We haven’t hit December yet but today had me in Christmas mode with the announcement of ‘new gear’ from the most promising MC in Melbourne. It’s called Yo El Rey (Spanish for ‘I The King’ – I lived in South America for a minute, no big deal) and is his third official drop for the year alongside the ‘Rodent’ and the more recent ‘Little Bum’. That last record had Pharrel leanings on the beat end with a little N.E.R.D and a little Neptunes shining through which wouldn’t be an unexpected influence for anyone across his side proj Coughman Neptune. Ya following me? Neptunes? Neptune? Ugh, stick with me here Aaron.

Anywho, ‘Yo El Rey’ can downright get it as far as I’m concerned. It’s the first offering from a joint project with fellow Melbournite producer Nikodimos who no doubt makes the shit out of a beat but shows his true strength in his adroit instrumentality. Hear that cutie flute? That’s your boy. The drums? The bass? It’s all Niko, my guy. This, incidentally, isn’t the first time the two have partnered up on track but they’ve certainly fine tuned it since.

So those first blissful flute lines you hear waterfalling over a percussive break might make you feel peaced up but Gung coming straight in with “We got ten more minutes m’fucker let’s go!” proves that mood quickly untrue. In contrast to the instrumental, the vocal is angular and agressive but it doesn’t remain so for the duration. His greatest strength has always been his capacity to navigate multiple voices which I’ve said again and again (ugh, I’m boring) and is one of the true marks of an ascendent MC. You want him at his most rageful or his hookiest? Have both on the one track, an absolute steal. Sure, you can ride a wave to the top of Billboard doing the same thing on every song from start to finish but why would ya when you’ve got all this is your arsenal?

I’m already hearing hints and rumours about the songs and collaborations Gung has coming in 2021 and lemme tell you… this boy is already on his way out the door and the guy Nikodimos is only hastening the moves.

Is this the most self-assured debut you’ve ever heard? Don’t lie to me now, is it? Pookie just shot out the blocks with explosive force, gunshot residue left behind her in the same rubble wreckage as scores of career MCs. Pookie leveled them in one, ‘Tuesday’ the weapon of choice, a record that’s one part laid back with an aperitif, other part hit list of names. Yeah there’s some of that bass manipulation and the beat is ~on point~ with those gliding 808s adding angles to what could have been a smooth record otherwise. But her flow, oh damn, her flow… seismic, explosive, confident, brilliant. She ducks and weaves through the record, not just in terms of rhythm and cadence but voice too. It’s that extra capacity for vocal melody that adds colour to the every verse and it’s what we’ve just seen Tkay do so accutely on Last Year Was Weird Vol. 2.

Real name Aćol Agaar Apollo, shes a proper MC, a south Sudanese Australian based in Melbourne with one foot down the throat of the emerging emerged hip-hop movement and the other planted with pride in Footscray. She’s teamed up with Baasto for the hooks on Tuesday, a track written in the dead-heart of Melbourne isolation, likely an influence on a record that’s centered around keeping a small circle and ‘riding solo’. Tuesday has the same consistency as liquid nitrogen- icey as hell yet somehow still likely to see you burnt, with yr guy suffering supreme frostbite as I dribble this text onto the blog. Big things guaranteed for Pookie or your Sound Doc patreon money back.

Something from Melbourne’s Ali Adriano that tastes like Enya meshed with Kllo synced to season 2 of The OC (coastal driving scenes only thanks). Self produced with her own sonorous vocal spinning in and out of flute(ish) sections like a double helix. She’s just two records deep and this one drew me in enough that I was willing to investigate the first one and look bud, they’re both strong, experiential bodies of sound that are more immersion that consumption. Worth a swim in this.

Ashwarya’s references read rich with names like SZA, Travis, Kanye and MIA but to my ears its Rosalia that bears the strongest influence on her debut record. There’re the vocals which have that ghostly coolness to them but there’s also a hint of Rosalía’s essential castanet sounds and the capacity to move between English and another language. In Ashwarya’s case however, that language is Hindi rather than Spanish and that mobility to glide from one tongue to another makes for versatile listening. Also it reminds me of what a common pleb I am, commanding just one argot and not even a good one.

I came across her first proper release this week, a track called Biryani which strangely appears to be exclusively on Unearthed which is why you’re exposed to that truly aesthetic player below. When I asked about the track, they told me that this was just a demo and that they’d planned to ‘record and release it properly‘ but I mess with that perfectionist attitude so we’re gonna allow it. The way she switches from verse to chorus with a little BPM changeup reminiscent of Paul Walker on the gearstick is something to behold, gently whistling with appreciation and that voice is pure chiffron. It’s early days and the pop game isn’t a short one but Ashwarya is laying all the right foundations with single one.

Elizabeth, do you hate SEO? I can name, and this is just off the top of my head, two different Elizabeths, or Elizabi. The queen and the one in Austin Powers whose last name I can’t remember. I’d wager there may be as many as double that figure in existence. So THIS Elizabeth wants to go head to head on the google battlefield with four other conames? Seems a gamble if you ask me.

To her credit though, she has this really wonderful pop song called ‘Parties’ in her warchest and maybe that’ll be enough to finally bury Elizabeth Hurley (remembered it) though if dating Warney didn’t put a chink in her armour then she’s nigh on invincible. This song ‘Parties’, it’s produced by John Castle (who’s got a strong list of credits and would’ve come at no small cost) in the spirit of Beach House but it’s Elizabeth’s vocal that steals the show. They float lightly through these sonic hallways yet somehow they still feel huge, powerful, mighty – like a colossal spectre, edging its way through an empty passage.

I think this song strikes me so immediately because lines like “I go to parties like I don’t need anybody but I only miss you more” are such a lived experience for me. It certain doesn’t hurt that this same lyric rich chorus is the musculature built on the bones of a perfect melody. I find myself wordlessly humming this chorus constantly. Between words and sounds, it’s Elizabeth’s sledgehammer melancholy that sticks with me all these listens later.

Also, just a quick answer to one of the questions posed on this one – “when’d you get so good at being bad?”
Bud I’ve got bad news for you, some of us a just born with it. I’ve been good at being trash since day dot.