We’ve never posted anything by Heatmiser, which is just ludicrous. Seeing as how they carried the DNA of many other featured bands (No. 2, Quasi, Built to Spill), and also featured Elliott Smith before he went solo (playing hard rock songs!), I feel I need to fix up this significant problem.

Low-Flying Jets comes off their final release, Mic City Sons, which came out just after they disbanded. Compared to the heavier tone of the previous albums, most of the tracks off this album sound like Elliott Smith b-sides from the XO era. Apart from this song, that is!

The Minders have an air of psychedelia about them. At least, the stuff I have from them does. It’s certainly well evidenced in this song: it starts sounding like a track off Sgt. Peppers, before sound like a song by the Byrds or other similar groups. Thing is, this came out in 1998, so unless these guys are time-travellers, then they’re doing a damn fine job keeping the 60s alive.

“But AJ,” I hear you exclaim. “You’ve already posted about this song!” That is indeed the case, but this is a cover version, so that excuses me. And who is the cover version by? The exact same artist.

Allow me to explain! Mr. Grunwald managed to finagle two-thirds of Australian alternative band, The Living End (I’ll post about them soon), into a recording studio for a few days, where they proceeded to cover his back catalogue of blues and roots tunes with a hard-edged dose of rock. The result is something even more badass than the original song, a feat I would not have thought possible!

Ultraista are a group who make music. That is about all I know about them, but any group that has had a Zero 7 remix performed on one of their songs has to be potentially worthy of listening. Also, Nigel Godrich is behind their exploits, so there’s that.

While the original version of this song isn’t quite my cup of tea, this remixed version really hits its stride at about the 3 minute mark. Certainly not what I’d normally associated with Zero 7, but damn it is smooooooth.

Man, what a crazy day. Australia got a new (old) prime minister, and in Texas, Senator Wendy Davis was put through a Herculean wringer with a 13 hour filibuster (an amazing feat from an amazing woman). Though according to mainstream American cable news networks, nothing much happened at all today, so I guess it depends on where you get your news from. Hopefully, not from a music blog co-run by an Australian lad.

Anyway, it seems that we need a bit of respite from this day of action-packed news, so here’s some classic blues. Published in 1935, this song has been covered to death by many artists (including the Beatles). This one by the Platters comes to us via Ewan McGregor (yeah, that Ewan McGregor), and is just the thing to end a tumultuous day.

Speaking of quintessentially Australian songs, here is another rather famous example. This one too has many references to Australia’s ruggedness, but this feels so much more romanticised and ethereal. It actually befits the lyrics:

Out on the patio we’d sit,
And the humidity we’d breathe,
We’d watch the lightning crack over canefields
Laugh and think that this is Australia.

Far less ludicrous than yesterday’s tune and entirely more poignant. Funnily enough, this song didn’t really make an impact upon its initial release: it was only when it featured in a Coco-Cola ad, as well as prominently in an Australian TV station’s network promos that it cemented itself as a song that anyone and everyone will sing in a bar.

There are a handful of songs throughout recording history that are quintessentially Australian. Why? Because they reference the country, and because whenever they’re played in public, pretty much every will sing along. Yesiree, we are simple folk. None of these songs do anything to dispel the stereotype that we are all bush-dwelling, kangaroo-riding hicks, but WHATEVER. Koalas are hella snuggly at the foot of a bed; YEAH THAT’S RIGHT KOALAS ARE OUR VERSION OF DOGS.

Down Under has more Australian references than you can shake a boomerang at, but it’s that iconic pan flute motif throughout that has made an indelible mark on the Australian populous. So much so that we all collectively gave the finger to those copyright allegations, and the subsequent re-recording.

I am nothing if not repetitive, so here’s 1) another band I thought I wrote about 2) from Britain. Black Box Recorder has those sexy female vocals that make my brain melt, and music that hasn’t bored me after listening to them for frickin’ years. This song in particular has a very honest chorus, and if you don’t like it, just take its advice.

Now that I’m able to have a coherent thought about the Beastles, perhaps a more coherent post is in order. I’m not well versed on the Beastie Boys back catalogue, so listening to this entire album just sounds like amazing Beatles songs with equally amazing beats and rhymes over the top. It’s even more amazing how damn well it works, because it sure as hell doesn’t on paper!

Who likes outrageously sexy songs? That’s right, everyone does. At first glance (listen?), this song doesn’t seem that sexy, but the more you listen the sexier it becomes: something about that thumping beat, wild piano and horns and lyrics telling a honey to get her rocks off (rawr) all conspire to get your senses a-tinglin’.