Music Alliance Pact

The Music Alliance Pact (MAP) began in October 2008 as an initiative to facilitate the spread of local music to the ears of others around the world. It started with 12 country specific blogs who each selected one hot local track that was posted on the sites of each of the other members of this "union". Now there are 26 countries included and I'm loving the diversity of the artists that get chosen. It's such a great idea--it makes heaps of sense that someone who lives and breathes a countries music, culture and language would be the one in the best position to recommend the must have song in that place at that time. Here are my favourite tracks included in the MAP for July:

Boat Beam-The Rain Pauly (zshare)

Boat Beam is an interesting choice of contribution to the MAP from Australian blog Who the Bloody Hell Are They? Sure it includes former member of Sparkadia Josephine Ayling, but they seem pretty damn Spanish. You gotta love how Australian's claim anything and anyone as there own. I would love to be the exotic type who raves about the latest Venezuelan breakthrough artist...but I must confess that the Australian choice was my favourite submission this month. Such a beautiful track. With sweet harmonies and a peaceful lullaby like rhythm.



Neufvoin-Robot (zshare)

Finland seems to have their answer to Red Riders in indie rockers Neufvoin. Oh God, am I turning into a "country specific" blog...all of my references are so Oz-centric. Anyway, this is is a fun upbeat track that I'm sure could become quite the sing along. And its Finnish, how exotic!



Rah Rah-I've Got Faith (zshare)

I find this track both brilliant and odd. Funny lyrics, jarring noise, pretty violin and a catchy chorus. I do get an Arcade Fire vibe in places, but maybe that's just cos they're Canadian, ay?. They also remind me a bit of Architecture in Helsinki. BUT they are neither of these. They ARE Rah Rah. AND they are worthy of checking out.

Crying Lightning

The first single of the Arctic Monkeys third studio album is called Crying Lightning. It was released almost two weeks ago and ever since I've been trying to work out what I think of it. I haven't really come up with much except (a) It really grows on you (b) I now really like it and (c) It sounds really familiar in the middle, maybe a similar guitar to one of their other tracks. The album, Humbug, is set to be released sometime around the end of August.

Arctic Monkeys-Crying Lightning (zshare)

Coin Laundry Video

As is probably obvious to anyone who regularly follows this blog, I really love good video clips. Why can't I just enjoy the music? I could psychoanalyse my need for a visual companion for hours. But at the end of the day I think I'm just part of the MTV generation (from when they still played music, obviously). Pure and simple. Anyway, this is the new Lisa Mitchell video. Feels a little bit odd that the video is being released about 4 months after the single, but I suppose this can only boost her recognition. The footage is stunning, and was directed by Vanessa Caswill who also shot Mitchell's previous clip for Neopolitan Dreams. This was no surprise, as both capture the mysterious, feminine and off beat personality of Mitchell completely.

Lisa Mitchell-Coin Laundry (zshare)

Lisa Mitchell-Neopolitan Dreams (zshare)

Meanwhile, the clip also utilises the talent of London folk singer Johnny Flynn. And my what talent that is. I first heard his name from Laura Marling when she covered his track The Wrote and The Writ for Triple J's Like a Version. She gave him big props and from what I gather this is one very underrated artist. And very gorgeous. Check out this duet with Marling herself:

Johnny Flynn-Leftovers (zshare)

Ze Remixes

Although for some reason I get a bit if flak about it, I love Van She and sorta raved about their 2008 debut release V. I was in Brisbane over the weekend and was hoping to catch the boys play on their Ze Remixes tour. Basically, they have done what Duran Duran, Soulwax and Bloc Party have done before them and remixed their album (almost) in its in entirety. To be honest, this would be far from a challenge as the four piece as they spend a good deal of their time working the club scene as Van She Tech, and it is this dirty techno sound that appears on most of the tracks. However, they aint just a one trick pony as they have also thrown in a pretty sweet acoustic version of Virgin Suicide and a total newy Techno Music.

Van She-Changes (Van She Tech Remix) (zshare)

While on the topic of Van She and remixes, I thought it might be a nice time to put forward a few of my favourites over the years. In no particular order (spot the contentious one):

1. Van She-Kelly (Breakbot Remix) (zshare)

2. Van She-Kelly (Cut Copy Remix) (zshare)

3. Van She-Kelly (Fred Falke & Alan Braxe) (zshare)

4. Crystal Castles-Vanished (zshare)

5. Van She-Sex City (The Teenagers Remix) (zshare)

Blue Juice-Broken Leg

Photos courtesy of A.Rhodes

Broken Leg is the brand new single from Sydney boys Bluejuice and it sounds like it's going to reach the same great heights that Vitriol did in 2007. The first time I heard it I definitely got an 80's rock pop vibe...and I just couldn't shake the feeling that it sounded vaguely familiar. Then I read the boy's blog only to see that this throwback to the original fluro era was somewhat intentional and a possibly humorous reference to Rick Springfield got me thinking rather seriously about ol' Jesse's Girl. I truly think there are some similarities in sound. But maybe that's just cos I love this song!

Caught these guys playing a couple of weeks ago and they totally boomed and had everyone in the crowd transfixed as the duelling vocalists Jake and Starvos worked the crowd like experts. I really love how Australian they sound/feel. They make you just wanna grab a schooner and jostle with the crowd. Spoke to Jake after show and he said they had to be back the next morning to the same venue (Metro) to film their new video clip...so look out.

Blue Juice-Broken Leg (zshare)

"This is Dirt Child ready to rumble in the jungle, wearin' my King Gee and my mother fuckin' mongrel"

By day, Dirt Child is a sculpturer from Mudgee. By night, she is a fast talking, bad mouthed and rather witty rapper. There aren't a whole lot of big name females in Australian hip hop right now. Sure, there are probably a heap in the underground scene. But for every Hilltop Hood, Bliss and/or Esso and Snob Scrilla I can't really think of any chicks (whoops, Killaqueenz.) Maybe Dirt Child can fill this gap with her tracks that are more like Peaches and less like what you would expect from Aussie Hip Hop.

Dirt Child-Golden Tooth (zshare)

Discovery

I love Vampire Weekend, but I sorta hate autotune. So what am I to do? Ra Ra Riot vocalist Wes Miles and Vampire Weekend keyboardist/producer extraordinaire Rostam Batmanglij have teamed up to put out an album under the name Discovery. This collaboration is kinda like the hot young secretary (always blonde) the married man goes off with. So different from his homely pleasant wife (always brunette), and yet isn't this what makes the affair appealing to begin with? Sure, you can still hear some African inspired Vampire Weekend beats in tracks like Can You Discover? And of course there is the distinctive and always welcomed guest vocals of Ezra Koening on Carby (which incidentally, is one of my least favourite tracks despite being the one that drew me in). But overall, Discovery is totally not what you would expect when considering the bands these boys came from. I can just picture them all giggly sneaking around behind their band mates backs making music...shock horror...without guitars!! But seriously, this stuff is synth heavy, with cute little boy vocals (when their not auto-killed), major 80's throwbacks with words like "discotheque" and generally just a whole heap of kitch. The weirdest bit? The eighth track is a grimy futuristic cover of Jackson Five I Want You Back. Eerie.

Discovery-Orange Shirt (zshare)

Just for fun here are some clips from the respective homely pleasant wives these guys came from:

Matt Corby

"Love is like a letter wrote, and life is like an envelope. Be careful who you give it to, they might not give it back to you."

As I've said before, Australian Idol is one of my guilty pleasures. I particularly enjoyed the 2006 season that saw bright eyed Matt Corby finish in second place (Natalie Gauci was the winner for Pub trivia's sake) and thus successfully avoided the horrors of releasing a rushed pop manufactured album at the hands of the shows people. Instead he has been laying low, gigging around the place and now releasing his debut EP Songs For...

Predictably, Corby has gone down the folky singer songwriter pathway with his soft vocals and acoustic guitar interrupted only by some nice backup. I'm really liking the peacefullness of the lead single Letters, and the lyrics are quite beautiful. And it is no surprise to find that he has been working with Josh Pyke and Lior. But, it would have been nice to hear some diversity like the Zeppelin, Beatles and Wolfmother he played on the show that made him a household name.

Matt Corby-Letters (zshare)

video killed the radio star

In all the hype surrounding the death of Michael Jackson, one thing that has resonated with me is the impact he had not just on music, but on music videos. It has been said that he was responsible for changing the humble music video from being a simple promotional tool into an art form. It's true. Think Thriller, think Bad...this is where the film making/story telling era of the videos started. I mean, Martin Scorsese directed Bad....did you know that? Would Michael Jackson be as big a "thing" if we didn't know about his killer dance moves. Maybe not. These days-these youtube days, if you wanna be noticed as an artist it seems that it's 60% about having a good sound and 40% about having an awesome video that gets people talking.

Enter Red Riders centre stage. You've Got A Lot of Nerve is the first single of their second album Drown in Colour, and whilst catchy and enjoyable it is a little repetitive. However, the accompanying video is pretty neat. The clip is filmed in stop motion, meaning that it took several weeks of early morning filming on a Surry Hills rooftop to create something quite beautiful.

The next single to drop off the album is Ordinary, and in contrast to its title I'm loving this one much more than the first. The film clip is the age old concept of lead singer Alex Grig strolling down the streets of Sydney...but nothing seems to be ordinary, gettit? The best bit of the video? Campos coffee cup of course!

Red Riders-Ordinary (zshare)

Sherlock's Daughter

Absloutly loving Sherlock's Daughter right now. I saw them on Friday at one of the many Save FBI gigs that have been pumping through Sydney the past month. They played in the sweaty, crowded backroom of World Bar and they totally made my night. There was one point towards the end of the set where my feet got sore...and I thought to myself, I can either retreat back to the comfy seats surrounding the bar and miss the rest of the set or I can keep just plonk myself down in front of the stage and keep watching this killer show. Let's just say I chose to embarrass myself. And it was worth it.

The single that's doing the rounds right now is Kids, which you can listen to on their myspace. And whilst this is a beautiful track, its definitely Songs For Old People that does it for me big time when they do it live. The group vocals. The tambourine. The minimal breakdown. The buildup. The lyrics. All super beautiful.

Sherlock's Daughter-Song For Old People (zshare)