Tagged By New Music

WATCH: Straight Arrows – ‘Petrified’

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It’s been a long time since Straight Arrows released an LP. Wait, let me rephrase that. It’s been a torturous, stupefyingly long time since Straight Arrows released an LP. We posted their psych-swamp rocker ‘Never Enough’ last August, and now – a band that needs no introduction, Sydney’s favourite rock ‘n’ roll group, the very incarnation of danger and an inspiration to scrappy guitar punks everywhere – Straight Arrows are back again with *a whole album* of new material.

The band has also released what is, for them, a rare treat: a video for latest single, ‘Petrified’. Sounding like modern Australia’s answer to The Soft Boys, ‘Petrified’ features paranoid guitar notes that ring out after the titular line, ‘I’m petrified’, signalling the kind of relationship horror that hasn’t been felt since Norman Bates’ mummy issues.

The video is typical of Straight Arrows’ penchant for the old school, frontman Owen Penglis having compiled some trippy and glazed footage depicting a story of band practice and casual murder.

Rising was released last Friday (the thirteenth) on Rice Is Nice. To celebrate, Straight Arrows are currently on tour, with Canberra legends TV Colours supporting at all shows. You can still catch them on these dates:

Friday, 20 June – The Brightside, Brisbane (tickets available here)

Saturday, 28 June – The Fishbowl, Newcastle (tickets on the door)

Saturday, 12 July – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (tickets here)

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MAP June 2014

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This month’s Music Alliance Pact features 27 brand new tracks from around the globe – everywhere from India to Ecuador. The Australian contribution for June comes from Perth artist Kucka, whose brilliant single ‘Unconditional’ is out now.

This month we’re also welcoming new blogs from France and Canadia, Your Own Radio and Ride the Tempo.

Keep your eyes peeled for Robbie’s latest Mapcast – due mid-week – over on Soundcloud. While you’re waiting you can check out last month’s MAP Eurovision spectacular and subscribe to Robbie’s monthly podcast on 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 27-track compilation through Dropbox here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie

Temper – Quitapenas

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Temper is an instrumental rock band with influences that encompass tango, jazz, surf-rock, Hindu movie soundtracks and psychedelic music. This catchy track is from their third album, Clitoxismo: 10 Neurotransmisiones En Círculos, released last year by La Boca Se Te Haga Un Lago, a local independent label which specializes in instrumental music.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?

Kučka – Unconditional

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Perth native Kučka, aka Laura Jane Lowther, makes tinsel-y RnB that falls somewhere between the smooth, subdued sounds of 90s-era Janet Jackson and the cartoonish decadence of K-pop. With her vocals featured on two tracks from A$AP Rocky’s debut album, LONG.LIVE.A$AP, and with a brand new EP due out later this year, Kučka is definitely an artist to keep your eye on.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado

Russo Passapusso – Paraquedas

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Russo Passapusso, the lead singer of BaianaSystem, is about to release his first solo album. In single Paraquedas he displays a deep appreciation of Brazil’s musical roots. It’s a mixture of samba rock, funk and hip hop to make you dance.

CANADA: Ride The Tempo

Once A Tree – Howling

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Hayden John Wolf and Jayli Wolf may show some Europe electronica inspiration in Howling but the duo are indeed from Toronto. Each time Once A Tree drop a track on SoundCloud, they deliver with creative vocals and eargasmic production. Howling proves to be their best tune yet, experimenting with trap-like beats and chilling atmosphere.

See the full list after the jump

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LISTEN: Lower Plenty – ‘On the Beach’

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It has never been more apparent how diverse the Melbourne music scene is than right now. It is a petri dish of musical experimentation where interchanging combinations yield different results and nearly each mutation leads to acclaim.

Case in point: Lower Plenty. Named after a Melbourne suburb, Lower Plenty is one of those bands that’s made up of musicians from other noteworthy groups (all Melbourne based) but manages to make a name for itself thanks to good music, not just goodwill.

For the curious, parent bands include UV Race, Total Control, Deaf Wish and The Focus. Take note though: Lower Plenty sounds different from all of these bands; less dissonance and more down-tempo honesty. Think acoustic pop – really low key but not under produced.

‘On The Beach’ is a song stripped to its bare bones. It’s soft and drawling, focusing on the minute details of musicianship to show how a good tune can be made up entirely of subtleties. Softly pattering drums, guitars dipped in languor and equally wistful vocals, with lyrics consisting of lamentations and daydreams; ‘On The Beach’ is a fantastic slow burner that eschews sharp peaks or crescendos in favour of graceful meandering.

Lower Plenty are releasing a new LP, Life/Thrills on Bedroom Suck in late June, the follow up to their acclaimed previous effort, Hard Rubbish. I’d keep my eyes on the horizon for this; it’ll be a good’un.

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MAP May 2014

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Our Aus submission for the Music Alliance Pact this month comes from our boy Yeo, with his seriously catchy track ‘Kobe’. Mapcast Robbie is back with the usual Mapcast podcast this month after returning (almost) unscathed from a ridiculous incident in Thailand where a dog chewed off half his leg (true story.) If you missed it last month, Robbie also recorded a Eurovision spin off featuring MAP tracks. Listen to it HERE.

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 27-track compilation through Ge.tt here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie

Shaman y Los Pilares De La Creación – Tierna Oscuridad

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Tierna Oscuridad is the opening track on Shaman y Los Pilares De La Creación’s second album, released by Concepto Cero, one of La Plata’s finest independent labels. You can hear the whole album via the band’s website. The song is also on the soundtrack for the film Arriba Quemando El Sol, so the sound prevails over the notes, creating a deep atmospheric musical environment.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?

Yeo – Kobe

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A little over a year ago, Melbourne’s Yeo gave his acoustic guitar the flick and turned to a new friend, the keytar. He had some success in 2013 with the dark, whirring Girl and now he’s back with Kobe, the second single from his forthcoming EP. It’s a big step up for the producer: a shining, ambitious pop song with brash synth stabs, jittery percussion and confident R’n’B vocals. Yeo played Canadian Music Week and some US shows this month. If he doesn’t break the North American market first time round, we reckon he’s got a promising future penning tunes for Justin Timberlake.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado

Quarto Negro – Quando o Mar Não Vem

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Quarto Negro are about to release their second album and have just brought out a movie about their time in studio, called GRU-PDX. Quando o Mar Não Vem is taken from debut album Desconocidos, released in 2011, and shows the band’s melodic excellence and sensitivity.

CANADA: Quick Before It Melts

[MP.G] – Black Mesa Rally Cry

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[MP.G] My Pet Genius released Might Strike Satellite in 1996 to much critical acclaim. For the past 17 years they have been recording, mixing, switching studios, re-recording, scrapping and re-mixing hundreds of hours of music that will become the colossal double LP, Empire Of Light. A teaser EP called EMP01 reveals what’s to be expected when Empire Of Light finally arrives this fall.


Listen to the full list of tracks below!

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PREMIERE: The Zebras – ‘Try’

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It’s been six years since we last heard from the Zebras, who brought their shimmering pop to Melbourne via the sunshine state in 2007. Well, the twee-lovin’ kids out there can finally quit biting their nails because the band is back, with their third full-length release, Siesta, due out in June.

We got a taste of the album late last year with the punchy ‘Chase’, which featured on Lost and Lonesome‘s 15th birthday sampler alongside gems from the Icypoles, Milk Teddy and more. Today the Zebras are following up with lead single ‘Try’, a pop song written in classic style that again shows off the band’s effortless feel for melody – and what appears to be something of a fetish for analog synths.

‘Try’ is a bubbling track that showcases the tight interplay between musicians who’ve been working together for almost a decade. The gorgeous production and mixing were done by band leader Jeremy Cole and Architecture in Helsinki‘s Gus Franklin. 

‘Try’ is available now on Soundcloud as a free download.

The lush Siesta – which is, in part, a tribute to the band members’ childhood home of Cairns – will be out on 27 June through Lost and Lonesome (Aus) and Jigsaw (USA). The Zebras are gearing up to play some dates in the US at the end of the month along with label mates Bart & Friends and Monnone Alone. Keep your eyes peeled for launch dates upon their return.

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INTRODUCING: The Infants

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The Infants

The Infants are a post-punk group formed in Geelong in 2012. They put out a self-titled album mid-last year – complete with creepy, cephalopod-based art work – that sounds tightly wound in comparison to the new, creeping single, ‘Halves’.

The track was recorded in the basement of the band’s current home in Brunswick, and the result is the sort of ghoulish, lurching stuff that wouldn’t sound out of place on the score of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s a kind of gothic pop, or macabre cabaret – like Bushwalking getting a carnivale makeover.

‘Halves’ is the first release from the Infants’ forthcoming EP, due out later this year.

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PREMIERE: Dark Fair – ‘Poison’

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Dark Fair is guitarist Ramona Moore and drummer Ellie Dunn, and they make rock’n’roll music. I mean properly: leather jackets and Chrissie Hynde hairdos. The pair met in Brisbane – where presumably they grew up on a strict regimen of Hole and Magic Dirt – on the live circuit, playing together in Ramona’s band Kate Bradley and the Goodbye Horses.

Via their own circuitous routes, both ended up in Melbourne in 2012 and promptly recorded the debut Dark Fair EP, Penny Universe. Second release, You Shouldn’t Be Mine, is due out in May, and they’ve just dropped the single ‘Poison’.

A driving ballad led by Ramona’s frayed vocal and insistent open strings, ‘Poison’ is punctuated by a sharp bass cameo from pal Adalita – who’s championed the band since catching them live at Yah Yah’s about a year ago. Check out the track below.

Dark Fair are launching the new EP at Old Bar in Melbourne on Saturday, 31 May. You can also catch them playing the final show of their April residency at the Tote tomorrow night, alongside Ohms and tinsmoke.

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