I’ve been meaning to post on Sydney upstarts RUFUS for a few months now as they continue to hit the spot with their widescreen spectral synth rock. Shame on me for letting time pass but the RUFUS lads are still firing, yesterday releasing a tasty little edit of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know that ups the percussion quotient for something a little more energetic than the original. It’s by no means a complete revision but it works nicely.
I wrote this review for mX a month or so ago and though I think I’ve definitely warmed up a bit more to the latest Junior Boys LP I still can’t shake this little bitter, disappointed feeling when I get to it. It’s probably my own fault though considering I went boner crazy for So This Is Goodbye and pretty much nothing can live up to that.
Junior Boys
It’s All True (Domino/EMI)
Now four albums deep into their career it would seem as though Junior Boys’ best years could well be behind them. Now such an assessment is probably undeserved and more than likely unfair, but it comes from a fan who holds the Canadian duo in the highest regard for their craft and as such expects unrealistic ice-cold electronic perfection on each new outing. It’s pretty bad of me, I’ll admit. But they made me this way when they struck gold with 2006’s So This Is Goodbye, a reigning gem from the last decade. It’s 2009 follow-up Begone Dull Care showed that Junior Boys were indeed human, and It’s All True continues down that path to the gloomy eyes of Stan-style fans like me everywhere. That’s not to say this is a bad record, not at all; it’s filled with the duo’s trademark sparse, downturned production that’s perfect for lonely nights and dreary winter days (You’ll Improve Me, ep), and even a few bright spots like the organic-meets-electronic The Resevoir and the neon-sheen’d nine minute closer Banana Ripple. In fact, when you think about it as a whole It’s All True is really very solid, but it just feels like Junior Boys are capable of much more than that.
I haven’t posted anything from my boy Youth in ages. Too long! But don’t let that make you think he’s not been busy, no, in between dusting off the disco gems at whatever parties are lucky enough to have him, Youth’s been busy doing more of his Young Edits and this time he’s taken on Where Is My Mind? by rock royalty The Pixies. Big call, kid, but it’s a goodie!
I’ve written about Drop Out Orchestra before but the guys are just continuing to up the ante of late releasing tunes, edits and mixes like it’s nobody’s business. And hey, that’s good for everyone as they’re are always on point bringing a deliriously funky take on nouveau disco to everything they touch. Here they are again their Drop Out City Rockers guise.
Sydney’s bright, nah, brightest young things Light Year are back to shake up your stereo/laptop/shithouse iRiver player with the 5 Girls EP. As ever with these dudes, they’re bringing bad arse electro cool to the table, with the title track in particular steaming up the windows like a sweaty little banger. Because they’re my boys, the dudes have hooked me up with an unreleased edit which they routinely devastate crowds with along with another stone cold jam from the EP, Marcellus. You don’t want to be outside the bubble on this one.
In an age where we’re already predisposed to everything and those things that we’ve never heard/seen/whatever yet, nothing ever really lives up the hype. Right? Wrong. As the title suggests, this post is of a Justin Bieber tune. But it’s been slowed down an epic 800x by this dude, Shamantis.
As ridiculous as that sounds, this is actually pretty incredible. And when others say that it’s like the Heely-wearing (my addition) love child of Sigur Ros and M83, well, they’re not wrong.
Check the full 35 minute mind earthquake below in the SoundCloud embed, but the downloads have been capped so grab a copy here too.
Hyperbole is a dope music blog which was formerly located at http://masshyperbole.blogspot.com for around four years before the plug was pulled by the powers that be. It lives on, hopefully better than ever here on Hyperbole.tv.
Dave Ruby Howe is a music journalist, blogger and editor from Sydney, AUS. Hyperbole is his music blog about music, writing and music writing. But not writing music. Get it? Cool.
Dave Ruby Howe is also the Assistant Music Director of Australia Music at triple j, serving as the music director for the recently launched digital radio station, triple j Unearthed. As such a lot of what's blogged on here comes from there. Because it's all so awesome.
Karate Shout Outs
Like a tune, hate a tune, own a tune, wanna send me a tune, wanna talk about music writing, wanna talk about Daredevil comics?
Hit me up at either dave@hyperbole.tv or darhve@gmail.com.
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