Lo-Fi

Grizzly Bear is an indie/folk rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Their music uses melody and ambiance in conjunction with hazy-eyed choruses, whistles, piano, banjo, and several woodwind instruments. Grizzly Bear was originally the solo project of Edward Droste (vocals/guitar), who recorded his debut album Horn Of Plenty at home. The record was originally meant for his friends, but it eventually circulated and got a proper release in 2004, this time with the help of Christopher Bear (drums/vocals). A re-release with a bonus disc of remixes was issued in 2005.

The Axemen is a New Zealand band formed around 1981 in protest against the South African Springbok rugby team tour of New Zealand, a tour which created great controversy, especially as was in contradiction to New Zealand’s obligations under the Gleneagles Agreement. The Axemen played in Chch Cathedral 1981 in response to the Springbok tour. They also played at the protests for homosexual law reform in 1983, with member Little Stevie McCabe being severely beaten up in the Cathedral Square, Christchurch, toilets.

Hype Williams, comprised of Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland, is named after the film maker responsible for Belly. Starring rappers Nas and DMX, it was a hyper-stylised, Nihilist mess and this London duo borrow its finer traits, its strut and loathing. From beneath a medicated haze they lace twanging Americana with seams of swaggering dread. They are Bobby Peru made music. The band's sound consists of very lo-fi, homegrown recordings incorporating hip-hop and '80s references—and the persona going along the band is equally as bricolaged as the tracks.

Line Drawings have just released their debut album take/over. Take/over was crafted in the summer of 2009/10 at various places in Sydney’s inner- west, and later polished at either side of the Pacific by Wayne Connolly (You Am I, Josh Pyke, Youth Group) and Bob Weston (Sebadoh, Archers Of Loaf). ‘Take/over’ calls to mind the places it was made. Its dissonant and dirty guitars recall the sounds of quintessential Australian indie rock while the easy complexity of the rhythm section would not be out of place in Chicago.