Yep, the ol’ blog’s been pretty active lately. I’ve been told by a few people that it’s actually been too active. Those people are dead wrong and more than that, they’re repugnant humans. I think it’s been right on point and all the more impressive that I’ve managed it amid the other things I’ve had on. Sure I’m navigating my usual 9-5 but I also go out of my way to keep a few separate endeavours on the bubble. Most notably I’ve been playing an IOS game called Dragon Coins this past fortnight which is more time expensive than you might think, mostly because this damn Midasbane won’t evolve into a full blown Grotslang without more coins. Always more coins. Not made up names by the way, Dragon Coins doesn’t work in half measures, you live by the coin or you die by the coin.

Yet, somehow, here I am again with more Sydney music for your dumb ears that don’t even deserve it. I offer forth a beat constructor named Jonathan Baker but henceforth we’ll refer to him by his music pseudonym Anatole. His music almost feels mathematical in its precision as if the introduction and removal of each track’s various elements is the outcome of a definite algorithm. The timing demonstrated across these sonic ins and outs is straight meticulous and the elements themselves are delightfully crisp from the perfectly sharp string manipulations in ‘Westbrook’ to the rattle and crunch found littered throughout ‘Undercurrent’. Anatole has a fantastic ear for textures, pairing the thin sounds in ‘Undercurrent’ with the lush warm piano overtones to make a piece of singular depth and beauty.

He’s dropped a few singles over the last twelve months but only truly blooded himself with his Westbrook EP this May. It came to me the same way everything on Sound Doctrine does, through a drug fueled internet dreamquest / Tim Shiel’s extensive bandcamp orienteering and hopefully it sits with you as well as it has for me. Let the weekend commence.

New Seekae. Do we need a backstory? Do we need incentive? No & no. It sounds like what I always imagined I’lls might sound like with some bonus BPM points. In years to come I’ll tell my grandchildren that I was the fourth stream on the second single from the third Seekae record. Noone can take that away from me.

Yujen’s new EP is now one day out into the world and while I’m not one to stream full EPs (except for sometimes when I do)  I’ve still taken the opportunity to listen through the thing and pick out the first fruits of the six. Wait, no, the second. Heirloom from last year is on here and that’s my cut. Actually, we probably shouldn’t overlook the Chet Faker collab ‘Try It Over‘ which too isn’t without its merits and so we come to the third of the list, ‘Enough By Now’. It’s hazy and atmospheric and the sort of song that pushes music bloggers to use lazy descriptors in the absence of any stand-out minutiae for them to cling to. “Washes of sound?” – I’ll say it. “Bed of synth?” – I’m not above it. Maybe though, I’ve actually got it all wrong and it’s the sheer quantity of minutiae that together form one overarching blanket of noise so as that when vocals sink in, you barely recognize the door they entered through let alone acknowledge their arrival. Subtlety is the name of the game here and the game is being played very well indeed. No Aware EP is out through Detail Co. and listenababable in its entirety.

Spirit Faces is like climate change; it’s happening right now and whether or not you choose to act, it will affect the future of all humankind. That may sound like an ovestatement but come on, you’re reading an Australian music blog so if you’re shocked then you’re probably new to this. Sorry guys, that was mean. But it’s hard to write about a song that is truly exceptional; you don’t want to misrepresent it or impose your own meaning. Ideally music writing brings something additional to the tune; a framework or context for listening. Sometimes though, art causes a reaction in us that is visceral and limited by words.

This is one of the most fully realised musical pieces I’ve heard in a long time. It’s the real deal, the full package. There’s a significant weight of emotion behind the lyrics, a heaviness that feels genuine and unforced. The exquisite descending piano progression only adds to this. It swings effortlessly between melodic ballad and grinding synth onslaught in a way that pays tribute to influences ranging from The Beatles to Kanye West. Mastered by Vlado Meller (who as it happened also worked on Yeezus) and produced by Sydney’s own Zebra Zap, every moment is musically exciting and painfully gentle.

I’m told that this tune forms part of an upcoming EP called Bedroom Music. To see Spirit Faces live, get yourself to the Corner Co-op Gallery in Chippendale on June 27. Loads more info here.

I am a musical act that has variously been the following: the favourite band of everyone who matters in your life, featured on Pitchfork, completely disappeared from every radar, played shifty shows replete with Jay-Z and soft core porn (potential synonyms) and remixed everybody.

This was a real-life riddle I found on the wrapper of a Fantale yesterday. Obviously I near certain that the answer was Drake, but I was wrong. The answer is Fishinggg.

Fishing (the band) are in the active process of building the anticipation for their first record ‘Shy Glow’ which is due on the 6th of June. That’s not a clerical error by the way, despite a relatively long and storied existence as mainstays of Sydney bee bop scene, Fishing are yet to pull out a full length record-managing instead to keep the masses intrigued by drip feeding 7” singles, mix tapes, and erotic live performances.

They not-so-quietly dropped their first piece of new material from this new record a few months back in the form of ‘Chi Glow’, arriving online with a washed out video clip in tow. The track hints at what this new record is going to bring (a party, it’s almost certainly going to bring a party). To this party, Marcus Whale of Collarbones brings the vocal warp and also gets a haircut in the video, which is cool because haircuts are a great way to keep your image looking fresh. Fishing (the band)’s own guy Doug brings his rhyming daze (and eats noodles in the video – also cool). This is Fishing headed out in a different direction, an evolution of the bounce and beats that were so attractive in their formative times, matured into a track with depth and texture and retains that same beat pop pleasure.

Also, Tommy forgot to tell you that Collarbones dropped a new track a minute ago. He’s not sorry, not really, but I am. The new Collarbones jam is out ahead of their new Atlantis EP which is also lined up for a mid-year release, and shows the band underplaying their hand, keeping it real calm and putting up a watch this space sign.

Back to the main news which is Fishing (the band) who’ve now delivered unto us a second track from that new record, ‘Your Mouth’. Jonas Nicholls from Sures retains the coastal vibes with his reverb soaked vocals, which I’m reliably told is not an affectation but is a natural product of a superior voice-box and is present in his everyday speech. The tropical guitar fused production and the clicks and whips all hint at yet another arrow present in the quiver that is Chi Glow. I can’t help but think that this is a record that’s going to contain more than its fair share of surprises. Suffice to say that at the Sound Ducktrine offices the excitement is palpable.

So that’s all the news, enjoy your lives.