Song #73: Cameron Smith - "The Grey Man"

Cameron Smith is an Australian musician, formerly of the brilliant Epitomes, and also a good friend of mine. Recently, he did a very special bedroom recording for his younger brother, Curtis, and his eighteenth birthday. What a lovely, brotherly thing to do!

The song is The Grey Man. Fans of Copeland will recognise the song from their final album, the incredible You Are My Sunshine from 2008. Cameron plays everything himself here - the guitar, bass and percussion all sounding very impressive for such a low-budget quality. His voice, even though the falsetto is out of his range, also sounds really good - the bridge sees some distorted vocals and even dual harmonies come into play, which works surprisingly well. A perfect cover? No, sir. But if someone got me this for my birthday, I wouldn't be complaining!

FINAL RATING (/10): 8

You can download Cameron's version here.

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David

Song #40: Let Me Down Jungleman, Gently - "Cobargo Drama"

Woo! Another landmark! How exciting. Another hectic weekend, so here's the three songs from the past three days.

First up, a very cool band that I saw for the first time on Saturday, opening for a one-off Epitomes reunion - the name's Let Me Down Jungleman, Gently. They immediately intrigued me on the basis of having two lead vocalists that both played instruments, as well as the fact they weren't playing the kind of music I'm used to seeing at tiny south-coast gigs. There was melody! Song structure! Time signature changes! ...okay, that probably made everything else sound shit, but I'm so used to straightforward hardcore that this was a real surprise.

Not complaining in the slightest, for the record. This track in particular was fantastic - strong vocals, a thick twisting bassline and a compromise between abrasiveness and cohesiveness. Think At the Drive-In if there was more of a focus on Jim Ward's vocals (no, not Sparta, shut up) and you're on your way. It's a track even Frenzal Rhomb/Triple J man Lindsay "The Doctor" McDougall has shown some appreciation for - so perhaps that's a bit of incentive?

FINAL RATING (/10); 8.5

Mostly, the bonus .5 is for the fact their two-track demo has a stroke of real red paint on it. Mad cool.

Check it all out on Triple J Unearthed.

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David