Hiya Russell Crowe (I was looking for Russ with an Aussie animal but to no avail. So have a young Russ with a Dalmatian instead).

You may or may not be aware that Australians have a war cry; usually reserved for major international sporting events such as the Olympics or World Championships and stuff, but also just when groups of Aussies feel particularly patriotic. It works as a call and response thing made up of two words, 'Aussie' and 'Oi'. It goes like this:

Some person with a really loud voice, the boomier the better, leads with:

"AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!"

And everyone else goes:

"OI! OI! OI!"

Like most personal jokes, I get the feeling that it leaves most everyone else pretty bewildered. But I think it would be appropriate and understandable in this case since both Tame Impala and Midnight Juggernauts are Australian and totally killing it with these latest tracks;

and bonus, Mickey Moonlight's appropriately blissful and cruising remix of the first official single off Innerspeaker, 'Solitude is Bliss'

And of course, Midnight Juggernauts' remix of the single. Watch out for our interview with the Juggs coming really soon. As per usual with the bands we interview, the trio took a self portrait of themselves, customised it for us and liked it so much they've already made it their twitter background! To see the image clear of tweets and what they had to say to us, stay tuned...

Tame Impala are now ready to unleash their debut album Innerspeaker with a great single called 'Solitude Is Bliss' (go listen to it on their myspace). From what I've heard of their upcoming stuff, it's going to be a good one! But until Innerspeaker is released into the wilds, here's a track that I'm really loving from it named 'Runaway, Houses, City, Clouds'. It's poignant and yes, nostalgic; meandering but not lazy and a little dreamy - but like lucid dream kind of dreamy, because it's definitely got aim.

The track fades in with a panning, zippy guitar and Kevin Parker's John Lennon-esque, layered and echoey vocals which are followed by really great guitar lines and a cool melody, with some really nice touches of piano too! An awesome track, have a listen:

BOh-nus, here's Tame Impala's loose and grooving old cover of that epic 90s Blue Boy track, 'Remember Me',

Canyons

DJ/producer duo Leo Holiday and Ryan Seamist, together known as Canyons, threw their lot in with the Modular crew and signed to the record label last week, joining ranks with the Presets, Cutters and Tame Impala (also originally from Perth, who Canyons have released a split 12" with). And besides this, they already had their own record label, Hole in the Sky, to release whatever kind of shit they want to, as well as a 12" being released via DFA called 'Fire Eyes' due out on the 21^st of July. Impressive.

Canyons is an intriguing project - though I actually pretty much ignored them when they first cropped up last year - having remixed Ladyhawke's 'Dusk til Dawn'. As the title of their take suggested ('Canyons Garage Disco Remix'), with distorted guitar - solos included, muzzy bass, and oddly enough some disco handclaps thrown into the mix next to a 70s rock vibe, it's more of a raw and messy affair than the original.

Besides Ladyhawke, they've remixed tracks from others on the Aussie scene, including a couple of Tame Impala tracks, Lost Valentinos' 'Bismarck' and the (international) remix village bicycle that has been Empire of the Sun's 'We Are the People' (cop 'em all below).

Canyons stuff isn't necessarily intended to be dancefloor shaking, and frankly, they're not - though they are definitely groove-worthy. Canyons strip away a sample or song to its bones before re-fitting it with completely different flesh; comprised of their dirty, lazily cruising, twisted, garage-infused-hippie disco. I suspect that this may or may not have something to do with coming from Perth. They're like a cup of weird herbal tea - not automatically the kinda brew I'd go back to drink time and time again, but most definitely an interesting variation to my regular cuppa. I'll be watching to see where these kids go.

Backstage with the beer guzzling Tame Impala

photograph by Richard Kelly

So somehow we managed to hijack the Tame Impala kids backstage at Modular's NevereverLand - the climax in a bunch of dates Tame Impala played for their first UK tour. Clutching at least two beers each, they happily obliged us and posed about the place at 3am, filming us shooting them filming us. Perhaps we'll try and get our hands on some of that footage shall we? Read an interview with the band accompanied by more pics from the fabulous Richard Kelly HERE.