Back On The Streets

Pleased to bring you video

Here at Mission #1 we’ve decided to become a bit more interactive. We’re going to start bringing more audio visual content, starting with this feature on Pleased To Jive You.

No More In Store?

Everybody knows the story – record shops are dying because of illegal downloading sob sob blah blah. But has anyone ever considered that record shops are dying because bands don’t want the bother of trying to get their cds to be stoked in store when they can simply sell online?

Last week, Queesland band Ellington made an unusual announcement via their myspace.com blog:

AT THIS POINT (OUR EP) WILL NOT BE IN STORES ANYWHERE

So just how will people purchase their new ep More Like a Movie, Less Like Real Life? Surely the band want it to be widely available – they went to the trouble and expense of travelling to America to record it with Matt Malpass (Rookie of the Year, Copeland). The release in question also features guest appearances from Matt Thiessen of Relient K, Jeff Turner of Say Anything and Leighton Antleman of Lydia.
In answer to the question posed at the beginning of this paragraph; the ep is available to download on iTunes, and physical copies are available online at BigCartel and at shows. So there are plenty of ways to get your ears around this new sonic goodness from the Ellington boys.

Is it unusual for upcoming bands to not have copies of their cds available in stores? Not so much as it is for them to rule the possibility out all together. Impulse buying of cds happens much more often in shops than online. You know the drill – walk into a cd shop because you’ve got nothing else better to do with your time, randomly browsing you come across a cd that you weren’t particularly looking to buy but that $20 is buring a hole in your back pocket and (as i think i said last fortnight) ka-ching!
This is in contrast to buying cds online; where (in my experience) you only go to the trouble of seeking out releases that you are particularly looking for. This may be different for others, but I don’t think so.

So why the shift? I believe the answer involves one word – iTunes. Legal downloading allows bands to sell their music without the additional outlay of having cds pressed (of course, this is the upcoming bands column so I am talking mainly about label-less bands, the ranks of which includes Ellington). They can sell digital downloads cheaper than cds (making them more competetive with illegal downloads), and need to sell less to re-coup their recording costs.

So whatever way you do it, enjoy your faourite bands next release.

We never sing the news

So I was lying in bed, trying to find the motivation to wake up. I didn’t have too be anywhere for another 2 hours, or anything particually important that I had to do. So I put on some music. It’s better then morning telelvision in Australia. I began thinking about Mission #1 and then the all wise words of Horsell Common spoke to me. “We can make the edges smooth, when we sing the news, we’ll sing the news”. Here at Mission #1, so far we haven’t sung the news. Well now we are.

The Plan Tour

Australia’s latest hit, The Getaway Plan will be the main supports for Simple Plan’s upcoming Australian tour. The tour hits the east coast + Perth in October.

Deez Nuts

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that JJ Peters is releasing Deez Nut’s debut album Stay True in October. Finally we have a date, October 4th. Their on tour now, hitting most venues with Confession, who are also expecting to release an album in the coming months.

Severing Ties

I can see people spending a lot of money come October 4th, with both Deez Nuts and The Amity Affliction releasing albums. Amity are on tour throughout most centres during September-November.

Now we sing.

Monster Elephante Unleash One Beautiful Beast. Rawr ;)

It’s not very often that you hear a local release that literally sends a chill down your spine, in all honesty it’s probably never; but, when Monster Elephante unveiled their debut album “People Of The 5^th Dimension,” something truly special was born. Never have I heard such a prolific offering from a Canberran group, and it’d be a lie to say that it’s not right up there with the best this country has ever produced.

Kicking off with the funky-as-fuck, hip-hop infused Da Da Da Da, you know immediately your ears are in for the greatest 43.6 minutes they’ve ever endured. Josh Molony’s dead set jaw dropping vocal abilities are on full display from the first track, and you’ll be thanking whatever deity you believe in that you got a chance to hear them. It has been far too long since Australia coughed up another über talented vocalist; in all honesty the standard has been steadily dropping, like a brick from an airplane, over the last decade since Daniel Johns popped up.

We’ve all heard the jokes regarding bass players, and the “fact” all they do is sit up the back and bludge, and many of you probably had a good chuckle at the time. But, let me tell you, the second you hear the near-revolutionary work of Will Haskovec on this album, all you’ll be able to do is sit there, mouth gaping, at what this man can do with a bass guitar. Imagine if you will, Tim Commerford (Rage Against The Machine), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and the smallest hint of Victor Wooten, all combined together, and you will have Monster Elephante’s own bassist extraordinaire.

While this album is, without a single doubt, the best thing to be released this year, “People Of The 5^th Dimension” is not without it’s problems. The band loses the heaviness of a few songs on the recording, which is a dying shame knowing their full potential, but this is by no means a fault on the band’s part. While the bass playing is amazing, the album obviously lacks the low-end tones you generally come to expect from a low-register instrument; but this and the lack of heaviness, is solely a mixing and production problem.

The highlights of this album are virtually endless, but because you’re all so deserving, I’ll narrow it down for everybody. First and foremost, you cannot look past the two closing tracks “Sherlock Holmes” and “Vikings From Hell,” while the latter lacks the edge it packs at a live show, it still undeniably the band at their best; “Sherlock Holmes” is just awe inspiring, and makes you wonder just how long it’ll be until these guys break it big. Now, while Monster Elephante are well known for their fast and furious funk chops, one of the best songs of this album is the down-tempo “Sunday Song,” the emotion that drips from this song is so powerful you literally feel every word that Molony sings. On the topic of lyrics, without a doubt, the lyrical strongpoint of the album is “Into The Night,” and while at times Molony’s lyrical prowess is somewhat questionable, he shows that he’s more than capable of penning a good tune. And just as a side note, the drum fill at the end of Space Funk…. orgasmical.

“People Of The 5^th Dimension” is out now independently; and you can pick it up after witnessing Monster Elephante’s amazing live act at any one of their upcoming tour dates; check their MySpace at www.myspace.com/fistfulofnothing for details, and for a few songs to check out. And if you’re even considering to dodge this album, you are robbing yourself of the most audible fun you’ll have all year, and we both know you don’t want to do that to yourself, don’t we?

You said it’ll be summer…

Lately I’ve been getting into twee pop music. I’ve had fun exploring bands on labels such as K Records and basically listening to anything with a cute name; Beat Happening, Talulah Gosh, The Pastels, Strawberry Switchblade, early Magnetic Fields, Tiger Trap… I’ve even had frequent dreams about shopping for Beat Happening albums and being devastated when I wake up. It’s getting to that pretty-sad stage.

Though all the bands mentioned above are excellent (and I thoroughly recommending you to hop to it and check them out), none of them are Australian. Nor are they modern. Hence why they don’t exactly fit this column. So, I decided to go for a bit of a search (internet search that is), for a current Australian twee band. And I found this little gem via twee.net (yes, there really is such a place). Actually, I’m kind of surprised I didn’t start this search sooner.

Summer Cats

Hailing from Melbourne, they do indeed sound incredibly summery. Swapping between girl and guy vocals, they make that gorgeous kind of pop music that perfectly matches the warmer months (thank you Canberra for finally starting to warm up a bit). Oh and it’s instantly catchy too. If you’re not too sure of what this twee is I’m referring to, think Belle & Sebastian or Camera Obscura; sparkling indiepop. Summer Cats remind me a bit of those bands, in the sense that their music is so pretty yet fun and you just want to leave the house and do something.
So, what are you waiting for? Stop reading this column (well, after this sentence, obviously) and go turn up your speakers and bounce about the house (or outside if the weather is lovely). Go!

http://www.myspace.com/summercats
I’m particularly taken with Let’s Go.

~

No old band for this post, think there was an overload of it last time. Though your homework for column can be going to listen to classic Australian pop (note, alternative pop) bands The Go Betweens (Summer Cats have been compared to them quite a bit, see if you can spot why) and The Triffids.
Until next time.