GUNG HO

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We love it when a band arrives and in some intangible manner seems to sum up our detached, sweeping generalisations of the place from which they came. The Beach Boys sounded very Californian, right? The Smiths sounded very Manchester, didn’t they? The Strokes couldn’t appear from anywhere other than New York could they? Well, if you imagine the Eastern Gold Coast of Australia to be all slacker surfers, with a relaxed, sunny disposition, where partying and enjoying life is the common path of choice, then you’re on your way to finding Gung Ho as perfectly suited to their geography as we do.

This new trio call Brisbane home and they’ve just released their debut single, Twin Rays. It will be the initial tune from their planned EP, which we’ve been informed is due out in early 2012. From the three tracks that we’ve heard to date, it’s for before and after the beach-bound parties. Their initial single is as bleached and pretty as Best Coast or Tennis, although not quite as twee. It feels like a surf pop song written by actual surfers, so there’s stacks of relaxed enjoyment, as Michael McAlary sings “Oh you know we ain’t rather be anywhere else“. We assume they’re talking about the beach. This is a surf pop song with the perfect attitude. We also noticed that the echo throughout the tune blurs what is actually an intricate set of guitar plucks.

On the next tune, Weekend Mothers, has the guitars take centre stage, as they turn the style on. If Twin Rays is the stoned morning-after-the-night-before, then this tune is the night before. It’s all spikey flicks of guitar and hand clapped beats. It’s rhythm is that of a party at it’s peak, as the song is delivered over a collapsing drum roll. Gone is the 60s surf imagery and in it’s place are some punked vocal yelps and a raised aggression, as Oliver Dincan takes over the vocals and sings “I can’t stand myself“. Its wound up so tight it can’t sit still, but it brings us an entirely different side to the band that you didn’t see coming having heard the first single.

The other available demo, Vacation, is just as pumped up, in the same hyper way Spain’s Mendetz, or Sweden’s The Hives used to come out of the blocks. More styled vocals appear with Duncan throwing out a sweaty performance with every word that he spits out, as the backing vocals call in response. Once again the guitars dance behind it all and this time the bass enters the room like the big fat bloke taking over the dancefloor without a care in the world.

The band have had useful support slots with the like of The Holidays, Papa vs Pretty, Bleeding Knees Club, Comic Sans and Kids of 88, among others. They’re planning to take the EP’s songs out around the East Coast for a few dates in September, in venues across Brisbane and Sydney (see below). You can definitely expect a party. Only time will tell how the shows will translate when performed on a rainy day in Manchester, but we strongly suggest that anywhere in the world would thoroughly enjoy having a little piece of sunny Brisbane delivered to their doorsteps, right? Right. (MB)

31st Aug – Twin Rays’ Single Launch /w Morning Harvey @ Alhambra Lounge, Brisbane
3rd Sept – Dune Rats /w Gung Ho, Pirates Alive, Country Junk @ Billy’s Beach House, Gold Coast
16th Sept – Dune Rats /w Gung Ho, Ginger Witches @ Spotted Cow, Toowoomba
17th Sept – Dune Rats /w Gung Ho, Millions DJs @ Woodland, Brisbane
24th Sept – Velociraptor /w Gung Ho, Gooch Palms @ Oxford Arts Factory Gallery Bar, Sydney

GUNG HO – TWIN RAYS

GUNG HO – WEEKEND MOTHERS

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EX -COPS

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In recent years lo-fi indie music has steadily risen up, like a giant cumulus nimbus, reaching it’s uppermost heights with the likes of Toro Y Moi, or Beach House, or Tennis – or any others from the multitude of artists that seem to fry their music by utilising the power of the sun through the magnifying glass that is Stereogum or Gorrila vs Bear. Today we bring you the next in line on the horizon, the Brooklyn-based Ex-Cops.

Just like their genre-mates, this is atmospheric mood music, that will surround and indulge you like a soundtrack to your afternoon. This is music to listen to whilst you do other things. It won’t penetrate your thoughts or demand attention, only warm you up or cool you down, proving as forgetful as office air-conditioning. Like rainbows or clouds they look beautiful from a distance, mesmerising even, but close up you notice the illusion, realising that they don’t actually have any real form or substance. It’s like they don’t really exist, floating in the air like a smoke ring that dissipates when you reach out to touch it.

That’s not to say they’re not enjoyable. This perfectly-pitched, beautifully melodic music serves it’s purpose well by raising or lowering your mood. Much in the same way that punk or dance music can’t suit every single frame of your mind through the day, neither can this, but select them when the mood is right and they’ll fit like a silk glove filled with Vaseline.

Inevitably a batch of excellent blogs, such as No Modest Bear, My Old Kentucky Blog, I Guess I’m Floating and The Needle Drop, among others, have picked up on them early with the track The Millionaire, which flew around online after they played their second ever live show at this year’s SXSW. Nursery rhyme vocals come in dream-like waves, over a beat that sounds like you’re listening with bathwater in your ears. It’s utterly lovely, but we can’t help but feel like we’re trying to look at something through our fingers because the sun’s burning our retinas – it’s simply impossible to make it out properly, even if you squint.

Tracks such as You Are A Lion I Am A Lamb and S&HSXX pick up the pace by adding in beats that serve to drive the songs in a new gear. The former lightly riffs away and earns a bassline backing that gives the melody a heartbeat, whilst the vocals hand you something to hum to. The latter introduces an industrial beat, refreshing you before the guitars appear like sparks that grind away at the wall of vocals. Both tracks show the band off in a more palatable light.

Spring Break (Birthday Song) sounds as positive as the track’s title suggests. It feels like you’ve gone camping for your birthday with Brian Wilson and he’s picked up a guitar around the campfire and started to make up a birthday lament on the spot. It’s another great example of their appeal, with their signature feather-light touch applied throughout yet another typically short three minute pop song.

This new project, from ex-Hymns frontman Brian Harding, only formed a few months ago, but the buzz is rising considerably, as we await the debut release, an EP entitled White Women. With music that takes the beautiful harmonies and melodies of a Radiohead ballad or a Beach Boys b-side, burns them and then plays them back to you through the walls of the apartment next door, this is an artist that will likely go on to gain blog inches in the months to come. However, this inevitable coverage is still unlikely to rack up much commercially successful chart sales, but it’s still worthy of your time. The clever trick that’s played with music of this fuzzy, lo-fi nature is that it’s actually pretty timeless and pitches itself well at the ears of the already converted, blog-reading public. It’s those discerning listeners that will appreciate this long after any charting hits have been forgotten. (MB)

EX-COPS – THE MILLIONAIRE

EX-COPS – BLACK HELICOPTERS

EX-COPS – S&HSXX

EX-COPS – SPRING BREAK (BIRTHDAY SONG)

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