It's a mix!

Ending To Begin - Mercy Arms
With all the hype and image surrounding this band, it’s sometimes hard to know what to think of them. But after hearing this song a few times and combining it with the brilliant ‘Half Right’, I’d say there’s more than enough reason to keep your eye on them, cool or not.

Cracked and Crazed - Doug Martsch
The story behind this song is quite remarkable. Filmmaker Devon Reed composed the soundtrack to his upcoming movie, Song From The Bigtop, and then went about recruiting prominent musicians to perform it. Not only should he be commended for his song-writing ability, but also his taste. The album, which rarely feels like a soundtrack, includes some very impressive tracks, performed by artists such as The Clientele and this man, the lead singer from Built To Spill.

Sadness And The City - The Smallgoods
The Smallgoods are Melbourne band that have really snuck up on me. This song in particular has grabbed my attention, thanks to the distinctive vocals and short, unorthodox structure, worthy of a comparison to Of Montreal. It also hints towards the harmonies which feature prominently in their music.

Zero Zero – Operative Please
Throughout Operator Please’s rise to fame, I’ve remained rather distance. I had differing opinions coming from every side, yet never bothered to listen to them for myself. Well now I have and I must admit it sounds pretty exciting. They’re not about to become my favourite band, but from the sound of their debut album, it’s clear that they’ve got some great energy and I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing them live. If anything, I’ll listen to them just to annoy the conservative AM radio hosts. When they won an Aria, I laughed as a 2GB host struggled to comprehend that yes, this is music and yes, people like it.

For Science Fiction – Maritime
Maritime re-entered my consciousness when I friend wrote a song remarkably similar to one of theirs. After hearing his demo, I scoured through my entire collection trying to find out where I’d heard it before. Turns out it was Maritime, a band that he (like so many others) hadn’t heard of. I bought their latest album recently and while it probably doesn’t beat their last, it’s pretty good. This song is excellent.