Thursday, 21 November 2013


That's Entertainment : Aus-Music Month - The 2010's



AusMusic Month Part 4 - the 2010's.

So here we are...right here, right now.  The 2010's.  And I promise, next week, back to a slimmer column.

I've always been selfish with this column...guiding you towards stuff I grew up loving or towards stuff I reckon is under appreciated.  It's a balancing act.  The column also serves as something my sons can one day read and figure why their dad listens to sooooooooooo much music.  

Well, this week, I'm guiding you towards a swag of new-ish (a flexible, fluid description) acts as well as some up and comers.  All of which are Aussie, all of which demand your ears, all of which kick ar$e in some way or another.

With the changes in the music industry - the death of CD singles, the long rumoured demise of CDs, the return of vinyl and even cassettes, the biggest thing I feel now is social media & the internet.

See, when I was a kid, you joined a fan club with a SAE and usually got a sticker and an annual newsletter mailed to you.  You bought 7 inch singles and made mixed tapes.  Now, I can hear a song on the radio, use my i-phone to Google the song's lyrics, find the band's website, head to YouTube to find the song and head back to Amazon, JB Hi Fi or the band's own site and download the song (or buy the CD...yes, I am a CD slut...I just love the cold reflective surface spinning in the player ;-)  ).

But the one thing that hasn't changed is the hard slog.  Not to bag your Australian Idol and X Factor winners - ok, I own some Shannon Noll singles and Lee Harding's WASABI - but it's not real.  It's a TV set up.  Real bands slug it out in the garage, in their bedroom, in their local halls and pubs, sweating it out.  It's bloody hard work.  There's debt to everyone, there's endless touring (if you can afford it) in dive bars, there's fickle fans, radio stations and record labels.  Even self producing and uploading songs is bloody hard work.  

For mine though, there is still that moment of magic.  That moment when a song you have written is played back.  Hits a press and is issued.  Gets a video on RAGE or gets spun on a radio station.  Or when you get a snippet in street press.  There is that dream of something more to come.  I've always been ever so intrigued to know if some of the songs I love were just throw aways or songs that when recorded, the band sat back and said 'bloody oath, that's a hit'!  

I guess the other thing I regret is that even if your Katy Perry, Rhianna, Beyonce types have legit reasons to grab all the headlines and the money, there's all these other bands struggling to bob in the sea of uncertainty.  It seems so unfair.  

So here endeth the downer, the lecture.

Now for something good.

All the bands listed here are Aussie acts.  They're all fighting for your attention.  They've all certainly grabbed mine in one way or another.  I used Facebook to contact every single band, and I got heaps of feedback, personal notes and links.  A lot of them I heard breaking on Triple J or community radio, or supported international bands touring Australia.  [[ Lee and I always get to the gig early - because 1, we're out for the night, away from the kids and when you spend $80-$100 on a gig ticket, you want bang for your buck and because 2, the support bands are fugging awesome. ]]

To begin the Aus-Music month, I looked to the past - my cherished, loved boxes of LPs, cassettes, CDs.  My Icehouse and INXS, my Ratcat and TISM.  Australia has its ups and downs, good times and bad.  We've had some well wicked bands deliver brilliant tunes to us.  Our Aussie scenes have been vibrant and chock full of gems.  

To end Aus-Music Month, here's to the future.  It's in safe hands.

Even if you check out one band...you're doing something grand for the nation.  If I was you, I'd check em all out, and more.  There's plenty to go round.  There's influences and originality aplenty, but most of all, it's all stuff you can tap your toes to, sing along to in the car or in the shower, and best of all, see down your local pub slogging it out.  Then, if you've got time, email your local radio station and tell em you want to hear more new Aussie stuff AND email your local politician and tell em to support the local music industry.

But best of all, sit back, listen and enjoy!

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The following bands/artists all took time out of their busy touring/recording schedules to reply to me on Facebook.  To each - thank you!  Not only has their music enriched me, entertained me, kept my faith in 'new' music, but they all took time to have a chat and give me some info about themselves.   A couple are established acts, some are independent.  But they are all fresh, exciting and Australian, and they all have CDs out and gigs to attend, so check out their Soundclouds (am still getting used to this), Facebook, official website for info or head over to Itunes or JB HI FI to score yourself a bevy of goodies.  Xmas is just around the corner...take a chance.

Amazing too how most of these bands were found by chance - on the radio dial, on RAGE or clicking on the wrong link.  

Anyway, it's always exciting communicating with musicians as being a left handed tub thumper of dubious ability, it's always fascinating to meet/chat to people who can play and record for real.  The people with the 'talent'.  I am totally besotted with music and not only do I reckon these bands are grouse, here's how I found 'em.  So go on...read on...




My story:
This a band I happened upon listening to 2SER in late 2010.  I was driving through Fairfield on my way home from work and This Madness just smacked me right between the eyes.  And as usual trying to remember the band name without a mondegreen, trying to commit it to memory sans pen and driving in peak hour traffic was killer.  But not as killer as this band.  With the chilled retro vibes of Bowie, Bolan and Supertramp, Sons of Rico are a great summer BBQ soundtrack.  Their latest album is a bottler and Get To You is another one of those songs that really oozes chillaxed vibes.  The kind of band that should be filling the airwaves!

Parralox

My story:
Parralox are a Melbourne pop duo who I chanced upon back in early October by clicking on a YouTube link whilst listening to the Eurogliders.  They don't have anything in common really.  However, Sharper Than A Knife with it's driving synth beat and Madonna-esque vocal - it's just got 'something'.  I blew half our internet usage listening to all their tracks on MySpace - YES! - MySpace! -  over and over, until finally I had to buy the song off I-tunes.  And what could be cooler than a synth pop band in my own backyard giving Alan Parsons Project a whirl, with their cover of Eye In The Sky?  

WIM

My Story:
This is one of those tales of turning up to a gig early and checking out the support act.  With Lee 5 months pregnant in early 2011, we went and saw Gypsy and the Cat at the Metro, and WIM were the support.  Man...blew me away with their live show, and the next day I had to have the album, which memory serves was just about to come out, and I had to wait a bit.   However, the wait was worth it and WIM's self titled debut is a keeper.  

Private Life - CD EP - http://www.privatelifeband.com/

My Story:
Lee and I love Garbage.  Just one of the great 90's post-pop/grunge bands of all time and with Shirley Manson striding the stage and Butch Vig bashing the tubs, you can't go wrong.  Anyway, another support band who just absolutely aced it on the night.  Popping down to the merch stand, they had a home produced CD EP in the cutest little home sewn CD single purses.  Recently, they released their debut EP and for $3, I feel like I'm stealing.  Go and buy one NOW!  With gloss, hit track 2 - Otherside.  Close to my song of the year, for it's driving beat, tinkling 80's retro vibe and meshing contemporary pop sensibility with a hint of the Cocteau Twins.  I've been right in to another Scottish band in 2013...Chvrches; Private Life is better [someone at NME is just hiring an assassin to shoot me...but hey, it's true!].  When I am published, and they make the movie, Otherside will be a soundtrack song.  Cannot wait for the album now!

Loon Lake

In August 2012, Lee's nan was banged up in St George's Hospital and each day, I'd take the boys over to visit.  With Triple J on, there was this golden couple of weeks where every tune was new, Aussie and kicking out the jams!  Loon Lake had this jerky, quirky track called Cherry Lips.  Honing their sound, Loon Lake have got their debut LP Gloamer out in the shops only recently, with the latest single being City Lights.  It's amazing how much they've developed and improved in between recordings and Loon Lake are definitely a band to file under 'one to watch'.  I will follow these chaps with much interest, let me tell you.


My Story:
Anyone who knows me knows I love blowing Friday night/Saturday morning trawling RAGE for tunes.   Aussie / South Africa combo Clubfeet were one of those bands that made me sit up and gasp.  Not only is the video for Everything You Wanted a video masterpiece, the tune is one of those songs that seeps in to your nervous system and sends you spasming towards the dancefloor.  The chorus and keys are stunning.  Furthermore, since the death of CDs, I buy a lot of compact discs for one song.  I am pleased to say that all 10 tracks are great and Heirs & Graces is one of those dance-pop albums that nails it from go to whoa.   With a new remix EP out, this is one band I am excited to see live soon EXCEPT I'LL MISS THEM IN SYDNEY AS I WILL BE IN MELBOURNE ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  Looking forward to the follow up.

Dappled Cities

My Story:
RAGE - thank you!  In 2009, The Price had to be close to 'my' song of the year.  It's got this grandiose atmospheric and air-raid siren noise effect, magic drum and strings.  The vocal is sumptuous and it lifts in to this beautiful, most amazing piece of pop crunch.  Like most of the songs here, The Price should have been #1.  It will become one of those classic Aussie songs - in my mind - up there on the pedestal of great Aussie tracks.  Then in 2012, we saw US band Death Cab For Cutie, and again, another support band slot we checked out and being clueless, was stoked it was Dappled Cities.  They played 'new' songs and Run With The Wind completely, utterly blew away the Enmore.  Fark me!  It was a religious moment for me yet the album was still months away.  The wait was unbearable.  But once it hit, the album Lake Air stunned me to my core.  Don't take your eyes away, don't take take take your eyes away indeed!!!  New album out now...celebrate hard!


My Story:
Heard Jacob's Ladder one morning on 2SER and I was driving down Gov Macquarie Drive and pulled over, finished listening to the song and wrote down the name of the song and artist.  It took me a while, because Yeo was something else, but finally found 'em.  Yeo is a chap from Melbourne who produces awesome indie electro pop.  It has an earthy quality to it but a cool funky charm.  The album - the Sell Out - which is available off the website, is bloody good.  Lots of little bleeps and blips.  Check out Bacteria too...loving it at the moment.  Girl is the new single, just in time for summer.  Grab a wine, wind down.  

Green Stone Garden

My Story:
Was surfing Triple J's unearthed webpage and clicked on this band by accident.
Which was serendipitous because The Island is one of those dreamy, spacey slabs of rock that wouldn't have been out of place in any era. 
With a debut album around the corner, Green Stone Garden will win a lot of excited admirers if they produce a record that matches this debut effort.  
Definitely another to file under 'one to watch'.    Not bad for a fluke click on my part, eh.

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These are current bands I truly recommend you check out in some form or another.


Voltaire Twins

Convaire

Sparkadia

PVT

Gypsy and the Cat

Snakadaktal

Expatriate

Strange Talk

Jezebels

Birds of Tokyo

Club Sport

Nantes

Bluejuice

City Calm Down

Temper Trap

Tame Impala

Worlds End Press

Melody's Echo Chamber
Jagwar Ma
Usurper of Modern Medicine
Motorolla Borealis      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThG1tlu7XY

DZ Deathrays
Northern Lights   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhJ0grMCKYc

Kirin J Callinan
Victoria M   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pb0HJPS9EI

Rufus
Tonight  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCa_TKn9ghI



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