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
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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
It’s hard to pick and choose between the bands that make up Melbournes #chillmate scene (© Darren Levin 2012) since a good many of them, well… they sound quite similar, let’s say that. I know it’s sacrilege to say that of a sound so presently ‘with it’ but Australian accent + lo fi + “jangling” guitar does not always maketh a good song. Sometimes it does but not inherently. I should clarify before some black and whitist makes this a sticking point in every future comments section; There’s some really fantastic bands coming out of that scene right now but we’re surely on the cusp of critical mass. Some less than savoury bands are beginning to ape some only slightly more savoury bands who are in turn aping the early proponents of said sound.
The Removalists were a sure choice for me because the vocal delivery isn’t a charicature of itself, the guitars actually resolve into melody and there’s lyrical substance throughout the four tracks (‘Better With Age’ without doubt referencing Ecclesiastes). And for a little extra flavour, the band take leaf out of the Sleigh Bells playbook distorting the low end on ‘Young Adults’ and ‘Better With Age’. Anyway, three excellent tracks and an interesting, pianoed interlude make up what I have no trouble recommending you: The Removalists’ Semi Professional EP
They’ve been relatively prolific these past few years with a treasure trove of back catalogue for you to taste as well as a series of album arts that suggest a serious natal fixation? Also, tough band name to google, this one.
