Cordrazine are back!

Cordrazine were a very talented, very underrated Aussie band, who released their debut album, From Here to Wherever, in 1997, which hit the aria charts at number 9. Their song "Crazy" made it into the JJJ hottest 100 top ten in 1998.

I actually didn't hear them until I heard another song off their album, called "Memorial Drive" on a Hangover Cure compilation, alongside other artists like Portishead, george and Paul Weller. I followed them up from here and never heard of them again.

Cordrazine had this soulful mourning cry seamlessly weaved into strong piano melodies, which I still can't resist the sound of 5 years after I first heard them.

They had broken up and gone their separate ways. Lead singer Hamish Cowan went on to do solo stuff, which I never heard or even knew about. Apparently another band member, Sam Hollaway has toured with Silverchair as their live keyboardist.
But now they're back!

I'm really interested to hear what their stuff is going to sound like 10 years after their debut. For those who can attend they're doing a gig in Victoria: information is available on the Rubber Records website.


For your listening pleasure I've added a couple of songs from the album, in anticipation of the next release.

I Never Cared Before is a tragic love ballad. I love the gospel choir that comes in towards the end of the song.

Crazy is their most well known song and has a beautiful creeping piano riff throughout it. It's indescribable but I'd say it's their most radiofriendly singalongable song. How can you not declare "I'm crazy! Craaaaazy!" when given the opportunity?!

You can buy Cordrazine's music from Rubber Records

An unfortunately eclectic sound

About 6 years ago one of my favourite bands was george. This band of five: Nick, Paulie B, Geoff and sibling singers Katie and Tyrone Noonan developed a sound that was at first embedded in progrock and jazz and went on to a more nuanced unique style.

Over some years they released three EPs. One self-titled which was only available when you attended gigs. The next two, You Can Take What's Mine, and Bastard Son/ Holiday, are probably what started a strong underground following and this was when I first heard them. I was listening to radio station JJJ's Hottest 100 and the songs "Spawn" and "Bastard Song" grabbed me.
I think it was perhaps the first time I'd heard both a male and female lead singer in the band, who seemed to divvy up between themselves the songs they'd written.

I quickly snapped up the two available EPs and saw them live at my first music festival (in fact it was my first gig or concert too) Homebake just after I'd graduated High School, the day before my schoolies trip were set to leave our Sydney homes for Brisbane (funnily enough where george came from).

Next came the Special Ones single and I was still absorbing (in particular) Katie Noonan's lush voice. However unlike the rock sound of You Can Take What's Mine the band seemed to be moving towards a softer sound. Their edge moving from the bashing out on the guitar to a punchiness to their vocals. It wasn't a bad sound, don't get me wrong. It was pleasantly assertive against the sweeping soulful orchestral sound that was starting to come through.
Though a few reacted against this, deciding to abandon the band before their debut album came out I couldn't resist them.

By the time the album was released I'd heard half the songs on the album and they were overplayed on the radio to the point of near boredom. I still like their debut album Polyserena but I couldn't help but get a little sick of it.

And I wasn't the only one. JJJ stopped playing them (except for perhaps one token song off the second album), the underground following disintergrated and was replaced by mainstream listeners who found the radiofriendly pop appealing.

In fact a few seemingly naive girls sang Katie Noonan's songs, "Special Ones," about empowerment and strumming up the courage to leave abusive relationships, in their auditions for Australian Idol. One teenage girl even confused "Special Ones" with Missy Higgins's "Special Two."

In another episode of Australian Idol Katie Noonan showed up to help some the contestants with their singing. I think this was when I started seeing this lead singer, in particular, going towards a completely different sound. One which might be overproduced and overhyped, and nothing at all like their humble beginnings and meangingful attitude.
To Katie's credit she, and her band members, are not snobs and never will be. Unlike a lot of bands with massive egos they'll play for all their listeners and appreciate everyone that listens to them, whether they be mainstream radio listeners or those with more selective tastes.

It's worth noting that these guys are not about money and never will be. My friend and I went and saw george live out the front of the Opera house for free because I was a member of their fan forum. That's the kind of attitude this band has.

Their second album didn't deviate too far from their sound and I actually found it more appealing than the debut because it was more focussed and they really utilised the orchestra they'd brought in to fill out their sound. The only drawback is the simplisticity of their lyrics, usually endearing but in the case of political songs just moralising.

Since the disappointing response of their second album they've all gone off to do side projects. Elixir, with members Nick Stewart, Katie Noonan and her (now) husband Isaac Hurren, is a gorgeous soft jazz acoustic style of music. I didn't hear much of the others.

Katie Noonan is about to release her own album. At first I thought this could be cool. Finally hearing her voice centre stage, conducting it the way she wants. She always talked about how she wanted to put forward an eclectic sound, explorative, where she'd be everyday learning what sounds work for her and what don't. For a lot of artists this approach pays off.

But I think in this case Katie's sound suffers. If you take a look at her myspace you can see just what direction her sound has gone in: here

"Quiet Day" is not quite as overproduced as "Time to Begin" but that's probably because it's one of her older songs (from the "Breathe In Now" single, released from the debut album). However "Time to Begin" sounds like a rattle in a tin. Seems like Katie has relaxed a little and sung into a mic and let someone do the rest on a computer.
Highly disappointing considering how talented she is on the piano.

george are on a break at the moment but hopefully when they're working together again they'll return to form.


If nothing else you can't help but admire some of their influences. On their Special Ones single Katie and Ty sung together a cover of the Church's Under the Milky Way

*Bonus* george - She Smiles

You can buy george music from their website

Blissful Nightmare Suburbia

It was innevitable that I would mention my favourite tv show of all time Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Joss Whedon's series carried a huge following, which still seems to be growing in number. It was the show I grew up with. As I went through high school I watched Buffy, Willow and Xander, along with Giles and others who came and left (and usually returned), struggle through common, and not-so-common, day-to-day life "issues."

By the time I'd finished my English undergrad degree I was already determined to do English honours and write my thesis on Buffy. Honestly I didn't think the academic staff would allow it. After all there is that wanky level of highbrow expectation that often comes with one's entry into the academic world. And despite its arbitrariness there is some legitimacy to the expectation that you write something for a reason.

Unfortunately because I was such a committed fan I was too ambivalent about what to write on, specifically. Also my co-ordinator and I seemed to come from completely different directions. The end result was a confusing mishmash of identity, morality and the bonds of kinship.

Only now do I see stronger ideas which would have provided a more comprehensive and comprehendible argument. Apart from ideas like the use of the English language or inconsistencies between athiesm and altruism, one patrticular point which sticks out for me is the way Joss Whedon (like many others) set the evils of of hell in the middle of a predominantly white middle-class suburban town.

In itself this isn't the most unique setting for a horror film or series. American Gothic and Sopranos are just two other examples of series which have observed the hidden darkness of suburbia.

So then, what might've also drawn me to Buffy was my gradation from naive white middle-class surburban boy to... well, white middle-class suburban man, hopefully now a little less naive about the world and its atrocities. Over time I've grappled with images of war and trying to understand why I was born into a first-world country, while others suffer in third-world countries.

Perhaps the most shocking thing of all is that some of those who live in fortunate suburbs turn their backs on those that aren't like them. I'll never quite be sure if it's because of our fear of others or if it's some deranged way of showing gratitude.
I'm not talking here about our neglect towards third-world countries. Any sort of levelling between all nations is likely impossible though all help you can give is personally worth it.
What I have in mind here, however, is derogatory attitudes towards minorities. Of particular interest is the (still fairly recent) 2004 Cronulla riots.
For those who are unfamiliar with the events, the long and short of it is that some lifeguards were elegedly beaten up by a supposed gang of men of middle-eastern or lebanese appearance. Within a week the media's beatup of the attack and some irresponsible aggressors led to what was tagged as a "leb and wog bashing day." Of course that meant that those of middle-eastern or lebanese appearance keeping to themselves and trying to enjoy a Sunday in Cronulla were attacked by drunken flag-toting wankers. I've added some links at the bottom of this post if you'd like to read more about these events.

Clearly it is worth addressing what it is that motivates this mentality and what it might mean if we change it.
The problem is that it seems like any change or modification to places like the Sutherland Shire (which Cronulla is a part of) might, presumably, mean the very breakdown of such places. The question then is whether or not this would be a good thing. Obviously nothing is black and white and nothing comes without a cost but surely there is a happy medium wherein people of different colours, shapes, ethnicites and religions can coexist. It's not unreasonable to think we'd be better off knowing one another than keeping from one another. If anything we'd be smarter.

What I liked about Buffy was that though it explored this it didn't take a hard line or come up with a simplistic answer. Even as I read my own words about coexisting I'm rolling my eyes. The beauty of Buffy was that it was just proposing the reality of Suburbia and why many who live in these areas might feel dissatisfied with all they have (which often seems to be the case as we consume and scratch our heads over riots).

I was watching a visual arts documentary series episode on ABC the other week (which unfortunately I can't find any information about at the moment) and it was about artists from the suburbs and the many ways in which their artworks explored their homelife. There were those who were positive and neutral about suburban life. But one artist who made darker observations of suburban life posited that the eerieness of suburbs, the reason why we might see lush homes with people simply going about their daily life under a negative moral banner is because, as he put it, the suburbs are the profits of war.

So how does all this fit in with Buffy? Well, given the sophistication of the series it never directly touches on the specific example of discrimination towards minorities. However it is all suggested in the kinds of characters presented throughout the show. For example one character, Anya, grasps with her identity as an ex-demon and is used to highlight the fragility of humanity and our ineptitude when it comes to showing diplomacy towards others. Because of this she is only really ever loved by Xander. Buffy, Willow and Giles never really accept her as one of the group, even after her few attempts to gain their friendship.
And time and time again throughout each season of Buffy, our hero protects Sunnydale from vampires, demons, hybrids and gods (to name a few); going to war each time to maintain order in the world, but more specifically, maintain order in Sunnydale (which rapidly seems to deteriote from season to season).

By the end of the series Buffy and the surviving characters of the show stand looking at a demolished Sunnydale. Something accomplished by them, not the enemy, in order to destroy the hellmouth (on which Sunnydale stood). This has enormous symbolic contribution towards the suburban lifestyle.
Of course, Whedon is not suggesting we blow up all these suburbs in order to free ourselves from it. I see it more as a deconstruction. It's a challenge to our perceptions of suburban life. Is this really something we need or is it keeping us from something more meaningful?

But it doesn't stop there. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a franchise. You can still buy figurines, novels, comics, read/write fanfic on it. And I'm partial to the occassional Slayerfest dvd viewing when I have the time.
Even Whedon hasn't left it, as he goes on to write and direct upcoming features like Goners or contribute towards comic series Xmen. Despite the cancellation of Buffy and seeing the actors part ways and sadly go on to some abysmal roles (like Sarah Michelle Gellar's washed-out character in The Grudge or Alyson Hannigan's sickly sitcom-laced character in How I Met Your Mother) Joss has been writing an Eighth season via comic.

So far I've only read the first comic (out of what I believe will end up being 22+ comic "episodes" long). Thankfully because it is Whedon's vision continuing on (and not a novelist) I still find myself drawn to it and excited by the script and even the images as events unfold.

But one moment from the first comic I particularly loved was Buffy's yearning for home. After she destroyed Sunnydale I wasn't sure I accepted the half smile on her face as she considered the prospect of a "free" (baked cookies) life.
Despite Whedon's criticism of suburban life he also seems to appreciate the desire for its warmth and comfort. And who can resist that?


Links on Cronulla Riots: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-mob-sang-waltzing-matilda/2005/12/11/1134235951620.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1529041.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1528637.htm

Link for accessible Buffy academic content: http://slayageonline.com/

If you'd like to Buy Buffy on dvd and you are American or have a multiregion dvd player I recommend the Chosen collection. Unlike other "complete collection" editions the Chosen collection comes with an extra disc of bonus features and a letter from Joss Whedon.
http://www.amazon.com/Buffy-Vampire-Slayer-Collectors-discs/dp/B000AQ68RI/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4118892-9443052?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1182650164&sr=1-1