Owen Ashworth has been making music under the moniker of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone since ’97 but only at the end of last week with what is effectively the band’s siren song did I take the time to listen to a track through. Andrew Maxam tried to get me to listen back in the day but I said ‘Nay Andrew, I know better’. I did not know better. I couldn’t get past the dissidence between vocal and beat. This week, Roland K Smith put this on my plate and I’ve been enamoured since.

This track is the parting track he left in his wake as he left behind the years long project of CFTPA. Named and listed are almost certainly everyone he’s ever loved, known or met on yahoo chat. I’m still trying to work out how a track with beats this excitable still manages to have any emotional resonance yet it’s there, proving that you don’t have to resort to minor chords and falsetto to convey sadness.

Listen, then listen again in about an hour. It’s really, really good.

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone – ‘Goodbye Parthenon’

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He has swathes of recordings behind him, many of which you’ll find available free online.

Historically my forays into those things electronic have been brief, mostly by virtue of my complete irreverence for most things recorded and performed through a macbook, but when I heard this track on East to West yesterday afternoon I knew I had to share it to you. It stays true to the original while underlining the thing with a smooth beat and a splattering of glitch. The end product isn’t a club banger but will probably be a regular presence in all future party playlist I put together (which is to say literally hundreds of playlists, since I am invited to literally hundreds of parties, because of how much people like me as a person). Here it is:

Bon Iver – Perth (BASKE Tear Up REMIX)

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[FREE DOWNLOAD]

Time constraints have left Sound Doc looking pretty sparse lately. It’s only this twenty minute window before I start work in the morning (time allowed to make toast, coffee and idle chat – “what did you get upto last night?”) that I’m managing to cobble together a little something something for you to read and hear. The track isn’t a new one, it’s a rerecord, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t sound all sorts of crisp. It swells with harmonies, rises, falls and builds again with production far superior to the first version we heard way back when. Inland Sea are currently on the road as part of the ‘One, Two, Ten Tour’ which will ultimately culminate in a Sydney show on October 22nd at the FBi Social which I suggest you get to, if the reports about their live performances are to be believed.

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Meanwhile, I’m dying to post about the new Wilco record but my head will roll at work if I dare. I’m hoping that the first single will be the first track from the record, titled ‘Art of Almost’. To give you a sense of how awesome this record is, imagine your best friend in the whole world, now double that and kick it to the max. That’s what we’re talking about here, and those of you who know me well will know that I do NOT throw ‘to the max’ around lightly. This is serious.

On my way to Gordon Macdonalds late night in July with my special lady friend, our two short term goals being not to antagonise any rat’s tailed patrons and to enjoy six chicken mcnuggets with sweet and sour sauce, I had the pleasure of listening to an extended interview/exposé on Cairns band The Medics on Radio National. Discovering new music on Radio National is a rare thing though. It’s sort of like discovering a new poet by listening to Kyle Sandilands on popular radio, which can probably be best compared to consuming human excrement, just in terms of the intellectual benefit, moral value and actual enjoyment.

They’ve only an EP out so far but on its way is their debut full length which should be damn good if the below single is anything to go by. At their roots the band are effectively a post-rock outfit but they’ve retained an Australianism that’s pretty uncharacteristic of the genre, which I for one am all about. You can download ‘Beggars’ free from their Triple J Unearthed page or simply by right clicking the link below.

The Medics – ‘Beggars’

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[FREE DOWNLOAD]

On a side note, I’ve included two separate images of the band to demonstrate the mindbending transformation from a rabble of unruly musos to a serious batch of hip cats. Believe it.

Am I really going to be the guy whose most recent blog posts read Ryan Adams, Radical Face, Ryan Adams, Radical Face? I am. I could have thrown a curveball in there and posted about the recent collaborative track between Bon Iver and James Blake but I already “wrote” about that over on Cool Accidents, the other blog that I’ll occassionally be writing for . Seriously though, look at the sleekness of layout on that thing. I should have got a tumblr, right? Boy, is my face red. Let’s be honest though, this design is pretty swell. Paul Hewson physically put a ten dollar note in my hand the other night saying “your blog looks so good that I want you to have ten dollars”. These visuals are literally paying for themselves (not literally, obviously, that wouldn’t make sense).

So that brings me to Ryan Adams, about whom my present blogging is hugely ironic. I mean, I only effectively started listening to him after James Blackwood’s recent post two weeks back. Boy, is my face red! Too much? Too much, probably. I “discovered” an artist through my own blog. It’s like Inception! I’ve never been one to demand credit for musical discovery and by the same token I’ve never been ashamed to admit that I missed the boat with an artist. So, here we are.

Ryan Adams – ‘Lucky Now’

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Hear this, an acoustic number perfect for the Sound Doctrine loyal, with a cheeky electric solo two thirds of the way through. Don’t think the electric will be overbearing though, it just sort of lilts above the acoustic strum. Delicious.

A new Ryan Adam’s record, Ashes & Fire is coming soon. Also, I’ll write about something local soon, I promise.