Itchy Bugger
Double Bugger

boomkat: ...Properly overdue reissue of Hydroplane's long out of print 1997 debut album, a beguiling concoction of lo-fi pop, shoegaze, early electronic blips and billowing ambience. So good!Back in 1997, Aussie jangle pop outfit The Cat's Miaow formed Hydroplane after their drummer headed to London. They filled the gap by using samples and tape loops, and developed a startling new sound that gave a new resonance to Kerrie Bolton's cool, deadpan vocals and the band's hybrid experimentation. The self-titled album works because it refuses to stay in the same spot for too long, lurching from bit-crushed breaks and dry guitar plucks on opening track 'Wurlitzer Jukebox' to mucky noise and regurgitated piano guts on 'Piano Movement with Percussion', before settling into a dream pop groove on the beatless 'Song for the Meek'.The album's best moments though are when they ignore songs altogether, like on the sci-fi tinted analog synth jam 'I Hear a New World', or 'House Warming', a ghostly spoken word track accompanied by a wavering electronic drone. The band recorded this material in their Brunswick flat using a bare-bones setup including a Jupiter 4 synth, sampler and tape equipment, and the album was released at the time only in the US on CD. Now it's available again, it feels like high time to rediscover a band that nestle comfortably between Slowdive, Stereolab and Hood.

.Oregon sextet Elite Beat continue their dubwise world-groove mission with a two track 12”of what sounds like organic, in the moment live takes with an intro count to boot. Layers of psychedelic sax and drums ebb and flow alongside heavy low end, building on their compilation of ‘healing and hypnosis’ inspired jams Selected Rhythms Vol. 2. Despite being based across the ocean, big Jah Shaka dance vibrations occupy the A-side with a steady house tempo combining with the woodwind across ten minutes of proper body music.The slower, introspective approach to side B takes in elements of post-rock with flourishes of electric guitar yet grounds itself in the dub mentality through pulsing sub-bass and swirling synth work. The wide-reaching bed of influences present in Portland’s bands, shops and labels shows itself time again in Elite Beat’s work, evident through recent collaborations with Mdou Moctar and past outings here at Research.