In my mind there’s a perennial battle between what I know and what you know and where exactly the two overlap. The middle space in this venn diagram waxes and wanes depending on the subject matter but when it comes to Australian music who even knows!? Maybe sometimes I give you more credit than you deserve and in those moments I don’t provide you with the necessary backstory to properly gorge yourself on a new artist. Other times I assume you know very little and I’ll hold your hand as we explore hot new producers like Gizbo Glabbelstork or Flume. I think with GUM I thought “Hey. These guys know a thing or two about good tunes. They’ll be across this”, so despite the song itself being fundamentally excellent I’ve let it sit on what I thought was the mantlepiece but was in fact an old shoebox under the bed. So, retrieving that shoebox of unspoken goods, let’s talk GUM. Meanwhile, I hope you googled Gizbo Glabbelstork.

This one from GUM might be one of the most reverbed tracks I’ve EVER LISTENED TO. Even the reverb has reverb. Listening to this song is like standing in an elevator with opposing mirrors multiplying each other into the pseudo-distance. Also you’ve downed two tabs that afternoon and visually, none of it makes sense to you. The reverb works in that same way, bouncing off itself until it fades into the ether. Structurally it’s hard to detect what’s what. I don’t know if the upper range vocal section is the chorus or the explosive guitar part that follows or even if we’re existing in a cosmic binary universe wherein two chorus are socially acceptable. I hope it’s the latter. Imagine that.

GUM is the same Jay Watson who did some real ol’ drumming in Tame Impala (famous band) and some real ol’ guitar in Pond (semi-famous band). I like to think that his arch-nemesis is Joe Ryan (Shiny, they say) who also plays guitar (and other stuff) in (semi-famous band) Pond. Nemeses only by virtue of the fact that they both dropped their most recent singles on the same day in an effort to see who is most famous. At the moment it’s Jay but pundits are tipping a late game resurgence from Shiny Joe.

Because you’ve sat still through this entire post I have a special treat for you. It’s a song by POND theyselves, and a true jam at that. It’s written as part of the Spirit of Akasha soundtrack which has been something I’ve been working on at work this past year or so and I kid you not, having it finally released is like being cured of the Bubonic Plague. I feel so healthy, like I could crush a schoolbus with just one hand. Pond wrote a song for it and so did heaps of other good sorts but we’ll just listen to the Pond track for the moment if that’s cool? Thanks m8s.

Bit of an interesting name is old SpaceManAntics. I mean it’s probably not as good as SpaceManAntiques, at least conceptually, but it still rolls off the tongue quite smoothly. SpaceManAntics, come on readership, say it with me. They’re fresh out of Freo (as in, fresh enough that their manager’s mobile phone number is freely available on their facebook) but it’s not stopping them from angling straight for an LP by February 1st. The debut song is called ‘A Man Is A Ghost Of Peter Pan’ which is probably insinuating that in growing up we die. That’s what I take from it anyway and my blog = my rules. Plenty of lovely delays and pedalled out guitar tones. It sounds like the spawn of Bearhug and an early Band of Horses and by my numbers that’s a two from two so now I’m rather keen to hear the record. I was mid-way through writing this when I came upon the bio on their Unearthed profile which is a far more entertaining read than any of my emotional livejournal spoutings here. Please see below.

The debut album Puraede’s Parade sees these sounds crafted and sculpted into a 10 track journey surrounding the tragic life of Bloomsbury Puraede-an extra terrestrial figure who is slightly more advanced and developed in his senses, skills and appearance than the average human. His home planet has began to devour itself in a global breakdown of society, partly caused by the corrupt prophet who lives amongst the waves of the sea. Bloomsbury flees to earth before the evil of his home planet consumes him. In a desperate attempt to survive he reveals himself to the world, but to his disappointment, is shocked at the extent to which his abilities are blown out of proportion. Soon enough the people of Earth consider him a God due to his evolved abilities and appearance, and Bloomsbury is forced to flee again before he is condemned for selfish negligence regarding his apparent ‘powers’. Once again Bloomsbury Puraede is alone, singing songs of corruption and close mindedness in search of a new home. Alls in all; come for the explosion party of kraut-glam-psych explorations and stay to fall in love with Bloomsbury and his cosmic adventure.

If these two tracks weren’t recorded underwater than it must have almost certainly been within a room fully submerged in gelatinous goop. We’re not talking lo-fi, just jam-packed with synth padding and reverbed snare snaps. The internet tells me that Water Graves is made up of two Perth gents and that they’ve been around since the start of last year. Iridescent has glittering pings and pops that remind me of Youth Lagoon‘s keyboard behaviour but it’s all a little more slow, a little more sluggish than Trevor Powers, boy wonder. Incidentally, we’d have to be due for a new Youth Lagoon track soon right? Probzzzzz. Water Graves are a little more candid about their next release and I can say with exactitude that their EP will be released sometime “early this year”. These two pieces are sufficiently lovely in the meantime. Download both tracks via Triple J Unearthed

I’d do that whole “There’s so much good music coming out of Perth right now!1!!” bit but that’d be stupid. I never understand it when people make a point of saying that a particular major city is producing good music at the moment. Three great bands doesn’t constitute a cultural renaissance and conversely, it doesn’t surprise me when a city of near two million people produces a series of great bands. This isn’t about Perth in particular, just all cities.

Cash and prizes to the first home-viewer who links me to an example of my hypocrisy.

Summer joints for young lovers ready to trade the colder months for the warmer. It’s reasonably clear why Perth’s Sunny named themselves so, their warm and fuzzy tunes the perfect partner to a day on the ocean. You’ll probably need a few repeat listens to fill said day since the EP only clocks in at a sum total of ten minutes but you’ll find that the decision to repeat will be based on pleasure as much as time. You might already be happy to put that whole ‘bedroom recording’ thing to bed but if you’ll stay your hand long enough to connect with just one more home project I’m sure you won’t regret it. There’s a little glock in here that reminds me of Oberhofer‘s most recent effort but at no point does it delve into dangerous hyper-twee territory. Other time’s it feels like a toothless Kurt Vile. The group are offering a full refund to anyone who doesn’t feel that they receive their whole money’s worth. Download the four songs here.

This was the post that almost wasn’t. I didn’t want to write about this band because their sound is everywhere and they’re everyone right now. There’s not a whole lot creative, new or exciting about them but I’ll be damned if they don’t write a catchy hook. So, I guess inasmuch as I’m reconciled with writing about pop songs, I’m ok with doing this. Listen to these songs, consume them and move on. The pair of them are free at Unearthed.

San Cisco - Golden Revolver

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San Cisco – John’s Song

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And yes, before you say anything, I’ve also noticed that one of the band members (let’s call him Kyle) is wearing a native American Indian headband in the photo. Don’t shoot the messenger here, I didn’t dress the guy. That said though, it does fit with Kyle’s barefoot, freespirited, living loose lifestyle. Kyle can’t be tied down. Kyle can’t be held back. Kyle lives daily upon a dream. A few months ago he was at a party and a friend mentioned he’d love to own a dog. Kyle’s response was “can any of us ever truly own a dog?”. And I guess we can all take a lesson from Kyle. He fully understands what it means to be in touch with our own (or a completely unassociated and contextually irrelevant) culture. Maybe in their next shot he’ll be wearing a sailor’s cap. Nice one Kyle. Keep pushing those boundaries!