Richard In Your Mind – ‘The New Sun’

I met these guys waaaay before they won the Unearthed competition to be on the Sydney Big Day Out lineup……around two years ago actually. Richard is the bespectacled fella that’s always happy and in a good mood. He told me how he went to India for a year and learnt to play the sitar. He then came back and started busking near Sydney’s Central Station, and was so good an Indian restaurant owner asked him to play. Wasn’t long before he started Richard In Your Mind with roommate Conrad Richters of Sydney band Terrapin. Their sound of psychedelic pop sounds familiar yet refreshing. Can’t wait for the album. Congrats guys!

http://www.myspace.com/richardinyourmind

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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

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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 It’s for a multitude of reasons: the fairly outdated beats, awkward delivery, or the overly serious approach to lyric writing that prevents hip hop from being accepted in the wider listening public in Australia.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

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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.

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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

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Jackson Jackson – Intelligent, Evolved and Insane

Jackson Jackson are Harry James Angus, vocalist and trumpeter of Cat Empire fame and producer and composer Jan Skubiszewski. They met and recorded this odd, out of this world song about a race of subterrenean people hell bent on destroying the world – or something to that effect – according to the rather ambiguous press release. I’m not really sure how to classify this, it’s not really hip hop or beats. It sounds a lot like what my ex-housemates used to come up with their MPCs and home recording gear. The vocals does have a very distinct Australian flavour to it, and I’m curious to hear more material from their album. Jackson Jackson play their very first gig on January 20th at the Evelyn Hotel in Melbourne, check it out.

http://www.myspace.com/jacksonjacksonmusic

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Children Collide – ‘We Are Amphibious’ (taken from Glass Mountain Liars)

One of the very first bands that we blogged when we started out, Children Collide has since picked up a new drummer, new management, new label and put out a new EP titled Glass Mountain Liars. The lead track is a newly recorded ‘We Are Amphibious’ which has been released as a B-Side to their independently released We Three, Brave and True, tho I’m not sure which three they were referring to when they came up with that title.

I’m always interested in reworkings of old tracks for the purposes of a new release. It doesn’t always work out but they’ve got it right this time, with the more prominent guitar overdubs giving the song the right groove and does reflect how exciting they can be live. To show you what I meant, I’ve put the old version up below. Let me know what you think.

Children Collide – ‘We Are Amphibious’ (taken from We Three Brave and True)

myspace.com/childrencollide

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