Category: Playlist

When you’ve dearly departed
There will be all those broken-hearted
But I’ll have a smile painted on my face
There’s a spot in the grass
Waiting for you at Whispering Glades

This month is all about the real start of autumn, the cluster-fucked vaccine rollout, and a lot of great acoustic female vocals – Molly Lewis making use of an underutilised instrument (the human whistle), Natalie Bergman and Nicole Dollanganger bringing folksy tunes straight out of yesteryear, and LDR serving a solid album of fantastic tracks on Chemtrails. It’s folksier, more stripped back and consistent and less attention-seeking than her last few – and better for it. The mixing is fantastic too – every distinct detail of those vocals blows gently across the peach fuzz gracing your ear lobe.

Meanwhile, the original Gorillaz self-titled album turned 20 this month. I revisited it and reflected on just how unique and fresh it was – and, aside from two main singles, seems to remain unknown to many to this day (despite the enormous success of the two albums which followed). It’s spooky, quirky, unusual, genre-hopping and thumping, with plenty of fun and bizarre lyrical moments. It was an album that really made an impression on me. I’ve added one of the lesser-known tracks.

The Voidz also finally released TET 2.0 to streaming platforms, which cross-pollinates with The Adults Are Talking. I’ve paired it next to the Gorillaz track – The Voidz are to The Strokes what Gorillaz is to Blur (right down to the COOL Z) – I love all of the above but the more adventurous latter creations speak to me far more than the originals.

Uh, yeah, how you get closer to love?
How you lemonade all your sadness when you openin’ up?
How you make excuses for billionaires, you broke on the bus?

Noname, Rainforest

Shit yeah new Tobacco! With a throwback Tobacco sound too. I’ve been looping his dirty beats for the last week and have deemed it worthy to share the title of his 2008 debut. No individual track meets the heights of a Hairy Candy or Gross Magik, but all contribute a unique flavour to the whole. I think most of all I was longing for more tripped out vocals. This release is mostly an instrumental affair, but it makes up for the lack of lyrics with distinctive and fresh sounds.

My favourite discovery for the month was Mica Levi, who brings some incredibly unique experimental soundscapes on Blue Alibi.

I wanna get drunk
I wanna get stoned
I wanna give up
I wanna go ho-o-o-ome

Chalk Tablet Towers (not all lyrics need to have depth)

I haven’t had a lot of new music on my radar this month, what with the whole moving-back-to-Sydney thing. I’ve been back now for three weeks and have spent the entire time consumed by trying to lock in a home – and being unable to focus on much else. But now that I have a place to move into in two weeks, the excitement of a new life can finally begin. I’ve been waiting over a year for this moment (since I decided I’d move back to Sydney but stuck around to attend two weddings which never happened).

Nevertheless, I’ve put together this month’s dozen tunes. Gorillaz dropped their best album since Plastic Beach with Strange Timez last Friday. It works so much better than I expected, given it’s the first album to be constructed piece-by-piece without an overarching narrative. It even has a couple tracks which sonically hark back to their self titled debut. I’m pumped to see what they do animation-wise with their upcoming tour.

I’m a bit later with this month’s playlist. I’ve spent the last month packing, cleaning, stressing, travelling back to Australia, then sleeping and unwinding. I’ve also spent much more time listening to podcasts than music this month, so it’s not my strongest effort for new stuff.