Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

MINE

I wanted to like it, really I did.  This was picked as an Album of the Year for Aussie Youth Radio network Triple J, and I like to think I've got a bit of an insight into what those young people are on about.  No, seriously.  Stop snickering, you.

But all I could think while listening to this was - Beatles Rubber Soul and Revolver,  but without the variety the Fab Four managed on those albums.  Amped up a bit with some beats here and there, but essentially a bit hippy-trippy.  Which is alright for a song or two, but a whole album?  Nice dinner-party music, but that's about it.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ

Yet more proof that there is something in those isolated waters of Western Australia that keeps producing some of the best music in Australia. 

Citing a laundry list of influences, including Beck, Kyuss, Massive Attack, RZA and The Beatles (boy, are they covering all bases or what), Tame Impala are anything but locked into a single style.  Yet the cohesiveness of Innerspeaker, their debut album, is surprisingly strong, thanks to the overall production aesthetic   While it is definitely psychedelic, it also reminds me of some of the shoegazer bands around the late 80s and early 90s.

Listening to Lucidity, for instance, took me back to house parties, where most of us were floating from a cocktail of various fixings.  And the music, like Innerspeaker is to a new generation, was not just background but an integral part of the journey.  Maybe the fact I'm relatively straight and sober these days dulled my appreciation slightly but not by much.

There are treats of sharp, effected pop gems like Solitude Is Bliss and I Don't Really Mind as well as surprises like the sludgy psych-rock of The Bold Arrow Of Time.  And while I think the band could have done better with a name, I expect it will be one I'll be hearing of for some time to come. 

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to http://www.tameimpala.com/

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

The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers

YOURZ

I can't remember the first time I heard The Sleepy Jackson, but this album, in particular, has been one of those I go back to time and again.  It is, quite simply, superb.  It's also a testament to Luke Steele and his multi-faceted talents.  As you're about to read, Mine feels exactly the same way about him as I do.

The Sleepy Jackson are another of those bands that not only provide me an emotional attachment to their music but also inspire me to be creative as well.  The frustrating thing is that I'm often listening to this at times and places where I can't just run away and lock myself in my little studio.  I mean, I do have to spend some time socially interacting otherwise I'd be accused of being a recluse.  And I'm just too young and good-looking to wear such a tag.

As a debut album, Lovers stylistic range is a wide as as this great island we call home. There's a little bit of just about everything in it, showcasing Steele's quixotic musical nature, from the alt-country stylings of Old Dirt Farmer through to the indie dance of Tell The Girls.  More tellingly, Lovers sounds particularly Australian without resorting to clichéd devices or using a didgeridoo, while also sounding positively international. I believe in years to come, this album will be hailed as one of the greatest documents of its time.

If you've not heard any Sleepy Jackson before, don't waste any more time reading this.  Click here or here and see for yourself.  I will say it again: it is superb and you won't be disappointed.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

I love Luke Steele and I don't care who knows it.  I previously mentioned his side project Nations by the River in our Gomez review, and I'm hopeful the pointy stick will land on Empire of the Sun sooner or later.  To quote Ben Lee: They play Sleepy Jackson on the radio/ And that's the way I like it.

Luke is another one of those frighteningly-talented musicians (YourZ sez: the only thing frightening about Luke Steel is his penchant for makeup) who can just roll out pop song after pop song, and it makes me so glad he's an Aussie - though he does hail from West Australia, which is like another country to me.  No, REALLY like another country.  OK, how about I put it this way: Perth (the capital of WA) is more than 3,300 kilometres away from Sydney, where I live.  It would take me five to six hours to fly there.  That's less than LA to New York, but still... there's a whole lot of NOTHING in between, unlike the USA, which is supposedly filled with shopping malls and obesity (how they manage to fit all those people in when they're getting fatter every year is beyond me).  The last time I visited Perth I was five years old, and arrived by ship from Singapore.  The only story I know about my time there is that I managed to give my parents the slip and wandered off hand in hand with a nice lady I picked up, chatting freely.  How little we change...

But I digress.  Lovers is a great album, moving from pure pop to alt-country, with nods to the Beatles and the Velvet Underground.  Luke's voice in this incarnation reminds me of the softer songs produced by seminal punks the Saints (from across the other side of Oz) and his voice is a little reminiscent of their lead singer, Chris Bailey. This CD is dangerous to play in the car, as one track makes me want to lie back and close my eyes, not recommended on the freeway.  And I love how the final song - Mourning Rain - ends with the sound of rain.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://thesleepyjackson.com/

In our collection, we also have Personality - One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird