by Camera
Camera Phantom of Liberty (PBS feature record)
Like most media-created genre tags ‘krautrock’ is vexatious for a bunch of reasons – the inherent racism of the term of course principal among them. Kosmicshe musik (literally cosmic music) is a far more fitting description of the peculiar strains of experimental music that emerged from a divided Germany in the late 1960s, and unlike krautrock, is a term the originators themselves often used.
Berlin’s Camera owe more to their Dusseldorf forebears Neu! and Kraftwerk than the minimal ambient school for which their city was known in the 1970s, yet still manage to recall both driving percussive motorik and formless electronic styles on their third LP Phantom of Liberty, sometimes within the same track. The album’s use of the genre’s hallmarks and synthesis into something neu makes this an essential addition to the collection of any fan of Germany’s experimental avant garde.
Two Steps On The Water God Forbid Anyone Look Me in the Eye (Featured on The Breakfast Spread)
God Forbid Anyone Look Me in the Eye is a devastating and sprawling look into the world of Two Steps on the Water. June Jones, Sienna Thornton and Jonathan Nash have incredible musical chemistry. Songs swell and shift in feel as the three stretch out on "Ships in the Night" and "Words in my Mouth". Thornton's violin work is particularly great - able to change moods at will and providing beautiful flourishes throughout. June Jones' songwriting is powerful and direct - exploring themes of transness, loneliness and violence. Her voice is incredible and conveys strength and vulnerability in equal measures. Jones' ability to convey something huge in a single line shines brightly on YoYo - "If the world don't love you, then the world is wrong".
2016 has been a year of growth and change in Melbourne music. Bands like Two Steps, Camp Cope, Chelsea Bleach and Spike Fuck are rewriting the simplistic narrative of punk rock as the domain of male aggression and disaffection. Things are being pushed into complicated and difficult spaces - assessing both the personal and structural - forcing artists and audiences to look at how their subcultures replicate the oppression of the society they distance themselves from and question their roles within them.
Two Steps on the Water deliver a stunning record. It'll burrow into your chest and live their for a long while.
Review by Nick Brown, The Breakfast Spread, 6-9am weekdays.
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