MARCH ’15 MIX.
I’ve been all deep inside this mixtape over the past couple of days. It’s been pouring and super windy here in Sydneytown, so I’ve been stuck inside, writing, selecting tracks, mixing etc. It’s longer than some of the earlier ones, with 19 tracks. All pretty solid too, although you’d expect that from a maamf mixtape.
From Oh Mercy to Sarah Mary Chadwick, there are odes to self desire and self defeat. From friendships to Abelard, there’s stark harshness and sugar coated nostalgic glitz. A tape full of contrast, with each playing off the other.
A tape worth it, for the showcase of broad tastes and ideas and sonicness alone.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
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Miks
JANUARY ’15 MIX.
Oh yeah, new year, same old lazy habits.
New year, same old excellent monthly mixtapes tho, so, you ain’t gonna get all complainy on me now are ya??
I think what I like the most about this tape, especially it being the January tape released some three weeks into February and all, is what it captures in new starts. None of this music sounds ‘new’, as in different to the music released up until the 31st of December 2014. But it’s the constant in the my ever changing scenery.
I got a notification thingy from wordpress a couple of days ago saying “Happy Anniversary!’ and informed me that I registered my account some 6 years ago. Maamf as it currently stands hasn’t been kicking around for that long (full, albeit brief history lesson here), but it acted as a nice little reminder for me in what has been important to me over the last 6 years. Writing and exploring my tastes is something I really enjoy doing – it’s something I’ve been doing in a full time capacity for two and a bit years now, albeit about other people’s tastes.
I’ve thought about giving up maamf, or changing it to just a mixtape site maybe, or just taking a back seat on it for a while. Even with Adam coming on board a year ago, and of course taking into consideration his manic life, it has at times felt like the only option.
On the other hand, I’ve also had some rather big plans for maamf – I’ve thought about introducing interviews, a more formal music writing section documenting the different scenes happening across Australia, doing a full redesign with a new (and better logo), finally buying the domain name so we’re not slaves to the wordpress corporation, and even starting a podcast.
What I hope is that all these things will start, at some point. What I know though is that for now, and potentially for the next 12 months or so, this little site will be the same sporadic weird insight into two new music loving nerds. Maamf still exists because I can’t not listen to new Australian music. It is my one constant.
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Wank over (nah, actually, you prolly didn’t read the above overly ejaculatory ego fest. you just here for the music right? wouldn’t blame ya, what with this being a fucking good tape and all).
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
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Miks.
OCTOBER ’14 MIX.
oh mate. I mean gee whiz. Little Miksydicklefizz here is struggling to get these things up in a time appropriate manner. I’m currently facing perhaps the busiest time of my PhD which is basically just full of travel and stuff. And the field work has been absolutely excellent – couldn’t ask for better young people to speak to, but mate, not being in the one city for more than two weeks is getting to me. But hey, what is this? the little excuse club full of lilttle teeny weeny excuses?
Nah mate, it’s not. It is actually a pretty rad Australian music site (72nd best in the country – it’s a self-appointed title we’re all pretty proud of around here). And this here be the October mixtape.
I’ve taken a couple of liberties with this one – it was originally stuck at around 30 tracks and I did consider doing two tapes, coz, you know, two’s better than one etc (i’m single). At the top, I really do need to mention that the excellent Max Quinn has started a little music projoect – his Onomatopenis. His work ain’t up on soundcloud, so just as a little extra, if you download the tape (YOU REALLY SHOULD AND PLAY IT AT ALL OF YOUR PARTIES), then wedged between SCOTDRAKULA‘s ‘Shazon’ and Anatole‘s HTMLflowers remix is ‘Tarmax’ off Max’s first proper release. Also, I’m well aware that both Rolls Bayce‘s ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ and Luke Howard‘s ‘Cibi’ have been kicking around for a while, but they hit my radar in October (add another penny to the excuse club jar).
Bloody great tape though, full of everything. CHIEFS is doing some ace things at the moment – heaps of collab work. This track with old mate Owen Rabbit is pretty fantastic – hearing Owen in a different light is pretty great. Gab Strum’s (Japanese Wallpaper) side project Càbãnå is also killing it – big Phoenix vibes and so is DXHeaven. A while ago I wrote about this new sophisticated pop/r’n’b that’s coming out of Melbourne. Really need to add DXHeaven to that list.
So yeah, there you have it. Part diary of a mad man, part talking about the excellent tracks in this ol’ tape.
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DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE TAPE (Right Click/Save As)
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Miks
SEPTEMBER ’14 MIX.
Oh goodness.
I’m writing this post in parts.
I’m currently at uni (on a Saturday) and I’m meant to be transcribing some interview data. But even though I’ve had some amazing and illuminating chats with young people about music-making and I love listening back to them, the actual practice of typing, command tabbing back and forth between Word and iTunes, constantly pressing rewind and pause gets tedious, and is currently making me feel nauseous. So, what better than listening to the potential tracks for the September tape (as I write there are 29 – should lose about half of those) and writing this here intro. But then again, the intro has ended up looking more like a tedious and nausea inducing account of my morning.
And so we come full circle.
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It’s Sunday morning, and that Saturday morning diatribe is gone. I feel better, – it’s quite nice outside. It’s meant to be a warm one although those northerly winds are forecast. I get hayfever pretty bad – yesterday’s account was partially effected by that. And the northerly winds bring up all that pollen and dust in the air, so I think it’s an inside day for me. I’m still going through the tracks for September – slowly dwindling them down as the waft of bacon and eggs sifts through from the kitchen. Although this bacon and eggs wasn’t mine, the smell of it puts me in a fucking good mood. And that sun’s still out too.
The tracks this month are essentially everything you want in a mixtape. Or, everything you want in a monthly mixtape. Or maybe just what I want in a monthly mixtape that I do each month that usually comes about 12 days later than it technically should.
—
So anyway, the tracks. Some lovely warm guitar pop from SMILE, Harley Young & The Haymakers and FLOWERTRUCK, some strange and wonderful sounds from Tetrahedra, kučka and AFXJIM and some of that euphoric pop music from Brightly and Owen Rabbit that I’m always going to be a sucker for. And of course all the other acts – thanks for making this September tape one of the best yet!
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DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE TAPE (Right Click/Save As)
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Miks
JULY ’14 MIX.
Oh man! This be all nuts and stuff. Holidays are an amazing thing, and so is travelling down to see all those friends and family you left back down there. I actually think I might re-listen to this tape on my flight home. Prolly the correct length too.
Anyway, gosh, mate, enough of my crazy travel exploits (not that crazy, or exploitative even). This here tape is full to the brim of some real maamf faves. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s mid-year and I haven’t done that list that everyone else has done. Maybe it’s the fact that all my old maamf faves actually put out some killer tracks in July. Either way, the tapes a bloody bonza listen k?
A few little mentions though. Our mate Snowy Nasdaq joked that I should call these MiksTapes and then recoiled from that idea suggesting that perhaps I had thought of it already. To be honest Snowy, it did cross my mind early on, but I thought no one would take me seriously. Maybe I’m wrong? On the music front though, the guy is going from excellent to excellent with his one single a month thing. Seriously, the man knows his way around a wonky pop tune.
I also thought that this blog may run the risk of becoming the Laura Jean fanpage. Her new single ‘Don’t Marry the One You Love’, the second off her new self-titled album due out in a couple of weeks, is so much more upbeat sounding than ‘First Love Song’. The name doesn’t suggest that though – it still has that trademark world-weariness that Laura is becoming pretty well known for.
And finally, Flube. To put it simply, when you come across a good remix, it’ll most likely get a run. The new Seekae stuff is nice, but I gotta be honest, it’s taking me a while to get into it proper. There’s something about the whole Alex Cameron singing thing that although works in his super niche solo project, doesn’t resonate as much within the context of a band who have gone some way to define Australian electronic music. Maybe it’s the fact that it makes it a little more accessible, but the Flume remix still stays a little weird. It also hits reasonably hard. And maybe it’s the #clubbanger in it, but I like it over the original.
This month we’re also experimenting with a playlist of the tracks in soundcloud. The only track not on the playlist that is still in the tape is the Straight Arrows tune ‘Don’t Call My Name’. It’s not on soundcloud, and knowing what they’re like with shutting down accounts, I didn’t want to risk uploading it myself. The full tape is still available as a full stream and download though!
MAAMF – JULY ’14 MIX.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
TRACKLISTING:
Richard In Your Mind – Hammered
Tim Fitz – Sour
Straight Arrows – Don’t Call My Name
Bad//Dreems – My Only Friend
Laura Jean – Don’t Marry The One You Love
Klo – False Calls
Jack R Reilly – Collapse In One
Snowy Nasdaq – Lopsided Smile
Tora – Eat The Sun
Banoffee – Got It
Seekae – Test & Recognise (Flume Re-Work)
Lower Spectrum – Hex
Fractures – Won’t Win (Japanese Wallpaper remix)
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Miks.
MAY ’14 MIX.
May mixtape is up and ready for your perusal. Featuring a whole heap, some old faves, some new exciting producers, some punk rock and some of the most sincere singer-songwriter stuff you’ll hear in a while.
MAAMF – MAY ’14 MIX.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
TRACKLISTING:
Cool Sounds – Nice
Ciggie Witch – Taylors Lakes
The Zebras – Try
Jonathan Boulet – Hold It Down
Life Coach – Tigersharx (Right Click/Save As)
Anatole – Undercurrent
Guerre – Deatheat
Deja – Heart
Ealing – Long Island (Right Click/Save As)
Milwaukee Banks – Rose Water
Andy Bull – Talk Too Much
Geoffrey O’Connor – Her Name On Every Tongue
Spookyland – The Silly Fucking Thing (Right Click/Save As)
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Miks
APRIL ’14 MIX.
awwwwww yeah. I’m feeling seedy. Like, very seedy. And not in some sex-crazed maniac way, just hungover way.
So this’ll be funn!
Lucky for these here mixtapes then I suppose. An incredible mix as per usual. And apologies if it sounds different for some reason – I use GarageBand (yay for free software that does an alright job!) to create these – and that just updated itself, so I had to reteach myself as I went along.
But yes, anyway, April was bang up. It’s a big tape too with 16 tracks packed into just over an hour long mix.
ENJOY.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
TRACKLISTING:
friendships – 2 Reel (friendships & Null) (Right Click/Save As)
City Calm Down – Pavement
Crooked Colours – In Your Bones
Cutloose – On Top (Ft. Blaq Carrie & Shaneal)
High-Tails – Bending Over Backwards (Snowy Nasdaq Remix) (Right Click/Save As)
Remi – Tyson
Jack R Reilly – My First Panic Attack (Right Click/Save As)
King Single – Restart Newstart Allowance
The Harpoons – Unforgettable
Roku Music – You
Lowtide – Blue Movie
BadDreems – Dumb Ideas
Emma Russack – Get Back
Cut Copy – Like Any Other Day
Collarbones – Burnout (Right Click/Save As)
Luke Howard – August (Kyson Remix)
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Miks
BEST OF 2013 – ALBUMS [10-1]
Yep. Here it is. Smack bang, ready for that little nostalgia comedown that is New Years Day.
As I alluded to in the 20-11 post on Monday, this year has been a fucking full on one. It compromised of a move interstate, and heading back to uni (although I’m not sure if you can really call doing a PhD going back to uni – prolly more like doing a full-time fucking job times about 3). Those weren’t the only things that happened of course, but they were probably the two things that impacted most on maamf for 2013.
It’s also been a year when the maamf sister site MISMATCH.TV started to come into it’s own. And although it’s definitely got a bit to go and I feel as though it’s not yet at the level I reckon it can get to, it’s taken up a bit of time as well. (However, a massive thanks to my good mates/mismatchians/Melbourne music loving fanatics Lauren and Sabi for making mismatch what it is, and making that time enjoyable).
Anyway, these are the 10. The ones that I kept on returning to this year. It’s much more of a personal list this year, with a few albums either reminding me of Melbourne, and others welcoming me into the city of Sydney.
It also comes complete with a mixtape featuring two tracks from each album. Fuckin’ BUMPER. (more…)
BEST OF 2013 – ALBUMS [20-11]
ok. So really, these aren’t in any particular order. But, they are all pretty bloody excellent. As with last year, I’ve done a mix of one track from each album.
I’ll go into it in a bit more detail when I put up my top 10, but this year has been pretty different. It’s been a year when the blog has gone all over the shop, stopped for a couple of weeks, and has been a continuous source of (good) distraction.
So, these albums are those distractions. Sure, there are 10 other albums that perhaps were more distracting, but these one’s did a pretty bloody good job all the same.
No particular order for these ones, but I have included a stream for each (I is generous like that).
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
OCTOBER ’13 MIX.
So I dunno what a dog has to do with October. Or this mixtape. There’s not even a song that mentions a dog. But he’s a cute pooch (yeah, that’s right, I said a fluffy toy was cute, and I also called it a ‘he’. Well, actually, his name is Fang and he’s the raddest and, strangely, the quietest dog I think me or my housemates have ever had, but doge’s be kool homie. k? even stuffed ones).
But, anyway, the music? Yeah, well, October has been solid. Some excellent album and EP releases as well as some really excellent one-off singles. Too many (13 to be precise) to list off right now, but man, get this bloody thing inta ya.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
TRACKLISTING:
Japanese Wallpaper – Breathe In (ft. Wafia) (Right Click/Save As)
COVERS – The Automation
Early Woman – Feathers
Motion Picture Actress – Water Lyf
Ry – The Breakdown (Right Click/Save As)
World’s End Press X Client Liaison – Video Life
Panama – Always (Wave Racer Remix)
Seagull – All For One
courtney barnett – anonymous club
Black Cab – Games Of The XXI Olympiad
Keep On Dancin’s – Grey Ghost (Right Click/Save As)
The Ocean Party – Quarter Life Crisis
The Ancients – Night Bus
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Miks
JUNE ’13 MIX.
And yep, here it finally is. A whole heap of stuff, from the crazed out sleazy funk of Sex On Toast to that blissful epicness of Big Scary and Ernest Ellis. Then there’s of course some big ol’ standouts – Kirin J Callinan‘s album is pretty good, so is that Jagwa Ma record. It’s been a pretty big month for excellent local music!
So without further ado, check it out below.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
TRACKLISTING:
Ernest Ellis – Black Wire
Big Scary – Why Hip Hop Sucks in ’13
Kirin J Callinan – Victoria M.
TV Colours – Beverly
Hypersleep – Thumb Wars (Right Click/Save As)
Major Napier – Sensitive Fuck (Right Click/Save As)
Lace Curtain – Fallin’ 2
Redspencer – Night Drive (Right Click/Save As)
Tim Fitz – Hospital (Right Click/Save As)
Jagwa Ma – Did You Have To
Back Back Forward Punch – Don’t Stop Now (Right Click/Save As)
Lancelot – Thinking Of You (Feat. Whyte Fang)
Sex On Toast – Takin’ Over (Right Click/Save As)
Young Night – Another Me (Right Click/Save As)
The Real Eyes – My Lithium
Young Maverick – Mayor Of Town
Trjaeu – Elope
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Miks
FAVOURITE TRACKS OF 2012
Ok, so here it is. my favourite 10 tracks of 2012. I think I’ll let the music do the talking instead of me crapping on about how each track made my year.
All I will say though is the criteria I had for this list
- It had to be a track I kept on coming back to; and
- It had to be a track that, even on the 10th listen, was still good.
I should also mention that they’re not numbered. They’re all decent in their own way. Awwwwww.
You can stream all ten below, and if you’re keen, you can download a mix with all ten below.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
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Miks
JONATHAN BOULET.
Ok, so here is the first official single off Jonathan Boulet‘s new album, ‘We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart’. We got our first taste with Trounce a month or two back, and although new single This Song Is Called Ragged is no where near as ferocious as Trounce, it is still one of those super percussive heavy tracks with a riff that sticks in your noggin for some time.
I’ve pre-orded the good sir’s new album…you should too. Reckon it may well hit the maamf ’12 top 10. And this is only at two tracks in.
Jonathan Boulet – This Song Is Called Ragged by modularpeople
Miks
BEST OF JAN MIX
There’s been quite a few things pop up lately, so I thought I should put together a bit of a mixtape. You can download the thing below.
These tracks are definitely my fave of this month…even if it is a little early!
Tracklist:
1. Taxidermy Hall – R.U.M.O.U.R.S.
2. Private Life – Black Heart
3. The Ruminaters – Deadstuff
4. Belle and the Bone People – The Light
5. Young Maverick – Get Up
6. Jonti – Sugar High
7. Yes You – Be There
8. Thrupence – White Kite
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Miks
pleasing operators
Operator Please are heading out on tour! To help launch their second, all grown up album, they’re heading out on tour doing all the cap cities (well…most of them.)
You can check out tickets via the maamf posse page which is kinda cool. There’s also a killer remix of their first single Gloves doing the rounds by none other than Like Woah! (People thought Like Woah! had died and had morphed into Ted & Francis full time…but, no, they haven’t). Cheers to !tashed for the remix. Give those guys some blog love 🙂
Anyway, check out the dates below and make sure if you’re heading along, to grab tix through the maamf Posse store!
All the shows are going to be supported by the much loved Tim & Jean as well as Sydney kids Chaingang.
Operator Please – ‘Gloves Off’ tour
Friday 18th June – Astor Theater, Perth (18+) Get Tix @ Posse!
Saturday 19th June – Governor Hindmarsh, Adelaide (Lic a/a)
Friday 25th June – Corner Hotel, Melbourne (18+) Get Tix @ Posse!
Saturday 26th June – Metro Theatre, Sydney (Lic a/a) Get Tix @ Posse!
Friday 2nd July – HiFi, Brisbane (18+) Get Tix @ Posse!
Saturday 3rd July – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast (18+) Get Tix @ Posse!
philly jays head to…
…not Philadelphia. But they are leaving (for London to be precise). And who knows for how long? 😦 If you haven’t seen the Philly Jays in action, make sure you check them out for their final Aussie tour. Should be a good good one. It’s all to promote their latest single “I Don’t Want To Party (Party)”…but I suppose that’s only half of it. The guys are considered as one of Australia’s best live acts, and for a band that have only been around for a short while (first single, Going To The Casino was released mid last year), that’s a pretty good status to hold so early on in the game. So go and check the dudes out for the last final time! Check out the dates below.
Anyway, the new single is already a bit of a live favourite, especially those little “ra ra ra ra ra ra” bits at the end, and the big shouty lyrics. The release of the single is going to feature some extra cool exclusives with a remix of album track Wet Winter Holiday done by Mike FWD, a solo track from Berkfinger called Jimmy At The Whorehouse (little side note: Berkfinger’s releasing a full length solo concept album later on this year, and this is the first cut!), and a new track called Both Kinds Of Music produced by the band’s new drummer Calvin, who apparently is this 56 year old American dude who used to be a session drummer for bands like Earth Wind and Fire!
Anyway, I definitely recommend checking out the fellas before they depart. Or, if you’re in the US or UK, you’ll get to see them from late April/early June. Check out the Aussie dates below, or over at their MySpace for the UK and US dates. They’re bound to sell out. The guys should go gangbusters over in the UK me thinks. World domination for the Philly Jays!!!
Philadelphia Grand Jury – I Don’t Want To Party (Party)
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Philadelphia Grand Jury – Wet Winter Holiday (Mike FWD Remix)
We Don’t Want To Party (Party) Australian Tour – April 2010
With special guests: The John Steele Singers
02/04 Sussex Inlet RSL, Sussex Inlet* – www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
03/04 Club Sapphire, Merimbula* – www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
04/04 Tathra Hotel, Tathra* – www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
09/04 Karova Lounge, Ballarat – www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
10/04 East Brunswick Club, Melb – www.eastbrunswickclub.com or 03 9388 9794
11/04 East Brunswick Club, Melb – www.eastbrunswickclub.com or 03 9388 9794
15/04 Oxford Art Factory, Syd – www.moshtix.com.au, Moshtix Outlets, or 1300 GETTIX
16/04 Oxford Art Factory, Syd – www.moshtix.com.au, Moshtix Outlets, or 1300 GETTIX
17/04 The Zoo, Bris – www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
22/04 Jive Bar, Radelaide – www.moshtix.com.au, Moshtix Outlets, or 1300 GETTIX
23/04 Jive Bar, Radelaide – www.moshtix.com.au, Moshtix Outlets, or 1300 GETTIX
24/04 Rosemount Hotel, Perth* – www.moshtix.com.au, Moshtix Outlets, or 1300 GET TIX or www.heatseeker.com.au
* The John Steele Singers not appearing
i’m sure there’s a logical explanation for all of this!
and there is! A few years ago, you either loved or hated young Aussie band Operator Please. They were freakin young, and if you remember, had a song, about ping pong. Yeah…those guys.
They have a new song though. And it’s very good. More mature sounding, and not a song about a table based recreational activity. The opening bass and drums just set up this really cool, darker feel and it just goes from there. The track is called Logic and it’s taken off their soon to be released second album Gloves (April 26th) which they spent the winter of last year completing. The LP was self-produced by Amandah and Tim fron the band as well as bigwigs Jimmy Harry and Chris Fudurich (No Doubt).
Anyway, here’s the song. Prett nice! Also, if you like, the guys are offering up a pretty good deal on pre-ordering their album. Just jump over to their website and you could score yourself a signed disc as well as some remixes and demo’s.
Good eh? You know it.
middle of the dark side
You know how sometimes, there are bands that have this really awesome song and you love it so much that it becomes your second favourite track of the year and after a while you realise that you only know that one song?
I do.
The Middle East are that band for me. And Blood was that song for me. I did know one other song by them however…and to be honest, it kind of put me off. That song was called Pig Food…and it was just too slow and naval gazing and depressing. It sounded like a Melbourne band called Laura who produce these massively long depressing tracks (I do like Laura, just in small doses!) But then another track fell into my hands. It’s called The Darkest Side and it makes me realise that The Middle East should be known for more than just the one song. It has that whole folk pop thing, the same as Blood, but a little more introspective I suppose.
Anyway, here it is. If you listen to the JJJ’s, then you’ve probably heard it. The guys also just one the J Award for best Unearthed Act. Pretty good award to win I reckon!
The Middle East – The Darkest Side
I also recommend checking out the vid for Blood. Pretty nice.
K. That’ll do the ramble for now
moment in a streetcar
ok. This dropped in the inbox the other day with the words “Here’s a track for you that’s not on Modular or Bang Gang”. Bloody relieved too! Don’t get me wrong, even though i did say that i’m going to (try) and do less posts on bands/acts that aren’t on Modular or Bang Gang, it was just a relief to see that there is some good indie electro disco (whatever other genre you want to include) that isn’t on the two aforementioned labels.
Get Stellar are from Radelaide. And you know what? I’m ok with that. The Swiss are from Adelaide too so I’m starting to come around to it. Albeit a little tiny bit slowly. Anyway, these guys put this really funky bass line into their track The Moment. It get’s a little slap (think Seinfeld theme) at parts too which just ups the funky to 11 or whatever the disco/funk equivalent is. The other thing I really like about this track is the vocals. They’re not amazing, but they just work. It seems as though a lot of this disco electro stuff shies away from vocals. These dudes do it well.
Anyway, check em out. There’s also some pretty great remixes that come along with the track. My fave would have to be the Def Starr Remix. GLOVES also does one too…but I think the Def Starr remix just tips it at the post. Big call I know…and I’m sorry GLOVES.
Get Stellar – The Moment (Extended Edit)
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Get Stellar – The Moment (Def Starr Remix)
K. That’ll do the ramble for now
sexy time
ok. I think one of my New Year Resolutions will be to find another record label other than Modular and Bang Gang 12″s that I think are the beezneezzz. So, without further ado, I promise you my last ever Mod/Bang specific post! (NB. Promises are made to be broken right? oh wait…that’s rules. anyway…i’m not good at keeping promises…wow…not really painting a very good picture of myself am i??!!)
Let’s get on with it. Two bands/acts have been put on high rotation of late. And they’re both Aussie. The Swiss and Cassian.
First off, The Swiss. What’s perhaps the best thing about these dudes is that they don’t hail from your typical electro scene of Melbourne or Sydney. The Swiss are from Adelaide, proving it doesn’t matter where you came from, it’s how you do it that counts. Ohh…how sweet. I posted their track Movement 1 a while ago, and they do some bloody great disco. As I said in my earlier post, these dudes are a definite indication that disco may well be sticking around for a while yet. This is a newy from the recently signed Modular boys. It’s called Bubble Bath. It’s due out on Jan 29th, and the EP is going to feature some remixes from Tensnake and Knightlife. BAM!
Second for the day is a dude out of Melbourne/Sydney. He’s called Cassian. He is pretty bloody good also. He kinda has that disco feel too, like the Swiss, but far more electro. The fella is signed to Bang Gang 12″s and has already featured pretty heavily on their compilations. I definitely recommend checking out the Bang Gang 12″s MySpace for some of the acts on their list. I’m not sure if a better crew of electro goodness could ever be assembled. Anyway, this is a new one from Cassian. It’s called The Fuck Song. And it features on his new release, the Friday Night EP.
K. That’ll do the ramble for now
Goodnight Owl Live at the Wesley Anne
Friday night we checked out Goodnight Owl at the Wesley Anne in Northcote. Was a great little gig. Well…actually…it was pretty loud, intense, and chair dance inducing. More on that later though.
About a month or so ago I got sent an EP by Goodnight Owl. I posted one of their tracks, Maps & Compasses and a few people commented on how they liked it and how it kind of blew them away. It blew me away too. The whole EP did actually. Eddie (singer and guitar) has this knack of writing really nice pop songs. And then there’s those beats. The EP highlights the great skills of Joe Walker, electro whiz. The beats are simple, and they’re sophisticated (the time change in the groove on Maps & Compasses always gets me). Adding to this mix is Bella Walker (and presumably the sister of Joe) with some nice keys.
So that’s just the EP. Live, it’s almost like another thing altogether. It’s loud, it’s pumping. Although the crowd were fairly restrained, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them wanted to get up and move and dance and stuff. They fill the band out a bit live with the occasional use of a drummer for a few tracks.
Eddie’s also a pretty funny dude. Although, in some instances, it appears that the funnies comes across as unintentional, it adds to the gig a hell of a lot. There is nothing worse than a good artist/band who has no presence or can’t talk to the audience.
But yeah, onto the songs. If you read this blog a bit you may have noticed that I posted a track by a Sydney band called Seekae called Void. It’s that kind of glitchy popish haunting kinda music. It has that pushy synth sound and all that. Goodnight Owl do a cover of it which you can check out on their MySpace…and they opened the show with it. It was, to put it simply, fucking brilliant. It still had that big hip hop beat that Seekae seem to be massive fans of, but it was all kinda liveish and about 100 times more intense. Eddie has a floor tom out the front which he would belt, adding to this really loud and aggressive sound that they had. It was so good that it actually wore me out. I felt buggered after that first one.
The guys introduced a few non EP tracks throughout the night too and these were great. Sounded just live Goodnight Owl. Especially the final track they played which seemed to indicate more a band sound and less of the electro stuff.
There were some tracks from the EP though. Maps & Compasses was amazing. Sounded much bigger and harder than it does on record, especially the chorus. That was something I was a little hesitant about before the gig actually. The EP incorporates this folk-pop and glitchy electro so well on record, I was a little unsure about how they would pull it off live. But they do. They make it big and it works.
Other highlights that came from the EP were Stale Bread and Verandah. For those that know Stale Bread, it’s definitely not one of the more uptempo tracks on the EP. And live, they stayed true to this…but only for the first half of the track. Halfway through saw the inclusion of drums and some electroness to help create a massive big triumphant finish. Verandah is also another fave of mine. It is such a nice song, the lyrics make me think of home and everything that’s constant when everything else is going a little crazy. (wow…just got a little bit wanky and d&m there for a minute…haha…it is a really sweet song though. You know…makes you think and stuff). Anyway, live, Verandah sounded so sweet and just pushed along and made you feel happy.
One thing I remember thinking throughout the gig was “where the hell is the album??” A full length would be bloody impressive and if you see the guys live or you’ve heard the EP, I’m sure you’d agree.
Although their slot was a little short (there was an 11pm noise curfew in place – residential area and all that crap), they put on a great set. It was brilliant actually. The supports were also pretty nice (Ashley Bee did some great guitar pop and Nick Huggins and a dude going by the name of Seagull provided a heap of electro glitch experimental pop kinda stuff).
Probably my favourite of the night (apart from the Seekae remix) was Verandah. Here it is…just below 🙂
Goodnight Owl – Verandah
(iTunes)
Jonathan Boulet – Jonathan Boulet
"A precociously inspired 21 year old skate rat from Sydney’s northwest" Modular
Luckily for you, and for me, and for Modular (he was signed just a few months ago), and even Mr Boulet himself, I’m going with the former. This album IS good. The dude does possess some great song writing skills. I don’t really know what he reminds me of. It’s a little all over the place, but I think that’s what’s good about the album. There are obvious standouts like A Community Service Announcement and 321 Ready or Not. But then there’s also the opener, Continue Calling, a track that sounds so laid back and is such a great example of that DIY feel that he seems to have mastered on this album. The vocal harmonies, especially when they’re left on their lonesome half way through the track, just sound so easy.
I could go on about every track…but I won’t bore you too much. They’re all pretty darn good. I don’t know if I can put my finger on it, but there’s almost this feeling of sadness that stays with you throughout the album. Ones Who Fly Twos Who Die (Track 2) and You Never Knew Me (Track 3) really get this going. It’s not a depressing sadness or anything extreme. It’s just this feeling that something wasn’t right or…look…I dunno really. It’s really hard to put my finger on exactly what it is.
However, from this initial sadness, it goes a little bit crazy. 321 Ready or Not is such a great song. It pushes, it’s relentless, it feels as though it’s messed with my head just a bit. And that’s really good. I reckon this one would go off live.
Then that sadness kicks back in. 10 Billion Years is actually kinda sweet though. The glockenspiel in the background, the backing vocals provided by Rebecca Shave. They both add a particular sweetness to the track.
There’s electro stylings and glitchiness in Lay Off The Streets For A While, Adam of Zilla, and North To South East To You. And he fuses that in really really well. Something else that plays a really important role in making the album what it is is the musical ability of this fella. He played nearly all of the instruments you hear, and recorded them all by himself in his garage. Something pretty bloody impressive for a dude who just hit 21.
So yeah, this album will definitely find a place in my albums of the year list in a few weeks. There’s just something about an artist that seems to not really care about what people will think of his music. Or at least gives that impression. And the fact that he did it all himself blows me away.
So bloody glad I bought it.
Jonathan Boulet – A Community Service Annoucement
K. That’ll do the ramble for now.
fake silver
Faux Pas is a Melbourne fella who produces some pretty dreamy electro pop. His track, Silver Line, just sits and washes over you. Atmospheric, dreamy, chair-dance inducing, a little head nodding. You listen to it the first time and you think ah yeah, it’s a good track and it just took me away from a few minutes and now my gf won’t talk to me again because I wasn’t listening to her (Mind you, that may be a goof thing…depending on your circumstances aye? amiright? amiright?).
But, you listen a second time (and actually pay proper attention to it, mind you, probably after you’ve been dumped or some shit), and you realise that the track is broken up into about 4 different sections:
1. the long slow building intro with those great ‘kooky’ vocals
2. the guitar groove that starts at 1:15
3. the great nice piano dwindly sounding bit and the synth that comes in and the synth arpeggios that follow (2:15)
4. the outro that eventually leads back to nothing.
And then after all this, you find that it didn’t seem like there were four separate sections…and you don’t really care about your probably now ex-gf. And that’s what is so good about Mr Pas. It washes over you and just let’s you take your mind away from your current thinking.
The track is getting a fair bit of play on triple j and the man himself (Tim Shiel is Faux Pas’ real name) has just been named as a 3RRR breakfaster (a pretty alright community radio station down here in Melbourne town).
You can check out his blog (he does write a very cool blog. funny and stuff…you know, kinda like this one but with actual humour injected into the writing…not just tryhard kinda stuff.). You can also check him out on Twitter, and starting next year, on 3RRR breakfast radio.
Anyway, you’re probably gagging at the bit now waiting to hear this track. It is good…beware. But you know…no expectations right?!
(Purchase the single with a few remixes via his bandcamp page. Check out some older EP’s of his on iTunes)
K. That’ll do the ramble for now.
new music first #12
There’s been a fair bit of stuff hit de inboxu lately that I haven’t posted. So, some of this stuff isn’t that new (still reasonably new though!). But their all really good tracks deserving of some love out there in blogland.
And what’s better than a 3/4 all Australian New Music First post? Whilst I may be a little late for AusMusic Month (Triple J celebrates Australian music every November), it’s still important to push out Aussie music, especially new stuff.
(No offence to Baddies. They still rock!)
First up is a band out of Sydney. They’re called The Salvagers. When I first heard these guys, to be honest with you, I didn’t think much. But I left it on my iPod and came back to it. And man, it kinda grows. Some might find it a little soft (the track below is one of the ‘harder’ ones), but I reckon it’s pretty sweet. They’ve enlisted Lee Groves who’s worked with the amazing Bertie Blackman to produce their self titled EP, and whilst they sound nothing like Ms Blackman, the production is pretty…slick i suppose. That’s a good thing. Anyway, here’s their track Raz Girls. Good!!
(iTunes)
Next up is a band from Essex, UK, you know, the overseas 1/4. These dudes have that familiar british sound, kinda like Kaiser Chiefs or Franz Ferdinand. That kinda vibe. They’re called Baddies, and they’ve spent all of the UK summer doing the European festival thing and are now in Australia to do the same. Anyone going to the Purple Sneakers NYE party in Sydney or Pyramid Rock down at Phillip Island are in for a pretty brash, ballsy gig!! This is their new single called Open One Eye taken from the album Do The Job.
(iTunes)
Third on the list is a band from Melbourne called Young Heretics. These guys have done a heap of touring with other great Aussie acts like Philadelphia Grand Jury and Kid Sam. They’ve just launched their new EP entitled The Dreamers and they’ve got a pretty massive big sound that starts off soft and just builds until the whole band kicks in and greats a great, almost industrialish groove. Amazing vocals too.
Young Heretics – Bones of a Rabbit
Last is a dude that goes by the name of Dan Sultan. Dan is from Melbourne and is a bit of a soul blues singer. I remember seeing him at St Kilda fest a few years ago, and whilst I had heard the name, I didn’t know any of his tracks. Was a little blown away though. The dude has a great voice and just kicks it hard onstage. Dan also played a part in the Before Too Long Tribute to Paul Kelly that was on a few weeks ago. You can check out the second installment of that on Triple J tomorrow night if you like. I think it’s going to be on TV soon too!! Anyway, this is the first single off his second album Get Out While You Can.
(iTunes)
K. That’ll do the ramble for now.
MAAMF: an australian music blog 