Emergency! Emergency! – ‘gameb0yz’

My earliest memory of live music is, for the large part, of Sydney’s experimental underground scene. Basically, my friends and I were underage and not having the means of going to licensed venues, we discovered this band of parties and performances that would be held in abandoned spaces. Some might remember a collective called Systems Corrupt who housed (often illegal) parties at venues like 61 Regent Street and the now demolished Graffiti Hall of Fame (drop me a line if your curious to hear more). The music that came out of these parties was largely experimental dance, early electronic and often noisy – this was the days before BANG GANG! Though just recently, at the opening night of a new Sydney Indie night I heard Sydney two-piece Emergency Emergency and all this nostalgic liking to experimental music returned.

Katerina and Stephen used a number of instruments in the making of their music, and have a great balance between melody and noise which made the set challenging but enjoyable. I’m becoming increasingly fond of bands which sit outside the indie/electro mould, and these two have seemed to find something largely untouched. With just enough ‘song’ ingredients to here is the very cool GameBoyz to have a listen too. I would love to know what you think.

http://www.myspace.com/emergencyemergencymusic

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Jamie Lloyd – ‘Michael’

Another Future Classic release; another fantastic, diverse record; another Sydney artist!  The profile of Jamie Lloyd has been growing steadily ever greater over the past 18 months since releasing his debut 12″ single ‘Adoris Kitchen’ which became somewhat of a favourite with DJs around the place.  Late 2006 then saw the release of Jamie’s first full length LP Trouble Within, which demonstrates Jamie’s wide musical influences. 

Jamie actually began his musical career singing (and later dabbling in guitar) in the more progressive rock band Element.  Australian TV junkies may remember a violin-weidling house member called Mirabai Peart in the second series of Big Brother Australia which aired in 2002.  Well she was a one-time member of Element. though once she departed from the group they became far more progressive and, in my opinion, a lot better. 

Like I mentioned before, Trouble Within really covers a lot of electronic musical ground, ranging from the more ambient/lounge sounds to trip hop, dance and even glitch.  It’s this earnestness to incorporate a wide variety of instruments and sounds that seems to be setting Jamie aside from the crowded pack of electronic artists.  His unique approach to composition also means that the end product is qutie different to what’s out there at the moment.

The track I’ve chosen from the album is ‘Michael’, which happens to be written about a friend of mine and Jerry’s, Michael Noel, who sadly passed away from cancer a few years ago.  Vocals on the track were contributed by Rachel Pike, singer of the now-defunct Sydney group Endusk, which Michael was a part of, and a band who often shared the stage with Jamie’s former group.  But to get a clearer overview of Trouble Within, I implore you to check out Jamie’s MySpace page to hear more tunes for this great record.

http://www.myspace.com/jamielloyd7

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Kidzen – ‘Um, Ah!’

I think the best description of the music of Kidzen I’ve read is “future jazz”, because it encapsulates the musical sensibility of the project so succinctly.  It’s steeped in jazz sounds and themes, but structurally it’s re-imagined, re-invented and re-thought to form a new jazz mold; one that is unafraid of embracing electronica, progressive and freeform ideas.

Kidzen’s self-titled debut album was one of the most diverse records I heard in 2006, running the gamut of musical genres: from the more jazz-based like the wickedly awesome ‘Um, Ah!’ to the more electronic/dub sounds of ‘Supersticious’.  World music rears its head on ‘Superpeople’ and tracks like ‘Burn’ (which features the unique husky voice of Inga Liljestrom) and ‘Calm’ demonstrate the band’s more electronic elements.

Kidzen is the brainchild of Sydney bass player extraordinaire Cameron Undy, who has leant his talents to bands such as Inga Liljestrom, Bugz In The Atttic, Jamie Lloyd and Numerology, as well as being a founding member of Jazzgroove, an organisation set up to benefit the Australian jazz scene.  The album also comes with a cool remix disc, with tracks from the album being given a once-over by a bunch of artists including Jamie Lloyd, Deepchild, Rephrase and Jimi Polar.  Kidzen was released by the record label Future Classic, known more for its electronica/dance releases, so kudos to the label for releasing such a challenging and leftfield record. 

It was basically impossible to pick a track that adequetly summarises the album, so I went with my favourite track off the record: opening song ‘Um, Ah!’

http://www.kidzen.com.au/
http://www.futureclassic.com.au

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Josh Pyke – ‘Lines On Palms’

Sydney troubadour Josh Pyke launches his excellent debut record Memories & Dust this week.  I’ve been lucky enough to have had a copy of the album for about a month now, and I can definitely say it’s a great album, built around Josh’s wonderfully engaging lyrics and sweet acoustic guitar melodies.  And who can forget his fantastic voice.

This is the second single off Memories & Dust, and there’s also a filmclip for ‘Lines On Palms’ on YouTube, and you can watch it here. 

I recently sat down with Josh to have a chat about all things Pyke-related for Fasterlouder, and you can read my interview with him here.

More Josh Pyke

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Rand and Holland – ‘Night is Only Young’

Last week Rand and Holland’s manager Eliza emailed me about their new stuff and warned me that this was more folk oriented than the kind of music I usually blog about. She’s kinda right, but I was a big fan of acoustic music and can still appreciate good songwriting over the now dominant beat in modern songs that’s oh-so-now. I’ve heard of these guys before and I have their previous recording. I wasn’t so impressed and I guess it’s very easy to be ageists when it comes to evaluating music – listening to hundreds of demos a week gets the ear tired pretty quick.

But Night is Only Young is a true gem of a find. Although the subject matter is about late night hanging out, somehow I get the feel that if I were to listen to this song on Sunday afternoon nursing a hangover, I would just feel better. It’s soothing. It makes things slightly easier. It would remind me why I drank so much the night before.

I don’t know much else about the duo, except that their record will be coming out on the prestigious Spunk label who is also home to locals Clue to Kalo and Holly Throsby. I’ve yet to hear this track on the radio, so hopefully someone will pick it up soon.

www.myspace.com/randandholland

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Mr Wednesday – ‘On The Tail Of Day One’

Hailing from Adelaide, Mr Wednesday play music that sounds like it’s eminating from a distant radio, from a time or place not of this world or universe, perhaps residing in another universe or another brane (depending if you’re a believer of String Theory).  It’s the music of old ghosts, of hazy memories; emotive, moving and haunting.

Call it what you will – post rock, perhaps, though it’s probably the least-favoured genre tag in all of music – but Mr Wednesday create ethereal pieces of music that gracefully wander along.  There’s no definitive structure, with the music lacking any remnants of verses or choruses.  The tunes are densely layered affairs, making use of soft piano melodies, reverb-soaked guitars, lush strings and what their bio aptly describes as “corroded electronics”.  You could point your finger at acts like Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mum, Radiohead and Boards of Canada as influences on their ambient movements.

Their debut album The Garden Where Parties Grow resurrects the long-lost art of the concept album.  The album is described as: “a thirteen-track album that follows a three day sequence in the life of Mr Wednesday as he comes to terms with the world according to Mr Industry. To put it simply, the title is the city. An almost uninhabitable place where social functions form the breadth of existence, work is a means to success and the art of being seen is an enviable talent”.  Self-indulgent, perhaps, but beautiful nonetheless.

http://www.mrwednesday.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/mrwednesday

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