Tagged By lo-fi

INTRODUCING: Claire & the Cops

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c&thecs

Claire & the Cops have an interesting story behind their name, one that every garage band has surely (and sorely) experienced – that of the piece-of-shit neighbour. In this case the neighbour is Claire, who called the cops on this Sydney trio for playing loud rock’n’roll music in their garage. It feels like Claire’s the kind of person who would call up the Free TV Australia hotline after hearing someone say ‘Damn!’ on a program before 6.30.

Fun-hating sticklers aside, Claire & the Cops brandish a bratty, loud brand of garage music that’ll probably blow out some eardrums along the way. They lean very closely to Ty Segall and other lo-fi idols such as White Fence and Straight Arrows (whose frontman Owen Penglis mastered Claire & the Cops’ debut EP). While their vocals sit low, deep and more chilled than Matthew McConaughey in Surfer, Dude,at an instrumental level the songs bellow with a forthright fuzz that sets them alight. Basing your band name on a prudish neighbour may seem slightly passive aggressive, but at least there’s history there – and these guys make the kind of balls-out garage that forces you to pay attention. Check out their latest single, ‘Need Ya’, below.

Catch ’em playing Jitterfest alongside the Girl Fridas, Piss Factory and the Nuclear Family on Sunday, 7 December at Sydney’s Captain Cook Hotel.

Facebook / Soundcloud / Bandcamp

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LISTEN: Milkshake – Milkshake EP II

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Milkshake

We get a lot of band write-ins that end with many, many kind regards and other polite fluff. Among my favourite are the submissions which leave nothing but a trail of obscure hyperlink crumbs and not much else for us blog-types to deliver accurate, real-time information to the people. Milkshake got our attention late last year after sending us a funny abusive rant. An email apology a week later blaming life on drunk existentialist haiku was also noted.Fergus Miller from Bored Nothing plays guitar in Milkshake. He showed up to our last warehouse party reasonably wasted and spent most of the night scrambling hands and knees on the floor trying to locate his glasses. Fergus fangs around on guitar in here, Matt Connelly of Retro Culture makes nice noise, Geoffrey Thorsen also does the same and some other people do other things in this band which I can’t decipher beyond the flavour alias in the ‘about’ section of their Facebook page. 

To provide some visual context to Milkshake’s second EP, Milkshake II sounds like backflipping through space. Wet snow sock. Murky optimism. Midi sound crackles between dude-chants and rousing chord work make for some soothing listening. Could be the biopic soundtrack to a stoned Jonathan Boulet eating packet noodles in the dark.

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SEQUENCE: Naysayer & Gilsun

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                                                                IMG_0051 IMG_0096 IMG_0117                                                                        N&G                                                                                                                                                naysayer & gilsun _ whothehell 2

 

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 Photos by Alan Weedon

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LISTEN: Braves

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Braves-Sorrow

 

Another Perth outfit brewing a pot of infectious lo-fi pop is Braves, the side-project of Sunny’s Sean Anthony. Teaming up with mates Alex Di Giovanni and Kieran Conaghan, the trio have produced some really chilled out, sun-kissed jams as heard on their latest five-track EP, Sorrow.

Lead single ‘Hallows’ will warm your heart up immediately with its inviting first string of guitar notes later swelling into a blissful treat for your ears. Other must-listens on the EP include ‘Sadko In The Underwater Kingdom’ and the ‘90s-tinged ‘Baden Street’. Oh hell. Why not just listen to the whole damn thing. Clocking in at just over 10 minutes, Sorrow is short and sweet but still definitely worth your time.

Grab the EP from Braves’ bandcamp here.

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LISTEN: Milhowse – Blue Bathmat

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I don’t think I can distill the sound of Melbourne’s Milhowse into something readily identifiable. I hear elements of trip-hop, and general bits of lo-fi, but they’re not relatively straightforward definitions either. But one thing’s for sure, I’d keep tabs on this guy. While sampling/drum machines/beat making seems to be in vogue thanks to that one xx member, it’ll be good to watch to whether it’ll be just another passing musical fad or something definitive in its own right. Acts like Milhowse are right at the forefront of this. This relatively elusive artist springs Chet Faker, Galapagoose, and Collarbones to mind, it’s just that it’s hard to know why I thought of them in the first place. There’s just something that I haven’t pinned down yet, anyway, decide for yourself.

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Pop Singles – ‘Overcast’

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Listen to

Pop Singles ‘ (mp3)

Yeah so I’m in love hey. Not necessarily with Pop Singles, more so with my own youth and how familiar it feels after listening to this crackling vinyl release by Pop Singles. When I was a bored kid I’d ride my motorbike over to my buddies, buy a record and laze away the day in his garage. As we stared at the smoky shafts of sunlight, zoning out to the hopeless despair of Nirvana’s unplugged, we didn’t need more in life. Pop Singles have released their debut LP on Vacant Valley, titled ‘All Gone’. It’s a record that sounds honest, beautiful and warm but at the same time completely hopeless and desolate. Oh fuck yeah.

You can feel the reality and smell the dank. This kind of nonchalance could only emanate from uncertain youth, beauty and heaps of talent. Their live shows are no nonsense; don’t give a fuck, 45 mins of nostalgic pleasure. Comforting post-punk of a time gone by. Like hearing ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ for the first time. Stirring memory of misadventures, Pop Singles have a dark spunk that’s rare amongst lo-fi acts. A sound fashioned from shadowy guitar, deep clear bass vibrations and snappy drums united by vocals that conjure the emotions of a hazy experience you’ve probably never had. Pop Singles may think all this ain’t no thing but their sound is in fact, the real deal.

Get down to one of the ‘All Gone’ launch shows to see for yourself –

JULY 27 – The Tote (Melbourne)
W/ Dane Certificate + Constant Light + The Enclosures

JULY 28 – Good God (Sydney)
W/ Dead Farmers + Fighting League +
No Art + Danger Beach + Cat Cat +
Knee Chin + Family + Housewives

AUG 10 – Grand Poobah (Hobart)
W/ Drunk Elk + Go Genre Everything (Melb)

AUG 11 – The Metro (Adelaide)
W/ Fake Tan + Dogs Are Better Than Cats

AUG 14 – Black Bear Lodge (Brisbane)
W/ Per Purpose (7″ launch) + Knee Chin (7″ launch) + Nite Fields

AUG 16 – Terrace Bar (Newcastle)
W/ Housewives (Syd) + Polyfox and the Union of the Most Ghosts + Hell Setzer

AUG 17 – Brighton Up Bar (Sydney)
W/ Family + TBC

AUG 18 – Phoenix (Canberra)
W/ Cat Cat (melb) + TV Colours + Biscuits

AUG 24 – The Empress (Melbourne)
W/ Grand Prismatic + Little Killing + Autoportraits

Keep up to date with Pop Singles here – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pop-Singles

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New Estate – ‘Parallel’

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Listen to

New Estate – ‘Parallel’ (mp3)

‘Parallel is lifted from the latest record by New Estate called Recovery. It was recorded in the band’s home studio over two years on GarageBand. Oh so DIY. They took their time, hanging out and making tunes which sounds very nice. It’s sloshy pop-rock that is easy to get into and the tracks sung by Mia, including ‘parallel’, are quite sweet.

Band page here – http://www.facebook.com/newestate

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