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:

I didn’t manage to secure an exclusive on this track but what I did get for all y’all is an exclusive Jeremy Neale image (see above) that you won’t see on any other bliggity-blogz. Nope, not the coup I was aiming for but still a big deal I’d say. The tune I have to accompany said image is called ‘In Stranger Times’ and features Brisbane woman-quartet Go Violets who in-and-of-themselves make some pretty swell tunes. When two forces for good (see picture above) unite, one can expect positive vibes and that’s exactly what one gets right here. What we’ve always known without question is that Jezbot can write some big hooks (see: Darlin’ + Love Affair) and the addition of Go Violets in the chorus of this new track is a hell of strong decision from the Jeremy Neale board of directors. I thought Jeremy had debuted with what would probably be his opus in Darlin’ but this trumps all that came before. I’d also like to take this opportunity to coin the Jeremy Neale Drinking Game™ wherein one must consume part of or even an entire alcoholic beverage any time the word ‘Baby’ or ‘Girl’ features on a Jeremy track. You can work the specifics out for yourself but obviously I’ve staked my claim on all future income. He’ll soon be releasing a new EP which will feature his extensive canon of good-time hits at which point the mighty will look upon his works and despair.

The forthcoming Wintercoats EP is looking sounding good. It’s sort of looking good too but I can’t much tell what on earth is happening on the album art. Full disclosure, the last time I saw Wintercoats it didn’t do much for me but that was almost two years ago now and there’s obviously been some real progression over that period. Once the Wintercoats experience felt too much like Owen Palette mk. II, now I get serious Porcelain Raft vibes from both of the tracks but this time they feel far less subordinate to their reference. More importantly though, the tracks are both big ol’ lumbering glaciers, full of pretty tinkle bits + oohs and ahhhhs. These two tracks point at a strong second EP that’s probably going to an elevating experience for all involved. Heartful is out April 17.

I thought we had something special but two sniffs from boss man Alessio and we’ve got ourselves a Home & Hosed exclusive. Well band, I call betrayal. I call corruption and I call shame. Shame upon the band and shame upon the very land itself, ABC. The code of conduct gets filtered through the industrial shredder when an indie-rock exclusive comes around. What happened to us I’lls… We had something real. I wrote about you and you said you liked me for who I was. I looked through your photos and, a wistful sigh upon the wind, I whispered “now there’s a band… there’s a band.” I even showed my folks a photo of ‘my musician friends’ and they said I was making great progress. Somehow here we are though, shunned and distant, emotions strewn everywhere and feelings leaking from the worst places to leak feelings from.

The saddest part about this whole affair is that the band are, as they say, bananas and this track is also, as they say, bananas. That was to be expected though, I suppose. When you send Simon Lam and co into the studio you know full well what the returning swaddling clothes will contain. Cloudy vocals that sit veeeeeeery deep in the mix and a whole lot of clever drum track. Granted I’ve just pointed at a Matisse yelling ‘look at the pretty colours!’ but the colours ARE pretty even if I’m ignoring all other technical attributes in the assertion. I previously wondered what might be if Simon were to let his vocals come forward just a touch more as he did on that Naysayer & Gilsun banger from back when and it looks like we’ll see that puzzled out on the forthcoming EP. That’s right sirs, there’ll be a new one come May, out through your good pals at Yes Please which seems like a good home for I’lls’.

As is, this is precisely the sort of thing I was hoping I’lls would produce in the wake of their innovative self-titled debut. A real attention to detail that’s usually lost in a track so sonically thick. More impressive is that even so replete with padding, the track never lends itself to excess.

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.