The Trouble With Templeton are in the midst of a tour for their single ‘Six months in a cast’. We caught them in Newcastle before they broke for drinks. They finish up in Melbourne this Friday, the 28th Dec at the Worker’s Club. Tix here.
HEY FOOLS, the world didn’t end. Looks like you’ll be coming to our Xmas party tomorrow night.
To celebrate WTH’s recent relaunch and to cap off a rad year, we’re throwing an Xmas party tomorrow night at Workers Club.
It’s Christmas, ya know….so all profits raised from the night will be going to The Song Room, a local non-for-profit organisation who provide music and arts programs to disadvantaged kids in indigenous, rural and non-English speaking areas across Aus.
We’ve put together a killer lineup to help us send off the year and to give back to these guys. Trop-poppers THEM SWOOPS, our fave purple prince 2.0 HARTS and psych kings HOUSE OF LAURENCE will be playing. while TWO BRIGHT LAKES DJs will be spinning tunes all night.
Ditch yr office party, celebrate Oz music + come help us bring in some good tidings for good cause!
For full details and set times, check out the FB event HERE.
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Good tidings and another round of our global playlist for the Xmas season for y’all! Sunk Junk out of Melbourne are flying the flag this month. Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the full 39-track compilation through Ge.tt here.
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ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Olga – Dolor De Nuevo
Before you ask, Olga is not a solo artist but a band led by Roger Delahaye with Florencia Zavadivker and Luciano Lasca. Together they deliver electronic pop songs that near perfection, so it was hard to pick just one for MAP. Olor De Nuevo is our favorite from their new album, Gracias Tonales, which you can stream and buy from Bandcamp.
AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Sunk Junk – Jr
If Sunk Junk represent the calibre of young bands coming out of Oz, no-one can justify not being able to find decent new music ever again. Sunk Junk have only released one home recorded EP, but it’s definitely the most impressive thing we’ve heard all month. The elaborate percussion in Jr only feeds this assertion – weaving its labyrinthine way around intricate guitar lines and a hypnotic croon that could be easily mistaken for Jeff Buckley’s ghost. A sprawling track which teeters on the stark side of melody and mania, Jr is definitely a marker of good things to come from this band.
AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
Clara Luzia – Morning Light
Morning Light contains some of my favourite lyrics: “We held hands and cried until the morning light”. Isn’t the idea of sharing one’s sadness with someone else just such a beautiful thought? After four successful records in Austria, singer-songwriter Clara Luzia recently released her international debut album The Range, a compilation of songs from her previous albums.
BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Metá Metá – Man Feriman
Ethno math-rock could be a way to try to explain the sound of Man Feriman, a song from the album MetaL MetaL from Paulistan project Metá Metá. Sung in Yoruba (a West African language), it has elements of African liturgical music, free jazz and alternative rock, with a three-verse lyric that is repeated over the song to create an experimental, dark mantra.
CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
Elephant Stone – Heavy Moon
Montreal “Hindi rockers” Elephant Stone defy easy categorization. Echoes of The Stone Roses, The Kinks, Sloan and Big Star abound, but in the end the band crafts their own unique sound. Their sophomore self-titled LP is due early in 2013, but Elephant Stone have been teasing Canadian fans for the past few weeks with Heavy Moon.
CHILE: Super 45
Protistas – Granada
In just a few years, Protistas has become one of the most active bands in the Chilean indie rock scene. They frequently perform in Santiago, with appearances on blogs’ multimedia shows and local festivals (Primavera Fauna, Pulsar), along with tours across Chile and Argentina. They have released two albums and an EP since 2009. Their melodies combine the poignancy of Sebadoh with the urgent impact of Guided By Voices, in a style they’ve named “wild pop” – bittersweet songs with an explosive, intense guitar sound.
CHINA: Wooozy
Rainbow Danger Club – The Gathering Of Fools
As one of Shanghai’s most talented new bands, Rainbow Danger Club has been wowing music fans since 2010. Their theatrical live shows, fantastical lyrics and lush arrangements have drawn comparisons to Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Hector Berlioz. Last month they released their new 12-track Into The Cellar EP.
COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
Lucrecia Dalt – Conversa
Lucrecia Dalt’s musical journey has taken her from the city of Pereira to Barcelona, Spain, where she currently lives. With guitar and drum machine she makes introspective music with many layers that stirs the imagination of the listener. She has traveled the road of independence and now with Conversa, from her 2012 album Commotus, she grabs our attention again.
DENMARK: All Scandinavian
The Woken Trees – Orders
I know December is supposed to be all about lights and happy times, but here’s a MAP exclusive track and a band that is almost exactly the opposite. There are six of them, they call themselves The Woken Trees and they’ve recorded an awesomely bleak and hard-hitting post-punk debut album which is sure to make waves everywhere when released on January 28.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: La Casetera
Juango Dávalos – 6PM
Juango Dávalos borrows his musical inspiration from the 80s, but the songs he composes are surprisingly fresh and modern. 6PM is part of his most recent album, Réplica, which is also available as a free download.
ECUADOR: Plan Arteria
Swing Original Monks – Tucán
Swing Original Monks broke into the musical scene in early 2010. The band offers a proposal that is both visual and aural, feminine and masculine, provocative and subtle. The inventiveness of these musicians extracts the essence of popular music with the picturesque landscapes and absurdities of our society. Swing Original Monks is not a fusion band, it’s an infusion band.
ENGLAND: The Guardian Music Blog
Swiss Lips – Carolyn
Swiss Lips are a five-piece from Manchester who are more Delphic than Courteeners. Carolyn is part of the city’s electronic history rather than its less illustrious trad-rock one. They use the fizzy electro-pop medium to express feelings of longing for better days. “Most of the songs we’ve written seem to be about looking back on being a teenager and that wide-eyed optimism about the world,” they say, which might explain the giddy chorus to Carolyn – “Hey, hey, Carolyn, get into my car/Keep your feet up on the dashboard” – and its memory of illicit abandon.
Kicking off back in February 2003, My Disco performed two all ages shows at Good Morning Captain and Missing Link in their hometown of Melbourne, Australia to launch a demo cassette recorded a month earlier. Initially forming for a short-term project, My Disco have gone on to affirm their position as one of the most innovative Australian bands of the last decade. Having toured almost thirty countries Worldwide, released three excellent LP’s: Cancer (2006), Paradise (2008) and Little Joy (2010) together with heaps of singles and EP’s; this February will mark their tenth year as a band.
Wow, I remember how weird it was watching the hypnotic spell that My Disco placed on their cultish fans that would flood their shows. It was young kids that seemed to really ‘get it’ early on. The repetition in their sound took over the audience and somehow the intense guitar noise, relentless drums and thudding bass would come together to fuck your brain hard against the walls of the room.
Word is that the trio are currently working on a fourth album due in September 2013 through Temporary Residence. In addition to the forthcoming album, My Disco will release a new single in April through a well-respected North American label. Details to be revealed shortly. The band will celebrate their anniversary with a show at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, on Friday February the 8th, with a pretty decent line-up of Australian bands.
Supports:
New War
Standish / Carlyon
Max Crumbs
Absolute Boys
Brain Children
+ very special guest.
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Circular Keys’ new video for ‘Possessed’ is quite beautiful. I’ve recently loaded up my stuff in storage and I remember thinking how creepy it was walking down the isles of symmetrical doors. That shot is contrasted with strong characters, dreamy night scenes, a Shining-like hotel and cool live performances to make this video really successful. Especially compared to so many bad videos made this year – have you seen that flop by Battleships… yeesh. I caught Circular Keys playing live earlier this year and sadly, I remember thinking it was a bloody terrible show. ‘Possessed’ doesn’t sound like their live performance that night. This is how I imagined they could sound and together with a video which has been expertly illustrated by the creative direction of Anna Snoekstra has allowed the Circular Keys sound come to life.
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Latest Comments
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Still trying to purchase!!!ANTHONY J LANGFORD
Cool track. Congrats Joshua. Hope the release is a success.Tristan
Man I love these guys. I can't believe they are not releasing any new music. I've been to so many…sophie
^^ I love Grimes! Banoffee is one of my new favorite music artists! :) I love With Her, Reign Down,…Ace
Read your review then listened to the EP. Fantastic ! Different to most hardcore punk I listen to. Somewhat more…