A few days ago, Sydney neo-soul artist Okenyo dropped the video for ‘Just a Story’, the slinky and dexterous lead single from her forthcoming EP, Mirage – and we got a sneak peek at the behind-the-scenes photo shoot. As you would expect from Zindzi Okenyo (remember this tour-de-force appearance?), the results are sexy and very stylish.
Photography by Shantanu Starick
More photos after the jump
When premiering friendships’ latest vid, the UK’s Clash Magazine lead with a description of Melbourne being a “hub for the arts”. Yes, this is true. Our CBD council boats of its arts prowess, and we’ve had a knack for producing globetrotting creatives who romanticise the bluestone-lined streets of Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Each one has its fair share of Melburnian tropes at the ready – cafes with Edison lightbulbs, white tiles, or a disinterested barista put-on for effect.
But, the Melbourne represented in this clip isn’t what you’d initially jump to if you’re looking to romanticise our fashionable inner city. The suburb, Footscray isn’t going to be featured in some Monocle roundup anytime soon. It’s one that hasn’t really given into the full force of gentrification, where wave after wave of immigration still continues to makes its mark. In the vid local cameos such as Ming Ming’s, Franco Cozzo or Little Africa shine like time warped diamonds in the rough.
It’s always funny to see this place get featured. It’s romanticised by outsiders who consider it ‘exotic’ — it’s ‘Footscrazy’ or ‘Footscary’ to others. It’s a world where a technicoloured multitude of random shit greets you at a dollar shop, where said colours have faded from years of neglect. friendships’ Misha Grace (a Footscray resident) produced this in collaboration with Melbourne-based artist Ami Taib. So it’s funny to see them capture the ‘burb’s mundane reality.
For a long time, listing Footscray among Melbourne’s ‘cool’ haunts would’ve been a no-go. But now a string of younger Melburnians are capitalizing on cheap rents and large post-industrial spaces, and hosting Laneway is sure bound to shake off perceptions that it’s the inner city’s poorer cousin.
But for past or current residents, we just get on. Nobody’s getting knifed anytime soon, and nobody’s getting deprived of some ridiculously cheap okra. So take this video as an interesting juxtaposition of Footscray in its current state of flux — a perfect reading of the old and the new: a place where a gun shop can turn into an Ethiopian restaurant.
friendships are heading to the US in late May and are holding an art-show tour fundraiser. ‘Digestiblez’ will show at Friday May 1st at Forgotten Worlds, Collingwood. DJ sets from the duo and RaRa.
You know how on your socials there’s a never ending stream of bits and pieces of media you probably just scroll through because they might end up being a waste of your precious me time? Well, we’ve taken one for the team and sifted through the noise to compile a bunch of tracks you’ll be glad you shovelled into your ears. Here’s our first Aus music podcast. There’s some shoegaze from a Perth band called Hyla with enough plate reverb to feed a family of five, Melbourne’s Mangelwurzel do this thing where you don’t know whether it’s punk, ska, math or just plain nuts – plus we’ve thrown a couple of bedroom-producer-type electro tracks into this mix to smoothen out the edges. Well, enough of the chit-chat -just listen to it, will ya? Stay tuned for the next one.
Fazerdaze is the moniker of Wellington born bedroom songwriter, Amelia Murray. After moving to Auckland to study music, Murray began layering guitars over drum machine loops and in the process created one of the most charming iterations of surf-pop we’ve heard in a while.
New Zealand has a pretty good history of churning out jangly guitar bands (everyone from The Clean to Surf City) but Murray really sets herself apart with Fazerdaze. Her debut EP brings together the driving rhythms of more traditional surf with multi-tracked harmonic vocals that feel like they barely touch the ground before floating right past your ears.
The whole thing is delivered with such effortlessness that it seems like Murray must have just sat down and recorded the whole thing in an afternoon. But don’t let that description fool you. Songs like ‘Somethink’ show off some beautifully intricate guitar work along the lines of Dustin Wong’s solo albums.
Fazerdaze has been playing a few shows around the country and with any luck we’ll hear more from her soon.
Closer is the ambient/noise project of Melbourne musician Liam Daly. It shares the grandiose aims of his former post-rock outfit, These Hands (Could Separate the Sky), but in place of cascading guitars are shifting drones built from sub-bass, white noise and tape hiss.
Over the past couple of years Daly has released two EPs, White Heat and Descent, and a full-length called In Search of Life. His latest is the neatly symmetrical Heartache/Lifted, whose two tracks both clock in at precisely 10:10.
The album has the neo-classical tenor of Basinski’s conceptual drones and some of the muted drama of Tim Hecker compositions. It’s not as centred and melodically rich as either of those artists, but that’s probably because Daly’s process is driven largely by chance. As he recently told Forte, Closer’s aesthetic is “not overly driven by specific mood or intent. Whatever noises present themselves are the ones I have to use. Whatever form the song takes, then so be it”. As a result, these tracks don’t build so much as they unfold, revealing new details and layers, each with different evocations.
In the same interview, Daly described Closer as “music that warps time and makes you feel without choice”. At times it conveys the inevitability of a glacier slowly collapsing, or that rushing noise that fills your ears during a panic attack or dissociative state.
‘Heartache’ is like the soundtrack to some unspecified dystopian era, whether industrial, medieval or post-apocalyptic. The highlight is ‘Lifted’, with its breathy synth washes and submerged vocals, which sound like someone calling to you from inside a deep cavern.
Though these songs would probably benefit from stronger melodic motifs, Heartache/Lifted is surprisingly gratifying for something that veers so close to sound art. Like most ambient music, this makes for great headphones listening – and probably a killer live show, too.
Heartache/Lifted is available now through Bandcamp. Catch Closer performing at Old Bar next Monday, 20 April, alongside Mollusc and Fourteen Nights at Sea. RSVP on Facebook.
Despite most folks’ reaction to hearing the words ‘Perth’ and ‘music’ in the same sentence (which is a spontaneous compulsion to list all of Tame Impala’s singles), the dusty city has got a blooming music scene. From electronic bleepers like Tenru and Catlips, who are making waves, to Doctopus‘ demented garage rock, Perth has got something special going on. But it’s the pure rock stuff coming from there that provokes the strongest interest. I mean, holy shit – if the first wave of new bands is anything to go by, Sub Pop’s gonna be setting up shop around WA pretty soon.
Heavily influenced by grunge and pub rock alike, the new crop includes legends like FOAM, Pat Chow and Hideous Sun Demon – all acts that are well worth laying down a few bucks for. But then, with their crushing melodies and immersive quiet-loud dynamics, there’s Black Stone from the Sun. For a two-piece, these guys make more noise than a distressed baby with access to a loudspeaker.
The duo aren’t afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, with new single ‘Pastel Roses’ clearly recalling the likes of Nirvana, the Pixies, and more recently, Violent Soho. But that doesn’t necessarily do them a disservice – having a template to work from allows these guys to build their choruses into huge, swooping beasts that seem destined to be thrown headfirst from a festival stage.
The presser for Totally Mild’s debut record Down Time gets on the offensive straight away – saying to forget about dolewave (strong words considering they’re named after the Aussiest show ever after Burke’s Backyard) and get on board with this new sound. Well, you’ll pry broadly accented mates singing about ciggies and stained carpet from my cold dead hands, but I like this a hell of a lot too.
Totally Mild’s ‘new’ sound has some strong Geoffrey O’Connor vibes to me. It’s less aggressively produced and hedonistic, but there’s that same woozy darkness in his voice as there is in singer Elizabeth Mitchell’s – both breathy and gauzy but with real underlying pain. These are relaxed, slow-paced songs, but by keeping the majority under the three minute mark, the guitar tone sunny and the harmonies plentiful, the band have managed to keep the record from dragging. A highlight for me is ‘When I’m Tired’ – a catchy, cheerful track about night terrors and fire. Happy-sounding songs about bad shit get made all the time, but rarely with the subtlety and smarts that these guys show across this whole record.
So whether you’ve ACTUALLY been hunting an alternative to the current Melbourne jangle-centric scene, or you just wanna hear something cool, Totally Mild are worth your time.
Down Time is out today through Bedroom Suck on digital and vinyl.
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…