A new four track EP from the man whose real talk brought us #emotions and #feelings last May. This EP hones in on plenty on the satellite sounds he made use of in ‘Andromeda’ last time round. It’s all very sentimental and slow moving but in a warm, familiar way like dust motes in a sunbeam, slowly settling and if that imagery doesn’t make you want to get involved then nothing will.

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?

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.

How about old mate wailing away on that guitar around 2.30. It’s not 80s wanky though, just enough to warrant a steady bounce of the head and the raised eyebrows of any colleagues who happen to stride by my cubicle. Jokes, I have my own office. How many times must I remind you that I’m a bigwig now and I demand you’re respect. A good way to earn that might be to use the correct form of ‘your’ but failing that I’ll just keep plying you with jams and hope for results. Hopefully you’ve already listened through canker up above though if you’re a fast reader it may still be playing and you’ll realise that I was violently reductive in pointing out the merits of a few guitar licks with so much else going on. Even the way vocals switch from left to ride at the twenty second mark or the excellent quavering vocal that run the course of the track – the both need notice.

Now though, let some of the new tune into your ear holes and you’ll thank me. This one’s called ‘World Inside Your Head’ and it’s a slower, woozier thing that’s actually a bit of an earworm. I’ve been singing that damn chorus phrase all day. It lives in the same world inside your head as Porcelain Raft or Tropical Strength, a world of meticulous production choices applied to the sound of a full band which, if reports are true, is made up of a pretty talented set of music types. Also, how about that descending bassline? Legitimate question waiting for answer here, how about it?

And here’s one more for the road, the flipside to ‘Canker’, this one is ‘If It Works’ and in answer to what clearly isn’t a question, “yep, it sure does”. Excellent.