Yup, it's the arse-end of the decade meaning that music-peddlers are going Top-Ten crazy. Every man and his blog feels it his/her responsibility to set down for all to see, the absolute and unequivocal list of musical moments that defined the decade. Pitchfork got a cheeky head-start by announcing back in July their Top 500 Songs of the Noughties - though it's disappointing they didn't drill down further to the top 1000 choruses or top 5000 chords. Other blogs have since started following suit, all happily spruiking their own tastes (though perhaps none so much as this one). Those silly enough to allow comments get blasted for not including some lo-fi band that was a phenomenon in some exclusive suburb of New York, while others get rubbished for daring to put a non-Radiohead album at number one.
We've been quiet over the past month here on thebridgeblog, but you bet we've been busy behind the scenes putting together our own little retrospective list: The FBi music library was raided, albums were re-visited, a huge list of nominees was constructed, arguments were had, friendships were won and lost and votes were tallied. Here we are presenting our take on the best music that Sydney had to offer over this last decade. Pretences of godly authority aside, it's a list that will hopefully bring back some great memories for anyone who so much as dipped a limb into Sydney at some point over the last ten years. More importantly though, it's a list that Radiohead wont win.
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20. Belles Will Ring - Mood Patterns (2007)
Is it the cleaner air, the peaceful ambience or the proximity to the sugarhigh-inducing Leura candy store??? Who knows, but something happened in the mid-noughties which saw an explosion of amazing indie musos and bands pour out of the Blue Mountains: Cloud Control, Sister Jane, We Say Bamboulee, The Maple Trail and of course their close relatives Belles Will Ring. Mood Patterns was the debut release from Belles and typifies the musical endeavour of the region. Like the bands name would suggest, their music is spiritual an beautiful. Recorded and produced in singer Liam Judson’s lounge room in the Blue Mountains the record features sweet stand–out songs that leave you satisfied but craving more. Like The Coldest Heart, with it’s rustic guitar twang and jangling tambourine not to mention the collectively velvety harmonies which unite to produce a pretty damn cool song. Their music is reminiscent of the 60s, 70s, flares, hippies, peace signs and free love and each song has a melancholic quality that drags you back in time. Mad Love is another solid track, not at all heavy or over bearing in instrumentation, in fact it is a soft and catchy pop song with a perfect melody hidden underneath the saturated vocals, guitar and drum beats. Mood Patterns is a fresh and subtle album that allows you to listen over and over again. --- SK links:
19. Chasm - Beyond The Beat Tape (2008)
This album boasts a who's who of Syndey verse spitters: The Tongue, Pegz, Muph, Dialectrix, Jewson and Tuka (Thundamentals), Urth Boy, Ozi Batla, Juanita Tippens and Hau (Koolism), and Vida Sunshyne. Now when you're faced with a list of artists of that calibre, it becomes clear that A) Sydney MCs are in dire need of some remedial spelling, and B) Chasm must be pretty well revered amongst the cream of the crop. Listening to Beyond The Beat Tape, it becomes clear why. Yeah he's got beatmaking skills, but importantly he's also got a knack of marrying the beat to the vocalist. Despite the long list of vocal contributors, you get the feeling they've each been selected purposefully. Compare the two boy/girl jams on the album: for the poignant The Niceness he's used the engaging and precise wordslinger Ozi Batla with Vida Sunshyne, whereas the upbeat Juanita and Hau sit perfectly in the party-time anthem Dreamcatcher. Switch the vocalists around, and neither track would fly. This is one of those filler-free albums you can let loose when it's your turn to guest DJ your mate's house-party. Just start it at track one and get back to your pimms and lemonade. ---JZ18. Rand And Holland - Caravans (2007)
Philosophers have often remarked that music is the most sensual art form. If I were to convince a court of the validity of this statement then I would place Rand and Holland's 2007 release 'Caravans' at the heart of my argument. Featuring Brett Thompson in collaboration with a long list of local and Australian musicians such as Ned Collette, The Holy Soul and Coda, the second album delves into an aural landscape of organic, intimate, pastoral delicacy; a sadly overlooked mode with the 'electro' saturation of the Sydney music scene. Baroque, pop-folk never sounded so effortlessly engaging as Thompson beguiles and caresses us with his earnest and smoky vocal inflexions. On the opening track The Light (included below), Thompson utters 'The light is shining on me,' as he expresses an optimism tinged with the weariness of past experience and failure. The title track shimmers with a detached otherwordly solemnity while the 'smash hit', 'Night is Only Young' is trademark Rand and Holland with the gentle acoustic strummings, subtle violins and oddly unmelodramatic horn section. A gem of a record, Caravans evokes the aural imagination with precise delicacy and honesty that has been lacking over the past decade in the Sydney sonic landscape. --- LL links:
17. Bridezilla - The First Dance (2009)
The First Dance, Bridezilla’s much anticipated debut record is a soft understated release oozing passion and intelligence. The band formed in 2005 while still in high school, and play a beautiful and entrancing live show. The delightfully gentle croon of Holiday Sidewinder is dream-like and intense on each track, co-existing with the graceful strings to create delicate bite-size pop melodies. Stand out tracks are ‘Soft Porn’, with its haunting vocal coos, up-tempo violin, discreet percussion and a saxophone cameo, this is one of the longer songs on the album and is not too structured or predictable, in fact no song on the album is. ‘Tailback’ is another highlight, clocking in at a short and sweet 2:20, it begins with a simple guitar riff which is catchy and allows you to hum along after one or two listens. ‘Beaches’ features one of Bridezilla’s signature violin arrangements alongside seductive and eerie reverb filled vocals. Not your typical pop album, but a refreshing and invigorating release that pays tribute to a hugely talented group of young musicians. Check it out! --- SKmp3: Bridezilla - Beaches
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16. Purdy - Fairytale Insurance (2004)
I remember reading somewhere beloved Japanese artist Cornelius being heralded as a musician who's instrument of choice is the studio itself. Likewise, while Kevin Purdy's instrumental skill is formidable (being a maxi-multi-giga-instrumentalist), it's his use of the production studio that really amazes. This album should be mandatory listening for anyone studying Music for Film. Even the most background of ambiences have been paid a supreme attention to detail. The melodies are simple, but they're accompanied by such a lush orchestration that you would be doing yourself a massive disservice by listening to this through iPod headphones at 128kbps - I've ripped the track below at the reasonably adequate rate of 320kbps. It's his second solo album (the third of which is due out any day now) but Purdy himself has co-piloted many other musical endeavors, such as the highly respected Tooth. While he has flip-flopped between Sydney and Melbourne during his career as a musician, he grew up and cut his musical teeth in Sydney, and i'm also lead to believe that this album was 100% conceived and created in Sydneytown. So there. --- JZlinks:
myspace
Ever since radio started broadcasting music, there's been a pressure on musicians to make their tracks short, punchy and to adhere to particular song structures. To say that The Necks' music isn't intended for radio is the understatement of the new millenium. In their twenty years together, the trio have gained an international reputation for their awe-inspiring live shows which would typically feature songs ranging up to an hour long - and their recorded material certainly doesn't back down from this aesthetic. As a child of instant musical gratification it was only on the third or fourth listen that I grappled with the power of The Necks. You have to listen to a Necks album differently to any other album you might lob into your Discman. You can't just fit in a Necks track while you're deciding on which shade of fluoro hotpants to wear out with your throw-back 'Life Be In It' singlet. Their music is almost meditative, and demands that you set aside time to properly absorb it. As difficult as that might be to adjust to (as it was for me), the payoff is huge. The three tracks on Chemist showcase the emotional capabilities of the band. The first track Fatal is a foreboding landscape; dark and unrelenting. In contrast, the final track Abillera, with it's playful abandon of any time signature and reverberant major scales is a joyous flight of fancy. Buoyant sits somewhere in between, exuding a kind of innocent curiosity. You can lose yourself in the Necks' music, and it's not just the length of the songs that make it happen. --- JZ
Hermitude are another celebrated Blue Mountains artist (see Belles Will Ring above), but unlike the current swarm of pimply Mountain youngsters making huge waves in Sydney proper, they've been around the block a decent number of years. In that time, they've had three full length releases, toured internationally repeatedly, and traded beats and chops with many-an-artist (The Herd, Gauche, Paul Mac, The Tango Saloon... to name a few). Each of their albums has thrown something diffierent into mix, but it's this, the duo's debut that best sums up their ethos. They're beatsmiths intending their tunes for the picturesque countryside rather than a sweaty urban setting. Sure there are killer breaks and deep bass to keep inner-city revellers happy, but it's the extra dash of reverb and acoustic instrumentation (read: classical guitars, sitars and weeping trumpets) that keeps their sound relaxed. The title track features Ozi Batla, Urthboy and Joelistix (TZU) and lays out lyrically where this production team hails from, but it's the subtle beauty of tracks like Splendid Isolation (included below) and Cave Styles that rams it home: You can take the band out of Blackheath, but you can't take Blackheath out of the band. --- JZ
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myspace | facebook
Figureheads of the vibrant DIY-warehouse scene in inner-city Sydney, the duo's (now four-piece) record neatly encapsulates the latent discontent and disillusionment held within the city's artistic circles. Utilising ramshackled bass guitars, organs and on occasions psychotic drum machines, the group's collection of tunes straddles a blurred space between dissonant, minimalist no-wave such as in 'The Horse, He's Sick' and the apocalyptic-psych pop trance of 'All Aboard' and 'Lonely Boys.' Blood Pressure Sessions neatly exudes the haunting spectre of decaying industrial sites which are littered throughout the inner-city milieu, as Lucy Cliche and Matthew P Hopkins propel songs shrouded in sweet reverb and distortion, whilst the abstract and existential lyrics penetrate our consciousness with enigmatic ease. Eclectic in its exploration of sound, the record also taps into cinematic, psychaeelic textures with the six-minute droney minimalism of 'Brown Sun/Sydney Lane' suffusing the listener with a suffocating ambience, tempered by stark trumpet gushes and accordion flourishes. Ceaselessly inventive and discordantly harmonious, the record gestures to the creative potential of the DIY-music scene in Sydney, increasingly significant with the decline in music venues and artistic spaces (e.g Hopetoun Hotel, Dirty Shirlows, Lanfranchis) in this city over the past decade. --- LL
A few American shows, a cheeky support slot gained for Death Cab For Cutie's US tour, a CD passed on to Chris Walla - the producer of the O.C... and the rest is history. Youth Group are a band of two halves. The first is of a solid foursome trying to get a foot in the door. The second half is of a band swimming in international success trying to convince the world that they've got more to offer than other people's music. The depth of Casino Twilight Dogs (the album hosting the infamous cover of Forever Young) would have assured people of that, but the real tragedy is that their first two albums might slip completely under the radar of the fickle American TV watching populus. Both Urban And Eastern and Skeleton Jar are phenomenal records. From the radio-friendly Happiness' Border to the 7 minute sagas that bookend the album, Urban is a band that is feeling out for the right tempo and song structure, but stumbling across some bloody amazing numbers along the way. By Skeleton they've got it down to an art. It's an album that starts with the ever pervading Shadowland (included below), then would have definitely given Ivy League some headaches in selecting a second single from the other ten viable contenders. I've got nothing against Forever Young, it's a beautiful renovation of a cheesy classic, but it would be considered a duller patch amongst the songs in either of these albums. We couldn't split them, so they're both here. --- JZ
Bursting onto the world stage in 2002, The Vines, a four-piece led by the inimitable Craig Nicholls, swept the music world by storm in particular disaffected 13 year old boys and girls (oh the memories!). Hailing from suburban Sydney, they released their debut album 'Highly Evolved' to great acclaim. Evincing the intoxicating charm of infectious punk flavoured pop tunes which inspired many a teenager to rock out in their bedrooms (yep I was one of them), the record is lead by the hit singles of ‘Get Free’ and ‘Outtatheway!’ Delightful poppy scuzz-bombs marked by the uninhibited yelps and howls of a singer who really couldn’t sing or play guitar - but frankly did not care - the songs would be played all over the world on steroes turned up to 10. On the LP, misty psychedelic ballads and lullabies are also presents such as the mystical ‘Mary Jane’ which revel in melancholic lustre, revealing a dreamy and introspective persona. No doubt, the record possesses boundless energy and a carefree attitude, but there is an overlooked inner pathos to the album. Though their career may never quite fulfill the hype that surrounded them at their infacy, the debut LP stands as a thrilling beacon of Sydney rock music at its catchiest and most FUN. 'She never loved me! She never loved me! Why should anyone??' Just get her to listen to 'Highly Evolved', Craig, you'll be throwing off her knickers in no time. --- LL
15. The Necks - Chemist (2006)
Ever since radio started broadcasting music, there's been a pressure on musicians to make their tracks short, punchy and to adhere to particular song structures. To say that The Necks' music isn't intended for radio is the understatement of the new millenium. In their twenty years together, the trio have gained an international reputation for their awe-inspiring live shows which would typically feature songs ranging up to an hour long - and their recorded material certainly doesn't back down from this aesthetic. As a child of instant musical gratification it was only on the third or fourth listen that I grappled with the power of The Necks. You have to listen to a Necks album differently to any other album you might lob into your Discman. You can't just fit in a Necks track while you're deciding on which shade of fluoro hotpants to wear out with your throw-back 'Life Be In It' singlet. Their music is almost meditative, and demands that you set aside time to properly absorb it. As difficult as that might be to adjust to (as it was for me), the payoff is huge. The three tracks on Chemist showcase the emotional capabilities of the band. The first track Fatal is a foreboding landscape; dark and unrelenting. In contrast, the final track Abillera, with it's playful abandon of any time signature and reverberant major scales is a joyous flight of fancy. Buoyant sits somewhere in between, exuding a kind of innocent curiosity. You can lose yourself in the Necks' music, and it's not just the length of the songs that make it happen. --- JZ14. Hermitude - Alleys To Valleys (2003)
Hermitude are another celebrated Blue Mountains artist (see Belles Will Ring above), but unlike the current swarm of pimply Mountain youngsters making huge waves in Sydney proper, they've been around the block a decent number of years. In that time, they've had three full length releases, toured internationally repeatedly, and traded beats and chops with many-an-artist (The Herd, Gauche, Paul Mac, The Tango Saloon... to name a few). Each of their albums has thrown something diffierent into mix, but it's this, the duo's debut that best sums up their ethos. They're beatsmiths intending their tunes for the picturesque countryside rather than a sweaty urban setting. Sure there are killer breaks and deep bass to keep inner-city revellers happy, but it's the extra dash of reverb and acoustic instrumentation (read: classical guitars, sitars and weeping trumpets) that keeps their sound relaxed. The title track features Ozi Batla, Urthboy and Joelistix (TZU) and lays out lyrically where this production team hails from, but it's the subtle beauty of tracks like Splendid Isolation (included below) and Cave Styles that rams it home: You can take the band out of Blackheath, but you can't take Blackheath out of the band. --- JZmyspace | facebook
13. Naked On The Vague - Blood Pressure Sessions (2007)
Figureheads of the vibrant DIY-warehouse scene in inner-city Sydney, the duo's (now four-piece) record neatly encapsulates the latent discontent and disillusionment held within the city's artistic circles. Utilising ramshackled bass guitars, organs and on occasions psychotic drum machines, the group's collection of tunes straddles a blurred space between dissonant, minimalist no-wave such as in 'The Horse, He's Sick' and the apocalyptic-psych pop trance of 'All Aboard' and 'Lonely Boys.' Blood Pressure Sessions neatly exudes the haunting spectre of decaying industrial sites which are littered throughout the inner-city milieu, as Lucy Cliche and Matthew P Hopkins propel songs shrouded in sweet reverb and distortion, whilst the abstract and existential lyrics penetrate our consciousness with enigmatic ease. Eclectic in its exploration of sound, the record also taps into cinematic, psychaeelic textures with the six-minute droney minimalism of 'Brown Sun/Sydney Lane' suffusing the listener with a suffocating ambience, tempered by stark trumpet gushes and accordion flourishes. Ceaselessly inventive and discordantly harmonious, the record gestures to the creative potential of the DIY-music scene in Sydney, increasingly significant with the decline in music venues and artistic spaces (e.g Hopetoun Hotel, Dirty Shirlows, Lanfranchis) in this city over the past decade. --- LL12. Youth Group - Urban And Eastern (2001) and Skeleton Jar (2004)
A few American shows, a cheeky support slot gained for Death Cab For Cutie's US tour, a CD passed on to Chris Walla - the producer of the O.C... and the rest is history. Youth Group are a band of two halves. The first is of a solid foursome trying to get a foot in the door. The second half is of a band swimming in international success trying to convince the world that they've got more to offer than other people's music. The depth of Casino Twilight Dogs (the album hosting the infamous cover of Forever Young) would have assured people of that, but the real tragedy is that their first two albums might slip completely under the radar of the fickle American TV watching populus. Both Urban And Eastern and Skeleton Jar are phenomenal records. From the radio-friendly Happiness' Border to the 7 minute sagas that bookend the album, Urban is a band that is feeling out for the right tempo and song structure, but stumbling across some bloody amazing numbers along the way. By Skeleton they've got it down to an art. It's an album that starts with the ever pervading Shadowland (included below), then would have definitely given Ivy League some headaches in selecting a second single from the other ten viable contenders. I've got nothing against Forever Young, it's a beautiful renovation of a cheesy classic, but it would be considered a duller patch amongst the songs in either of these albums. We couldn't split them, so they're both here. --- JZlinks:
11. The Vines - Highly Evolved (2002)
Bursting onto the world stage in 2002, The Vines, a four-piece led by the inimitable Craig Nicholls, swept the music world by storm in particular disaffected 13 year old boys and girls (oh the memories!). Hailing from suburban Sydney, they released their debut album 'Highly Evolved' to great acclaim. Evincing the intoxicating charm of infectious punk flavoured pop tunes which inspired many a teenager to rock out in their bedrooms (yep I was one of them), the record is lead by the hit singles of ‘Get Free’ and ‘Outtatheway!’ Delightful poppy scuzz-bombs marked by the uninhibited yelps and howls of a singer who really couldn’t sing or play guitar - but frankly did not care - the songs would be played all over the world on steroes turned up to 10. On the LP, misty psychedelic ballads and lullabies are also presents such as the mystical ‘Mary Jane’ which revel in melancholic lustre, revealing a dreamy and introspective persona. No doubt, the record possesses boundless energy and a carefree attitude, but there is an overlooked inner pathos to the album. Though their career may never quite fulfill the hype that surrounded them at their infacy, the debut LP stands as a thrilling beacon of Sydney rock music at its catchiest and most FUN. 'She never loved me! She never loved me! Why should anyone??' Just get her to listen to 'Highly Evolved', Craig, you'll be throwing off her knickers in no time. --- LLlinks:
10. Spod - Taste The Radness (2003)
A 10,000 person party on a space-station where everyone is dressed as superheroes and having group sex. That's Taste The Radness. Spod is insane, but it's the level of conviction behind the man himself that really sells it. You know he'd be the first person to his underpants if the space station party actually happened. This album is absolutely one of a kind. Dance loops, overdriven guitars, hip-hop lyrics that could would give even the filthiest rappers (except perhaps Natialie Portman) a run for their money. From the album opener 'Lets Dance!!' Spod tells you to 'Get Your F**k On', and he pretty much expects you to keep it on the rest of the album. If your grandparents disapproved of your parents listening to the Stones, they'd have a flat out aneurysm if they found out you were listening to this - 'She said NO CHANCE, you've got no class! Within ten minutes i had it in her ***'..... innuendo was so 90s. ---JZmp3: Spod - Totally Rad
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9. Seekae - The Sound Of Trees Falling On People (2008)
I really want to hate Seekae. I'd like to think it's taken me most of my 26 years to properly appreciate the intricacies of music as an artform (and still I've got much to go), but then here's a bunch of just-out-of-schoolers who have nigh-on mastered the art of electronica. Unfortunately for me, I was first thrust their album without any knowledge of the people behind the music, and it was only in eager subsequent research that my fears were realised. They might be youngsters, but the album smacks of musical maturity. You can tell they've spent tera-hours perfecting the minutiae of glitch, sampling and low frequency oscillators. It's a tad long (at 73 minutes) but that said there is amazing stuff hiding in the nooks of this LP, such as the reverberant crescendo at the end of the nine minute John Duncan. They've already gained immense respect here in Sydney and Australia generally (winning the Best Live Act award at this year's SMACS), but it's only a matter of time until they bubble out into all manner of international scenes. ---JZmp3: Seekae - Crooks
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8. The Presets - Beams (2005)
There was a raucous buzz when the first Presets EPs dropped in 2004. People knew that something pretty special was about to tear the dance scene a new one. If the blogosphere was as hyperactive back then as it is now, then tracks like Cookie and Kitty in The Middle would have caused ISPs some serious bandwidth issues. Beams, their first LP, was released in May of 2005 and set Kim and Julian off touring it for the next three years. It’s not a perfect album by any means; there’s certainly one or two deadweights among the 12 tracks. But this is pretty easily overlooked when you blast tracks like Are You The One?, I Go Hard I Go Home and Down, Down, Down at full volume. Anyone partaking in any music festival from mid 2005 to the end of 2007 will have Steamworks permanently grafted onto their brains. Their 2009 follow-up Apocalypso might be shinier and will undoubtedly sell trillions of units (even in such arcane formats as the Compact Disc), but it's all a little bit too compressed and predictable. It doesn’t match the excitement stirred-up by Beams. ---JZlinks:
7. Decoder Ring - Decoder Ring (2002)
There's something beautiful about the first track of a band's first LP. Think of Arcade Fire's Neighbourhood #1, or even the aforementioned Mr. Nicholls' Highly Evloved. They're almost like a quick introduction to the musical career that will follow. 'Welcome Shoppers' - with its hypnotic rhythm, dischordant bass line and epic finish - is the perfect prelude for band that would soon be hypnotising audiences with their expansive sound and musical imagery. It's not all huge and grandiose on the album though; there are also some beautifully understated moments like the free-flowing and aptly named 'Mysterious Liquid'. You can tell they're a band that knows when to hold back and when to let loose. 'Kunji' sees them toying between these two states as huge reverberant grand pianos give way to upfront and gritty guitars, just to find their way back again. The decision to use Decoder Ring to score the award-upon-award-winning 2004 movie Somersault was a good one, but ultimately a pretty obvious one to anyone who had given their debut album a listen. ---JZlinks:
6. Gerling - When Young Terrorists Chase The Sun (2001)
When the controversially named album was released in late 2001, just months after September 11, Sydney lads Darren, Burke and Presser exposed themselves to a smorgesboard of criticism, both good and bad. Following on from ‘Children of Telepathic Experiences’, a frantic guitar driven, raw and unbridled punk-rock offering with hints of electronic sampling, Terrorists (re-named ‘Head2cleaner’ for the overseas market) was not too far removed from what their audience and fans had come to know from them. Cameos by Josh Abrahams, Fourtet, Kylie Minougue and Kool Keith to name a few, helped shape the album into a unique one-off piece. The album features hip-hop, house, french disco, rock, downbeat ambient and electronic. Tracks such as ‘Phazer Kidz in the windy City’, 'Serpentheadz' and 'Summer Lake Rewind' are chilled and dreamy- a stark contrast to ‘Dust Me Selecta’. Dust features the sweet vocals of Inga Liljestrom and became a pop house classic in an instant despite being an initial shock to Gerling Fans. High Jackers Manual, Fight Revolution Team and Deka all have strong and fast guitar driven melodies with Darren’s signature nasal screaming vocals. G House Project, featuring the distorted vocals of Kylie Minogue is a progressive French house number perfect for the dance floor while Birdbaths is the cute and pretty track that girls love with sweet vocals about sisters and swimming pools. This is an album that covers all genres and was ahead of its time in production and experimentation. A bold record that paid off for risks taken. ---SKmp3: Gerling -Birdbaths
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5. Sarah Blasko - Overture And The Underscore (2004)
Sarah Blasko is the queen of Australian poetic lyricism. ‘The Overture and The Underscore’ Blasko’s debut long player released in 2004 is a truly honest and stripped back album. Blasko’s raw and classic voice is not butchered with effects and her lyrics are intimate, sincere and subtle, not revealing too much of her heart or life. The instrumentation and composition of each song has been well thought out and the production is of an extremely high quality. The first album for Blasko and she go it so right first time round. For the first time listener you could be forgiven for thinking Blasko had released many more previous albums due to the confidence of ‘The Overture and the Underscore’. There is no singular stand out track, each song holds its own. Have a listen for yourself you won’t be disappointed. ---SKlinks:
4. Bluebottle Kiss - Revenge Is Slow (2002)
There's an honesty to Bluebottle Kiss that goes pretty much unparalleled in Sydney (save for perhaps mostly-Sydneysider Darren Hanlon). Maybe it's lines like "hit your mum for a loan, 'cause we're all in dire need" or maybe it's the distinct refusal to use any pitch correction on Jamie Hutchings delicate - and occasionally drifting - vocals. In that way this album is no different to any other BBK album. What makes this album special is the thought that has gone into individualising every single song. There's the drumless acoustic introduction to the album Father's Hands, then the blistering Last Cinema (included below) that would traditionally floor audiences at the beginning of their live shows, the eerie waltz of Hello Stranger, the destructive shock at the end of Prussian Blue and possibly the most addictive guitar riff of the decade in Hasten The Blows. This album is full of amazing songs, but they don't sound like twelve bites at the same cherry. ---JZlinks:
3. Dappled Cities - Granddance (2006)
Stalwarts of the thriving local indie rock scene, the five-piece Dappled Cities initially wowed listeners with the oddly formed grandiose, ebullient pop sounds conveyed on their debut album 'A Smile' (2003). Established firmly in the hearts of many an indie kid, the group then dropped their second record, a joyous collection of thrilling and well-crafted songs in the mould of The Flaming Lips and Granddaddy. What truly stands out about this record and why it sits so highly in this list is how deeply the melodies and lyrics seep into the listener's consciousness. I've probably spun this album close to a hundred times over the past three years from start to finish so my head is aswamped with one-liners, bass-lines and drumbeats from the album. The record demands to hummed, whistled and shimmied awkwardly/niftly to. Standout tracks include the opener 'Holy Chord' a live-favourite which gradually builds to the triumphant close as co-vocalist, Tim Derricourt displays his trademark falsetto and knack of turning stream-of-consciousness styled gibberish into something terribly profound - 'The heat, the caw, the chain, the battery thinking chain ' somehow becomes a pertinent line.The quasi-mystical, mid-tempo 'Fire Fire Fire' is propelled by tribalesque drumbeats as Dave Rennick delivers abstract words in state of a contemplative restraint that belies the ludicrously catchy harmonies. But its 'Vision Bell' which truly stands out, as Tim Derricourt duels it out with himself switching between two different vocal personas, the measured voice of reason and high-pitched falsetto. In true Dappled style, captivating sounds are married to evocative lines such as 'We'll keep the sun from the morning' as we are entreated to join the boys in their sonic adventures dancing, singing and musing our way into the promise of night. An invigorating listen, 'Granddance' just keeps on growing as a record, safely blossoming in the ears and minds of its many listeners. ---LLlinks:
2. The Herd - An Elephant Never Forgets (2003)
Politically charged hiphop is at a distinct disadvantage these days. As much as you might think K-Rudd stands slightly more right of centre than expected or that Midnight Oil lyrics are now potentially tantamount to retrospective perjury, there's really nothing like the conservative goldmine of the mid-Howard years for eager mud-slingers. This album, to quote a lyric, is intended to cause dissonance within the picket fences of conservative Australia. There are plenty of jabs at Howard and the Liberal administration, which might no longer be so relevant, but there's an eerie continuing pertinence for the shots at Citirail - exemplified by the track included below. The songs are tight, but with the exception of the riot-inciting 77% (which incidently may just get a second-wind courtesy of the current Sri-Lankan refugee situation) they aren't as catchy as some of the later Urth Boy solo material. Though this wasn't intended to be a safe album. Hooks have given way to a sense of adventure here. There's the multi-lingual Croissant Para Zwei Na Cvrtek (a croissant for two on thursday??) and the echoey dream-scape of When You Thought Nothing Was Happening which both make for some interesting listening. There's also the 9/8 rap in Urban Lady Saloon that definitely deserves a respectful nod. All in all it's a risky album that hits its mark and sits definitively in a particular time and space. This is Sydney in 2003, and it's not all rosy. ---JZ1. Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart (2008)
Idle amplifier noise, fumbled drumsticks, intruding metronomes, clipping snare hits, niggling blasts of ultra high frequency static - Pivot have tried everything in their power to destroy this album. It's almost as if they composed 11 delicate melodies, then sought about ways to make them almost unrecognisable. Ultimately this is their vision of the future; frantic, scattered and imperfect. The album's harder moments, Didn't I Furious and the title track O Soundtrack My Heart, are undoubtedly dystopian and gut you on first listen. This then stands beside the hope offered in Fool in Rain and the spirit-raising vocal chorus of Sing, You Sinners. The band are certainly fans of Blade Runner, and it's tough to budge the imagery created by that movie, but there are moments in this album that Vangelis himself would be proud of.All floury descriptions aside, it's a innovative lyricless album that still manages to completely toy with your emotions and should rightfully have shifted a bucketload of units here and overseas. Interestingly, it was on the British cult sitcom the IT crowd, that I got my first inclination as to the album's international success. It's about as far away from the Australian alternative music scene as you can get, but see if you notice anything decidedly Pivot about the decor in the third series. Turns out Richard Ayoade (Moss from the IT crowd, and various characters in the Mighty Boosh) is a huge fan. Who'd a thunk it? ---JZ
links:
Tags: Bluebottle Kiss, Bridezilla, Chasm, Dappled Cities, Decoder Ring, Gerling, Hermitude, NOTV, Pivot, Purdy, Sarah Blasko, Seekae, Spod, The Herd, The Necks, The Presets, The Vines, Youth Group
Good looking list!
Go dappled! but no red riders???
Where's the Red Riders!?!
I agree with the Dappled and Vines choice but the rest is kinda bullshit! Im a bit of a muso and I havent heard of half of them... And no Red Riders should not be in there (Top 20 Sydney Albums of the DECADE people!!)
bring on red riders. they are far better than some that are on there...
Yo anonymous (Jan 12),
Tough love calling the list bullshit when (as you say) you havent heard of half of them. There's some amazing stuff out there that you wont necessarily hear on commercial radio (or JJJ for that matter). This isn't a Hottest 100 popularity contest... it's our picks of the best sydney music from our fortunate position of having almost every Sydney release from the last decade at our fingertips. Give the ones you haven't heard a listen.... then slag off the list. A'course you wont agree with everything.
And yeah Red Riders are awesome. We just couldnt squeeze them into the 20.
Very cool page........
I'm in WA, but can say I know almost ¾ of these artists. So not sure what Anonymous is doing?!?
Best of all this gave me a chance to hear some good Sydney music I didn't know.
Well done and thanx :)
Mercy Arms. Unique, dramatic (on and off the record!) and gravely under appreciated.
Good list though. Great to see the The Necks, Seekae, Pivot, Spod, Bridezilla, NOTV and Gerling, enjoyed all of these albums, for very different reasons...
Sydney music forever. Yay.