Dan Condon: Sick Tunes, June 29, 2012

Oh yes it's ladies' night and the feeling's right, oh yes it's ladies' night, oh what a night (oh what a night). Oh yes it's ladies' night and the feeling's right, oh yes it's ladies' night, oh what a night (oh what a night).

I've been listening almost exclusively to music that features female vocalists for the past couple of weeks; I'm not sure whether it's coincidence or a direct result of Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe being one of the greatest songs ever committed to tape and never leaving my iPod and, as such, I'll only listen to other songs that I can pretend are kind of related to it. I just don't know.

Anyway, none of these songs sound like Call Me Maybe – for better or worse – so give them a crack anyway.

Kill My Blues is the second record from the Corin Tucker Band – Tucker of course being one of the mainstays of the unbelievably awesome Sleater Kinney and, before that, Heavens To Betsy – and it'll be out mid-September. It's quite startling how in form both Tucker and her ex-Sleater Kinney pal Carrie Brownstein (who now plays in the very good Wild Flag) are with their respective songwriting and you'll likely agree upon hearing Groundhog Day from Tucker's forthcoming album. It's brimming with life, Tucker giving one almighty vocal performance, and has the trademark indie charm and guitar heavy buzz that made SK one truly awesome outfit. It's a completely different concern, but it has a lot of the same elements. Pitchfork have the tune available for download, which you can do at this link.

Susie Patton used to live in Brisbane and while she did, she played in a cool band called I Heart Hiroshima who were adored by many and became known throughout the land after a bunch of cool tours they were a part of and some triple j airplay etcetera. She then moved to Europe and began to play with Philadelphia Grand Jury for a stint, becoming one of their many drummers before they called it quits. Now she is Rodeo (insert Magnetic Fields reference at your own wont… anyone? No?), it's the name she uses to release left-field pop music that shows off her prodigious musical talent and ever developing knack for penning a catchy tune. On The Road is a pulsating electro-pop that gets off to a sluggish start, but gets better and better as it progresses so that by the end of it you kinda wanna hear it again. So if you're struggling early on, please stick with it. Awesome chorus and a nice spot of rapping from someone called Black Cracker who I haven't even bothered Googling. Mr Cracker, if you're reading this, you do good work.

Also from Brisbane, Little Scout are a kind of atmospheric indie-pop band who put out a cool record in Take Your Light last year. They've wasted no time in moving on from the songs on that record though, pumping out a new single in Go Quietly just over a week ago, apparently it's been getting all sorts of airplay and such so please accept my sincere apologies if you're sick of it already, but I think it's worthy of sick accreditation. A dangerously catchy verse vocal just weaves around stark bass and drums while sparse chiming guitar and haunting harmonies creep up out of nowhere and, before you know it, you're hit with a strong chorus (strong, but not as catchy as the verse). It's essentially a progression in sound, but I wouldn't say they're “maturing” with the song – quite the opposite – which, frankly, is a breath of fresh air.

Oh yes it's ladies' night and the feeling's right, oh yes it's ladies' night, oh what a night (oh what a night). Oh yes it's ladies' night and the feeling's right, oh yes it's ladies' night, oh what a night (oh what a night).

Here's a song you're gonna hate in three months time. Ester Dean has written songs with the likes of Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Nicki Minaj, Kelly Clarkson, Usher, Kelly Rowland, Girlicious, Rihanna, R. Kelly, Britney Spears, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Pia Toscano, Tinie Tempah, Lil Wayne, Shakira (not even fucking kidding). It's pretty rad to hear her step out in front of the mic though and let me assure you that Bam Bam is a statement of intent; with a number of really fucking good femcees dropping massive tracks just about every day, Ester Dean wants you to know that she deserves a slice of that pie. Bam Bam might be one of the biggest songs of the year if its given the right push, though it might be a little too dirty to really crossover completely. I love it now, as I sit at my desk blasting it at unhealthy levels through my Sennheisers, but let me assure you I'm going to fucking hate it when it's blaring out of the cab speakers at 3.42am on a Saturday morning in about eight weeks time and all I want in the entire world is to not project a most unholy union of undigested Coopers Sparkling and scotch and dry across the dash of the horrid smelling public vehicle. It'll make you dance, it'll make you spew – it has to be a hit, right?

Have you heard the new Cat Power song? I wasn't exactly jumping out of my skin to hear it, I still think Chan Marshall is great but her music has always kind of represented a pretty distinct time and place in my life that I've moved well past. The new song is truly excellent though and bodes well for her new record Sun, which is released through Matador/Remote Control on Friday 31 August, and seems like could be a little more upbeat a record that we're generally used to from Cat Power. I don't want to speculate too much because she might write an attacking tweet about me and she's really good at doing that and I think she'd destroy my feelings really quickly.

Anyway, here's Ruin, the first and very excellent single from the record.

Apologies to anyone who wanted me to post about the new Unnatural Helpers song (aka nobody) I'd love to but there's no women in there and I figure if I can start some kind of thematic feel to my blogs every now and then maybe I can get some mad hits. We'll see.