Turnstyle - Turnstyle Country

YOURZ

I wanna know what the fuck is in the water in Perth.  For one of the world's most remote cities, it has produced an incredible amount of really good, really cool bands, some of whom we've reviewed here in the past.  Turnstyle is no exception.

I remember when Turnstyle Country came out and particularly the first single Spray Water On The Stereo, I was really excited to hear some of my favourite influences in their music.  Admittedly influenced by Pavement, Gerling, Guided By Voices and The Beach Boys, among others, Turnstyle combine pop sensibilities and melodies with blips and sounds to create truly individual-sounding tracks.  They also utilise the soft/loud dynamic particularly effectively. 

But it is album tracks like Flank Attack, Portamento, Honey and Knuckles that are the real surprises of this album, sounding more like forerunners to British bands like Athlete and Fonda 500.  Given Turnstyle Country came a few years before either of these bands released anything, Turnstyle could well have been an influence.  But who knows.  There is also no denying the similarities to fellow Perth band, Jebediah, who they toured extensively with at times.

I'm just pleased doing this blog has brought Turnstyle back into play.  It's definitely a Forgotten Gem, but not forgotten any longer.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Casio DJs?  OK, I guess they get points for being the first band I've ever heard to use the sound of an electric razor as a musical instrument, but I found this generally very boring.  And to compare them to Athlete and Fonda 500? No, no and no again.

Indie-by-numbers.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For further information go to: http://www.myspace.com/turnstylecountry

In our colletion we also have Turnstyle Corporation

Jebediah - Slightly Odway

MINE

Leaving Home was so huge for Jebediah it's almost permanently implanted in my brain.  Or at least that's how I remember it.  But I never bought the album as it was then and remains to this day just a bit teenage-boy-type music.  Created by the demographic for the demographic, it's not really the type of music that appeals to me.  I can see why it attracted YourZ though, especially when the band namechecked Archers Of Loaf.

However I'd recommend it to any women trying out their cougar-claws.  Sure to attract those young boys...

VERDICT: TIRN IT DOWN

YOURZ

I remember when I first heard Jebediah's single, Jerks Of Attention, way back in the early 90s, then heard how young they were (lead singer Kevin Mitchell was just 18 when it was released), I felt both jealous and somewhat irrelevant, being a hoary old muso in my early 30s.  Yeah, I know, what a sap but when faced with such youthful presence and exuberance, what do you expect?

Yet another example of the brilliant music coming out of the isolated environs of Perth, their exuberance fairly spills out of the speakers when you listen to Slightly Odway, their début album.  The songs are brash and loud, with just the right amount of teen angst.  Kevin's idiosyncratic vocals might sound contrived if not carried off with such raw honesty.  You almost believe he actually speaks like he sings.

The success of this album lies in the huge singalong choruses of tracks such as Leaving Home, Harpoon and Military Strongmen, but every track on this is a winner.  The strength here is in the attachment their audience felt to some of the other tracks, like Puck Defender and Teflon, that became huge live favourites and led them to supporting some of the biggest acts in the world at the time.  It's such a shame that they never really broke anywhere else apart from the antipodes.  Maybe their slightly odd ways were simply too much for the rest of the world to handle.  Whatever it was, I'm certainly glad this is still in our collection.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.jebediah.net/

Eskimo Joe - A Song Is A City

MINE

OK, here's my theory about Perth.  The Westralian capital was accidentally built on a convergence of musical ley lines, so that anyone who starts a band here is instantly three steps in front of anyone else in the country.  How else can you explain the proliferation of artists from a city that has a quarter the population of Sydney and yet seems to spew forward the most amazing talents?

Eskimo Joe is a case in point.  Quite simply, neither YourZ or Mine(self) can understand why they're not headlining stadiums across the world. Kayven Temperley's voice is outstanding, thier compositions and arrangements are truly world-class, and while I can't really remember their live performance - I haven't seen them since 2005 Big Day Out - YourZ assures me they deliver as well in the flesh as they do on CD.  Although I was momentarily stumped when track 3 - Life is Better With You - sounded just like 72 by Turin Brakes.

But all I can say is world, get amongst this band.  They're well worth it.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

My theory about Perth is slightly different to Mine.  Primarily, I think it is the isolation factor, with Perth being particularly remote.  Bands there don't know much else except each other.  Apart from the huge acts who can afford to get tour there, they only really have each other.  This makes for a particularly supportive music community and inspires all to greater heights.  Either this or they want so badly to get over to the other side of Australia to play, they work doubly hard to 'make' it.

Whatever it is, I'm glad of it.  Some of my most favourite Australian bands found their feet in Perth, including INXS (as the Farriss Brothers), Karnivool, Jebediah, The Sleepy Jackson and this band, Eskimo Joe.  While I was writing the recent Grant Lee Buffalo review (see it here), I commented to Mine that they reminded me of someone else and lo, here it is.  The comparisons are the wide sounding, epic quality both bands have, along with detailed arrangements and awesome production.  But it is there the comparisons end.

Eskimo Joe are a natural successor to bands like the aforementioned INXS, sounding quintessentially Australian yet more so at the same time.  A Song Is A City is a pearl of an album - every track on this album is a fucking winner with superior musicianship, killer vocals and arrangements as well as lush production.  As Mine says, why Eskimo Joe aren't fucking enormous around the world is a big question and the answer is beyond me.  

VERDICT: TURN IT UP, tell your friends, buy their back catalogue and make them HUGE!




For more information go to http://www.eskimojoe.net/

In our collection we also have Black Fingernails, Red Wine