Monthly Archives For September 2013

INTRODUCING: Logitech UE BOOM

, , No Comment

ueboom

*Advertisement from Logitech*

I bought a set of Logitech computer speakers about 8 years ago. Various desktop systems, house migrations and house parties all soundtracked through a trusty 2 speaker/bass box setup. Worked for me.

Speaker days are gone though. We’re ‘mobile’, whatever that means. The obvious problem is staying portable – without sound quality the equivalent of having your head jammed in a tin can.

Enter the UE BOOM Tall Boy. I’m calling it a Tall Boy cause it looks like a large German beer can. Except fluorescent.

If you don’t believe me, here’s thirty seconds of hot people roadtesting the damn thing.

YouTube Preview Image

The sound is sprayed in 360-degrees via. a tube shape and it’s surprisingly even in every direction. Perfect for ‘spin the bottle’ right? You can lose the ear buds, which we all know are just for blocking out the crazy people on the train. This one is perfect for festival season. The UE BOOM is made for hanging up in your tent (tuff-as-nuts design), getting sloshed with 360°degree Flume pumping into the night (15 hr battery life) or wearing it around your neck (lanyard hook included) – if you’re that type of guy.

And yes, you can hold your speaker and your beer in the same hand – it’s water and dirt resistant too. But if you can’t be bothered holding it, you could grab two of them and pair them together via the UE BOOM App. Why would you bother I hear you thinking, well either double the sound or left & right stereo separation… BOOM!

YouTube Preview Image

These babies retail for $199.95 herewhich is like half the price of a Splendour ticket! So check em out and you could nab one for the summer festival season – so you can wake up alone, plastered in a paddock at Meredith 2013, booming Nile Rodgers from an ergonomic speaker around your neck.

Check out more reviews here and GET TO IT.

 

Logitech / Twitter

Read Post →

MAPCAST September

, , No Comment

WTH-MapCast-circle-606px

Our new September MAPCAST podcast is out! The podcast features the best new tracks from around the world picked by Robbie x the Music Alliance Pact bloggers.

Download the podcast for free HERE.

_____

MAPCAST SEPTEMBER – TRACKLISTING

His Clancyness – ‘Zenith Diamond’ (Italy)

A Fase Rosa – ‘Casa’ (Brazil)

Mood-Fu – ‘Perros De Fu’ (Mexico)

Manor – ‘Architecture’ (Australia)

Poetrip – ‘Aşa Ceva’ (Romania)

Iván Fajardo – ‘Me Voy Dejando’ (Peru)

Worldwide Collaboration Company – Crying Launer Remix (China)

_____

 

Don’t forget to listen to all 29 tracks from our original MAP September post + visit us on Soundcloud over yonder.

 

 

Read Post →

LISTEN: Martin King – ‘Fitness Vol 1’ EP

, , No Comment

FBMK-Purple-background-flipped.smlhighres

If there’s one thing that’ll keep creative enclaves around Australia up all night, it’ll be this EP. From Northcote to Newtown, rest assured that those dripping in cultural cool will have their ears tuned to this latest offering from indie/art powerhouse, Two Bright Lakes.

If you’re familiar with Oscar + Martin or The Harpoons then there’s no doubt you’re familiar with Martin King. One half of the former, and a staple of the wider community of Two Bright Lakes, King has finally given us something of his own. Renowned for his production skills on a series of releases on top of 2011’s For You, he’s a man that’s well seasoned in the art of production.

So, you’d be excused for assuming that this EP has a lot to answer for. And while that may be a trap, there’s no escaping the lineage that it stems from. On the face of it, you’ve got the elements that TBL’s been renowned for over the past few years: a performer who collaborates with a series of other ‘hip’, ‘up and coming’ acts, on top of an aesthetic that seems to tap into the cultural zeitgeist (or whatever buys cultural capital from TBL’s audiences).

But, trying to place King on a spectrum of sorts, this is something that gets tricky very quickly. The retro-soul of The Harpoons differs greatly in style in comparison to the urban minimalism of Oscar + Martin. Speaking to Melbourne-based photo-editorial website, Grilling Me Softly, King spoke of his admiration for Iggy Azealea. And if you think that’s something that bred consternation for those reading that, then you wouldn’t be the first. But then King went on to say this:

“I’m not really sure why (I like her) because some of the stuff she does is really atrociously bad, and her rapping is not very good, but I just like that she’s representing Australia”

So, looking to what Fitness Vol 1 does for local music is maybe not the right question. Make no mistake, this is a release that’s bound to make an impact – to the right people – but this may not be the definitive release that Oscar + Martin fans might have been hoping for. Be patient.

When describing this EP to Grilling Me Softly, Fitness was designed with 80s synths and Euro-trap in mind and that comes across in parts. ‘I’ll be’ nods to the 80s, but soon descends into a bass line reserved for contemporary RnB. On the whole, there’s no clear single that leaps from the stables, or a ‘banger’ – for a lack of a better term. Intended or not, the EP has this restraint that’s refrains from tying itself to an overt genre. I mean, on face value, and with the lineage that King has, you could easy mistake of pigeon holding this into RnB – which it sometimes steps into, but not entirely. Here, the tracks are short, tight, and sweet, straddling a musical aesthetic that’s eponymous of King’s past work. The only thing that sprung to mind was Collarbonesmix for Oyster Magazine, but even then there’s elements to this EP that belong solely to King himself.

And that’s exactly why I for one, prize the impact that TBL’s had on Australian music over the past few years. With Collarbones unabashed avowal of pop, to Brothers Hand Mirror’s re-imagining of Australian hip-hop, it’d be strange to imagine a musical landscape without TBL. And I’m glad it’s the likes of King who’s the next in line to do this.

_____

Facebook / Soundcloud

Read Post →

LISTEN: Pascal Babare – ‘Heaven Clubs’

, , No Comment

pbsm

Pascal Babare released his first album, Thunderclap Spring, in 2009. Written in his late teens – he was only 19 by the time it was finished – the songs are surprisingly delicate: warm, acoustic drones fleshed out with warped instruments and slide guitar.

Originally from South Australia,  Babare spent part of his childhood living in ashrams with his parents, a composer and a chorister, and a camel called Jinglebaba. Much of his material was written overseas, in Kyoto, London and Berlin. You can hear these influences creep through in Babare’s eclectic, New Age-y sound.

Thunderclap Spring quickly became an object of the UK music press hype machine, receiving a particularly glowing review from the BBC. The Line of Best Fit even suggested Babare was a budding genius. It was praise well-deserved, but somehow four years elapsed before we heard anything more from this guy.

He’s back now, thank goodness, with ‘Heaven Clubs’, the first track from forthcoming album Sorry, Morning. The song’s a kind of bubbling, organic laptop pop, reminiscent of folktronica acts from the early 2000s like Clue to Kalo and Machine Translations. It’s immediately clear that he’s brushed up on his production chops – which I suppose wouldn’t be hard, given that Thunderclap Spring was recorded on an inbuilt laptop mic. ‘Heaven Clubs’ sounds comparatively crisp and close. There’s a satisfying instrumental chorus featuring one of the sharpest hooks Babare’s written to date, and a wonderful, enveloping coda.

It’s a sprightly sound for a tune with lines like ‘at least the dead leaves can fly / you’ll know no such peace / you strapped yourself to your door / and then prayed for release’. But Babare has a dry sense of humour, moving swiftly from themes of suicide to a wry portrayal of heaven as a country club.

Sorry, Morning will be available soon through blackmaps. For now you can pre-order it on iTunes. I hear an album launch is in the works, where Babare will be backed by Melbourne four-piece Teeth. You can also catch him from 28 September until 27 October at the NGV, recording an EP with impromptu supergroup Batman Park.

Facebook / Website

Read Post →

SEQUENCE: Bligh Twyford-Moore

, , No Comment

16

Bligh plays in Sydney band Post Paint, recently capped off a month-long stint hosting a Bill Murray ‘Murrathon’ for Fringe Fest – and was banned from the internet this week for uploading an image of Tony Abbott with a really small dick.

This guy has also turned ‘stalking’ into a literal art. Earlier this year, Bligh decided to begin painting portraits of all his internet friends. I’m not sure what number he’s up to, but he’s made his way out of Sydney because I found one of my shady internet snaps turned into a neat little portrait the other week. Thought we’d return the favour by enlisting photographer Jack Toohey to turn up at Bligh’s Newtown terrance and trail him for a whole Sunday afternoon for our next SEQUENCE photo essay.

If you’d like to contact Bligh for commissions, click here. If you’d like your portrait painted, click here. If you want to know what happens when a photographer returns with a rad set of photos and a portrait by an artist completely stoned, then keep scrolling.

4

2

6

12

5

14

19

7

10

jack-by-totalbore

_____

JACK TOOHEY: Facebook / Web 

BLIGH TWYFORD-MOORE: Facebook / Web

Read Post →

WIN: Budweiser DJ/Producer of The Year Award

, , No Comment

decks close up

 

We get music submissions from all kind of genres. For those of you who’ve recently submitted ‘dance’ music in any of its dizzying forms – we don’t ‘h8’ you, we’re just old and cranky and bassdrum makes us feel tender. We haven’t forgotten about you though. If you’re not the bedroom poet type, then here’s your chance.

Maybe you have dreams of being this guy. Or this guy. If you’re a budding DJ, electronic producer or Flerm type –  you’re probably within earshot of winning this competition. Budweiser, our pals from VICE and those guys down at the Australian Independent Music Awards are doing a nationwide sweep – giving one hotshot the chance to win a pretty massive prize – if ‘beer, babes and bass’ are your kinda thing.

___
Here’s the deal – you get flown from your shitty bedroom lab in sleepy suburbia to NYC to play at a host of club things and chauffeured around to some ‘industry’ parties. Also gratis for the winner; a shiny new Pioneer DDJ-SX4-channel Serato DJ controller to play with. There are other things too – like a feature mix on Mixcloud, Grooveshark and a feature profile in Resident Advisor, as well as in VICE magazine. Someone told us that the winner would be ‘selected by an independent judging panel of music and entertainment industry experts’. That same source said that the Black Eyed Peas’ producer was on the panel. So, hell with it.

Entries close in less than a week, so get to it. For a shot, you can submit up to 6 tracks in your entry HERE. Winners will be announced on the 7th November at the 2013 Australian Independent Music Awards in Sydney.

Find out more information by clicking through here.

 

Read Post →

WIN: Nick Lynar @ The Gasometer

, , No Comment

nick-lynar2

 

 

We’ve ousted several producers named Nick in our time (Nick Murphy, obvious). One we’re hoping shares a similar fate is one that Sam brought to our attention last month – local producer Nick Lynar and his track ‘Twisted Angles’. If Lynar’s unique sound, Rob Taylor’s Luke Steele impression or several babes skateboarding down a hill doesn’t impress you, then yeah, you’re probably a happless twat.

For everyone else, we’re presenting Nick’s next show at The Gasometer this Friday. Friendships, EDarcy and Sub Dapper are supporting. Yeah, we know it’s Grand Final Eve or whatever, but if you’re considering giving up a good night of beats for drinking piss and wearing Freo colours with your neighbours, it’s time to reevaluate life (or #lyf, however you roll).

Our pals from new label on the block Leisure House have two doorspots for us to give away. Drop us your name + contact details to editors@whothehell.net by 5PM Wednesday 25th for your Friday night sorted.

YouTube Preview Image

FB Event

Read Post →