This terrific remix from Melbourne future r&b superstar Fatti Frances replaces the creeping pastoral vibe of this highlight from Hammocks & Honey's Spellbinder EP with some krushing bass and burbling electronic spasms to produce an electro jammer which is totally danceable (well, maybe kind of danceable) but also completely in keeping with the atmosphere that Hammocks & Honey have been so successful at evoking so far. It's dark and melancholic, but enjoyably spacey rather than claustrophobic. You can grab other H&H remixes from their Soundcloud page.
2010: it was pretty great! I saw Inception like three times and listened to all the best music I've ever heard. Plus, Rose Quartz went to New York (SEE ABOVE) and hung out with all our new best friends. We also got to witness some of our favourite labels and bands just kill it this year: Olde English Spelling Bee, R.I.P. Society and Chapter put out a billion great records which everyone loved and bands like Street Chant, Big Troubles and way too many others did massive stadium tours of Brazil. Holla! Anyway, here's my top 10 songs of this year:
Love how relaxing this whole album is; that's not a popular adjective but it's true about Wild Nothing, all smooth and subdued like it's been lifted from the saddest '80s teen movie of all time.
Frenetic, fuzzed-out pop-punk thrashers like this are what Royal Headache do best; just total odes to shit like swimming pools that feel kinda profound cos you get bamboozled by all the hooks and then you're like wha?
Real "tender" instrumental surf-pop from inland Australia: maybe that's why the rolling guitars sound melancholic and the reverb'd out, faraway drums are ever so slightly askew.
After literally years of teasing us with sporadic 7" releases, these power popsters finally dropped a (terrific) full-length record. This is my favourite from it: lo-fi but technicolour with vocal harmonies I still can't figure out after dozens of listens.
Find of the year, for sure: this jam from Melbourne's Hammocks and Honey is beautifully, wistfully hypnotic; months after I first heard it I still can't stop listening to it.
I listened to this song exclusively for about two weeks after I first got this album, which might be because it sounds like the Ramones covering the Cars but whatever. It's totally jaunty, totally catchy, with a philosophy you can live by; winner, right?
This total 2010 h-pop classic sounds like it was recorded to a tape that had been recorded to way too many times before, but that can't hide how goofy/hilarious/catchy it is. It's a sound that's been mined before, for sure, but never as consistently well as Sam Mehran and his various projects mine it: the run of singles from Outer Limits Recordings and The Sweethearts in 2010 has been absurdly high in quality. If this was recorded in pristine hi-fidelity it'd probably be a hit; too bad, pop fans.
OTHER FAVES:
The Sweethearts - Burning Through The Nite
Big Troubles - Bite Yr Tongue
MGMT - Flash Delirium
Just got our hands on the amazing debut EP from RQ favourites Hammocks and Honey: their track Undone pretty much killed us earlier this year with its noirish Julee Cruise vibe, and that's the order of the day on Spellbinder. Delicate, dreamy melodies piled high with hazy layers are pushed along by an almost inaudible propulsion (the songs move, but the beats are barely there), particularly on Sleeping Carriage. Elsewhere, there are flourishes of twee pop and folk, but the record never feels quite of this world.
If you're in Melbourne you can watch Hammocks and Honey do it live, along with Oblako Lodka, the Frightening Lights and more at the Special Award Records showcase on September 30; check the Special Award site for full details.
It sucks that the temptation to embellish this kind of rustic folk is irresistible to most musicians. This music sounds best when it’s simple & unencumbered by psychedelic flourishes/five-part harmonies/folktronics: it should be innocent, naive, homely; basically, just like this song from Melbourne’s Oblako Lodka. It’s impossible to imagine the songs from this four-piece (yet another outfit to feature the talents of Alex Nosek, also of Hammocks & Honey) didn’t come tumbling out of an acoustic guitar late at night in front of the fireplace: they’re straight-to-the-point and unpretentious, just a rush of syllables and warm tones.
Oh boy, totally slayed by this incredible slow-burning gem from Melbourne duo Hammocks and Honey. A Julee Cruise album cover is proudly displayed on their MySpace page and her (& David Lynch’s) influence is prominent in this song’s feel: it’s surreal and genuinely spooky and seems to propel forward on its own bizarre logic. It’s also extra beautiful and totally intriguing. Prue Rees-Lee’s breathy vocals seem to float down from some high place, while the hypnotic, pulsating beats and synths recall Massive Attack at the best or, more recently, Washed Out. Could this be Australia’s first legit chillwave banger?? Hammocks and Honey have their first 12” coming out on the wonderful Special Award Records later this year; really can’t recommend this band enough.
