Sophie’s Australian albums of 2011

I spent most of this year living away from Brisbane, but my end of year list is dominated by Brisbane bands.
There’s amazing stuff happening there at the moment and it’s a real credit to the musicians and the people that support them – no thanks to a certain arts funding body.

I’m sure you’re all over end of year lists already, but bear with me. You might learn something.
Also have a read of Pop Matters’ worst albums of 2011. It’s a hoot.

Ball Park Music – Happiness and Other Suburbs

Track: ‘All I Wanted Was You’ (mp3)

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These guys have received plenty of attention and accolades this year, all of them deserved. Their debut album does not have a bad or weak song on it, and the production is polished but not overbearing.
The fact that Boy and Bear won an ARIA and BPM didn’t is a bit of a shame, but hopefully these Brisbanites will conquer the second-album shakes and get more trophies for the pool room.

Epithets – Year of Glad

Track: ‘The Reveal’ (mp3)

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I’ve wanked on about Epithets before, so I shan’t bore you again but let me just say this:
I had a very confronting weekend in Brissy and was feeling particularly fragile on the train from Brisbane to Rockhampton.
Despite the title, Year of Glad was a fantastic soundtrack to my emotional turmoil and sobbing my guts out on a long train ride through the shitty suburbs north of Brisbane.
SO – if you too feel the need to chuck a huge sad on public transport, this is the album for you.

Fires of Waco - Old Ghosts Never Sleep

Track: ‘Fractured Faith’ (mp3)

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Fires of Waco are one of those bands that manages to be prolific AND good. They’ve released an EP, an album and a 7″ single over the last 18 months, and Old Ghosts is right up there with recent releases from Defeater and Touche Amore in terms of quality and vision.

Fires manage to juggle three vocalists and some pretty heavy lyrical content (child sexual abuse in the Catholic church, the gap between blue and white collar in society, suicide) without getting bogged down or too pretentious. This first album of theirs is ambitious and a success.

Jen Buxton - Don’t Change Your Plans

Track: ‘Don’t Change Your Plans’ (mp3)

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Another album for the sad sacks, Jen Buxton’s songwriting makes Missy Higgins look like Lady Gaga.
Don’t Change Your Plans is raw and an emotional punch to the face, carried along by not much more than an acoustic guitar and Buxton’s fantastic voice.

She’s been ensconced in domestic bliss for most of this year so she hasn’t really “pushed” or “promoted” or “serviced” the album, which is a bit of a shame. That said, I wish more singer-songwriters would follow her lead and live life instead of jumping through “industry” hoops.

Nuclear Summer

Track: ‘Uncle Frankie’s Funny Hats’ (mp3)

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These guys formed from the wreckage of half a dozen excellent but obscure Brisbane bands. I wasn’t particularly keen on their early demos, but a good 18 months of writing and bonding has really paid off. Well, that and forking out money to get it mixed and mastered properly. These guys are currently on tour, suss them out and see them if you can.

Streamer Bendy - Sugar Rush

Track: ‘Sleep Me Off’ (mp3)

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Ok, so maybe this is cheating because this album hasn’t technically been released yet but DAMN is it good.
Pop music about sex is nothing new, but Sugar Rush has to be one of the most sexually frustrated pop albums I’ve ever heard.
There’s no unrequited love or sleazy pickups here, but there are plenty of allusions to the frustrations of a boring sex life. That’s not a bad thing though – I’m a big fan of the lyrical pun on Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69″:
I had my first real sex dream/perfect build-up, I directed the perfect scene/then I wake up with you sleeping next to me/take a Valium, back to reality.
Written in Brisbane and put together in Sweden, lets hope these guys actually put out next year.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Harmony’s self titled debut.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Gotye – Making Mirrors.

Gotye – ‘Somebody I Used to Know’ (Faux Pas Remix)

People have been raving about Gotye’s latest Triple J hit ‘Somebody I Used to Know. No doubt it will finish strong in the Triple J hottest 100 this year. And yet despite the near ubiquity of the original at the moment, Faux Pas has really made this song his own. Unlike some remixes that sound like they’re working against the track, this feels like it’s how the song was always went to be (not that the feeling inevitability in any way diminishes the creative achievement here).

Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) (Faux Pas remix) by Faux Pas

Gotye ft. Kimbra – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ (video)

New video for the second track released off Gotye’s upcoming album. Directed by Natasha Pincus, the clip also features some original artwork by Wally’s dad, Frank De Backer.

This is a sandwich I would like to be in.

Making Mirrors is out on August 19th through Eleven.

www.gotye.com

Gotye – ‘Eyes Wide Open’

Gotye – ‘Eyes Wide Open’

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This morning on Triple J Breakfast, Wally De Backer debuted the first new material from his solo project Gotye in almost five years.

I slept through this momentous occasion.

I loved his previous album Like Drawing Blood with every fibre of my being, and with a fervour I hadn’t felt since discovering the profane funk-rock of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a ten year old in rural Queensland.  Every note De Backer sang, played and sequenced was full of pain, nervous energy and the hope that maybe if people were less shit to one another, life could be easier. It was the soundtrack to the honeymoon period of my first serious relationship and a life-buoy during the excruciating death throes of said relationship eighteen months later.

De Backer also appears to like a good nautical metaphor – this track’s refrain of we’ll walk the plank/with eyes wide open wouldn’t be out of place in the lyrics of ‘With This Ship’, a single from his other group The Basics. That’s just the problem though; ‘Eyes Wide Open’ sounds like a Basics track, not a Gotye track. I guess that’s the risk of dropping their Beatles schtick – without that, they’ve got the mixed blessing of a talented but disctinctive songwriter.

‘Eyes Wide Open’ hasn’t hit me like the singles from Like Drawing Blood or Boardface did. Perhaps it’ll work better in the context of an album.

You can pick yourself up a free download of this track in exchange for your email address over at www.gotye.bandcamp.com.

Laneway Festival 2011 Lineup!

The Laneway Festival 2011 Line-up has been announced. And it’s fkn MASSIVE:

Deerhunter – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Holy Fuck – Beach House – Menomena – Les Savy Fav – Yeasayer – !!! – Warpaint – Blonde Redhead – Foals – Bear In Heaven – The Antlers – Gotye – Cut Copy – Cloud Control – The Holidays – Jenny & Johnny – Two Door Cinema Club – Local Natives – PVT – Rat Vs Possum – Stornoway – Violent Soho – World’s End Press

So much rushes through my head when I see that line-up. Here’s some of it:

Holy shit we don’t have to wait 18 months to see Halcyon Digest tunes live!

How heavy is that line-up on international bands? I assume local artists will fill out the line-up from this point on, but it’s still surprising and impressive and makes you a little proud to see Laneway nabbing the best line-up of bands of the summer – some of whom are actually quite ‘big’ (in some circles, anyway).

Not enough chillwave.

Laneway is clearly the savior to all the hipsters that were left totally devo’d about the great Foals-Yeasayer Clash of Spendour 2010. It would be pretty funny if they clashed, hey? But don’t do it. Don’t.

Speaking of devo’d/Devo, pretty stoked those Devo headlining rumors turned out to be untrue. Pretty unstoked those Best Coast/Caribou/Four Tet/Toro Y Moi/CFCF/Gonjasufi rumors turned out to be untrue.

Who the fuck are Stornoway?

Laneway used to have a stage almost entirely dedicated to electronic music and brought out some of the must inventive dudes in the genre, but there’s hardly an electronic artist on that line-up – except, you know, Cut Copy, World’s End Press, Gotye, PVT, Yeasayer and possibly Bear in Heaven (kinda electro). Still, nothing like when they used to put dudes like Four Tet and Mountains in the Sky on. Kinda thought that’s the hole Caribou et al would’ve filled.

There were no Toro Y Moi/CFCF/Gonjasufi rumors except those fueled by me. Sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up. The Best Coast/Caribou/Four Tet brand of rumors were real (or at least not started by me).

Did anyone get up in time to hear Gotye’s new single this morning? (Breakfast radio may as well not exist in my universe). Given he has a new album coming out and close ties to the festival it’s appropriate that Wally DB will begin his ascent in Australian ubiquity at Laneway. I wonder what his live show will be like? I really dug his mini-orchestra shows, but was less amped about the one-man thing. Somewhere in between maybe?

Let’s drop Stornaway and get one/all of Toro Y Moi/CFCF/Gonjasufi, yeah?

In terms of Australian bands, there’s not a lot super surprising on the line-up (yet), but they’ve gone for some solid acts like Cut Copy, Cloud Control and PVT along with the aforementioned Gotye. That said, pretty impressed to see Rat Vs Possum and World’s End Press make the national tour (bar Perth) – two of the more exciting bands local bands I’ve caught live in 2011.

The Holidays and Violent Soho round out the local contingent. I’m told the former’s latest release is pretty damn sweet, will have to check it out.

In my haste to find out who was playing I totally skipped over the paragraph about a stage being curated by The Windish Agency (Chicago) and Eat Your Own Ears (London) (cheers to resident photographer DP for the tip). Does that mean the 2011, because it kinds seems like there’s not a lot of room left for another stage full of international bands hey? Either way, sounds cool.

Overall, pretty rad line-up. Super pumped. Every band on their that I’ve seen before has been well decent at playing music in a live environment, which is good for when you’re watching music live. The others are probably also pretty good at it too. So you should go. Do it.

Tickets for all the Australian shows go on sale Wednesday, October 20 at 9am and set you back $125 (+ bf).

www.lanewayfestival.com.au

Matt Walters ft. Washington – ‘Die For You’

Matt Walters ft. Washington - ‘Die For You’ (mp3)

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Matt Walters has just put the final touches on his second EP ‘Talking in My Sleep’, which features the track above (with guest vox. from Megan Washington).

Hanging in the air like delicate morning frost, Walters voice envelopes the space between isolation and intimate contemplation. Each cursive exhale moves effortlessly and earnestly throughout this track, while Washington provides a cushiony harmony line. While this floats like a sombre echo out into the void, it still feels warm and inviting at the same time. It’s almost bittersweet, but a nice track nonetheless.

Walters has been working with producers Paul Mckercher (Augie March, Josh Pyke, Sarah Blasko) and Francois Tetaz (Lior, Gotye) on his debut LP, which will be available early 2011.

He’ll be playing three shows in Melb during August, see his myspace for details.

www.myspace.com/mattwaltersmusic

Gotye – ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin” (Passion Pit remix)

Gotye – ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin” (Passion Pit remix)(mp3)

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Gotye remixed by 2009 breakthrough stars Passion Pit courtesy of their US label Neon Gold. Had to say I was expecting a little bit more than what came through, but the original was so good I guess there’s not much that can be done. The prospect of further collaboration is very exciting indeed.

Hunz

Hunz – ‘Soon, Soon’

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Hunz is an electronic musician from Brisbane who recently recorded his second album in unusual circumstances – he took part in the RPM Challenge that asked over 2200 international artists to write, record, perform and produce an entire album during the month of February 2009. The fruits of that challenge have recently been made available to download for free and there’s some killer tracks on there. My favourite is ‘Soon, Soon,’ which combines industrial-inspired beats with a soaring falsetto reminiscent of Radiohead’s ‘Nude’ and harmonies that recall parts of Gotye’s last effort. Like Gotye, Hunz releases music under a one-word psuedonym (crazy, huh?) and combines elements of schizophrenic production with earnest singer-songwriter tendancies. I prefer the songs where the former wins over and enjoy the way his sweet, high voice rubs against the harsher elements of the arrangement but for those who prefer their music less glitchy and full of ‘beeps’ there’s some fairly straight-up compositions.

‘Soon, Soon’ is rad – especially impressive given the contracted gestation period. Kudos to Hunz.

www.myspace.com/hunz

Bertie Blackman: ‘Heart’

Bertie Blackman – ‘Heart’

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Bertie Blackman returns with a new record and new sound. First taste we get of her new material is the upbeat Heart, and it’s great to hear her accompanied by a more modern production than what she previously had on her past releases. I’ve always thought she had a great voice with some endearing singing styles like a minor shake in some phrasings, although in the bridge of the song she goes into a talking-singing kind of mode which I’m still trying to get used to. Her new album ‘Secrets and Lies’ was produced by Francois Tetaz (Gotye, Architecture in Helsinki, Lior) and Lee Groves (Goldfrapp, Gwen Stefani, Depeche Mode).

www.myspace.com/bertieblackman

Gotye: ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin’ Live Clip

Hooray! Wally won an ARIA on Sunday night. Quite deserved, I must say. It’s been a while since we did a Gotye post, but you can never have enough. Here’s Wally and his band performing at the ARIAs.

http://whothehell.net/IYp