LOVE MIGRATE.
Long term followers of this site will know that a couple of years ago I use to harbour a deep deep love for a band called Love Migrate. The band haven’t released anything since the Dissolved EP in late 2013, a release that felt a lot more assured and focussed than their debut album of 2012. That’s not to say that I didn’t love that debut though.
This new track ‘Pippa’s In The Highlands’ feels as though a band in its new form, harking back to its older sound. And the track is all the better for it. The sparseness is back, allowing the vulnerability in Eddie’s voice once again to shine through. And those builds are also there – that euphoria that sets in at a minute left makes it all worth the wait.
They’ve also retained that solid pop structure to their songs that seemed to develop on the Dissolved EP, all while keeping that classic Australian singer-songwriter vibe.
The track is taken off the bands new EP Shimmer Through The Night due out May 22. You can catch the band launch the EP at the Gasometer on May 28.
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Miks
TEAMWORK.
Marc Deaz of Grandstands and Alex Moodie of KIRA have combined to form Teamwork.
They’ve played together before in a little band called Surfing in Hawaii, but this Teamwork tip follows a more ethereal dreamy electronica bent.
As the name would suggest, Teamwork is a project that provides the opportunity for Marc and Alex to work with a whole heap of different Melbourne based musicians. The first taste, ‘Dramatic Sea Cliffs’ features the vocal talents of Alex Servinis from Ern Malley and is an early indication as to what to expect from the duo’s first tape, due out March 23 on Whalesmouth. Limited run of 30 tho, so keep an eye out.
As we slowly edge our way into Autumn and then Winter, these warm hazy sounds feel all the better.
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Miks
ESESE + HANCOQ.
New hip-hop vibes from Melbourne based collective ESESE.
The Eastern Seaboard Electric Sound Experience (fuckin’ rad name aye?) do them rap vibes, sing, make tracks and film. The first official release from ESESE as a collective comes courtesy of Hudson James Jr and features ace dude Hancoq on the vox. It’s called ‘AINTNO’.
As the local hip-hop game begins to ditch it’s aggressive in-your-face Australian vibe, it’s great to still see some of that bravado and forwardness but presented in a warmer sounding context. And sure, one day, that constant embracement of the jazzier 90s side of hip-hop will get old, but for now, when the production is this top-notch, it still represents something fresh in the Australian hip-hop game. Definitely keen to hear what more ESESE bring.
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Miks
[PREMIERE] YOUNG HYSTERIA.
Melbourne people may well have heard the name Jimmy Hawk before – he’s done a fair bit of solo work around town and had a band called The Endless Sea for a bit too. Jimmy’s latest project is Young Hysteria and is a collab with his mate Thomas Van Der Vliet. The guys have been kicking around for nearly two years now, and you may well recognise their single of last year ‘One Young Lover’. It was a pulsing r’n’b infused jam that was as equally dreamy as it was intricate and introspective.
Well, we’re lucky enough to be premiering the clip for that track this morning on this here site. It’s a kaleidoscopic night-time journey for the two fellas, complete with booze and babes and all those blurs and colours you end up seeing towards the end of the night. Sounds like my night last night/allmynights ohgosh 
Rad clip tho!
Keep an eye out for these guys around town this year.
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Miks
TWERPS.
Let’s give it another shot
Let’s try it another way
Let’s put the puzzle
Back together, our way
Twerps – ‘I Don’t Mind’ (2015)
I’ve come to not know what to expect with Twerps. I thought I knew after their first full length. It was ethereal dreamy guitar based music with the rough edges, the scuffle still there. It sounded polished, but the ideas and the thoughts and process behind those ideas were still on show.
Then, after last year’s Underlay EP gave me the impression that they were going to embrace that more lo-fi aesthetic, they came back with ‘Back To You‘, a track that to my ears re-engaged with that dream like state their self-titled debut had put me in. The flute like synth line was Underlay-esque, but whilst new, still reminded me of some of the more upbeat cuts from the debut, just using different instrumentation. The second cut from the bands new album Range Anxiety (due out Jan 23) was ‘Shoulders’. Again, this one also managed to induce a dream-like state, whilst also putting forward something new in a focus on Julia’s vocals.
Now they’ve let ‘I Don’t Mind’ into the world. ‘I Don’t Mind’ is a track that feels as though it could close out the band’s debut album. It sprawls and is messy in parts, but still with that polish. Dare I say it’s anthemic, especially in that big all engrossing chorus that hits. It feels the most familiar of the three tracks, all of which will appear on the bands second full length Range Anxiety due out on Jan 23. I’ve heard this Twerps before. This is the Twerps I fell in love with.
I think what I’ve realised is that the idea of ‘progression’ in music implies something very particular. It is something that suggests growth and this almost romantic notion of an evolution in sound. It implies leaving behind the old and constantly seeking out the new.
I think with this release though I’m beginning to question just how relevant a term like ‘progression’ is when talking about music output. As music writers we want to be able to tell a story I guess, and the notion of progression lends itself to that old writing trope of the traditional story-arc where it’s all about triumph over adversity and reaching a better place. In having this as the go-to though, the stories we can tell about the musicians we love are pretty lopsided, and dare I say in many cases, not all that honest.
What about those artists that don’t leave their older influences at the door after album one and evolve in that traditional sense? What about those artists that don’t embrace a more electronic side in their latter albums? What about a band like Twerps who instead of moving on from their earlier work, are open to working with the same sorts of ideas, sounds and influences?
The story of Twerps isn’t one simply about re-visiting and re-engaging with the old ideas. It’s about doing different things with similar ideas. It’s not about going back, in the same way as it’s not about going forward. Instead it’s about the now, and the real and direct experiences gained in the present moment.
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If you’re lucky enough to check out Twerps as they support Belle and Sebastian around the country, or if you’re checking them out at Sugar Mountain or Golden Plains, then have a bloody blast. And if you didn’t realise they were playing these shows and are thinking of trying to head along, then details can be found here.
For those not lucky enough to check ’em out live, then make sure you grab a copy of Range Anxiety when it’s out – you can pre-order on iTunes now or over on the Chapter records store. ‘I Don’t Mind’ got best new music on some big site called ForkPitch or something like that too. Can’t blame ’em – it is a seriously wonderful jam.
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Miks
DICK DIVER.
I mean, really, as if I wouldn’t be all gushin’ over this. I mean, as if Dick Diver‘s 3rd album Melbourne, Florida won’t make at least the top three albums of 2015. I mean, as if, even with a slight change in sound, I wouldn’t just fucking love ‘Waste The Alphabet’, the new single from the Melbourne, Victoria based band.
‘Waste The Alphabet’ is intoxicating. It’s a fuller sound than their earlier work, and there’s a propulsion to it, and a directness to it. It’s only taken me a couple of listens, but I now reckon maybe it could get in the top of this year already.
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Miks.
[PREMIERE] GRANDSTANDS.
Melbourne band Grandstands are back with their new single ‘Getting Out’. It’s a song ostensibly about breaking up and the realisation that getting out, is in many cases, the best thing. It’s also perhaps moreso detailing this strange fixation we now have on the mundane.
It’s a phenomena that has influenced nearly everything. Things like ‘normcore’; this fascination, at least within some fields of academia at investigating the everyday; and of course the whole idea of suburban guitar pop music. We’ve now reached a point where the only way to look is back in on ourselves, too aghast at the ridiculousness modern life has become. Grandstands manage to capture this feeling incredibly well.
This evening we’re lucky enough to feature the clip for ‘Getting Out’. Shot at Melbourne Zoo, it gets that whole everydayness to a tee. There’s a strange calm to the close up shots of zoo animals doing what zoo animals do.
Alongside the clip is a really wonderful three track single with ‘Getting Out’ as the lead. You can have a listen to that one below too. The guys also have a debut album in the works, due for release in early 2015. Featuring ‘Getting Out’, it’s been mixed and produced by Josh Bach who worked on Milk Teddy‘s wonderful debut and has been mastered by our mate Casey Rice.
If you dig ‘Getting Out’ and you’re down in Melbourne then we’re also pretty chuffed to announce that the band are playing a launch at the Workers Club on November 21. Details for that one here.
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Miks
TETRAHEDRA.
In the September tape, we opened with a track from new Melbourne 6-piece Tetrahedra. ‘Dried Up’ was a build of beautiful soft vocal layerings complicated by this stark tension that arises during that chorus. It was a great example of a band approaching pop music from an outside perspective.
The band have just launched a ‘live’ vid for another track of theirs ‘Circle My Heart’. Less electronic in it’s approach, ‘Circle My Heart’ showcases the bands more traditional training (they all met at the VCA down in Melbourne) – there is a strict funk and at times fusion feel to this track. It also messes with your sense of time and truly illustrates just how much a sense of context can develop in music. The opening piano riff gives you one interpretation, which after a while you feel comfortable sitting with. But then when that drum groove kicks in, you’re given a whole new way of understanding the track. And then, of course, that sax. I mean, move over Snowy.
It may be easy for some to give Tetrahedra a quick listen, and hear all that strangeness in the time signatures and the hard to place groove and write it off as something not accessible. I’d suggest however, that what makes Tetrahedra is the accessibility of their music. Underpinning the work of Tetrahedra is an undeniable pop aesthetic, and it works as a point of entry to their music.
If you dig the track, then make sure you jump over to the band’s bandcamp page and grab yaself a copy. Also make sure you give the guys a follow over on bandcamp as well as a like on the ol’ faceys.
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Miks
I’LLS.
I’lls are back and quietly changing things up a fair bit. This is exciting music. If you’ve heard I’lls before, you’d know that their work resembled more song-like structure. Underpinning their work was a strong pop song aesthetic that was layered and haunting enough as to not be dreary and straight.
This new work, a two track release, still sounds like I’lls, but has moved away from that ‘song-like structure’. Embracing a more dark and ethereal vibe, it’s a release full of rampant propulsion. Both ‘Fifty Phiphti’ and ‘Asakusa’ still have that introspection that harnessed their earlier releases, but this time the foundation on which it is built has changed.
You can grab the new release as a digital download or on vinyl. More on that here.
If you’re in Melbourne, then PLEASE go and see the guys live at The Workers Club on November 6. More on that here.
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Miks
OPEN SWIMMER.
Well this is real beautiful. Open Swimmer is the solo project of Ben TD with a little help from his friends. This track ‘Sugar Bowl’ is taken from the full length Canyon due out next Friday (17th October).
‘Sugar Bowl’ was produced by Nick Huggins from Two Bright Lakes, that great label that has many a great artist on it’s roster. And it sounds like a Two Bright Lakes release, especially some of the earlier Otouto, Kid Sam, Seagull kinda stuff. There’s a sincerity and joltiness and a thrown together/found sound feel to ‘Sugar Bowl’. The album itself features a whole heap of Two Bright Lakes fam, including Kishore Ryan (Kid Sam), Chris Bolton (Seagull), Martha Brown (Banoffee), Mark Gretton (Touch Typist) and a whole heap more.
I’d get around this release – reckon it’s gonna be pretty bloody special. You can stream the lead single below, and if you’re in Melbourne, make sure you check out Ben and his band (featuring Bec from the Harpoons, Chris from Seagull, Aaron from Frankolin, and Peter from Sweets and Hello Satellites) launch the thing at the Northcote Social Club on Friday 17th. Details here.
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Miks
THE OCEAN PARTY.
I reckon in a couple of weeks you’ll be hearing ‘Australia’s answer to Real Estate‘. And although some of those comparisons can be pretty lazy, I feel as though this one is accurate, in a way. The Ocean Party aren’t an answer to anything in particular, especially not another band from a bigger country who music writers in Australia always seem to believe we play second fiddle to.
The band’s new album however does feel like a progression in sound. It sounds fucking confident, but not in a cocky way. Confident in the same way that Real Estate sound confident. It’s dreamy, but still really quite messy in parts too. Their last album was a big old fave of mine. I reckon Soft Focus will be too. It’s such a step up from anything else I’ve heard from them.
The new single from the album, due out October 31 through Spunk is ‘Head Down’. It’s dreamy and warm sounding and Lachlan’s vocals are complimented beautifully by Snowy’s guitar line and that lush rhythm section. And it’s a bloody great example of a band with a more pronounced and slightly elevated sound. And the clip? I mean, what’s better that watching five handsome fellas play the track with some marvellous shirts? It’s Snowy, standing solo playing on a Melbourne rooftop ripping that sax. What more could you want?
If you don’t end up loving this album, then mate, think there’s something wrong.
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[EDIT 9/10/14] Well, actually, this has been edited a little bit already coz the writing wasn’t too crash hot, but anyway. Spunk have since put the track up on soundcloud as a free download. Stream/download below.
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Miks.
SLEEPY DREAMERS.
There are certain narratives that seem to constantly infiltrate the ways in which we talk about music in this country. In terms of fame, there’s this rags to riches story (think Courtney Barnett etc), there’s the whole argument around scenes and particular sounds being more popular than others because of the institution that is triple j, and then there’s the fact that every single time we hear an Australian accent, we need to pick it out and at the very least make a comment about how proud/weird/cringey it makes us feel. Of course these ways of thinking about Australian music are problematic because they automatically shape our expectations. But, given they’re so consistent, there must be some truth to them in giving us an inroad to understand music in this country.
So, with all that said, I don’t think you can really stray away from at least briefly mentioning Ed Tripodi’s vocal style on the new Sleepy Dreamers track ‘Hunk’. There is that slight drawl, that almost lazy sounding vocal, with that ocker accent.
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For me, it works. It makes the track take a step above. The track itself is masterfully structured, and some of that early slow and dawdling instrumentation reminds me a lot of Sleep Decade. But with that vocal touch, it cuts through in a way.
Perhaps though we need to change how we consider the Australian accent in music. To use some rather obvious examples, Julia Stone uses her voice and phrases lines in very particular ways. Brendan from Eddy Current has an almost nasty sounding tone in his passive aggressive vocal delivery.
No singer with an Australian accent sings in exactly the same way. Why then can’t we move away from this concern with the accent itself and instead focus on the tone, the phrasing, and the delivery? Why can’t we focus on the slight aggression in Ed’s voice at times, and the fact that at 3:27 Ed’s thin sounding voice still manages to be enough to perfectly complement the solo guitar strums? Sure, sounding Australian acts as an instant identifier, but I reckon we’re capable of changing the narrative on that one.
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Hunk is taken from Sleepy Dreamers second EP Local Football. I’m looking forward to this one. Also, if you’re in Melbourne, then can I recommend you go and check out the band as they do a Monday night residency at The Evelyn throughout October? Details here.
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Miks.
SNOWY NASDAQ + EMMA RUSSACK.
I got a friend. He came to Australia a couple of years ago. We saw Emma Russack a couple of months ago, and one of the first things he said was ‘man, she is gorgeous. She is my kind of Australian woman.’
So, Emma, meet Phil*.
Nah mate. This ain’t no matchmaker post. Especially when Emma’s collabed with our mate Snowy Nasdaq on a track called ‘First STI’. The track is the September track for Snowy’s excellent one song a month thing he’s doing for Why Don’t You Believe Me.
Snowy’s production on this feels consciously different – and maybe it’s because his vocals don’t feature on the track. The vocals belong all to Emma, and although it gets a little nuts and frantic like a lot of Snowy’s production, it feels more sparse, maybe to give room for Emma’s wonderfully rich and evocative vocal tone.
If Snowy can get this kind of stuff up every month, then damn son, we got a prolific (and fucking great) one on our hands.
*Not his real name (so far off it’s not funny)
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Miks
LANKS.
A few repeat offenders this week hey?
Don’t get all steamed though – it’s not our fault that people who are already demonstrably good at recorded music are continuing to make recorded music. And release it at the start of spring. It’s as though the ice is melting and the new songs are starting to *can’t finish lamest analogy in the history of blog culture*.
Take this Lanks fella. With his string of respectable singles and buzzed shows, and now bam. Way before we were expecting more he’s back with another 223 seconds deserving of your precious ear time.
I can’t help it. I’m just the messenger. Talk to him about the timing.
It is clearly one of his best though. I’ll just say that and leave you to your message.
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Adam
PLANTETE.
I think my writing process is pretty much standard for Australian music blog writers, so at the risk of being obvious: here’s an #industryinsight.
Normally I’ll break into one of the nearby abandoned warehouses, where I’ll typically set off a few flares and scratch some maniacal writings on the wall using charcoal and ash. Then it’s just a simple matter of emailing a photo to cost-effective outsourced help, and putting my feet up until the confusing text appears in my inbox. It’s all very 2014, and works well as long as there are enough illegal fires around to keep the charcoal and ash supply strong.
But if I was to pick one small flaw in this ubiquitous industry approach, it’s that delay in getting the text back ready for internetting. I mean, you guys don’t seem to care if I’m like a month later (and notably less informative) than Indie Shuffle, which is odd but also nice. But it all starts to fall over when a guy like Planète drops a series of juicy treats from Melbourne in rapid succession. There’s another track out before I get my rants back on the previous one.
So, breaking the industry norm, I’m typing some of these words straight into a computer in order to feature ‘Snow Sketch‘ while honourably mentioning ‘Visions‘ and also this remix of Lanks’ Green Light. Not sure if he produces at the speed of light or queues it all up to torment/elate me, but we can all reach consensus that he knows his way around ambling the airy and articulate over the deep and round. I know that reads weird but I’m ok with it.
Serving suggestion: queue all 3 and ebb them into your ear holes for the dreamiest 22 mins of your day.
Silo Arts on point again too, just go on and trust em.
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Adam
TELLING.
Shhhhhhh. Don’t make any sudden movements.
Here we have something that very few tours get to see, so let’s forget all those complaints you outlined earlier and remember to pay the damn fare.
This ‘How it Ends‘ is a gem of moment from Melbourne’s Telling, for now in a totally unsaturated state. Tim ‘many project man about the internet/radio’ Shiel and Ben ‘quite the classic heartthrob’ Abraham seemed happy to sneak this up without fanfare – but I have no reservations in ruining that quiet sanctity with song-tourism for immense financial gain*.
And look at it. It’s a surprising result really. Definitely not a straight sum of their current solo sounds. You won’t get much of Tim’s driving oddity or Ben’s friendly poppity pop, it’s more … cavernous.
I wrote a few comparisons then scrapped all those, so I guess it’s on it’s own – but it sits right with me. Just right. Best track yet. Of 2. But still. Short. Sentences. Punchy. Reporting.
So we all got lucky out there today. You’ll tell them good things at the information centre, won’t you? You will.
And also this might be one little google hit where Tim is referenced without any mention of Gotye so he’ll be…ahh, still nope.
*Again I simply can’t overstate how zero the revenue is from this blog. Much more zero than you can possibly imagine.
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Adam
TWERPS.
I’ve written about 10 versions of this post, and I’m always finding myself hitting and holding the backspace key. I’ve been trying to articulate how I feel about the new Twerps release Underlay, an 8 track EP that came out a couple of days ago. It’s the bands first new material since the incredible ‘Work It Out’/’He’s In Stock’ double single from late 2012, and it also marks their first release on Merge Records, a US label home to bands like Arcade Fire and Wild Flag.
Locally, they’re still on Chapter Records, a label that any reader of this site will know is a BIG favourite of mine. They’ve acquired a new drummer, Alex Macfarlane from fellow Chapter band The Stevens, who also recorded this EP. It was mastered by Mikey Young.
I guess if I was to try and begin to assert any sort of opinion about Underlay, it would be that it sounds less big, but still equally as expansive. It sounds rougher, but still equally as lovely. Underlay is different, but still captures all that I love about the band.
As our mate Adam said last night as we checked out the band launch the new EP at the Red Rattler, there’s a cinematic quality to their work. It feels like a great soundtrack to a film montage. We didn’t get into the specifics of what film or even what style of film it would be, but the fact that this new material still manages to evoke imagery and the instrumentation and arrangements still manage to sound as though they’re accompanying something more than just the lyrics is testament to their approach to song writing. As Adam also said, there’s still a real pop sensibility about their work.
And whilst, still, I need to familiarise myself with this release even more, I think the very fact that it’s thrown me a bit means that the band aren’t resting on their laurels. I know I like this release, a lot. But just why, it’s significance, and what impact it will have is something I’m still working my way through.
We got our fave cut ‘Wait Till You Smile’ just below. And make sure you stream and purchase the full album over at the Chapter Music bandcamp.
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Miks.
[PREMIERE] CLUE TO KALO.
If we, as people who write about music, and to an extent, trends, would have to suggest a new direction in Australian contemporary music, it would be that there appears to be a push towards and an appreciation of the more classic, but sophisticated pop song. Dorsal Fins are doing it, so are Hopium. And so is Clue To Kalo, a fella from Melbourne. You may remember the name Clue To Kalo, also known as Mark Mitchell – the guy has been releasing stuff for over 10 years (his first full length came out in 2003 via LA’s Mush Records).
This new album, The Motives Records, is due out on Sep 23 and it’s some beaut sonic eargasm that sounds busy and intricate and goes where you don’t expect. It’s also incredibly familiar and joyous and just darn great. It’s his first independent release, as well as being the first album he’s done outside of his bedroom.
You may know the first cut from the album, ‘Burning Arrow’. It’s a jaunt of sorts and goes everywhere whilst still staying within the pocket.
As well as ‘Burning Arrow, we’ve also got a pretty great little exclusive for all you guys. We got a stream of the album opener ‘The Men That They Make Us’. It’s ethereal, cinematic, starts off small and introspective with those contemplative lyrics and piano but gets expansive and large and all encompassing. It’s perhaps the best indication as to where Mitchell takes his music, and indeed, this album.
Make sure you grab a copy of the full length when it comes out. To my ears, it’s easily one of the better local releases of the year.
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Miks
ANDRAS & OSCAR.
There’s something about the melding of two, quite distinct ideas and combining them into one. It’s a tried and tested formula – rather depressing lyrics put against an achingly sweet acoustic pop song, or, alternatively, a new form of instrumentation put against a genre or sound that usually uses something different. It’s how musicians create tension, something that draws in the audience and creates that immediate intrigue important to good art.
You may know Andras Fox – he’s a Melbourne based producer that works within the disco sort of sound. He melds an analogue aesthetic into it though, making a style that has been a consistent over the past 40 or so years sound old and new at the same time. It’s that play on expectation and that tension that makes Andras’s production work stand out so much.
You would definitely know of Oscar Key Sung – he’s been a regular feature here on maamf. I think this is where the tension comes in again – we are so far used to Oscar’s polished, cleanly produced forays into the strange soul music he’s so bloody good at. Oscar’s voice, placed with the rawness of the production diverts your expectation though.
Instead, we’re left with something that is full of funk, a vocal that compliments rather than overpowers, and a collaborative project that feels as though it’s pushing forward in it’s own time.
‘Everytime I Go’ is taken from the debut full length Cafe Romantica due out October 17 through Chapter Music. Keen.
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Miks.
MIGHTY BOYS.
Ohhh mate. Sometimes all you need is a big smack of irreverence. As I sit here using some of the worst internet I’ve used in a hell of a long time (cheers SLV), Mighty Boys and their thrashy punkishness are making things slightly better (apart from the fact that it took about 5 mins for the video to load).
Their ode to my fave Satdy evening show of yesteryear, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, is just like I remember it – strange, weird, and fun but in a way that you feel a little embarrassed by a few years down the track.
If you’re keen on this, then make sure you check out the bands debut EP Dole Cheque and Kabana. You can grab it here.
If you’re down in Melbourne, then make sure you also go jump around like a dick at their show – they’re playing the Tote this Friday (15th August). Deets here.
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Miks
LAURA JEAN.
I wrote about Laura Jean‘s ‘First Love Song’ a little while ago, it’s one that affected me a little. Coupled with the destructiveness of the lyrics was this real intimacy, a real sense of being still and being with, present even.
The clip furthers this stillness. It feels like home video, but isn’t captured in the way that most home video is. There’s no ‘oh hey man, how can we make this footage look all retro and stuff like we rescued it from an old camera that was stuck in the attic even though we only just recorded it the other day, and hey, isn’t instagram the best?’
Instead, it’s just footage. It’s just friends being silly and stupid with each other, and intimate in a very still way. It’s beautiful footage in that it captures all that is eery, strange, and close.
The clip was directed by Laura’s cousin Alice Englert, an Aussie actress/film maker now based in London. Incidentally, Alice is also the daughter of the director, screenwriter, Australian and international film legend Jane Campion – may come in handy at that next trivia night that is rather specific because it is about female auteurs from Australia and their children.
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Miks
HOPIUM.
The first cut from Hopium threw me a bit. It was intense – ‘a track about the prospect of loss, a track about the intimacy and physical embodiment of human emotion‘.
This new cut ‘Dreamers’, is, on the surface, far more, for want of a better, more appropriate word, up. It’s brash in it’s production, unashamedly pop in it’s sound and outlook. It also features Phoebe from Snakadaktal, that band that captured many a heart a few years ago. When you have a listen though, the lyrics actually are a little down – the chorus begins:
‘you said this would be your year,
but you fucked around now december’s here,
you must be one of the dreamers’
This cut down, the reminder that perhaps you’re actually not as good as you think you’re going to be, is incredibly depressing, sure. It’s also pretty bloody direct, in your face with it’s aggression, albeit a fierce aggression lamenting the other end of the spectrum: laziness.
Hopium are definitely on to something. They manage to capture a state of being, a state of youth if you like, that gets little honest coverage. Really keen to hear more.
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Miks
DORSAL FINS.
Mate, this guy, Liam McGorry from all those bands, has done a bit of pop perfection with his DORSAL FINS project. The new track ‘Monday Tuesday’ just feels smooth, everything is in it’s right place, nothing goes longer than it needs, and those vocals, damn.
The vocals aren’t Liam’s though (yeah, I was as shocked as you – we’re not all Andy Bull I suppose). They’re Ella Thompson‘s, who you might know from singing with The Bamboos and AXOLOTL. And although that production rollicks along, and you’d be dead inside if you stayed still after pressing play, the vocals carry it – they elevate the track into something that resembles a real, drop-dead amazing bit of crafted pop music.
If you’re down in Melbourne also, then make sure you check them out – they’re playing two shows at The Workers Club (Wed 23rd and Wed 30th July). More details here.
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Miks
5THS.
Oh man. Sometimes all you need is some smooth nu-soul production stuff to just wash over you and take you in in it’s 90s throwbacks, beaut falsetto, and just that groove.
Damn.
5ths is the new collaborative project from Pip Norman, who also goes by the Count Bounce moniker. ‘Sell It To Me’ features Jarryd Klapper, a fella from Bissie. It’s the first taste of what 5ths will be doing, and I like it heaps.
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Miks
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