JANUARY+FEBRUARY ’16 MIX.
As I sit writing this post, I remind myself that this has been a long time coming.
As slight changes emerge within my day to day life both with this site, new silly ventures, and PhD and work life, I remind myself that all of this has been a long time coming. As I finish off with Hayden Calnin’s masterpiece of a track ‘Cut Love’, I steady myself. Feet firmly on the floor and the words flowing steadily from my hands, appearing on the screen in front of me.
All of this. Everything leading up to this very point in time.
As I sit with old favourites like Arthur Wimble, LANKS, and Ciggie Witch, I mark out my territory. And as I sit and be floored again by Marcus Whale, Luke Howard, and LUCIANBLOMKAMP, I wipe away those old tears. And then with those new infatuations – Alice Ivy, Isabel, and the almighty Dogood, I slowly fall back into a feeling of warmth and knowing and remind myself.
This has been a long time coming.
For some time now I’ve made it a habit to talk around the music. This was how you write. The story on Catalyst the other night about music being used to elicit memories for people living with dementia as they sit, still in those old people’s homes I became convinced that fuck it. What’s the point. If music can do that then it’s indescribable. You’re always going to do it a disservice.
But then I read those others who also do music writing. Those others who write about the music itself. None of it’s perfect, but that’s the fuckin’ beauty of it. This game is about getting close, slowly scraping away at the surface and finding some through line, no matter how long/short/narrow/wide and having that one person sit back and think, ‘fuck, that’s it. that’s what I hear.’
As I start afresh, I see that I’m here. This is where I was heading.
…
Miks
AUGUST ’14 MIX.
woah nelly. big ol’ tape for your little sunday evening/early monday morning/another time of the day on another day all together.
18 big ones this time ’round because, 1, i am feeling generous, 2, there were that many great tracks from August that I didn’t get round to actually posting individually, and 3, because i’ve had a big month…something…metaphor?
So, at the risk of sounding like a broken compact disc, this one’s got a bit of variety, something for every boy and girl. And something for mum and dad too if they play their cards right. And a couple of cards on show tonight/today/whenever the hell you are reading this thing are:
The Peep Tempel – massive Eddy Current vibes with this one all the while owning their own brand of aggressive punky rock’n’roll,
Jarrow – young kid – 18 I think, combining some pretty amazing garage style pop complete with some scissors and glue style electronic aggression,
Slow Dancer – Simon Okely, one of the other guys from Oh Mercy doing a real beaut of a song, all understated and full of style and some real pulled back instrumentation that blow me outta tha park a bit,
Moon Holiday – Some solo electronic pop that is big enough to hit hard, but with just enough darkness to help it standout from the rest,
and
Jesse Davidson – absolutely no shame in speaking about my love of this young man. this new track took everything he did, threw it all around to see what stuck and kinda re-invented his sound a little, all the while keeping that soulfulness he’s becoming known for.
So, please have a stream and a listen. And if you like, grab the whole tape as a download just below. I even tried to mix some songs together in a way that didn’t sound as bad as i thought it probably would.
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DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE TAPE (Right Click/Save As)
…
Miks
TELLING.
Shhhhhhh. Don’t make any sudden movements.
Here we have something that very few tours get to see, so let’s forget all those complaints you outlined earlier and remember to pay the damn fare.
This ‘How it Ends‘ is a gem of moment from Melbourne’s Telling, for now in a totally unsaturated state. Tim ‘many project man about the internet/radio’ Shiel and Ben ‘quite the classic heartthrob’ Abraham seemed happy to sneak this up without fanfare – but I have no reservations in ruining that quiet sanctity with song-tourism for immense financial gain*.
And look at it. It’s a surprising result really. Definitely not a straight sum of their current solo sounds. You won’t get much of Tim’s driving oddity or Ben’s friendly poppity pop, it’s more … cavernous.
I wrote a few comparisons then scrapped all those, so I guess it’s on it’s own – but it sits right with me. Just right. Best track yet. Of 2. But still. Short. Sentences. Punchy. Reporting.
So we all got lucky out there today. You’ll tell them good things at the information centre, won’t you? You will.
And also this might be one little google hit where Tim is referenced without any mention of Gotye so he’ll be…ahh, still nope.
*Again I simply can’t overstate how zero the revenue is from this blog. Much more zero than you can possibly imagine.
…
Adam
JUNE ’14 MIX.
Image from JL
Oh haiiiii! How you doin? June was a bit of a rad old month full of heaps of great great music full of heaps of different different styles and things like that.
And without wanting to highlight one track over another, and also because writing something about every track would take me just a little too much time, and that be time that I don’t have, although by taking forever to finish off this sentence then that may not seem the case, i’ll write about just a few.
It’s hard to escape the impact the new LUCIANBLOMKAMP track will have and has already had on how electronic music is not only made but also where it can go.
Ex-pats Shorts (the project of Mikael Caterer from Love Connection as well as Scott and Charlene’s Wedding) continues that Aussie jangle tradition but instead combines it with a ‘clean’ production.
And then, of course, the new Dick Diver. It’s hard to write about ‘New Name Blues’ without simply repeating what every other interpretation has stated. What I will say though is that here’s a band that continually get better and evolve and aren’t afraid to enter into intelligent political discussion whilst still maintaining this accessible and lovely feel.
MAAMF – JUNE ’14 MIX.
DOWNLOAD (Right Click/Save As)
TRACKLISTING:
Shorts – Berlin 1971
Melbourne Cans – Drowned Rats
The Zebras – Chase
Peter Joseph Head – One Thing (The Ballad of Breaking Bad) (Right Click/Save As)
Tobias Hengeveld – Fools Rush In
Owen Rabbit – Police Car (Right Click/Save As)
Lower Spectrum – Khlever (Right Click/Save As)
Broadway Sounds – Booby Trap
Big Smoke – Colours (Right Click/Save As)
Ilias – Fire Away
Tim Shiel – Priorities
LUCIANBLOMKAMP – Help Me Out (Right Click/Save As)
Dick Diver – New Name Blues
…
Miks
MARCH ’14 MIX.
Ohh mate. Here be the March tape for this music blog that you are currently visiting on the really big web of things and information and cats.
Big ol’ mix as per usual. Even including some neo-classical this time round (basically it’s just an excuse to include something from the new Duet Duets record from the master Tim Shiel). There’s also a massive 15 min jam from Darren Sylvester (who also worked with Conrad Standish and James Cecil). There’s also some repeat offenders – namely Blaq Carrie, Snowy Nasdaq, and Deja. But, ynou kow what? It’s all good.
EXCITING BEGINNING TO YOUR WEEK.
TRACKLISTING:
Vacant Field – Run Down (Right Click/Save As)
Rat & Co – Vocal Insanity
Blaq Carrie – Reality (Right Click/Save As)
Darren Sylvester – For You
Frames & Felix Lloyd – Pacifique
Dianas – Static (Right Click/Save As)
contrast – pipe dreams (Right Click/Save As)
Tim Shiel and Luke Howard – Greater
White Caves – Dig
Deja – Heavy Water (Right Click/Save As)
Snowy Nasdaq – Sisters
Fraser A Gorman – Book Of Love
…
Miks
MAAMF: an australian music blog 