I was going to write about the new Drones record but I don’t think I have the requisite minutes right now to do proper justice to what is a culturally loaded song that’s also innovative as all get out. Instead, we’ve got this one, the new number from Sydney’s Ribongia, through Sydney’s October Records, getting written about on [formerly] Sydney’s Sound Doctrine. I feel like I’ve gone out early and placed this in the shadow of The Drones but here’s what I’ll say, if you’re making music anywhere, in any format, you’re probably already in the shadow of the Drones so don’t feel too hard done by. If you can hit play on this track and remain completely static then horrible, horrible news; You are in fact deceased. Sometime in the last few weeks when you were preoccupied by one task or another, you died. You’re dead now. You’ll be missing out on doing some of your absolute favourite activities over the coming months. Breathing, circulating blood, le parkour – they’re all over. You’re dead mate. RIP you. The worst thing is it could be months before anyone finds your body because you live in Preston. This is taking a bit of a morbid turn though, you don’t want to start writing about Ribongia only to later find yourself deep in a post about Preston. I’ll alert the proper authorities, you just go in on this level 13 danceable track, if you do it right then maybe you’ll be reincarnated as a thundergoose.

You can see and hear the last time Ribongia appeared on Sound Doc right here.

I was sure I’d written about Piecey when Women Are Beautiful was released but after a surface level google it seems like I never did. He’s a Sydney producer who signed a blood pact with Stoney Roads Records so as that he’s going to release a bunch of records with them in the next little while. Women Are Beautiful was the first thing that came from their arcane agreement and though it might have brought me 90% of the way towards a sounddoc post, it’s this new remix of La Mar that’s thrust me over the precipice. La Mar are similarly from Sydney and have released some recent singles through Stoney Roads Records theyselves but this new remix is a high point for all involved. The bassline coupled with those metallic, industrial synth tones makes for a song that is constantly threatening to attack but never so basic as to devolve into the ominous drop. It stays clever, it stays careful and it keeps you attentive for it’s near seven minutes.

If I were to describe an artist as from “Australia-via-Oakland”, that’d be confusing right? Are they an Australian in Oakland or are they from Oakland and now they’re in Australia? I struggle with that one regularly and the case of Hazel English is another example. I did a reasearch though and can tell you she’s an Aussie in Oakland which more than qualifies her for a Sound Doctrine write-up. Quality has never been a factory, just geography and cultural heritage. Gentle synths, gentle guitars, gentle vocals, gentle reverb and a simple rolling beat make for very easy listening and there’s a hook in the chorus that’s had me going in on repeat listens this week. On the spectrum of reverb, this one probably comes in somewhere between Bored Nothing and High Highs but on the spectrum of my heart it comes in around about… you know, in there a bit. If you click through to her soundcloud you’ll also find two other similar lovely tracks.

The project of Melbourne cat Alex Clayton, Asdasfr Bawd is a few songs into his young career and already has critics saying things like “bloody hell that’s a difficult name to spell correctly.” Weirdly I just mashed the left hand side of my keyboard and got lucky, so maybe that’s the way forward here. The first few songs he’s released have been clever and energetic, luring you onto the dancefloor with coy smiles and subtle banter. This one orders you onto it with threats and blackmail then makes it near impossible for you to dance. Alsp thunders through at 152bpm making even my simple head nodding look like an act of ferocious agreement. It feels like an angry Guerre and it manipulates bass in a similar way to the Sydney producer so I’m gonna use that as my main frame of reference to hang things off, especially since I’ve never really gotten my head around what exactly constitutes footwork as a genre. There’s a big ol’ Diplo / Nicky Da B sample on this one which I’m sure has been cleared and under no circumstances should you check on that with any label representative. Very happy to hear Nicky Da B popping up anywhere at all since his very sad passing last year, just listen to that flow.

It’s pretty hard not to hear Simon Lam’s voice and not immediately think I’lls, or maybe even that Nearly Oratorio record he did a while back. Nearly Oratorio is Simon Lam by the way, maybe I should have opened with that, and Simon Lam is also in I’lls. He’s an inspired choice for this track, a voice that doesn’t scream out, it just speaks to you gently above the changing elements of the song as they develop and build. Listening through I’lls, it’s easy to be surprised by some of the unexpected direction Simon takes vocal melodies. Often the vocal line doesn’t resolve itself and while it never feels uncomfortable, you’ll often walk away feeling unfulfilled. That’s a bit of what he does here, a vocal that never follows a pattern you can get used to and doesn’t allow you to settle. Andrei Eremin is really driving this ship though, and with a nautically trained hand, he’s done this a few times before. At least the mixing and mastering part anyway, the production part is still something he’s been growing into but this points at a set of skills that are going to make him a formidable player not only in the finalization of songs, but from the roots to the leaves. Also, apparently he can play the double bass now too so that’s a thing I guess.

His Pale Blue EP is out now, it’s lovely and you’ll love it at work, you’ll love it at home, you’ll love it during vocational training, you’ll love it on an airplane, you’ll love it on a weekend etc – here’s a link to download the thing