Features
New Noise: Emma Russack, Babaganouj, Erik Omen, Dirt Farmer
By Edward Sharp-Paul
An east-coast round-up of the internet’s finest, featuring Melbourne’s Emma Russack, Brisbane’s Babaganouj, Sydney’s Erik Omen, and Melbourne’s Dirt Farmer
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
– Emma Russack (nee Lola Flash) is now based in Melbourne, and if the title of her soon-to-be released album Sounds Of Our City is to be believed, she’s settling in nicely. ‘He Was My Family’ is the first glimpse of that album, which was self-produced at Head Gap studios with the aid of Cameron Potts (Baseball), Tim Picone and long-time collaborator Alec Marshall, along with a rotating cast of guest performers. Befitting its creation in the depths of the Melbourne winter, it has a huddled, inward quality. Lyrically, it’s a simple account of moving from the warmth of familial love to the heat of romantic love. Musically, it’s all gentle brushes and twinkling guitars, with plenty of room for the controlled intensity of Russack’s delivery and Kieran Ryan’s (Kid Sam) high backing vocal.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Emma Russack - 'He Was My Family' by SpunkRecords
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
– From the ashes of the defunct Yves Klein Blue rises Babaganouj. Guitarist Charles Sale has assembled a “power trio for a new decade”, and their first salvo is the breezy ‘It’s Rainin’ it’s Summer’. Produced by Tim Steward and ex-YKB bassist Sean Cook, it’s pretty much the power pop-est thing ever, or at least since Teenage Fanclub. Fuzz guitar, righteous solos, lyrics about summer, it’s so much fun that you’ll forgive them for naming their upcoming EP Sife Lucks.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] It's Rainin' it's Summer - Babaganouj by footstompmusic
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
– Sydney newcomers Erik Omen have announced themselves to the wider world with the lovely, icy ‘Payphone’. The single, which is being released as a 12” on Midnight Juggernauts’ Siberia imprint, is backed by earlier, cassette-only release ‘Grade E’ and several remixes. Featuring a strutting, mid-tempo groove, a show-stealing vocal turn from Bridezilla’s Holiday Sidewinder, and some high-class glockenspiel work, it’s familiar without sounding particularly like anything else.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Erik Omen (feat. Holiday) - Payphone by Mother Sky Records
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
– Melbourne’s Dirt Farmer seem to be building up to something. After ‘Johnny Marble’ comes the follow-up single, ‘Real Young’. Recorded with Leadbetter Productions (Whitley, Sarah Blasko) for their upcoming EP, ‘Real Young’ is the sound of a band that’s “shrugged off the restraints imposed on them by society”. But never mind the press release; it’s a sweet, understated song, a pop lullaby that’s just a little bit Burrito Brothers. Singer Stu Barlow (ex-Lisa Mitchell) uses endearingly chaste soda-pop imagery (movie marathons, photobooths) to tell of an unsteady, nascent romance. Delivered in his dreamy, sad-eyed tenor, the whole thing goes down real sweet and easy.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Real Young by Dirt Farmer
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