Dick Diver

I saw this band, Dick Diver, play a few weeks ago at the Curtin Bandroom in Carlton. The bassplayer danced around and wore a wifebeater and a cowboy hat. Steph, who shares Home and Hosed presenting duties on Triple J is their drummer. She used to drum for Screamfeeder and Children Collide. The two young dudes out front share vocals and trade slippery guitar lines. They are pretty much fantastic.

They describe their sound as Tropical German-Pop Soul. Are they being funny for their myspace page? No. Its true. I can imagine them playing behind the wall, with nice trousers and boatshoes, near a wading pool, with an ice-cream van nearby, and sunscreen on, in 1965, supporting The Beatles but kicking their ass. To be fair they actually owe a debt to The Go-Betweens from Brisbane and their peers more than anything. There's also little bits of Pavement and Crow in the mix too.

They are finishing a recording so the best I can offer you to hear is the ace music on Dick Diver's myspace and try to see them when they play with The Middle East and Grand Salvo at the Northcote Social Club on June 13th.

Smudge and The Zebras

Melbourne fans of classic Australian jangle/power-pop should get down to The Empress on Friday October 17th for this ace double-header: Smudge and The Zebras!

Smudge (pictured above) formed in Sydney in the very early '90s, and played around fairly consistently until around 2000. They put out a tonne of singles and EPS, plus four albums, but in spite of this strong output frontman Tom Morgan gained more fame as a songwriting collaborator with Evan Dando (The Lemonheads). Smudge's first two albums Manilo and You, Me, Carpark, Now are both excellent, although probably sound somewhat dated now. You can hear some tracks on their myspace page. Smudge also do Saturday at The Empress, and then play again towards the end of the year in Sydney at The Annandale. Rumours is they're playing some new songs too.



Originally hailing from Brisbane, The Zebras (pictured above) now call Melbourne home and have just completed a successful tour of Europe. They're also toting a brand new 5 track EP - New Ways of Risking Our Lives - and have added Lachlan Franklin (frontman for The Smallgoods) to the lineup.

Buy the new EP at Lost And Lonesome and check out some of The Zebra's sunshine-drenched indie-pop on myspace.

A tall touring troubadour

photo by Karl Gunnarsson

Its just dawned on me that Sweden's Tallest Man On Earth visits our Great Brown Land this week, playing in Sydney tonight, Canberra on Thursday and then my hometown on Saturday night at The Toff. I must remember to get a ticket...!

I've been consistently listening to and loving Kristian Matsson's beautiful debut album Shallow Grave for weeks now. The Dylan references are beyond obvious but apt, and as Pitchfork's glowing review of the album points out, he seems to have "mined the American south for inspiration, and his frantic strumming and front-porch poetry recall everyone from the Carter Family to Lead Belly to, most noticeably, country bluesman Mississippi John Hurt." It's mesmerising, compelling and, dare i say it, authentic folk music.

Full Australian dates and some tunes on Tallest Man On Earth's myspace or check out the amazing tune "Pistol Dreams" below...