All we have here is a pair of voices and a Rhodes but my word, I’m liking what happens when the two combine. Seriously, the warmth of that Rhodes sound is enough to fully account for the torrential downpour that’s going to ruin the football I’ll be playing on this, on Darling Harbour this evening. No joke. I don’t pretend to understand the chemical release activated when that Rhodes tone hits my primary auditory cortex but I do get more than appropriately excited, I’ll say that. The party responsible for this recording are a pair of brothers called Mrs Bishop. Hailing from Sweden originally (like The Hives whom they here cover), the duo now reside in Sydney making their particular blend of lilting pop.

You can also here an original of theirs called ‘Broken Wing’ which I don’t think quite as highly of, potentially because it reminds me of a few artists for whom I have very little time. They have a debut EP out at the end of next week and if they can keep the xylophones, glockenspiels and all manner of other twinkling sounds to a minimum, it may be pretty decent.

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.

I know, I know, the title of this post reads as if I’ve made a pop sampler but there’s no Ne-Yo nor Beyonce in sight, just a recently renamed Morning Benders. That’s right, the band former known as The Morning Benders are now called POP ETC because they’ve only now, seven years in, discovered that Bender is derogatory cockney slang for a homosexual. Hard to believe since it was the first thing I thought of when I first saw their name on paper, but there it is. They immediately christened the new name with a new release, a mixtape on the house. It’s a little more synth-centric, the indie rock might be slightly closer to an indie pop, but these days the two are virtually indisitinguishable anyway so we cool. I actually think there’re comparisons to be made between this and the most recent record from NYC band Fun. (who are a massive guilty pleasure of mine), in that both of them push the autotune envelope, have a frontman who can wail, and have underplayed moments of lounge as well as hip-hopesque beats. Below is my choice cut ‘Everything Is Gone’, which would fit perfectly on the next Blackroc record if the vocals were traded for an MC’s verse. Download the whole thing here and make your own assessments.

Pop Etc – ‘Everything Is Gone’

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While I’m here, I’m going to come out and say that I’m completely ok with autotune. It’s only the enemy of the Idol/X-Factor singer. I want to hear creative composition and interesting aesthetics, I don’t need an artist to prove they have the best set of pipes on them. It’s become just another tool in the same way reverb is. Obviously, it’s not always the case, but seriously, Sufjan could pee in a cup and I’d still call it Champagne.

Introducing your new favourite band: Givers. There’s a mesh of influences from bands such as Vampire Weekend and Local Natives and guitar tones that sound like they’ve been sampled straight out of Paul Simon’s Graceland (At least in Up, Up, Up). The intesity of the electric guitar at the end of both tracks reminds me of the almighty Fang Island (who I really should have posted about sometime way back when). Despite all these references they’ve still managed to create their own niche in the global soundscape and it’s working for me.

This five piece formed in 2009 and they’ve since signed to Glassnote Records (the same folks who handle Mumford, Phoenix, Two Door Cinema Club etc) so you know that they’ll be crazy huge, crazy soon. That gives you a one month window to enjoy their music before you decide that “you liked their earlier stuff better”. They’ll have a full-length titled In Lights out on June 7th 2011 (but we’ll all agree to hate them by then). In the meantime though, take this in. Unreal.

Givers – ‘In My Eyes’

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[FREE DOWNLOAD via StereoGum]

Givers – ‘Up, Up, Up’

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[FREE DOWNLOAD via StereoGum]

This post featured seven mentions of bands that aren’t Givers and four examples of parentheses. I did stats at uni so I know how to work this sort of thing out.

The first single from Death Cab For Cutie’s mid year release ‘Codes and Keys’ came out today and is called You Are A Tourist. It’s more uplifting than what we heard from their last full length, the diappointing Narrow Stairs. If it’s indicative of what’s to come on the rest of the album then I’m excited. The threshold between ‘excited’ and ‘frothing’ hasn’t been crossed yet but I’m sure there’ll be a few more singles before May 31st.

Death Cab For Cutie – You Are A Tourist [Album Version]

“If you feel like a tourist in the city you’re born, then it’s time to go”