The Formative Years - Sonic Youth

My relationship with Sonic Youth is an interesting one in that I have been listening to them since the early 1990s and while I never not appreciated them for carving their own niche by redefining what could be done with guitars via their unorthodox tunings, as a juvenile delinquent I found them a tad too tame sonically to wave my pom poms for them in public, especially after they experienced mainstream success.

It was not until 2011 when triggered by learning about the divorce of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore that I made a deliberate effort to dive into their back catalogue only to realise what a brilliant, trailblazing band it was and how vitally  important they were for what was to become labelled as noise rock.

Formed in 1981, they released their debut 7” on Neutral Records - a fairly conventional effort even by post-punk standards. Following tours and osmosis with the Swans, things started to get interesting with their Confusion is Sex album and the subsequent Kill Yr Idols EP, which saw them taking a deliberate detour into louder, more dissonant territory. 

Following a fairly successful tour of Europe, 1985 saw the release of the album Bad Moon Rising, which in essence sounds like a dedicated drawn-out artsy jam session with Americana being the common denominator theme-wise.

Their debut on SST Records, i.e., EVOL, saw Sonic Youth starting to refine their DNA: Darker and more in charge of channeling their alchemy to make it more immediate and tense yet interweaved with glitter-poppy parts and raw instrumental bits. There is an intriguing, underlying unease which throughout the album builds up and eventually culminates in a seven-minute-long cacophonous noise crescendo.

Fast forward to 1990 and the release of Goo, their major label debut with the iconic Raymond Pettibon cover artwork, which saw them expand on alt-rock stylings and becoming more accessible without alienating their core fan base.  

By utilizing and recontextualizing recorded sounds as raw material, fragmenting and merging it with their trademark knack for tonal elasticity and reconciling it all with garage-punk’s structural conventions. It is one of my favourite alternative rock albums and is still a pleasure to listen to back-to-back thirty years later.

Water of Life

Headlands Distilling  Company 

With widespread international recognition and appreciation consistently expanding, Australia’s craft distillery scene is growing exponentially and especially the last couple of years have seen distilleries mushroom across the country. While more often than not there are always interesting drops to be found and innovative takes on the craft of distilling to be discovered, there are few Australian distilleries whose emissions have entered my steady rotation of sippers.

However, Headlands Distilling is one of them.

Based out of Wollongong and having honed their craft by first creating their own premium grade vodka, the founders meticulously analysed each facet of the variables that contribute to creating a quality distillate and how to calibrate it to arrive at exactly the taste profile they envisioned, for which the scientific background and connection to the University of Wollongong came in handy as it allowed them access to the gear of the science department. 

Once their approach has been refined and with their own customised energy-efficient distillation setup centred around their sustainable approach and the minimisation of waste, they started to branch out into gin and related spirits.  

Luckily, early on in their journey they started putting down barrels to produce whiskey with new and unique flavour profiles, with all barley sourced locally and most of the used barrels obtained from local Australian wineries specialising in fortified wines, which they then shaved and re-charred.

As I unfortunately missed out on Headland Distillery’s debut Bourbon cask release, my first exposure to how they channel their alchemy was via a recent batch of their 5-year old Single Malt  Apera Cask, i.e. the down under equivalent to Spanish Oloroso barrels.

Upon approach, the nostrils are tickled by floral and dried fruity notes, which sit against a backdrop of spicy, rich malty and honeyed smoke.  

On the top of the mouth, dried fruits, vanilla and walnuts form a union and unfold their magic enhanced by a underlying, subtly honeyed smokiness that seamlessly transitions into the lingering finish, which reverberates with chocolate and toasted marshmallow flavours.
Clocking in at a moderate 46%, a wonderfully complex and well-calibrated drop.

Headlands’ Muscat Cask expression has been refined by napping in fifteen year old Seppeltsfield Rare Muscat oak casks, a fortified wine varietal exclusive to the Victorian Rutherglen region.

The drop knows to reel one in with the fragrant top floral aromas, which sit on a dominant backbone of fresh raisins and dates. 
On the palate sweet rich lychee fruits take over with a warming mouthfeel, followed by hints of browned butter and caramelized sugar, contrasted by a crescendo of vanilla and charred oak notes.

With their wholesome approach to distilling, Headlands Distillery has its focus firmly set on calibrating their pricing targeting the sweet spot between catering to them creating premium products and the implications of producing in a country with some of the highest excise taxes on alcoholic spirits, yet not being too expensive compared to international distilleries, which benefit from economy of scale.

The biggest compliment I can make extend to Headlands Distilling Co. is that despite me harbouring a devoted preference for whisky, I immensely enjoy their Tidal Lines Plum Gin, which not only is a deliberate nod to their turf via soaking local plums in gin to then have it matured for a year in French Oak wine barrels for twelve months, but proves to be sippable with complex flavour profile courtesy of orris and angelica root, cinnamon, fresh juniper and juniper berries needing neither soda or tonic to stand for itself.

For anyone having an appreciation for spirits, it will not be difficult to see that Headlands Distillery ( https://headlands.com.au ) with their talented, agile and ambitious approach paired substantiated by their focus on creating value and quality in each facet of their offerings, will go far and evolve to become an internationally sought after brand. 

You will want to get in early… 

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image from company website

The Formative Years

Public Image Ltd 

It did not take long after being introduced to the Sex Pistols as a prepubescent that I started to acquire all of their records available at mainstream stores and religiously absorb any information available. Clearly, Sid Vicious was everything one should aspire to when it came to being a punk and served as a role model as far as aesthetics were concerned. Given the superficial shock value of what I loved about John Simon Ritchie and the  immediacy of the Sex Pistols’ musical delivery, I was a bit taken aback when I checked out John Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols endeavour Public Image Ltd. 

While I got the anti-rock sentiment and experimental nature of PiL, I was more looking to graduate to Discharge-style bands than a sound that seemed to draw on krautrock, disco, dub and progressive rock to create something new.

Revisiting PiL a couple of years later, I started to develop an appreciation for how far ahead of his time Lydon was when he confidently trailblazed into uncharted avantgarde territory, fusing world music and reggae, as early as 1978 while technically still fronting the Sex Pistols.

Lyrically and theme-wise, songs like "Public Image", "Egomaniac traitor", "Religion" could have been taken from any Sex Pistols album and the live performances were not far off in terms of confrontational and taunting antics, but musically it seemed unlike anything that had been done before with the band focussing on never delivering what the audience might have expected.

In essence, Public Image Limited was much angrier than the Sex Pistols could have ever been, frustrated by the limitations and expectations imposed by their own environment, the music industry and society at large and infused with internally directed anger, frustration and a keen willingness to experiment took the punk sentiment and raw emotion to the next level.

With the post punk foundations set by PiL boundary pushing explorations, doors were kicked open for bands as diverse as Sonic Youth, Talking Heads and Red Hot Chili Peppers to blossom and bloom, making them a timeless band always worth rediscovering for anyone remotely interested in the history of underground music.

What’s Sumatra With You

Will & Co.

I dig coffee – my brain has grown accustomed to the arousal it produces, which results in my feeling passionate about it in a manner that is reminiscent of what Honoré de Balzac penned about and inspired by a cup of quality java. 

A good double espresso in the morning does the trick to catapult me straight into productive mode and when my preferred barista is out of reach, it is vital to have the right ingredients to be able to brewing a good cup myself.

While the process of pressuring H2O through grounded coffee beans sounds easy enough, if stars align re: smell, body, acidity, and the chemical reactions set off by the perfectly calibrated heat of the roasting process, something magical happens no matter if the end results tastes bold, fruity or more complex with nuances of citrus and berries.

While there may be many ambiguous variables contributing to complexity and balance along with what is camouflaged by marketing, every now and then one comes across something truly special when looking for the good stuff.

Enter Will & Co.

With a love for coffee and complimentary skills as the common denominator, the collective known as Will & Co set out to make each facet of the coffee process, from sourcing the best beans through to delivery into cup, the best they possibly can.

Understanding the appreciation of coffee as a holistic whole much greater than the sum of obvious individual factors, Will & Co. channel their alchemy in sourcing, blending and making coffee both with a scientific and artisanal approach. 

Case in point: Will & Co’s ‘Big Dog’ Probat Drum roaster, which with its slower, more controlled approach to roasting brings out complex flavour nuances.

My favourite Will & Co. expression is their signature "Eight-o-Eight" (808) blend of 100% Arabica beans from Guatemalan and Brazilian origins. With a carefully calibrated balance between the Guatemalan beans having  grown at high altitude in rich, fertile volcanic soil between the Agua, Fuego & Acatenango volcanoes in Antigua and the Brazilian equivalent sourced from the tropical savannah regions, the result is a medium-dark-bodied tour de force of floral, slightly acidic aromas dancing on a hazelnutty foundation, which is rounded out via a dominant caramel note.

Three-Oh-Three is Will & Co’s lighter roast with a vibrant acidity, calibrated at a level that allows for nuances on the smoother end of the flavour spectrum to shine, i.e. sweet and buttery layers of caramel that are pervaded by slightly tarty, peanutty and earthy notes, which set the scene for the elongated yet crisp citrussy and zesty crescendo. 

Given the quality of what I have had the chance to sample from Will & Co’s, a visit to their café in Bondi Beach seems mandatory.

The Formative Years

Sun Ra

There are few musical genres that I enjoy more than jazz when it comes to unwinding and blowing the cobwebs out. While it was not certainly not love at first sight and had to be steadily cultivated, listening to jazz and experimental music has become a nurturing and gratifying experience.

One of the protagonist’s that blew my mind and significantly broadened my horizons from an early age on, was one Herman Poole Blount, i.e. the entity known as Sun Ra and his “Arkestra”, as with his theatrical and philosophical approach, it accumulated to so much more than mere music.

Blount perfectioned the alter ego approach by severing mundane and worldly ties early on by incarnating as an alien mythical persona with his focus set on preaching peace.

Claiming that Sun Ra’s output is both prolific and eclectic would be an understatement par excellence as he shaped an idiosyncratic mélange of nearly any genre known to man, informed by a core interest for jazz, a penchant for free improvisation and the usage and adaptation of synthesizers and keyboards as early as when they became publicly accessible.

Having recorded well over a thousand songs, one would be hard pressed to make any recommendations, as not matter how diverse and unique his recordings are, I have yet to come across one that I do not enjoy.

In many aspects, Sun Ra was a prodigious musical talent, a renaissance man and a prototype that was never considered for mass production, who left behind an unrivalled musical and philosophical legacy that kicked into full gear once the psychedelia and beat generation started to embrace and champion him.

Sun Ra claimed that in the 1930s he had an enlightening semi-religious experience with aliens that set him on the path to speak through music and the world would listen. 

And listen I should as I became infatuated with his unique piano playing technique, which was informed by many styles, lest influences of classical composers.

Sun Ra’s oeuvre is often subdivided into three phases, i.e. Chicago (seeing the evolution of big band swing into cosmic jazz), the New York phase (informed by an unbridled will to experiment, free improvisation, unusual instrumentation and the use of new technologies) and the more conventional Philadelphia swinging and energetic jazz based phase. I recommend checking out his emissions from each one of them.

With his mission to elevate humanity beyond their mundane earthbound state, which gave birth to Afrofuturism as a musical tradition of performing blackness that remains relevant as a counternarrative to the status quo today, Sun Ra occupies a unique space in the cultural cannon.