Seven years ago WTH photographers ventured into the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre and began taking photos of What Goes On. By Golden Plains Eight there was almost a complete shift from live music photography to atmos photography, capturing what truly makes GP extra special ~*YOU*~. By Golden Plains Ten our photo pit pass was no more – aside from a few photos taken from the front row, the punters became the stars of our photographic reviews of the festival. I like to think that we started this trend.
We’ve been sending Tessa Mansfield-Hung along to the ‘sup since Golden Plains Twelve and needless to say she has been killin’ it. Her photographic review of Golden Plains Thirteen is perhaps the best yet. These photos speak many words (mainly, FOMO) though here are a few from the gal who went along to capture all that was;
“Oi! Raise your sour beers and cheers to the weekend that you swore you would never forget but maybe have a little already. Do not fear, some pics for the jog of the mems is here.
Four Tet sparked joy. Someone trashed the campsite. There wasn’t a storm, just storm like qualities. I saw a T-Rex and Kyle found 50 bucks.
Bless up and big love to our heroes Millú & Pjenné for closing the weekend of our dreams.
Becki Whitton is an audio engineer based in Melbourne who records under her solo moniker, Aphir. Aphir’s debut full-length, Twin Earth, was released via Provenance Records in 2017 and since then Whitton has self-released a steady stream of singles and EPs, the frequency and quality of which, highlight a restless talent with plenty to say.
Although Whitton’s music as Aphir typically leans towards the pop end of the electronic music spectrum, her most recent outings are more exploratory. Last year’s Dyscircadian ventures into more ambient territory, while Ceci n’est pas une Popfrom earlier this year, is an effortless batch of smoky, downbeat electronica. Both EPs are collaborative efforts with Whitton working alongside some of her music pals including Happy Axe, KAIAR and Dear Laika among others.
Aphir’s Virtual Mixtape taps into her recent travels, including a handful of songs that would enter her subconscious while working. Over to you Becki…
“I’ve been travelling a lot this year – I’m an audio engineer and for the first half of the year I didn’t have a studio, which meant that I was often travelling to different places to record the artists I was working with. In September I had the opportunity to visit California for three weeks and there was a whole stretch of time where I was too busy to listen to Spotify, so it was really interesting to just listen to my mind singing whatever random song it reached for to suit the moment. The songs on this playlist are a small selection of those, I guess it’s essentially a travel playlist.”
Lupa J – Drift
This is one of my favourite songs that’s been released this year. It’s about hiding parts of your identity from yourself because you’re scared they might hurt you or hurt other people which, in the first place, is such a deep thing for a song to be about, and in the second place every nuance of the production and arrangement of Drift reflects that feeling so perfectly. This song has the perfect feeling for exploring a new city at night.
Freya – Cohabitation
I started getting this song stuck in my head a lot while I was staying in other people’s houses in the States. Freya’s music is amazing – her tracks sound like a five-piece band of killer songwriters teamed up with a very expensive producer but actually it’s literally just all her. She released an album called The Fifth recently and I really hope it ends up on some best of the year lists because it absolutely deserves that.
Buzzy Lee – Coolhand
I just got into Buzzy Lee this year and I really love her stuff. I met her manager by chance when I was overseas and I was so nervous that I literally asked him what his name was three times after already being told twice. I love how this song is lo-fi but in the most deliberate, satisfying way – every sound has been carefully chosen and sits in the best possible place. Listening to this song really changes my mood in the best way every time I listen to it (which has honestly been a LOT).
Eilish Gilligan – S.M.F.Y.
One of the things I’ve been travelling for this year has been to occasionally DJ for Eilish when her band can’t play a show for one reason or another. S.M.F.Y. is the song she finishes her set with mostly, and it’s the perfect way to close because it transforms this heartbreaking experience she had into a pure moment of energy and connection with the audiences she sings to. I think is one of the best things music can do, and I’ve never seen the people in the crowd not love it.
Ravyn Lenae – Spice
This song is so cute and sexy. Mostly when people say “oh that song is so sexy” (about whatever song) I don’t really relate, but I think this is my kind of sexy song because it’s also kind of weird. This is a good song to listen to after spending a whole day navigating a new place and getting super gross and sweaty, but then finally arriving where you’re staying that night – I would say listen to this song while you’re changing out of your sweaty clothes to go to some place nice in the evening.
‘Body Crush is Tasmanian solo artist Slumber’s first release; a collection of 2 years’ worth of work, made up of snippets, found sounds, and drowsily beautiful vocals from Tasmania’s Amber Perez. Perez also plays guitar in ferocious Hobart pop punk band Slag Queens, but with Slumber she’s turned her attention inward, making, in her words ‘dank sadgirl bops’ (and you’ll find no better description).
This EP came to me kind of like a balm against that constant low-level anxiety that we’re all getting, if not used to, bored of. Do you ever feel like there’s so much fucken blah blah everybody talking constantly out there that you struggle to even listen to music with lyrics in it? You’re like, oh god, please shut the fuck up? I do. But this EP is like restorative good company, like an afternoon spritz, like a friend who’s just as happy to spend the afternoon watching Seinfeld as talking deep stuff.
Dealing abstractly with ideas of romance with the self and others, the takeaway from these songs seems to be a kind of inner peace that comes from looking back at the past with a kind of forgiveness. With the inevitable backslide into wistful regret in ‘let u go’, a pretty highlight that brings glitches, birdsong and mumbled vocals together for a deep wallowing sigh. It’s the quiet acceptance in lines like ‘we are both the seas that we drown in / we are both our only way out’ that makes this EP more than breezy listening bleep bloops and more like a real document of progress and growth.
‘sick dank track #5’ is just what it says… kinda. An optimistic dance song to bring on the dawn ‘I’m getting better at being good to myself / I think I’m almost ready to let things work out’, Perez sings with a half-smile, multi-tracked vocals bringing the sense of euphoria to the only song I wanna hear if I ever go to the club again.
Listen to, or even buy (!) Body Crush on Bandcamp.
Latest Comments
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Still trying to purchase!!!ANTHONY J LANGFORD
Cool track. Congrats Joshua. Hope the release is a success.Tristan
Man I love these guys. I can't believe they are not releasing any new music. I've been to so many…sophie
^^ I love Grimes! Banoffee is one of my new favorite music artists! :) I love With Her, Reign Down,…Ace
Read your review then listened to the EP. Fantastic ! Different to most hardcore punk I listen to. Somewhat more…