Moscow Schoolboy

Melbourne based Moscow Schoolboy is fronted by singer and main songwriter Jess Cornelius, who has previously played solo (or was it with a backing band?) in a different incarnation called Jess Cornelius Experiment. That outift won Jess a songwriting competition and she went to South By Southwest in 2005. Fast forward to early 2006 and Jess with her Schoolboys has crafted a pop gem in ‘Use Me Back’.

Opening with catchy synth riffs the song explore the very basic subject of sex and seduction set in anonymous smoky bars and rock gigs. The low PJ Harvey-like vocal stylings suggest that Jess knows exactly what she wants out of the unnamed prey and what she is going to do with him. She maintains full of control throughout the song until the last sixty seconds where she begins to lose it and eventually goes completely nuts before those same synths fade the song, leaving the impression that the whole experience should have been longer. Kinda like orgasm sort of.

Moscow Schoolboy – ‘Use Me Back’

http://www.moscowschoolboy.com
http://www.myspace.com/moscowschoolboy

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The Butterfly Effect – photo by boudist.com

Daniel Boud is a self trained live music photographer who has done great work capturing the energy and differing moods of live music in Sydney and around the world. Most Sydney gig goers would have seen him walking around armed with his camera taking snaps of bands and punters at the usual traps. His work has been published in big time mags like Spin and he has won multiple awards for his photoblog boudist.com

Rebel Rebel girl – photo by boudist.com

boudist.com serves more than just a personal blog, it’s a combination of the party-shots-website (ie. lastnightsparty.com and thecobrasnake.com) and an ongoing photo essay of live music performances, documenting each artist as they climb into great dizzying heights of success (or not).

Young and Restless – photo by boudist.com

This weekend 11-13 August Dan is having an exhibition 3 Songs. No Flash. at the China Heights Gallery, Surry Hills, and he’s asked along a couple of his mates Matt Bouy and Nic Bezzina to show some of their photos as well. Not to be missed for any music fan living in Sydney.

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Kiosk

About late 2004, three teenagers that go by the name of Kiosk started gigging lots in the Sydney scene. Jack Mannix is part of the band, a music photographer who at the age of 15 took photos of Jet backstage at their hotel room and was praised for his ace photo skills. The noise-punk were getting a lot of big profile supports and scored a few internationals. Backlash soon followed and a lot of ‘I hate Kiosk’ type threads floated around the internet that eventually spilled onto the musical weeklies with bands like The Cops publicly declaring their low opinion for these kids. I’ve seen these guys about three times and I still don’t like their music. So why am I blogging them here?

To me Kiosk demonstrates the punkiest attitude a band can have. And rock music, is all about attitude. They relished in the hatestorm that surrounded them in 2005 on the internet and used that to their advantage. They ignored conventional media & alternative radio, booked an entire American tour through myspace, and even quoted hate statements for their press releases. As a result the band scored an appearance at 2006’s Big Day Out, are now putting out their EP on Calvin Johnson’s K-Records in the US, and will be touring the Sixty-Nine EP in August. Here is a 48 second sample of ‘Tourist Attraction’. The full song isn’t much longer, clocking in at 1 minute 33 seconds.

Kiosk – ‘Tourist Attraction’

http://users.livejournal.com/_kiosk_/
http://www.myspace.com/kiosk

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The Golden Age

Another band hitting the international touring circuit is The Golden Age. Currently in the United States, their song ‘Dirty Bird’ has an easy groove perfect for an afternoon drive through the city. Formed in 2004, they played their first gig ever with the ‘now’ band Youth Group, and went on to play Homebake by the end of year by way of winning the Hopetoun Hotel Incentive competition, a yearly competition whose prize is to open the Hopetoun stage at Homebake.

When I saw these guys at the Annandale Hotel they have a weird setup of putting the two singers/guitarists on the two sides of the stage and having the girl bassist right up the middle. It was a strange decision to set up this way considering she had almost no presence at all, while the two singers had to sing from the shadows on the wings of the stage. I hope they have fixed this strange set up because it had dampened an otherwise energetic set.

The Golden Age – ‘Dirty Bird’ (mp3)

http://www.thegoldenage.net.au
http://www.myspace.com/thegoldenageband

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Die! Die! Die!

“Die! Die! Die! is a three-piece band from New Zealand currently wandering the globe.”

There are so many of these post-hardcore noise bands in Australia, but very few actually make the jump and relocate overseas for a music career. Sad, but the truth is this NZ trio is doing what every Australian (or Kiwi) band should do: get out of the country and tour the world. Their hardwork has caught the attention of producer Steve Albini who worked their latest EP. Regular gigs and residencies in New York and London means it’s only a matter of time before the music media wake up and pay attention to this hyper punkers. I actually have never seen these guys before but from what I heard I’ve been missing out. No idea when they’ll be back here but I’m waiting for it.

Die! Die! Die! – ‘Year Nine Yeah’ (mp3)

http://www.diediedie.net
http://www.myspace.com/diediedienz

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Flamingo Crash

Flamingo Crash has the most unfortunate luck that they are based in Brisbane. This northern based fivesome has some of the catchiest pop songs I’ve heard all year. The hardworking band has driven a full 25 hours across 3 states from Brisbane to Melbourne just in time for an instore performance! The Crash’s gig history reads like an all star hit parade: supports with The Presets, The Go! Team, Wolfmother, Wolf n Cub, The Bravery and Faker prove that if these guys were based in Sydney or Melbourne they’d be all over radio and magazines. This August they’ll be coming down to Sydney for a couple of show, check them out.

Flamingo Crash – ‘(Vamp at the) Wax Party’ (mp3)

http://www.flamingocrash.com
http://www.myspace.com/flamingocrash

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The Lucksmiths

I became an instant Lucksmiths fan when I heard ‘Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco’ on the radio last year, a timeless pop tune. The band has released eight albums, received adulation from the usually critical Pitchfork and toured endlessly throughout Europe and US. And still managed to be overlooked by the general public. Lucksmiths’ songs are all highlighted with quirky personal lyrics delivered by Taliesyn White’s smooth white boy pop voice not unlike Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch.

Early this year I caught them in a very personal backyard gig when they were in tour in Sydney. The band were literally playing underneath laundry clotheslines. About 150 people packed into the tiny space, some climbing the roof and sitting on the neighbours’ fence to watch the band. The set up was a simple three piece with Tali being the stand up drummer/vocalist in the middle. I didn’t recognise most of their songs as they picked randomly out of their massive back catalog, but when they played San Francisco I couldn’t help but reminisce my own stories about the city.

The Lucksmiths – ‘Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco’ (mp3)

http://www.thelucksmiths.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/lucksmiths

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