Today’s Favourites: Kylie’s Bad Dreems – Five Degrees of Separation
Bad//Dreems
A jangle jangle four-piece from Adelaide. They have a penchant for sharing rad music through the social networking service known as facebook. But that’s not why they have found their way on to our humble blog. They are the beginning of the chain of Australian artists that will lead to the one and only Kylie Minogue, and I bet these lads don’t even know how close they are. They say they got all the Flying Nun influences and The Go-Betweens and other classic Aussies which are bloody great influences to have, but apparently the Sea Scouts are also important to the band, which is just great. They have a couple of singles floating around which are both worthy of your time (produced by that man Jack Farley (Twerps). You can hear their new one, Too Old through Spotify. Simply dour but excellent lyrics, accompanied by the best in chiming guitars and melodic bass work.
Old Mate
So the tenuous link here is that like Bad//Dreems, these guys are from Adelaide. I guess some members from each band may know each other, it’d be great if they did. Old Mate is a terrific name for a band and is led by Pat Telfer. He deadpans over decidedly raw yet effective musicianship, sharing similar dreary themes with a couple of other bands featured in this post. When music is this honest it pierces through all the other hyped bullshit that runs rich through the veins of the blogosphere (this blog included). We all experience the monotony of the regimented world, but Old Mate gives us a reason to celebrate it. You can hear their Word Is Bond tape on their bandcamp.
Bitch Prefect
Mr. Old Mate himself plays with these guys, providing the beats for twin guitarist/vocalists Scott O’Hara (formerly of True Radical Miracle) and Liam Kenny (Kitchen’s Floor). The band started in Adelaide but now all three members (or just two, not sure) are livin’ it up in warehouse in Northcote, Melboune, Australia (or at least they were at some point this year). After an EP last year , they released an album a couple of months ago. Produced by that man Jack Farley, Big Time is a bunch of simple songs with catchy melodies that aren’t about making it big at all. Instead the lyrics would be a little humdrum if they weren’t infused with some refreshingly dry wit. I saw these guys live for their album launch, and they just played, no fuss like, and it was strangely moving. Their chord progressions, riffs and solos seemed so lazy but they just hit the sweet spot in my chest. Anyway enough of that shit.
Peak Twins
My standouts for today. Liam Kenny shares vocal duties with Wolf and Cub’s Joel Carey and man they work well together. Again, it’s very simple, sparse even, but as Carey carries the melody, Kenny shadows him with his high whine and it works wonders. They’re keeping a pretty low profile on the net but checkout their bandcamp for some of their older tunes and their tumblr for photos and Pat Telfer produced videos. Their songs are bittersweet and understatedly atmospheric. What really won me over was their cover of Needles And Pins (Spotify). A song that introduced to me by my dad’s Best Of British tape, Peak Twins bring out the aches missed in earlier versions but retain that perfect 60s melody. Don’t get me wrong though, Peak Twins write damn fine pop songs.
Scott & Charlene’s Wedding
This is the sound of Craig Dermody, or one of his sounds at least. A couple of years back he had that man Jack Farley produce Para Vista Social Club, his début LP. A record focussing on Dermody’s personal experiences of his life in Melbourne. It earned him some critical acclaim and then he shot off to New York to live life to the fullest while he is still young and creative. Thankfully he recorded some new songs with some NYC-based musicians and released them on a split with Peak Twins. It is one of my favourite albums so far this year. Dermody writes literally and personally but in doing so captures what it means to live in a (relatively) large Australian city. Stream the album on Spotify.
Kylie
It was the TV moment of a generation. Long before she was droppin’ hits like this Kylie Minogue was Charlene Robinson of Ramsay St.
Now she’s a bloody icon.
Chris and Jan's Exploration Into Contemporary Music 
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