Fifteen Golden Balls

By now the name Sharpie Crows should be inscribed on your work desk. They’ve already cemented themselves alongside Die! Die! Die! as the best New Zealand band of the last decade and this song just confirms their ferocity, derailing rumours of a band rift and an impending breakup. ‘Fifteen Golden Balls pt. 2′ appeared on a recent Mole Music sampler; showcasing a bunch of new and old bands associated with the small New Zealand indie label. The Sharpie Crows song is clearly the highlight of the 6 track sampler, which also features songs by Rifles, Nevernudes, Mild America, The Body Lyre and Deer Park. Returning to Melbourne after touring New Zealand last November the band expelled their original bass player Josh Jenkins and has been playing with a temporary bass player who, according to Mole Music’s Sam Walsh, has also now left the band. However ‘Fifteen Golden Balls pt. 2′ and several other Golden Balls tracks, rumoured to be from an upcoming Sharpie Crows EP were recorded with Jenkins, and his unmistakable bass notes perfectly in time with drummer Jackson Hobbs’ heavy beats again give the band a thumping echo. Like many of the songs on the band’s last album Greed, ‘Fifteen Golden Balls pt. 2′ is driven by the rhythm section that lay a staunch foundation for keyboard/vocalist Sam Bradford and guitarist Casey Latimer to play cat-and-mouse, interlocking their unpredictable instrumental personalities. It’s Sharpie Crows’ most colourful song to date, with delay and reverb used on Bradford’s voice to provide a harmonic cushion from the more abrasive elements of their sound. There are rumours of a Sharpie Crows album and an EP before the end of 2010.

Sharpie Crows- Fifteen Golden Balls pt. 2: MP3

Sharpie Crows- Myspace

Download The Burrow Pt.1 free Mole Music sampler

Posted by Nick Fulton under Australia, Melbourne
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Salem To The Moon

Those of you who witnessed Salem’s totally suck-arse performance at SXSW earlier this year and consequently gave up on the band might now have something new to champion. Australia has a death drone band up to the challenge, contorting and weaving a bleak electronic pulse that will pinch every nerve in your spinal chord. Unlike Salem, Caught Ship sound more like a power surge than a dead circuit. Their music is littered with starry electronics and is built around a repetitive wave of bass and keyboard drone. It’s more organic with a strong emphasis on instrumentation, both live and recorded, allowing fans to interact and recognise the music being built in front of them. There are no dead ends, Caught Ship are live-wire zombies; a gloomy sound with an extroverted personality. Vocalist Ben Snaith is reminiscent of a young David Byrne, dancing like a spazz with his arms swinging and he leans into the microphone like Richard Hell. Their performance from Saxbrowl Sunday on May 30th looks more like a scene from CBGB in 1976 New York, during the height of new wave when freaks like The Voidoids and Blondie ruled the throne, than from a small bar in down town Melbourne.

The band has two official releases, both on small boutique labels. A split CD-R with Whyte Lytening released on Bedroom Suck Records and a cassette tape released on Totem Tapes, a cassette label based in Melbourne. They also had a song included on a recent volume of the New Weird Australia mixtape, released in March.

Caught Ship has played shows with A Dead Forest Index, Sharpie Crows, Paint Your Golden Face and TANTRUMS and come highly recommended by our friends in Melbourne.

Caught Ship- BlackHoleSlashSweetBeat: MP3

Caught Ship- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Australia, Melbourne
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Pistol Grip Prodigy

This is what happens when three of New Zealand’s best bands move to Melbourne. Street Chant’s Alex Brown, Sharpie Crows‘ Casey Latimer and Damsels‘ Adam Fulton have joined forces to create a hellishly exciting new band named Eeling. The trio shred, scream and pound their instruments into a furious ball of noise, creating a wickedly brutal sound reciprocating bands like Holy Molar, Head Wound City and their Three One G brothers, plus bands like Aids Wolf and Athletic Automation from the Skin Graft Records label. Local fans might find them similar to TFF or one of Casey’s former bands, Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing. Check out this track they sent me, it’s called ‘Raetihi’.

Eeling- Raetihi: MP3

Eeling- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Australia, Melbourne
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Echo My Unborn Children’s Voices

In August 2009, brothers Adam and Sam Sherry returned home to record their debut album (out in early 2010) at Auckland’s York St Studios with their friend and engineer Simon Gooding (Over The Atlantic, 7 Worlds Collide). The brothers, who once called Auckland home moved overseas in their late teens. Sam moved to the UK and Adam travelled throughout Europe, following around one of his musical heroes, a Romanian gypsy band named Taraf de Haidouks. They both now live in Melbourne, Australia.

‘Anchoring The Hands’ is the duo’s first single and comes after their entrancing first EP Empty And Dark I Shall Raise My Lantern, that introduced fans to their unique blend of chemically infused vocal loops, dark minimalist drum beats and sparse, audacious guitar chords. The song perfectly displays a complete cross section of their musical collection, and brings together different elements of their vast song writing structure. They are at one time a chugging indie pop band; at another turn they blend Gothic rhythms and Eastern European symphonies; and around another corner they are a beautifully disciplined vocal group. Where some of A Dead Forest Index’s other songs focus on just one of those elements, ‘Anchoring The Hands’ contains them all.

A Dead Forest Index recently completed a month long reservation at Melbourne music venue The Workers Club, where they gained some rave reviews for their unique use of vocal loops and haunting harmonies. In January they are heading to New Zealand to play at the Campus A Low Hum festival and a show at Auckland’s Wine Cellar.

A Dead Forest Index in New Zealand

January 23,24,25- Campus A Low Hum Festival, Bulls

January 27- The Wine Cellar, Auckland (with Dear Time’s Waste)

 A Dead Forest Index- Anchoring The Hands: MP3

 A Dead Forest Index- Myspace

 Buy A Dead Forest Index’s EP Empty And Dark I Shall Raise My Lantern

Posted by Nick Fulton under Australia, Melbourne
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Midi-Evil Disco

Colourful triptychs of melancholy melodies collide with frosty drum machine ticks and rainbows of atmospherics layered upon eachother. The imploding sound cleverly dubbed “midi-evil disco” is the creation of Melbourne’s T A N T R U M S; Jade McInally (vocals/guitar/keys), Sarah Phelan (guitar/keys/production/programming) and Nicolaas Oogjes (percussion/trumpet). Taking the moodiness and bleak aura of Joy Division, extracting the relative revelations of PiL, and the subtleties of entirely their own doing, they have stumbled upon the makeup of a greatly unique and intriguing band. Like abstract symphonies soundtracking an art school thriller film instilled with the tribal percussion of Telepathe (particularly on song ‘Third Movement’) and the airy eeriness of The Virgin Suicides soundtrack, the output of this relatively new band has been documented some, and they’re currently recording some more. Keep your eyes and ears open for their upcoming releases, they’re bound to be interesting.

T A N T R U M S- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Australia, Melbourne
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