‘An Eroding Song’

‘Eight Split Knuckles’

Spookyland is 19 year old wunderkind Marcus Gordon. The smear of facepaint on the album cover the EP does seem to back up his Bowie hero claim in his bio, but his debut is a pared-back affair. Killin’ One Bird With Two Stones is an ambitious EP. Gordon’s poetically charged tunes do vary on the EP, shifting from delta blues numbers to drawn out folk narratives (…track four clocks in at 8:21). While I was too quick to dismiss him as a whingy emo parading in alt country clothing at first listen, this EP definitely grew on me after a few spins.

Opener ‘An Eroding Song’ begins with a chord progression that gives a nod to Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You, before branching out into a dreamy cowboy type waltz, harmonica in tow. It’s a nice big eyed track that works in line with Gordon’s lyrical knack. While there are the obvious Dylan-type verbalizations going on in ‘Dizzy Blues’ and ‘Ballad of the Dead Doctor’, the bluntness of ‘Failures’ echoes a Daniel Johnston b-side at best. Much like the famed 1990 incident where a bipolar fit led Johnston to throw ignition keys out of a small aeroplane window mid air, Gordon’s moods are also somewhat erratic. Melancholic laments like ‘Ballad of the Dead Doctor’ do float around without much landing ground, but Spookyland’s unsettledness does have an odd charm about it.

I would have liked to hear more songs on this release like ‘Eight Split Knuckles’ that deliver more of Gordon’s wit. There’s a tune on his myspace ‘Holy Hookers’ that didn’t make the EP cut either that’s also worth a listen. Spookyland seems more at home on these jangly spag. western jaunts than on the ballads that comprise the latter half of the EP, but that’s just my two cents worth. Overall, a solid effort that packs heaps of character. It took two or three few spins, but there is no denying Gordon’s abilities. Looking forward to hearing a full album release in the near future.

Spookyland will be launching the Killin’ One Bird With Two Stones EP at the Sandringham Hotel, Newtown tomorrow night (6th November) with Panzer Queen & Desire The Horse.

Killin’ One Bird With Two Stones EP is out now through Code One/MGM.

Evil Eddie from Butterfingers returns with “Queensland” – as appropriate a subject for skip-hop as there ever was.

This video has meter maids, pineapples, bananas, awful suits, cane toads and stock whips. He even manages to rhyme “Bjelke-Petersen” with “penises”.

Luv ya Queenslaaaaannnd…

So I’m pretty pumped to hear that over the next six months we’ll be getting both a mini-album (due January 2011 through Speak N Spell/Inertia) and a full length from Sydney experimental/glitch/pop crew Ghoul. For those of us that were following the band’s MySpace blog in early 2009 as they wrote about the recording process before abandoning the the idea (and, so I thought, the album), this has been a long wait.

But all signs point to it being worthwhile. Not only does it mean we get TWO offerings from Ghoul, but the first track from those protracted sessions, ‘3Mark,’ is incredible. Ghoul have grown a lot since self-releasing their debut mini-LP A Mouthful of Gold in 2008. Although I’ve only heard one song, it’s immediately apparent enough that both the production and the songwriting have taken epic leaps forward over the last two years. At a time when home-recorded lofi chic is at an all time indie high, Ghoul have progressed to nuanced, crisper sounds, while the songs have less of a jazz-lite streak to them and diminish of tangential arrangements, no longer calling them on a necessity to keep the song interesting.

As much I love it, it’s nice to hear Ivan’s voice on something other than Seekae’s ‘Wool.’ And there’s a lot more where this come from around corner. With the aforementioned Seekae and Collarbones also releasing albums in the first half of next year, 2k11 could be a standout 6 months for Australian electronica.

www.myspace.com/ghoulsydney