Monthly Archives For April 2013

LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR: The Eversons

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Four graphic designers hanging off a wire fence. Who knows, this could be the start to a successful sitcom. Here’s our third in the ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ tune swap series with our pals over at Under the Radar. This week, Courtney Sanders introduces you to The Eversons. 

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The Eversons

Did you know we’re totally proud of our New Zealand accents? We’re also a self-depracating lot so you may not have heard us talk about it much, but there are a growing number of New Zealand alt-rock bands embracing their Kiwi-dom by singing about it like they mean it.

Enter Welington group The Eversons, who released their first material a mere couple of years ago and were booked for Laneway Festival 2013. That’s a testament to their rambunctious live show and catchy-as-hell hooks. If Weezer and Pavement had an Antipodean baby, this is what it would sound like. ‘Could It Ever Get Better’ is one of their earlier tracks, but so definitive of their college-rock sound and slacker ‘tude it had to be the single to introduce you to these loveable tykes.

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LISTEN: Olympia

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In the bible of band must-do’s, making the obligatory video clip out of retro stock footage apparently sits somewhere high on the list. We’ve seen it all; grainy snippets of atomic bombs juxtaposed against old cars, against childhood vids, against old hollywood movies, against flower buds opening in slow-mo.

So whether you prefer visual euphemisms or super8 nostalgia, when well edited clips turn up in the eternal retro stock waste pile – you can’t help but pay some damn attention. This clip by Olympia tops it for the best use of footage I’ve seen so far. Build a giant pool at MGM studios, pay some synchro swimmers to dive into coloured flares, add in this singer’s ‘Jazz Buckley’ stylings – stuff just works.

Olympia is Melbourne based singer/songwriter Olivia Bartley. She’s just released her debut EP, which includes contributions from Pat Bourke (Tex Perkins, Dallas Crane) and Brous among others. She’s got a really sweet tone to her voice too. It sits on the borderline between pop/jazz, but for all the indecision; that languid guitar really adds something quite special. There’s something really comforting about Bartley’s tone; it has that honest, late 90s vibe that makes you need a hug. Olympia doesn’t really need that string section in ‘Atlantis’, it’s kind of a noise filler. After listening to other tracks ‘Through It’ and ‘Sleeping Wolves’, it’s really clear that this lady should just be content with a guitar with generous distortion, a room with fairly large ceilings and hey, Fiona Apple’s your pal quicker than you can mumble “Jai Guru Deva…Om”. Or something.

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LISTEN: Cherax Destructor

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Cherax Destructor may be the fancy name given to the Australian freshwater yabby, but meet your new favourite (human) Cherax Destructor: singer/producer Patch Hutley.

The Sydney-based musician is pretty much Australia’s answer to Baths. If you’re unfamiliar with Baths’ sound, think atmospheric, squelchy beats with electronic hooks aplenty. Hutley dropped his ‘Objects In Space’ EP in October last year, but it’s his new material that has reeled us in (which you can find scattered across his various music and social media pages).

The adventurous ‘<3’ is jam-packed with fiddly samples and joyful melodies – all chopped up and twisted into one another. His songs generally move from instrumental hip hop to collaged IDM beats and tricks. Although he’s labelled his sound on his Soundcloud page as ‘friendship-hop’, it’s also bang on, as his songs are as warm and cuddly as good friendships generally get. 

It’s not all samples and beats for Hutley though. He’s also branched out a little and released a killer cover of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’. It’s a stripped back rendition with simple vocals and acoustic guitar, and it’s a charmer.

Catch Cherax Destructor at the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney on Friday 26 April as part of the Lonely Kids Club winter range launch party.

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LISTEN: Mt Warning – ‘Burn Again’

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You know those bands. Their name latches on in your subconscious; sort of like a that foreign wad of sticky tape that magically appears under your shoe. I’ve seen Mt Warning’s name turn up in various places – on gig posters and in several conversations with pals. I only really took a closer look when I saw their name appear again on the Field Day London lineup recently. They haven’t had a proper release just yet…so better late than never I guess.

Mt Warning are a five piece. I think they’re from Byron. Or half of them are from the UK or something. It’s kind of hard to find out basic facts when the person who wrote your band presser has a thing for commas, overbearing prose and then fills in ‘Shakespeare and Hemingway’ in the ‘Sounds Like’ description on your Unearthed page. But the music is good. We forgive you.

If you haven’t stumbled across Mt Warning, then ‘Burn Again’ is a fantastic introduction to this band. It’s a stark, moody track that banks on a built up thud of percussion and strong vocals. I would have liked the huge decomposing wall of guitars at around the 2.39 mark to linger around for a lot longer, but I’d imagine this would be stellar live. 

There’s a bit of a A Dead Forest Index vibe here. Sounds a bit like The National when they aren’t all collectively on their periods.

If you’re in the UK, these guys are playing Field Day London on the 25th. Locally, Mt Warning are touring with the Temper Trap all through April.

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LISTEN: James X. Boyd – ‘James X. Boyd & The Boydoids’

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Brisbane can be shitty in a lot of ways: it’s hot all the time, there are a lot of racists, and it’s pretty ugly to look at. But every now and then a record like this comes out of our big country town, and goddamn it makes you proud.

A little while ago we brought you ‘Elissa Says’, the first single from James X. Boyd & The Boydoids self-titled debut album. Now you can wrap your ears around the whole thing in digital form, with a cassette due out before too long.

This is (with a couple of exceptions). an album of love songs. Love songs in which the word ‘c*nt-wits’ is used, but love songs all the same. It starts off gently with ‘Blue Apia’, a tropical paradise set to delicate, wistful strumming that recalls old Hawaiian records and apparently “the only place in the world you can still buy cans of new coke”.

‘New Town Tango’ and ‘Brunswick Street Junkies’ paint pictures of suburbs in very different lights, but Boyd seems to be fighting himself in both songs. The former starts out with that very pretty jangly guitar that is used to great effect all through this record, but builds to a more aggressive point near the end, Boyd seemingly unable to answer his own question when he asks “and do I need you back?”. In the latter he perfectly expresses the mix of sympathy and repulsion that junkies conjure, with a few instantly relatable lines.

The middle of the record reveals the emotional centre; three sweet, restrained ballads, the highlight of which is ‘Baby Green’, where Boyd plays a sage advisor. “Quit your job and we can see what the world’s like/ and I know there’s things stopping you/ and they, won’t let up/ but it’s not quite as hard as it may seem”.

There are a lot of beautiful things about this album. Boyd’s restraint and lightness of touch is striking, along with the band’s ability to communicate lyrics that are both immediately endearing and honest. My favourite track is ‘For What You’re Worth’, which reveals a more cynical side of the band. During the chorus the music cuts out, leaving Boyd to throw a question into the ether, before the meandering guitar comes back in, leaving him again unanswered. The dark and dusty ‘Diamond On Your Own’ and soft, lilting single ‘Elissa Says’ close out the record. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll be putting it straight back on before the last note even ends.

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Support these guys by purchasing the full album here.

 

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