WHAT EVEN IS MARKETING THESE DAYS? You know with the internet, kids have handphones and sneakers, hardly anybody wears a suit on the weekend sometimes I just want to lie down.
The thing with marketing is that everybody knows that you can’t build a good brand any more, that’s marketing 101 folks. Slogans are dead, pantone colour palates are useless, jingles have no place in modern society. “Where to from here though?” I can hear you asking through your computer screens (webcam is on, mate). Well, I know the answer.
WELCOME TO THE NEW MARKETEERING AND ENTER ‘THE MANDARIN CENTRE’.
At some point midway through 2013 the bikies running the Mandarin shopping centre in Chatswood grew tired of being an also-ran in a four way mall contest. I know how gangs work though, and those gangsters knew that they couldn’t just ‘change their name’ or ‘upgrade their facilities’ they had to take it to the next level, they had to create marketing 2.0.
Upper management decided that this new wave of marketing would probably need to involve an MC running through a near complete list of every possible merit the centre has to its name. Sure, its selection is dwarfed by the Westfield opposite and yes, Chatswood Chase down the road makes it look like a derelict public toilet but there’s something charming about the old Mando (+ free parking voucher with any purchase). While plenty of us jumped ship when Timezone shut down which was frankly, a bloody disgrace, the remaining stores have plenty to keep you interested, particularly Daiso which is a store where literally every item is $2.80. Do you have any idea what that means!? It means a packet of chips and a towel for $5.60. They don’t even have functional cash registers, they just use calculators to tally your price. What a place. I’m also 85% certain that the owners of cute soft-toy store ‘Morning Glory’ don’t actually know what they’re referencing with that name. What I can tell you is that their prices are as firm as their name, don’t even try haggling. Exclusive of store content I can say with surety that on the whole it’s still at least three times as inviting as the impenetrable mono-cultural fortress that is Lemon Grove up the boulevard.
Anyway, back to that MC mentioned earlier, he’s got game. The beat’s a little light on the lowend but Mandarin MC makes up for it with versatile lyricism and a strong aesthetic. It’s a song that probably coasts on the strength of its conceptual weight, the MC tapping on the touchstones that make the other MC a cultural and commercial epicenter.
I’ve popped it onto soundcloud if you’re that way inclined.
#AustralianMusic
Two thousand fourteen is a big year for Sound Doodles. Not even going to be, it already is. It’s the year that I brought on a PR team to make sure that I maximize business exposure opportunities. You know the drill, kissing babies, donating hospital wings etc. They’ve also given me several brand alignment opportunities which sounds strange now but will make sense when you see my logo on Smiggle pencil cases and medical equipment. It’s all good stuff. Anyway, best of all, I’ve been trying to manually change my taste to get down with what the kids are listening to these days which means I should probably discuss this Yon Yonson character, not to be confused with twitter troll John Johnsonson who also promises to have a big 2014. YonYon is actually more than one fella though. In fact pretty much twice as many people as you may have first thought make up the act and the pair of them have been emitting some diverse substances for years now and I’m even going to risk a defamation case and suggest that their tunes lead me to believe believe they’ve also been consuming some diverse substances over the past few years too.
A few EPs, a mixtape, lots of back-cat for you to involve yourself in but not now friends. That’s for later. Right now we’re just listening to the new record and we’re all feeling pretty good about it huh? Pretty darn good. Whether you heard them for the first time in JC’s new music column today (inc. one of the most raw summaries of domestic single you’ll read in 2014) or you’ve been across them via multiple POA pieces or any number of other checkpoints along the way, this batch of songs will probably be surprising to you. Nothing overly embellished, it’s just that YonYon are an unexpected pair, but I doubt a directionless pair. I know you probably weren’t expecting to hear much musicality within a post that references John Johnsonson but I think there’s a case to be made for YonYon being a legitimate source. The progression from meditative piano moments to a track featuring the shoutiest man in Sydney (Simo Soo) is impossibly an accident. Someone needs to make a supercut of this beast wherein the songs run into each other because it’d certainly be something to hear it all as one whole without file separations.
Those are the words, here’s the song. Culver City’s my choice (because bloody hell, so good) and I’m going to run with a song about wine as my in-post B-Side. Get at it, there’s basslines awaiting. The record is a name-your-price purchase via banddcamp.
OH GOSH, WE’RE GOING FOR THREE HERE. WHEN THE BEAT COMES IN POST MID-TRACK SAMPLE, WHAT EVEN IS LIFE?
Look at that, it’s already the sixth of January. While you were busy spending the last six days downloading torrents of Pitchfork’s year end best records, you already broke most of those resolutions that you made at midnight last Tuesday, when the hope of the new year was still ahead of you.
It may seem that this all doom and gloom, the truth is that we aren’t pessimists here at the Sound Doctor Blog. Actually the motto here in the office at Sound Documents is “whatever the opposite of pessimistic is, that’s us”. With that in mind, now is the time to drag your eyes off the scales and lay them down here, because we have something for you.
You see in the manic rush to get the hell out of digusting old 2013, a few bits of aural gold went right under the radar. Can you blame us for that? Well, you probably can actually, but we want to say sorry, we are here to right the wrongs.
One of those that slipped by was a new record from Melbourne’s Chris Bolton – aka Seagull. Ocean From Above dropped in October on Two Bright Lakes with a minimum of fanfare and fuss, and spent the ensuing months creeping up into our ears. To be completely fair, this record is really more of an aural diamond than the aforementioned gold. Forged at high pressure and extreme heat around 140km into the earth’s mantle and then appearing beautiful, bright and sparkling in the light of the day. Ocean From Above is quintessential Seagull, building on the framework of 2009′s Council Tree it is a loping, pulsing work which ebbs and flows with the tide.
As ever he does, Old Man Bolton has complemented his record with some beautiful visuals. The middle of December saw this video for ‘Original Shape’ released: Slow and elegant as the same passing of days it portrays, as ghostly gulls hover in and out of the shot. The track underplays its hand, staid guitar lines lie under Bolton’s wandering prosaic melodies as other worldly voices and synths hover persistently above drawing you to the close.
Buy the record, buy them all, because this is the perfect soundtrack with which to face up to the year ahead. As always, I end this with the ever present reminder that if you don’t enjoy this music, then you’re doing it wrong.
I was recently faced with the confronting truth that bedroom-based beats producers are not the only individuals creating music in Australia. There is a lot to be said for rediscovering various ways to make a Roland 808 Drum-Machine sound interesting, but apparently some humans still enjoy playing instruments in the vicinity of other humans. Historically speaking (and I got this from a book), these ensembles have become known as ‘bands’. Revier are just such a group. With their debut EP in tow, they’ve been ‘making some noise’ on the Sydney scene recently, supporting certain ‘it’ bands and playing at various ‘hip’ venues. They are bringing to the table what some critics have called ‘music’ and some punters have called ‘a dreamy frontman’.
Let’s talk influences: the conversational falsetto is very Buckley, the impression that the singer is toying with the notes around the melody is very Buckley. The songs are reflective, relational and downcast, with Morrisey’s earnestness of expression but without his unmediated misery. I understand the knee-jerk outcry that could result from making these comparisons; but I don’t want to deify artists to the point where stylistic links can’t be drawn. Clearly it isn’t enough to simply emulate the greats (after all, the general public didn’t give Matt Corby much attention until he took a step away from Jeff Buckley and revealed more of himself with ‘Brother’). In Revier’s case, the lyrical content is a strong point, with enough specificity and interesting word choice to establish Jack Froggat’s storytelling voice as distinct and personal. There is possibly a bit of a luddite rockism inherant in the sound [Read: they play guitars], but it is nice to hear a band that isn’t obsessed with synthesisers.
If you’re looking for huge bangerz, this EP is not your jam. It is probably best to find a time when you can sit for a moment and listen straight through a few tracks, to take you on the journey. For a taste though, here’s the single ‘Coins On Your Eyes’. It’s a sonically rich tune and good representation of the direction they’ve taken on this EP.
In a packed-out live show I recently witnessed, the tightness of the arrangements allowed for some really visceral musical moments. Some of these hard-hitting moments have been somewhat lost in the reverb-infused sound of the EP (presumably a production decision, some people may prefer the result). But I think the one of the most exciting things about this band is that sense of potential that comes with youth (through sleuthing and phone-tapping I was able to discover that the average age in the band is 19.75). It will be interesting to see how Revier develop their own voice, and whether or not they’re to become a presence on the Australian scene.
It’s been a really tough year for Australian records this year. Singles out the backside but strong releases have been very few and far between. A large percentage of what would have been in my end of year list dropped in the first three months of the year. What have I done for the remaining nine, I wish you’d ask? Honed my talent, mates. I’ve become the third best semi-cynical, beats based wordpress blog run out of Sydney. “How does one reach such great heights?”, I ask once again on your behalf. Well, first off, you write a piece. Usually at that point, it’s good enough for for my emotions based Live Journal. We call that ‘LJ Level’. After that, I’ll usually rewrite that article and throw it in the bin. That’s called ‘Bin Level’. At this stage we’re almost at Sound Doc level which is marginally above bin level but not so much so that it sticks out at you, it still feels relatively binnish. Then I just go live on it and hopefully there aren’t any spelling errors and the bits that I copy/pasted out of the press release make sense where I’ve inserted them. So that’s largely what I’ve been upto fifty or sixty times over.
Here we are at the end of the year, and also finally arriving at the inevitable conclusion to the Sound Doctrine story arc. We’ve reached the point at which my apathy is so present that I’ve opted not to write my own end of year list and enlisted Australia’s best musicians to write it for me. They aren’t writers though, you hear me? So if you happen to see a confused your/you’re situation will you kindly just shut your damn trap and let it lie? Will you kindly do that for me? Will you, kindly? They’re music types and if you’d care to glance through the list you’ll recognise that you’re looking at the next wave of Australia’s sonic cream. Imagine that, a creamwave. In my head it’s either a genre or a dense, rancid body of rolling dairy. Anywho, all in all, some bloody fantastic music sorts in the list of contributors here and all freely contributed so benevolent souls to boot. There’s also some neat cross-pollination among the choices too, so stay sharp.
I assigned each artists a marking rubric with judgments to be based around:
· Length of song
· Quality of cover art
· File size weighed against number of instruments on the track
· Whether or not it’s already been featured on mess + noise
· Median Triple J unearthed user rating
· Total streaming service income divided by number of letters in artist name
If it managed to come through that trial by fire unscathed then it was a bonafide hit and I need not remind you that I only deal in hits which is exactly where my famous “I deal in hits” motto came from.
So, without further adieu, here are the hits as decided by their peers. Hitpeers.
Banoffee
Industry Role: Art School Dance Fiend
Song Choice: Chela – Romanticise
“Choosing one song for 2013 is a difficult task. I have gone through my iTunes, through soundcloud, through Facebook and blogs trying to remember what was released and trying to pick between so many amazing tracks and artists. Chela stands out for me because the type of music she’s making is uniquely her own. This song excited me because its great intelligent pop. Australia is in the spotlight at the moment, and for all the right reasons: we are taking what we love to dance to, what we know people can relate to and what cuts people to the quick and its spreading over the internet like vegemite. This has caught the worlds attention for sure. The chorus of ‘Romanticise’ makes me swing my head and look up to the sky like I’m dancing to Kylie or Madonna. Chela brings grit to her own version of pop, and just like her effortless eclectic style she layers her music with freckles of satisfying vocal licks, bursts of disco synths and satisfying beats. As IF anyone has listened to this song and not wanted to grab a hairbrush to sing into?! For these reasons I’ve picked ‘Romanticise’ as my favourite release of 2013 – a powerful woman at her best, singing her heart out in a way that makes everyone feel like they’re in love.”
Bearhug
Industry Role: Spunk Rock
Song Choice: Stolen Violin – When They Put It All On Red
“This songs buried melody is great, reminds me of grouper with an Australiana tinge, and the surrounding layers of swirling guitars and distorted strings (?) kills me. Great song.”
Bored Nothing
Industry Role: Chill Guy 2012
Song Choice: The Ocean Party – Split
“most definitely ‘split’ by ocean party. Written and sung by Zac “Ciggie Witch” Denton (his first time writing for ocean party). The track is a pretty simple song about the annoyance of responsibility, but the intertwining melodies of the three guitars adds a layer of un-follow-able jangle and reverb that soothes the brain. 5/5 goon-bags.”
Collarbones
Industry Role: Photoshop Seductionistas
Song Choice: Cape North – I Live In Fear
“Cape North is a friend of mine who has just started putting out some lo-fi piano ballads, but that needn’t mean anything. The EP it’s from, Break (on Valley Spirit Records) is something of a digital, infinitely replicable equivalent to Daniel Johnston’s boombox-recorded output, which he famously would palm single-edition copies of to uninterested strangers. Like Johnston, Cape North’s songs are almost uncontrollably wrought, a feeling amplified by its lo-fi mediation. In “I Live In Fear” it seems as if we are the ghostly voyeurs to his outpourings, confined to a piano, a laptop, a voice, and a head full of R&B affectations. The opening (“I was waiting for night to come on the day I told you you were the one”) is not a capella, but rather a voice embedded in a sea of static – the artefact that links us to one lone boy, in one night, singing from the heart.”
Cull
Industry Role: The Genre Destroyer
Song Choice: Day Ravies – Staring Is Caring
“These guys are kind of really doing it for me and have been for a while. I’m worried Day Ravies are starting to recognise me. I’ve spent so much time lurking as close to the sweet spot of venues they’re playing that it’s probably inevitable, but I don’t want to creep them out so I try to stay hidden. My car is perpetually parked in the sun so their LP Tussle is probably melting in my car’s cd player, just waiting to be replaced with another copy. So I’m a good fan, right? Their track “Staring is Caring” aligns with my personal interests the most. While being a slowburning and soothing number, it manages to bite aggressively with bursts of fuzz guitar that waver up and down with Sam’s trem-bar. That fuzz isn’t the prettiest of fuzzes either – it’s serrated and harsh – like if you recorded a chainsaw with a early-2000s laptop’s inbuilt mic. Inside a fire. Add in a pile of interesting gazey guitar work, you’ve got one of the best tracks of the year.”
Eagle And The Worm
Industry Role: Brassmen In Space
Song Choice: Cut Copy – Free Your Mind
“Blown away with this track/album. Free your mind, massive tip to the 90s Brit baggy Manchester sound. Love that Cut Copy have made an album that is first and foremost- fun, …and a really funky listen. Lots of solid cuts, and Free You Mind the title track is a good one. Great listen on headphones too, if you’re into Hi Fi audio nerd vibes. Free your ears.”
Electric Sea Spider
Industry Role: Beatman Deluxe
Song Choice: Cassius Select – Jamo (Kane Ikin Remix)
“Killing two birds with one stone here, because I adore both these guys. Had some moments seeing them live too. Hard choice though; it was actually between a couple of Kane Ikin remixes (and Friendships, which is more-so my album of the year anyway). Incredible track, this just really stuck out for me.”
Elizabeth Rose
Industry Role: The Good Life
Song Choice: The Preatures – Is This How You Feel?
“My favourite Aussie song of the year would have to be Is this How You Feel by The Preatures – this is sweet, pure pop at it’s greatest and what a gem it is!”
Fractures
Industry Role: Injurious Bastard
Song Choice: Oscar Key Sung – All I Could Do
“I would have been happy to pick any of Oscar’s songs really, but this is the obvious one. Anything with his voice on it will usually push the right buttons for me personally, his delivery is so soulful without any unnecessary embellishments and he somehow gives what is essentially a four to the floor feel a much more unique groove. And above all, it sounds fantastic, Very much looking forward to the EP.”
I’lls
Industry Role: The Omniproducer & Co.
Song Choice: Cassius Select – Jamo
“Hunter Gatherer have been putting out forward thinking and impressive electronic music all year. Cassius Select AKA Guerre is at the forefront of this school of thought, being, in our opinion, one of the most under-rated artists in Australia. Lavurn creates impressive, unique and boundary pushing electronic music.”
Japanese Wallpaper
Industry Role: Teenage Laptopoftheworld
Song Choice: Oscar Key Sung – All I Could Do
“Hearing it for the first time, I already knew it would be one of my favourite tracks of the year. The pulsating drums, glitchy synths and oscar’s smooth-as-a-baby’s-bottom vocals make for a joyful, exuberant 3 minutes of summer goodness.”
Jeremy Neale
Industry Role: The Most Popular Man In QLD / Hoops Dreams All-Rounder
Song Choice: The Preatures – Is This How You Feel?
“Besides the parts of the year that were blacked out due to obsessive listening of the Ramones, Phil Collins and Iron Maiden’s respective back catalogues there was a bunch of cool stuff happening in new music. Working in music retail also let me hear a whole lot of completely shit house new releases too. So I totally have perspective maaaaan. Narrowing it down to my favourite Australian song of 2013 is tough though. I mean. I still love The Preatures’ “Is This How You Feel” even after *google searches release date* wow. 8 months. That’s more power than even Venger would know what to do with. Violent Soho’s Hungry Ghost gave us the most triumphantly powerful “Covered In Chrome” and it makes me wish I had long hair and that I made heavier music. The Gooch Palms told it how it is in the title track to their record “Novo’s” like nobody else had the guts to do and for that I am thankful. So it’s somewhere between these. Due to a tried and true test over time though…
Is This How You Feel.”
The Kite String Tangle
Industry Role: Soundcloud Glutton
Song Choice: Movement – Us
“My choice for this year is ‘Us’ by Sydney band ‘Movement’. This is a stellar track that really stood out to me; and for obvious reasons. It seems like Movement are one of the few Australian acts tackling this sound currently. The tune is an airy, floaty and silky smooth production with vocals that somehow melt somewhere between the speakers and your ears and leave the listener as a puddle on the floor (much like Alex Mack). I had the pleasure of supporting these guys early in 2013 and am pleased to report that they kill it live too making them a complete package deal. I think there’s only a matter of time before ‘Movement’ become well respected players amongst their peers in this genre internationally.”
Nick Allbrook (POND+more)
Industry Role: Psych-Lord
Song Choice: Ngaiire – Around
“Oh shit, i am so glad i get to tell err’body about this one song i love! It’s called around by Ngaiire. I dont really know anything about her except that she is a total babe and obviously splendidly talented, considering all the amazing music she’s made in the last couple of years. I dunno, this song is just a heart crushingly beautiful gumbo of everyones favorite bits of music. It’s ass-grindingly danceable and honest and emotional and sentimental and uplifting and yeah. Around by Ngaiire”
The Ocean Party
Industry Role: Jangle Bell Rock
Song Choice: Nathan Roche – Sailors into Wooloomooloo
“Sydney via North Queensland musician/author Nathan Roche is a legend. Formerly and currently of Marf Loth, Camperdown & Out, Nathan Roche & The Wentworth Avenue Breeze Out, Home Run, The Revisionists and Disgusting People, his most recent output simply under his own name is his best to date, and this track: ‘Sailors into Wooloomooloo’ is the best of an album without a bad track. Starting out simply enough, after 17 whole seconds the sing-along, children’s song-esque verse breaks into the chorus of the year: “They’re gonna fuck, they’re gonna fight, they’re gonna drink for the night…” and the warped and distorted good vibe keep up for the whole three minutes. Effortlessly charming. Great guitar solo too. ”
Peter Bibby
Industry Role: Gareth Liddiard 2.0
Song Choice: Pond – Midnight Mass (At the Market St Payphone)
“Mine would be Pond’s Midnight Mass (At The Market St Payphone). Maybe it has something to do with how Nick sings about getting drunk in my favourite chair before the boiz crack into one of the tastiest drops ive ever heard, or maybe its cos it made me like synthy drone out shit again, or maybe its because I’ve made some seriously fucked phonecalls from the Market St payphone, some life saving, others, damning. Maybe its because I just saw them make people shit all over the place on the Hobo Rocket tour over the last week with this song. Whatever it is, this song blew my dick out of my face in a really pleasant way when I heard it in 2013. I’m just stoked my dick replenishes itself everytime a great song blows it out of my face.”
The Preatures
Industry Role: Political Censorees
Song Choice: Cloud Control – Scar
“This song is just sick. The bass drop into the chorus is just a few wub wubz away from punching a hole clean through the dancefloor. Plus a totally singable chorus harmony that I can actually hit. Which is rare.”
Remi
Industry Role: Tumblr Bragaddocio
Song Choice: N’fa Jones – Once Again For The First Time
“For a rap song anywhere in the world, it’s just bumping, the production is of the chain and the raps are fire, it gets me hyped to do music which I usually take as a sign of a good song hahaha”
Tim Fitz
Industry Role: Man of Many Bands
Song Choice: The Starry Field – All Of My Love
“It isn’t really fair to pick just one song from this great Australian album. I love that it is simultaneously earnest and self-mocking. Love the progression in the verses, and it is some of the most interesting pop production I’ve heard in a song this year. I really like that it sounds unashamedly (and even courageously) Australian.”
The Trouble With Templeton
Industry Role: Seattle-Come-Brisbane
Song Choice: Emma Louise – 17 Hours
“What a way to start an album! This song an Emma’s voice and lyrics completely encapsulates me and draws me in… A fantastic journey and wonderful beginning to a beautiful, thoughtful album.”
