Dead Letter Circus – ‘Here We Divide’

Dead Letter Circus are a textbook example of how to do the rock band thing.

1. Rehearse until you are sure you won’t embarrass yourself in public.
2. Start playing phenomenally awesome local shows, build following through said shows.
3. Repeat ad nauseum in arenas, pubs, festivals and dives all around the country.
4. Get airplay on JJJ, support every other band in your genre until you overtake them in popularity.
5. Keep releasing singles to keep your loyal fans happy.
6. Sign a deal with a major label after having done all the hard work off your own back for years.
7. Profit (???) using internet-driven and value added packages (???)

When I was 17, my much-older boyfriend at the time used to sneak me into dive bars all around Brisbane to watch his band play. It was during this bit of my life that I saw Dead Letter Circus’ second show ever, then their fifth, then their tenth, and how the punters kept coming back and bringing their friends. It was exciting to be around, and so were the songs; their debut EP  (released in 2007) was stellar.

A few years on and the excitement of the music has waned a bit, although to be fair it must be hard to work around Rob Maric’s distinctive guitar style and tone. If you loved DLC before, you’ll like this; and you’ll probably sign up to Project Dead Letter, the paid-access members only website with behind-the-scenes footage of the making of their debut album This Is The Warning and MP3s of new material.

Good on ’em.

www.myspace.com/deadlettercircus

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Midnight Juggernauts – ‘This New Technology’ (Babe Rainbow Dark & Dubby Remix) (mp3)

Here’s a super rad remix of an oldish Jugg’s single. As it’s remix name suggests, it’s both ‘dark’ and ‘dubby,’ stripping the original of its electro flourishes and turning it into a hazy, creeping wash. Super.

www.myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts

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Revival Mp3

Sydney band The Spirits have been kicking around the live scene for the last few years, establishing a strong presence in the usual Indie clubs after the band released some promising material in 2008. Their recent EP release ‘The Other Half‘ (which is a free download from their myspace/thespirits) continues in a similar style to the earlier Spirits material, although the band have certainly improved on their song writing and musical dynamics within the group.

The bands 80’s influence is still present in melodic and rhythmic feel/ clean fender tones drenched in delay, which is cool however they still lack the strong vocal hooks, compelling lyrics and creative production to really have you engaged in the songs. Bands like Expatriate and Temper Trap have nailed that sound, so it’s hard to impress if you’re not really taking the genre to places new and exciting. Maybe some jazz flute would do the trick? Anyways here’s ‘Revival‘ to check out, and also catch the boys live on Oxford st anytime! Peace.

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Pikelet: Red Pleather from gaga on Vimeo.

New clip from Pikelet, directed by Aleks from Aleks and The Ramps.

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Ernest Ellis – ‘Loveless’

I’ve been a big fan of Ernest Ellis since I first heard ‘Bad Blood‘ back in 2008. His long-awaited debut album now has title, Hunting, and will be released sometime in June through Dew Process. Judging from latest single ‘Loveless’ and previous Ellis tracks, it will definitely be a stand-out local release.

I’m a sucker for this guy’s sound. Ellis is still makes his simple folk tracks sound epic courtesy multi-tracked vocals, cavernous reverb and drifting single-note guitar lines, but they refuse to become indistinguishable on account of some fine, dynamic song-writing. Yeah, this sounds like a bunch of stuff already out there, but Ellis manages to leave his fingerprint on the tracks, which makes me confident that Hunting will, at the very least, be a cohesive album with some great singles.

www.myspace.com/ernestellis

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Gabriella Cilmi – ‘Hearts Don’t Lie’

She’s the subject of this site’s two most viewed posts – with 150, 000 hits between them – so it would be remiss not to put her new one up, right? To be honest, this track probably would’ve made it up regardless since we love a bit of traffic now and then, but it’s actually way better than I was expecting. The album itself has also been returning some decent reviews. Either way, above is the new Gabriella Cilmi, who’s apparently now some sort of disco-synth, barely-legal sex symbol.

www.myspace.com/gabriellacilmi

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