Photos by Ed Gorwell and Bec Capp
More photos after the jump
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Monthly Archives For June 2014
WATCH: Rainy Day Women – ‘Mars’
The clip for Rainy Day Women‘s latest single ‘Mars’ is filled with crackled footage of the lads roaming through vines of over-priced-goon-fruit and lush green fields with front man Dylan Ollivierre’s six string tagging along for the stroll.
The pastel tones in the clip match the tune’s melancholic turn. It’s still well crafted, jangly guitar pop but minus the carefree sparkle that much of their earlier work had. The textured harmonies and brass complement the ever-present guitar melodies to tell a story of longing and goodbyes, all under the group’s telltale Perth sun sound.
It’s the stuff of hazy daydreams, and it features the most ‘strayan outfit in the world – denim, beanie, coat and thongs.
‘Mars’ is the first cut from Rainy Day Women’s forthcoming debut album, to be released in the not too distant future, and the guys say that ‘Mars’ is the sound of things to come.
INTRODUCING: Lusinth
Lusinth are two Sydney boys just out of high school. Obviously, their passions include shotgunning beers, hitting the club scene, and coward punching anything with a face. Or so the NSW government would have us believe.
Luckily, Lusinth would rather make lush instrumental tunes to fall asleep to. Instead of breaking noses, they’re blowing minds wide open. Their newest track ‘Blue’ manages to hit all of the feels, incorporating a plethora of sounds, from trickling guitar and splashing synths to crashing cymbals. The overall effect is more calming than being read a bedtime story by Morgan Freeman yet engaging enough to keep you on edge throughout the whole five minutes.
These guys have just released their first lot of material, but if they continue down this track, sounding like Oliver Tank making a cinematic soundtrack, I think they’ll be just fine.
FEATURE: Shedstock 2014
Shedstock is the pretty genius brainchild of Donnie Miller and Innez Tulloch of Roku Music and recording studio Nowhere Audio. For the past few years it’s been running as the DIY festival to end all DIY festivals – a kind of pals-only thing on a family farm with a stage made out of wooden pallets. This year, with the help of some crowd funding, they built a real stage with a roof and walls and everything, and put on the biggest party northern New South Wales has ever seen.
There was music from the truly great Blank Realm, Brisbane’s best sad-band Keep On Dancin’s, the always excellent Roku Music, local badarses Woodboot, cold synth queens and surprise highlight Pleasure Symbols, scrappy legends Cannon, the ‘90s-bush-doof-meets-shady-electro-pop of Multiple Man, and the seriously demented Unpeople and Cobwebbs, to name hardly any, all playing in the obscenely beautiful surroundings of the northern rivers.
A music festival with no dickheads, good music all the time and heaps of rad dogs and chickens to play with during the day? Heaven.
To get into the DIY spirit (and maybe because I don’t own a real camera) I shot some photos on disposable film – and hey, they turned out alright!
INTRODUCING: Lovely Head / Teenage Mustache
On, the collaborative EP from Lovely Head’s Vivian Huynh and Teenage Mustache’s Evan Hill Porteus, has a cinematic sparseness carried by a solid undercurrent of apocalyptic minimalism. Huynh’s vocals are an ethereal counterpoint to Porteus’ (of the excellent Newcastle band Bare Grillz) pounding synth breaks. Opening track ‘Kennedy’ is a case in point, setting you up for an interesting listen indeed.
The solo work of both artists is a good indication of their collaborative direction, flexing their No and New Wave muscles respectively. It’s an odd combination that they manage to pull off across On, and the result is some pretty dark, innovative post-punk.
The EP definitely creates a solemn mood, its No Wave experimentation evident in the crashing percussion and industrial echo. It can be a little intimidating, but the closing track ‘Alleviate’ does just that, with Huynh’s vocals and Porteus’ production agreeing to relieve us of the atonal darkness (but holding onto the hollowed-out drum machine rhythms) to create a haunting melody that rounds out the sonic scope of On.
The pair are launching On at Freda’s Bar in Chippendale on 31 July. RSVP on Facebook.
Keep an eye out for the debut Teenage Mustache record, due out on Y202 Records mid-year.
INTRODUCING: Zaped
Zaped is the side-project of Brisbane-based producer, Jordan De Pasquale, whose specialty is lush and layered electronica. The Palindromes front man has moved from a live band setting to a more intimate configuration for Zaped – and ‘intimate’ has to be the best descriptor for the music De Pasquale’s making under this new moniker.
‘Paradise’ is his newest single and best creation to date; an ode to the highs of passion and the desire – or the need – to attain a heightened state of pleasure. This is a song thick with atmospherics and a comforting yet exhilarating feeling; one that ascends to lofty peaks then gently places you back in reality.
From the beginning, a stark and beautiful piano loop helps set the tone for what is both a sensual and melancholic affair. Quivering drum samples help shape the opening moments of this meandering, synth-driven track before everything comes together in a peak that’s equal parts delicacy and power. Phenomenal singer Georgia Potter adds enormous amounts of energy and passion with her sublime RnB-influenced vocal.
This melodic composition is a step in the right direction for the producer. In a genre packed with talented contemporaries Zaped has some stiff competition, but with tunes like ‘Paradise’ he should be able to fill a spot in the upper tier nicely.
INTRODUCING: Alyx Dennison
Alyx Dennison is probably best known as half of Sydney duo kyü, who released their first album in September 2010 and disbanded shortly thereafter. Dennison went on to work with psychedelic oddballs Richard in Your Mind and Jonathan Boulet, amongst others. She then spent some time overseas, where she began to pen some solo material – dropping a little teaser, ‘LAX’, mid-last year.
Dennison has never claimed to be a particularly skilled instrumentalist, and on ‘LAX’ a lightly picked guitar operates as a simple framing device for her dexterous voice, which swoops and trills almost like a bird.
A debut album, recorded by David Trumpmanis (Sarah Blasko, Bluebottle Kiss, Peabody), is due out in August through Popfrenzy. The first single is ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’, another sparsely constructed track which, led by Dennison’s powerful voice and the pounding of what sounds like a single tom, is reminiscent of kyü’s neo-primitivism. The drumming functions like a barometer of Dennison’s mood, rising and falling as her intensity builds and wanes, the song ending in a crescendo as the two elements are looped and layered atop one another.
Keep your eyes peeled for album launch dates in August.
Latest Comments
V
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…