This week I find myself listening to a lot of Karma County, a very good Australian band whose sound is earthy and heartfelt, and maybe just a little strung out. You don’t know if these are guys you’d want to play poker with, but the music they make is very soulful.

Their song ‘Postcard’ is well worth a listen. The ‘ba ba ba’ chorus stays on the same notes, even while the chord structure drops lower and lower down the scale. Very artful. Have a listen and you’ll see what I mean. Click this link, go to ‘Music’, and hit the ‘Album Preview’ button for the album that matches the picture you see here. It’s track four.

The lyrics remind me of Jeff:

God speed my friend,
be sure to think of me
when you touch down,
cast out on a different sea.

Just a postcard,
every now and then,
just to let me know
that you’re okay.

On to the random.

Music Non Stop by Kraftwerk Album: Minimum-Maximum
You know what I like about this album? Not that it’s live — Kraftwerk has never been known as radical improvisationalists. No, I just like that it exists. Kraftwerk touring? This is amazing, and I’ll tell you why.

The guys from Kraftwerk are not tremendously accessible people. The story is told of how Florian (or is it Ralf?) didn’t want to have a phone with a ringer on it in the studio. There was a procedure if you wanted to call them. You had to call at just a few seconds to noon. At precisely noon every day, Ralf (or Florian) would lift the phone to see if anyone wanted to talk. And that’s how you could phone them. So shy of the limelight were they that they found innovative ways to avoid performing, especially using robot surrogates (which suited their electronic style very well).

The other reason they never toured was because they couldn’t. It would have required inconveniently large rooms full of computer equipment to perform live. But now that computers have shrunk, they can do the whole thing on laptops. They were so far into the future that they had to wait for technology to catch up with them. And that’s the other reason I love that this album exists.

‘Music Non Stop’ was a little dull on the 1986 album Electric Café, but it’s been fine-tuned into a funky beast for the live shows.

Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks – V Menuet I & II (Andante) by Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Bernard Haitink, conductor Album: Water Music & Music for the Royal Fireworks
Handel wrote some magnificent music. I like imagining this being played on a boat, floating up the Thames. As indeed it was, for King George I — hence the name.

Here’s the history:

On Wednesday 17 July 1717, in the evening, there occurred in London a royal event of great splendour. King George I and a large gathering of the English nobility boarded open barges on the river Thames at Whitehall and sailed up river to Chelsea, where they took supper. Such was the success of the evening that the party did not leave until three o’clock in the morning, the King arriving back at St James’s Palace at about half-past four. One of the river barges (according to a report in the Daily Courant of 19 July) ‘was employ’d for the Musick, wherein were 50 instruments of all sorts who play’d… the finest Symphonies, compos’d express for this Occasion, by Mr Hendel: which his Majesty liked so well, that he caus’d it to be plaid over three times in going and returning’.

Orchestra on a boat, Handel conducting. Now that was the way to ride.

Cigarettes Will Kill You by Ben Lee Album: Triple J Hottest 100, Volume 6
Always good to go back to this song. It’s not about cigarettes though — it’s more a metaphorical exploration of how we cook and eat the ones we love. Hmm.

Mayfly by Belle & Sebastian Album: If You’re Feeling Sinister
I have to say, this song would be less effective without the cheesy organ solo. Do you ever get the feeling that we just don’t deserve bands like Belle and Sebastian? They seem too sweet and pleasant to exist.

All in the Golden Afternoon by Alphaville Album: Prostitute
An album a lot of people missed, which is too bad because there are a lot of good moments on it. This is actually a setting of the Lewis Carroll poem where he describes a boat ride with the three Liddell girls who would serve as the model for Alice. It’s a lovely setting for the poem — almost more of a painting, really.

I’m listening to the new Beck album a lot lately. The thing about this album is that the cover is graph paper, and there are stickers that you apply yourself. It’s ‘make your own album cover’. I haven’t done it yet, and I don’t really want to. Also I don’t want to examine what that might mean. Putting the stickers on is committing, and what if I get the back of the stickers all gummy with fingerprints and it doesn’t stick properly? And then it’s ruined! I think I’m just a big believer in non-destructive editing, but maybe I was one of those kids that was afraid of getting dirty. What would it mean for me to try?

In All the Wrong Places by Ulrich Schnauss Album: A Strangely Isolated Place
This is a gorgeous work of semi-ambient electronica. I say ‘semi-‘ — it’s got beats, but it’s mostly instrumental, and the production has a soft focus quality to it. A certain muffly swoosh, even though some of the details are quite crisp. You can tell it’s hard to describe. The layers of sound build into an enormous sugary wedding cake that dissolves when you touch it. It doesn’t just groove, it wobbles in that Boards of Canada way where someone’s doing something to the analogue tape.

Memories by Elvis Presley Album: Elvis 2nd to None
That’s funny. Spanish guitar usually makes things sound better. But the string arrangement goes so Mantovani on this poor sappy melody that not even Elvis’ voice can save it. There’s a fruit and veg place near my house that plays Elvis, so now when I hear Elvis, I think fruit. Or Dean Martin, which they also play. I don’t know if there’s a video to this, but I don’t want to see it. I think it would look like the stock footage from every karaoke place I’ve every been to. Even the head of Elvis is coming out to see what’s gone wrong. The severed head of Elvis, and it’s been sectioned right down the middle, right across the left eye. Ouch! What was the graphic designer thinking? Where’s the lei? It was such a motif in Elvis’ original album covers, and now it’s gone. Banished! It’s all black and bloodless, not like a real head if you hacked it in half. And then stuck a numeral 2 right in the Broca’s area.

Useless by Depeche Mode Album: Ultra
This is more like it. Ultra was a very good, somewhat overlooked album. Depeche Mode seemed deepened by their woes (rehab and lineup changes), and came out of it with a set of songs that becomes more interesting with closer listens. Listen to that guitar riff on Useless. That is a gritty riff. And the bass line slides up and down the octave in a head-nodding way. Good groove.

Crossroads by Davol Album: Mystic Waters
I wonder what Russ is doing right now. He’s the one who got me into Davol. Gave me a tape with two albums, back in the days of cassettes. And I played them over and over and then went out and bought both albums. I wonder if I’ve listened to the discs more than the tapes. I think Russ always wanted to record songs like this. He was into computers and MIDI. Funny how a song can remind you of someone. Especially a song as thoughtful as this one, like watching a river, or staring into a fire.

Hello by The Cat Empire Album: Triple J Hottest 100, Volume 11
Well, jelo, jelo. If you haven’t heard the Cat Empire’s unique brand of hyphenated Cuban ska salsa, it would probably be a good idea. You’d think you were doing something interesting, like being at a party or a concert, instead of sitting at home on the Net getting spam from someone named Tanzania Safari, like I just did. My life would be a lot more interesting with that name. Oh, Tanz, you don’t even exist, and your life is probably much more interesting than mine. Anyhow. The Cat Empire were the hot ticket a couple of years ago, though I haven’t heard anything recently. They’re probably having so much fun that I’m not even in the same universe as them. Maybe after the thesis is over, I’ll put on the dancing shoes and go find them. I’ll have to find one of those little hats first. You know the kind?