Miami Horror – Sometimes

I know, I’m late. Who hasn’t heard this song? Who hasn’t seen it’s cool telling a tale of romantic escapism? Who hasn’t indulged in the disco-throwback sounds of Melbourne electronic duo Miami Horror over the last couple of months? People living under bad-music rocks, that’s who. Should those hermits eventually emerge from the dark depths of dreadfulness, this track would surely be one of the first they’d want to get their dirty little hands on. Whimsical but not MGMT-irritating, LSD-consumption-evoking but not MGMT irritating and with an instantly memorable synth line – sort of like MGMT – this is definitely one of the finest cuts to come out of the burgeoning Aussie electro scene.

Moreover, after a spectacularly impressive yesterday, it is a statement of intent for the Australian music biz at large. No longer do we merely produce cock-rock for the masses (although we still do a bit of that in Jet, Wolfmother) but we have evolved from a tiny nation of convict-lads with the same musical knowledge as the sheep they farmed to a proud nation boasting a variegated and intensely professional line-up of inspiring artists. Miami Horror, in all of this, falls in alongside The Presets, Cut Copy and Bumblebeez (whose set yesterday was possibly more shock then awe) on the dance side of things. They weren’t represented at yesterday’s festival (the psychedelic sounds wouldn’t have gelled well with a predominantly bogan/drunk crowd) but I have seen them (of all places, at the local bar down the road The Sheaf) and as a live band, they do certainly show some promise.

So why am I dredging this track up now, amidst the post-Homebake wash-up at which they weren’t even present? Basically because it best represents the kind of day I had today and the kind of mindset that seems to prevail around early December here in Sin City (aka Sydney – thanks Phrase). The track revels in the same kind of abandonment that brought the aforementioned irritating MGMT their fame (for, we can assure you, it wasn’t their live-music aptitude) but somehow (in a particularly Australian fashion) seems never to take itself too seriously, subscribing to a sort of languid existentialism that definitely resonates after an afternoon of pizza and snorkling on the harbour. It’s not cutting-edge like I think Infusion is and it doesn’t quite make me want to jump up and down on the spot like Hudson Mohawke does but it is a success as a solid dance track. Onwards and upwards!

Miami Horror – Sometimes