Art Rush – ‘Penrith Chicks’ (mp3)
Sometimes you can uncover gems lurking within the library of FBi 94.5fm – and this is definitely one of them. I’ve completely fallen in love with its DIY / bedroom aesthetic, overprocessed vocals and simple Fruity Loops beats.
I think what I love most about this song is the lyrics: they’re just so obvious, not poetic at all and that makes it so hilarious. So he saw girls from Penrith on the train, they were fucking annoying and they pissed him off, so he wrote a song about them. It’s gold! Drop in the cultural MySpace reference and you’ve got the underground lounge version of Muscles.
(For those out of towners, Penrith is a suburb west of Sydney.)
This song comes from a homemade album entitled Primary School Disco which are just CD-Rs with a hand-drawn cover to continue the DIY feel. It’s actually his second album, following on from Lunch 6. There’s truckloads of cool content on his MySpace page, so make sure you check it out.
August 10, 2007 6:10 pm
I can’t believe he’s getting so much coverage now. It’s fantastic.
Thanks.
August 11, 2007 7:00 pm
lunch 6 is actually album #2. thanks for the writeup 😀
— art
ps.. who’s Muscles?
August 14, 2007 1:11 pm
Ok I’m Art’s dad, but check out his song ‘Suzanne’. Like all his stuff It’s about true about a kid threatening suicide in Canada and the problems Art had trying to get her emergency help. He finally got through to someone called Suzzane who got help. Art got a thankyou note a week later from the parents. The song embarrasses him. Stuff him–it’s a cool piece of work.
August 15, 2007 11:06 am
‘Penrith Chicks’ is hilarious and great. I heard it the other week on FBI and got in touch with Art Rush straight away for a copy… the Muscles reference is pretty spot on, but there’s something about this lo-fi record that makes me think he could be a Regurgitator/Dave Graney-esque force to be reckoned with.
August 17, 2007 2:25 pm
Hadn’t heard this one over here in Perth. But me likey. What’s his live show like?
October 29, 2007 6:00 pm
Arts live shows (which, I have been lucky enough to witness on one occasion and hopefully many more to come) are absolutely fantastic. This young man is a brillian entertainer, and a fascinating musician!
November 8, 2007 5:46 pm
He’s playing at the vice festival guide launch Sat 17.11.07 Oxford Art Factory, check it!