Brisbane’s record labels have united:
“Believed to be a world first, soundslikebrisbane (SLB) is bringing together the city’s indie labels under the one banner – already 17 independent labels are represented, with more to join the fold soon. They are giving you a taste of the collective with a free Brisbane music sampler available online now. Covering every genre from garage rock and indie, to jazz, hip-hop, country and pop, the labels define the creative melting pot that Brisbane has become.”
And this week, they’re bringing a little bit of Oz to TVD, as every day, we’ll be featuring a few of the bands from the soundslikebrisbane collective.
Halfway
“Halfway are an 8 piece band from Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane has a vibrant music scene which over the years has produced bands like The Saints, The Go-Betweens, and The Bee Gees.
We started Halfway in 2000 and since then have made three albums. Our influences are diverse. We listen to anything from The Smiths to Townes Van Zandt.
Halfway | Oscar
On our most recent An Outpost of Promise we were fortunate enough to work with Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) as producer. In recording Outpost we made a conscious decision that the record would be primarily for a 12” vinyl release. Planning it out in two halves of 22 minutes each and constantly keeping in mind the track listing, song times, etc.
Our vinyl lacquers and masters were done by Bob Weston (Shellac) at Chicago Mastering Service. We were very pleased with the results and will definitely follow a similar process on our fourth LP which we are planning to record in early 2012.”
—John Busby
Ektoise
“Ektoise exists because we don’t hear anyone in music that pushes the limits of expression far enough. We make it our mission to create fresh sounds that have not been explored, amalgamations of different styles and moods that take you places you have never been. Our self-titled debut album touches on rock, electronica, drone, ambient, free jazz, musique concrète, death metal, power electronics, shoegaze, Persian classical, techno and psychedelia, often within the same song, and the follow-up will take this even further!
Ektoise | The Thought Police (Bitten by The Black Dog)
My record collection is equally diverse, featuring albums by artists as disparate as Herbie Hancock and Decapitated, Tori Amos and Neurosis. I have a particular interest in Coil releases as they tended to always issue really special vinyl. I’m especially proud of my Worhip the Glitch art edition, hand-made by Jhonn Balance and numbered 1 of 40!
Unfortunately there is not much in the way of specialty vinyl stores in Brisbane (only Rocking Horse gets a good variety of new vinyl releases) but I’m able to satiate my appetite for wax online, notably via Dicogs, which is a blessing because of the sheer volume of records for sale and a curse for this same reason! Being so widely used worldwide, there are things available on there that you would never in your life see in an Australian music store.
Aside from expanded artwork and impressive packaging, vinyl demands more subdued mastering and this tends to be to the benefit of the music. Taking a more gentle approach to compression allows more breathing room for the sounds in the mix, which gives an added clarity and expanded sense of space. This said, even when CDs are all mastered well (and there is a definite move in this direction nowadays) I will still buy vinyl instead!
When we secured remixes by Bola and The Black Dog, there was no question that we had to do a vinyl release of some sort. Regretably we couldn’t afford to do a 12” but we made sure the 7” we released had impecable design and colour jacket and labels as well as wonderful sound quality, and we released a limited edition with art prints for the first 27 pre-orders. We cannot wait til the day we can issue the entire catalog on wax!”
—Greg Reason
