Buddy's Art Makes Me Green

Charles Buddy Daaboul is probably better known as the guy who bashes things for No Art, the Sydney-based minimal noiseniks. Or maybe not - but if you need educating, No Art just brought out the Forest/Dead Arm 7" and did this little thing with members of Unity Floors and Making for Mess & Noise which was quite interesting.

But we aren't here to talk about Daaboul's band - just Daaboul himself. He has his own niche musical melange of sounds to air and ware, and his latest sonic installation is the Three Colours Green EP 7" which is coming out next month. Stepping to the forefront, lo-fi guitar pop jams all a-jangle and fandangle, Daaboul is a beguiling presence, an amusing figure who nonetheless commands express attention. The four tracks on the EP show a continued growth as songwriter and wordsmith, yet with an acute handle on the quirky and surreal. It doesn't break a sweat, nor does it veer into the mundane without staring at the sky in childlike wonder. And he loves his cricket, having a previous track devoted to the backyard variety, and expressing his desire to be on the top of the world and never to worry about losing, "just like the 90s Australian cricket team." How things change, Charles - did you SEE that Khawaja dismissal? We have much to console - at least you have your music to soothe your troubled soul...

You can pre-order Three Colours Green here. Charles Buddy Daaboul is hitting the streets to drop this into your laps live, and Sonic Masala is proud to include his 7" launch as part of our next Waiting Room event on Friday August 23. Daaboul will be joining atmosphere-fearing psych journeymen Silver Screens (who are also launching their album), magnetic doppelgangers Multiple Man and squalling scion Kigo. Check out the event here, and make sure you come along - fun fun fun.

Don't Take Naked Maja For Granted

Local dream sculptors Naked Maja took to Trainspotters on Saturday to launch their single 'Take' - the night was a resounding success. There is a bit of vested interest here - I had the band's Cedie Janson play the first Campfire Tales show at the End only two nights previously, and I helped write their presser. They have a longer release in the wings, which is mightily exciting, so rather than babble on with new terminology and hot air, Ill give you the "old" terminology and cold air that is the presser:

"Constantly evolving Brisbane five-piece Naked Maja represent the new sound of Brisbane’s burgeoning experimental pop scene. The release of their first single ‘Take’ shows the band broadening their horizons to the farther regions of ambiance and Krautrock. The music inhabits a netherworld of searching melodies and misshapen harmonies that embody a waking dream state. Their MO is to beguile, to seduce, yet to deny.

Disembodied vocals waver in and out of focus of a magnetic wall of sound, made up of ethereal guitars, synthesizers and propulsive motorik rhythms. Naked Maja draw inspiration from a cosmic sinewave that includes Stereolab, Slowdive and Eno as corresponding frequencies. Captured in the studio by local experimental producer and musician Michael Whitney of Nite Fields fame, the mesmeric ‘Take’ is the band’s most self-assured and exploratory work. It represents a sizable step forward for the five-piece and a promising indicator of what’s to come."

You can buy Take in cassette form (alongside two other original cuts and two remixes by Brisbane's aheadphonehome and Adelaide's Swimming) here. Naked Maja are travelling to Melbourne this Thursday to grace the Grace Darling with their presence, alongside the aforementioned Swimming as well as Sui Zhen, then stick around on Friday to join No Art (also launching a 7"), Infinite Void and Halt Ever at the Public Bar. Rad times in Melbournetown. They are playing Tassie too, not sure on the dates there though (sorry!)