7 Seconds Of Sound

Lower Spectrum - Khlever

I’m writing this while lying in the sun on my own private yacht as it slowly cruises the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean. Strictly speaking, that’s not entirely true. I’m actually in gloomy Melbourne, wearing my warmest scarf and my thickest explorer socks as it’s bloody cold today. But, as is the case with every time I listen to Lower Spectrum (Ned Beckley), my brain has gone off and created its own reality.

With his latest track, Khlever, I no longer feel the bitter cold. From the moment the all-encompassing crescendo starts, the only thing I can feel is the warm summer sun on my back.  Each new layer of sound adds another degree of warmth and creates more visions in my daydream.  Beautiful islands drift by and tanned youth jump off high cliffs into crystal clear waters as my own private chef brings me plates of fruit and wine. It’s a tough life but someone has to dream it.   Sadly for us Melbournians, Ned has moved from our shores and is now living in Perth but I’m OK losing him to our western countryfolk if it any way inspired him to create such magical, vision inducing music.

Kissed Her Little Sister - Miracle Of Birth

Camp Claude - Trap

You know when someone says something and you’re pretty sure they don’t mean it? Like, “No, I’ve already had too much” when you offer them a piece of cake? Or, “It’s really… nice” when you ask a friend what they think of your new haircut? I kind of have the feeling that’s what’s going on in this new song by French band Camp Claude when the singer seductively sings “I won’t fall into your trap, you won’t get me just like that”.   Now, if her voice didn’t have such a come-hither quality to it, and if it weren’t accompanied by such hypnotic, mesmerising music I might actually believe what she was trying to sell me. But it sounds to me like the young lady doth protesteth too much.   Oh, but speaking of selling, if you’re interested in investing in Camp Claude’s upcoming Hurricane EP, you can own a little piece of the crowdfunding action at KissKissBankBank.

Decent Lovers - Me and Puppykitty

I may actually be obsessed with Decent Lovers.  This is the third single from the group that has managed to wedge itself into the bloody flaps of my beating heart and firmly lodge itself there.  I mean, I don’t want to play favourites and I swear I’m not getting any kind of kickback from the band but I just really like their kind of off-beat, quirky sound.  It’s eccentric and it’s different and it stands out from the crowd in a way that’s warm and fuzzy and makes me want to hug people around me.  And I'm not a hugger.    This new song, called Me And PuppyKitty, is basically four tracks recorded onto a cassette tape - how charming and whimsical!  It's about a pet cat that used to accompany singer Elijah Wyman on hikes in the mountainous area where he used to live.  Do you get it?  It’s a kitty that’s like a puppy.  I once dated a boy that had a Siamese cat that fetched, so I can totally relate to the puppy/kitty juxtaposition.  Elijah says that a lot of reviewers have pegged this song as “dark and untrustworthy”.  I actually think it’s sweet and innocent – like a young boy and his hunting cat prowling around the backyard looking for adventures.  Either way, it’s a great song that makes me want to run outside and writhe around in long grass for a while. 

Scorpio Loon - A Night At The Library

“A Night At The Library”. Doesn’t sound like THAT much fun, really.  I remember many nights at the library when I was studying at university and not a single one of them was sufficiently exciting enough to inspire a jangly, dancy, upbeat song like this one from Scorpio Loon.  Ahhh, but that’s probably because the song wasn’t inspired by a librarian keeping books, but more likely a mystery woman in blue encountered during a night out at The Library, an early 80s disco.  Makes a bit more sense now.   Delving a little deeper behind the scenes, I discovered that Larry Alvarez (the guy behind Scorpio Loon) sadly died a few years ago.  Which is really just tragic because the world needs more songs like this.  Funky, happy and uplifting.  Perfect for getting in the mood for a night out!  Thankfully Larry’s nephew has been releasing some of his Uncle’s fabulous tunes into the world so we can finally have a chance to enjoy them!  Check out his Soundcloud page for some more. 

Willow Beats - Incantation (Live Rework)

My brain is completely not functioning right now. It’s on holiday mode as it’s about to run off with me for a three day break in the country for the long weekend. YAY!!

But before it and I head off, I had to write a really quick post about an awesome live rework of Incarnation that Willow Beats recently did for a new show they are putting together. They were just planning to play this at their show and had no intention of releasing it but Pilerats convinced them otherwise. Good old Pilerats!!

Bored Nothing - Not

I just found out that Hype Machine no longer indexes mixtapes as they want to ensure people provide context for each track. That’s a complete bummer as I quite enjoy being lazy once a month and not producing my usual verbal diarrhea type post.

All but one of the tracks that we featured in yesterday’s mixtape is already up on Hype Machine so the point of this post is to write something incredibly insightful about the one that’s not there as it truly deserves a wider audience.

Mix Tape #12 - April/May 2014

Look!!! We merged our April and May mixtapes together. How very clever of us. It may look like we're putting the two months together because we completely forgot to publish our April mixtape but oh no, that's definitely not the case. It was a super duper carefully considered decision.

Street Joy - Same As Me Bored Nothing - NOT Eternal Summers - Goodnight Goodbye BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD - Tangerine Sky Spookyland - The Silly Fucking Thing Monomyth - Candleholder Courtney Barnett - Bein' Around Skygaze - Carpet Cloud - Love Our Records SALES - Vow White Reaper - Half Bad De Lux - Better At Making Time PHFAT - Lights Out Ft. JungFreud

Jon - Like Flow

Oh My God Becky, look at her butt!

Sorry I completely forgot where I was for a second. I pressed play on this vid and feel like I just experienced some major head trauma that erased the past 25 years of my life. I was transported back to a time when I was desperately trying to memorise the lyrics to Young MC’s Bust A Move while dipping my newly purchased white t-shirts into a bucket of dye to make a rainbow masterpiece!

Sometimes the complete dagginess of the 80’s and 90’s makes it hard to remember how ridiculously funny and fun that era was. Like Flow from Aussie residing, Papau New Guinea born, hip hop artist Jon is such a fantastic aural and visual reminder.

The Zebras - Try

Fear Of Men - Descent

Dune Rats - Funny Guy

Brisbane band Dune Rats crack me up. They’re definitely not the type of guys you’d bring home to meet your parents, unless your parents were a couple of stoners who wanted to get high with your boyfriend. They look like a bunch of dudes who do whatever the hell they feel like and it’s paying off fairly well for them as they are clearly having a ridiculously fun time in life.

I could be completely wrong and maybe they are super straight laced but considering their 2013 video clip for Red Light, Green Light was basically a race to see how many bongs they could smoke in 2.31 minutes, I’m probably on the money. Their latest video clip sees them getting a bit of culture in Paris but it should come with a warning: 

Phoria - Emanate (Tom Gillieron Remix)

One of the ultimate highs in life is finding that elusive, one in a million, track that seeps into every fibre of your being and puts you in an unimaginably blissful, trance-like state. I experienced that magnificent feeling yesterday when I came across Tom Gillieron’s remix of Phoria’s Emanate. 

ERNEST - Entrance Regardless of what you might think when you hear the name ERNEST, the singer of this beautiful, but melancholic and gritty, pop song is not a boy.  At least I don’t think so!! Hey, who said girls had to have girl’s names anyway.  I mean, look at Cameron Diaz. Look at Stevie Nicks! I rest my case. Another conundrum: where is ERNEST from?? What little online press exists about her says she hails from Singapore. But her accent (and some references) in her recently released track Entrance seem to hint at a more British heritage. For instance, “Last night we were at Revolution. Had enough so we went to get some chips.” Chips, people! Onto the music. “I’ve no interest in you, no interest at all,” she melodically sings, matter of factly and almost completely devoid of emotion. Ouch. ERNEST’s soft, soothing voice belies a toughness evident in her lyrics. Yes, there’s a hint of Lily Allen in the vocals, but this is no cutesy song. It’s a song about a tougher kind of city than Lily ever inhabited. One in which mothers deny their children milk and young women get on a bus with a bottle of Jack Daniels for company.  ERNEST's debut album BORNE was released on 5th May 2014 and is available for download on Bandcamp. According to the website, she wrote, produced, and played all the instruments on the album. Talented much?!!

Jenny Wilson - Pyramids Rose Out Of Our Pain

When life punches you in the face, you can either sink into a black hole of oblivion and pity or you can draw strength from the adversity and feed the animal within until it explodes forth and fights back.   Pyramids Rose Out Of Our Pain proves that Sweden’s Jenny Wilson prefers the later method. Having been diagnosed with cancer, and currently in remission, she has first-hand experience and knows exactly what she’s talking about.   The lyrics are scary enough to make life pee in its pants a little, for fear of Biblical style repercussions, if it ever attempts to strike her down again. But the groovy tune, with its Debbie Harry rap style and pan flutes, shows that you can still be stylish and funky while kicking some serious arse.

The Wind And The Wave - With Your Two Hands

Now, I’m not one for boot-scootin’, much.  I’ve never been into the “two types” of music (you know what I mean: the first one’s “country” and the second’s “western”).  I’m not even crazy about the trendy, hipster version (that’s “alt-country”, for the uninitiated).  But there’s something so perky and lively about With Your Two Hands from The Wind And The Wave that I reck’n I could probably see myself pulling on my red cowboy boots, jumping up and joining in that crazy ol’ line dance.  Yes, it does hurt me a little bit to imagine this (because REALLY, it’s just not my scene) but I sincerely can’t help it.  Shit, I don’t even think I could resist doing a bit of knee slappin’, hat twirlin’ and hootenannyin’ during the more spirited parts of the song.  I defy you to listen to this three minute track and not imagine yourself in Austin, Texas (where the band are from) doing just the same.

Plague Vendor - Black Sap Scriptures

Some days, a gal really craves some ferocious garage punk\rock - and you know that’s exactly what you’re in for from the very first cymbal crash of Black Sap Scriptures.

This track from California’s Plague Vendor will get your heart racing and your head banging. Brandon Blaine’s cool mix of nonchalant and shouty vocals is the sweet icing on the cake.