Aleks and the Ramps - 'Antique Limb'

Despite the bulk of their upcoming new album tentatively containing "yawning panther sounds", fractured pop collective Aleks and the Ramps have released a "radio" song. Despite perhaps even themselves.

With the Melbourne band's live show frequently detouring via dance routines, multi-member pile ups and banjo solos, it's easy for some to gloss over the musical gems behind the Ramps' madness. All that extraneous action wouldn't hold much water without a solid foundation to work from. It's emerges live and upon multiple viewings, if not so much on their earlier recorded material.

That's about to change with their impending second LP having been captured by one Casey Rice. Rice has etched his name on records by Tortoise, Joan of Arc, Adam Said Galore and Ground Components to name a few, and according to the Ramps, "the rant-tastic Casey Rice has been our guy at the controls, our ship’s navigator, our Jeff Goldblum.  He has a keen taste for organic supermarket foods and he wears all-natural deodorant.  Despite all this, he’s able to cross-fade things really fast."

First taste from the record comes in the form of 'Antique Limb'. The track starts out with a guitar burst straight out of Vampire Weekend, before bubbling along on a typically Ramps-esque stream of percussive clattering, oddball computer sounds and the split-personality riffing of frontpeople Aleks and Juanita. For the uninitiated, it's sophisticated pop in the vein of Architecture in Helsinki, Still Flyin' and yes, Talking Heads. (Who seem to get trotted out in the wake of every vaguely Afro-pop guitar lick over the last three years.) For fans, it's the recorded Ramps coming good on their live alter egos. Which means, it's good.

The band are celebrating the tune's release as part of a split 7" with Canadian buds Mixylodian. This celebration takes a varied, multi-pronged shape in the form of airline tickets, tuning keys, pillows and spare pants being towed up and down the east coast of Australia. See:

ALEKS AND THE RAMPS - 'ANTIQUE LIMB' TOUR

Sydney - Thursday April 30
The Hopetoun Hotel

Brisbane - Friday May 1
Ric's

Melbourne - Saturday May 9
Anytime Place

www.aleksandtheramps.com