#905-#901

#905. Flight Facilities (feat Reggie Watts) - Sunshine (#52, 2014)

90th of 2014

Unless I am mistaken, Reggie Watts has the extremely specific-to-me claim to fame as being the only person to have made the Hottest 100 and also appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy!. I feel like there's a strong contrast at play there too, where on that show he let his personality run pretty wild, which is what I'm used to whenever I've encountered him in anything. This song always felt like a let down for being so devoid of personality. At least he's having fun in the video.

Flight Facilities have often made pleasant sounding music. I don't think I've ever heard a song from them that is even remotely abrasive (maybe one of their later entries I suppose). It can definitely work as well, but there's usually something more to dig into. This song feels like safe radio fodder. Fine to listen to, but I can't say I've ever sought it out.

#904. Peking Duk & Jack River - Sugar (#82, 2019)

88th of 2019

If "Wasted" was a fluke misfire, then "Sugar" was the song that set the trend going forward. It barely missed the ARIA top 50, and they've never charted at all since then. They would actually recover in terms of Hottest 100 positions in the next couple of years, possibly the very early January release for this single hurt it come voting time.

Like "Wasted", this isn't a remarkable departure from their usual affair but it comes out feeling like a lesser version. The mission statement with the song is to recall the late '90s. When interviewed about it, there are a lot of names of that era thrown around. The only one that sticks for me is LEN's "Steal My Sunshine". They've definitely succeeded on that one, I think Jack River's vocals in and around the chorus nail Sharon Costanzo's backing vocals on that song. I'm not even going to count that as a negative like I think some people might be anticipating. I just think the more typical Peking Duk template interrupts the nostalgia trip a bit. Those chirping synths in the chorus are here to remind you of so many other Peking Duk songs, and more importantly that it is not really 1999.

#903. Dune Rats - 6 Pack (#55, 2017)

90th of 2017

Dune Rats are staking their claim to be one of the harder artists to write about because there's only so many ways you can approach what is largely the same bit over and over again. You'd think this gets better as it starts to reach the ones I like a bit more but it's probably the opposite.

So anyway let's talk about the music video, because that's great. I'm not sure it fully achieves comedic timing from start to finish, but the sheer absurdity of choices they make for when and where the beer can is gonna turn up next is pretty fun. Surely there's no music video in the world that references both Adolf Hitler and Steven Bradbury. It may as well just be an ad for Dunies Lager. As a non-drinker I'm in no position to comment on it, other than make the obligatory mention that it has 4.20% ABV. They see an opportunity and they take it.

The song is fine I guess without there being much to it. I feel like if you're gonna make it like this, there should probably be a joke in it. It feels like they are setting up for jokes but they don't really land. They barely even rhyme so it's not like they were restricted by the format, but then I guess I'm not the only one who struggles to get a lot of material out of this concept.

#902. Peking Duk (feat Icona Pop) - Let You Down (#20, 2017)

89th of 2017

Australia has been very supportive of Icona Pop. If not for their homeland of Sweden, we'd be their biggest market. Not only were we very early to get to "I Love It" (to the extent that it made the 2012 ARIA End Of Year list, Sweden is the only other country that has this claim), but they have a further two multi-platinum collaborations. The first was with Hottest 100 alumni Chiddy Bang on "Mind Your Manners", a #11 hit here that charted in only a handful of other places, and then this one, that charted nowhere else, as you might expect.

I've never been able to get a solid confirmation on how it works, but I've been running on the theory that this is an ideal collaboration for local content quotas. By law, all of our local broadcasters are mandated to air a certain percentage of Australian content. That percentage varies depending on the format, but the relevant one tends to be either 20% or 25%. As for what counts as Australian music, the Commercial Radio Code of Practice states: "[works] shall be regarded as being performed by an Australian if the performance is predominantly by one or more Australians". A possible interpretation is that you just need 50% of the credited people on the song to be Australian, and wouldn't you know, we've got a duo featuring a duo.

I remember being a little annoyed by the success of this song at the time. It's another one where I can't help but notice the lingering shadow that is the success of The Chainsmokers in the mid-2010s. Particularly the song "Closer", which was the biggest hit of 2016 in Australia despite only having 5 months to accumulate those figures (hard to see that happening again). But it was one of those big hits that makes everyone reset their perception of what makes a song hit for the general public, like it's a hypnotic collection of elements. "Closer" was the first time Andrew Taggart fully committed to being a vocalist on one of his own songs (which would then happen quite frequently), and the same happened here with Adam Hyde. When I talked about "Wasted", the other song he sings on, I thought he was fine. Here it just feels like it's completely out of that Chainsmokers playbook, with minimalist production and finger snaps to boot.

Fortunately there is a chorus to break that up a bit. That part feels more like the Peking Duk we're used to. It's not just jammed in their either, the song builds up appropriately into it. Not the catchiest thing they've done, and not the best drop either, but totally passable. You just have to sift through a lot of time wasted to get there.

#901. Glass Animals - Season 2 Episode 3 (#98, 2016)

92nd of 2016

There's an observation I remember seeing many years ago (before this song came out) that if you want to get a good feel on a TV show, you should watch the 3rd episode of the second season. The first season is never quite right, and any new season can sometimes take a little to get comfortable again. Now, it's possible that the numbers were a little bit different and that's why I can't find this quote. I also don't know if it was focused on serialised shows or status quo shows. I've always been one to watch everything in order so it doesn't really apply to me, but it really does emphasize how important it is to get things right quickly, lest you lose your audience to those early stumbles.

Maybe there's something in it when you talk about Glass Animals. Their first album had some hits, but the numbers tell us that way more people have been returning to "How To Be A Human Being", their season 2 as it were. This is track 3 on that album, so yes, I can see what they were doing there.

I quite liked this album at the time. I don't remember ever returning to their debut, but they clicked things into place better here. The passage of time has changed the pecking order a little bit. This song now stands as the 6th most popular on the album. The big one, "The Other Side Of Paradise" didn't register at all for this list. That's one of the songs that really made the album for me. Late in the track list, but with a hook that pops out quite nicely.

Can't say I've ever mustered much enthusiasm for this song though. It has the germination of what the band would become on their next album. A lot of those dorky, plucky synths and ruminating with nowhere to go. It's not a strong endorsement that the only thing I really ever remember about this song is the subtle vocal layering build up at the start of the chorus. It's not exaggerated, but it's just not gonna carry this up the hill on its own.