Week 8 - The Melbourne Supremacy

It's not all INXS, the Wiggles, Jason and Alf from Home & Away, Australia you know. To be quite honest, I've only just discovered this too.

While our Antipodean chums might not be all that bad, they have struggled to make much of an impact over here with their music. Sure, there have been bands Midnight Oil, Wolfmother, Silverchair and AC/DC, but there seems to have been a distinct lack of top quality bands. You may argue that Nick Cave, The Church and Pendulum are good and I'd agree. They are excellent. But for every one of those there's a Savage Garden.

But, in a time when Australia is more renowned for 'midget horse races' and ill-advised tributes to Michael Jackson, I want to concentrate on the good things to come from the island nation, namely one city in the south - Melbourne.

It's strange, but I acquired two albums last week and both artists were from the same city. This came a few weeks after I discovered another Melbourne resident.

Temper Trap's Sweet Inspiration is a tune that's taken me ages to get in to. I first heard it on an advert and it's fair to say I detested it. Then, a week or so later, I saw 500 Days of Summer. It's got a great soundtrack, but when Sweet Inspiration came on I tutted with apathy. But, last week I heard it somewhere and it clicked. I rather enjoyed its seering guitars and melodies.

Cut Copy are an act I've admired for a while. I heard their set at Fabric (on CD, not at the club unfortunately) and thought it was an excellent playlist (check out Ciccone Youth's electro-rock version of Madonna's Into the Groove). However, it's only recently I came across one of their albums - In Ghost Colours. The opening track of that is Feel the Love. It's a wonderfully dreamy tune that brings with it thoughts of New Order being remixed by Lemon Jelly and Avalanches.

Now, on to Jens Lekman. Okay, so he's Swedish, but he's made Melbourne his home. This guy is simply outstanding - one of the best things I've come across in many years. Coupling lovely tunes with excellent rye humour, some of his subject matters are brilliant. He's seemingly obsessed with Rocky Dennis, the poor disfigured guy who became the subject of the film Mask - no, not that one (probably). He's so obsessed - making three songs and an EP about Dennis - that at one of his first gigs in Australia he was billed as Rocky Dennis. Another great songs revolves around mishearing a girl say they're only make believe. In the song, Lekman thinks she's said their love is only maple leaves.

But the song that's been in my head all week, and periodically for a few months, is Black Cab. Starting in such a jolly way as "oh no god damn, I missed the last tram. I killed the party again, god damn god damn", it contains the lyric that is also the name of his excellent compilation album - Oh You're So Silent Jens. Plus there's talk of taxi drivers being psycho killers, which is all good.

I think I may have discovered Lekman earlier, but my mate's recommendation fell on, erm, tired and emotional ears after our return from Glastonbury. However, all was not lost as my discovery of him was sure to happen at some point, and I sincerely hope yours does too.