Photo by Nicola Trethowan

Rat vs Possum – ‘Jungle Pills’

If you’ve ever experienced Rat vs Possum live, then you’re probably still finding a crust of glitter behind your ears and shaking out a glittery rainstorm from beneath your luscious locks. For those not yet acquainted (and also residing in Melbourne) they’ll be bringing their loop-peddling, psychedelic acid trip twang to the Tote every Wednesday in July, supported by a flurry of Australia’s experimental finest. A debut album looms in the latter part of the year, but here’s the ‘Jungle Pills’ demo to help you channel tropical circus vibes.

Margins – ‘Shot’

Melbourne’s Margins create music that’s both minimal and cinematic; characterised by a sparse, efficient beauty yet big enough to fill out the barren, dusty landscapes it evokes. At least, that’s what I think of when I listen to their excellent self-titles LP. This song, and several others on said album, contains an unexpected left-turn half-way through that certainly keeps things interesting. If Nick Cave and Warren Ellis get sick of soundtracking Nu-Westerns, John Hillcoat should give these guys a call.

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Vetna – ‘Be On’ (mp3)

www.myspace.com/vetna

BRIGHT YELLOW – ‘Funny Bone’

www.myspace.com/brightyellow

KLEPTICS
www.myspace.com/thekleptics

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Lions At Your Door - ‘Turning Burning’

Lions At Your Door had one of my fav Australian tracks of last year with ‘Shake It,’ and now they’ve readied a debut EP that strangely omitts it. Oh well, there’s still their  band name-referencing track ‘LAYD’ somewhere on there. ‘Turning Burning’ isn’t quite as good as either of those, at least not straight away. Maybe it will grow on me? It’s more straight-up rock than the sexy dance-punk strut of ‘Shake It,’ but Cookie’s vocals still manage to give it enough edge to make me return for a few more spins.

Canyons – ‘Blue Snakes’ (mp3)

Parisian producer Cosmo Vitelli has been running the label I’m A Cliche for the last five years and is celebrating this milestone via a double disc release called Moments of Crisis. The first disc contains past releases, kind of a greatest cuts selection, but the second disc contains new tracks by Simian Mobile Disco, Yuksek, and Australia’s own DFA signee Canyons. This track previews what we can expect from these producer duo form their upcoming album.

www.myspace.com/thecanyonsinfo

Decoder Ring – ‘Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom’

Decoder Ring have put out some rad music in the past and have always had a tendency toward atmospheric and lush (hence why the were so well suited to the ‘Somersault’ soundtrack). Here, they filter that into dance-ish track that aims to surge as layers are accumulated. Things are very clean but never too slick, however, being a radio edit, the song feels stripped of a suficient build up to make the final release as euphoric as its intended. It still sounds pretty good, but hopefully the album version delivers a more moving rendition that capitalises on the song’s intial momentum. I have faith in the band, and await new LP ‘They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team.’

Young Revelry – Came Back Today (mp3)

As a band Young Revelry are pretty fresh on the scene, with less than ten gigs under their belt so far. The members of the band however have cut their teeth over the past few years playing in some of WA’s finer and more popular musical exports (The Silents, Harlequin League and End of Fashion).

As some of those projects fell away it seems Young Revelry has sprung up in their place, and what a fine new growth it is. It’s noisy, it’s sweet, it’s got jangly guitars, fuzzy sounds and plenty of rhythm section punch.

Young Revelry make it hard to pin down a nice ‘band A meets band B’ simile to make a neat comparison but I think that is probably a good thing.

For all you Sydneysiders you can check Young Revelry out when they play Oxford Arts Factory on the 3rd of July. If you’re silly enough to miss that they’ll be back again for a residency in September.

www.myspace.com/youngrevelry

Matt Corby – ‘Letters’

Anyone who saw Matt Corby’s croonings on Australian Idol season 5 could tell that this was one talented kid, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who heaved a sigh of relief when he came runner up and promptly dropped off the mainstream musical radar, never to be tarnished by the same brush as the Guy Sebastians who went before him.

Two years later, though barely shy of his 18th birthday, some strategically placed facial hair has transformed the wunderkind into a dapper young gentleman capable of some serious heartbreak. ‘Letters’ is the first offering from his debut EP Song For, a lyrical ballad that’s Nick Drake meets modern day Wordsworth. It’s such a beautiful song and I look forward to hearing more from him.