Dead Letter Circus are one of the up and coming Australian alternative rock bands that people are keeping a very close eye on.  Exploding on to the rock scene with their first self titled EP with its soaring vocals, guitars drenched in delay effects, and tight rhythm section (the drums are pumping!)

Highlights for me are the chorus from “Disconnect and Apply” which has one of my favorite guitar r

hythms ever, and the softer “Alien”, which has really grown on me over time.

The next EP “Next in line” was shorter (3 songs instead of 5) but got a bit heavier (a pretty insane double kick) and introduced more synth elements, while still retaining a defined “DLC” signature sound.  I’d heard rumors that the vocals from the first EP were autotuned quite heavily, and that the band was having a hard time doing the songs justice live, and if this is

true, it makes sense that the vocals are slightly less ambitious this time around, but don’t worry, they’re still plenty catchy.  Unfortunately the EP is padded out with a pretty terrible remix by Mammal, which saddens me, as they are one of my favourite bands.  Remixes have to be pretty special to warrant being officially released by the band in question I reckon.

Their latest release is the single “The Space On the Wall” which should tide us over until their debut album is rele

ased.  Hopefully I’ll get a chance to see these guys live soon, as I’d love to see how the guitarist pulls off some of his riffs.

http://www.myspace.com/deadlettercircus

http://www.myspace.com/twelvefootninja

Twelve Foot Ninja are everything I love about music.  Equal parts heavy, catchy, melodic, and a little bit weird.

New Dawn is their first 6 track EP, and it plays like some of the best bits of Mike Patton’s extensive musical catalogue.  The only unfortunate thing about TFN (not tax file number), is the Patton comparisons that are inevitable when your singer sounds almost identical.  But I’ve manged to ignore that, and encourage you to do the same and enjoy it for what it is.  Damn good music.

The EP seamlessly flows from reggae/dub, to meshuggah style math-metal, to ‘yacht rock’, funk, and eastern influenced rock, reminiscent of the fantastic “Tea Party”.  Its easily worth the money, and its my prediction that if these guys keep it up, they have the potential to be huge in the alternative music scene.

I had the pleasure and luck to be front and centre at their first ever headlining gig in Melbourne earlier this year and these songs sound absolutely mind-blowing live.  If you get a chance to check them out live, don’t miss it.

http://www.myspace.com/karnivool

I found out about Karnivool in early 2008, totally out of left field and they blew me away, and made me discover the exploding Aussie modern rock scene.

Themata is a brilliantly put together album that will remind people mostly of Tool, with little sprinkles of meshuggah style technical metal, muse’s epic melodies and smooth vocals, but all in a package of surprisingly digestable 4 min songs.

I’ve given this album a frankly ridiculous number of plays over the last year (2000 song plays) and I still listen to the album the whole way through without skipping songs.  Highlights for me are the first single and title track Themata (how often is the single actually one of the best songs on an album?!) which features some of the more epic parts of the album, and has fantastically complex guitar parts through the chorus.  Roquefort, Synops, and Mauseum are other favourite tracks of mine.

Something that appeals to me is that the album sounds immaculate, and was made entirely indepentendly by the band.  Drew Goddard has since become one of my idols, contributing all guitar recordings, most of the drum tracks (he considers himself more of a drummer than a guitarist aparently*), and of course a good portion of the songwriting duties.

Do independent music a favour and buy this album, or catch them live if you’re in Australia.