Phoenix Love Like Sunset

1.

Back in my music studying days, me and my Marimba friends (my marimba friends and I) were playing a piece of music called 6 Marimbas by Steve Reich.
25 minutes of mallet percussion minimalism, the piece consisted of 6 fast interlocking patterns that played together (on... wait for it... 6 marimbas) for 15 minutes without a single change, until finally, after increasing tension we'd all change 1 single note. although the change was tiny, the release of tension was incredible, 1 note out of 15 minutes!!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THAT IS?

Let me tell you. F*ckin hard... !

It requires some serious freakin concentration. We invariably f*cked it up the unison change to a different key and the 15 minutes of increasing tension that we'd worked so hard to build would dissipate like the soft on I got from Sasha Barren Cohen giving me a T-Bag.

Steve Reich's music can build tension through repetition, making you increasingly uneasy...
or, it can be calming and intricate... soothing as bro.

Like this one. He wrote some corkers... I love this. Listen to how cleverly it evolves... It grooves hard but it calms as well. Beautiful. I think it's the stuff that dreams are made out of.



2.

When I was a young child my parents packed my sister and myself into a rented BMW and we spent 4 weeks driving through Italy, France and Austria.

Driving through France along the autobahn/freeway/racecourse we drove through dozens of tunnels every day.

photo by fgfathome on flickr

Everytime we entered a gaping black hole cut into the side of a mountain we'd trade the fresh alpine air, dark green forests and crisp blue skys for a world of pulsing of florescent pools of light and flashing headlights.
Some of the tunnels were 10-20 kilometres long. It was easy to forget where you were while traveling through them. You have no sense of distance, where you came from or where you are going... On the other side of the tunnel you were often greeted with a vastly different landscape from the one you left behind.

3.

Listening to triple j (even though I've now officially grown out of it) last Sunday night, they featured an interview with Phoenix.

Thomas Mars (the singer of phoenix) was telling Zan Rowe that the inspiration for this instrumental song came from the rhythm of tunnels that he drove through, driving from Versailles to Paris.... The pools of light, the passing cars, lines on the road, repetition etc. it took me back to my trip as soon as he said it.

He also said he was listening to Steve Reich at the time. The combination of the tunnels and mesmerizing minimalism inspired him to write these songs.



Rad hey? Very interesting... Its nice to hear inspiration like that. Quite filmic. Their version of minimalism is cool, although I think Phoenix could have been a little more ambitious. I would have lost my sh*t if they'd stretched the opening out for another 5-10 minutes before changing to the accoustic guitar and then beat.

Part two is really pretty, a nice contrast to the first part... with words n' stuff.

There ya go....

I've just been told i'm too old for Triple J

I feel like I did when I first read The Alchemist by Paul Coelho. Someone has just told me something that I knew in my heart all along. But they put it so succinctly that it's like turning on a lightbulb in my head. It could change my life.

Remember back in my first blog post? (it got 150 gazillion internet hits so i'd suprised if you hadn't! read it now if ya want.)

It was about how sh*t Australian Hip Hop is and how Triple J lost the plot. (and how many other people also think they've lost the plot).
Check out the facebook group dedicated to bringing down Triple J if you need reminding...

Well, here's a really succinct, insightful response to my increasing frustration with the station on the blog called "parables for wooden ears"
If you feel a little alienated by triple j these day's then I think you should read it...

This article was sent to me by a mysterious friend who's alias is "brew" He sends me heaps of links all day, it's good to have link sending friends. He also made the raddest comment on this blog.

"adios"

So... Triple J doesn't suck. The station isn't crap.
It doesn't even have to lick my balls!

In fact it can just keep on doing what it does best. Playing music for teenage kids who like electro, hip hop, rock and indie.

The problem is with me, and maybe you. It's with us, not the station.

It's because I'm getting old. I'm out of the loop. I'm not the target demographic. I've outgrown it. Triple J is for 13 to 25 year olds dammit!
It's built to ween kids off Nova, Fox and Triple M.
But it wont take you into serious niche territory as your music tastes become refined.

I'm at peace with this. I can listen to Vega, 3AW, Gold 104, Magic 693, SEN Sports and other far more adult stations now.

I can let triple J go... and it'll give me freedom, my life will change for the better.
In the same way reading The Alchemist made me quit psychology, change uni's, dump an ex ex ex ex girlfriend and start diggin life heaps more.

This is a big moment for me, but it's been a long time coming.
I'll look back fondly, but I won't miss you triple j.
I'll tune in and vote for the hottest 100 though.

Mango Pickle Down River

I was listening to MIA (daughter of a terrorist/freedomfighter... with questionable politics... watch this video for something heavy... it's a can of worms that I'm not going to get into. It's pretty graphic... definately MA15+...).

I thought her first album (Arular) was overrated... but I'm only just getting into Kala (the second one), I think it's brilliant... It's been out for, like, 2 years now, I'm hip.

Its got some mad tracks... party bangers galore, tasty beatz etc.
But among the hits is this understated, low fi sample of a disgeridoo and rhythm sticks

Mango Pickle Down River is an almost completely untreated version of the song Down River, which originally released by a 4 Aboriginal kids (aged 8 to 12) from Wilcannia. They were called The Walcannia Mob.
It came in at number 16 in Triple J's hottest 100 in 2002... I don't remember it (but my housemate Pineboy does).

The treatment of the music is so subtle that it could be a field recording. I've never heard the didgeridoo sound so right in a popular music style. Normally the Didge in rock, or sampled in dance or hip hop just SHITS me.

Here's a list of didge players that shit me...

1. Xavier Rudd. Australia's answer to Jack Johnson... music to fall asleep at the wheel to. And he plays 5 different didgeridoos... and a guitar... and some drums... and a djembe... jack of all trades, master of__________?
   
2. Cockatoo Pete - Have you ever been to Byron Bay? Have you ever stayed at the arts factory? Ever done the bushtucker tour with Cockatoo Pete? Need I say more?
3. The raver trance didge player on Bourke Street Mall that drones away with a hard progressive beatz in the background... very loud... not cool.
   

Sorry, I don't mean to get all Robert Doyle on you (idiot mayor of Melbourne).

Anyway, now for the music

Kudos to MIA. She found this slice of wonderfully innocent Aboriginal life (we don't always get to see that side of it) and gave it a worldwide audience. I think MIA's treatment of the music and lyrics is sensitive and clever. Sounds like she had fun doing her verses.

I get the same feeling from a series photos taken by an Australian artist Belinda Mason. This is one that one a human rights and equal opportunities commission award for best photo in 2008.

It's got the same vibe of valuing the simple life... although in this case, it's simple comparison between aboriginal life in the northern territory and white life in the city.

I think its a beautiful photo. (click to enlarge)

IS AUSTRALIAN HIP HOP SHIT?

I got sent a link to a Facebook group a couple of months ago, i know this is old news for a lot of people... sorry!

Split JJJ into Two Competing Stations

2 JJJ's would allow you to change the channel to another version of the station if you’re sick of the same old boring songs. Coz, let's face it, the playlist is shit. They site the BBC as a good model to copy because there’s a whole bunch of BBC’s.

Just ask Austin...




But the BBC analogy isn’t very thought out. Actually, it’s shithouse. We’ve got the BBC model anyway. ABC 1 (ABC local radio, 774 in Melbs), ABC 2 (Radio National), ABC3 (Classic FM), ABC 4 (Triple J).

(side note) It makes me feel good that people are disgruntled with the J’s! I thought it was just something that musicians and music industry people bitched about. Its good to see that punters are getting tired of the playlists, the programming, and the default power of the music department when it comes to making or breaking a band.

Anyway. Check out this compilation of comments from the facebook group
It's amazing how this debate about triple J's playlist has turned into a bitchfest about Ozzie Hip Hop. (i made the quotes colourful in case you're getting bored of my writing style)

"jjj so rarely plays anything worth hearing, unless you're into aussie hip hop... blagh, get me a bucket. "

"what the hell is with all the aussie hip hop? If listening to that crap all day makes you feel like a wanna be gangster go try act tough you meth addicted wiggers somewhere down town Bronx and see how long you last"

" I agree, lets split the station up so hip hoppers can listen to hip hop and rock and rollers can listen to rock and roll."

" I don't mind hip-hop in general, but the aussie rubbish they constantly play makes me want to turn off the radio. It's so vapid and obnoxious."

"THERE IS WAY TO MUCH OF IT. How can you ask people not to talk about this subject when it is oviously the largest prick in the ears of listerners."

"Every time I flick across to JJJ there seems to be a nasty whiff of Oz Hip-hop being played and I honestly can't tell one group/MC from the other."

"Instead thy starting play Aussie Hip Hop!!! I grew up on JJJ, the J-files, 3 Hours of Power, Tunnie, Mikey & Helen! Now i am ashamed and bored when i listen JJJ"

I’m not gonna play the blame game here. IN fact I’m not gonna mention any names… but 360, Pez, True Live, Bliss N Esso, Muph & Plutonic or almost every one signed to obese… you’re to blame. Use some imagination dammit! I’m sick to simplistic choruses (chori: plural?) gimmicks and slow, aggressive, monotonous rhyming.


So you, at home and you at triple j... play some cool hip hop, show some taste and don’t ever play the festival song again. Ever. Never again. Ever. Or Jimmy Recard… ever.


I'm gonna give some examples of great ozzie hip hop. Nothing underground or wanky. Just stuff I reckon is good for you, good for me and good for our sunburnt country.

Starting here... tomorrow...