New tunes from Sydney's Decoder Ring, Melbourne's Love of Diagrams, Dingley's Jet and Interpol singer Paul Banks' Julian Plenti.
Julian Plenti is Paul Banks, aka the deep-voiced good looking one from Interpol. Turns out before Interpol exploded in 2002 with everyone's favourite soundtrack to hedonism
Turn On The Bright Lights, Banks was strumming acoustic guitars around cosy New York City venues under the name Julian Plenti. Some live bootlegs of which we've
already heard.
Now he has a solo album on the way.
Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper is surprising for the most part, in that it doesn't sound a whole lot like Interpol. A little, sure, but the palette is wider, more relaxed. Supposedly due in part to Banks aquisition of Logic Pro, (the recording program, luddites). Loops, processed beats, acoustic guitar, and pianos litter these songs, but what's more interesting perhaps is Banks close-mic'ed, relaxed vocals. As opposed to the booming baritone so utilised in his day job.
'Fun That We Have' is the first single from the record, probably because it doesn't stray too far from Interpol, save for some bleeps, sub bass and layers. Good stuff.
Julian Plenti - 'Fun That We Have'
Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper is out July 31
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Sydney instrumental kings
Decoder Ring have another album on the way, the follow up to 2005's
Fractions (following on of course from their rightfully acclaimed soundtrack to the film
Somersault). The new album,
They Blind The Stars, And The Wild Team was recorded with US producer Scott Colburn (Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Yeasayer) and is out July 11th.
This first taste from the record is the
emotionally titled
Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom. No it doesn't sound like My Chemical Romance, rather a jazzy intro unfolds into cinematically inclined guitar rock. That you can dance to. Score.
Decoder Ring - 'Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom'
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The second tune we get from
Jet's forthcoming third LP
Shaka Rock is 'She's A Genius', which follows on from the
gory visuals for first taste 'K.I.A'. No great surprises from the Dingley four-piece (and Nic Cester could still do with time alone with his lyric notebook), but at least it does advance their brand of classic rock some. And is it just me or is there something vaguely Kenny Loggins/Hall& Oates, circa 'Maniac' about the chorus? Not a bad thing.
Jet - 'She's A Genius'
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Melbourne's
Love Of Diagrams have supposedly shifted their sound somewhat on their forthcoming album
Nowhere Forever. Judging from 'Forever' some might say backwards. When the power-trio first came on the scene in the mid 2000s they were an angular (!) powerhouse, all tom fills, trebly guitars and wandering basslines. When they added vocals they seemed to diffuse this energy, not so much through singing but through laying regressive lyrics over their advanced guitar work. And stripped them of their mysterious tension. Bummer.
So it goes with their latest effort 'Forever'. It's a matter of taste, but - I can't help hearing 90s grunge band flashbacks (think Tumbleweed, fringe-dwellers Paw and the obvious comparison Dinosaur Jr) throughout. Again, without lyrics the mystery might have won out. Still, interested to hear where they're going, however they're getting there.
Love of Diagrams - 'Forever'
'Forever' is out as a 7" on July 1 while the album will be out later in the year.