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Three Albums That Changed My Life: OCDANTAR

Ocdantar is a new solo project from Melbourne artist Joshua Delaney, frontman of Rat & Co (Ocdantar being a backwards anagram of Rat and co.) Today sees the release of new single Sad Child, set to feature on his upcoming EP titled Time In Flux, due out next week on April 29. Having already supported some of the most cutting edge electronic acts around today including Shigeto, Nina Kraviz and Ben Klock, it’s really exciting to hear another fresh new sound from our own shores.

Sad Child opens to a slow-moving ambience, with a lingering beat entering a full minute in. It’s almost a full second minute before a vocal mantra is introduced, more a new instrumental layer than a verse. Overall, it is a simple song, but that’s not a criticism; the measured nature and soft progression allows you to loiter and feel each phrase, until it calmly fades out.

We wanted to get to know the influences behind Ocdantar, so we asked Josh to share three albums which have been important throughout his life.

Fatboy Slim – You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

This was the first album I truly loved. It was 1998, I was just turning 9 years old, and I thought it was so bad-ass to own a discman and have a cd that had the word fuck on it multiple times.

Later on in life I realised that this album pretty much shaped my entire musical taste. It’s got beats from garage, jungle, hip hop and dance music, its using samples as the main source of writing, but adds a bunch of textural synths and guitar over the top to finish the arrangement. Sound like a description of Rat & Co much?

Radiohead – Kid A

When I was 11, I had my uncle, who is only 8 years my senior living with my family when he was in-between homes. I was getting ready for a Year 6 school excursion at home and I heard some weird music coming from his room, I asked him what it was and he just handed me the CD and said “Happy birthday” (not my birthday.) That cd was Kid A

I listened to it from start to finish about 20 times during the day on excursion to the NGV. I can still vividly remember the feelings I got from listening to this CD, and I can say without doubt this was the first time music had ever made me think of anything more than happiness or sadness.

Boards Of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children

I had a crush in Year 9 on an American girl who was doing an exchange to our school. She made me a mixtape of music that was full of all the most amazing bands, (Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Death Cab to name a few) but my favourite song from the mixtape was unnamed.

Fast forward to 2010, I met a mysterious girl (who became my girlfriend for the next two years) while studying jazz at university, and she showed me Music Has The Right To Children. She put on her favourite song from the album, ROYGBIV, and to my amazement it was the unnamed track from the mixtape.

Obviously I casually lost my shit. She had opened the door to my main musical influence to date. The feeling I get from listening to Boards of Canada is the same feeling I imagine as birthing your first child, having your first hit of heroin and experiencing the first death in your family at the same time.

 

 

Image: Supplied