Tagged By melbourne

PREMIERE: The Pretty Littles – ‘Dangerman’

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The Pretty Littles

The Pretty Littles are as ramshackle as they come. It’s a bloody good thing their songs are loud, because their new track is one damn fine earworm.

‘Dangerman’ is the latest from the Melbourne rockers. Don’t worry – The Pretty Littles will still clamp their jaws around you and shake you bone dry, but their general songwriting has improved heaps since their first Fairweather EP.

Close your eyes. Envision a sea of festival punters hollering “I can be your dangerman, if you will be my evil woman!” back to the shellshocked foursome. Works for me, anyway.

The Pretty Littles grew up wanting to be the Vasco Era. With a firestarter like ‘Dangerman’, they might just succeed their heroes.

The band are launching the single on September 26th at Ding Dong Lounge in Melbourne.

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INTRODUCING: Owen Rabbit

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The thing I find most refreshing about Owen Rabbit’s sound is that it isn’t very trendy. Instead, it’s extremely direct – so sparse it’s a little gawky, like knock-knees or braces, but pop to the bone nonetheless.

The kid talks tough, of course: “Owen sounds something like Burial shoving Rufus Wainwright into a metal box,” reads his Soundcloud bio. Like a true lad, he was inspired to make music by the rave culture he grew up in, he draws on trip hop as much as indie pop and his first single is about being driven home in the back of a police car.

Owen Rees composes his tracks using a loop pedal, a drum pad, samplers and a variety of instruments. His patchwork percussion includes a number of household objects – matches, monopoly sets, tissue boxes. Debut release ‘Police Car’ features the clink and spray of an aerosol can. It’s a spare, confident track, led by vocals both melancholy and strident.

‘Police Car’ b/w ‘Homeless Dog Shelter’ is out now on 7″ vinyl, CD and digital via Catch Release Records. The last show of the ‘Police Car’ tour takes place at the William St Bird in Perth this Thursday, 21 August. RSVP on Facebook.

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GUEST: Ben Montero

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Yeah, yeah. Ben Montero’s good with his hands. You might already know him as one half of Early Woman or from eponymous pop outfit Montero, the TM Band or the forever excellent Treetops (RIP).

Outside of music, Montero’s an artist. His work has appeared in the Huffington Post, VICE, Desktop Magazine and the Australian Book Review among others. Ariel Pink, Beaches and Pond have even recruited his stuff to sell their wares. Well, he’s just opened his first solo exhibition, ‘SKETCHES’ – featuring over 148 posters, sketches and various lampoonings of the local music scene which Montero’s been a part of for twenty years.

Montero recently worked up a comic for us which covers all the hard hitting issues like free beer, Fred Negro and ‘normcore’ – which should be enough of an incentive for you to get along to the show.

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SKETCHBOOK is showing at Lamington Drive, Collingwood until the 30th of August.

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LOOK: Geoffrey O’Connor – ‘Her Name on Every Tongue’ single launch

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A few weeks ago Melbourne venue the Tote played host to the launch of Geoffrey O’Connor’s ‘Her Name on Every Tongue’. The track is the second single from his sophomore solo album, Fan Fiction – ‘eleven adult contemporary disco hits’, out now on digital, CD and ‘deluxe gold vinyl’ via Chapter Music.

Supporting him were White Hex, a handsome duo whose latest album Gold Nights melds Italo-disco with proto-punk; Terrible Truths, a Melbourne-via-Adelaide post-punk three-piece, who will release an album via Bedroom Suck later this year; and newcomers Gold Class, doing their finest Ian Curtis impersonations.

Terrible Truths’ own Stacey Wilson (Rites Wild, Regional Curse), who also heads underground label Heavy Lows, took some photos for us on 35mm film. Check out Terrible Truths’ new single below, and eyeball more of Stacey’s work on her website.

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INTRODUCING: Klo

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The musical gene is strong amongst the kin of I’lls singer Simon Lam. The Melbourne producer has enlisted his cousin Chloe Kaul to produce some lean, polished electronic music as Klo.

Their latest track, ‘False Calls’, is a brooding electro-pop tune with R&B influences. It combines a carefully constructed rhythm section with snippets of Kaul’s soulful vocals to create some compelling electronica.

Kaul’s voice is enveloping and badass, like lounging around your jacuzzi in a silk robe. The vocal melodies sound like they were carved right out of a stick of butter and smeared artfully over some subdued, polished production for the perfect R&B/neo-soul sandwich.

The vocal layering mirrors UK experimental pop act Tirzah, and ‘False Calls’ is similarly beautiful in the simplicity of its composition.

Klo will be performing at BIGSOUND in September.

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LISTEN: The Harpoons – ‘Can We Work This Out’

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Melbourne soul-pop group The Harpoons are back again with brand new single ‘Can We Work This Out’, and to say it tugs on the heartstrings is an understatement. This is what you listen to when all hope is lost and you need a song to bring you just a sliver of comfort. Forget Adele; ‘Can We Work This Out’ is what you need.

Oscar Key Sung collaborator Martin King takes on lead vocals this time, and his light, pattering voice sounds pained – like he can’t even believe the words ‘Have we had our time/tell me is this it/I no longer hear my name coming off your lips’ are coming out of his mouth. Frontwoman Bec Rigby delivers soulful harmonies in a heart-shattering tremolo throughout, and sparse synth jabs punctuate the track like the offending lover ripping out King’s heart, piece by piece.

For all the hopeless romantics out there, The Harpoons are here for you.

The Harpoons will launch ‘Can We Work This Out’ at The Workers Club in Melbourne on Friday 8th August and Saturday 9th of August.

A release date for their debut album, Falling For You, out via Two Bright Lakes / Remote Control, will be announced soon.

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MAP July 2014

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MAP has arrived for the month of July. If you’ve been seeking shelter under a proverbial rock during the colder months or just lazy, here’s a good thing to get you reacquainted.

Our submission for Oz this month is ‘Cast of Lines’, the new track from Melbourne expats A Dead Forest Index.

We’ve also been trying out a new format for the MAPcast podcast. Robbie will be exploring local music from a different MAP blog & country each month. This round, he’s hitched on with our pals from Indonesian music blog Deathrockstar to find some good stuff beyond the Bintang singlets and bad tans. Have a listen/ download the podcast via Soundcloud or iTunes.

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 24-track compilation through Dropbox here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Los Tiros – Autocontrol

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In the past weeks we’ve been listening to Denso y Moderno, the first album by Los Tiros, in a non-stop loop. This band from Quilmes, a city in Greater Buenos Aires, delivers a pop-rock sound with lots of synthesizers and optimistic lyrics. The album has 11 tracks, all potential hits, and Autocontrol is one of them.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
A Dead Forest Index – Cast Of Lines

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Cast Of Lines is the new 12″ by Melbourne’s A Dead Forest Index. Released recently through Pop Noire (the label run by Savages’ Jehnny Beth), title track Cast Of Lines is an expansive, meditative piece – a precursor for the band’s unique sound palette which has been praised abroad.

CANADA: Ride The Tempo
TMPL – Voyij

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TMPL are a relatively new electro-pop duo from Toronto made up of Kevin O’Brien and singer-songwriter Eli Andreas. By new, I mean they have this one song out called Voyij that takes you on an expansive journey of sounds that gets more exciting at every corner.

More tracks after the jump.

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