I’ve made genuine attempts to do the legwork on this post so that it didn’t just look like I knew nothing about the artist and blindly posted on the back of a song that ‘sounds nice’, but it’s come to this. I’m blindly posting about an artist because the song sounds nice. He seems to have a few albums to his name yet somehow I can only stream one, single track online. What’s that about? Come on Champers, I want to try before I buy. I don’t even know where he’s from. Townsville maybe? The following is an excerpt from his bio,

“Having released two celebrated EPs, received glowing reviews, gained admiring fans, played just about every festival under the Australian sun and built a firm reputation as one of the most exiting young performers in the country.”

DANIEL! Let me celebrate your EPs! Has noone shown you bandcamp yet? Is soundcloud unavailable in your region? The future is here and its name is spotify. Just give me aaaaaaany one way to hear a few songs online and I’ll know if I want to buy your album. This might be a new song, it might not, it doesn’t really matter. It could be the product of 2006. What I mean to say is, it’s an acoustic track with a little string and a little build so it’s not going to be the catalyst that gives birth to the next genre hybrid. This isn’t to say that your ears don’t bear witness to excellent songwriting and some glorious fingerpicking though. The man knows his way around an acoustic guitar better than… well, he just knows his way around an acoustic guitar. When writing up this sort of track I often find that I try to distance myself from the artist as if I’m somehow better than a simple folk staple. I like acoustic folk, it’s a reality. Maybe sometime soon we’ll hear some more Champagne recordings digitally.

To make up for the disinteresting text in this article I have added an extra dose of lightning to the above image. It was a choice between lightning or lazer eyes but lazer eyes wouldn’t look realistic.

Daniel Champagne – Secrets in the Dark [FREE DOWNLOAD]

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I went this entire post without saying something about his name but seriously, IT’S DANIEL CHAMPAGNE.

Jeremy Neale’s ‘Darlin’ is going to be big. He’s cut his teeth in Velociraptor and come to the obvious conclusion that the next career step from a moderately successful garage-rock outfit is a doo-wop throwback project. Neale’s crooning vocals are smoother than the output of a broken softserve machine and that sax- THAT SAX. It squeals and screeches antagonising, yet never compromising the melody. Given the current situation of the Australian music market one might wonder if there’s any further room for tunes this historically derivative but I say ‘yay’. There certainly is. The strength of that melody serves as guarantor against any other criticism that might be levelled at the track but there’s also unmistakeable technical ability. I think the single has been about for just a few days but word is travelling, chins are wagging. Also included for your listening pleasure is his first single ‘Winter Was The Time’. Download both tracks courtesy of Triple J Unearthed.

Here’s a set of Melbournites that are pushing the artistic envelop. Think a drum and bass Seabear without that much drum and bass, but still with a little bit of drum and bass. Then minus the drum and bass, throw in the ocassional breakbeat and some well rounded bass rumblings and there you have it, I’lls. It’s a grammatical nightmare of a name but when you think about it, and you will, it’s actually a pretty great way of spelling Aisles/Isles etc. And I know, I know, I know I say this all the time but please believe me, you won’t understand the quality of this act until you listen to it with suitable auditory apparatus – this means apple headphones, laptop speakers, ringtones, those eskies with built in speakers, they’re all off limits. Maybe just wait until you get home if I’ve mentioned something relevant to your current circumstance.

The vocals are serene and caringly layered behind the wash of sound (I would have liked to hear them a little higher in the mix) made up of those earlier mentioned drums, the regular quick finger trill of delayed electric and a piano melody that is often lost underneath all the rest ( though it comes to the fore at the end of ‘Thrice’). If you’ve ever listened to any Radiohead (at all, ever) you’ll have trouble listening to ‘Take higher Ground’ on it’s own merits, but do try as I’lls are definitely more than the sum of their influences. As far as I’ve discovered, there are member connections to other Melbourne bands such The Ocean Party and Kins and no doubt a few others I’m oblivious to so we’re not talking about fresh to the game upstarts here.

Their 7 track Thread EP is available here or there’re two tracks up for free download on their unearthed page for the frugal.

After last month’s false start we’re now officially underway with the Tallest Man’s third full-length There’s No Leaving Now, due out June 11. The Dylanesque vocal tones that we’ve grown so found of are here even complimented by a Dylanesque delivery. I like this so, so much. I truly wonder if anyone will ever touch me the way The Tallest Man does, and though that couldn’t sound any creepier, I assure that I mean it in the least gropey way possible. Big Krisso’s done it again.

I’ve heard that the new record is going to have an added country twang to compliment his familiar acoustic folk riffery and I’m open to it. I’m even open to his reported use of a full band on this record. What I’m not open to, and I’ve said this before, is the delay on his ‘Once A Year’ soundtrack songs. WHERE ARE THEY!?

The Tallest Man On Earth – 1904 [DOWNLOAD]

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Tracy Chapman here puts her spin on the Carly Rae Jepsen track that has already spawned scores of covers across the webz and likely this is the best of the bunch. Its a world apart from Jepsen’s classic ballad of a quick burning love but the new spin on things goes down alright with this guy. Don’t ask the obviously question now, we both know what’s going on here. Maybe give it some guts, the recording is rather quiet.

Ben Howard – ‘Call Me Maybe’ (Carly Rae Jepsen Cover) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

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And here’s Ben Howard’s single ‘The Wolves’

Then reverting to the topic of covers again, here’s Oberhofer’s take on Kanye’s ‘Runaway’