Myrkur: Folkesange
- I remember, from when I was much younger and rather poorly informed, listening to a Chelsea Wolfe record from the height of her neofolk period and thinking “where’s the metal?” Danish artist Amalie Bruun, the woman behind the Myrkur moniker, has evoked that question throughout her entire career, though she has much less reason to than Wolfe. Her blending of folk -a folk so trad you can’t really call it neofolk- with black metal, is very individual and uncompromisingly disparate.
4ZZZ Top 20
1. Tia Gostelow - Rush (Single)
2. Sycco - Nicotine (Single)
3. Good Boy - It Takes A Lot Of Skill To Milk A Mare
4. Adele & The Chandeliers - Something Good Is Happening (Single)
5. Cable Ties - Far Enough
6. VOIID - Sour (Single)
7. Requin - Rules That Won't Be Broken (Single)
8. Hearts And Rockets - You Don't Know What You Have Until You've Had Enough (Single)
9. Jeremy Neale - We Were Trying To Make It Out
10. Minor Premiers - Hawaiian Holiday (Single)
11. Spirit Bunny - Bindii (Single)
Military Genius: Deep Web
<p>- The impact of a serious injury can have a profound influence on musicians. For many independent artists, injuries have led to preemptive career endings. In the case of Vancouver based post-punk musician Bryce Cloghesy however, a life-threatening tear of his brachial nerve led to a process of deep self-reflection and the eventual creation of his solo avant-garde project, Military Genius. Now Military Genius has unveiled a debut record Deep Web, out now via Unheard of Hope.</p>
On-Ly: Broth
<p><span><span>- It’s difficult to pin down the balance between the slow, loping hip hop beats and more free-wheeling jazz elements of Melbourne producer’s On-Ly’s work. Otherwise known as <strong>Joshua Smeltink</strong>, one thing is certain about him here: space has invaded on his latest LP, <em>Broth</em>, the first for up-and-coming jazzy beats powerhouse <strong>La Sape</strong>.
Star Slushy: Spikes / Spires
- A Google search, the online and modern day medium of “they say” quips and proverbs, will tell you that first impressions last. When thinking back to a 2017 visit to The Bearded Lady I’d be inclined to agree. Excited and in attendance for a mixed bill to see Julia Why? on a Brisbane visit and all-time favourite Scraps, the sets from them, Bad Bangers and Collapsicon all stellar and disparate, however it was the opening group, Star Slushy, who lingered longest on my mind.
Use No Hooks: The Job
<p><span><span>- <strong>Chapter Music</strong> has recently released a collection of previously unsuch archival music from Use No Hooks. Originating in Melbourne, this compilation of the group's output spans the years 1979-1983. Emerging from the Little Bands scene there, the collection touches on elements of new wave, Downtown NY-funk, jazz and dub.</span></span></p>
Writing from Experience - Glace Chase on her new play Triple X
Triple X, the new play by Australian Born, New York based writer and performer Glace Chase is on the surface a comedy/drama about two very different people forging a relationship in a complicated situation. But while the author borrows on her own experiences, she says that the character that she plays is not the star of the show
Alexis Pink sits down with Glace to find out More [Content - Language Warning]
Loughie: MY WORLD
<p><span><span>- With influences ranging from the disco tinged pop of <strong>Madonna</strong>, to the industrial fury of <strong>Kim Gordon</strong>’s <em>No Home Record</em>, <em>MY WORLD</em>, the debut EP from Melbourne based producer Loughie, is like looking into an antique kaleidoscope. It’s a little rough around the edges sometimes, but that's something that just enhances the DIY appeal of Loughie’s androgynous, horror-pop.</span></span></p>
Earth Rot: Black Tides Of Obscurity
<p>- I’ve been a huge fan of the fusion approach that has overtaken black metal in the last decade. Adding in ambient, psych, shoegaze, prog, all sorts of things, really, bands like <strong>Deafheaven</strong>, <strong>Alcest </strong>or <strong>Wolves In The Throneroom </strong>have tricked out the original, bargain-basement-evil sounds of Norway with lavish adornments from across the musical spectrum. So, Perth’s Earth Rot <em>are</em> a black metal fusion band, but then they aren’t really like that at all. </p>
Tennis Pagan - EP
Enigmatic Melbourne producer Tennis Pagan offers up a tiny tasting menu of diverse, oldschool beats. It barely adds up to an EP: can less than fifteen minutes even cut it on the dancefloor? Reviewed by Chris Cobcroft.
- Passion project and micro-label Spirit Level, founded by radio personality and producer Tim Shiel and Wally De Backer (aka Gotye), seems to pick its roster mostly via the curation instincts of Shiel and Shiel loves the producers and artists that are even more micro than his label. Tennis Pagan fits that bill to a tee.
With a mere thirty-four Facebook followers and a bio that seems to identify the mysterious beatmaker as the slightly battered looking and somewhat less-than-successful Carlton AFL coach Denis Pagan, our man behind the boards doesn’t appear to be letting on a whole lot. I’m not sure what Denis is up to right now, but I’m pretty sure he hasn’t created a little bedroom studio for the making of left-field beats. So, there’s little to go on but the music and on debut EP EKO that represents a selection of tantalising -if tiny- morsels.
Opener, Pli, at three minutes and twenty one seconds, is one of the more substantial offerings. It’s like a d’n’b cut, but played on the wrong pieces of percussion or maybe it’s just the lightest, most speeding slice of ambient d’n’b you’re likely to encounter this week; really there’s so little bass in it, but it’s actually quite fresh and appealing. The following sub-two-minute fragment, Heads, seems to confirm the initial impression of a fascination with oldschool beats. It begins with a very metallic sound somewhere between instrumental hip-hop and industrial before throwing in some proper jungle that’s very entertaining but over so quickly.
Dirge is a minute-long fannish copy of The Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker, which, well y’know, whatever. It’s followed by some more of those highly metallic beats, matched to a hazy, ambient background and soundbedding a rather bizarre conversation that appears to be centred around the Calliope on The Natchez. I looked it up on Youtube and discovered a river-barge (The Natchez) with a steam pipe organ (that’s a Calliope - now you know!) tootling away. The lady in the conversation appears convinced it’s quite … sexy? Ok.
The EP’s title cut finally gets us back into songs proper. Again, I don’t quite know how to describe it: meshing together cutesy beats with a synth harmony that sounds somewhere between a modem and a vacuum cleaner and finally paired with more of those extremely metallic strikes that Tennis Pagan is quite obsessed with. It’s actually a great track, brimming with energy and syncopation and life; I thoroughly recommend it.
Closer, Sunkened, slows everything down into a pleasantly easy-listening bit of piano adorned electro-groove; something Groove Armada might well approve of. It also recapitulates more of that conversation, nostalgically endorsing the Calliope again and even featuring a tiny little bit of its tootling as the track closes out. I’m not quite sure what the significance of it all is, but it binds the ending of the EP together in a sentimental embrace.
EKO is pretty light-on as an initial offering. It doesn’t offer much, but what it does give you is different and intriguing. I think it’s a no-brainer: that’s the point that Tim Shiel got on board. If you also have an ear for quite left-field beats, I think you’ll be in too. I don’t really mind if the Calliope doesn’t make it back for the next outing, but I’m definitely looking forward to some more of Tennis Pagan.
Reviewed by Chris Cobcroft.