NATURAL CHILD — “DTV”.
Such a great “fuck you” song. I love FU songs. Maybe I’ll write a whole blog about my favourite ones one day. Anyway — you gotta love the ultra-slow intro which gets a brutal smack-down reprise at the end. The basslines are really cool too and I’m guessing it’s him that asks that question just before the first chorus.
GEORGE BARNETT — “Apocolade”
This is pretty lush and majestic stuff from George. Perhaps a bit “highbrow”. It feels like Patrick Wolf but less “camp” and more “religious naff stuff” (ew). But apart from that — pretty impressive. You can listen to the entire album here (Apocolade is first up).
FLOWERS — “Can’t help myself”
Been listening to a bit of Flowers lately — the previous incarnation of one of Australia’s biggest 80s/90s bands — Icehouse. Iva Davies was quite the coolsie once-upon-a-time. See I was at Jeffro’s 40th recently and “We can get together” came on and that just got the ball rolling. But I’ve also become enamoured with “Can’t Help Myself” which has a more danceable groove, mostly due to the thumping bassline. (That bassplayer was full of beans!) It reminds me a lot of “To Look At You” by INXS — a fucking amazing song.
Apparently the keyboard player is missing and Iva Davies is trying to track him down.
ALPINE — “Gasoline”
A month or so ago I was poking around the house in some hungover-daze while Saturday Morning Rage played on the TV and this beautifully atmospheric video came on just as I accidentally passed the TV. And I saw the snowy Australian Alps I so love and I just stopped what I was doing and quietly sat down and absorbed it. But then I was left thinking the ending was really stupid — but whatever. Later the song came on the 4ZZZ and I was like, “Hmmm – who’s this?” And then I put two-and-two together. Cool story huh? I’ll probably hate the song in a few weeks — but it is a likeable distraction atm.
BOOMGATES “Whispering and Singing”
I really like this band’s new song. Initially I didn’t really like the guy’s nasally, almost “aussie” singing, but I got over it. They have some other good songs like “Layman’s Terms” with a similar vibe and soon the record this songs is a part of is coming out. Looking forward!
TAME IMPALA “I Don’t Really Mind”
Because I’ve got into Pond, I decided to give Tame Impala a chance. I had avoided them because someone had described them as “psychedelic” and that music-descriptor makes me queasy. But I gave them a chance and to my delight they are only just a tad like that — certainly not “dumb-fuck-so”. So here is my favourite song of theirs live with The Silents (who the Little Lovers toured with incidentally) and here is the studio version.
THE COATHANGERS “Smother”
Rocking babes, ripping shit up. I think the drummer (on left in pic above) sings this one. But don’t quote me on that. They seem like a really fun band too. Fantastic song. LISTEN!
MINIMUM CHIPS “Goodbye”
This is a song by one of my all-time favourite bands. They come from Brisbane but moved to Melbourne at one point. They centre around Nicole (pictured above) and Greg Wadley and Julian Patterson. I like this band so much I would buy everything they ever do without ever having to taste it first. Admittedly I bought a Nicole/Julian side-project called “Letraset” way back and hated it — but that is the exception that proves the rule. This isn’t my favourite of theirs, but it is pretty close. It’s called “Goodbye” and it is ART.
DJ GLAD RAPPA 