There seems to be a trend in music submitted to me lately: Asians!
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10/01/08 Northcote Social Club Melbourne, Victoria*
10/02/08 The Palace and the Mystic Valley Band Melbourne, Victoria** 10/03/08 The Tivoli Brisbane, Queensland** 10/04/08 The Enmore Sydney, New South Wales** 10/05/08 Spectrum Sydney, New South Wales*** 11/15/08 Coolongatta Hotel Coolongatta, Queensland * with Fearless Vampire Killers ** with Conor Oberst *** with The Atrocities and Warhorse |
I HEART HIROSHIMA
ihearthiroshima.com ♥ myspace.com
Before I begin, I have to say that I love that name, "I Heart Hiroshima". Maybe it's the heart-thing, you know? Well I♥Hiroshima is three-piece indie pop band from Brisbane, Australia. Although I couldn't find where they got their name from, I am assuming it's in reference to Hiroshima, Japan. If you think it has anything to do with atomic bombs, I don't think that's the case here: this group is positive and fun.
I think all three band members sings, although I couldn't tell you which boy member dominate the other. For sure, fans of boy-girl vox should really appreciate I♥Hiroshima, as Susie Patten and either Matthew Somers or Cameron Hawes have banter-like singing. And forgive me for say that their singing style comes off as sounding very DIY and amateurish. However, I get the feeling that they don't really care what I have to say - just as long as they and you are having a great time.
So, Tuff Teef was released late last year in Australia. I don't believe it's actually available in the US, at least not physically on CD. The single that they liked and released is "Punks", which sounds like a dialogue between Patten and Somers. I will admit, I liked the bit about "Don't lock your doors, I have these punks on the ropes".
Speaking of lyrics, here are some of the best one I heard from this album you should watch for:
- "you got cold hands, like an honest man" ("Stop That")
- "I've got teef, you've got none" ("Teef")
- "I don't care what your daughter said (we keep it within the family/she started the fight!)" ("Electric Lake")
So anyway! If you like boy/girl indie sound (they sound so cute) with some quirky lyrics, and hate bass, then you'll love I Heart Hiroshima.
And guess what? Mister Conor "Bright Eyes" Oberst have personally asked them to tour with him on his upcoming Australian tour in October. You can purchase Tuff Teef from Valve Records.
IMPIETY
mightyimpiety.com ♥ myspace.com
We never get anything from Singapore, so I was pretty happy to see Singapore's Impiety's latest EP, Dominator. It was quickly recorded and cut from earlier this year (April) from Studio 27, and available now (?) from Pulverised Records. By the way, just a note, but these guys have been busy, with 18 Atomic Years Satanniversary, a 2-CD greatest hits, which was just released this year. That's right, this band have been around for 18 years, since January 1990.
Anyway, starting off with the striking skeleton Ghengis Khan-like army, the album paints a mood of destruction and domination. The majority of the EP is guitar and fast-drumming and I did enjoy the horse galloping and sword clashing on the intro track, "Introbliteration".
I usually have a poor ear when it comes to understanding lyrics for black metal, but surprisingly, I was able to pick up a few words here and there. The words you do hear is pretty typically death metal ("Satan", "Jesus", "Christ", "terror", etc).
There is one interesting cover song on this EP, "The Black Vomit". This song is originally by the Brazilian black metal band Sarcofago (you can hear their version on their myspace).
If black metal is your thing, Impiety offers some great guitar thrashing and superfast drumming and they demonstrate why they've been around for nearly 20 years and going strong.
MR MEEBLE
meeble.com ♥ myspace.com
My initial reaction to Never Trust The Chinese was kind of borderline offensive. I the more I thought about it, I thought this might be in reference to a joke about how people just blindly trust the Chinese when it comes to fortune cookies (which admittedly, I thought "that's so true..."). But once I got past the title, this Phoenix-based band intrigued me because they are a band, but utilize guest vocals, like electronic artists like Tricky and the Chemical Brothers.
I have always known that I was going to use their opening track, "Fine" as the song of choice when I first heard it. It's quite lush and melodic, features an uncredited woman singer. That song represent Mr Meeble's sound, but my favorite song is "It All Came To Pass", which comes off like a trippy acid jazz. The vocals on this track is by Monique Blue, is absolutely seductively gorgeous.
"Raindrops" is another good one. It felt like a three-part song, with Devin Fleenor starting it off and Yasmine Iliya came in with "raindrops keep falling on my head", while the third part is by an uncredited poetry-type singing. There's something for everyone on this song.
Never Trust the Chinese have been out since July, and can be purchased in a variety of format on their website. Fans of electronica should definitely check out Meeble.
Links: www.weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com lastfm.com twitter.com/weheartmusic
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