Posts By Dom Alessio

Cog: ‘What If’ Exclusive

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photo by Joshua Weinfeld

Cog – ‘What If’

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It’s always a nice thing to say… exclusive! Nowhere else on the internet can you hear the brand single from Bondi’s favourite sons Cog. Called ‘What If’, it comes from their sophomore record Sharing Space. This single will be officially released in November, coinciding with a massive Australian-wide tour (in true Cog form, of course) but its been sent to radio this week and we’ve got your first taste of it right here!

You gotta love a band who have the audacity to release as the first single a song which alternates unconventional time signatures – jumping from 5/4 to 3/4 throughout. The mood of this song is reminiscent of Cog’s older Just Visiting Part 2 EP, with ‘What If’ progressing from a melodic beginning into a epic distortion-drenched finale.

All the Cog staples are here: progressive song structures, Flynn Gower’s politically-tinged lyrics, Lucius Borich’s blindingly impressive drum skills and Luke Gower’s melodic bass lines. In that respect, Cog haven’t so much deviated from the sound found on their debut record The New Normal, but rather honed and refined their music more. ‘What If’ fits more within the dimensions of radio play but still maintains that left-of-centre, alternative/progressive edge.

Cog have been one of my favourite bands for many years, so I’m very keen to hear what the rest of their new album sounds like. They haven’t set a release date yet though.

http://www.cog.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/cogrockmusic

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Naked On The Vague

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Naked On The Vague – ‘All Aboard’

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The first time I met Lucy Phelan, one half of Sydney duo Naked On The Vague, was at about 1am last year in the FBi studios. She had just finished her presenter course, and she was paired up with me for a couple of hours of a graveyard shift so I could guide her through her first on-air shift. I’m crippled with the inability to explain anything (I would be the world’s worst teacher), but she’s still hanging around the studio, so perhaps what I showed her stuck?

Lucy, along with Matt Hopkins, creates a cacophonous melange of no-wave, psychedelica, ravenous punk and electronic soundscape. Their abberant, seemingly non-directional noise tunes are fucked-up lo-fi pieces of music that jab straight at your eardrums. It’s almost bordering on art moreso than music – I’m hesitant to call it “noise art” because that brings to mind 11 minutes of static. The music found on their debut record, The Blood Pressure Sessions, is monochromatic, dense and at times claustrophobic – thrashed-out guitars, jackhammer drum beats, Lucy and Matt’s throaty vocals and waves of keyboards conjures music brimming with an anarchic punk ethos.

They’ve previously released a self-titled 7″ record, and the Sad Sun EP. They’re launching their debut record (being released through Dual Plover Records) at Sydney’s coolest new venue, the Oxford Arts Factory, on Saturday October 12. Guaranteed to be weird, but in a good way, not the Britney Spears way.

http://www.myspace.com/nakedonthevague

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Kat Frankie

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Kat Frankie – ‘Serves You Right For Using Violence’

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A friend of mine described Kat Frankie to me as “sounding like angry lesbian music”. Kat definitely echoes the sounds of the 90’s alternative female rockers like Cat Power, Kristen Hersh and Ani DiFranco – but her voice reminds me a lot of Wendy Matthews. Have a listen to ‘The Day You Went Away’ here and tell me what you think.

Though she’s spent most of her life in Sydney, her music career began when she went to the creative hub of the Earth, Berlin. This is where she recorded her debut record, Pocketknife which was released only recently. She’ll get lumped into the folk genre, only because of her use of acoustic guitar, but its as folk as PJ Harvey is. Kat’s tunes are dark and fiesty and though I haven’t heard much of the record, I’m digging ‘Serves You Right For Using Violence’.

http://www.katfrankie.com
http://www.myspace.com/katfrankie

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