After a day in the studio, I sometimes struggle to fall asleep due to the music still going around in my head. The debut album by Quiet Evenings has been an antidote to this audio overload. They provide a perfect ambient grace that allows me to drift off into slumber. Out now on Sydney based label, Preservation.

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We checked in with Sydney-band Cassette Kids, who have been creating quite a buzz of late, and asked them about the highlights of their extensive touring over the past six months: ‘We literally just stepped off a plane from LA. We played at SXSW in Austin over the last week and it has probably been the most awesome experience to date. It’s amazing being able to play shows and go and see shows non-stop over five days’.

Strong aesthetics clearly play a big part in the Cassette Kids package. Who do you take your inspiration from in terms of a band or bands that have really refined their image and sound expertly in your eyes?
‘It certainly helps when a bands image is cohesive with their music, although we never really dressed a certain way on purpose, it;s just what we like. Big Dan has 95 pairs of shoes, he’s a real sneaker-freaker and we’ve all always cared about presentation, not only because we’re in the spotlight. I really like when each member of the band has their own personality and style to offer’.

My music reading has been inundated with Pitchfork, Stereogum and others’ Top 100 songs of the Year lists lately. Which got me thinking: there should be a Top 100 Unsigned Song List for 2009. If such a thing existed then unsigned Sydney indie band Bearhug would be included on my list. These melodious music-makers sound just as great live as they do when recording in the studio. You can download their Cartoon Islands demo EP for free. And check out their song Candy Avalanche below.

Sydney’s indie music scene is peaking right now and one noteworthy band is Ghostwood. Their latest record, Rest My Soul [listen below], is just as ace as Red Version (the Pokémon-aluding hit from 2006). The melodic single bears elements of shoegaze, skilfully layering intricate guitar patterns with sultry bass, solid drumming and haunting vocals to create an ethereal ambiance. Fans can reserve an exclusive 7″ Rest My Soul vinyl this month via their Myspace page.

The Cad Factory is an inner-city warehouse space in Marrickville, Sydney that holds band and performance nights, as well as art exhibitions. The likes of Conway Savage from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Mick Turner from The Dirty Three have played solo gigs at the Factory, while electro-punk performance trio Toy Death have caused chaos onstage on a regular basis. Artists such as photographer Clare Pandemonium and painter Edwina Wrobel have contributed to the ambiance, exhibiting their works on the warehouse walls. Event organisers Vic McEwan and Sarah Moor intend The Cad Factory to be a place in which ‘people can come together [and] nurture their own ideas’. With an artist residency program in action, and McEwan and Moor committed to promoting the work of new artists and musicians, The Cad Factory certainly looks like it will be an up-and-coming venue for creative people to strut their stuff. I’m really looking forward to their March 15 gig, which will feature Joe Lally, the bassist from Fugazi, and their upcoming experimental performance night of March 1, which will showcase the work of American sound composer Kraig Grady.

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Already with a Spectrum show under their belt, The Archerbolds are an up and coming Australian band well worth checking out. I saw the Sydney-based lads play recently at the Mars Hill Café and it was evident that they should be permanently rocking out on a real stage; not in front of coffee sippers. Their floating lyrics, smart guitar riffs and meaty bass lines are infused by The Strokes, Mars Volta, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin — ultimately producing a freshly spun modern-vintage sound. Lead vocalist and guitarist Geoffrey ‘Gep’ Rectin says The Archerbolds plan to create a solid sound for next year: ‘Over summer, we’re recording an EP and working on a set sound, defining more of an image’. If their track, Rest Your Soul, is anything to go by, then it should be pretty dandy.

A few months ago, Dan Davey tapped me on the shoulder and politely asked me for a moment of my time. We had a brief — and, of course, polite — conversation about Sydney’s psychedelic ‘scene’. Not wanting to take up more of my time, he politely said, ‘nice to meet you’, and went on his very polite way. Now, either all the people I hang around with are really rude, or Dan Davey is the most well-mannered man I have ever met. This seemingly irrelevant tale becomes totally relevant when you hear his band Sister Jane. You see, when Dan sings, it sounds like he smokes fifty cigarettes a day, is made up of 87% liquor and never asks for a moment of your time, because he’s just too damn cool. So take a moment of your time and give their song, Shacked Up Blues, a listen.

We featured their Secret Playlist recently, and now they have a kicking new album out. With members scattered across the globe, though with roots firmly planted in Sydney, electro mavericks Pivot create lush, onimous, and beautifully porous music that seeps through your soul, steals your heart, and renders you immobile. For a good ten minutes at least, as their latest album, O Soundtrack My Heart [which we have five copies of to give away], proves We interviewed, Richard Pike, guitarist and producer from the group, and asked him whether the making of the making of O Soundtrack was a stressful or chilled experience? ‘
It was stressful at the start as the old band was falling apart. When that business got out of the way, it was a pretty easy affair. We were all focused and ready to make something great’.

How does the geographic location of the members affect the sound or the ability of the band to function as a band?
‘Well, we’ve been together for most of this year, mostly out of suitcases touring Europe, and we’re functioning quite well. We’ve played more gigs in the last six months than we ever have before. By the end of the year it will be somewhere between 80 and 100 shows. The old band played about 12 when we released our first record.

‘When we recorded, we did initial sessions in a studio then spent the rest of the time sending files back and forth between London and Sydney. Then we all came together again when it came time to release it and tour. We had to re-learn a lot of the songs and decide how to play them live’.

Given that you guys are now signed with Warp, have you been a long time fan of the Warp roster and who are your favourite acts off it?
‘Yes of course. Name one and I’ll probably like it. Autechre and Boards of Canada will always be classic. Out of the new acts I love Grizzly Bear and Born Ruffians’.

I recently added DJ to my repertoire of skills, after I ‘dropped’ tunes till the early hours of the morning in my friend’s lounge room. The dance floor was positively heaving as the punters (or punter, my friend Macarena) lapped up some LCD Soundsystem, N*E*R*D and, of course, Spank Rock. As the sun started to rise, I decided to tone down the mood, working the blissful Park Benches by Belles Will Ring into my set. I’d forgotten how beautiful the song is, and have been listening to it ever since. Check out the lovely video they did for the Shoot The Player team in the backstreets of Sydney.

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There’s an early Split Enz feel about the music of Sydney indie rock band, The Woods Themselves. It’s particularly evident in the double-tracked vocals and the offbeat arrangements that the group employ. So we checked in with frontman Davey Cotsios and asked if the legendary New Zealand outfit were an influence?
 ‘That’s so insane it’s brilliant! Had you have said Crowded House, then we’d have some real beef. Seriously, I’d find you and punish you. I really do dig Split Enz, but I can’t say I’ve ever had them close in mind, and I’ve never looked to them for guidance. My buddy Danno – he lived below me years back – gave me this Enz record that we found in his mum’s attic. We’d get messed up on Tuesday nights and jam it. That Leaky Boat song was a favourite. We thought we heard the guy across the street beating on his woman one time while we were jamming that Leaky Boat song. We watched the cops arrive and she denied it in tears from the front door. We kicked his motorbike over later. Just to be sure, you know. Bad neighbourhood man’. The Woods Themselves’ album, (C’Mon) Do The Beach Thing, is out now on Understandation through Inertia.

Download their track, Groove Wind

Aussie indie rock band The Paper Scissors are playing a couple of shows late next week with strings-based group Coda, in what should be a mish-mash of sounds, shapes, and sonic textures. Says Paper Scissors frontman, Jai Pyne, of the event: ‘We’ve been wanting to do some shows with Coda for a while. Nick from the band did a remix for us, and they’re always doing interesting stuff. It’s good to shake things up. We want to mess things up a bit. We will have DJ’s from Club Kooky — monthly club night in Sydney — playing, and Coda are now incorporating some new vocalists. The Paper Scissors are going to have guest horns, and some surprises! A normal The Paper Scissors set usually goes from mellow to full tilt disco extravaganza anyway, so we will just be doing our normal thing with a bit more arty party’. The shows take place next Friday and Saturday nights at Sydney’s Spectrum. Listen to the Hey Now DJs remix of The Paper Scissors track, We Don’t Walk.

and the original:

Sydney band Seekae started playing together at the beginning of 2007. Initially Commander Keen, they changed their name after they noticed a band in Aberdeen who used that same moniker and ‘who played really nice music’, says one third of the group, George Nicholas. They obviously didn’t think they needed the competition. In their early 20s and relatively new to the Sydney music scene, Nicholas and bandmates, John Hassell and Alex Cameron, have an accomplished and mature sound, making Gameboy inspired ambient electronica similar to Electric President and Prefuse 73. Currently they’re writing and recording a new album titled The Sound Of Trees Falling on People and plan to release it at the end of this month.

Where do you place yourselves in the Sydney music scene?
‘At the very top, looking down at all the other bands and artists, who look like ants from up here. Umm I don’t know, I sort of feel we are halfway between the Sydney electronica scene — which is small but mighty — and the indie and the psychedelic scenes’.

Have you have any problems performing your music live?
‘It can often be difficult to make songs with a significant production element work live because we use a lot of different types of software like Pro Tools, Ableton Live and Reason, which I don’t really think excites your average punter. On stage we use a fair amount of instruments and hardware though, which makes things more exciting. Recently we have been playing with more acoustic instruments, like flute, cello, xylophone and melodica, which is fun. I guess DJing would be fun and easy, but also kinda lame playing pre-recorded tracks’.

Every now and then you encounter a band whose sound cannot be confined to CD, Vinyl or a MySpace Music Player; a sound so incredible that it must be experienced first hand, in the flesh, where it can do some well-deserved damage to your eardrums. Sydney’s Dead Farmers are one of these bands. Definitely the most musical aggressive act I’ve encountered in the last two years, Dead Farmers have an intensely dirty and expansive sound that cannot be ignored. They have that wonderful talent of being so damn noisy, but not being just noise. They play frequently around Sydney and Melbourne, so if you get the chance, you should really check them out. It’s like being kicked in the guts — but in a really good way; a Fight Club kind of way.

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Sydney pop starlets, Teenagers in Tokyo, have just released a new remix of their track End it Now dolled up and throttled into shape by local DJ group, Bagraiders. It’s as fun as a triple shot espresso with a dash of laphroaig.

Nine months ago Sydney couple Matt Cribb and Bree Carter decided they’d take their relationship to the next level. They started making beats. After posting two home-recorded tracks on MySpace as WOW, they got the attention of New York-based independent label Metal Postcard who agreed to release the duo’s first official pressing. Since then, they’ve signed with Sydney based Levity, and are currently fine-tuning their live show for their own E.P launches and a support slot for Melbourne band (and Metal Postcard label-mates) The Emergency. I really liked WOW from first listen, but it was their live show that made me a true devotee. At first glance WOW look well rehearsed and seem dismissive of their audience but the more you watch, as they bounce ideas off one another mid song exchanging quick glances and mouthed directions, you realise that their dismissivenessis actually just sheer concentration. Having performed together for such a short period, they are still wary of each note they sing or play, but rather than afraid or embarrassed by their inexperience they seem to really enjoy it. And why not?! They have already had considerable successes. And while their dark space disco, monotone vocals and home-produced fuzzsonics might not be for everyone, they are certainly well on their way to bigger things. Let’s just hope they don’t break up!

When did you start making music together?
‘Late last year we just started messing around with all kinds of electronic stuff and computers. Even though we had always owned instruments, we had never really tried to do anything together, but for some reason when we did, it all just clicked. The songs came out really easily and a few weeks later we were playing our first show. We actually booked the show before we had even figured out if we could do it all live or not’.

Do relationship politics ever interrupt practice sessions?
(Laughs) ‘Yes, actually relationship politics DO interrupt practice sessions, recording sessions, musical ideas … actually just about every part of the whole process! But in the end that’s what makes us, us in a way. I guess the WOW sound is based around our relationship, since it’s where we started and how everything came about’.

How did the partnership with Levity come about?
‘Our manager introduced us to Mel from Levity and she liked what she heard. A few days later they came down to a show in Bondi where we got really drunk on stage and had a great show. The rest is history’.

What inspires you to write music?
‘It can be quite varied. It can be an impulsion (either musically or a particular theme) that inspires a song to start being written, or it can be a feeling or thought or opinion that needs to come out, and logically a way to express this is through music. Good times, bad times, death, destruction, rainbows, sun, sand … It can be anything and the musical process starts in a number of different ways. Sometimes it’s a simple as a kick and snare drum that ends up spiraling into a two-hour party jam and at the end there’s enough stuff recorded for a whole song’.

The Presets are a Sydney-based electronic duo, consisting of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. In September 2005 they released their debut album, Beams, to positive critical response. That same year Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes also toured with The Dissociatives, which is co-fronted by Daniel Johns of Silverchair and Australian dance producer Paul Mac. Johns also played guitar on Presets single Cookie. Hamilton and Moyes are also members of Sydney instrumental group Prop.

Listen to The Presets song, My People.

I first met Jai Pyne, enigmatic frontman for the indie prunk group (that’s pop with a sweet funk underture) The Paper Scissors when he was a scrawny teenager whose greatest challenge in life was trying to slam-dunk a partially deflated basketball at an inner-Sydney playground. Not much has changed in the near decade since, except that his boundless energy has been channeled into a burgeoning career as a songwriter for one of the hottest bands in Australia.

Pyne draws upon a vast catalogue of musical styles to create the tastefully arty sound of The Paper Scissors. The band are an anagram of 80s Soho chic, all pointy collars, shiny shoes and a swing that starts at the foot and works its way through your hips and to your head. You can try it, but I guarantee you won’t stand still at a TPS show.

But I knew that some four years ago.

That was when I first got hold of an early demo that Pyne had recorded. Blown away by its maturity, boldness and originality, I shopped it to a major record label who loved it and practically signed him on the spot, thinking Pyne to be the next Beck. Problem was, all Jai wanted to be was liberated from any commercial expectations.

So the deal expired a peaceful death and Jai quickly tired of the solo life. He formed The Paper Scissors, a partially democratic four-piece with its roots firmly in the rolling hills of Byron Bay.

Which brings us to the present, and a relaxed Pyne answering a barrage of questions about his band’s newfound fame. Or should that be near-found fame?

I asked him how he would describe those days, looking back now, when he was just kicking off and looking for a break:

‘Ha, yes, those days were excellent. It was so fun starting a band. I think for me, it was the first time I’d been in a proper band. I’d been in my bedroom making demos for so long, it was such a new thing. The tenacity and fun that we had starting off was great. The only real goal then was just making music and impressing people. Now I think about the business side of things a lot as it is more serious and more full time, running a label and stuff. It was shit sometimes as well, playing to tiny crowds that had no idea who you were and were just there to hate you sometimes. But it was exciting, even if people were there to judge. I was always righteous enough to get past that and think they were wrong.

How’s the new skinman Ivan fitting in? Does he have the same manic energy that [previous drummer] Bryce had?

‘Yeah, Ivan Lisyak our new skinman. He is fantastic. He has more of a manic energy on his drum kit than Bryce actually, a different style, a bit more punk. He looks like a fucking crazy man on his kit. He wears nice shirts and has thick-rimmed glasses and just goes mental. It’s awesome fun to watch. It’s good because he’s also in a great band called Belles Will Ring and I can see him play with them, because usually I stand in front of him. It is working well with us, loosening stuff up. He’s a talented guy, very musical, plays lots of instruments and also makes beats and makes art. He’s a very fun and easygoing character, caring too. He is a great drummer, we were blessed to get someone who could even come close to filling Bryce’s. And Bryce has a shit load of shoes’.

The new video for your song The Bandit … traipsing across the san dunes. Tell me about the making of it.

‘We decided to work with Mark Alston again, who co-directed our last clip for Tipped Hat. He is great. He has a really amazing eye and vision. Such a hard working guy. He and I got together and nutted out a few concepts. I was always thinking that the song had a nautical feel to it. It has sea references and also the sound of the horns at the end to me feels like wind and rain and big waves, kind of in music form. So we developed the idea from that and Mark thought of the whole shipwreck thing. We were thinking ‘the Mighty Boosh meets Ulysees’. I’d become obsessed with The Boosh, and I wanted it to have an amateur theatre vibe. And Mark wanted to have a Cyclops and the arcade game. Shit, it was just a massive mish mash of ideas. I think with anything we do it has a purity of concept to it, but then a lighthearted piss take playing against (or with) that. It was fun but grueling, making it’.

There’s a strong mesh of art and music apparent with everything TPS do. Where do you take your lead from in that respects?

‘Wow, that’s nice you say that. I sometimes wonder if it comes across. Often I wish we had more time or money to carry this out in a more successful fashion, but it’s good when people get it. Ahhh, well musicians … Bowie would have to be one of the main ones. He was always toeing that line between art and music. The Beatles I suppose. I mean everyone says Yoko broke them up, but she is amazing. There are some more current people too, such as Broken Social Scene. They always have such great clips and artwork and their music is so self-indulgent sometimes, but so powerful and pure. Arcade Fire too, they always have a current running through their stuff, a great aesthetic and ethos. I suppose being a frustrated artist [Pyne dropped out of art school to do this music stuff] always influences our aesthetic directly. I do all our artwork and it allows me another outlet, a way to stay in touch with the visual aspect of things’.

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The first time I saw Howling Bells play was a blustery Sydney evening a few years back when I’d gotten the word from singer Juanita Stein’s brother — Ari — that an ‘event’ was going down and I was to do whatever it took to get in to see it. Tired and feeling unsociable, I scrubbed up nonetheless and made my way down a winding Oxford Street to a small club just before the red light district of Darlingurst.

The swelling posse of expectant punters that lined the entry to the venue were perhaps more aware than I was of the buzz that had built up on this group since they’d cast off their pop sensibilities (well, some of them anyway) and metamorphosed from the glistening radio friendly strum of their Waikiki days into the decidedly more somber and introspective sound that their early demos hinted at.

Finally they took to the tiny stage, lead by frontwoman Juanita Stein, ebullient and compelling, who steered the rest of group (brother Joel on guitar, drummer Glenn Moule, and bassist Brendan Picchio) through a dynamic and exciting set.

Only, something was different about the way Howling Bells performed. What was it? Oh, wait. Juanita didn’t move from her spot, which was front and centre. No, she just stood there, distracted yet animated, and riveted to the floor. Still, even then, you could see the potential dripping off them as they ran through what would soon be radio hits such as Velvet Girl, Night Is Young and Setting Sun.

Fast forward a few weeks and Grant Thomas (ex-Crowded House manager), who was overseeing them at the time, was banging on my door at Hotpress magazine, where I was enconsed as the editor. He had an album for me. And I had to listen to it. Now!

So I did, with Thomas sitting beside me — two grown men, silently tapping our feet to the lush and luscious sounds that prevailed.

I remember being captivated by the first song, Bell Hit, in particular; this epic, free form narrative that built and built before suddenly collapsing in a wash of cymbals and guitar licks, courtesy of Joel Stein, influenced no doubt by Johnny Marr and the other seminal UK guitarists of the early 90s, where Howling Bells seem to have drawn much of their influences.

The self-titled debut album, which I heard an advance version of that day, was produced by Ken Norton, who had previously worked with Coldplay. Such is life when you’re stars in the making. It resonated with class and depth, possessed of a poignancy, both musically and lyrically, which immediately set it apart from anything else I’d heard.

Today, Howling Bells are not much bigger in Australia than they were when they first set off on their overseas sojourn. Europe and America is where it’s at, and it’s where they’ve been almost constantly since Norton pulled the last fader up on that sparkling debut.

I caught up with Juanita Stein as the band were preparing themselves, and the rest of the world, for the release of their second — as yet untitled — album.

You’re in LA recording. How will the mood of the second album differ from the first?
‘We wanted to experience something different this time. Ironically, it sounds more English I think than the first record, which was done in Liverpool. It’s a lot more upbeat, I think. However, it doesn’t really lose that haunting and introspective quality that made our debut album quite special. This record is being recorded with Dan-Greco Margaret. We decided to explore a different avenue this time, which for us meant experimenting with everything from instruments to studios, cities and, of course, producers. Ken was awesome and we loved working with him, we just wanted to try something new. Dan has worked with a lot of my favourite artists, along with Nigel Godridge, such as AIR, Radiohead, and Beck. It’s been a riveting experience thus far’.

It’s been a meteoric year for you all. And you’ve hardly dipped your toes into Australian waters. Are you a band of the world now, or still a group of four Aussies taking it to the world?
‘Um, I dunno man! I kinda feel like everything all at once. Aussies always, traveling the world, but based in the UK’.

What’s been the highlight of 2008 so far?
‘Getting to record our second album. Oh, and a group of us passionately singing along to ‘I’m so in Love With You’ (by Al Green) with a crazy fucking homeless guy in downtown LA. Utter joy! It’s the in-between moments, I tell you’.

Do you get a chance to check out the art scene much?
‘Recently I was in France and literally stopped in my tracks when I saw this poster outside a local art gallery for a French artist named Georges Briata. He’s amazing! Really colourful and inspiring. 60’s Jazz meets Art Deco. Alphonse Mucha is also a huge inspiration to me. I feel something really wonderful every time I look at his work’.

Finally, is there any truth to the rumours that your other brother [and Lost At E Minor contributor] Ari Stein will be joining the Howling Bells as the touring keyboardist? [wink wink]
‘He he! Actually, Ari just inspired a new song that Joel and I wrote this week, as yet to be titled, but it’s gonna be REAL special. I can feel it!’

Sydney band Circle have just released their debut album Just Keep Swimming and boy does it make me smile. It’s an album that works hard to take your mind elsewhere — and succeeds. Driven by piano, the album is a layered sing-a-long pop fiesta with a good dose of guitar stroking, hand clapping shout-out-loud anthems. It will remind you of Ben Folds, Ben Lee and the Beatles, all in one song, and then in the next, Tim Freedman and your family gatherings. It’s definitely an album for those lazy Saturday afternoons. Look out for their song The Chicken and the Troll.

Having called it a day back in 2001 and with no back catalogue available anymore, this fine underrated Aussie band is very quickly being forgotten about and it is high time something is done to fix that. How can we live in a world that can stock Peter Andre albums and nothing from Skunkhour?