PRINCESS ONE POINT FIVE [AUSTRALIA]
by the time i get to phoenix i’ll be… mp3
inadequate response mp3
it’s heartening to find a few north american blogs are finally discovering what we’ve known all along – australian music is undergoing an exuberant renaissance with artist after artist proving that we can clearly play the anglo-american axis at their own game. good too see wolfmother, cut copy and the presetsall making waves (even if they are all on the same label) – i’d heartily encourage you all to look up other great bands too such as midnight juggernauts, wolf and cub, new buffalo, pasobionic, all of the gang from the feral media stable … i could go on, so i’ll stop now at princess one point five. the lady in question is melbourne’s sarah-jane wentzki and the album – due this week – is entitled ‘at long last’ and has been four years in the making. in lieu of hearing the full album release, we’re having to make do with the above two tracks from her site, both of which are beautiful downtempo tracks that present sarah-jane’s vocals in all their sparse glory. i’m reminded of billie ray martin in places, or beth gibbons, maybe stina nordenstam. her bio (which does name-check stina as an influence) alludes to more diversity on the album itself – “80’s/90’s nordic and german electro-pop/glitch and the melbourne noise art community. further in, you see she detours towards fraught and strange sex/death landscapes more akin to my bloody valentine“. wake up to this one, america – and go tell your friends.
JOHANN JOHANNSON [ICELAND]
odi et amo mp3
a break from the norm here – johannson is a producer / composer from iceland whose formidable resume includes production and collaboration with the likes of soft cell’s marc almond (the 2001 album ‘stranger things’), barry adamson, pan sonic and the hafler trio. add to that work for stage, screen and television and the not-insignficant part he played in the formation of kitchen motors band, a self-described ‘art organization / think-tank / record label’. the above track is the opener from his debut ‘englaborn’, featuring music composed for a play of the same name, and is a beautiful mixture of contemporary classical and electronic sensibilities. this stems from the process behind ‘englaborn’ – it was written for string quartet, piano, organ, glockenspiel and percussion – the recordings of which were all later re-processed and mixed. exemplified wonderfully here with a computer-vocal reading a latin text. now that’s progess.
THE INVISIBLE CITIES [US: CALIFORNIA]
regret mp3
last week i received the latest release from norway’s flunk – known for their re-interpretation of new order‘s ‘blue monday’. their new album picks up on the trend with a version of ‘true faith’. which brings me to the invisible cities, who had the good foresight to drop their latest album ‘watertown’ in the post to fat planet. i mention them in the context of new order due to their re-interpretation of ‘regret’ – a cover version that strips back the original’s lush production and cuts straight to the heart of the song. it’s the 2nd breath of fresh air this week – straight-forward, unpretentious melodies abound, topped off with sadie’s gorgeous vocals. they’ve drawn in production support from hands that have worked the desks with frank black, the pixies and tori amos – all names that point you in the direction of their sound and style. if only new order could be as interesting – warning: steer well clear of their abysmal new album ‘waiting for the siren’s call’. ‘waiting for insiration to call’ perhaps, and looks like she never arrived. [site]