Today, the unthinkable happened. D.D Dumbo dropped new music. Many of you are going to try to level with me here, you’ll say “Tommy! It hasn’t been that long! 2014 was a while ago but he was getting the record RIGHT!”
You’ll be right about one thing, he’s used his time well, but you’ll be wrong about that date. The EP actually dropped on 2012 which is closer to a thousand years ago than three. It was rereleased two years later once D.D (real name Oliver Perry) signed a deal with 4AD but they then cut two tracks from the record, making it a four tracker instead (RIP ‘Dinghy’ and ‘King Franco Picasso’) so it wouldn’t be unfair to say that in the past 4 years, D.D Dumbo has actually released -2 tracks (certainly not a whole lot). Big news today friends, very big news indeed. Perry has reduced the deficit to a very manageable -1 with a song called ‘Satan’.

Those who know me well will know I’m a man of religious convictions so I’ve a good radar for when an artist is intentionally pushing my buttons with a track title like ‘Satan’, and Perry, I don’t much appreciate it you son of a gun. Undoubtedly it’s a response to the shots fired yesterday through the Sound Doctrine Facebook (read only if you’re prepared for heavy shade, the likes of which only an Evergreen Alder can typically boast, though year round). He fired back, with a song he must have written, tracked, mixed and mastered over night and a video clip that must have been shot and processed this morning before I woke (no mean feat, I woke at 620). Now I’m calling for armistice because I’m no sufficiently armed to deal with something of this magnitude. Heck of a thing to pull off in thirteen hours though, heck of a thing.

The track itself is what I’ve come to expect from one of Castlemaine’s finest sons (alongside Lower Spectrum, cop an age old remix here). Wildly imaginative both sonically and lyrically, Perry’s words often seem to have an astral otherworldliness to them and a deep grounding in philosophy and religion.

Strange days movin on
AI and the Higgs Boson
And the looming deadline
Murder suicide
I pray for everyone
As a godless sapien

The magic of D.D Dumbo’s artistry is that the rawest elements of his personality and emotional quirks are all present in the records. And when that sort of character merges with this sort of raw talent the resulting record tends to be well… Something like this. Large, unique and fiercely creative, harnessing sounds which don’t subscribe to any particular scene or movement.

There’s no word on the album date yet but what I have heard is that it WILL contain this brain/heart wrenching record that he’s teased live for years. He’s touring East Coast in late July and early August and if you’re not there then may the Lord have mercy on your wretched soul.

D.D Dumbo is older than the earth itself, an institution that was birthed into life amid lashing tongues of flame and ash, tendrils of smoke oozing from the ground as titans fought over right of ownership while empires rose and fell in earnest and heated defence of the Dumbo moniker. His hands have healed the ailments of the lame, dictatorships have been crushed under his heel and his lips peel back in condemnation of humanity’s inequity. His 2012 EP broke most olympic records in the fields of athletics, aquatics, equestrian, shooting and deadweights while his Who The Hell photo essay won the 2013 world press photo. Each and every visual representation (including the video below) contains constant and exclusive use of the divine section while mathematically speaking, all five songs from his EP demonstrate the same golden ratio. Many have put down his extreme sonic expressionism to an absence of both sweat glands and tear ducts and theorise that it’s merely a case of his body finding the best way to dispense of excess fluids.

Bonus facts:
Castlemaine – New recordings on the way – Destroyed SXSW

Any opportunity to middle man your relationship with D.D. Dumbo is one I’ll readily take so it’s with no small pleasure that I share at you the new video for Tropical Oceans. Crash course for the uninitiated, old man Dumbo carried the win in my Best Australian Releases of 2012 list (a middling honour). Dude must have been so stoked with that result that he’s actually releasing the damn thing all over again, this time on vinyl. I would have loved to see a bonus track thrown on the release to spritz things up but who am I to argue with the Don Juan of twelve strings? You can order from the 250 vinyls that have been pressed (first batch have just shipped) or you can bide your time, watch the Tropical Oceans video THEN order. Just the two options friends, make your beds. Bonus points to Dumbo for spelling out what I’ve known for years, that dogs are better than humans but I won’t ruin the super massive twist. Where them humans at!?

Sorry for the extended absence. I’ve been super busy with a new interactive theatre art piece that I’m putting on later in the month in conjuction with Theatre Australia. Nah just kidding, I’ve probably just been playing xbox hey, but I’m back up in this with a frightening sense of excitement. D.D Dumbo has got me all twisted in a jam by virtue of his six astounding pieces of savoir-faire musicality. I am smitten beyond most anything else I’ve heard this year and I need you to agree with me to assuage my diminishing sense of self. Worry not, I’m not asking much, even if you’d like to disagree with me on principle, you’ll have a hard time railing against a record this charismatic. Don’t even click play, just head to his bandcamp and get it done. It won’t cost you a cent lest you’re feeling charitable and though I don’t want to sound conceited, I should mention that I gave four of my hard earned. Ain’t no thing when you’re top dog in the music biz.

Anyway, six songs, each of them magic. I heard this for the first time just last week when hero blogger Thomas Lukaitis shared them as part of Who The Hell’s new Collective PEG segment. Two Australian music blogs you need to keep your eye on right there.

This is the work of Oliver Perry, who legitimately broke my brain with ‘Alihukwe’. The track starts with Perry doing his thing on what I think is probably a Hammond or a Wurlitzer or something (throw me a bone here Perry, seriously. Not an ounce of information across any of his social platforms) but then the key slots home, the gears click and grind before suddenly, the beat drops and we’re inside. That beat huh? Subtly reverbed and probably recorded in a scout hall on three dollar mics, it’s a crispy wafer crushed between thumb and palm. It’s crunched gravel beneath the boot soles of Kapooka recruits. Then a full minute or so later, old mate decides it just might be time to start wailing again and we’re too stoked to chastise him for being late to his own party so we just grin and high five each other. That’s ‘Alihukwe’.

There’re five other tracks you can dig through at your leisure but here are two other picks that will hopefully make clear what D.D Dumbo is about. The first is ‘I Woke Up Covered In Sand’ which immediately glides into motion with Perry in lower register and backing harmonies to boot. Look out for the late game guitar line lifted straight from the xx songbook.

Lastly, this is Roy Orbison’s ‘Crying’ bathed in reverb. No punches pulled this time.

I haven’t even touched on the lead single ‘Tropical Oceans’ but that’ll do [pig, that'll do]. The self-titled EP is a peyote fueled quest to discover one’s spirit animal which obviously means it rules all over the place. I give this release the highest rating possible on Sound Doctrine: eleven metaphors out of eleven.

It’s singularly important that i’m honest in this list. Do I want to be backing the right horses, considered a tastemaker, have people think that I’m really good at sports? Hell yeah. But these picks are the songs that did me right, the ones that moved me or excited me this year. If my tastes and those of the Good Crowd are moving apart then so be it. The zeitgeist can kiss my cheese, I like these songs and I shan’t apologize to anyone, even when thoroughly wrong. There are some songs I want to make mention of particularly, that didn’t make this list. I almost extended it out because I desperately wanted to include them but I’m quite simply not writing any more words. I don’t have the energy and frankly, you haven’t done anything so bad as to deserve that. Shoutout to Phoebe Go, big love to Memphis LK’s Whip. Big love to DJ Madengo and props to Zion Garcia’s Overthinking, a track that really only doesn’t get in because Zion is essentially already in here for another record. As ever, these aren’t the best songs but my best songs.

It’s been a a really tough year for middle class artists, the ones currently trying to elevate from ‘lightly established’ to ‘household name’. That step has proven supremely rare since the virus and hopefully I’m the months and years ahead those pathways become reestablished through touring and digital. That said though, it’s been a great year for those artists putting a first foot forward and I’ve met some brand new guns who’re gonna have CAREERS. Here are some of those, some old heads, some new but all in all, just 20 special songs. Enjoy.

20. Surusinghe
Bad Girls

I don’t have the word-palette required to do justice to a song like this one from Surusinghe but here I am, doing my best since it’s made it’s way into the 20 best of the year. It’s electronic music with a hint of garage, a drop of D&B and sound design out the absolute wazoo. The bass end is capacious and thundering, providing a broadly laid foundation for those garage rhythms. Synths climb a like whistling kettles, rising through the high end and adding a tension to the record that cuts free once again into dancefloor moments of high drama. Based on London, she’s already secured support with Mallgrab’s Steel City Dance Discs and my guess she’s already setting new goals such as heading to the Emirates to see Martin Odegaard score in the next North London derby. That’s certainly what I’d be doing in her place. Dying to see this one live should she venture to Sydney in 2023.

19. Milku
Alone

Imagine dropping this pop smash on day dot. One song into your solo career and this is that one song? Implausible, I’m not having it. Real name Miles something something, he wrote and produced this alongside blog fave Tim Fitz and the sum of the two of them is truly higher than any of us could have guessed. The chorus cushioned by sherberty synths, the lyrics dedicated to the introspective bafflement of how he could be living so thoroughly solo. I know this isn’t blade-laced with cultural edge but it’s one of the most immediate pop songs I heard this year. If there’re more pop hits in the bank like this one from Milku then I’m ready to invest.

18. Charlie Needs Braces
Daryung

The moment Abby sent me a link to this song, having discovered it through the triple j Unearthed moderating queue, I was hooked. It’s immediate in it’s staccato percussion, horse shod with bells and chimes, galloping at full pace through open country. It’s loose cord whipping against itself in the pelting wind on a warm day. There’s so much energy to the that fidgeting beat and it’s expelled itself in such constantly unexpected ways. The best reference I can offer mat well be that of D.D Dumbo, and I suggest that with the total gravity it deserves. Really excited to hear what comes next from the Guringai songwriter cos this has piqued my interest in a big way.

17. Jem Cassar-Daley
Oh No

I’ve got infinite patience for the songwriting of JCD, Gumbaynggirr Bundjalung songwriter from Brisbane whomst dropped a brace of EPs this year. This song was the title track from the first and it’s the perfect example of her songcraft. Warm and fundamentally memorable, not for production flourishes or challenging vocal runs but for its simplicity. It’s a song about the realization that a relationship isn’t meant to be, painted through micromoments within that sinking couple. It’s not rocket science but it is wonderful

To Oscar
The Loudest I’ve Ever Been

Hyper-pop errywhere in 2021/2022 and I’m pretty thankful for that. The broadness of the genre effectively means two songs that sound entirely different can essentially both coexist with the sphere of hyper-pop with the clear implication that they’re both innovating in the sphere. I could throw forth plenty of Australian artists that are smashing goals in that space but one of the songs that most nabbed me this year was this one from Perth’s To Oscar. Naturally it’s bright, buoyant, futurist and full of miniscule production dynamics that lend so much colour but it’s the melodies that really stuck me. I’ve sunk my teeth into that instrumental chorus time and time again this year and it tastes sweeter every time.

Puppy Mountain
Dancefloor

At this point I’m becoming acutely aware that many of these artists featured in last years best of list which is yet another score in my favour: consistency. Also strong calves, but that’s a side note. Puppy Mountain was on that Fred Again half-tip before Fred himself was but it’s not about who did it first, it’s about who did it better (also Fred). Ok, I jest, but Puppy Mountain has legitimately made one of the warmest dance records I’ve heard in a long time. Synths that cradle you and a melody that fully resolves itself in the most reassuring way. Be blessed by this one and know that this lad has not just production craft but a wealth of ideas.

New Wave
6gs

If you’re not into this record after the first ten seconds then I’ll save you the following three minutes ten – you’re not gonna like the rest of it because the magic is immediate. Outta south west melbs, New Wave are a trio of rappers each with their own projects but coming together on this’n. You’ll hear TAKTiX’s deep voice straight off the bat over his own layered production. Moses and KiD LaZe come through with their own heat but you know what they really stuck on this one? The Ad libs. There’s so many different little ad lib moments that stick out to me, echoing through the channels of this record and adding so much ENERGY. Would love to walk into a futsal court with this sounding out my entrance. Big moment.

Matahara
SIDE

Just eight thousand streams on this single from Indonesian Australian Matahara is the biggest injustice since Belgium beating Canada in the world cup group stage. So only a few weeks, but still quite unjust. Think the Avalanches or Alpine for left of center pop zaniness with a lip full of psychedelics. She’s got these dew-light vocals that hover at times and in other moments thicken with strange vocal production choices in the most charactered way. Extra production from blog-fave Tram Cops and even some guest vocals in there too. New EP soon plz.

Agung Mango
Guap Pop

Agung Mango and Genesis Owusu is quite simply Tommy Faith bait, a collaboration designed to elicit a pavlovian response. Well my bros, you got me, I’m in. Is it as good as I might have hoped? You bet your bald ass it is. Genesis has some of the best bars of the year in his feature verse (looking at you “shift the artistry and one day you can bask in yachts, but look at was these fuckers did to Basquiat”) and Gung just does what Gung does: Swagger, great vocal tone and his capacity to move between flows like a weaver’s shuttle. It might be a collaboration that met in the studio a few years back but it feels like pure 2022.

Zretro
Silly Games

Zretro dropped one hell of an LP this year and frankly, they didn’t get their flowers. Vocalist Zima and producer 2nd Thought have this incredible 90s R&B thing going spiced with South African, Namibian and Zim textures throughout. Properly, if you haven’t clocked them yet, go in on the full record and venmo me after because I swear on the my deceased tadpole’s name, it’s very special. Zima’s voice is just in it’s own universe. I genuinely could’ve picked any of a handful of tracks from the self-titled record to land in this list but ultimately it was the first single that i felt so immediately with me.

Empress
Grandma (You Lie)

“Did you know cyclopses are real?” is just one of the many questions by Naarm’s Empress on this manic record about a pathologically lying matriarch. I mean, i think that’s what it’s about but it’s truly so frenetic and energetic it’s truly hard to know and I find myself so guiled by the structural side of things that I lose a sense of narrative half the time. If you like the percussive chaos of an artist like tune-yards and the vocal harmonies of, I don’t know, an artist who does great vocal harmonies, then it’s time to tap in. Shoutout Abby Butler who delivered this unto me at work a few months ago. She didn’t get a mention in the first post I wrote about them and has since commenced legal proceedings that now require me to namecheck her anytime Empress come up. Abby Butler.

1300
Oldboy

2021 was the year that we made acquaintance with 1300 and the year I declared their second ever single ‘No Caller ID’ the song of the year. I haven’t budged an inch on that decision because a year later that song still sounds icepick sharp and more modern than most everything else around it still no small thanks to master producers Nerdie and Pocari Sweat. They dropped their debut mixtape Foreign Language this year, brimming with records that I could comfortably advocate for a position in this list. My pick of the bunch was Oldboy, partly because its bonkers video cemented it for me immediately but mostly because it bumps harder than most else on the record. The moments when the kick drums isolate with vocals, the pre-chorus, the buzzsaw synths… it’s a sweet delight.

Vv Pete
Frauds

Vernonica Peter came for the neck with Frauds, her second single for 2022. Her first, Bussit had meat on the bone but this prime rib: expensive and perfect cooked. She’s enlisted some of Sydney’s finest to help out on the beat (Cassius Select, Utility, T.Morimoto) and truly, while they’ve turned a strong demo into a monster track there’s no looking away from the fact that Vv is a star in the making. Earnest, fierce and ice cold, her vocal stands bolt upright on its own. Having seen her live relatively recently I’d suggest that it may still be early days but the rarest elements of charisma and character are already there in her love presence. Mighty from this Mt Druitt teen.

Super Death
Noise Breeder

This made a fan of me more immediately than any other song in this years best of list. Literally three seconds into the song I was had, taken in, bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray. Last year there was Hobart artist Kimdracula doing records like these but taking them in a more corny direction. Meanjin based Super Death is on that industrial tip, sirens and city scapes, jackhammers in the repeated percussion. It feels just as indebted to the agressive hyper-pop of an act like 100 Gecs as it does to any heavy music counterpart and its that mishmash of influence that made it pop for me.

PANIA
MY CREW

There’s an R&B renaissance happening around you at this very second which you might have noticed if you didn’t spend all your time on that damn smart phone of yours! At the forefront of the movement this year was PANIA, making her name with two big singles – Tiki and this song MY CREW. When this one dropped it was over for me straight away. I knew I needed to be hearing this on every beach coming from every UE boom in sight.

Babyface Mal
Ya Rab

Babyface Mal taking all that promise and spinning it into gold? Ya Rab love to see it. This is a dude who’s been pushing for a couple of years over various drill and more straight down the line hip-hop records and seen plenty of praise for his tone and flow. This is, in my basic bitch opinion, the first time that those elements have truly come together on a great record. He’s embracing his Egyptian lineage in both the video and track with Arabic bars and middle eastern production flourishes on the beat end courtesy of Sydney overlord Aywy. Career turning point, mark my words.

Tasman Keith
Tread Light

Tas saved the most impactful record from his debut LP for the very last track, a decision that’ll make perfect sense once you’ve listened to it and find yourself basking in the gravitas of this work in complete context. That sad, I suspect that even the absence of the LP doesn’t prevent this from hitting the way it’s meant to. It’s a song that requests not continuation but silence at it’s conclusion, weighing you down like a cinderblock in a body of water. It might’ve been an up and down year for Tasman, nudged by the nuances of releasing your debut album but it’s on that’ll set him up for the years ahead with a clear statement of intensity and a showcase of the various ways he can approach his art.

Skeleten
No Drones in the Afterlife

What to say about skeleten? He has a record I wasn’t expecting to be moved by this year. It’s Futurist and modern it’s just phenomenal songwriting. On half of fishing, Russ kicked off skeleton a couple of years back and it’s now yielding the best fruit of its life. We’ve always known he was a phenomenal producer. I remember hearing this for the first time and then a week later once again it came on at the Gladdy and in that second listen I KNEW that Russ had struck gold. The wobbling synths, the organic drumtrack and the elevated chorus vocal all make this feel light as air.

Elsy Wameyo
River Nile

“written, produced, arranged and performed by Elsy Wameyo”. These are the claims on the Nilotic EP, resoundingly one of the best Australian releases of 2022 hands down and she did it all. A soulful vocal, creative production, confident bars and an unimpeachable vocal tone. The first drop from her EP came in at #7 in last years list and now she’s jumped 5 spots to the lofty heights of #2. You’re a real one Elsy.

Sollyy
Apply The Pressure (ft. Zion Garcia)

Yeah, look. This song crushed me on first listen and my body quite simply never regained its former elasticity. I walk with a crunchy limp, all my joins honking like a mangled accordion. Do I regret it? Heeeelllll naw. I knew it on spin one and I’ve known it ever since, this is my record for 2022. It brings together an artist already featured on this list in Zion Garcia and an artist who’s become one of the most in demand Australian producers of 2022 in Sollyy. In my review of the track earlier this year I went on about the drop at 45 seconds and I’ll be damned if I’m going to rewrite the wheel: Then it hits. The most pure house bass line you’ll hear in 2023, sucking everything around it in like a collapsing blackhole with only Zion’s vocal capable of resisting its improbable gravity. That moment is a surefire conduit to my stankface every single time with Zion stepping into a supreme pocket, vocal tone immaculate and flow perfect. Sollyy doesn’t overcook it, he keeps it stripped back bar for the occasional formula one sample as drumfill. Two artists whose 2023s are ripening by the day. Apply the pressure they did.