Late Music Thoughts

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Wolverina

Okay so woah is this one late. I have a good reason though! It completely isn’t the Guild Wars 2 phase that is sweeping through my house or the insane amount of noise caused by local infrastructure “improvements” occurring in my area, though those haven’t helped.

I’d discovered and been listening to a lot on 8tracks, and decided it’d be fun to make my own for last week’s posts. Sadly I have no idea how these things work and FINALLY SEVERAL DAYS LATER I finished up a playlist. And then I discover I need a WordPress plugin to properly embed it.

And also discovered I can’t set it to show you the tracks until you’ve listened to them.

So anyway. I wanted to do a set list of the women in Australian music I remember hearing growing up, after a conversation with friends where I couldn’t remember any from the 90s (and not much from the early 00s) in alternative music. After a long, drawn out twitter convo and poking and prodding around my early CDs I came up with a playlist. Just remember that I was 12 in 1998 so while I aimed for alternative, it’s very pop in places.

[8tracks width=”400″ height=”400″ playops=”” url=”http://8tracks.com/mixes/6008804″]

Yeah. That’s a picture of me in 1991.

The original idea was that in about six months I’d do a second extra playlist after going through and researching. But frankly, unless the design of the site improves, it’s unlikely to happen. Because it is that bad, I’ve copied the track list across to here, though annotations are only on 8tracks.

So Rude, Rebecca’s Empire [video]
Down Again, The Superjesus [video]
Don’t You Know Who I Am? Happyland [article]
Dirty Jeans, Magic Dirt [video]
Live Without It, Killing Heidi [live]
Next Time, Marie Wilson
Naughty, Skulker [video]
Goosh, Spiderbait [live]
Have a Look, Vanessa Amorosi [video]
Did It Again, Kylie Minogue [video]
I Go Off, Diana Ah Naid [video]

And for those of you that would just like an embedded youtube clip, have a woman being awesome with a guitar in with sheds, utes, highways and 90s sunnies.

Next fortnight, back to normal. This was much too stressful.

Everything’s Fucked

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Wolverina

This post is being written a little late for my ‘fortnightly’ ideas of writing about a song. I’m just not up for that much, so rather than going for meaningful art-appreciation like I was intending and going nowhere fast with, instead I’ve gone with one that sort of sums up my feelings lately:

Frenzal Rhomb’s Everything’s Fucked.

Obviously it’s a bit explicit and obviously youse all want the full effect so I’ve embedded a live uncensored version. The (slightly, it still has fucked) censored version, the one I have in iTunes is also a track on youTube.

Frenzal Rhomb’s Everything’s Fucked, I have to admit, is one of the most cathartic songs to be screaming along to in the car, and incredibly catchy despite itself. I’m not a huge fan really, but they are a lot of ridiculous fun amongst the childish bullshit and stunts. I have more time for them than I probably should.

Another aussie band, they formed in the early 90s and seem to have mostly just been fucking about ever since, sometimes with more and and other times less success and controversy. They’re hard to ignore, and are sort of the other side to Australian alternative music to the sound in the Happyland song I posted. Simple punk rock screaming with ocker accents, charging in with completely derro attitudes.

I wish the line “Prime Minister’s a racist cunt” could be a little less accurate over a decade on though.

A Music Happyland

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Wolverina

Last post I mentioned shitty riot grrrl videos which is not an entirely fair description of what I have been listening to (as a comment on me, the music or riot grrrl). I primarily listen to music in the car and in the past three months, I’ve driven at least 10 000kms, so the amount of music I listened to skyrocketed. It feels appropriate to try this out as a fortnightly post theme, just a clip from a song I have enjoyed and maybe a bit on why I think it’s important.

Don’t You Know Who I Am? – Happyland

I don’t really need to write much on this one, though I don’t think it got much play outside Australia. The reason to enjoy this song is obvious: its power is in its plainness. An incredibly catchy, upbeat tune with increasingly sarcastic lyrics, it bites into the hopeful celebrity lifestyle and associated meltdowns. Plus the video has super creepy bunnies dancing around all threatening.

For those unfamiliar, it’s pretty much the peak sound of late 90’s Australian music, which follows as it’s part of the project Welcome to Happyland between the vocalist and bassist of Spiderbait, Janet English and Regurgitator’s Quan Yeomans (two of the biggest Australian bands of the 90s). To my (very musically uneducated) ear it sounds exactly like what a cross between those bands should. Regurgitator’s electronic sounds, Janet’s amazing ability to sing sweetly, alternating between dryness and powerful rage without skipping, and the mocking humour disguised in earnest rage common to both.

Simple effective earworm, straight forward themes, it stays fun while poking fun. The hilarious and beautiful demand of pretend you know who we are.

It’s a good song.