This infectious, Popcorn-esque little slice of house comes from Martin King, latest signing of the always wonderful Good Manners label. Don’t let the genre fool you into thinking that Pepsi is a strictly a four to the floor club banger, though – its syncopation and playful repetitiveness make for a track that’ll delight whether you’re raving or brewing coffee on a Saturday morning (trust me, I tried). King has a rich musical background – he’s worked with Banoffee, supported Four Tet, Metrononmy & Caribou, and played festivals such as Sugar Mountain, Falls and Meredith. The dude is definitely One To Watch in 2017.
Thanks to some very fun quasi-retro vibes, this one will make you regress into “carefree teen at a house party” mode if you’re not careful. The Posse are a somewhat enigmatic new five-piece comprised of various music veterans, and this is their very first official release, out through Plastic World (who by this stage we can basically bank on churning out the goods). Happy Accidents contains absolutely no samples, and is a taster for The Posse’s upcoming debut EP Our Thing which will feature contributions from Andrew Elston (Physique/Toni Toni Lee/Catcall), Ross Ferraro & Jarrol Renaud (The Goods), Michael Di Francesco (Touch Sensitive/Van She) and NZ jazz keys prodigy Andrew Bruce.
Wailing vocals, rock-n-soul guitar, super warm 70s production – yeah, this is impossible not to like. And who doesn’t love a good call-and-response chorus hook? Sun Sap are relative newcomers, but they’re already kicking ass and taking names, with support slots for Guantanamo Baywatch, Australia (the band) and The Pretty Littles already under their belt and a show with Polish Club and Food Court still to come before the years’ out. Their debut LP is dropping in 2017, so get in on the ground floor now.
Green Buzzard are one of those bands that seem to have been on the cusp of something huge for AGES but for whatever reason that massive break hasn’t happened yet. This is entirely unfair because their music has always been top notch, but Do You Ever Glow is another step up again. Washed out and psych-spun, with some serious The Cure vibes, there’s a pop infectiousness to the track that we haven’t yet seen from GB – and it’s more than welcome.
Moving past the obvious weirdness of releasing a song called Spring Has Sprung on the literal last day of Spring, this is a #tune. Coupling the trademark Skegss down-to-earth ratbag lyricism with woozy, balmy guitars and a gratifying vocal hook, this is definitely one to blast as you sink tinnies with your housemates at the park. The dudes have also just announced a mammoth summer tour – grab your tickets here.
Alright, this one technically came out last Friday, so we’re kind of cheating but it’s worth it. Dune Rats are a god damned national treasure and their music is always a timely reminder to relax, stop stressing, have fun, unwind, and find out who’s Scott Green. Fun fact: I know someone who heard this song, didn’t get it after multiple listens, and thought Dunies had “changed, man”. Apparently the guys came up with the idea for the track (recorded in the US with FIDLAR’s Zac Carper) after literally spending all day asking strangers at Walmart if they knew Scott Green – because of course they did.
Welcome to The Soundtrack, a column where we plumb the depths of our musical knowledge to bring you the best* (subjective) music to listen to for very specific life situations. This week, we bring you music to spin while you’re playing out your very own shopping montage IRL. Also, this time, ALL of these tracks are from artists based right here in Australia.
It’s a very, very tired trope. Person has important thing to go to. Person needs to buy a new ‘fit for the occasion. Person traipses to the mall with zany BFF in tow to try on a series of clothes. Some are gross. Some are hilarious. And then one is just right. It’s like Goldilocks, but with more capitalism! Yay! Played-out romcom montages aside though, this is actually a real situation that most can probably relate to, but on a much less ~quirky~ level. Like, the thing you have to go to more than likely isn’t all that pivotal. You kinda don’t need new clothes but you just want em. Your BFF maybe isn’t that much of a crazy character and their reactions to your various sartorial options are almost definitely mostly subdued. And the outfit that you eventually pick is, in all likelihood, gonna have some kind of fundamental flaw whether you notice it in-store or not (probably that it was made in a sweatshop). Political commentary aside, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to inject a bit of whimsy and humour into the situation by just leaning into the montage cliche as hard as possible and Soundtracking it.
Pluto Jonze – Hispedangongonajelanguiro (Capiche?)
Let’s face it: no matter who you are, trying on clothes is objectively horrible. Sizes are not standardised, the changing rooms have questionable stains on the carpet, it can take HOURS to find what you’re looking for, and literally NOBODY looks good under that god-awful harsh fluorescent lighting. You’re gonna need pepping up pretty much straight out of the gate. This song is complete nonsense and that’s why it’s so entertaining. It is total chaos and so eccentric it’ll make up for the fact that the mate you tagged along is kind of vanilla. Fun fact: Pluto Jonze is now a member of Hey Geronimo. Not-so-fun-fact: he hasn’t released anything as Pluto Jonze in roughly 5 million years, or at least that’s what it feels like. #ComeBackPluto
Tkay Maidza – Uh-Huh
There is actually no disputing that Tkay Maidza is a literal queen. Her rise has been so meteoric and her presence so constant that there is actually no denying this objective fact any longer. Lucky for us, she is a kind and benevolent ruler to us all and uses her sovereignty to bless us with multiple bangers. This particular banger is (IMHO) the best “feelin’ myself” song to come out of this country in years. I don’t care what your gender or level of kinetic intelligence is, you WILL be booty-popping to this song in the jeans you just tried on. Hopefully ur mate takes a video because this song is known to increase dancing ability approximately one hundred fold.
Loon Lake – Cherry Lips
RIP to a very fun band who wrote an even more fun song. This one’s perfect for your personal shopping montage – it really has it all. Cheesy lyrics like “shake your sexy hips“, a wailing guitar solo, and a driving groove that’ll have you turning that awkward dance everyone does to get into slightly-too-tight pants into something a bit more suave. This is a good time for you to oh-so-hilariously suggest to your buddy that they also try on a crazy outfit, preferably a matching or horribly clashing one, and then you both bust out of your respective changing rooms and strike ridiculous poses.
Ash-Leigh – Never Been
This track is an iridescent, so-bright-it-hurts-to-look-at f*cking pop GEM. Don’t be fooled by the subdued start, because this baby houses one of the most absolutely insane, completely perfect choruses not just from Australia, but on the entire planet. Maybe that’s hyperbole, but look, probably not. Chuck it on when you’re getting changed out of a “no” outfit and are about to try on what looks like it’s gonna be a “yes”. Even if it doesn’t look as slammin’ as you’d hoped, I promise you, you are NOT going to care. All you’re going to care about is twirling around with your arms in the air while other shoppers call you a fucking crumb behind your back. Sadly this one is not on Spotify, but you can listen below. I promise you it’s worth it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb4u3IKyhAM]
Babaganouj – Can’t Stop
Get it? Because you can’t stop thinking about when you’re finally going to find the right damn clothes for your purposes and get away from all the mallwalkers and weird mingling food court smells. No, but really, every shopping montage needs a cute as hell track like this. It’s actually a crime that this song isn’t famous the world over. Who doesn’t love a good call and response? During this song, you will find what you are looking for*, so put it on last otherwise you’ll miss out on all the other incredible tracks on this playlist (*not guaranteed).
Image: Paramount
Photos by Mez Macleod
Follow Mez on Instagram: @mezatron3000
Read our interview with Babaganouj here!
The culprits for hit track Can’t Stop being stuck in my head constantly are Brisbane’s Babaganouj. Two parts Go Violets, one part Inland Sea and one part Yves Klein Blue, this four piece are quickly becoming one of the most exciting acts in the country. Their 2014 singles Too Late For Love and Bluff captured the hearts and attention of many, and their latest single Can’t Stop continues to do the same. Taking out The City Sounds competition in which they won the opportunity to record at Applewood Studios with legendary producer Magoo, that was only the start for the band. They’ve since supported Veruca Salt, The Lemonheads, Smudge, The Coathangers, toured their own music and played on each Blurst of Times date last year, so it’s safe to say things are going along pretty smoothly for ‘Nouj.
Currently on tour again for that damn earworm of a single, I can assure you this is not an act to miss. The boy/girl harmonies of Charles Sale and Harriette Pilbeam are enough to make you melt, with Ruby McGregor and Jack Gleeson each bringing more than enough skill and charm to fill things out very nicely indeed. We got to have a quick chat with Harriette as the tour leads into their second date: a home show in Brisbane for their single launch. We chatted about dream duets, what it was like working with Magoo and what the best era of The Veronicas is. Check out their remaining dates below!
So the tour kicked off last week in Toowoomba – how’s it all going so far?
Yeah, really well! Toowoomba is always fun. Jack is from there so there is always a number of people we know and a number of people we don’t know, and it’s always a massive night no matter what night of the week it is!
You’ve played there a couple of times beforehand, haven’t you? Are you getting used to the crowds?
Yeah we’ve played there 2 or 3 times. Ruby and I played there with Go Violets as well. I really like going there, it’s always so different from everywhere else we play. I guess it’s kind of like the Wollongong shows too.
Regional towns?
Yeah, it’s like a completely different audience in a way!
I’m from Townsville originally so I can totally understand that. I think it’s because they so rarely get interesting or cool bands playing there, that when it does happen people go crazy for it and want to make it the best night ever!
Yeah! There were girls in heels and I heard a girl vomiting in the bathroom at like 11pm.
Can we expect anything different this time around from your previous tours? Any new stuff going on, apart from the new songs?
We’ve got a fresher set than usual. We’ve been trying to play some new songs. Ruby has started singing as well, which is really exciting! She has a completely different style from Charles or me, I guess. She really brings the 90’s Aussie vibe into it with her songs.
Awesome!
Yeah, that’s what I’m most excited about!
Will we hear those songs being released any time soon, or is it just a “live” thing at the moment?
It’s more just a live thing at the moment. We recorded one of them with with Magoo earlier in the year so it’ll be in the EP, but only one of them is recorded. For the moment anyway!
Things are really picking up for you guys as a band lately – it’s really exciting!
Thanks!
I’m curious, with you all being in other bands previously, what made you realise this was the one you wanted to focus on? How did you make that transition?
It was a really gradual transition, from my perspective at least. Charles and I have been doing Babaganouj since the beginning of 2011, but it didn’t really come together until the last 12 months or so. Being in that City Sounds competition was really good, even though it was pretty small. Recording with Magoo was amazing, and going up to Applewood was too. It just started to feel different I think. We got to play with lots of new bands and in different places. I think the first three years was a big learning process for me and Charles, and then getting Ruby and Jack on board really solidified it. So yeah, it’s only really been the last 12 months that it’s really come together!
What did you learn from your experiences with your other bands that you have brought to Babaganouj? Or were you using Babaganouj to learn for the others?
No I think I learnt heaps more from Go Violets. It was completely different, like Babaganouj didn’t have a label or anything like that. We only really got a manager in the last year. I learnt a lot from Go Violets that I’ve been able to now bring to ‘Nouj. We are trying to really do ‘Nouj properly and not just taking every offer that we get, you know? Doing what we really want to do, learning from our mistakes and taking from positive experiences. Saying yes to gigs just for the fun of it if we really want to play it, whether we get paid much or not. That’s the main thing I think; we’re doing it for ourselves and we’re doing it for fun. We take it seriously too, but we’d never do anything we’re not comfortable with.
One of my favourite things about ‘Nouj is the duet styles of you and Charles – it’s kind of refreshing in a way. Do you have a favourite duet you sing with him?
Oh, I don’t know! I think Too Late For Love is still my favourite Babaganouj song. Charles wrote that at least a year before we released it, but I think it’s still my favourite song to sing with Charles. It reminds me of the earlier days when we first started singing together. When I first joined the band, I didn’t know Charles and I was still quite nervous about singing and stuff like that. I think Too Late For Love is when we first kind of got into both of us singing and started doing the boy/girl thing and not just Charles singing. It was really good. Singing Too Late For Love still makes me really happy.
Do you have a dream artist you’d want to do a duet with?
Oh my god, I don’t even know. That is such a big question! Me personally, I don’t know, but as a band probably someone funny like Hoodoo Gurus or something! That would be awesome. Actually, there is this song called Happy Birthday Helen, it came out in 1993 or something, and it’s by a band called Things of Stone & Wood. Charles and Ruby actually got to do a duet with them because we covered their song!
I watched that!
Yeah! It was filmed in Melbourne! It’s so funny, it’s just a classic Aussie film clip. They heard that we covered it and invited us to play with them. I was overseas so I couldn’t do it, but Charles and Ruby were saying how fun it was. That is probably our dream duet fulfilled already!
You’ve already ticked it off the list!
Pretty much! *laughs*
You cite the 90’s as a big influence in your music, but there is also a lot of pop going on as well. Do you have any secret or not so secret pop loves?
Yes! This is perfect timing because on our drive to Toowoomba we made a “guilty pleasure” pop playlist. Charles and I love Charli XCX *laughs* It’s really awful! We found out she wrote that Icona Pop song, *sings* “I love it!” It used to be on triple j all the time! We love her. I also love Ariana Grande…
Oh, me too! I love her!
*laughs* Okay, good! I don’t think the others love her but I definitely do.
She has such a great voice.
When she sings, you know it’s her. When she sings live, you know she’s actually singing. She’s my favourite. Ruby and I are also really into The Veronicas. That’s definitely a main guilty pleasure. We don’t like their new stuff though.
Yeah, stick to the 4Ever era.
Everything pre-Billy Corgan.
Going back to working with Magoo; obviously that is massive. Did working with him differ much from how you’ve worked on tracks previously? Was it a completely new process?
It was a bit different. I think everything we had done before then was done with our friend, and we’d always record at Plutonium or somewhere in Brisbane that was really familiar. Applewood was pretty far away, on the way to Ipswich. The process was pretty different; we just banged everything out in a couple of hours and everyone was really serious. I think when we do things in Brisbane, we muck around and experiment a bit more, and with Magoo that didn’t happen. Everyone knew what they were doing. He was great though! We got it all done in two days as opposed to coming in every day for a week and doing everyone’s parts separately. I think you can get more done that way.
Do you think you would take elements of that for future records – going in with a bit more of a plan? Or do you prefer having that freedom in the studio?
I think we would probably do a bit of both really. I think it would be good to get all the basic parts recorded in a day or two and then spend a day just adding in random stuff. That’s what we did with Can’t Stop anyway though. I think that’s the best way to do it!
You’ve supported some massive acts recently – The Lemonheads, The Coathangers, Smudge – what was the most memorable show for you personally?
For me, and probably for most of us actually, Blurst of Times has definitely been one of the highlights. It was our first festival slot, even though it’s a tiny little festival. We got to travel to Sydney and Melbourne with some of our best friends like The Creases, Jeremy Neale and everyone else on the line up. The Brisbane show was perfect for us, the sun was setting and they did the set times really well so the bands didn’t clash. Everyone always had an audience. It was just the perfect festival.
Blurst was one of my favourite days of last year too! It is such an awesome festival.
Yeah! It was so good, you just looked around and all your friends were there. I felt like everyone we knew was there, whether they were in a band or not! Playing and going was definitely a highlight for me.
Can’t Stop seems to be almost the exact opposite of your last single, and my personal favourite ‘Nouj song, Bluff. Is this a story line unfolding before us? Things were bad and now things are good, is it a secret plan of yours?
I wish we had thought of that! We should start telling people that… The order of the singles was kind of planned. We knew from the start of last year we would do Too Late For Love first, and then Bluff and then Can’t Stop. We thought that was just a better flow because Can’t Stop is so different to the rest of our songs. Getting to Can’t Stop via Bluff was better than just going straight to Can’t Stop. We didn’t think about it in terms of a story line though! I’m really glad you pointed that out!
You can have that! You can tell people you thought of it.
Yeah thanks, Emma!
What else can we still expect to come from you guys this year? You’ve got a film clip dropping this week, and you’re on tour now, what else does 2015 hold for you?
We’re trying to tour a bit more, and we’ll be releasing an EP at some point. I can’t really confirm when, but it’ll definitely be happening. It’s been a long time coming, our last one came out years ago. We’ll tour that and I hope we get some more international supports! They’re crazy. That’s one of my favourite parts of it. We only started getting those in October last year and we had four awesome ones in a row – Veruca Salt, Lemonheads, The Coathangers and Smudge. That’s one of my favourite parts. I hope we get to play some new places too!
Babaganouj tour dates:
Friday, March 20:The Brightside, Brisbane
Saturday, April 11: Brighton Up Bar, Sydney
Thursday, April 16: The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Friday, April 17: The Grace Darling, Melbourne
Saturday, April 18: The Barwon Club, Geelong
- Sheep, Dog & Wolf, Egospect
I’m so utterly intrigued by this song. It’s the kind of tainted folk music that I really love – gorgeous melodies and acoustic guitars, but surrounded by unique instrumentation, fairly deep beats, and a generally compelling composition that keeps you wanting more. A seriously impressive new single from the 19-year-old New Zealander. - Monogem, Silhouette
I was recently introduced to Monogem and I”m so glad that I was. Deep bass and a crunchy synth complement the vocals perfectly. The melody is so catchy and bright, it’s the kind of song you could easily listen to a few times in a row. There’s a definite ’80s influence, but it manages to not be deemed a nostalgic track. I just love the overall vibe here, and I think you will too. - Genevieve, Human Again
Genevieve’s recent song Colours was by far my favourite for that whole week, and this one comes pretty close. Like Monogem, there’s a beautiful combination of synths and husky vocals. I love the airy soundscape and the breathy melody here, especially the chorus. Huge and sweeping, those lush notes are nothing short of breathtaking. - Paces, Nothing’s Forever (ft. Kučka)
Brisbane producer Paces has been popping up everywhere lately, really starting to craft a finely tunes sound and reputation. Featuring angel-voiced Kučka, this is bright and delicate, with a deeper beat than his last couple releases. The bass rounds out the helium high vocals really nicely, altogether creating a catchy, captivating musical atmosphere. - Medium Punch, Gone ft. Sibling
This track has a really lovely laid back beat, made up of a series of gorgeous, interesting beats and synths. The soulful melody is powerful and rich, with a velvety smoothness that perfectly contrasts with the slightly glitchy instrumental layers. - Babaganouj, Can’t Stop
Babaganouj are back, with a brand new single Can’t Stop. A feel-good indie tune with a bright melody, catchy guitars and huge distorted bridges, it’s the kind of track that’ll no doubt get crowds movin’ and swayin’. Catch them on their east coast tour in March! - Scholar, Daylight ft. Cypher
This is a really interesting song – it starts off really bright, with those plinky-plonky synths and upbeat rhythms, but they soon give way to a sultry, husky melody and a buzzing synth. Shuffling percussive layers come in, followed by snaps, an ambient soundscape and more. There’s so much going on in this soulful track, but it just works. - Bobby Gray, Alchemy
Sydney producer and DJ Bobby Gray has just dropped new single Alchemy, a breath of fresh air in the Aus electronic scene. It’s strange and funky, with a gorgeous melody atop semi-disjointed beats and rhythms – keep an ear out for the very cool percussive layers. A really interesting track, you can check out the wicked accompanying video clip here. - Collarbones, Emoticon
Sydney duo Collarbones have been going strong for a couple years now, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. Their latest single is soulful and fun, with a shuffling percussive rhythm, ambient layers and an interesting melody. Showing yet another side of their diverse repertoire, catch the emotion-filled track on their tour, which starts today in Sydney. - Human Movement, Paradise
We’re ending on something a little dark and heavy today. Upcoming Sydney techno duo Human Movement have dropped new single Paradise, and I can safely say it’s a refreshingly deep new addition to the Sydney electronic scene. With a crunchy, driving bass and a swift beat, the track keeps progressing from one dark place to another.