There’s no common sense in codependence,” Fraeya Evans sings in the quiet opening stretch of “Housewarming.” In a song about coming to terms with new love, those early moments register as melancholy whispers, but they’re just a stop en route to a raging cataclysm: The song ultimately winds up someplace grand and magnificent, as Fraeya (the band) envelops Fraeya (the singer) in majestic waves of distortion. It’s a gripping journey for a young band that already sounds boundlessly dynamic. sad folk with hopeful undertones.
Perth four piece powerhouse Fraeya releases debut single ‘Housewarming’. Expect honest, hard hitting lyrics and a strong performance fuelled by raw emotion. Fraeya wears her heart on her sleeve.
“When I wrote this song it just came out of me all at once, and since then we must have played it live 100 times. It’s evolved and grown with us and now it’s finally encapsulated into a 3 minute track, it’s our first ever recorded song and we can’t be happier with it. This song means a lot to me and I hope it gets to mean something to other people as well” – Fraeya
An Australian singer-songwriter with a gift for deadpan observation and deftly deployed guitar licks, Carla Geneve sneaks up on you: Her songs can feel like overheard conversations, but also she’s got a keen instinct for just when and how to crank up the dramatic tension. She’s only just released her debut EP, and Geneve has already locked down a pitch-perfect mix of booming peaks and seething near-silences.
Fremantle’s own Carla Geneve is back with another heartfelt track, guaranteed to have you belting the lyrics back at her. Don’t Wanna Be Your Lover is the first taste of her debut full-length album which is due to be released later this year.
In the coming weeks Geneve will be supporting Julia Jacklin on her Australia tour, while Carla and her band were planning on heading to Austin for SXSW 2020, this Perth muso may have a little more time on her hands following the cancellation of the March festival for the first time in 34 years). Check out the intimate video for ‘Yesterday’s Clothes‘ released alongside the EP. Directed by Matt Sav,Carla says of the video, “I wanted the video to reflect the personal nature of the song. To me, sitting alone in front of a camera is a vulnerable situation, a lot like releasing a song to the world which describes private parts of my life. I also think that the simplicity of the video serves the live sound of the track“.
Don’t Wanna Be Your Lover up close and personal music video screams Carla Geneve from start to finish. Easing in with a classic beat, Geneve’s shot from different angles, some accompanying her pastel pink guitar and application of her signature eyeliner. It intersects progressively between the concepts of masculinity and femininity. Director Duncan Wright says the video aims to “promote Carla’s bold and unique outlook through a wide range of emotions, vulnerabilities, tension and braveness” – and it does just that.
Chorus line “Don’t wanna be your lover, you bring out the best in me, but I don’t wanna touch you,” is emotive and powerful paired with a heavy indie-rock instrumental that builds epically, notably from the bridge onwards. Stripped from its visual element, this track stands alone and powerful in its meaning and musicality. As she continues to grow before our eyes, Geneve’s fans will have this one on repeat.
From ‘Carla Geneve’ released on Fri June 7th via Dot Dash Recordings/Remote Control Records
Australian dance-rock outfit Cut Copy turn to social media to announce the release of a brand new song entitled “Love is All We Share.” the first new music from the Melbourne electronic stalwarts in almost three years.
The message read:
“Love is All We Share” is a song we made using only a handful of sounds, hoping to create an intimate and unworldly atmosphere. It was written a year ago about the anxieties of imagined future times, as technology becomes more all-consuming. But in light of recent events, the song took on an eerie significance. Now, with our immediate future uncertain and people the world over self-isolating, “love” more than ever, feels like one of the best things we can share.
It’s a more contemplative and atmospheric based offering that feels rather subdued and gentle for Cut Copy. But it’s definitely fitting to the times that we are all in at the moment.
Cut Copy – Love is All We Share [Official] Video by Takeshi Murata and Christopher Rutledge. via Cutters Records
Originally starting as The DIY home recording project of Angus Lord and Claudia Serfaty, The Stroppies have now evolved into what some might call a “proper band”. Following on from their 2017 demo cassette and a sling of singles, 2019 saw the release of their debut LP Whoosh!, a studio-based affair that evolved The Stroppies sound, underpinned with a newly discovered melodic classicism. Look Alive!, their latest effort which was recorded only months after the bands return to Australia after their second European tour of 2019, represents a marriage of the two different styles of Stroppies recordings and rounds out an incredibly productive twelve months for the group.
Look Alive! Is the sound of The Stroppies honing their craft under new and unfamiliar conditions. Written mainly on the road then finished and recorded at home with whatever was on hand with only three of the four members present, it is according to the band’s singer/guitarist Angus Lord, “an EP forged in circumstance. A sum total of fleeting vignettes on scraps of paper, voice memos and iPhone notepads all collated between soundchecks and long stretches in a tour van pieced together over weekly jams. We didn’t want to waste much time when we got home so we opted to record it ourselves”. For a band who began with the initial idea to create “open-ended music, collaged quickly and pieced haphazardly together”, it is in some sense a return to their true self.
Lead single ‘Holes In Everything’ presents the band at its pop best: “If I could disappear into the atmosphere, I would be around you all the time” sings Lord, before swiftly throwing shade on the sentiment in the chorus, “It’s always frightening what I think”. It’s this penchant for push and pull of light and dark splashed against the backdrop of trepidation and humour that make The Stroppies records so endearing and open-ended. Though undeniably pop structure orientated, the bands propensity for re-inventing and re-appropriating their recording and writing process ensures that nothing starts to fossilize. Indeed, Look Alive! is that most intriguing of records precisely because it represents two ideas at the same time – the sound of a band in flux, but also the sound of a band becoming more sure footed as they walk their crooked line.
Much to the excitement of myself and ‘Gizzheads’ around the world, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard’s first ever feature-length music documentary is finally here. Bought to you by PHC Films and Flightless Records, “Chunky Shrapnal” is a ‘musical road movie dipped in turpentine’ filmed during the band’s 2019 tour across Europe and the UK.
Concerned about the self-congratulatory behaviour around creating a ‘behind the scenes’ film centred on themselves, the band were initially hesitant. Luckily for their humble souls, having their dear friend John Angus Stewart direct Chunky Shrapnal assured the film was authentic Gizz from start to finish. Having worked closely with the band on music videos for ‘Planet B’, ‘Self Immmolate’ and ‘Organ Farmer’, John says the film was a natural evolution of their work together, and I was lucky enough to ask ask him some questions about shooting the film entirely on 16mm, picking perfect moments, and more.
The Movie Chunky Shrapnel, It’s from a lyric from the Gizzard song, ‘Murder of the Universe’. It means vomit.reminded me why I love the band so much; The atmosphere at their concerts. the awesome community and of course the excellent music! . There is nothing quite like 16mm. First of all, I knew I wanted certain types of colours and highlights that are impossible to achieve digitally. Another reason was the practical restrictions. There’s a far better atmosphere backstage when you can’t shoot forever, you gotta pick the right moments. It’s like playing Russian roulette but you want the bullet. And having a single camera was also an import call for us. The normal four-camera set up thing for live music just doesn’t work for Gizz. You have to be on stage with them, it’s the only way. And plus, normal on stage coverage is like watching paint dry.
This album is the phenomenal soundtrack to it. No Paper Maché, sadly, they did record a few songs at the show in Cologne but they’re absent from the album.
The Church is an Australian psychedelic rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave, neo-psychedelia and indie rock, their music later came to feature slower tempos and surreal soundscapes reminiscent of dream pop and post-rock. “From the release of the ‘She Never Said’ single in November 1980, this unique Sydney-originated entity has purveyed a distinctive, ethereal, psychedelic-tinged sound which has alternatively found favour and disfavour in Australia.” The Los Angeles Times has described the band’s music as “dense, shimmering, exquisite guitar pop”. The Church’s extensive career has cemented them as one of Australia’s most enduring bands of the post-punk era and well-deserving of their place in the ARIA Hall of Fame. Having refined their unique and defining sound over the course of a remarkable 24 studio albums, including Starfish, The Blurred Crusade and Priest=Aura, the band have received international acclaim, with fans across the globe still enjoying their iconic music today.
The Church Live 50-plus minutes of the band performing at what’s believed to be Hodern Pavilion in its hometown of Sydney, Australia, in 1982.
The 10-song performance — including strong early single “The Unguarded Moment” is professionally filmed, with outstanding audio,
Setlist:
1. Tear It All Away 0:00
2. Too Fast For You 0:4:25
3. Sisters 0:8:21
4. Electric Lash 12:34
5. Field Of Mars 17:00
6. You Took 22:04
7. The Unguarded Moment 30:17
8. Almost With You 34:41
9. Is This Where You Live 39:11
10. Just For You 46:48
Hailing from Melbourne, but with a sound stretching from 60s and 70s afrobeat and exotica to Fela Kuti-esque repetition, the proto-garage rhythmic fury of The Monks and the grooves of Os Mutantes, there’s an enticing lost world exoticism to the music of Bananagun. It’s the sort of stuff that could’ve come from a dusty record crate of hidden gems; yet as the punchy, colourfully vibrant pair of singles Do Yeah and Out of Reach have proven over the past 12 months, the band are no revivalists. On debut album The True Story of Bananagun, they make a giant leap forward with their outward-looking blend of global tropicalia.
The True Story of Bananagun marks Bananagun’s first full foray into writing and recording as a complete band, having originally germinated in the bedroom ideas and demos of guitarist, vocalist and flautist Nick van Bakel. The multi-instrumentalist grew up on skate videos, absorbing the hip-hop beats that soundtracked them – taking on touchstones like Self Core label founder Mr. Dibbs and other early 90’s turntablists.
That love of the groove underpins Bananagun – even if the rhythms now traverse far beyond those fledgling influences. “We didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing,” the band’s founder says. “We wanted it to be vibrant, colourful and have depth like the jungle. Like an ode to nature.”
Van Bakel was joined first by cousin Jimi Gregg on drums – the pair’s shared love of the Jungle Book apparently made him a natural fit – and the rest of the group are friends first and foremost, put together as a band because of a shared emphasis on keeping things fun. Jack Crook (guitar/vocals), Charlotte Tobin (djembe/percussion) and Josh Dans (bass) complete the five-piece and between them there’s a freshness and playful spontaneity to The True Story of Bananagun, borne out of late night practice jams and hangs at producer John Lee’s Phaedra Studios.
“We were playing a lot leading up to recording so we’re all over it live”, van Bakel fondly recalls of the sessions that became more like a communal hang out, with Zoe Fox and Miles Bedford there too to add extra vocals and saxophone. “It was a good time, meeting there every night, using proper gear [rather than my bedroom setups.] It felt like everyone had a bit of a buzz going on.”
Tracks like The Master and People Talk Too Much bounce around atop hybrid percussion that fuses West African high life with Brazilian tropicalia; the likes of She Now hark to a more westernised early rhythm ‘n’ blues beat, remoulded and refreshed in the group’s own inimitable summery style. Freak Machine is perhaps the closest to those early 90’s beats, but even then the group add layers and layers of bright guitars, harmonic flower-pop vocals and other sounds to transmute the source material to an entirely new plain. Elsewhere there’s a 90 second track called Bird Up! that cut and pastes kookaburra and parrot calls as an homage to the wildlife surrounding van Bakel’s home 80 kilometres from Melbourne.
Oh, and there are hooks galore too – try and stop yourself from humming along to Out of Reach’s swooping vocal melody.
Bananagun are first and foremost a band enthused with the joy of living and The True Story of Bananagun is a ebullient listen; van Bakel – as the main songwriter – is keen not to let any lyrical themes overpower that. There’s more to this record than blissed out grooves and tripped out fuzz though: The Master is about learning to be your own master and resisting the urge to compare yourself to others; She Now addresses gender identity and extolls the importance of people being able to identify how they feel. Then there’s closing track Taking The Present For Granted, which perhaps sums up the band’s ethos on life, trying to take in the world around you and appreciating the here and now.
A keen meditator, van Bakel says of the track: “so often people are having a shit time stuck in their own existential crisis, but if you get outside you head and participate in life and appreciate how beautiful it all is you can have a better time.”
Even the band’s seemingly innocuous name has an underlying message of connectivity that matches the universality of the music. “It’s like non-violent combat! Or the guy who does a stick up, but it’s just a banana, not a gun, and he tells the authorities not to take themselves too seriously.”
The True Story ofBananagun then is perhaps a tale of finding beauty in even these most turbulent of times.
The Band:
Nick Van Bakel – guitar, voice, flute, trumpet, harpsichord, percussion
Jack Crook – guitar, voice
Charlotte Tobin – percussion
Josh Dans – bass guitar
Jimi Gregg – drums
Pierce Morton – alto saxophone
Miles Bedford – tenor saxophone
Zoe Fox – voiceSongs written by Nick Van Bakel.
“Born out of magic and hopelessly romantic. A message from the fire. The flames are burning higher and ever so brightly, softly, sweet scars & beauty, death like, so lovely. Ghosts and Gods sing Pharaoh melodies”. Natalie De Silver founder of The Dandelion describes her band. This four-piece group take 60s psych influences and ghostly sounds into modern world. We had a lovely chat with Natalie, while the flute and the organ ring out in the night…My studio is my home and I mostly record music in my lounge room. Sometimes I write songs in my kitchen or bedroom. I like composing songs on either guitar, organ or drums first, then I just make the rest up. I have an old cassette recorder I like to record on. However, the next Dandelion record we’re going into a proper studio which is really exciting!. for independent artists like us who sell our own music through sites like Bandcamp or at our own shows and mange our own social media platforms it’s very personal. The Dandelion originally began as a solo recording project for Daniel Poulter (1981-2015) who recorded Strange Case of The Dandelion.
During the recording of The Dandelion’s 2nd album “Seeds Flowers & Magical Powers of The Dandelion” 2014/2015, Daniel gracefully handed over all creative duties to Natalie de Silver who can be heard subtlety coming through the album’s mix and main themes. Natalie is currently working on a third album to be released very soon!
True spirituality is also taking responsibility for your role within the creation process and once you find a positive rhythm within in it then you will begin to truly understand what God is. I strongly recommend to anyone who is even remotely spiritual, that you find a disciplinary belief system or religion to subscribe to Otherwise you’ll have no spiritual structure or grounding and what often happens to the “spiritual but not religious” is a false self justification of being on the “right path” and this often leads to spiritual gluttony, substance abuse and self indulgence which will ultimately disconnect you from reality and God.
Sure, so the first step is to discern what is good for you and what is bad for you and how it might affect other people. This is not an overnight process, however, if you have the ability to feel remorse and empathy towards anything other than yourself, then discernment should come quite easily, It’s much more beneficial to see how your bad habits might be negatively affecting others as opposed to just yourself as bad habits are often strangely enjoyable and, if you give up a bad habit just for yourself, then you’ll most likely just trade it for another bad habit to meet your own needs.Last year, The Dandelion joined the Gizzfest, curated by Ozzie favorites King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
To celebrate the new single and EP Methyl Ethel will be supporting Peter, Bjorn & John on their American tour dates throughout March and April. On return to Australia, Methyl Ethel will tour in solo mode at intimate venues in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
“Hurts To Laugh” marks the ongoing output of Methyl Ethel producer and multi-instrumentalist Jake Webb’s restless mind. Time and again he’s proven that while there’s no distinction between music and art, psychologically speaking there is a difference between feeling and emotion. One is a conscious response to a set of circumstances, the other is the unconscious conditions of our very being that only occasionally surfaces through feelings. Hurts To Laugh excavates this ambiguous site, implied by its very title. You can laugh so hard it hurts – pure joy. Or laugh despite the pain – despair. These paradoxes run throughout the EP, as well as everything that came before.
‘Majestic AF’ stumbles into its bubbling oscillator and analogue polyrhythms, while a kick-free drumbeat marches right into an atonal synth melody supporting Webb’s equally idiosyncratic falsetto.
Cable Ties, a trio from Melbourne, blasts a coruscating onslaught of punk mayhem, guitar scrambling madly in a scrubby, discordant fury, drums banging, bass pumping pick-driven clangor into the mix and, above it all, Jennie McKechnie wailing in an exposed nerve kind of way about apathy, sexism, LGBTQ acceptance, income inequality and activist politics. The sound is supercharged, ear-ringing, tight; the fast chug of the bass line in stellar “Tell Them Where to Go,” has a nearly tactile force, while the guitar howls like careening sirens. The easy thing would be to compare McKechnie’s vibrato-zinging vocals with those of Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker or her verbal agility to Courtney Barnett, but the blunt force and agile violence of the music, brings to mind post-punk bands like the Wipers, Protomartyr and Eddy Current.
Cable Ties formed in the mid-teens and has one self-titled and a clutch of singles and splits in its catalogue so far. Far Enough is the first of this band’s albums to get a wide U.S. release, and it’s a doozy, no question. McKechnie may be the band’s focal point, but bassist Nick Brown defines Cable Ties’ ragged power. The rough-sawed churn of “Lani” starts and finishes with his abrasive, insistent bass playing that boils like magma under urgent, trilling vocals. Drummer Shauna Boyle is pretty great, too, banging out aggressive beats, that are passionate not sloppy, trance-like but never tuned out.
Band members are active advocates for women’s and LGBTQ rights. McKechnie co-founded Wet Lips, a Melbourne festival focused on inclusion of female, gay and non-binary musicians, and both she and Boyle volunteer for Girls Rock, an organization that promotes opportunity for women, trans and gender diverse musicians. Far Enough engages in these issues through the lyrics, especially in “Tell Them Where to Go,” where between murderous bass and clanging guitar chords, McKechnie sings about empowerment. “Are you stuck in your bedroom? With your stereo on? Thinking you’ll never play that way cos you’re too weird or too young/Why don’t you walk out your bedroom/and steal your brother’s guitar/ Go see the folks who took rock back from blokes and who get who you really are,” she wails, and you can see a hundred kids squaring their shoulders and heading out there.
Later, “Self-Made Man” launches an incendiary blow at the rich, skewering people who “work hard and don’t share,” in a hard bumping, intricately lyric’d song that vibrates with rage, and elsewhere “Sandcastles” pokes a rusty nailed prod at the politics that strangle otherwise well-meaning activist organizations. (“You don’t do anything because you know that people like you they just don’t do anything but tear each other down”). And right at the beginning in “Hope,” the band addresses boomer complacency on climate change, as McKechnie warbles, “My uncle Pete’s he’s complaining about the greenies, he says they’ve gone too far, I say Pete, they don’t go far enough.”
And yet while not a moment on this album fails to engage in issues, the vibe is brash, celebratory, undeniably a gas. This is no over-earnest diatribe. It’s a series of party anthems about stuff that matters. One drum flattening call to arms insists that “Anger’s Not Enough,” and that’s right, there’s a lot more here. But it’s a really good place to start.
The Fat Angel Sings 