Even when it was together it was falling apart. Marshall Allen dropped his arm and the horns landed in unison on command, the dual alto, tenor and baritone saxes, the trombone and two trumpets creating a sound that was at … Continue reading Sun Ra Arkestra – Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne (06/05/2018)
“Good afternoon, the time is 4:30pm, Friday the 21st of December, and this is 3PBS FM commencing regular transmissions on 107.7 megahertz.” With this announcement, broadcast from their studios in the Prince Of Wales Hotel in 1979, presenter John Roberts … Continue reading Interview: PBS FM Announcers on Radio Festival 2018
There was a time not long ago when effects were strictly a studio tool, the result of experimentation by engineers and musicians, such as Les Paul, who began to create echo effects by manipulating reel-to-reel tape. Once guitars became amplified … Continue reading Musicology: A History of the Guitar Effect Pedal, 1941-1977
Over the past year the allegations of sexual abuse against several high profile men working in the American film industry has received enough attention that it’s allowed space for a lot of important discussions in the media. Consequently I’ve been … Continue reading Culpability in Music
“What did you say, you watched Speed, went to bed at seven? I took speed and went to bed at seven.” We’re sitting in a Fitzroy café and Gareth Liddiard is feeling decidedly less rested than Erica Dunn, his bandmate … Continue reading Interview: Tropical Fuck Storm
Dirty Computer is Janelle Monae’s third album and the first to diverge from the storyline that featured on all previous releases, including 2008’s debut EP Metropolis: The Chase Suite. This means that, at least for the sake of presentation, Monae … Continue reading Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer (2018 LP)
Today’s musical landscape would look completely different without the advent of the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), which is now so commonplace that the majority of artists working today would rarely record with anything else. Not only can the development of … Continue reading Musicology: A Brief History of The Digital Audio Workstation
The year was 1996 and hip hop was in a transitional phase. Having found popularity amongst an increasingly diverse fanbase, the genre was encompassing a broader range of sounds and reflecting the varied tastes of its listeners. In the same … Continue reading Interview: Dr. Octagon
Perhaps the most damning criticism I can level at Golden is that I’ve been listening to it intermittently all week and can’t decide how I feel about it because it doesn’t actually make me feel anything. The 14th studio album … Continue reading Kylie Minogue – Golden (2018 LP)
Having evolved naturally out of Erica Dunn’s Palm Springs project, Mod Con’s debut album breathes fresh air into the well-worn familiarity of barebones rock’n’roll. The trio of vocalist and guitarist Dunn, bassist Sara Retallick and drummer Raquel Solier approach each … Continue reading Mod Con – Modern Convenience (2018 LP)
In conversation Kimbra speaks with the sort of neither-here-nor-there accent of someone who has spent her adult life shifting countries. Her sentences are punctuated by phrases that accentuate her Americanisms, often beginning a phrase with ‘It’s like’ and ending with … Continue reading Interview: Kimbra
The aptly named Mostly Sunny does a great job of capturing the jangly, nervous exuberance of Sydney’s Flowertruck. The band have released several of the tracks as singles over the past 12 months, including the excellent ‘Dying To Hear’, which … Continue reading Flowertruck – Mostly Sunny (2018 LP)
