I’m not going out on a limb here when I say that you’re going to be hearing a lot of Melbourne electro-pop quartet Strange Talk on the radio over the next 12 months. Their first single Climbing Walls was mixed by Eliot James (who had a hand in the work of small name artists such as Noah and the Whale, Two Door Cinema Club and Bloc Party). Strange Talk sound like the lovechild of Phoenix and Gypsy and the Cat, particularly in their slower track Eskimo Boy. Maybe Cut Copy got involved in the process (like the pervert he is) too, we can’t be sure. Whatever the mix, it’s a catchy (and marketable) sound.

Strange Talk – Climbing Walls

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

You can download Climbing Walls from Triple J Unearthed for no dollars. Also, take the time to visit their myspace so you can agree with me on all earlier points.

I’ll be remaining on this side of the Harbour Bridge tonight and seeing a good band play at a good venue. Impossible I hear you say. Not so! The Gate is a backyard in North Ryde that has begun putting on shows for ten dollars a pop. Tonight sees Guineafowl headlining and Guinefowl are pretty swish. They’ve had a lot of buzz mostly because of their single Botanist which is here for your listening pleasure and a free download. There should be a small group of us attending (among the larger crowd) so get amongst it.

Guineafowl – Botanist

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This is my second “review” of Valar’s We Have A Home Among the Trees EP. I write twice because I’ve somehow contrived to delete the last and because the EP has grown on me like a fungus. A wonderful fungus. Here is the EP streamed in full. Listen to Wolf I playing as you read on.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Buy this EP. It costs AUD$10. That’s just under £6! That’s nothing. I challenge you to think of 7 whole numbers smaller than 6. It can’t be done! That’s the sort of value we’re talking about here. It’s barely £1 per track. 1 is the smallest whole number there is! I know!!

With or without my clever numberwork this EP will sell itself. The falsetto can’t help but draw attention. It soars between guitar effects like an eagle through ravines. But it’s wilder than an eagle. It’s a tiger. A haunting, post-rock tiger. Like them on facebook to find out when their next show will be.

Valar were pitched to me as a combo between Radiohead and… I guess it was suggested that they just sound like Radiohead. I don’t like Radiohead. I must be one of a kind if the Last.FM charts are to be believed. While older material may have somewhat, slightly, a little bit, maybe resembled Radiohead barely, the new tracks don’t really have that vibe.

Valar pride themself on a cracking live show and an attention to production detail so it’s worth taking the time to appreciate the solid ambience of their music. It’s staggering that a three piece can produce music with this sort of weight. Listen, then go see them play. They’re a Sydney band so chances are friends of friends are friends with them.

Here is the full five track EP for your aural pleasure. I recommend track two, Wolf I.

You can catch them on the 3rd of July at the Excelsior or on the 5th of July at the Annandale.

I’ve been racking my brain to think of current, quality Western Suburbs bands. I was going to push, as the thesis for this post, the idea that the western suburbs are the new breeding grounds for quality music but it just doesn’t seem to be the case. Jonathan Boulet and Parades were all I could think of, off the top of my head. Feel free to let me know any glaringly obvious artists that I’m missing. The reason I raise this is because there is an emerging band from the west that, well, quite honestly rule. They’re called Sleepyhands.

Despite having a name with self-sexual connotations (or so I’m told), Sleepyhands have received a lot of attention. They’ve even been contacted by bigwigs from some decent labels. I know right!? The EP isn’t out yet but this guy right here has a copy and it’s got me buzzing (more than the new Band of Horses AND the new National COMBINED). Yowzer!

I’ll let you pause here so that you can appreciate one of their tracks as you read on. The second track from the soon to be released EP, it’s called We Being Humans. It’s the least produced and simplest of the five songs on the EP.

Sleepyhands – We Being Humans

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The record will be released mid June and I’m unsure about its distribution currently. What I will say though, is that if you want me to get a copy for you and give it to you when I see you then just say so, unless you’re one of my many international readers. I’ll tell you again right now, it’s brilliant. The production (aided by Jonathan Boulet) is cracking and the harmonies are out of sight.

If you want to see them play they’ve got a show on
Thursday the 3rd of June at the Brass Monkey.
I’ll be there. If you go we can carpool! You drive though, I did my part by just letting you know about the show. Sweet deal.

Hear more at www.sleepyhands.com or follow their facebook page