Apparently the ideal ear imbibed companion for skybound pyrotechnics and just as likely the perfect sounding board to the late night regret fueled self-inquisition that you wouldn’t have to go through evening after night after evening if you’d just done the law degree your overly caring yet frightfully punishing mother insisted you should have and then met the gently but correctly spoken speech therapist that would have become your eventual wife. But you didn’t, you thought three chords was enough to see you to the top of the Unearthed indie/rock charts (it was) and yet nobody cared. Why didn’t they care? Now you’ve moved to Melbourne which is reportedly the home of garage rock and you’re reverbing your way from support slot to small bar while some prick blogger writes about “another bloody dj who can’t even play an instrument”. But if it weren’t the jam I’m saying it is, then it probably wouldn’t be muffling it’s way out of your dirty 2009 macbook speakers right now. Got you there mate. These dudes are a legit “band” because there’s three of them and if that doesn’t make them a band then they’re at least a collective borderline a party maybe a crew and easily a clique. Maybe they even have instruments, instragram photos are showing me a few but we’ve all seen those posed for with little to no musical chops so let’s not jump the gun fellas. I’m hoping they’re making their own sounds and cutting all that junk together. Now we’ve just to wait for a little vibe before the subsequent PR package (and I certainly mean package in every possible way) and then we’ll know for certain just what Yujen are about, oh then we’ll know, oh yes. That said, the BPM is probably a little high to see this featured on your usual digital minimalist chilltronica digital haunts or whatever. Tunes below:

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.

As promised, here are some words on Electric Sea Spider. Dude has got to be my one of my favourite electronic acts kicking about at the moment. His most recent effort Supercash was no. 11 on my list of the 10 best records of 2012 which you should probably have a read of before osmosifying my opinions and regurgitating them next to the Xerox tomorrow afternoon. “D.D Dumbo over Tame Impala!? WHAT WAS HE THINKING!”

Anyway, yep, banger record and likely a record that could never have been if not for the tropicaso electricano (really sorry about that) work done by the short dude and the tall dude that make up Sydney’s Fishing. Would this record have come to be if this track had never dropped? The answer still ‘probably’, but WE JUST DON’T KNOW. Admittedly there’s only a couple of tracks that bid me cast my mind/rod/reel into FISHING territory and immediately below you’ll hear one of them.

Don’t let me fool you into thinking that ESS has stepped into the game riding coattails though, the dude had cut his teeth in 2010 on his Mohican Beats record that featured some beat/sample combos crunchier than a noodle salad. But like, a dry noodle salad, not the kind with too much dressing. You know what gets my blood up though? A live drum track within a hip-hop jam a la Free The Robots from the recently deceased Capital Steez. Failing that, just fool me. I’m willing to be duped by a drum track sample so long as it closely resembles a kit sound and so ‘Laker’ is just fine with me.

If Flume can blow up then surely there’s room for Electric Sea Spider out there somewhere? One would hope so. If I get enough IRL friends to throw a grown up people’s house party then this is the first jam you’ll be hearing on the night. Of course, you won’t actually hear it as I’ll be dropping it right on 730 to get the party jumping but it’ll be just me and my special lady slow dancing in the absence of any early-arriving patrons. Please try to be punctual in future.

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.

I’ve come at this one from the rear (shhhhhhhhhh) ignoring what’s probably been a lucrative past year or so for Naysayer & Gilsun (6k fb likes has to mean something right?) and focusing on the collborative side of this affair. You see, this track features the vocals of boy wonder Simon Lam. Remember him? You should, he was in this post about I’lls’. Oh and this one about Nearly Oratorio too… and he worked on Mansion, Alaska post-production, so the dude knows his way around a good tune, that’s fairly clear. This fourth connection makes it four from four with Lam’s vocals tightening the cinch on a cruisy Naysayer & Gilsun joint. Full disclosure, I’ve never heard of Naysayer & Gilsun and I haven’t done a whole bunch or research since. Let me know if I’m missing out on “the next big thing”. Simon Lam though, right!?