Archive for 2012
I’m just going to throw this up here for you to listen to.
Rohin Jones, vocalist formerly of reigning world champions The Middle East, has been getting it done on the sly these past six months, playing small bars up and down the east coast. A lot has been said about the breaking up of The Middle East but I can’t help but feel, having seen his live set, that Rohin is enjoying performing songs unbound by either critical expectation or other bandmates. These songs are personal, colloquial, and near as sparse as an elderly scalp. It’s mostly Rohin’s baritonal vocals and his acoustic guitar which must certainly be more easy to tour than the eleventy hundred piece lineup that was the Middle East. It probably won’t ring true for many of the Middle East’s loyal but I’d imagine that this would sit fine with Rohin. If you’re looking for clean, easy listening, there’s plenty you’ll enjoy more than what’s below.
I’ve cut these two tracks out of a live recording from Gasometer (which is in Collingwood, apparently?) that you can listen to/download over here, replete with coughs, prolonged silences and the sounds of that acoustic being tuned and retuned. I’ve speculatively titled the tracks according to lyrics from each song, but no doubt when they’re actually recorded in studio, the titles won’t match my own. The second of the two kind of sounds like a track The Middle East were pedalling at their shows, towards the end of their time as a band, so maybe it was one of Rohin’s that were putting down or maybe he’s just kept it in the bank ever since.
‘Davey’
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‘Different Things’
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The below is a post that I wrote for Cool Accidents this morning.
I hear a whole swathe of influences when I listen to the music of the Gold Coast’s Jacob Rohde. When I heard ‘Connected’ over on East to West yesterday I half thought I was hearing the newest single from the Postal Service (if only) by virtue of the 8 bit drum sounds that casually reference the washed down drum and base of yore. R&B vocals adeptly layed over his beats, Rhodes makes me think Jamie Woon, The XX or our own Chet Faker. While I’m obviously not an electronica officianado, I’m stoked to hear an Australian “producer” not doing glitchy “off-kilter” beats because let’s be “honest”, that hand is overplayed. I absolutely guarantee that his name will ring out over the coming “months”. You can listen and download two of his tracks below or get a whole bunch more over here.
Jacob Rohde – ‘Connected’
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Jacob Rohde – ‘Continual’
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That may have been an image of my choosing, but seriously, guy needs to get some decent photos.
Another first taste today, this time of the Shins’ new album Port of Morrow. I really, really, really dig this, which I wasn’t so sure I would. It’s been five years since their last record, with Broken Bells to tide us over in the meantime (which was ok, I guess) and during that time the whole band short of Mercer himself has left. So it’s a new Shins but still a brilliant Shins as you’ll soon hear. This piece is ripe for hilarity but I couldn’t really decide on which genius pun I’d go with, so here are the options.
New album is out March 20 through Columbia.
If length of title is indicative of sonic quality then the new single from Team Me is probably going to be one of the best tracks to come out this year. But whoa there, it’s not actually going to be one of the best tracks out this year. I mean, it’s really good, but I liked most of the EP tracks better than I did this one, so there goes your theory about title length relativity. One of your worst yet.
Once I manage to bite through the cheese though, I really do enjoy the track. The Norwegian indie-pop outfit have their debut full length coming in early march this year which you can hear some snippets from over here, while this particular one is a freebie. It’ll be interesting to see if they take off when the record gets out there.
Team Me – ‘With My Hands Covering Both of my Eyes I Am Too Scared to Have a Look at You Now’
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