A note from our reviewer: With KB and Izzy Huntington wounded on the sidelines I have good faith we are now about to witness the full arrival of one Bonnie Toogood. Dogs AFLW flag 2018.
Single Of The Week
Mod Con : Neighbourhood
In a previous life, ‘Neighbourhood’ could have lived as a breezy summer ditty a la ‘Streets Of Your Town’. Instead, it exists today speckled with grit, an unease spoken and unspoken as it cruises through its scenery with jaunty riffs mired in ennui. It’s a vacuum of pressure, making diamonds through desperation.
Courtney Barnett : Nameless, Faceless
It’s not so much killing ‘em with kindness, or appealing to a sense of humanity, Courtney Barnett manages to deftly address online abuse without delivering the culprits oxygen. Or maybe it’s delivering pure oxygen. Anger is tempered by wry delivery, all over, on the brink of exploding into a razing scorch, instead disarming with slapstick melodic descent. This dissent from the status quo is decent.
Ryan Downey : Running
The Lenny Cohen invocation is a divine blessing and a curse on ‘Running’, an intimidating comparison that’s been set up as impossible to ignore. The cameo that runs baritone into a croon helps shake it to an extent, but no matter how good ‘Running’ is (it is, in fact, quite good), there’s a ghost present, even flashing a wink with “We’ll play roles to get us in the mood/I’ll be me and you’ll be you”.
The Presets : 14U + 14ME
Strip away the vocals and you have a fairly enjoyable regressive sojourn into progressive house. PNAU had the sense to get sick vocalists on their bangers, I can’t imagine anyone in 2018 getting around Julian Hamilton’s non-singing. It triggers Muscles memory.
