i can remember a time around the turn of the millennium when i was obsessed with scottish bands. snow patrol, belle & sebastian, mogwai, trashcan sinatras, arab strap, the reindeer section… anything that came out of glasgow seemed to hit me just the right way. i was convinced they were putting something in the water there, something heartbreaking and delicious whose effects included rampant self-deprecation and the use of strings in one’s rock group.
the way musical talent breeds in geographic petri dishes is not unique to the glaswegian twee-pop/sad-core of recent times, of course. look at seattle with grunge, omaha with the emo saddle-creek thing, chapel hill, denton in north texas, the madchester scene in the late 80’s, etc. i have always wanted to write something about how different cities in different time periods seemed to have a kind of effervescent, group-madness effect when it came to music, some spore in the air that settled in the brains of local musicians and fed off a scene to create certain genres specific to time and place.Â
this is not that article. this is, however, a warning to inform you that the bands coming out of australia are blowing my mind in that same way and thus you are going to be hearing a lot about them in the year to come.Â
(before you jump all over me, let me assure you that i realize that australia is both a continent and a country, but not a city, so it may be a slightly different thing. however, it is far enough away from me that i feel no guilt in lumping bands from sydney in with bands from melbourne. i hope they won’t hold it against me and you shouldn’t either.)
augie march is of course one of these bands - their album moo you bloody choir had a criminally under-rated reception in the usa, if you ask me. all 3 of their albums are odd and fascinating and sonically layered, with just enough influence by the old greats and just enough innovation by some really good young musicians. that glen richards is one hell of a songwriter, not to mention i want to melt down his voice and eat it on my pancakes.
youth group is another aussie band worth listening to. they have a really good new album called casino twilight dogs that i think is going to be released in the usa sometime in 2007. i was fully prepared to dislike them when they came out with that cover of alphaville’s “forever young” that was played on the oc or one of those shows, mostly because i heart me some alphaville and there was nothing wrong with the original. it’s always weird when a band gets a lot of attention for a cover, but when i heard the new album, i had to rethink my smallmindedness…it’s some pretty damn good melodic pop.
and don’t forget melbourne’s the cat empire, which scott reviewed for superstarcastic not long ago. this band’s sound defies description, jumping from latin to rock to hip-hop to jazz fusion and beyond…and not in an annoying way either. they’re about to start their first american tour at the end of this month and it will be worth catching. i’ll put up the tour dates in a later post and you will have no excuse not to go.
there are a plethora more bands from down under that are rocking my proverbial socks lately, but i’ll limit my longwindedness and only mention one more - red riders, covered quite nicely on the excellent mp3 blog obscure sound. listen to the samples and tell me if the sound isn’t reminiscent of joy division in the best way possible. Â
and there you have it…i am not quite as obsessed as i was with the scottish music scene but i am working on it fast. vive la australia, no?
6 Comments »
Man, whatever happened to Alphaville anyway?
I’ll have to check out a few of these bands. Nice article.
i have always wanted to write something about how different cities in different time periods seemed to have a kind of effervescent, group-madness effect when it came to music, some spore in the air that settled in the brains of local musicians and fed off a scene to create certain genres specific to time and place.
When you write \”that article,\” don\’t forget Montreal! Stars, Arcade Fire, Metric, and, like, someone from every band in BSS.
Like THIS article, too. My friend Alex who used to DJ with me was really into this Aussie band The Living End a while back–do you know of/like them?
ooh, the living end. they released a new album in 2006, actually. they are, well, the living end when it comes to punkbilly or whatever the kids are calling it these days.
there are tons more awesome bands coming out of australia these days but my typing finger got tired.
Moo You Bloody Choir by Augie March isn’t being released until August 7 2007 so how can you say it had a criminally underrated reception?
It’s gonna be huge!!
um, this is the american release. it came out in australia last year. but thanks for playing.
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Comment by dasha — January 4, 2007 @ 6:05 pm
I had no idea that Youth Group song was a cover.