Holy cow! There’s a crazy amount of great music happening in Australia at the moment. The epicenter seems to be the city of Melbourne. It’s like a rat colony down there, where the band population seems to be multiplying exponentially. You have likely already heard about the Twerps, Boomgates, Woolen Kits possibly Dick Diver and a few others, but that is only the tip of the old iceberg. If you live in that city and love janglepop it must be a veritable treasure trove just waiting to be pillaged. If you don’t live there prepare to bust out your credit card because the exchange rate along with shipping costs will make you a lot lighter in the wallet.
Mess and Noise an excellent Melbourne based site had a feature on the Melboure scene back in September that covered 17 bands and pretty much covered it all. So really all I’m doing here is reiterating what they’ve already said, but if you’re like me, sometimes it takes hearing the same thing from more than one place to make you sit up and pay attention and what is going on in Melbourne is well worth paying attention to.
Chook Race remind me of the La’s, only more rough around the edges. Probably what Lee Mavers originally had in mind since he has often disparaged his lone album as being over-produced.
Chook Race’s latest 7-inch can be ordered/downloaded from their bandcamp site.
Bored Nothing were only an honorable mention in the Mess and Noise article, but that was before the their self-titled album on Spunk records had come out. Fergus Miller is a one man band that has made quite and album that is part dreampop, part moody Elliot Smith.
mp3: Bored Nothing – Popcorn (Bored Nothing’s album came out last week on Spunk records.)
Bitch Prefect aren’t Melbourne natives, they migrated from Adelaide, but that lends all the more legitimacy to the scene when bands what to move to a City where everything’s happening. Bitch Prefect’s album Big Time came out earlier this year on Bedroom Suck. It has a ramshackle vibe that is part Wreckless Eric and part Clean.
Bitch Prefect’s debut LP came out earlier this year on Bedroom Suck.
The Stevens may be Melbourne’s worst kept secret. I’ve heard from multiple places that this band is the best band in town. Their ramshackle melodies have some Clean, Pavement and some Lemonheads (or Smudge if you roll that way) in them.
mp3: The Stevens – Alone
The Stevens have and EP you can download for free from their facebook page.
Cat Cat are another transplant, this time from the capitol Canberra via Chicago. They sound like they could have been on the Summershine label back in the day. A little bit of Ripe mixed in the with the Earthmen and some Sea and Cake?
Cat Cat’s most recent album came out last year on Dream Damage and is available from their bandcamp site.
Pop Singles often get compared to the Go-betweens. That was enough for my ears to prick up. Their album All Gone out on Vacant Valley sounds like a very young Go-Betweens, all wide-eyed, head of full steam and obsessed with Dylan, Jonathan Richman and Velvet Underground.
Debut album is out on the Vacant Valley label which is run by bassist Pop Singles’ bassist Peter Bramley.
If that was enough for you here is some further listening: Milk Teddy, Heavy Beach, and Full Ugly.
Beyond Melbourne but worth checking out: Terrible Truths, Scraps, and Kitchens Floor
the finest kiss 
Wow! Thanks for this. I was familiar with Twerps, Boomgates, Woolen Kits but this is such an embarrassment of riches! For turning me on to Bored Nothing alone I am forever grateful :)
Jesse
It’s an embarrassment of riches that is making me poor. Crazy how many great records are coming out of this city right now. I hope you have deep pockets!
Ditto. It’s like the second coming of Flying Nun…that label emptied my wallet for ten years starting in ’83. So now I have Melbourne to contend with…….