up a turntable, but that unified aesthetic is the beauty of this release. It gives the whole thing a warmth that is reason other more-typically ‘chill-wave’/’glo-fi’ etc releases have become associated with summer.

Summertime EP is what happens when you take such an inventive band to the beach; it sounds like the best summer from the 60s mixed with the best summer of the 90s. Make sure you grab it and enjoy it in its appropriate seasonal context.

www.myspace.com/richardinyourmind

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Svelt – ‘Ghost In Suede’ (mp3)

Self-described as a “hard-luck tale with a hard beat,” Svelt’s track ‘Ghost In Suede’ doesn’t disappoint on either front. It’s driven by a loud funk/hip-hop beat over some scratchy blues guitar, squelchy synth bass, and gravely vocals. It sounds more than a little Waits-ish (a good thing) but with some added muscle from the drum kit (also a good thing). Just when the main refrain, ‘baby, you did me real good’ starts to drag they inject some haunted-house backing vox to reinvigorate the tune.

‘Ghost In Suede’ is the better half of a recently-released, super-limited hand-crafted double A-Side that you can only obtain by contacting the band directly. Check their Myspace below for deets etc.

www.myspace.com/sveltband

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