What’s most startling about this Melbourne, Australia trio Camp Cope’s self-titled debut is not its collection of tightly played and written indie rock songs. It’s the sneaking, sinking feeling you get from pouring through someone’s well-hidden diary while listening to the damn thing.
In the record’s eight tracks, singer Georgia Maq lets us in far past the point of oversharing; her frustration, fear and grief expressed in “Lost (Season One)” and “Song forCharlie,” delivered through her thick Aussie accent and complemented by her bandmates’ ragtag percussion, it all feels like the kind of things we learn to keep locked up in private. You could call that radical transparency, or tenderness, or both. But it makes for startlingly good singalong fodder. Particularly impressive is Maq’s pen. Her knack for reworking lengthy, unwieldy thoughts like “I’ve been desensitized to the human body / I could look at you naked and all I’d see would be anatomy” (“Flesh and Electricity”) into effortless hooks is demonstrated all across CampCope, through songs that tackle sexual harassment, personal tragedy. But through its heavy subject matter, CampCope’s inaugural statement of a debut album is, above the mud and murk, to persist and survive
Courtney Barnett performing live at the Triple Door as part of KEXP’s VIP Club concert series. Recorded July 7th, 2014.
Songs:
Lance Jr.
Don’t Apply Compression Gently
Scotty Says
Canned Tomatoes (Whole)
David
Are You Looking After Yourself?
Out of the Woodwork
Avant Gardener
History Eraser
If SXSW had an indie-darling award, it would most certainly be given to this Aussie rocker. She’s received attention from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Spin, and she’s even in the next issue of PG. The three aforementioned mags fluttered over her painfully plain yet deeply reflective lyrics that are delivered deadpan as if Courtney Barnett was comedian Steven Wright’s long-lost Australian daughter. The reason PG has taken note is for her ability to barely harness distorted feedback in intensifying crushers like “Small Poppies” and “Kim’s Caravan.” But we also love her softer songwriter side, wrapped in warbling tremolo and warm chorus bubbles showcased in tracks like “Depreston.” With her knockout debut album dropped last month and a slew of American TV and festival appearances, it looks like Barnett will be stateside for as long as she can stand it.
“I pretty much only use two guitars while touring—a Fender American Standard Telecaster and a FenderClassic Player Jaguar Special. The Tele is the one I play the most and is set aside for bluesier songs like ‘AvantGardner,’ ‘Lance Jr.,’ and ‘David,’ whereas the Jag is for the dingy songs that need some wonky tremolo arm stuff like ‘Aqua Profunda!’
I used to just use a delay to muffle everything and an overdrive for the heavy bits, but recently I’ve started toying with a few new things, thanks to my bandmate Dan Luscombe. I love the tackiness and novelty sound and feel of the Boss CH-1 Super Chorus—or the chorus effect in general—but it does make me feel the three piece is bigger than it really is, and everything sounds a little wonky like it’s coming out the chimney of a lopsided ship. I’ve always been a fan of the tremolo effect, but I haven’t been able to make the Behringer Ultra Tremolo sound as cool as I’d like. I’m sure it’s my fault—not the pedal. The Fulltone OCD is huge and filthy. I have it on the low switch because I keep my guitars super treble-y and I don’t want to overdo it. The Electro-Harmonix Little Big Muff Pi is so, so rough. It’s so rough that sometimes I can’t hear it—it’s like a hidden undertone of the devil in the way dogs can only hear super high notes, but that’s no use in a mega-loud jam because I just feel like my guitar has disappeared. The other pedals I have on my board are a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver and a Boss TU-3 Tuner. And I recently starting messing around with a Broadcast Hard On A/B box so I can run two amps onstage to help with monitor volumes, switching guitars, and tuning in between songs.”
When Tyrannamen’s Nic Imfeld, backed by a raucous punk band, pleads for you to leave some guy on “You Should Leave Him,” the thought crosses your mind. By the time the rambunctious five-piece have kicked into full gear and Imfeld’s screaming, “We could have it so great,” you are ready to pack your bags. The Melbourne five-piece (which features members of The Stevens, Twerps, and Whipper) call to mind the ramshackle melody of the Undertones, Greg Cartwright’s Reigning Sound, and the power pop moments of fellow Aussies Royal Headache. Led by the tuneful and raw vocals of Imfeld and others, the music pops like buttons from a ripped shirt. But between the rowdiness of “I Don’t Want to Go to Jail” and “My Concrete,” a song about construction sites, there are moments of soulful tenderness such as “Diamond Ring.” They may seem and sound like ruffians, but deep down, Tyrannamen are true romantics.
Melbourne Singer/Songwriter Moonlover has just released his third EP Lysergic Flaccid and dropped a new clip for single ‘Gag Order’.
“I’ve been doing the DIY thing for a while now,” says the man behind the moniker, “just getting friends to make clips, making these songs by myself in my boudoir”
The result is a slice of garage rock ripped right out of the ’60s featuring enough cowbell to satisfy even Christopher Walken, and described by Moonlover as “A fuck you to the vampire bot illuminati, the propaganda trolls, supermarkets, the corporate selection panel for public holidays and the governments of the world!”
“Long live free speech and the communication and discussion of ideas!”, he adds. The video itself sees a moustachioed Moonlover running around the back streets of Melbourne hunting ‘The Shadow’, and it’s just a ridiculous as it sounds.
There’s quite the comfort in this cover from Melbourne’s Parading, It feels justifiably lazy. Lazy within the confines of a slightly drawn out pop song, but lazy nonetheless. Compared to the original from Paul Kelly, ‘BigHeart’ – taken from the band’s second full length “Jungle Songs” proves an obvious, distinctive take. This shows the versatility in song writing on Paul Kelly’s behalf of course – a song that that some 29 years later, feels to have stood the test of time. But positioned within a vastly different musical vibe, the melodic dirge that is shoegaze, Parading give this song a new prolonged life, thanks to the grand vision of this Melbourne four piece.
In the same way Benji was about “death” and 69 Love Songswas about “love,” Camp Cope’s enthralling debut is an album about “shame.” There are dozens of times where Georgia Maq, leader of this Melbourne trio, recognizes the subtle way shame has goes viral in real time, tinting and tainting almost every one of her interactions: The discomfort and depression she feels after passing by a homeless man in the park, getting catcalled at a construction yard or busking in the streets. Each encounter is processed as a projection of her emotional state or payback for the original sin of having been born. Maq’s emotional intelligence is off the charts here, but in that aspect, she might admit she’s too smart for her own good.
On “Flesh & Electricity,” Maq exhales, “I’ve been desensitized to the human body/I could look at you naked and all I’d see would be anatomy,” like she just might sink so far into her couch that she disappears. When she modulates the chorus a few steps higher, she sounds even wearier; the effect is like watching someone force a smile in a crushingly repetitive job. It’s perhaps the saddest of Camp Cope’s eight songs because it was inspired by her actually trying to do good in the world; Maq worked as a nurse during the writing process of Camp Cope, but her altruism might have just been shame management: “My father says it’s atonement for my reckless years,” she says in “Flesh & Electricity.”
Camp Cope’s sound is, increasingly, the sound of indie rock today: a divergence from the too-cool VU–the Fall–Pavement lineage that embraces the effusive, empathic and emphatic qualities of emo, with some pop-punk (Tigers Jaw and UV Race are namedropped in “Stove Lighter,”WHY? is paraphrased in “West Side Story”) and a social awareness that negates any of the aforementioned’s previously questionable politics. You can tell from the stock chord progressions and loudly projected vocals that Camp Cope used to be Maq’s solo project, but if it’s folky at all, it resembles the superlyrical the Front Bottoms or the Mountain Goats rather than any roots music.
It’s a testament to Camp Cope’s unique magnetism that they never cheat towards the catharsis typically expected to balance out such heavy subject matter. They often use deadpan humor instead: “Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams” references nutball 9/11 conspiracy theories, but uses it as part of a pattern where any authority condescends to you, whether it comes from the NRA (“the only thing that can stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun”) or the victim-blaming inherent in most sexual assault investigations.
The most powerful moments on Camp Cope come when Maq shows a willingness to take some kind of power back after being talked down to her entire life, by parents, by teachers, by partners (“Hey, I was looking for a reason to leave and it’s you”), friends and peers in the punk community. There are no revelatory epiphanies for Maq, just valuable growth spurts that feel like acceptance. In “West Side Story,” Maq gets closest to the “survive and advance” thesis statement of Camp Cope: “It all comes down to the knowledge that we’re gonna die/find comfort in that or be scared for the rest of your life.”
Pairing gentle indie-punk with no-holds-barred lyricism, Camp Cope’s debut self-titled record has been a highlight, even in a year as musically outstanding as 2016. And considering they’ve not even left their homeland of Australia for a show this year, that’s no small feat. The band have just released a new song “Keep Growing” please give it a listen here.
Instead of the usual cycle (tour, release some music, tour, tour, and tour some more) their rise has been perpetuated almost entirely by word of mouth down under. Whether it’s bands like Modern Baseball, PUP and Jeff Rosenstock waxing lyrical about the band after touring with them; or gushing 140-character album reviews by people picking up on the record, the hype around the Melbourne trio has been entirely organic. That’s a rare thing for sure, but then it’s rare to find a band with the sheer songwriting ability and integrity of Camp Cope.
And being that they’re such a rare prospect, and since the album really is brilliant, we reckon its among one of the best albums of 2016.
The Baudelaires are a Melbourne based four-piece outfit that play psych like it’s coming out of your garage, commonly referred to as garage psych, psych garage or neo-psych.
At the end of the day and through the haze of sub-genres, The Baudelaires play good times music with some solid rock n’ roll flavours.
Their 2014 EP Be A Baudelaire was a woozy, meandering psychedelic affair with an endearing lo-fi edge and enough delay to really freak out those dopey mind-expanders. It garnered enough attention to have them play shows all over the east coast and even sharing a stage with the holiest of astral travellers, Cosmic Psychos. Musk Hill is their debut LP that builds on the psychedelic mist of their EP while also adding some more depth to the outfit’s sound. Recorded in a house bearing the album’s name on the Mornington Peninsula, from the moment we push play a healthy sense of cabin fever oozes from the speakers. Scrapbooker is a well-placed opener and about as close to an aural representation of a heat wave as we’ve experienced. The song contains some nifty chord changes, and grooves that help give the track a little more strength than the standard psych drone. Be A Baudelaire showed a band not afraid to bathe in delay. For Snapper Steve it feels like the band has the phaser, flanger, delay and reverb all set to 11, and there’s a super thick groove reminiscent of a slower Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or Black Angels, leaving a heavy, drenched feeling to the tune overall.
At the start of the song there’s also either a bong being ripped or the sound of the ocean. Given the track’s title we’ll go with ocean, but I think we all understand what went down that day in the studio.
As the middle of the album approaches, the band remedies the effects overload and plays more in the cleaner, clearer twang of garage rock. Foxglove presents a buoyant groove that leads really well in to the jangly, garage vibe of LucyLeave; Colour Mary then helps back up the fact.
It’s a fairly standard psych song, however there’s a passion and enthusiasm that emanates from the recording that really helps the band’s authentic love of the genre shine bright. When you can hear it, it makes all the difference.
The monster finish to the record is the double-barrelled hit of Whet Denim and Dweller. Whet Denim is an absolute stomper and probably one of the better long form jams and psychedelic freak-outs we’ve heard in a while. Everything fits, the grove drives throughout and the foursome utilise effects to push the song in to the next level. Dweller is the slow-jam closer than can often stunt the energy of an album when placed at the end. Not so for Musk Hill. The spacey guitar playing and lazy drums act as a calming influence, the grounding forces bringing you back to earth.
Evoking feelings of The Beatles‘ Revolution 9, it offers a brief glimpse in to the minds of the collective unit, where they’re headed and what might come next on the journey. Musk Hill is a solid album from a band that clearly loves the genre they play in, and aren’t simply covering a trend. The cohesive nature of the album as a whole shows deeper thought has been put into the overall listening experience.
Each track compliments the last, while offering something new in it’s own trippy way. A truly enjoyable listen and an album that should help restore your love of the full-length format rather than singles.
(2 Hours of 7 Tours in 2 Years) Watch “King Gizzard’s Bootleg Holiday From Hell”, a two-hour documentary directed by King Gizzard’s art guru Jason Galea. It’s a whirlwind trip through seven tours in two years, all across the globe.
Created by Jason Galea
UK/EU 2014 filmed and edited by Almo Troup
THE WHOLLY GHOST – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 12/06/14
MIND FUZZ – Far Rockaway, NY Rockaway Beach Surf Club 24/05/14
AM I IN HEAVEN – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 21/04/14
AM I IN HEAVEN – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 12/06/14
MIND FUZZ – Northside 14/06/14
DEADBEAT – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw 14/06/14
CRYING – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw 14/06/14
HEAD ON PILL – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 19/06/14
HOT WAX – Montreal, QC 14/10/14
HEAD ON PILL – Il Motore, Montreal, QC 15/10/14
SLOW – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts 21/10/14
ITS GOT OLD – Waltham, MA @ Brandeis University 24/10/14
LUNCH MEAT Waltham, MA @ Brandeis University 24/10/14
FOOTY FOOTY – Waltham, MA @ Brandeis University 24/10/14
SEA OF TREES – Waltham, MA @ Brandeis University 24/10/14
JUAN WAUTERS – GOO – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 26/10/14
STRESSIN – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 26/10/14
GOD IS CALLING ME BACK HOME – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 26/10/14
WHITE FENCE – BAXTER CORNER – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 26/10/14
WHITE FENCE – SANDRA – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 26/10/14
THE MYSTERY LIGHTS – FLOWERS IN MY HAIR, DEMONS IN MY HEAD – NY 30/10/14
EMPTY – Binghamton, NY @ Binghamton University 01/11/14
AM I IN HEAVEN – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 04/11/14
HOT WATER – UK/EU @ unknown Nov 2014
ROBOT STOP – Manchester, TN @ Bonaroo 12/06/15
THE RIVER part 1 – Manchester, TN @ Bonaroo 12/06/15
MIND FUZZ – Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar 17/06/15
ROBOT STOP – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 19/06/15
ON THE ROAD AGAIN – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 24/06/15
GOD IS IN THE RYTHYM – Stu Solo – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right 24/06/15
MIND FUZZ – Glastonbury UK @ Glastonbury Festival 26/06/15
EVIL DEATH ROLL – Glastonbury UK @ Glastonbury Festival 26/06/15
WILLOUGHBYS BEACH – Glastonbury UK @ Glastonbury Festival bar 26/06/15
DEADBEAT – Glastonbury UK @ Glastonbury Festival bar 26/06/15
CUTTHROAT BOOGIE – Glastonbury UK @ Glastonbury Festival bar 26/06/15
GAMMA KNIFE – Down The Rabbit Hole Beuningen, NL 28/06/15, Roskilde DK 01/7/15
THUNDERSTRUCK – Sam Fromlr @ Belgium roadside 10/07/15
THE RIVER part 2 – Super Bok Super Rock – Lisbon PT 16/07/15
MIND FUZZ – Suffolk, UK @ Latitude festival 17/07/15 FYF, Los Angeles, CA 23/08/15
PEOPLE VULTURES – Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA 29/08/15
WAH WAH – Santa Cruz, CA @ Don Quixote’s 28/08/15
THE RIVER part 2 & 3- Utrecht NL @Tivoli Vredenburg 05/03/16
MILD HIGH CLUB – THE CHAT with Stu and Cavs – Paris FR @ Flèche d’er 03/03/16
CELLOPHANE – Amsterdam, NL @ Oedipus Brewery 20/02/16
NONAGON INTRO THEME – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique 02/03/16
The Fat Angel Sings 