Here’s a story that deserves greater attention. I first noticed it on Tim Shiel’s blog (aka Faux Pas) a couple of weeks back. It’s been churning around at the back of my mind since then, and now it’s got me annoyed enough that I want to write about it myself.

The story: Qua releases an album called Q&A and it quickly gets a damning review in The Age full of inaccuracies and unfair statements. Witness:

Q&A is the third release for bleep-meister Qua – known to his parents as Cornel Wilczek – one of Melbourne’s cut-and-paste hipster collective (Mountains in the Sky, Pivot, etc) who, thankfully some might say, rarely ply their trade outside the 3065 postcode.

Previously dabbling in more ambient electronic sounds, Qua moves into more stabby synths and avant-garge beats on Q&A, which apparently features more instrumentation – guitars, analog synths and drums from Pivot’s Laurence Pike – than laptop action, but you wouldn’t know it. I liked Sonic the Hedgehog in the early ’90s too, but that doesn’t mean I want its bonus points music re-interpreted into postmodern arcade fusion.

There are a few nice electronica moments on Q&A, but just as one relaxes into what begins as a promisingly Air, Daft Punk, or even upbeat, squelchy El Guincho-esque tune, blistering blips (not in a good way) and what I assume are achingly hip knowing nods to atonal composer Pierre Schaeffer jar the listener into skipping to the next track/putting on something better. Q&A would be an interesting exercise if Qua was a 14-year old boy fiddling on his Mac. But he’s not.

Kylie Northover

Now apart from being a complete slam of the album, it’s also a load of crap from a journalism standpoint. Witness these sins, some of which Tim pointed out on his To and Fro radio show blog (get on that, by the way – highly recommended) (correction: Dave, Tim’s co-presenter, wrote that post as Tim pointed out in the comments)

• Shocking writing everywhere. The second paragraph is dizzying when you spend time parsing it: check out those three uses of the word “more” in quick succession!
• The word “hipster” is one I’ve never heard used positively, and who is a reviewer to judge this?
• … and how is the reference to “3065″ not a hipster-ism of its own nature?
• Using “Air” and “Daft Punk” as your comparisons – only some of the most well-known electronic music in existence
• For that matter, I’d be curious to know if the El Guincho album was one of the others on her review pile…
• Pivot are not from Melbourne. Mostly Sydney. And Perth. And kind of London.

But here’s the real kicker. You’d think the snide tone and badly executed research would be enough, but Kylie also jumps in and plaguarises two obviously original parts of a review by an Adelaide blogger called Spoz. It’s far from being a study in journalism itself, but this is someone’s blog remember – not a newspaper with state-wide circulation.

… one should never underestimate a healthy disregard for copyright law, a broadband connection, a 160Gb ipod and writing for a music website as idiotic as this one for encouraging some truly ecclectic tastes; such as a finer appreciation for the works of Qua. Part of a growing Melbourne cut-and-paste aesthetic (spawning such contemporaries as Mountains In The Sky and Pivot) Qua is the sound of third world rhythms, chants and jubilation set to bombastic beats. Think 90’s Gerling at their most avant garde mixed with The Avalanches, St Germain crossfaded with Squarepusher, or 50 smashed ipods singing the blues in an inner city cafe. Wank intellectuals will obviously find knowing references to composer Pierre Schaeffer and the musique concrète movement of the 1950’s, whilst the rest of you alcoholics will simply recognise this as the whacked out ditty that accompanies that bizarre Toohey’s Extra Dry ad campaign with all the big hair bogans and oversized hair sprouting corn husks..

(emphasis Dave’s)

So: Kylie lifted both Spoz’s unfortunate Pivot inaccuracy, and the completely left-field reference to Pierre Shaeffer (which I assume was just Spoz taking the piss). Perhaps she didn’t know who Squarepusher, The Avalanches or St Germain were? (that being said, these are rather obvious electronic music comparisons also)

I have two questions:

• How many other blogs did Kylie read to put her “review” together?
• How many other journalists are doing this exact thing with their reviews?

Basically, I can’t help but wonder if we’re all a target for this kind of thing.

I’m sure journalists have been finding ways to avoid putting effort into writing their work since the day the media industry was invented, but exploiting the efforts of an unpaid but enthusiastic music community as a quick way to avoid a bit of effort seems ridiculous.

This event has been followed on a thread on Mess and Noise. Apparently there are rumours of a Media Watch investigation, but I’d be surprised if that happened!

~~~

In happier news, Qua is playing a show at the Oxford Art Factory with Mountains in the Sky on the 6th of November. I’m hoping to be there!

Hey, remember that track by Gang Gang Dance called “Princes” I posted a couple of weeks back?

I’ve been listening to the album Saint Dymphna quite a lot since posting the track and figured I’d add a few observations:

• The rest of the disc sounds *nothing* like “Princes”
• The other cuts are probably better than “Princes”
• The general mood is quite jam-band-ish with a heavy post-club influence. It’s got lots of ambience and fairly loose in structure.
• Quite a lot of the album is instrumental. When there are vocals, they’re usually handled by band member Liz Bougatsos who has a great voice and charisma
• I rate the disc highly.

Listen

• House Jam (mp3)

This one kind of snuck up on me. I wasn’t necessarily expecting much – just another band in the low-key folk genre, perhaps?

But initial impressions or assumptions don’t always prove themselves. I’ve listened to The Woods Themselves’ new album (c’mon) do the beach thing many times now, and something about its ramshackle presentation and home-grown character has won me over.

Apparently recorded in various places such as the Kangaroo Valley down below the Southern Highlands and in studios in Sydney, this album seems to manage to straddle the gap between giving the production of the record all the attention and polish that it needs while retaining an organic, down-to-earth atmosphere. It sounds like a real band in a room (with minor studio interference) and has all the cohesion of a continuous set of music, yet if you listen closer it sounds the songs have seen meticulous arrangement applied.

Take the opener “Buy Some Time”, for example: an acoustic guitar hesitantly makes its entrance, before the band enters led by an organ motif. A trumpet responds, fading out as an electric offers its counterpoint. Considering the number of times perfect little moments like this appear, it’s amazing the record doesn’t sound more forced – and even more that it sounds like it could have just happened off the cuff.

The album is one of a slow-burning nature, usually relaxed in pace but occasionally interspersed by more energetic cuts (“Comforted & Questioned”, “Virgin Domestic”) that help give the album some momentum. The tone and texture of the album comes largely from fairly standard components (guitars, bass, piano/organ, scattered horns, percussion) yet it always manages to maintain a unique identity. A few samples, programs or tape manipulations appear from time to time,  but never in a way that seem at odds with the rugged, earthy sound that the band establishes.

In short, this is a band that knows its sound and what they’re trying to do: the sound and atmosphere is fully realised and the songs sound personal and sincere. Just like an album by a low-key folk band should be – and then some.

Listen

• Comforted & Questioned (mp3)
• Groove Wind (mp3)
• Virgin Domestic (mp3)

For some reason the band only offer their more uptempo songs for download, which is a shame as they don’t stand out to me as their greatest moments. But give these a spin anyway, keeping in mind that in my opinion the other 9 tracks on the album are where the real goodness is to be found…

Another release amongst a pile of recent discoveries that I’m finally finding time to write about…

I Am Robot And Proud is the name of Shaw Han-Liem’s solo electronic project that has apparently been releasing music since 2001. I haven’t heard anything from his past material, but I recently obtained a copy of his new album Uphill City which is an uptempo set of jubilant, poppy electronic nuggets – bright, colourful, slightly-cartoonish but flowing with real human sentiments and emotions throughout – the cover above represents it well, actually.

The more I listen to this album the more I enjoy it – each listen reveals plenty of detail lurking beneath its primary-colour laden glossy surface. Han-Liem’s material is excellently crafted, the arrangements are intricate while instantly accessible. Even though you’ll find IDM-esque stutters and glitches reminiscent of Dntel’s past work and mixes that sometimes swarm like plankton, it’s always grounded by well-defined song structures and deft control of dynamics.

Throughout the entire album there are pockets of acoustic elements: fragments of (what appear to be) found sounds appear scattered liberally across the mix, strummed guitars pick up the chord progressions, or some melodic percussion will lead the way with a riff. The acoustic component comes to the forefront on the surprise track “Island Life” – a short waltz featuring gorgeously arranged wind instruments and a rolling guitar part, almost entirely made up of live instrumentation. A highlight for sure.

If anything, Uphill City wins by way of the ease with which it carries its wide-eyed and exuberant musical personality. The arrangements and writing are always intelligent, as mentioned above, but more than anything its success lies in making a connection with the listener where it counts.

Uphill City is out now through Darla and is available on eMusic.

Listen

• Uphill City (mp3)

I don’t know much about Helios except for this fact: I really like a record he made in 2006 called Eingya. It’s the kind of album that brings to mind all kinds of adjectives like “grandiose” or “majestic” or “gorgeous” – words that sound ridiculosuly saccharine when written down, but seem immediately justified as soon as the album’s first notes creep in to the picture.

It’s like a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist – ambient, spacious, textured, yet personal and organic. Think of it as being what could happen if Brian Eno went mountain climbing with a post-rock band while listening to Boards of Canada and made an album about their experience. Usually the pieces are led by a simple motif handled by guitars or pianos, set against sparse percussion and tastefully orchestrated ambience.

Really there’s not much more to be said than that – I highly recommend the album. It’s best enjoyed turned up loud, preferably on a cold winter’s night in front of an open fire with a glass of red.

Helios is just about to release a new album called Caesura which is what I’d originally planned to write about, but after getting my hands on a promo copy I was left feeling somewhat disappointed. The record sounds like a somewhat paint-by-numbers affair compared to this which sounds so personal and engaging, as if the soul has got lost somewhere along the way.

That being said, go listen to Eingya! It can be purchased on eMusic or bought directly from Type Records.

Listen

• Bless This Morning Year (mp3)
• Paper Tiger (mp3)

Finally – I’ve managed to put a new look Joe.Blog online! This redesign is long overdue – it’s been put off on plenty of occasions thanks to an insane lack of spare time.

There are still bits and pieces that need to be tidied up and improved, but at the very least it re-establishes the blog’s image as being solely a music blog rather than a hodge-podge personal blog that covers all sorts of unrelated subjects (and usually badly). I figure if I stick to one topic I’ve probably got a good chance of getting good at writing about it.

Obviously the actual shift in direction happened a long time ago but I feel doing the revamp puts the identity of the blog in step with its content.

As far as being a “music blogger” goes, I still feel like I’m working out my writing style and what exactly I want to make a priority of covering, but I’m sure that will all click into gear as I keep doing it.

OK, enough on this subject – time to get on with it and actually write about some music!

About 5 years ago I ventured with a number of friends to a Regurgitator gig where, as reward for having turned up early, we were presented with music performed by a mystery man. He began his performance with a series of electroclash tunes (joined by a keyboardist that pressed play on an iPod and two female backup dancers) before being joined by a bassist, guitarist and drummer to form a live band that proceeded to MELT OUR FACES OFF. The set was loud, chaotic, brutal, bewildering – and above all, extraordinarily entertaining.

I’ve certainly never forgotten the name SPOD since.

And now, SPOD is back with a new album – and a video that will give you your very own opportunity to have your face melted too. Witness the mayhem:

I meant to blog about DEAD a few weeks ago, but I lost the press release which contained the link to the mp3 and subsequently forgot about it, but Jonny was nice enough to remind me about it when he posted the video.

It’s actually a good thing I didn’t write about the track back then, because I think it’s made even better by this video clip. Make sure you click through to Vimeo’s website and check out the HD version.

The song is an exceptional nugget of juicy electro-pop anthem goodness – infectious in all the best ways possible and absolutely impossible to ignore. The SPOD is proving that he’s a force to be reckoned with, and I’ll willingly bet money that you’ll hear a lot more from this song and album in the months to come.

SPOD is playing at the Oxford Art Factory this Saturday. Tickets are $10.

DEAD appears on SPOD’s new album Superfrenz which is out now and can be purchased from his website.

Sparkadia have been pumping out singles from their indie-popalicious Postcards at a rate of knots, apparently to saturate all airwaves in the country and thus Rule The World ™. In a bid to make the most of all this exposure, they’ve set out on a ginormous 19 date tour that they’re currently in the middle of (Sydneysiders may wish to note that the band is playing the Gaelic this Friday)

As a means of promoting said tour, a remix by Dept. of their “Too Much To Do” single has made its way out into the wild. The remix doesn’t stray too far from its purpose as a “dance version of the rock single”, but does pull the tune back a few BPM which has the pleasant side-effect of making it a little more reflective. It sits on top of an upfront lo-fi drum program and comes into its own once the chorus kicks in, capitalising on the anthemic guitar chords and using the toms to nice effect.

Listen

• Sparkadia – Too Much To Do (Dept. remix)

For me, this one’s filed under news-I-completely-wasn’t-anticipating.

Gomez have unexpectedly posted a note on their blog that announces that not only are they thinking about their next album, but they’ve also finished tracking it and are nearly done working the mixing stage.

They let slip that the album has been (co?)-produced with Brian Deck (of Red Red Meat, produced Iron & Wine, Califone and, erm, The Grates) and that they’ve managed to get Amy Milan (Stars, Broken Social Scene) singing on some tunes.

Given the departure from their usual ramshackle style on their last album How We Operate, it will be interesting to see what happens with this one!

The story:

• Band requests remix of forthcoming song
• Producer provides said remix
• Band breaks up
• Producer gets permission to post on his blog

So here it is as a free mp3 download. You can hear the original on their myspace.

The track was slated to appear on Ovell’s debut EP, but various factors led to their untimely demise. The band has given me the “all clear” to set the remix free and live its life on the interwebs.

It’s unmastered and thus not entirely like the finished product it was meant to be, but I hope you enjoy it.