Danimals – ‘Christmas Worms Quest for Fresh Apples’ (mp3)

It’s appropriate that this artist’s name contains the word ‘animal’ since I definitely get some sort of scavenger vibe from them (at very least a scrub turkey vibe). ‘Christmas Worms Quest for Fresh Apples’ is a cool folk-pop tune with summery, layered vocals fleshed out by random, slightly disjointed, and sometimes even ugly synths. I’m not sure how they decided that fucked-up synth horn made sense as the main hook, but it totally works. This adventurous attitude to the arrangement pays off, elevating the song into genuinely interesting if not exciting territory and bringing to mind a more electronic Aleks and The Ramps.

Danimals will be releasing a double a-side (including the above track) on the 17th of this month. I’ve not heard word of a launch, but they’ve pulled the support slot for super rad LA hip hopper WHY? if anyone is especially keen to check them out. I know I’d be interested to see how they take this beast to the stage.

www.myspace.com/jontidanimals

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The Process -‘Ceremonial Dagger’ (mp3)

Spurred by a bloodied barrage of tribal palpitations and interrupted by a shrill Indian call, I feel as if I’ve been chased into the forest by spear wielding banshees dressed up as members of New Order demanding their supper. Ceremonial Dagger is a colossal offering from an assemblage of four buccaneers – August Skipper, Saxon Jorgensen, Felix Davis and Vijay Singh who form Melbourne outfit The Process.

Erupting into a sinister chronicle with all the dynamo of an Indiana Jones installment, August Skipper’s brooding vocals alternate against menacing fits of guitar spells and acute pulsing drums, forging an onslaught of tense dynamics. It is indisputable that post punk tendencies coil through the Process’ ghostly sound. Definite Birthday Party/Bauhaus sounds exhumed here, with parallels to the same vacant sound built upon discordant minor progressions shared with other local gems in the same vein like Atrocities, Whores and The Nevada Strange.

This track dispatches like an intriguing tale; Jorgensen’s cascading riffs face off against Singh’s meticulous drumming resonates in shadows of intensity. Withering echoes of Skipper’s subtle vocals in the verse add a notion of unpredictability, giving the rest of us a brief moment to catch our pulse. Just like sitting in the cinema next to a dickhead who spoils the plot, I won’t give too much away. However, I just can’t shirk a mention of the climatic moment nearing the end – erratic screams, quivering ruptures of guitar, frenetic cymbal clashing, where the song’s narrative erupts into a complete mind blowing cacophony.

Mysterious, atmospheric and utterly alluring, the Process have enough bravura to rip all four of your limbs off and splatter the bloodied remains in a way that will leave you curious for more.

The Process cast a spell over The Tote in Melbourne this Friday the 6th of November.

www.myspace.com/processprocess

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Just yesterday, Jerry posted some rad homemade film clips. In case you were still under the impression that a big budget is required to make a good film clip, here are a couple of other new vids from two of Australia’s 2009 breakthrough artists. Check the references for the ’90s kids – Mortal Kombat and Where’s Wally? fans eat your heart out.

DZ – ‘Blue Blood’

Philadelphia Grand Jury – ‘Good News’

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This isn’t the regular whothehell.net content I would post, but this video has somewhat blown up as an internet phenom so I might as well share it here. BANGS is a Sudanese born Melbourne based hip hopper. This video is so homemade it’s almost charming.

Recently Snobscrilla managed to find him in Melbourne and got him on stage, and he got on stage with popcorn for everyone. Check this guy out at 2:37 who helped himself to a serve!

On another note, someone else sent me this video of RAED a couple days ago. With lines like It’s erection time what is it with Melbourne hip hop this week??

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Idle Cranes – ‘Two Horse Race’ (mp3)

“…I’m relieved to be moving on again. Every time we play the horizon moves, and I realise how far we’ve come, and how much further we have to go. We drag old songs like fallen comrades, bury them in live-to-tape mass graves.”

That’s Idle Cranes guitarist Jakeb Smith on a recording session held over weekend just passed. And It conjures up just the right images for the band – violent yet almost poetic, bold but considered. Featured above is ‘Two Horses,’ a track not borne from that recent session but pulled from their still-fresh debut EP-cum-whatever. At nine tracks and forty-plus minutes long, Fur Release was vying for perhaps the most substantial Australian EP of recent memory. Apparently it’s no longer considered an EP though, it just is.

Idle Cranes have been a respected force on the Brisbane music scene for a while, with regular live appearances showcasing their uncompromising love of volume and their knack for turning border-line drones into hooks. Some have mumbled that Fur Release is less intense than their live show. And that it is, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Their live shows are, and probably always will be, loud and intense, with the prettier parts of songs washed out by sheets of reverb and fuzz. The studio version of ‘Two Horse Race’ shows a more nuanced Idle Cranes, where multi-tracked vocals are given greater attention, and the different tones of the guitar are heard with greater clarity. It’s still aggressive, but it’s less thunderous and more (for lack of a better word) psychedelic.

I shouldn’t be surprised that the recorded versions offer something a bit different but no less exciting. I always had this image of Idle Cranes as mad scientists endlessly toiling away at demos. Their efforts have not been wasted. Revel in the joy of the above track, and check them out before their rumoured relocation OS.

www.myspace.com/idlecranes

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