Everything worth knowing about Australian music this week.

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Scene Report: Snowy Nasdaq riffs on famous death dwarves

Objectivity? Oh yeah, I think I remember that. I must've misplaced the last shred of it, as far as Snowy Nasdaq goes, some time between Blurst of Times and the Ocean Party's album launch at The Tote last year, but it'd been wavering ever since we ran into each other at the house of ScotDrakula's Dove Bailey, when Liam was still Greg. But none of that would mean shit if Snowy wasn't operating in a way which blew open how an artist could or should operate, at least in this dunce's estimation, and more on that below. Snowy started a record label recently, Baby Man Concept-X Music Label. Its first release is 2014Boys/Club, a collection of 12 tracks Snowy released, one per month, last year. Who wouldn't be curious? 

New Oz Music: Why'd you wanna start a label for?

Snowy: I was joking one day to my best friend Raudie about how I would be the worst person to start a label because I've been notoriously bad at mailing purchases to people in the past. So I started the label as a challenge to myself mainly. I like labels that have a consistent aesthetic to their releases so that's something that'll develop if/when I release anything else.

What kinda artists do you reckon might appear on the label in the future?

I imagine there will be some familiar faces from my extended circle at some point and any number of mysterious alter-egos, but also I'd like to use BMCXML as an excuse to find some new music, whether that's local or from anywhere in the world. I could do with listening a little wider.

Where'd you get the idea to package the album in recycle Sisqo covers?

I had always imagined putting the Snowy Nasdaq album out as a CD, just for the artwork's sake (and records are too expensive.) When it came down to releasing, it seemed impractical to pay and wasteful to make a run of CDs. There were a stupid amount of Return Of Dragon at the op shop near my house that were going to become landfill so why pay someone to make more CDs that will become garbage eventually (instantly?) anyway. Selling my CD with recycled Sisqo CDs is a gimmick and a novelty product but so are any CDs. So are tapes and so are records too.

Why CDs though?

It's what I grew up with as prized possessions. I like the feel of them and I think gatefold is the superior layout. The covers are more sturdy than flimsy record sleeves and the smaller the artwork the more detailed it looks to me. It's just nostalgia though. Really. Retina screens are better. Look better.

How'd you arrive at the idea for Taste the Whip (below)? Why VU + Nico?

I recorded Taste The Whip last week after i saw a great gig, Hot Palms' launch at Record Paradise, and really wanted to play guitar afterwards. Its name comes from the terrible line from the pretty bad song 'Venus in Furs'. Playing guitar solos over VU&N was difficult because I had to listen to the album start to finish. My favourite song is my interpretation of 'Heroin': 'Interlude (Jam)' Just for the name. I've never listened back to this album.

Who did the Boys/Club cover art?

The cover of 2014Boys/Club is a bunch of colouring-ins I done from The Human Anatomy Colouring In Book. It was a gift my best friend, Raudie, gave me for my 21st.

What else you got planned for 2015?

Finally getting a Snowy Nasdaq band together, start doing live shows again. I have two more albums finished, one is a collaborative effort [with Emma Russack and Hot Palms] and the other solo, both out this half of the year on other labels. The Ocean Party's next album and of course the new album from Dolewave.

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Jen Cloher - 'Needle In The Hay'

Tragically hard to go past the title without a chilling recollection of Elliot Smith's feeble singing, and then of the Royal Tenenbaums scene in which Luke Wilson tries to exorcise his misery with a razor. Cloher's more Malkmus than mortally wounded, stomping and stumbling through this rocker on a slight tilt. Is it just a coincidence that this is the second video from Milk Records in as many months to mirror some Wagnerian antics?

Snowy Nasdaq - Taste The Whip

Snowy's output at this point is more interesting than just about anyone else, but easily dismissed for the same reasons. I mean shit, he puts out a whole new album, and it's him shredding over Velvet Underground + Nico. Every track, top to bottom. "They teach you how to shred," Snowy once told me, "but they never teach you how to stop." Here's the proof. But you gotta contend with the subtleties of this thing, 'cos he's a nuanced artist, young Liam, but those subtleties are too simply skimmed. What a perfect Fuck You to the famous death dwarf that Snowy called his 'Heroin' remix 'Interlude (Jam)'. 

The most auspicious and enduring track on one of the most revered records of all time, and what is it to Snowy? 'Interlude (Jam)'. The track Velvet Underground are building towards the entire record? INTERLUDE. The delicate crescendo peaking in a harrowing rush of noise meant to mimic the overwhelming flood of medicine following a heroin hit? JAM. Don't mistake this for mere irreverence, 'cos then he goes and leaves 'The Black Angel's Death Song' more or less intact - in title, at least, and then only weaves his own shred-thread through it where elsewhere he steamrolls Reed's vision entirely.

Snowy recently released an album with a track titled 'Cooked A Piece Of Steak For Some Reason Just Tossed It Out I Was Never Going To Eat It Felt Like A Man For A Minute Feeling Anxious In The Evening Knee Deep In Shit Neck Deep In Water I'll Fuck Myself Right Here In Public I Do Whatever When It Feels Right Social Anxiety At The End Of The Night'. You can buy it for $600. After that, he released an album called Massive//Melbourne, where he layered one night's live recording over another. Last year he collaborated on a track with someone he sought out on Tinder, which is now collected in the debut release of his new label, Baby Man Concept-X Music Label.

Maybe it's worth noting the way on 'The Whip Fall' Snowy kinda seems like he's trying to play along with Reed's squall and therefore tacitly imitating thousands of teenage amateur guitarists across the world and THEREFORE evoking adolescent nostalgia, and maybe it's worth noting the way his stinging notes on 'The Runing Man' conversely sound like tripwire along the jogging path of VU's 'Run Run Run'. Probably it's enough to say the album comes straight to your door in recycled gatefolds from Sisqo's 2001 album Return of the Dragon.

Given Snowy's so prolific and funny I reckon he's so far avoided more attention to his solo projects 'cos all of whoever does the appraising these days are afraid they're walking blindly into some grand prank. And it kind of is that, but it's just as evident that Snowy's an acutely thoughtful artist and experimenter. That most of this stuff comes out for free, and at the speed it does, should make every other musician shit themselves with fear. And envy.

friendships - 'When I Feel Like Killing, I Murder'

Oi! friendships ain't so friendly anymore. Nic Brown's hideous club music is a giant leap from the kinda innocuous by comparison stuff he was doing in 2013, but things have been going this way for a while now -- you could feel it on last year's 'ghost hear'.  'When I Feel Like Killing, I Murder' goes for Gil Scott-Heron with that pitch-shifted patois poetry. There's a darker undercurrent at play. It's thrilling.

Tiger Choir - 'Shani'

The yelping vocals on 'Shani' recall forgotten dance-rockers Red Ink and their minor hit 'Battlescars' but the production is all lush, rubbery riffs slipping and sliding around a tangle of glistening synths. With votes of confidence from Simon Lam on the mix and Andrei Eremin on the master, it's no wonder it sounds so rich. Their second album's coming soon.

SertOne - 'Lost & Found' ft Maribelle

Encouraging, now that with Grey Marle Music on the come up, emerging folk like Maribelle can jump on a track with a Northern Irish producer. The result is a slick mix of glowering, watery beats bouncing off Maribelle's gorgeous, occasionally Mariah-lite vocals. 'Lost + Found' sounds a touch generic but it's more evidence of Maribelle's obvious talent, and while she's got a distinct visual aesthetic, she just needs to figure out how to translate that to evoke some sense of identity in her singing.

Tame Impala - 'Let It Happen'

More like Let It Finish. Ain't nobody got time for that.

General Men - 'Australia'

Mysterious gang, this, but the video for 'Australia' capturing lonely shots of the Brunny velodrome and CBD skyscrapers and the Eastern Freeway. It's all gorgeous, winding melodies for the first two minute, then it gets into the promised post-punk with slabs of noise and sneering verses. Pretty tight for a debut single.

Peter Bibby - 'Goodbye Johnny'

Shitfreak punk auteur Peter Bibby somehow locked down an Entertainment Weekly premiere for this video, 'cos lord knows what the innocent and unsuspecting drones of Middle America need is this piercing the emotional bubble wrap of Justin Bieber tabloid effluvia. Bibby will be unnerving people at South By this month. Take that, Texas.

Coach Bombay - 'Sunshine'

Oh fuck off Terry with your relentless chirpgiddy bleep bloop cheeriness... well okay then, fine. Coach Bombay's new record, named for this track, is real sublime. Like Architecture In Helsinki before they got shit and instead picked up a copy of Yeo's Sell Out and figured "Hey, we could jam to this!" But then somehow the whole album came out like some Polyphonic Spree electro hippie fart and it's totally glorious. Dude will just Not Shut Up about how great everything is. 

Sunshine was obviously made by a guy pretty stoked on the titanic potential of existence. A Jeremy Neale type, say, or an Andrew WK. 'Sunshine' is tight, but 'Universe', the second last track, is like space aerobics. Be interesting to see Terry chop up an episode of Cosmos for the music video.

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WATCH THESE

Judith Lucy & Friends - 'I Am Woman'

What a fuggin banger.

Babaganouj - 'Can't Stop' video

Been entirely too long since the 'nouj have ventured outta Brisbane, so look forward to April folks. East Coast cuties on the run. 

Also: Kane Ikin, an extraordinary electronic muso who's appeared in this blank space a bunch of times, has just released a gorgeous mix of unreleased tracks. It's called 'Sync/Textile'. I'm still turning it over but I wanted to get it to you now. Here's how Kane describes it:

"It’s almost entirely made of older unreleased works of mine from the last few years that I still really enjoy and wanted some life outside of my computer, blended into a seamless mix with some new recordings and sounds. 

Oh, and it's free!"

You can listen to it on Soundcloud or download it at Blowing Up The Workshop. Kane's working on some exciting new stuff too. Peel your ears.

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GO TO THESE

Babaganouj single launch @ The Brightside, Brisbane - March 20

Babaganouj have got the Valley on lock by now, no doubt, but in case you've ditched all social media (good on ya, strongly endorse it) and have limited your internet reading exclusively to this column (good on ya, strongly endorse it) here is a reminder to get it sorted, mate.

Client Liaison @ 170 Russell, Melbourne - March 20

Yeah it's sold out already but there's a buncha folks selling tickets and you'll wanna get on that. Their show last night was off chops. Monte is getting more athletic and I pray for his ankles given the torque they must endure but he sticks the landing every time. Harv's getting his groove on now too -- quite a step from the stoic beat boy of CL shows past. It's a full blown spectacle even more than when all they had on record was 'End of the Earth'. 

Parking Lot Experiments + Tiger Choir + Swimming + The Townhouses @ Hugs'n'Kisses, Melbourne - March 21

The cramped, intimate confines of XOXO will have you weeping to the Townhouses before you even get to the raucous absurdity of Parking Lot Experiments, but it'll be a fun ride.

Adalita + Claws & Organs @ The Gaso, Melbourne - March 25

The final show of her residency! Don't miss out! Claws & Organs are in the middle of recording their new LP at the moment and if their more recent stuff is any indication, it's gonna be blinding.

I'lls + Guerre @ Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney - March 27

Four beautiful boys in one room. Don't take it for granted, Sydney.

Zero Through Nine presents: HEADS & BODIES @ The Curtin, Melbourne - March 28

Just gonna ctrl c'n'v the lineup of this thing and it'll speak for itself: JAPANESE WALLPAPER // LOWER SPECTRUM // RARA // ?????? // LEAKS // LUKE HOWARD // TOM DAY // ORLANDO FURIOUS. See you there.

Big Smoke + Good Morning + Shiny Coin @ Howler, Melbourne - March 28

Or if you've run out of pingers, there's this!

Jonny Telafone album launch @ The Underdog Pub, Brisbane - March 28

Jonny Telafone starts his victory lap around Australia next weekend. Telafone's our doom poet laureate and his new record's sick, but you've gotta see him live to fully dig it. It's fuckin' dark and weird and beautiful. Like Jonny himself.

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Email the locations of ethical retail outlets which stock weird pants to jakecleland at gmail dot com.

Jake Cleland (@sawngswjakec)