This is without a doubt the offspring of the beleaguered ‘chillmate’ generation which I think we can all agree (come on gents, be civil) is ready to be put to bed/euthenised. There’s plenty of good acts that have come out of the few, fuzzy chillmate years but there’s plenty more that have parroted their best Bored Nothing / Boomgates impersonations. I guess it’s a really easy sound to mimic, though a surprisingly difficult sound to do well. Don’t we have an obligation to do the right thing though… It really isn’t the noise it once was and noone’s going to call us cruel if we should shake hands and go our separate ways. This isn’t to say the earlier mentioned Boomtwerp Nothing’s should call it quits, quite the opposite. Those are the acts that are going to cut through the noise for years to come and there’s been a pretty hearty batch of roaring good sorts that have come forth but yeah. That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

For me, it’s about more than detuning your guitar and overlaying your recordings with crackle and pop. It’s about writing good songs. And that friends, that is why Barnett can trace lineage through the strong Australian songwriters of chillmate times. And probably much further back than that too, but I’m being typically monodirectional and putting all of someone else’s eggs in someone else’s basket again. Let’s reaffirm this. She’s not derivative, she just shares merits with other winning bands.

Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener

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All. That. Said. The new Courtney Barnett single is, quite simply, glorious. It’s got story-telling lyricism out the bee-hind and what could be one of the most interesting voices to rise from the red Australian sands these past few years. She recounts the overlap between a little gardening and some ambulance worthy respiratory problems, repeating ‘I’m having trouble breathing in’. Who’d of thought she could back up History’s Eraser with such a total jam / brilliant tale as this. Not I folks, not I.

Polaroids of Androids are presenting Courtney’s upcoming tour which is sure to be a real blasty-blast. See below for details.

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.