Romeo Hits Hyperdrive Ace

Canberra label Dream Damage (TV Colours, Bare Grillz, Assassins 88) have been a strong purveyor of Australia's underground music scene, with some great releases from lesser known acts such as the likes of Slow Violence and Cat Cat shining through. Another release they have put forth is Hyperdrive by Ace Romeo AKA Andy Campbell, guitarslinger of The Fighting League. The album is awesome, if fairly eclectic. It starts off the way I expected things to be, and continue (thanks in part to the name, and to the cover art) - 'Heart To You' kicks off with a weird baroque Euro traveller synth disco pastiche - like Todd Terje was playing in a Balkan nightclub with the barest of Rolands and a Gameboy extension. Then the guitar rocks in, live drums, and a lick that feels like a muted hair metal riff - and this is in the first third of the song. The vocals drift through, playing on the same lines of Tame Impala-lite psych soul searching, but as guitars layer over each other, with a much more insistent beat propelling things forward, Ace Romeo isn't trying to emulate those types of glories. The rest of Hyperdrive is equally filled with thrilling curveballs - the throwback pub rock riffage of 'Move To Mars' that fits into the Sydney rock'n'roll set effortlessly; the earnest 80s stadium rock mania of 'Best Friend'; the urgent post-punk meets Sharpies-esque title track; the 70s chase scene cum yacht rock malaise that tears 'Total Riffage' apart... It is honestly like Campbell has grabbed his dad's record collection, thrown it into the dryer, hit maximum spin, scooped out the shattered remains and glued the albums together ad hoc. But it works. I really like this record, and I reckon you will too.

Melting Focus

Cassette label Whalesmouth (Cool Sounds, Cat Cat) have put two great releases out over the past couple of months. I'm going to start with Theta Waves, the debut album for Melt, the solo guise for Jordan Rodgers from Wives (another release that slipped through Sonic Masala's clutches...) It's a stunning suite of spartan motorik guitar jams that coalesces in weird and wonderful ways, with the creme de la creme of Canberra's musicians offering their dulcet tones over the top. It winds sinuously from the seductively sparse 'Wait' to the percolating march of 'Sydney To Canberra' (which reminds me of Mark McGuire's Innertube efforts), the mid-career Blonde Redhead post-punk of 'Good Form' or the deliciously off-kilter 'Ancestor' (featuring the ever excellent work from Orlando Furious).

Then there is Rastrejo, another moniker, this time for Spanish musician Jose Guerrero. His band Cuello blew me away with their last album Mi Brazo Que Te Sobre (read about it here), and have another on the way. But Lamina Focal is just one of many albums Guerrero has put out under his own steam, and the first on the Melbourne label (and their first international release). It's an experimental drone blast that is far removed from Cuello's grooves - a jagged tantric spiral into chaotic sonic prisms of affected light, the kind of cyclical drone that would echo in a never ending Vaseline-lensed Giallo yellow and red drenched fever dream

Wagga Wagga's Dreamboats Of Velcro

Here is a little lo-fi act out of Melbourne that I am absolutely loving at the moment. Velcro are a three-piece that released Dreamboat, a 6 track EP, earlier in the year on London-based label Njord Kassetts. Similar to current bands like Cat Cat and Dick Diver, with a slacker ennui inherent in the likes of Old Mate, Scott & Charlene's Wedding or Kitchens Floor, yet there is also an affinity for McLennan/Forster and the Flying Nun clan, thus allowing Velcro to steep their short whimsical numbers in a plaintive melody and surreptitious hooks so that the crooked pop tunes remain embedded in your mind for days afterwards. They have been putting out a plethora of cassette releases over the past eight or so months, demos on the internet at an alarming rate, and one of these releases is entitled Wagga Wagga and is out on Why Don't You Believe Me - which just makes me want to grab them and make them etch out a singular vinyl with all the tracks on it just for me - hell, even a CD-r would suffice! Especially as the digital version of Dreamboat is pretty pristine. But don't think you will get to see them in Aus any time soon, as the driving force behind the band, Curtis Wakeling, has moved to Brooklyn to try his wares solo whilst also playing in ace band Love Connection. If you're in NY, hunt this guy down, he is special.


You can get Dreamboat on cassette here.



And here is a track off Wagga Wagga, which you can purchase here...

Velcro - G&T

Doubling The Cat In Uralba

Melbourne's Cat Cat really did themselves a disservice bringing out their debut LP Uralba in the last moments of 2011, for it got lost in the tide of best of lists and premonitions of 2012. Truth be told, this lo-fi threesome have created a excellent album of languid guitar pop gems that it makes me think that this is what Real Estate should sound like. Its sunny and sexy in the right parts, introspective in the right parts, trebly all the way through. Sure, there are many bands in this corner of the world over the past forty years that have delved into these waters, but Uralba is a great release all round.


Have at Uralba - it's through Dream Damage here.

Cat Cat - Hate Me
Cat Cat - Keys And Locks Don't Work
Cat Cat - Romance

Get Your Cat Cat Snack Attack

Here's one for ya!

in a ploy to fully capitalise on the current hipster trend of hearting cats to fucking death, Melbourne cruisy kids Cat Cat have a track out that might get you excited (or at least push the crappy weather away for awhile), all in lieu of their debut LP Uralba that comes out on the killer Dream Damage label on Tuesday! Its so laid back as to almost be comatose, in a fun-loving, let the good summer times in the park quaffing red kinda way. I think this album will have some exciting numbers in store for us...

Cat Cat - Keys & Locks Don't Work