10/10 Would Listen: Flower Drums

Flower Drums are putting out some of the nicest, warmest garage-pop we’ve heard in ages. They're like Perth's answer to Toro Y Moi or Washed Out. As we enter into 2015, Pilerats are keeping a firm ear on this four-piece from Perth, who had a winner of a year in 2014, performing at Laneway Festival and giving us two super strong tracks: Bad Websites, and Don’t Wait, the latter featuring vocals from fellow WA artist St. South. Flower Drums have an EP due out next month; and we’re expecting it to make quite the splash, particularly with the current Australian music climate really embracing vocal-driven harmonies with an electronic backbone as per Flower Drums’ style (with Chet Faker being the case in point here).

Flower Drums’ lead singer Leigh Craft has great taste in music – his personal Facebook page is always filled with great picks from left-field artists and rising talents. Leigh’s put together ten songs he’s vibing right now for Pilerats; it’s a neat little collection that encompasses hazy cloud rap, to warbly, raw garage jams, to lo-fi pop arrangements: plenty of brand new selections, too.  

Catch Flower Drums giving Don’t Wait the champagne launch it deserves this Friday at The Bird; with support from surfy sweethearts Dianas, and the soulful R & B of Eteana.Over to you, Leigh:

BONES - SODIUM

19 year-old rapper Bones has released literally hundreds of songs and videos since 2012, most under the two-minute mark. His production style is a combination of lo-fi samples and synths, combined with raw, double-tracked vocals. Fans of weird rap and lo-fi VHS vibes will love this. Plus, he's uploaded enough content to keep you digging for ages.

KAYTRANDA FEAT. VIC MENSA - DRIVE ME CRAZY 

Kaytranada is a 22 year-old electronic producer/DJ from Canada. This track featuring rapper Vic Mensa is crazy good - his flow totally suits Celestinis's slick contemporary production style. No idea who played the cheesy guitar solo near the end - but it's dope.

JOY. - WEATHER

JOY. is the project of 17 year-old alternative artist and producer Olivia McCarthy. Weather is one of many tracks she has dropped over the past year, and like the others, it's a ridiculously beautiful piece of future pop. (Ed's note: check out this beautiful live recording of her playing Captured, too).

B4.DA.$$ - BLACK BEETLES

B4.Da.$$ is the debut album from American Hip-Hop artist Joey Bada$$. Black Beetles is arguably one of the darker tracks from the record, at least lyrically. The main sample sounds like a Pungi (snake charmers flute) over a classic lo-fi piano loop and golden age hip-hop beat. 

 WALDO - RICH WITHOUT MONEY (PROD. FORTUNE, GRAVEZ & SANGO)

Rich Without Money is the latest track from Michigan-based rapper Waldo. With production from Fortune, Gravez and Sango, it's no wonder this kills. Waldo peaks in this track, the production has everything sitting in all the right places including some epic bass. 

FOREIGN NATIONAL - ALWAYS BLUE

Foreign National are a Melbourne-based dreamy garage band. Their latest Always Blue is a kind of Mac Demarco-meets-Tame Impala kind of thing: a soup of heavily compressed drums, chorused guitars, and waves of tape warble throughout. Fans of casual, lo-fi, garage pop will vibe hard on this. 

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA - MULTI LOVE

Ruban Nielson's song writing and production style for Unknown Mortal Orchestra has remained in the realm of lo-fi garage pop for some time now; singular for his unique recording method and dirty, saturated, vocal sound. Mix all this with some catchy R&B/soul vibes and that's where his new track Multi Love sits. No doubt the forthcoming album will be as good (if not better) than his past releases.

 CORBIN - WORN (PROD. BY WEDIDIT & THE STAND4RD)

Corbin (Spooky Black) is the Internet's wonder boy, his music sounds like a dark, hypnotic plea for affection. He's released a heap of music both under Spooky Black and more recently Corbin. This track produced by Shlohmo, d33j, Bobby Raps, and Psymun is more heavily-produced than past tracks, with the inclusion of auto-tune and a somewhat hectic overall sound. 

YOUNG NIGEL - TRYIN' TO FORGET

Tryin' To Forget is the first and only track release by Young Nigel - it's a smooth, synth-based jam featuring some super cool vocal samples. Anyone that's into chilled electronic synth music along the veins of Andras Fox should check this out.  

CAFE LANAI - LANAI

Cafe Lanai is a duo project comprised of artists Michael Brock and Forever. Their track Lanai has hints of a great pop song without all the hooks you'd normally associate with pop music. It's smooth house music with subtle R&B vocals and a strange, almost obnoxious bridge that is totally cool because there's a welcome reprise at the end. Cafe music for sure.

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