Paris Wells – ‘Dat Du Dat’

Non-sensical titles worked for The Police, but will they work for Melbournite Paris Wells? No, probably not. Visually a cross between Gwen Stefani and latter-era Christina Aguilera, Paris is somewhat of an enigma. How do you market a girl who’s pushing ostenible pop tunes, but has spent time playing at St Jeromes and jazz bars in Melbourne, and supported both Jamie Lidell and Justin Timberlake?

A lot of records labels are still under the delusion that it’s the late ’90s – that people will still buy CDs and that pop is the easy selling medium. Judging by the sounds on her MySpace, her label could have as easily (and better, in my opinion) marketed her as the next Sia, infusing soul and jazz melodies with bottom-heavy beats (check out ‘What Do I Deserve?’ on her website, it’s Sia circa Healing is Difficult for sure, and sounds like a great track to boot), but as it is, releasing ‘Dat Du Dat’, a fragmented and stilted tune, Paris will land herself squarely in the dance-pop corner. That’s a shame because evidently she’s a grass-roots girl playing commercial pop, and the shoe doesn’t seem to fit. Something like ‘Grace Baby’ would have slipped nicely into the slipstream of acts like Gabriella Cilmi, Amy Winehouse, Adele and Duffy, and would have had a far better chance of finding Paris success than a song with the lyric “I can feel you in my Dau Du Dat.” Uhhh… what?

Let me speak to all those involved in record labels – don’t insult and underestimate your audience. They’re smarter than you think.

http://www.myspace.com/pariswells

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Chasm – ‘Rise of the new’ (feat. Damajah, Jeswon & Tuka)

My knowledge of hip hop, to be honest, is pretty limited. I know what I like, but I couldn’t elucidate the reasons. Questions like ‘Why are the Hilltop Hoods so massive when someone like, say, The Herd isn’t?’ go unanswered. If the beats make me nod, if the synths are melodic and if the rhymes are smooth, then I’m into it.

So it is that Elefant Trak’s omnipresent DJ, Chasm, has corralled all his friends together to release what I reckon is a pretty top-notch example of Aussie hip hop in the form of Beyond the Beat Tape. For a man who’s worked with Ozi Battla and Astronomy Class, it’s unsurprising that the beats on here are quality. There’s a tonne of excellent MCs featured within – Ozi Battla, The Tongue, Pegz, Dialectrix, Diafrix, Muph (sans Plutonic), Hau from Koolism and probably more whose names I don’t really know, though I’m sure there’s people picking up this CD yelling, “Holy shit, JESWON is on this fucking CD!”.

‘Rise of the new’ is a sweet track, and one of my faves from the disc. Now’s your time to get excited if you’re a Jeswon fan.

http://www.myspace.com/chasm1 

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Evidently, lately we haven’t stuck to the Who the Hell ethos of giving you a blog post every day of the week (excluding weekends when we inexplicably turn into trashbags and lose the ability to construct sentences). This boils down to two reasons: one, because I’m playing Editor at The Brag for the next couple of weeks so free time is at a miniumum and two, my home computer has been infected with the world’s most annoying adware virus – if someone can shed some light as to why someone would invent such a virus (seriously, who’s dumb enough to click on those ads??), that’d be awesome.

Here’s something new from one of my favourite Aussie acts, Pivot, currently in the UK no doubt blowing audiences away (maybe Tash will fill us in on that). ‘In the Blood’ is the first official single from the band’s forthcoming second (but Warp Records debut) album, which finds the three-piece venturing into new wave territory and, as Pivot like to do, fucking with it. The filmclip looks like what would happen if Adam Jones from Tool was given the duties of creating a Thunderbirds episode.

http://www.myspace.com/pivotpivot

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Cog – ‘Bird of Feather (Daleese Remix)’

Got this one in the mail yesterday, just in time for my interview with Cog boys Luke and Lucius on my nocturnal radio show, on the eve of their largest headlining show in Sydney tomorrow night at the Enmore Theatre.

Remixes are fairly ubiquitous these days; their resurgence in popularity thanks to indie kids remixing indie kids, or (in the case of the solipsistic Van She) indie kids remixing themselves. But I’ve found in the past that the process doesn’t transpose to those genres that crank the guitars up to 11. They often become rock songs with an 808 beat.

I’ve only had a limited time to digest this new remix of Cog’s ‘Bird of Feather’, courtesy of Daleese Studios, home of Dan Sutherland (of Many Machines on Nine/Switchkicker fame), and my overriding thought is ‘why?’. If you’re familiar with any of Dan’s musical output, you’ll instantly recognise the Trent-Reznor-at-a-rave feel of this remix. And this isn’t a sleight at Dan or Cog – if anyone’s read whothehell.net enough, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of both these acts – but the remix itself seems superfluous and more an experimental exercise for the two.

Lucius said to me last night that Cog are always interested in pushing the perceived boundaries of their music, and particularly with this remix they were interested in seeing how other people interpret their tunes. In that respect, ‘Bird of Feather’ does its job, but it’s essentially an electro version of the same song, and doesn’t take it to new levels like when Kieran Hebden or Richard James get their hands on a track.

But my opinion is obviously clouded by personal judgement. Like Nick Hornby wrote, reviews are expected to exist outside of space and time. I prefer a remix that completely rethinks the song, but if ‘Bird of Feather’ turned into a Autechre-esque beatfest, would it sound shit to most people? I’m interested to know your thoughts on this remix.

Cog also let slip that they’ve been talking of collaborating with The Presets. Now that would be way out!

http://www.myspace.com/cogrockmusic

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Here’s the film clip for The Seabellies’ new, digital-only single, ‘Heart Heart Heart Out’, combining tighter pop song structures than those found on their debut EP Wave Your Fingers to Make the Winters with their wistful indie ornamentation that echoes the textured instrumentation of Canadian indie acts like Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene.

One of the best bands going around at the moment, hands down. I could say more but it’s a busy day today. Enjoy some visual for today.

http://www.myspace.com/theseabellies

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Karoshi – ‘Like Air From Your Lungs’ (mp3)

A dreamy new offering from Sydney based electronic artist Karoshi, full of glitchy beats, melancholic melodies and deft, sublime ornamentation. ‘Like Air From Your Lungs’ is the first offering since the release of his wonderful debut EP, and combines the left-field beats Fourtet with Boards of Canada’s inate sense of ambience and melody. Karoshi is a master of digital music, and ‘Like Air From Your Lungs’ is another example of his abundant talent.

http://www.myspace.com/karoshimusic

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Dead Letter Circus – ‘Reaction’

Dead Letter Circus are one of those lucky bands who have already worked out what their signature sound is going to be, even before they’ve released a full-length album. However, they are in danger of recycling the same tones and sounds, particularly if they don’t soon switch off the delay pedal. People like familiarity, but not when it becomes repetitiveness.

Having said that, ‘Reaction’ is DLC’s most solid song to date, particularly for vocalist Kim Benzie who’s stripped back the stratospheric high notes that were abundant on the group’s debut EP but which he consistently struggled to hit live. (I hate to say it, but that’s what you get when you use Auto-Tune.) It’s a more natural range for Kim, allowing him not only to add some well-placed harmonies but make his vocals far more rhythmic and laconic, creating an infectious counterpoint to the frenetic instrumentation that’s sitting underneath.

It’s not a deviation from the EP, but more of a solidification of their musical style. ‘Reaction’ is a promising sign of things to come for these Brisbane boys.

http://www.myspace.com/deadlettercircus

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