On my way to Gordon Macdonalds late night in July with my special lady friend, our two short term goals being not to antagonise any rat’s tailed patrons and to enjoy six chicken mcnuggets with sweet and sour sauce, I had the pleasure of listening to an extended interview/exposé on Cairns band The Medics on Radio National. Discovering new music on Radio National is a rare thing though. It’s sort of like discovering a new poet by listening to Kyle Sandilands on popular radio, which can probably be best compared to consuming human excrement, just in terms of the intellectual benefit, moral value and actual enjoyment.

They’ve only an EP out so far but on its way is their debut full length which should be damn good if the below single is anything to go by. At their roots the band are effectively a post-rock outfit but they’ve retained an Australianism that’s pretty uncharacteristic of the genre, which I for one am all about. You can download ‘Beggars’ free from their Triple J Unearthed page or simply by right clicking the link below.

The Medics – ‘Beggars’

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[FREE DOWNLOAD]

On a side note, I’ve included two separate images of the band to demonstrate the mindbending transformation from a rabble of unruly musos to a serious batch of hip cats. Believe it.

Am I really going to be the guy whose most recent blog posts read Ryan Adams, Radical Face, Ryan Adams, Radical Face? I am. I could have thrown a curveball in there and posted about the recent collaborative track between Bon Iver and James Blake but I already “wrote” about that over on Cool Accidents, the other blog that I’ll occassionally be writing for . Seriously though, look at the sleekness of layout on that thing. I should have got a tumblr, right? Boy, is my face red. Let’s be honest though, this design is pretty swell. Paul Hewson physically put a ten dollar note in my hand the other night saying “your blog looks so good that I want you to have ten dollars”. These visuals are literally paying for themselves (not literally, obviously, that wouldn’t make sense).

So that brings me to Ryan Adams, about whom my present blogging is hugely ironic. I mean, I only effectively started listening to him after James Blackwood’s recent post two weeks back. Boy, is my face red! Too much? Too much, probably. I “discovered” an artist through my own blog. It’s like Inception! I’ve never been one to demand credit for musical discovery and by the same token I’ve never been ashamed to admit that I missed the boat with an artist. So, here we are.

Ryan Adams – ‘Lucky Now’

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Hear this, an acoustic number perfect for the Sound Doctrine loyal, with a cheeky electric solo two thirds of the way through. Don’t think the electric will be overbearing though, it just sort of lilts above the acoustic strum. Delicious.

A new Ryan Adam’s record, Ashes & Fire is coming soon. Also, I’ll write about something local soon, I promise.

Before Radical Face releases his much anticipated The Family Tree: The Roots on October 4, he’ll be giving us a series of free EPs. Here is the first of those. I’ll take the bullet here and say what we’re all thinking having just listened to these three tracks – “I hope every song on the forthcoming record doesn’t sound exactly the same”. We can pray.

Radical Face – ‘All Is Well (Goodbye Goodbye)’

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Ok, so I’m a few years behind on this one. More like 10. We are each on our own musical journey however, and sometimes it takes some serious beating over the head before we learn what was blindingly obvious from day one. So, withold your judgement please.

Ryan Adams is the dude. And he’s country. Don’t cringe! Stop cringing dammit. He’s alternative country. Phew. Collective sigh of relief. Sound Doc readership still intact? Good. Let’s progress.

We seem to be losing sight of what makes a song a good song these days. If you haven’t invented a sub genre of a sub genre and you don’t have 5-10 high pitched yelps every 3 seconds most folk don’t want to listen to you. No falsetto? Skip.

Ryan Adams on the other hand knows what he’s good at – writing songs. Sad songs. His record “Heartbreaker” is composed of tunes entirely for lost lovers. The songs don’t push the boundaries of, well anything. It’s recorded extremely well, written extremely well and it is extremely good. This tune ‘Damn Sam, I Love A Woman That Rains’ is from Heartbreaker and is a mere 2mins and 8secs but it’s my favorite song at the moment. The big hits on the title lyrics get me every time. Left-right-left-left-right and I’m done.

Enjoy the simpleness. Let it wash over you. I recommend listening at least twice.

Ryan Adams – ‘Damn Sam, I Love A Woman That Rains’

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Between recording and touring with his band Valar, James Blackwood will be guest-posting here at Sound Dcotrine every whenever-the-hell-he-gets-his-ass-in-gear. Stay keen.

Radical Face, who released what is likely one of my all time favourite albums in 2007′s Ghost, has finally announced the release date of his next full length: October 4. That’s not far off at all! Though I’ve recently forfeited the Roman calendar system in favour of a more exciting form of temporal measurement, I’ll try to put things in perspective for you: it’s roughly 20 days after the end of ULTRAmonth and 3 moons before Boomuary is in full flux. Yeah. That soon. Download the new track (which apparently won’t be on the new album) by clicking in the large, black and seamlessly integrated box below.

Radical Face – ‘We’re On Our Way’

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