Directed by film maker Campbell Hynam-Smith on a shoestring budget, this clip has some rather high cinematographic values, compared to most of the independent music videos floating around on YouTube. ‘Lookin’ Over My Shoulder’ is the new single from The Basics.

More on The Basics

www.myspace.com/the3basics

Jakob – ‘Oran Mor’

Though we claim to be all about “New Australian Music”, sometimes the rule wanes somewhat and we slip in the occasional band from our Trans-Tasman brethren, New Zealand.  Case in point: Jakob.

Regular visitors to this site have probably caught onto my penchant for dark, moody instrumental rock.  It’s a classification than Jakob, who originate from Napier, slot into perfectly.  Their dirge rock leanings and amorphous song structures bring to mind similar bands such as Isis and Pelican, and indeed the band are supporting Isis in Auckland on February 10.  Although what sets them aside from the aforementioned bands is that Jakob focus extensively on the atmospheric elements of their music, and their heavier sections aren’t as heavy metal based as what other similar bands are: even when the distortion pedal is switched on, Jakob still work in the realm of soundscapes and atmospheric darkness.

2006 saw the release of Solace, their third album (having released two previous albums – Subsets of Sets & Cale:Drew – since their 1998 inception).  It’s an excellent album that encapsulates all the elements of this great band.  They made it to Australia for a brief tour in November, so hopefully they’ll be back sometime soon.

http://www.myspace.com/jakobmusic

Jay K & The Amazing Z – ‘Pop Kulcha’ (mp3)

I am not that big of an expert or even fan of the local hip hop scene. It’s for a multitude of reasons: the fairly outdated beats, awkward delivery, or the overly serious approach to lyric writing that prevents hip hop from being accepted in the wider listening public in Australia. But this song is simple and funny, a running commentary on pop culture that drops references to the MySpace culture, race tensions in Cronulla, other hip hoppers in the scene, Kramer, Australian Idol and lots more. Another discovery from Triple J’s Unearthed program, this Sydney duo have made a very clever and relevant Australian hip hop number, the best I’ve heard in a while. The song has delivery that is reminiscent of Eminem though this is not a fault – I would prefer this to the angry tough suburbia approach that a lot of other local hip hoppers adopt. Overseas readers might have trouble connecting with the lyrics, but like all good hip hop it’s very often a reaction to local events and issues.

Jay K & The Amazing Z, known to their mothers as Jay K Catagay (19) & James Woods (20), formed in late 2006 in Sutherland Shire, which is where the beachside suburb of Cronulla in Sydney is. Although they’ve only been together a couple of months as this outfit, the two high school friends has been involved in projects for a long time, and started to rapping about two years ago. This song was out two weeks after they formed and was soon on rotation on the local urban radio station. They have yet to play live but this is very promising start.

www.myspace.com/popkulcha

A video as the first post of the year? Why not if it’s this good eh? This video actually makes following the rather out of this world lyrics a lot easier. Funny too.

photo by boudist.com

The Ghosts – ‘Redversion’

I’d like to introduce Sydney four piece The Ghosts. A mixture of boyish stage benevolence and ear friendly melodies, this group has been together not even a year and yet their potential is yet to be contested by anyone who has been to one of their live support shows, which have only been sighted in few Australian cities. They have attracted the attention of industry moguls and regular live music observers alike, working recently with producer Nick Littlemoore (PNAU & Teenager) and playing live at the Modular/Ksubi Christmas party as well as standout support sets for Australia’s salient Mercy Arms and 80’s revival act Van She.

If the demos on their MySpace are mere premonitions of what’s to come from the beaty beaus song wise, then dare I say it, they just might be Australia’s next big thing. I’ve indulgently been at many of the band’s shows (and intend to keep appearing), at times standing pensively within a sea of frenzied dancers. What I revel at most is how their sound has always seemed fitting as a support, despite having shared bills with very different acts, from the likes of The Infadels to the Klaxons and Mercy Arms, and how they seem to always strike a chord with each nights’ audience. This said it’s the songs, whose genesis can be credited to Gabby the band’s eye wandering vocalist, and the performance of equally able band apparitions that make this fraid of musicians worth a watch. Have you seen a Ghost lately?

http://www.myspace.com/theghostsms

Riot In Belgium – ‘La Musique’

Welcome to the Earth’s 2007th orbit around the sun since the birth of Jesus (or so the story goes). With it comes New Year’s Resolutions made and no doubt already broken, a chance to wipe away the woes of the previous year and the return of Who The Bloody Hell Are They! 2006 will forever be remembered as the year that brought rock kids to the dance floor and dance kids to the pubs; where popular music became a pastiche of live instrumentation and dance-infused personality, and Australian acts like The Presets, The Valentinos, Van She and teenagersintokyo – just to name a few – blurred the lines between genres even more. So it seems only fitting that we’d start with one of the more popular tracks released in the past 12 months…

It’s almost unbelievable that ‘La Musique’, one of the dance floor anthems of 2006, is only the second release from Bennie Single and Joel Dickson, collectively known as Riot In Belgium. The duo are of the highest pedigree – Bennie’s alter-ego is DJ Damage of Sydney DJ troubadours The Bang Gang, whilst Joel was a one-time member of Melbourne’s Cut Copy.

Folktore tells that the moniker was derived from the boys’ love of “waffles, dark chocolate and Technotronic”. Their debut studio collaboration resulted in ‘The Acid Never Lies’, a similarly thumping anthemic dance tune that brought Riot In Belgium to both national and international attention, garnering them many a remix job for the likes of K.I.M. (a.k.a. Kim Moyes of Presets fame) and Sneaky Sound System. On the back of the success of their debut release came ‘La Musique’, which was in every DJ’s bag of tricks during ’06. Abrasive French vocals (courtesy of Gini) are backed by a bed of electro-infused synth lines and thumping digital drums. It’s rump-shaking, fist-pumping brillance for the 2AM peaking hour.

There’s a remix by Van She (under the Van She Tech moniker) floating around dance floors as well – but this track was always ripe for the remixing. No doubt disco heads are waiting impatiently for the next offering from these superstar DJs.

http://www.myspace.com/riotinbelgium

So this is the final wrap up and final post for the year. When we sent out this poll, we asked for the top five aussie releases and they could be albums, eps, singles, downloads, or streams. But it’s obvious the majority of the industry still relate releases as traditional albums. I like listening to albums as entire work of art, how each song relates to a unifying theme and mood. But producing such a body of work requires experience that only comes after a few albums’ work. Out of the top ten, three are sophomore albums and only one is a third album release (Augie March’s). One EP made it and that is Midnight Juggernauts’. I wouldn’t want to see the end of albums as the music listening world changes, but if we’re still around by end of next year I’m hoping that we’ll get a good mix of albums, eps and singles in the top 10. I hope that as broadband usage spreads people will actually make more of an effort to listen to music beyond what publicists, media writers and both major and independent labels put out.
Thanks for reading, we’re taking a bit of a break so see you in mid-January.

Top 10 Releases of 2006

1. Dappled Cities Fly – Granddance

2. Gotye – Like Drawing Blood

3. Macromantics – Moments In Movement

3. Sleepy Jackson – Personality (One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird)

5. Augie March – Moo, You Bloody Choir

5. Snowman – Snowman

7. Wolf & Cub – Vessels

8. The Grates – Gravity Won’t Get You High

10. Ground Components – An Eye For A Brow. A Tooth For A Pick

10. Midnight Juggernauts – Secrets Of The Universe EP