King Champion Sounds
Between Two Worlds

hellosQuare: ...hellosQuare welcomes Kasha into our family with 'What A Colourful Mouth' - their second release and first on vinyl. Recorded and mixed with our good friend Casey Rice (Dirty Three, Pikelet, Ben Lee), this single see the young Canberra quartet rework the traditional notion of rock music, approaching tension and repetition with dissonance and metric imbalance - think Motor City, think DC, think electricity!

Drawing from a collective musical lexicon as seen in Amici, Sogni (which translates to 'Dreams') reflects on themes of decision-making, change, time, heartbreak and the practicalities of work and daily life. Primo!'s music is a study of duality, weaving through these themes with an idiosyncratic delivery that is punctuated by post-punk sensibilities, upbeat jangle and unexpected electronic flourishes.Sogni sees the introduction of Amy Hill on bass, adding to the original trio of Suzanne Walker (drums), Violetta Del Conte-Race and Xanthe Waite (guitars). There’s a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that's a testament to the group’s collaborative work ethic and experience in their associated bands.Spanning just under 30 minutes, Sogni’s twelve songs were conceived collectively in the rehearsal room and perfected in a live setting, before being recorded to an 8-track with Al Montfort across a number of home studios in Melbourne.The resulting LP comes with a languid and fluid pace. Opener “Things To Do” sets the tone for Sogni, a record that reflects Primo!’s day-to-day life, with sharp lyrics and a chiming encouragement. “Perfect Paper” propels the album into cruise, with splintering guitars, “Machine” highlights the work-hierarchy struggle (you told me just what I should do / but the problem is you’re only human / and I just can’t listen to you / machine, machine, machine”). “Best and Fairest” questions the idea of an ideal life, while “Love Days” reflects on past relationships and “Diamond Day” deals in accidentally being swept up in love. Before long, the LP is wrapped up with a hazy and intimate final track, “Reverie”.Primo! are making guitar music that explores the boundaries of everyday life with calm levity, tilted grace and grit.

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.