Tagged By melbourne

LISTEN: Hollywood Models – ‘Fare Evade’

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hollywood models

It’s the kind of conversation you’ve seen played out hundreds of times over social media or during shit small-talk at parties where you don’t know anybody. Fuckin’ MYKI, mate.

Like the time when you got done for having your feet on the seat, and spent the rest of the day trying to fathom why anyone would make it their job to police that sort of thing. Or when they introduced on-the-spot fines but the bloke that got you before you could jump off at Vic Park to touch on neglected to mention the new system, positively bursting with righteous glee as he slapped your ignorant ass with a $233 fine.

Don’t worry though, Hollywood Models feel your pain; they get it. Melbourne natives all (with some members of punk outfit Chelsea Bleach), they’re a kind of novelty garage pop outfit that’ll remind you of something like the B-52s. On their debut track, ‘Fare Evade’, they extoll the pitfalls of being a poor uni bastard with a written-off car, using up 20 percent of their pay check to even get to work in the first place.

It’s pretty clear from the first mashed organ chords and fumbling bass that Hollywood Models aren’t necessarily trying to be ‘good’ in the same way most other bands working in Melbourne right now – and truth be told, that uniqueness stretches out to virtually every element of the Hollywood Models experience. Just take a look at their Facebook page: FILTH PITT on vocals? GLENN STEFANI on the mysterious ‘guitar twang’? Who the fuck are these people?

‘Fare evade on Christmas, fare evade on Easter, fare evade on New Years Eve,’ sings backing vocalist Svetlana Del Ray, as a sort of catch call holding the whole thing together.

Hollywood Models aren’t the kind of band you’re going to be linking your friends in your *~ V-SERIOUS AND COOL MELB SCENE MUSIC ~* Facebook group, though. They’re clearly more of an exercise in ridiculous aesthetic and stereotype than anything else – the tradie drummer, the beatnik bassist (?), the dorky scientist on keyboards and pads. Plus, they write songs about fare evading, so there’s that, too. Seeing the whole thing explode into life live is the right way to go – and you can, at their single launch on 29 May at the Workers Club.

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LISTEN: Palm Springs, Calamari Girls & Lalic

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palm springs

Erica Dunn debuted Palm Springs just last October, releasing a pair of 7″s that sound like dust-streaked sunlight. Now, the SMB having hung up the fishnet stockings for a little while, Dunn’s been back in the studio, her group rounded out to a trio to record a new cassette. Engineered by the Drones’ Dan Luscombe and mastered by Mikey Young, the Flowers in a Vase EP features an updated version of the sublime ‘Winning & Losing’, a charming Randy Newman cover (with more harmonica than honky tonk, to be sure) and a suite of aching gothic-country numbers, delivered in Dunn’s dusky contralto.

Palm Springs are launching the cassette tomorrow night at the Gasometer Hotel. Calamari Girls will be playing in support (along with Caroline No), so this feels like an excellent opportunity to talk about the Before Darwin Tape.

Calamari Girls features members of Melbourne garage punks Constant Mongrel and the Shifters. Quietly released in July 2015 via Al Montford’s Hideotic Records, their sole release has flown more or less under the radar. There’s not much press out there on these guys; one of the only leads to follow is a cryptic message left on their Bandcamp page: ‘Long live Takashi Mizutani’. It’s a reference to the frontman of Les Rallizes Dénudés, a Kyoto band that operated in the late 60s, making long-form, DIY noise rock inspired by the Velvet Underground. This actually tells you a lot of what you need to know about Calamari Girls. Scrappy but charming, the Before Darwin Tape combines post-John Cale, pre-Loaded Velvets with the naive pop of the Beat Happening. In short, it rules, and it’s available right now as a free download.

While I’m on the subject of cassettes, I found this one mooching around on Bandcamp:

Lalić is led by Melbourne’s Mladen Lalić Milinkovic, a GNC artist who’s been recording under their mother’s maiden name since high school. Milinkovic has described Bed Tape as ‘an interim release’ before a third LP comes out later in the year, and it does have an ephemeral feel – more a collection of textural experiments than a song-driven album. Its palette drifts somewhere between Animal Collective’s early acoustic recordings and the narcotic teen fantasies of Foxes in Fiction. Milinkovic moves tentatively, testing out a melodic phrase, a synthesiser setting, a sample – adding layers almost haphazardly to the mix. The results are surprisingly lovely, with songs that stumble, frayed, then miraculously coalesce: reaching, collapsing and reforming.

Bed Tape is out now through World News Records.

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INTRODUCING: Cable Ties

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Cable Ties

Garage punk is the one type of music that can deliver both dancing and fighting in equal measure, often flicking between the two in less time than it takes the singer to howl a “1,2,3,4!”. But it feels like it’s been a hot minute since those lofty heights have actually been achieved within the genre. Enter Melbourne’s Cable Ties, who have only released some demos and a 7″, but who could confidently pick you up within the first few bars of a song and hurl you across the room, like some mutant combination of the Hulk and Sleater-Kinney.

Their latest release, a self-titled 7″, lights a flame under the arse of even the most flaccid of listeners, as front woman Jenny McKechnie stomps emphatically over her bandmates’ blistering musical assault. Although only two tracks long, there’s a vice-like grip that Cable Ties deploy, shaking your body like a rag doll in the hands of a sadistic tween.

Whatever deal Cable Ties made with the devil, the red-horned one is keeping his end of the bargain. The fact of the matter is, Cable Ties are so early into their careers as punk prodigies, but they’ve already delivered searing belters that are capable of shaking the walls of whatever abode they’re blasted in. Cable Ties are strong and wild, with an energy you feel instantly, and that makes them a very, very exciting prospect.

Cable Ties launch their debut 7″ at the Old Bar in Melbourne on May 6th, w/ support from the Pink Tiles, Synthetics, Karli White and ASPS. Join the FB event here.

Facebook / Bandcamp

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LOOK: Ali Barter – Melbourne Laneway Festival 2016

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Ali Barter portrait 1

‘It was a bit less thought out, a bit more off the cuff.’

Sitting in the bright Windsor home she shares with husband Oscar Dawson (HOLY HOLY), his parents and a train of siblings and toddlers, Ali Barter is talking about her latest single, ‘Far Away’. Built around a classic four-piece rock set up, the track howls with echo, cymbals and huge guitar riffs, foregoing much of the studio-derived ornament of last year’s AB-EP.

It’s the result of a series of last-minute writing sessions, arranged at the tail end of a family trip to LA.

‘I went and spent two or three hours with this guy I’d never met before, called Harlan Silverman, and we wrote this song in his garage. It was sort of half finished, ‘cause I was really tired… But I think the lack of thought that went into it is why it’s good’.

Back home, ‘Far Away’ was recorded quickly in a simple basement studio – ‘and that was it. No hiring the best studio, trying to get the best sound.

‘Sometimes I feel like I overcooked things on my last EPs. I’ve had too much time to mull over things and think about references and who I want to be. And this was just a song. I brought this half-cooked song to my band, and we rearranged it a bit and played it in one rehearsal, and then we were like, “Well, that’s done. Let’s record it and not fuck with it too much, and then let it go”’.

Ali Barter portrait 2

The LA sessions resulted in a number of songs intended for Barter’s debut LP, which she plans to record later this year in much the same style as ‘Far Away’.

‘I would like to do them all that way – like, all in the room – because I think sometimes I put too much pressure on myself. We did this Pozible campaign in 2013 and raised 15 grand. We went to Brisbane to work with Matt Redlich, who’s the HOLY HOLY producer, and we were there for six weeks recording all these songs. By the end of it my voice packed up completely, and eventually I had to have surgery. I think there was just too much pressure…

‘Courtney Barnett recorded one of her EPs in, like, three days in a house and it was done, you know. It’s like Neil Young says – “the more you think, the more you stink”. I definitely identify with that’.

When we visited, Barter was gearing up for a hometown performance at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival. It would be her second appearance at the festival; in 2013, she joined the Melbourne line up as a triple j Unearthed winner. ‘That was awesome. From that, I met my manager and my booking agent. Everything started from there for me’.

Ali at Laneway 2

This year she played alongside locals like Blank Realm, Royal Headache and DMA’s (‘They played “Delete” the other day, and even though I’ve heard it a million times, I almost cried – I got goosebumps’), and headliners Beach House, Vince Staples and Grimes.

By this point, she’d already played two cities. ‘We’ve had some hiccoughs,’ Barter admitted. ‘At the Brisbane show, my guitar died. The amp blew up halfway through my set, so I couldn’t play – and I always play with a guitar. I don’t have any mic skills, I don’t have any dance moves…’

It must have sounded better than she let on, though, because after Silicon left the tour, Barter shot up the bill to take an afternoon slot on the festival’s main stage. She glided through her set, dance moves and all – and we were there to take some photographs.

Ali at Laneway 1

(more…)

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PREMIERE: Great Earthquake – ‘Thought Broadcasting’ video

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great earthquake

Guys called Noah always seem to be pretty extraordinary. There’s indie director Noah Baumbach, who co-wrote a bunch of Wes Anderson movies, and Noah Taylor, the incredible Australian actor. And then, buried in East Brunswick, between the vintage stores and coffee shops, is Noah Symons – aka Great Earthquake.

Great Earthquake has a full-band sound, with intricate parts emanating from every instrument. This makes it all the more surprising to find out that Noah is the sole contributor. From splattered snares to smoky guitar lines and sprained keys, knowing it’s just him behind every sound makes the end product that more impressive. Play this stuff to a friend, let them soak in the songs, then drop that little golden nugget of information and wait for the inevitable, “Whaddya mean there’s not a team of Mozarts behind this masterpiece?”.

His latest output is a video for the single ‘Thought Broadcasting’, from last year’s EP of the same name. Hazy guitar chords spill from the track, finding ways to gel with the song’s many layers, while a subdued Symons murmurs “We have lost our way”. The video emphasises the track’s collage-like style, blending instruments, hands and colours into one hypnotic audio-visual smorgasbord.

Great Earthquake will play a free show at the Vic on the Park Hotel on 27 February, with support from Alyx Dennison. Details here.

Facebook / Bandcamp

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LISTEN: Good Morning – ‘To Be Won’

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good morning glory

‘To Be Won’, the latest single from Melbourne two-piece Good Morning, is largely a song of pauses and sighs. It’s like looking out the window of a train when you forgot where you’re going for a second. Or sitting at home watching nothing happen. It’s kinda like thinking about stuff but not doing a thing.

Previous single ‘Cab Deg’ had that same insistent guitar thing (maybe borrowing a little more than necessary from Deerhunter? Who could say.), pushing it into territory where words like ‘catchy’ and ‘immediate’ are called for. ‘To Be Won’ makes you want to listen by just sounding really nice, with plenty of warm room noise, the rise and fall of the guitar melody breathing steadily. The line ‘I tried, but it’s yours to be won’ has the same sweet relief that comes from cancelling plans, giving yourself a break and giving up on something you didn’t care much about anyway.

I like how it ends loose too – if they’d put one big finishing note in there it might have ruined everything, but they pull back before reaching outright sentimentality. Even when that old piano sound (used so often to beat you into nostalgia) appears, the song remains restrained, nudging towards a kinda wistful end. They know they might have to try again in the future, but right now chilling out is pretty chill.

Good Morning’s second EP, Glory, is out Thursday, 28 January.

Facebook / Bandcamp / Soundcloud

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LISTEN: Free Time – ‘Who Owns the Moon’

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free time

Free Time is a one-quarter NYC, three-quarters Melbourne outfit headed by Dion Nania, who you might recognise as the former front man of Panel of Judges. Nania has been loitering around in the big apple for a few years, but since he touched back down in Melbourne, Free Time have been playing a few precious gigs here and there, most recently closing out Bedroom Suck Records’ Melbourne Music Week Bike Ride. They’re gearing up for an album release later this year, following on from their self-titled debut and a 7″ released through Underwater Peoples in 2014.

Their latest single, ‘Who Owns the Moon’, has musical touchstones in a bunch of local talent – and looking at the line-up here, that’s no surprise at all: Free Time is about the closest thing Melbourne’s got to a supergroup. Martin Frawley from Twerps on bass? Totally Mild’s Zach Schneider on lead?! Terrible Truths’ Joe Alexander on drums!?! Oh my stars.

Free Time is harnessing some of 2015’s golden boys of sick tunes, and on ‘Who Owns the Moon’, it’s nice to see they’re not just along for the ride – each brings their distinctive style to the picture, while thankfully not overpowering Nania’s vibes. Schneider’s wobbly, high-necked plucking is out in full force, plus Frawley and Nania work in tandem for a cooing, nasal vocal delivery (which sounds bad, but isn’t).

Free Time’s second album, In Search of Free Time, will be out in mid-2016.

Facebook / Bandcamp

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