Porches is the recording project of New York based artist Aaron Maine, laden with melancholic lyrics juxtaposed against synth-driven pop melodies, hazy and hypnotising in its moody layers. We recently posed some questions to Maine on the eve of the release of album Pool, which dropped last Friday. Expanding on the themes and elements of previous efforts Slow Dance in the Cosmos (2013) and Je T’aime (2011), the album was the first that he had recorded entirely in his New York home studio, allowing the time and creative freedom to explore and cement the projects sound.
About to head out on tour, we were keen to fire some quick questions at the artist and get a little insight into the recording process, working with your signifiant other and what the future might look like.
The new album was recorded almost entirely in your apartment. How do you create a creative space at home?
I have a small little recording set up in the back of our living room… I try to keep it clean, arrange it in a pleasing way, hang art that I like looking at around, and make it as appealing as possible.
New York plays a big part in your music. Can you tell us about the influence the city had on this record and how it has influenced your overall sound?
It is truly an inspiring city. I think I am affected in more ways than i’m even aware of. It’s pace, it’s style, it’s architecture it’s attitude, I find it all very attractive, and I think it all finds a way into my music
Your partner and collaborator Greta Kline (Frankie Cosmos) is also an artist. How do you influence each other creatively, but then also separate the personas from real life?
We have an ongoing conversation about our separate projects. I admire her songwriting, melodies, lyrics so much. We will always show each other what we’re currently working on and talk about it as artists that respect each other. She inspires me to grow.
What does a night off consist of for you guys?
Usually playing ping pong , watching Seinfeld or Buffy, or dinner or something. Though I do love working recording and writing music and it never feels like actual “work”, and therefore I don’t feel like I ever need a “night off”
The album has a bit of a cinematic feel. What is the most Hollywood romantic moment you’ve had?
Most romantic hollywood moment would be Greta straddling me and giving me a tattoo of my first dogs name on my chest on the first night we hung out.
There is a strong 80’s throw back sound. Were you inspired by any particular aesthetic or mediums?
I got very interested in some vintage synthesizers and drum machines. I wanted it to be chic, driving, stark, warm, and full of love.
You’re about to head out on tour for 30+ stops until the end of April. What do you think is going to keep you sane?
I love everyone in the band deeply and enjoy their company.. I think we keep each other sane… perhaps.
Do you enjoy the long stints or are you more of a homebody?
Much more of a homebody. I feel more productive writing and recording, but I do love performing for people. I just wish it didn’t take up so much time
Now that you have a solid home base to record from, what is next for you?
I want to record the next record at home again. I’ve been writing and recording every day since the album was done 4 months ago. Learning, discovering new sounds, figuring out what feels like the best next move.
Any international touring plans on the cards?
Some things are cooking for sure!
Check out the hypnotic video for Hour below and get lost in the full album here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cedrrjoV04s
It’s the mid 1960s in Indonesia. A war has broken out with Malaysia in an attempt to break up the newly formed federation and ward off colonial rule, behind closed doors a mass genocide is being carried out against communist threats and left leaning minorities, and up until 1964 absolutely zero girl bands have been formed. As juxtaposition to the dark government regime of President Sukarno, the radio is filled with the same sugary ballads we still hear today when we hop into a taxi at just about any South East Asian airport. The soft lilting melodies of a crooning chanteuse are underpinned by jangling chimes and the sort of synthesizer that might otherwise be found on an answering machine. Western rock n roll music is banned across the country, and the nation’s biggest live act of the time, Koes Bersaudara, has been arrested for performing covers of The Beatles. Despite all the odds, the rumblings of rebellion have reached Surabaya and four teenage girls are playing their own instruments and bonding over illegal copies of iconic albums. And, by some wondrous twist of fate, Dara Puspita is born.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0EicyKXHvY&list=PLH-Z9W9MZCGGRDfUBmoDHb-KAsmdKqbcu
With a name that literally translates to Flower Girls, Indonesia’s first girl band was made up of sisters Titiek Adji Rachman on lead guitar and Lies Adji Rachman on rhythm guitar, as well as Titiek Hamzah on bass and Susy Nander on drums. Ani Kusuma briefly joined the group on rhythm guitar in 1965 when Lies left the to finish her schooling, before returning and resuming the original line up. With a sound more reminiscent of surf rock than the brit-laden releases of the era, and characterised by a deliciously lo-fi buzz, these four girls might just be some of the most under-appreciated names of the decade. On hearing iconic track A Go Go for the first time it is impossible not to wish for a time machine to transport you to the sweaty dance floor of one of their early shows. Rumour has it that screamed lyrics and writhing dance movements were par for the course, and it is surprising that they quickly garnered such a strong following in their home country.
Following early success, the band relocated to the capital of Jakarta in 1965 and soon gained a reputation for their energetic live shows (of which, sadly, we couldn’t find any video footage). Along with attention from fans, they attracted the unwanted eye of then-President Sukarno, who had previously declared western music to be a “form of mental disease.” After a month long interrogation and the arrest of contemporaries/friends/boyfriends from Koe Bersaudara, they sought safe haven in nearby Thailand. Bangkok provided not only a more forward thinking culture, but also a place to continue their musical endeavours. The quartet soon integrated Thai influences into their sound, including a rock version of the Thai folk song Puyaili and original song Pattaya Beach. Based on their short-lived self imposed exile, modern day comparisons see the band (perhaps hyperbolically) coined as The Pussy Riot of the 1960’s. Regardless, they were certainly trail blazers in the female rock movement.
https://youtu.be/dJLg2fv4Ev4
After the Sukarno regime came to a bloody end in late 1965, the band returned to Indonesia and released their first LP Jang Pertrama. This was the first in a series of critically successful albums, most notably the 1967 thirty minute dance-a-thon A Go Go, including a stellar cover of the Bee Gee’s hit To Love Somebody (listen in full here). In 1968, the band decided to travel further afield to fulfil dreams of worldwide success and commenced a three year tour of Europe. Reception in the western world was lacklustre compared to what they had become accustomed to at home and at best they scored sets as an opening act for bigger names, with drummer Susy Nander commenting “no one will be sure to buy the record of the unnamed female band like us.” By the time they returned to Indonesia in 1971, relationships were strained and despite selling out crowds of over 23,000 people, they made the decision to disband in 1972.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOp2gQ2BDTM
Despite never fully reaching the recognition they deserved, the legacy of these four women with a rock n roll vision has continued to live on. We are able to hear their music due to a large reissuing of albums otherwise only available on limited vinyl through Sublime Frequencies, and experience a beautiful reimagining of album covers from Sticky Fingers Art Prints.
For me personally, I discovered this band in 2015 by recommendation from an eclectic friend, and some days I get so worried that wonderful music like this will be forgotten that I just have to write it down in the hope that one new person will hear it and love it. If that person turns out to be you, then today is a good day.
Check out the full discography here.
While you’re at it check out our interview with Spanish girl group Hinds on the eve of their stellar debut Leave Me Alone.
Last Friday Kanye West surprised the music world with the release of track Real Friends, an early cut from upcoming album Swish. Fans rejoiced as this will be the start of a new chain of G.O.O.D. Fridays releases, where the altruistic Yeezy will share a new track each Friday in the lead up to the albums release on February 11. The promotional musical giveaways first sprang up in the lead up to the rapper’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and returned with announcements by Kim Kardashian on January 8th.
If new music from Yeezy wasn’t enough for you, the track has now been given the soul treatment by the legendary Erykah Badu. Her remix, titled Trill Friends: Badu Whodouni Rough Mix melds the West track with phrases from Whodini‘s 1984 track Friends.
She put the track up on her Soundcloud along with the caption:
JUST ride out to this… What up Yeezy? BADU MESSIN ROUND THIS MORNIN (really suppose be recording something else …) presently in the BADUDIO w/ ZACH WITNESS. From the forth coming mixtape, THIS $h!t TOO EASY.
The track is a killer piece of chill in its own right, and definitely worth a few spins. It follows on from her recent reworking of Drake’s Hotline Bling, which featured on her late 2015 mixtape But You Can’t Use My Phone.
Check out the latest piece of otherworldly goodness and get your trill on below.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/241605821″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=’450′ iframe=”true” /]
While we are all still coming to terms with the passing of the Starman, David Bowie, his latest record released just days before his death is on a trajectory to reach No. 1 across the worldwide charts. Blackstar came out on January 8th, the late artist’s 69th birthday, and took on new meaning when the world learnt of his passing from an eighteen-month battle with cancer. The record featured single Lazarus, accompanied by an unsettling and heartwrenching video.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-JqH1M4Ya8]
According to industry forecasters, the album is on track to reach the number of required sales to knock Adele‘s 25 from the top spot in the USA, which will be his first chart topper in the States. He is also headed to nab the #1 spot in the UK, which will be his tenth chart topper in his homeland.
Tributes have been flowing in for the legendary icon over the last two days, including videos from space, touching words from Brian Eno, and many many more. While the sadness will take much longer to fade, many fans and contemporaries have found solace in the final offering that he left behind, and are savouring getting to know the final piece of his legacy.
Conor O’Brien of Villagers is the kind of songwriter who stirs a deep emotional well, surfacing feelings long forgotten or never before found. The Irish troubadour has a way with words that is both succinct and heartbreaking, never shying away from raw simplicity. Coming to prominence in 2010 with debut album Becoming A Jackal, he reached #1 in his home country with this record and his following two releases, and has subsequently gathered a dedicated world wide following.
Villagers’ latest effort Where Have You Been All My Life? was released on January 8th, and is a collection of songs that brings together some of the most touching moments of the last five years into one flowing narrative. The album was recorded in a single day at London’s RAK Studios and captures a sense of immediacy and spontaneity, breathing fresh life into old material. The final product is twelve tracks of rich soundscapes featuring a stellar cast of musicians, including Cormac Curran on grand piano and analogue synthesizer, Danny Snow on double bass, Mali Llywelyn on harp, mellotron and vocals, and Gwion Llewelyn on drums, flugelhorn and vocals. The album also features the first recording by Villagers of the track Memoir, originally written for Charlotte Gainsbourg for her 2011 album Stage Whisper.
We recently posed some questions to O’Brien on the eve of the album release, keen to understand the recording process and some of the personal influences that go into his song writing process.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mP828BHeCE]
Where Have You Been All My Life brings five years and three albums into a single narrative and was recorded in one day with minimal takes. What inspired you to take this pared back approach to capturing the essence of these songs?
Just being a musician, really. There was no sophisticated thought process behind it. We’d been touring quite a lot and the songs were in a really unique place so it made sense to capture that.
Were you looking to bring out something in these tracks that you felt was not translated in the original recordings, or was it more about distilling the spontaneity and energy of the recording process itself?
The latter. I’m proud of every recording I’ve ever been part of, regardless of whether I can still relate to it. These recordings aren’t about “fixing” anything, they’re more about revisiting songs and imbuing them with everything I’ve experienced since they were written.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Ib6_o2WVI
Can you tell us about how the day unfolded, what the space was like, and any really special moments?
The whole album was recorded in one day in RAK Studios in London, which is a very beautiful place to make music in. A special moment for me was listening back to the recording of ‘Darling Arithmetic’ and having to leave the room because I was too embarrassed about the tears which were streaming down my face. I find it difficult to cry in front of people! The band were incredible that day. Everything you can hear on the album is done live in the room; no overdubs or edits.
You have said that you’re still often discovering what a song means when you sing it on tour well after the recording. Is that what you’re doing with this album in a way too? Was there any new meaning you discovered along the way?
My favourite songs to sing are the ones that I can take to different places depending on my mood as I’m performing them. Often these changes are subtle but sometimes they require more seismic shifts in the structure of the music. The album reflects this.
On the first track of the album Set The Tigers Free there is a line that says, “True love feeds on absences, like pleasure feeds on pain, so no matter where I’m standing I still love you all the same.” Sadness and beauty always seem so deeply entwined in your lyrics. Are these two ideas contingent for you?
Sadness and beauty have always come hand in hand. I don’t really know why and I’m usually struggling to break free from it. It feels like art is a good receptacle for all those thoughts and emotions that are inexpressible in most everyday settings. Maybe it is a form of therapy.
You have such a knack for exploring relationships and heart ache through your lyrics. What do you think are the vital ingredients for penning a good ballad?
There’s never a “right” or a “wrong” way to create music. Every idea is valid. The trick is to record all of it in your notebook or your phone or whatever, and then spend the rest of your time sorting through it and figuring out what works.
All three of your albums have reached #1 in your home country, where folk music has such a long and rich history. Is it important to you to continue and contribute to that story telling culture?
I don’t necessarily feel tied to any specific folk tradition, although maybe I picked up a lot subconsciously when I was younger. Music and storytelling is everywhere in Ireland and that’s something I only really began to appreciate when I started travelling around the world. It’s easy to take it for granted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mP828BHeCE
Soul Serene is such a lovely and reflective track and is quite philosophical and meditative compared to some of the other tracks on the album. What is the soul serene to you?
There’s absolutely no way I can put that into words. I suppose that’s why I wrote the song. The music does it for me! As the song says: “I’ve got no reason to figure out what it means”.
Your songs, especially on your last album, explore ideas about homophobia and bigotry. With same sex marriage legalised in Ireland earlier this year, how do you feel about the shift we are seeing in attitude globally? Are you feeling more of that acceptance personally? How does that compare now to the types of experiences that influenced a song like Little Bigot?
It’s a beautiful thing, but there is still so much more work to do. I’ve never felt more connected to the society around me as I did in the weeks and months surrounding the marriage referendum. It’s a funny feeling having the same human rights as everyone else and it’s something I’m still getting used to.
You have said a couple of times that you like to leave enough space in your lyrics and songs so that they can be relatable to everyone regardless of sexuality or gender. Are you trying to make the kind of music that people can identify with and use as a bit of catharsis in challenging times?
Perhaps. To be honest, I write purely from an emotional perspective so to discover any sort of righteous motivations within the words is an interesting development for me. It suggests that there are moral motivations buried deep inside. I’m quite a self-involved individual though, so I’d be wary of aligning myself with any sort of moral high ground.
Does writing your music work as a bit of therapy for you too? Are there any other ways you like to work through painful experiences and emotions?
Yes. I experience quite high levels of anxiety when I haven’t made anything for any long periods of time. I guess the songs do a little bit of excavating!
This latest album revisits existing material. Are you working on new material at the moment as well? How has your style evolved since opening up and reflecting on more personal content on Darling Arithmetic?
I’ve built myself a little studio and I’m at the experimental stage at the moment. I feel like I’m in heaven.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrA4vFW8uMw
We look forward to hearing what is next for the band. In the meantime, you can get Where Have You Been All My Life? here.
Full track listing:
1. Set the Tigers Free
2. Everything I Am is Yours
3. My Lighthouse
4. Courage
5. That Day
6. The Soul Serene
7. Memoir
8. Hot Scary Summer
9. The Waves
10. Darling Arithmetic
11. So Naive
12. Wichita Lineman
Canadian three-piece METZ make the kind of raw, vigorous noise rock that conjures all the power of a hurricane and pummels you with its sheer ferocity. Making waves with their debut self-titled album in 2012, the trio this year followed up with second release II and continued to harness the raucous energy they are known for. With hefty doses of feedback, layers of heavy guitar and lyrics that explore politics, relationship breakdown, death and technology the ten track release clocking in at just over thirty minutes is a great cathartic remedy for pondering all that is wrong with the world.
We recently caught up with frontman Alex Edkins to talk about the upcoming tour to Australia for Laneway Festival, learning to say no, and the importance of music as an outlet for his frustrations and aggression. I catch Alex just as he is finishing up some recording for the day, and while he is a little coy about the project, it is exciting to hear that after a three-year wait for II, new music is already on the way.
“I’m just working on some recording stuff today, so new music, that’s always very fun,” he tells me, “It’s not an LP… It’s some smaller releases that should come out in the near future. I can’t tell you too much about it, but it’s a collaboration. It’s slightly different; it’s got some different people involved.”
I ask about the recording process itself, especially in terms of II, and how easily the project flowed off the back of extensive touring for the first album. “We definitely jumped the gun off the top,” he says. “We were really excited to record new stuff, but I think we needed to take a break after basically two years of touring. So, after we gave ourselves some breathing room it came pretty easily. We ended up doing a lot of writing separately and bringing it into the jam space, then fleshing it out the way we usually do. It came pretty fast and furious once we got going.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqbbPzmvuoE?list=PL6q5JMIx2k32bTFI5osoNQJltZCbQ8oeC]
Previously, Alex has commented on how with positive reception to an album, a band takes on new meaning, and there becomes a lot of pressure to change and a lot of expectations. I ask if this is how they felt in the wake of their first effort, and what the secret was to staying true to themselves and ignoring those external influences. “It was just a matter of trying to block out what you might feel as other peoples expectations or what happens to be trendy or cool or whatever,” Alex says. “That’s never really been an issue with us, we have always kind of just done this for ourselves, so our litmus test is always just what the three of us like and we usually don’t pay much attention to anything else. We were aware more people would be hearing it, but I don’t really think it affected how we make music or how we function as a band. We always just try to continue on.”
While it still certainly follows the same trajectory of previous work, II incorporates electronic elements like synths, loops and found sounds, allowing the band to branch out more experimentally than ever before.
“I think it’s just a natural evolution,” Alex says. “We’re music fans in general so we like everything. If it’s going to suit a song or if it sounds interesting then we’re down to do it. Whenever we’re in the studio working we kind of throw it all at the wall and see what sticks. It’s fun. It involves a lot of experimentation. Sometimes you can overdo it and you end up with way too much on a track and you have to dial it back, but that’s just part of our process.”
Overlaying those walls of sound are some pretty dense lyrics written by the front-man. He has said that he considers himself “a pretty massive pessimist, but a pessimist who knows how lucky he is.” I ask about this and whether writing lyrics for the band acts as a bit of catharsis. “I guess I see it as a bit of a therapy session. When we started the band I never wanted to be a singer in a band, it just kind of happened. So, I think it’s good for my head to have such a great outlet. With the style of music that we play, it just seems to happen that the lyrics are coming from a frustrated place and it vibes with the music. In this day and age I feel like it’s pretty easy to read the paper and look out the window and see things that are truly disturbing and messed up. That’s often what I fixate on. I am not sure why that is, but I think it just seems to happen that way and its definitely good I have the band to vent. I think everyone should have a band where they get to get all their frustration and aggression out. I think it’s a pretty healthy thing.”
I ask how becoming a singer in a band “just happens” and he laughs. “Well, to be that person in front of the microphone is not something I wanted to do. From a young age I have always played instruments and been obsessed with music, so that was always there but I am more suited to being that second or third guitar player in the back, that would be my ideal situation. But it just kind of happened. We are a three piece and no one else was going to do it so I had to do it.”
He now has plenty of experience under his belt, after playing over 300 shows and touring extensively for two years off the back of the first record. I ask how he and his bandmates coped with such long stints on the road, and Alex replies with a sigh, seemingly looking back with a not quite forgotten sense of fatigue.
“I don’t know if it was ever planned, we were just really bad at saying no,” he says. “We kept getting offers we couldn’t refuse and kept saying yes, yes, yes. We are getting better at saying no to things.”
The Australian tour encompassing Laneway marks the end of the touring cycle for II and has been a little more manageable than the previous mammoth list of dates.
“It’s still been really busy but not nearly as much as the first one because I think it’s important to have a home life to stay sane,” Alex says. “We have been looking forward to this one for a while. Our last trip to Australia was really cool and Laneway has just been one of these things on our radar for a while since some of our friends did it a couple of years back. They were just raving about it. We are really excited to be invited to join the gang. It’s going to be pretty crazy.”
METZ will join a long list of incredible acts on the bill including Grimes, CHVRCHES, Beach House and fellow noise rockers Battles. There can be some similarities drawn with the latter, who despite a much more complex formula of organic and inorganic elements, maintain the same high intensity output. I ask Alex if he is looking forward to spending some time on the road with these guys, and perhaps getting a deeper understanding of their process.
“For sure,” he says, “I think we have a lot of respect for what they do. I would consider it really really different. The technicality involved in their music is just shocking. We are almost the complete opposite of that. You could probably play our songs with mittens on. But definitely there is something we share as far as the aggression, and maybe some of the same records influenced us when we were growing up. I think it’s going to be really fun to see these bands over and over and see how they do things.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrYH-TQCn9U?list=FLb_HwfOwZQdNS7N28QKOcwA&w=560&h=315]
There is an overstatement of modesty for the technicality the three piece involves, and we look forward to seeing them perform across the country (mittens or no mittens). When they are not on stage they have big plans to check out the beaches and drink lots of coffee.
“The two best things in Australia, our beaches and our coffee,” I assure.
“Sounds like heaven!” Alex exclaims.
Be sure to get your tickets to check them out at Laneway or one of their sideshows:
Wed February 10: Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Fri February 12: The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
My first experience of what it might feel like to be good at running came in grade 5 when my P.E. class was circling the oval in an 800 meter time trial on a hot Gold Coast summer day. 800 meters equated to four laps and our eager teacher, Mr. Gee, marked us off as we rounded each one to ensure that we didn’t cheat. By some wonderful twist of fate, as I rounded my third lap (notably behind pace), I saw the weathered and sun spotted hands of Mr. Gee come together in a clap.
“Good time!” he exclaimed and gestured me over to the sideline with the two other child athletes who had finished the exercise, clearly having mixed up his tallies somewhere along the way.
I of course, did not correct him. I revelled in the small praises from my classmates and felt strong and fit despite my minor dishonesty. In that moment I loved running. I loved everything about it from the sweat dripping down the back of my shirt, to the sharp twang of the stitch in my side, to the shortness of breath and the dizzying faintness that washed over me in the stifling heat. I had to spend the next few weeks convincing my mother that it was all a farce, and I would not be enrolling in the school team, but it was a small price to pay. For the rest of my primary school career I was forced to proclaim that I didn’t run because I hated it, not because I actually had no skill whatsoever. I will never forget poor Mr. Gee’s disappointment at all that talent going to waste.
It was only very recently that I rediscovered my passion for running, this time under more genuine terms. I found myself working my way up from 3km, to 5km to 6km on an ultimate quest for 10km and beyond, enjoying the physical and mental challenges it posed. More than a passion for the exercise itself, I discovered a passion for those moments of focus where the outside world drifts away and it is just you, your body and if you’re anything like me, your headphones. Just as important as choosing my location, my distance, my time, choosing the right music became an equal part of the ritual.
In my quests I discovered that the art of curating the perfect “running playlist” has become so popular that many fitness and music apps now have specialised features that allow you to match your music stream to your tempo. For example, those who use Spotify Premium can utilise the “Running” section, which sees the app find the beat of your footfalls and then matches tracks from your selected genre or mood to your cadence. Once the app finds your personal tempo, the BPM remains constant allowing the playlist to act as a metronome, pushing you ever forward through your workout. There are entire polls dedicated to the most popular running tracks, and for those wondering, Lose Yourself by Eminem seems to come up trumps.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFYQQPAOz7Y]
If my ten year old self had the power to create whole internal worlds of sound perfectly manufactured to assist in achieving whatever goals had been set out, maybe I would be an elite marathon runner by now. Over the last few months as I have made my first serious foray into the field, I have developed a very strong bond with the songs that take me to and beyond my limits, and a fascination with the relationship between the music and the act itself. When you are pushing towards that next kilometer there is a primal sort of instinct that demands the kind of music that connects you to your deepest self. I have discovered that running music for me consists of the guiltiest of pleasures, the songs that would usually prompt me to hit “private” on a Spotify session, and from the smiling faces and blaring noises I hear coming from my fellow cardiophiles at the gym and on the streets, I am sure I am not alone.
At the core of the music we choose, I think is the meditative state we are trying to achieve through the repetitive motion of pounding our feet into a hard surface. Rather than listen to our favourite tracks we seek out the kind of music that lulls us into a state of nothingness. We could opt for the songs that make us feel a certain emotion or evoke a nostalgic response, but instead we turn to tracks that allows us to fall into stride with our physical selves and silence the mind entirely. For some, that might be heavy rock, or indie remixes, or Latin beats. For me it is the dirtiest, grimiest, loudest EDM and dub step I can find.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJVmu6yttiw]
As someone who has never set foot in a rave or worn a pair of phat pants, this comes as more of a surprise to me than anyone else. I have tried to listen to my favourite tracks instead. I have painstakingly picked the songs with just the right tempo that would usually see me toe tapping under my desk, but it is useless. The repercussions are not only apparent by my lackluster enthusiasm, but also in my results. A 5km time nosedives in full minutes, and while tempo certainly plays a part, there is more to it than that. The feeling of all that pulsing blood and adrenaline has become so synonymous with those deafening bass drops, that those have become some of the happiest moments of my day. Through the act of physical fitness I have become perhaps the biggest Skrillex fan I know, and I am not even a little bit ashamed. We can all find great joy in the fact that running acts as a get out of jail free card for all our guiltiest pleasures.
The author Haruki Murakami penned the nonfiction memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running as a reflection of how the sport has impacted him as an individual and a writer. He began running twenty-two years ago at the age of 33 as a means of warding off the common evils that come with living an artistic life, and to hear him talk about it is inspiring. Personally, he likes to listen to classic rock while running. Some favourites include Creedence Clearwater Revival, Manic Street Preachers and The Beach Boys. Those who don’t run probably read on with a morbid curiosity or an aloof uncaring, but for those who find solace in the pastime there is no more succinct description of how it feels.
“When I am running my mind empties itself,” he says, “Everything I think while running is subordinate to the process. The thoughts that impose themselves on me while running are like light gusts of wind — they appear all of a sudden, disappear again and change nothing.”
And much like the thoughts that pass through our minds, the songs too are like gusts of wind. They blow through on a beat as we push through our own personal barriers, whether it be running from something, to something or just for the sake of the ritual. The songs we choose might not make a lasting impact. We may never revisit them on a bus or while going to sleep or after a break up. They might change nothing. But, in that moment they are just what we need, and that’s got to count for something.
For your running pleasure, you can try our ultimate playlist below.
Twin Peaks and Britney Spears fans don’t often have cause for mutual excitement, but on this very rare and special occasion, both can rejoice in a magical little piece of musical wonder. Internet mashup genius Conrad Tao has gone to the effort to overlay the forlorn Spears ballad Everytime with the eerie original Angelo Badalamenti theme song from the 1990’s cult hit series. And the results are surprisingly wonderful.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnuPYfTQybc]
I don’t know about you, but it’s enough to make me want to get my Audrey Horn sway on.
Fans are already eagerly awaiting the return of the show, ear marked for some time in 2017. Until then, they can revel in this little bit of Lynchian madness with the soft voice of the once pop princess evoking the feelings of dreamscapes, uncertainty and strangeness that furnished the ethereal Twin Peaks universe. While not a likely pairing, the sugary star who rose to fame in her teenage years could easily be stacked beside protagonist Laura Palmer in a commentary on fragility, innocence and the darker side of growing up.
If you haven’t watched the original series, it’s not too late to join the cult, and if you aren’t already in love with the Britney song, this rendition from Harmony Korine’s own surreal masterpiece Spring Breakers should be enough to get you over the line.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD8hbg67u5c&w=560&h=315]
When an artist follows a trajectory like that of Brisbane based Benjamin Forbes, aka BANFF, it is customary to insert comments about their “whirlwind year” or their “dizzying rise to stardom.” It was less than six months ago when we last caught up with Ben, his debut EP Future Self had just dropped and everything was starting to pick up pace like the heavy build of a nightclub anthem around midnight. Support slots for stellar artists were stacking up, not to mention a sold out headlining tour, a set at BigSound, and the EP was receiving the kind of airplay that firmly engrains a release in memories of a season. When I think back to winter, it is unmistakably fused with the lilting melody of Stand In Line, the morose hooks of All Again, the catchy chorus of Anyone Else, and the rich soundscapes of The Great Unknown.
We recently took the time to catch up with Ben again to look back over his journey so far and find out what the future has in store.
“I’m super chuffed to be honest. I didn’t expect the project to do anywhere near as well as it has done,” he says. “Just to have the tour that I did, to have the east coast sell out, was just an amazing moment. And to recognise so many people had heard of the BANFF project and liked it enough to buy a ticket to the show! I’m really looking forward to sharing more music next year, playing more shows and getting around to more fans.”
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And it is already looking like 2016 is going to be another big year, kicking off with an appearance at Falls Festival in Byron Bay over New Years. It was recently announced that the easygoing troubadour scored the Triple J Unearthed spot on the bill, and he is unsurprisingly pretty excited to be appearing alongside a long list of established and notable artists including Fleetwood Mac, Wavves, Bloc Party and Courtney Barnett to name a very few.
“I can’t believe it, I’m stoked,” he tells me. I ask him who he is most excited about seeing and he doesn’t miss a beat before answering. “Kurt Vile… I was really inspired by his records when I was writing my EP so I will probably have a fan boy moment. I will probably lose my shit,” he laughs. There is a definite an element of the Pennsylvanian singer songwriter weaved into Gibbard’s own gentle tapestry. The influences across his sound are vast and continue to grow as he looks forward to new material and that ever contentious second record.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=659pppwniXA]
“It’s really exciting and also a bit daunting, not daunting, difficult to comprehend at the same time. I developed a bit of a sound out of the Future Self record and in many ways I want to continue to nurture that because I feel it encapsulates what BANFF is all about, but to take a step forward or a step outside of that zone is always a bit of an uncomfortable thing for any artist so I think I’ve got to try new things, and trust the fact that when I get into the studio and work with Tom (Iansek) and some of the other guys who are going to play on the record, that everything is going to work out the way it’s meant to, and we’ll have something new to share.”
Productor mastermind and fellow musician Tom Iansek (#1 Dads, Big Scary) made an undeniable mark on the EP, recorded at his Mixed Business studios in Melbourne and it is exciting to hear that the pair will team up again. I ask Ben if he has officially started writing for the project and he sounds excited by what has been put down so far, despite it being extremely fresh.
“Yeah, I sort of began officially writing for my next release yesterday,” he tells me, “I’m working on a lot of stuff and demoing lots of ideas I’ve had since recording the last EP. Hopefully early next year I will be back in the studio and recording with Tom and seeing what comes out of those sessions and how the BANFF sound has evolved.”
While it is still amorphous and emerging, I try to conjure an image of what that evolution looks like so far, and he elaborates as best he can.
“I’m sort of experimenting with a bit more electronic production,” he starts, “But it’s so early in the demo phases, you know. I write on the couch at home, so I am trying to keep the simplicity of that process in tact so that I don’t lose what I feel is the strength in writing for me… In the demo process I am definitely experimenting with different loops and different techniques to see how that goes. Tom exposed me to a lot of that stuff when I was working on Future Self so that’s something I am keen to explore, then jump into the studio and see how we can adapt it to where I want to take the sound.”
I recall that last time we spoke Ben was somehow managing to hold down a day job as well as juggling all the fanfare that comes with a debut release. I find out that that’s still the case, and ask how he possibly fits it all in while maintaining a semblance of sanity.
“Yeah, it’s completely ridiculous,” he laughs, “Last time my answer was something like organised chaos. There’s a lot more on the cards now. I am learning a lot about time management and just making sure when I dedicate my time to what I want to do with music I am making myself really accountable for what I get out of that time. Particularly with the writing stuff, I have created a little space for myself to go into every couple of days where I can hibernate and lock myself away from everything else so I can devote every ounce of my energy to writing my next record. I guess I’ll just work through it. I have learnt a lot and it seems a little bit simpler now to be honest. Hopefully I can focus more on the writing and creative output rather than just the general chaos going on around it.”
There is a real sense of focus and it is a great chat with an artist who has come a long way in a few short months and is revelling in every moment of his creative journey. We look forward to watching from the sidelines as the evolution takes place and his sound continues to morph and take on an array of shapes and textures.
Be sure to grab tickets to Falls Festival here (we have all our fingers crossed for some of that new material).
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Earlier this year, I found my feminist standpoint come to light while sitting cross legged on the floor, sipping whisky, and defending the song Work It by Missy Elliott to a close friend who for all intents and purposes is a liberated and free thinking woman of the modern era. She is fit, unashamedly beautiful and grew up in a house full of strippers.
“The song is catchy, but my feminist ideals find it questionable…” she told me, obviously troubled.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UODX_pYpVxk]
I thought back to a news story I had heard earlier in the week about a woman who had been shamed on social media for her Tinder tagline, which said something along the lines of “I’m the type of girl that will suck you dry and then eat some lunch with you.” I too had pulled out my moral compass to see just which way I faced when it came to such overtly sexual comments coming from a fellow lady. Had we not been taught all our lives that feminism was about reclaiming our bodies from the nasty objectification piled upon us by men? That our minds were our greatest weapons and that sex and sexuality had to be pushed away beneath more important things like the right to vote, equal pay, job equality and independence?
I thought back to my social studies teacher, who on overhearing a boy spit the slang word for female genitalia as an insult, made our whole class stand up and say “cunt” out loud a few times at high volume to remove the stigma and embarrassment that was so commonly associated with the word (for those wondering, she didn’t get fired, but there were repercussions). I thought about this incident, and I listened as Missy put her thing down, flipped it and reversed it.
I explained that a feminist ideology should accept that Missy Elliott sexualising herself or the female body is simply the manner in which she expresses her own feminism. I explained that she has just as much right to feel sexy or sexually objectified or sexually objectify men or do whatever she wants to do, and females judging her or any other female for doing that are really doing just as much damage as males who perpetuate these stereotypes of what a “good girl” should be.
I sat back, a little bit surprised. As someone who was first introduced to feminism by Julia Stiles’ character in 10 Things I Hate About You, had never read The Feminine Mystique or even clicked on a Clem Ford article, I was quite happy that I had reached this point all on my own. It might seem like I was late to the party, but I always just liked to think that I was so liberal that these things came naturally and I didn’t need to pay them too much attention. It was at that moment I realised the strange junction that being a female, especially one in the music business, had reached in 2015. It was cool to be sexy and strong, but be sure to keep it tasteful. It was fine to be successful, but as Nicki Minaj once said, don’t be too assertive. Artists like Grimes, Hinds and Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES spoke out about misogyny in music from both fans and co-workers in the music business. And all these ideals were unraveling and being questioned and it felt very important.
A few months later, arguably the biggest song of the year was released, and I again found myself with compass in hand. Drake’s Hotline Bling‘s antagonist was a female character who had taken a bad turn because she was wearing less, going out more, and was presumably choosing to sleep with people who were not Drake. The song, while incredibly catchy, particularly with its video and subsequent memes, gifs and general Internet domination, offended me on a much deeper level than anything Missy Elliott ever said. At my day job the song came on and a fifteen-year-old female staff member rolled her eyes and said, “I really hate how guys think it’s okay to tell girls they can’t go out and have fun.” I smiled, and was happy that even a generation ahead, I wasn’t alone in my frustrations. “This is why I love Miley Cyrus,” she told me.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxpDa-c-4Mc]
This brings me to the fact that Miley Cyrus might have taught me more about feminism in 2015 than anyone else. We touched on this a little while back, but as someone who was a little old for the Hannah Montana years, and a little jaded about pop music in my late teens and early twenties, the Miley train (or train wreck as some would nastily argue) had almost passed me by completely unnoticed until a few weeks ago. I enjoyed hearing about her unlikely friendship with The Flaming Lips’ front-man Wayne Coyne and watched as her stage antics rolled through news headlines with mild admiration and bemusement at the sheer shock value of it all. Then I came upon her most recent photo shoot with photographer Terry Richardson (whose reputation is a conversation for another time) and found myself sucked deep into an internet void filled with a little bit of support, but a lot more hate than I felt should really be heaped on anyone for being naked on the internet in the current age.
Because CityBoySizzle is an expert on feminism
#bringbackHannah
Be careful what you say about people’s outfits Barb, that blue blazer….
Well, yeah…
Yes, Miley came to fame as a child star. Yes, she’s made no secret of her rebellious break-out, complete with sex, weed and strap-ons. But does that necessarily make her a bad person, and in particular, does it make her a bad influence? Is it really so bad for young people to look up to her? My young staff member is not spending her weekends imitating Miley. She is actually a pretty normal kid who has been exposed to lots of different versions of what women can be if they want to.
I read on and on as the comments flowed on various news pieces. I discovered #prayforMiley and a website that declared that the Illuminati controlled the media and she had in fact been turned into one of their “half naked puppets.” I couldn’t help noticing the frequent mention of NSFW content and found myself thinking, “no, it’s not safe for work, and in light of Michael Norton recently being fired from his job for calling someone a slut on social media, neither is posting abusive content online.”
The shoot itself was done for Candy magazine: an independent limited edition publication that celebrates transversal style culture (it can be seen in full here). The images show the musician in her raw form: underarm hair, tan lines, androgynous in some moments, replicating masculinity in others, and just undeniably being herself. With discussions about pornography front and centre after a very frank televised discussion from Triple J’s Hack this week, I can’t help thinking that this is a refreshing offering at the table of over embellished, unrealistic, sexual fanfare.
When I saw the images, I thought about the widespread applause that Lena Dunham has received for embracing and sharing her body on her show Girls, and about the just-released 2016 Pirelli calendar featuring nude women like Amy Schumer and Serena Williams, a stark contrast to their usual model-filled editions.
https://twitter.com/amyschumer/status/671353092630253569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I found myself wondering why people were so much more confronted by Miley’s pictures. In the words of the artist herself, she says, “They want to judge me. People need more conventional role models, I guess. But I just don’t care to be that person.”
While she may not be the perfect role model or the perfect person or the perfect woman according to the expectations of her onlookers, I realised that Miley had definitely taught me something this year. I saw lots of women in the spotlight in 2015. Some of them were wearing clothes, some of them weren’t. Some of them were skinny, some of them curvy, some of them were natural, and some of them had augmented their bodies in some way. But, all of them were beautiful, and none of them had the responsibility to answer to anyone but themselves.
I learned that feminism has stopped being about being a certain type of woman, and just about being a woman, whoever you are, in all your wonderfully imperfect glory, and it was a great lesson to learn.