It seems that Australia has been at the forefront for creative and innovative indie rock and electronic music in the past few years, with bands like Tame Impala, Cut Copy, and Flume spilling out from its shores, intent on crossing the Pacific and making waves in the US (which they have). And now you can add Victoria, Australia-based Skipping Girl Vinegar to that list. Having released two albums, the latest one being 2012’s Keep Calm, Carry the Monkey, the band were met with a wide range of praise from Australian radio and press—figuring quite heavily in the rotation for Australian youth network Triple J. Comprised of childhood friends, Skipping Girl Vinegar are looking to spread their dream-like indie rock soundscapes as far as they can, and if they continue to develop their self-proclaimed “hobo-pop” sound as well as they have on their first two albums, the band should have no trouble building upon their already considerable fan base. Recently the band took some time to talk to Beats Per Minute about some of the records which influenced the recording of their debut album Sift the Noise and sophomore release Keep Calm, Carry the Monkey. Check out some of Skipping Girl Vinegar’s influences in our latest installment of On Deck.
Top 5 Albums that have influenced the way we recorded our albums Sift the Noise and Keep Calm, Carry the Monkey.
Magnet – On Your Side
The first single, “Where Happiness Lives,” spurred us on to buy this album. From the moment you hit play you start to realize what a musical genius Norwegian Even Johansen is because this album is arranged and crafted beautifully. There’s more to discover on the 100th listen. Even now, we can hear on track one some scrunching noise that we didn’t hear before. This album influenced the way we recorded the soundscapes on both records and the way we arranged the horns on “Fighting With Gravity.”
The Frames – For the Birds
This record came out when we started pre-production for Sift the Noise. The Frames use really interesting and deep drum sounds on this album, plus awesome use of the banjo pre-Mumford and Sons. Glen Hansard writes earnest lyrics about the human condition. It’s best not to lose your copy of this record. We have all been known to re-buy this album when our copies went missing. This record also boasts some amazing textured artwork which also influence the way we thought about how we wanted our music to be packaged.
The Beatles – Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club
We like to call our music ‘hobo pop’ because we use a lot of recycled objects and old instruments, both on our recorded work and in live performances. The Beatles were revolutionary in creating interesting hobo sounds on their recordings. There is so much character and wackiness to each track on this record.
Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
This is Ryan Adam’s greatest album in our opinion. He was working with Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings and Emmylou Harris at the time and it shows. We were influenced by the track “To Be Young” for the recording of the handclaps and slap-back reverb on the lead-vocal on “One Chance.” The gut-wrenching track “Sweet Carolina,” also features the most honest lyrics a musician could write “I ain’t never been to Vegas, but I gambled up my life”. This often rings true to us.
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
This album is a pop masterpiece. Jeff Tweedy is one of our favourite songwriters. His melody and lyric moves on this album are unpredictable. You don’t know where each track will lead you and sometimes you don’t know when the song will start. Wrap that up in amazing arrangements, percussion and musicianship and you’re in heaven.
Be sure to check out Skipping Girl Vinegar’s website to keep up on information concerning upcoming tour dates and new songs and videos.
