Due to financial limitations I can’t actually write as much on each band as I used to so here’s the short of it. There appears to be a small collective forming in the Mountains that are throwing big tunes around like it ain’t no thang. The bros that make up said collective include Wheat Fields, Skinny Legion and Spoonty. Admittedly that’s the entirety of it but I think that still constitutes a collective. They’ve a mixtape up on bandcamp featuring tracks from the three and below you can hear a few highlights. For my money, the below track from Skinny Legion is the best of this bunch but it’s worth listening to the lot.

There’s a little Tame Impala going on with that new Wheat Fields track, am I right?

Just a little video to tide you over whilst I struggle to push through a period of near radio silence. I’m not sure why I’m feeling so jaded towards music blogging lately but fingers crossed I can push through it and come out the other end with my winning smile and receding hairline in tact. This is an Oscar Key Sung live take from FBi Radio. Light on the beat end but a good vocal showcase for the gentleman who has probably overtaken Sufjan as my most overblogged artist. No regrets though, the dude is a prodigious talent. Enjoy.

Guerre has never pushed my pulse past its impressive 40bpm resting rate and so I’ve never felt driven to give any real airtime (read blogspace) to his tunes. Potentially I’ve been coming at these from the wrong direction or maybe my current listening habits have better positioned me to take an interest in what he’s laying down. One way or another, I think this is the right time to be sharing these tracks. The last thing I want Sound Doctrine to be is a post-all-the-songs-as-soon-as-possible type affair. There are those out there whose sense of taste looks more like a shotgun blast than a well directed sniper round (I’ve been playing loads of Borderlands 2). There are a few blogs out there that are posting so much daily content that I’m forced to use the search function to find anything of value which basically means they’re of as help finding good music as google is.

Guerre is yet another feather in cap of Sydney imprint Yes Please whose roster grows more nourished with each passing week. Let’s start things off with ‘For Qwanisha’, the B-Side to recent single Rashad (Lose Pace) which you’ll also find below.

And -added bonus- here’s a thirty minute live cut pulled from a set he played a GoodGod about a month back. He’s pushing into the dark, dark territory of beatmakers like Shackleton. Big ol’ sinister bass.

I had ventricular love for Guy Brown before he did this here track with Flash Forest but this is the proverbial icing on the proverbial cake. It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back, it’s the bird in the hand, it’s the tip of the iceberg and it’s the bees knees. It’s just so many things, so many great things. It appears to have some significance to more than just myself as Triple J have said “YES! YES MAMMALS!”, declaring him the artist of the week for at least (and indeed, at most) the next seven days. It’s a mantle worthy of his shoulders as the track in question demonstrates an artistry of sound that I was previously unaware he possessed. I was well aware of a recumbent falsetto but this coupling points at more. The underlying beat is the handywork of Flash Forest, a Melbourne based producer whose own musics are most pleasing. Get familiar if you’re not already as amongs his repertoire there’s more buoyant swagger than every other minimalist Sydney beatmaker combined (WITHDRAWN).

I’ve written and rewritten this opening sentence and still, I can’t find an interesting or appropriate way to introduce you to the central thesis of this post; Boats Of Berlin have released something excellent. Their debut EP is as easy to get lost in as Jude Law’s eyes.

It wouldn’t take a debater of any real skill to demonstrate that there are similarities between Grizzly Bear and Boats, but then you’re not in the presence of such an orator so you’ll not hear that claim made. There’re certainly moments where the band’s attention to dynamic bid me cast my mind back to the first Fleet Foxes record too but these animal based comparisons do Boats of Berlin an injustice. They’re not derivative and they’re not going to be Unearth’s flavour of the month despite meriting the truest recognition. Nonetheless, across the EP’s five songs I hear nods to so many American bands that I’ve plenty of time for.

Boats Of Berlin – The Towers

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Dissonant chords are the benchtop upon which the vocals do their work. The understated snare and cymbal dare not pull attention away from the frontline but sit reasonable and calm beneath earlier mentioned chords, those same turning into languid runs as the motion builds. I should probably investigate the name of the vocalist because I get the sense that it’s going to become one of those Robin Pecknold/Jim James/Ben Bridwell/Ben Gibbard type situations where the vocalist makes a name for himself on the strength of his pipes before releasing the inevitable solo album. Full disclosure, I don’t know if that’s happened in the case of all those vocalists but they all come with the same singular strength of personality.

Boats Of Berlin – Lavender Farm

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Hard to know if it’s my favourite B.o.B release with bangers like this to contend with but it’s definitely up there. Cleverly priced by someone with an obvious history in sales, the EP is a mere $5.95. Veto your next wheatgrass infused boost juice and achieve true value for money.