Australian doesn’t really do soul. Sure, some folk will have you believe that simply sampling a vocal cut from Otis Redding on an instrumental hip-hop track was enough to allow an entire record to be dignified ‘soul’ but I spit on that. I spit right on it and I show such opinions a fundamental degree of disrespect. Walk away, opinion, you’re not wanted here. Let’s all be real, that’s called a hook (a sampled hook, at that) and there’s not much more to it than that. Jones Jnr. Can respectably called soul. It’s not a stretch and it’s not one of many genres that they traverse (despite some strong hip-hop influence), they are indisputably making soul music.

They’re a two piece made up of Thundamentals man Morgs and Ev Jones (Rumpunch) hitting vocals. He’s pretty on point too because the combination of traditional doe eyed lyricism and crooning vocal makes for a sultry good time. On the beat end of things you’ll find a steady stream of clicks, snaps, claps and groooooove. I’ve got a feeling you’ll be hearing a whole lot more about these here gentlemen over the coming months as the Soultape eventually does the rounds. I’m surprised it hid itself from me as long as it did, the rascal. The whole thing is free right here.

I’ve had this one brewing for quite some time now and it’s time to let the proverbial hounds loose on the not as proverbial public except in this instance the hounds represent prizes. The public still represents the common man though, so this is your chance to win what I believe is one of the best prizes in the history of competition. I lay before you ten, count ‘em, TEN different 7″ vinyls from an assortment of Australian musicians. I have two copies of each 7″ so that means there can be two winners. It’s a pretty awesome kick way to kickstart your record collection / a great addition to your already excellent record collection. Here are the 7 inches at stake:

Pond - You Broke My Cool / Moth Wings 7″
Boomgates – Bright Idea 7″
Fishing – Choy Lin/White Sheet Beach 7″
Jeremy Neale – Darlin’ 7″
Psuche / Kid Sam – Tell Tell/We’re Mostly Made of Water Split 7″
Harts - All Too Real/Back To The Shore – 7″
Inland Sea – Word Are Circles 7″
Fox + Sui - Summer Storm / Moon Nightclub 7″
Courtney Barnett / Jen Cloher – History Eraser/Mount Beauty Split 7″
Twerps – Work It Out 7″

Apparently there are strict rules governing competitions on facebook so I’ve decided it was probably past time I invested in a platform that wasn’t facebook. So that’s why I’ve started a mailing list that I’ll use to send out very rare but very exciting updates about things that are cutting edge and fresh and edgy and so on.

To enter, sign up to the Sound Doctrine mailing list below. On Friday the 15th of March I’ll choose a winner from all those who have signed up over the course of this here period and hit you up via email. Ain’t no vinyl like free vinyl, am I right!?

It’s been a month (or somewhere near it) and frankly, I don’t know where to start. The ever growing conglomerate of reputable australian musicians decided the best time to release new tunes was when my back was turned (dicks.) so I’m here now playing catch-up. That’s ok though, because this isn’t the first time I’ve been the underdog and come out on top. I can’t think of any other specific examples where it’s been the case but I’m on the spot so if you give me a few days I will think of them and get back to. I’ve spent the last month playing house over in Singapore and Malaysia and I’ve come back now with a fresh new wife (local, not imported) and a poppin’ attitude, which I believe is a cool way to describe an attitude. I had to fight the overwhelming urge to call this post ‘While You Were Sleeping [on these tracks]‘ but it didn’t make a whole bunch of sense since I was in actuality, the one sleeping on these tracks, not you. But if I see that title turn up on another music blog I swear I’ll haul your ass to court quicker than one of Judge Judy’s plaintiffs. So, over the last month…

Sounddoc bestbuds Brothers Hand Mirror offered up a new tune which may be their most straight down the line hip-hop effort to date, which is to say it’s still nothing like the contents of your “Hot Urban” playlist and a damn sight more interesting than most everything else. I’m still hanging out for that next Oscar Key Sung single but in the meantimes, this had me lounging. Which is a good thing, I’m pretty sure. A little lyrical gymnastics mid-track to keep the thing energetic and the glittering synths are front and center making this sound far thicker than much of their earlier output.

Last time BHM came to sydney (also known as the only time BHM came to Sydney) they were supported by Sydney’s least musical musician, Simo Soo, who called BHM MC HTMLflowers (check that buffet of acronyms right!?) onstage to help perform the track you’ll hear below these words. Obviously it’s now in recorded format and though I’m not going to suggest you’ll love it (or even like it), I’ve decided to include it so that you can sound like a top dog officianado when you tell your pal about the latest guest verses. His live set didn’t get points on aesthetic but there was a whole stack of energy that I sure as hell couldn’t have conjured up.

This one is a brand newie from a band I’d never heard of and a band with arguably the worst name I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what possesses a band to name themselves after a mundane fact (or worse still, a personal joke) but the saving grace for this outfit is their music and if there’s one thing I’ll allow a band to fall back on, it’s their music. For me, this lot are ticking the same boxes as bands like Gung Ho or Last Dinosaurs. I’m hoping that their live set is as polished as their recording(s) and I guess we’ll find out soon enough. If so, it’s game on for young and old. Download the track here.

Sydney’s Sleepyhands have put up their first new track in what feels like years. It’s called Dull Wine and it sounds even more Paradesy than their last track ‘Smoke People’ and that was very Paradesy indeed, which is a good thing because Parades are, you know, they’re Parades. That said, the bands are of the same circles so I come into this already looking for similarities. I was under the impression that Sleepyhands were on hiatus, what with members of the band working on other projects (see Nantes and Sures) yet here we are, so let me say on behalf of this entire unconsenting readership “Sleepyhands, we’ve missed thee”.

Bearhug popped a little something something online that would, as usual, sit nicely over a montage of surfing clips from the 90s and will apparently feature on an upcoming EP that’ll be out in a couple of months. Their debut record Bill, Dance, Shiner came in at #6 in my end-of-year-best-of-list for 2012 which was, to be fair, just an arbitrarily numbered list of ten cracking releases so let’s just call it one of the ten. These dudes can make a guitar wail with serious nonchalance and I dig that. So you should too.

And those are all the tracks that came out during the month of February. Nope, no need to check on that, just take my word for it.

Not going to say anything, just going to shove this in front of your eyeballs/earballs and ask that you do what needs to be done, hit your play buttons, adjust your chair’s vertebrae support etc etc. Surely no introduction necessary for a band as seminal (in every possible sense) as the Drones. Download via poa

The Drones – How To See Through Fog

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The band’s sixth record I See Seaweed will be out March 1 via ATP Recordings

This one comes striaght from the mouth of Mister Triple J Unearthed himself and it’s a woozy synthy wench with a heart of gold brah. It reminds me of that time I heard a really killer synth heavy track with a overtly funk-fueled groove. Oh wait, my bad, that’s this time! Ha! Boy is my face red. I must really be going wrong over here. I really like saying this guy’s name too. Zebra Zap. Say it. Zebra Zap. Zebra Zap. Ha! More goodtimes. Anywho, I’m really, really into it. Subsequent listens have yielded different fruits, be it a further appreciation for that piano line or just noticing the sonic space between beat and vocal. It’s not often you hear an artist use silence / noiselessness with clear intent and an superb outcome. I couldn’t tell you much about who he is or we he (they?) came from but I don’t need to. Let the music speak for itself. A free download over at Triple J Unearthed