Here’s a gentleman worth keeping an eye on courtesy of his apparent ability to make music within any chosen genre. Have a listen to the pair of songs streaming below and you’ll have to agree, you’ll just have to agree that they are quite dissimilar, am I right? I’m right and I’m astute and that’s why I’m a viable music media node. Respect me. The one song sounds like an under produced Justin Timberlake, with the light sprinklings of an Oscar + Martin jam. There are some organic sounds in there that thanks to my well honed ear, I’ve been able to identify as the jingling of car keys and the clinking of a vintage collectible spoon on an empty jar of Cottee’s jam.

The other, the more recent ‘Selma Blair’ from his third record Home, has this chorusey bit that comes in around the 1:00 mark that is sure to set your heart a-flutter. Rollicking banjo? Don’t mind if I do. It’s a far folkier affair and it’s a better representation of the album in which it resides which is, incidentally, free. He’s from Melbourne too, just by the by.

Yeo – ‘Two sides Of A Door’ [DOWNLOAD]

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Yeo – ‘Selma Blair’ [DOWNLOAD]

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I’ve slept on this one for a good six months now because I think part of me has been incapacitated by the thought that someone might think my tastes too cheesy, or maybe too comfortable which they probably can be, but I shouldn’t project that onto you. You deserve better than that. You’ve been here since I was exclusively a Sufjan Stevens exposure blog (not entirely untrue) and you stuck with me even when I didn’t really know how to use twitter. You did that, that was you! So let’s take a moment to mourn any credibility I might have once had.

And now let’s get on with things. Actually let’s not yet. Buckley Ward, if you are reading this, I want to make clear that I’m not saying your music doesn’t have credibility. I’m saying that people are quick to declare accessible music valueless. I think your music is a bang on. It’s carries that indie pop sense that often comes laced with tropical guitar tones. I was drawn to the none-too-overpowering nature of those tones however, in that you don’t make them the centerpiece of the tracks where bands like New Navy seem to let it override the sense of melody. I really feel these songs.

The Melbourne group have a full-length out April 20 through Shock which will house the two single below. I’m forced to use soundcloud embeds because you destroyed my bandwidth last month.

Behold the anthemic first track from Jonathan Boulet’s incoming We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart. The jungle drums that were present on his well-received, self-titled debut are still there. If anything they’re even closer to fore. Some folks have declared his output to be in line with the jungle drummed, harmony obsessed chant bands of Unearthed, but it’s important to remember that he dropped that record before that sound was polluted by an absence of song-writing and an over indulgence in novelty instruments. One would have to think that this would be the record opener and if so, I sure as hell can’t wait to hear what track two sounds like. Those crunchy guitars hint at something a touch heavier than the first record, potentially influenced by his time in Snakeface.This is just enough of a teaser to get me thoroughly interested, without wasting a big single early in the piece. Really, really excited to see what comes next. Self-mixed, self-produced, self-recorded, self-played and self-sung (it’s not heaps making sense anymore), the forthcoming album follows the same process of the first. The last thing he put his hand to was a new track from Sleepyhands which was pretty top dollar, and worth a listen if you haven’t already. Long live the garage champ.

“I don’t even know what I said, I’m a meathead born and bred”

Jonathan Boulet – ‘Trounce’

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You can cop a download of the newie at the cost of a week’s subscription to his mailing list, because let’s be real here, you’re going to unsubscribe (though you shouldn’t) at the first chance you get.

Oliver Tank is basically a household name these days, at least in Sydney, in my house. I often make the mistake of assuming that just because I’ve been exposed, over and over, to an artist, that means that everyone has. Sometimes it’s the case, but othertimes an artist is known amongst the company I keep, but not necessarily to those who read this here webblog. So here are the facts about Oliver Tank. He has one really good song and an EP of decent tracks, but they’re all free so you don’t even care, you’ll just download the whole thing anyway. He’s got cascading torrents of raven locks, but any goodwill garnered because of this is immediately negated by the fact that he tweets like a private school boy who just discovered Dre for the first time. But all this aside, he’s actually doing really well right now. It was unsteady footing during the early days as a good few folk thought he may have been cutting a little too close to James Blake stylistically but he seems to have found his feet as a legitimate artist unto himself. The first time I saw him live it was almost without merit but his support slot at the Youth Lagoon was much, much more captivating. Just quietly as well, Youth Lagoon were the best thing I’ve seen this year to date.

In the second half of 2011 FBi held a competition wherein two winners were deported to Iceland, forced to play shows with local artists and contractually bound to produce an EP for FBi Radio. Our boy Oliver was one of those two winners. Oliver and fellow competition winner Rainbow Chan were shipped over in a 6x6x6 foot crate and began their forced labour immediately upon arrival at Reykjavik. They produced a pair of tracks with the aid of local acts Pétur Ben and Just Another Snake Cult. Below you can listen to the fruits of the Scandinavian exploits and you can also download them (gratis) packaged with 6 remixes and a bonus track from Oliver Tank (also streaming below).

Oliver Tank & Rainbow Chan – Golden

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Oliver Tank & Rainbow Chan – To Love Again

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Oliver Tank – Help You Breathe

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The name’s not much I know – a combination of obscure male name and my sixth favourite animal (after fox lion owl bear and giraffe) – but this is easily better than the sixth best Austrayan band I’ve heard this week. It’s probably the first best. In fact I’m enjoying the select few tracks Wilfred Jackal are currently offering, and I’m willing to forgive them for saying ‘hook-laden’ twice in their info section. To my mind, their tinny guitars and all-round gentleness (to the point of jazz) is vaguely reminiscent of Cloud Control, but minus the obvious hooks – go figure. They’re vocally bold, borderline unintelligible on the lyrics front, and they know when to bring in some brass.

The band’s publicist and I may disagree on several points, like “big guitars and pulsating keys”, but they’re doing good things and it all bodes well for the not-too-distant future, when we’ll hopefully see a more extended release. Don’t mistake my disagreement for disapproval however, I genuinely think Cayle Stephens’ powerful voice will be something you’ll be hearing more and more of from here on out. Their first single ‘Dead Eye’ is likely the stronger of the two that you’ll stream below but ‘Rooms’ isn’t without merit and makes me think they’ve listened to more that a little Radiohead in their time. Both tracks are freely available courtesy of Unearthed.

Wilfred Jackal – ‘Dead Eye’

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[DOWNLOAD]

Wilfred Jackal – ‘Rooms’

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[DOWNLOAD]