#390-#386

#390. Peking Duk - Chemicals (#42, 2021)

35th of 2021

I was being a little silly last time I brought up Sarah Aarons. I said that the next time we see her on this list, it'll be in an uncredited capacity, because there were two entries to go from her and that's the case for both of them. I could've leaned even harder into the bit and said that it was on a Peking Duk song, because that's also the case with both of them. Normally when a producer collaborates with the same singer multiple times, there's a desire to group them together as being alike, and often they just are. Maybe not having her name on the two entries is contributing to this, but when I hear "Chemicals" and a certain other unnamed Peking Duk song, I don't hear them in the same way. I do however think of another yet to be named Peking Duk song when "Chemicals" comes around, in a way that's admittedly difficult to talk about with these restrictions. Unfortunately I placed that song too high on this list, if you get my drift.

This was a belated realisation for me when I was putting this list together but it seems so obvious now. That drop is doing very familiar things. I'm very interested in looking at songs that sound like other ones, and whether or not there's some merit to the new approach. I think a lot of modern remixes of old songs work on the principle that you can clean it up a little and make it fit better for the current day. Just an undeniable feeling of freshness as long as you can get past the potential sacrilege. More video game references here but I was recently going through "Yooka-Replaylee", essentially a rebuilt version of Playtonic's 3D platformer revival game. It edges over some of the rougher parts of the original game in a way that's undeniably more palatable, but deciding if it's a straight improvement or just a waste of time is complicated. Just being modernised is the main mission statement and it excels there. It is interesting in each of these cases to look at the decisions being made, what works and what doesn't. It's undeniably an advantage to have the hindsight of realising what worked in the first place and building around that.

So if I were to briefly acknowledge a Peking Duk song I'll talk more about later, I'll just say that it has some funny sounding synths. Maybe you like those synths, maybe your perception of what electronic music, or what Peking Duk's music should sound like, was forged in those bloops. "Chemicals" just feels like a second go around that tidies it all up. It lacks the cultural impact of being a big hit, but I think when given a chance on its own merits, you've got a big single that can reach similar heights. Or maybe it's just completely inessential. I dunno, I've enjoyed going back to it.

#389. San Cisco - RUN (#33, 2014)

41st of 2014

I think the ARIA Charts in 2014 are a little funny in ways that only continue to expose themselves over time. I spoke a bit about it when covering CHVRCHES' "Get Away" (#555). When I look at those pre-streaming days, I just see a bunch of things that I've gotten accustomed to not seeing. San Cisco used to just pop up on the charts pretty regularly. They had their last chart entry in 2015 (I haven't written about this one yet), but "RUN" was a strange last hurrah considering it charted a fair amount higher than surrounding singles.

I suppose it begs the question of the respective significance we can pour into both the ARIA Charts, and triple j's Hottest 100. They both share an overlap in their respective audiences, and they have an exclusivity to them that comes with having a preset limit on how many titles can appear. Hottest 100 voting has only gone up, generally speaking, while ARIA Chart activity has also gone up, pushing out some potential entries that no longer have a big enough share of the market to get in. "RUN" is definitely one of their more notable singles in the moment, which is why it's also their 3rd highest ever entry in the Hottest 100, behind "Awkward" naturally, but also "Reasons" (#495). I want to use the pandemic excuse again for "Reasons" but theoretically that would go over to the ARIA Charts as well. It's just a clear showing that the same metric for popularity no longer cuts it. It's so much harder to make the ARIA Charts nowadays.

I think about this with respect to "RUN" because in my mind, it's got the sauce. There's a basic skeleton to it that I think could easily work in a global pop context, just that super catchy simplistic beat that's a little odd as well. The same kind of irritating but impossible to ignore aspect as an "APT.", that makes me think that the chart performance could be seen as a realisation of that. A San Cisco song cannot chart unless it somehow breaks out from the specific San Cisco audience to something bigger, and that means branching out the appeal in some form or another. Or maybe it's just something that's quicker to latch onto. Some of these previous San Cisco entries have been pretty slow burners, but I was on board with this immediately. I think the chorus does a good job of keeping up the momentum, and it's just a song that completely succeeds at what it's trying to do. The only frustration I have is the uppercase title, so it has a tenuous seat at the table of the most common Hottest 100 song title. If all those other entrants felt like it, they could easily just leave San Cisco out of the guest list since they're winning either way. I'll bet that's exactly what those Snow Patrol guys would want.

#388. FIDLAR - By Myself (#12, 2019)

28th of 2019

triple j loves an in-joke. This can be in the most literal sense since when I first started listening, I noticed there was an active focus on comedy as one of the areas of focus. You'd have comedians coming in to do bits, or just full on sketch shows that mostly never really nailed a high calibre, but brought in a familiar absurdity. I felt like I was in on these jokes I didn't even understand.

It's an attitude that extended to the playlist. There's never been a shortage of songs that have landed on triple j rotation and are some level of novel or bizarre. It can produce camaraderie between the presenters and the audience as we're all just marvelling at this thing that was just playing. Every few months we've got to hear that spoken word routine about the f-word.

There's a different breed I want to talk about though, which are the songs that are relatively innocuous, but get picked up all the same. Maybe it's just a funny lyric that sticks out, like the AlunaGeorge 'buttplug' mondegreen in "Not Above Love", or something that's a little brazenly silly and we're all fascinated by it. Ice cream is gonna save the world...again. It creates this wholly unique canon of music that allows some songs and artists to punch way above their weight because they tapped into something weird.

I find it interesting when it happens with relatively established artists. Sometimes your biggest or only Hottest 100 hit can be something totally left field. I think The Rapture are a band whose hype peaked very quickly with their debut album. They had some other noteworthy songs over the years, but they were strictly in the Interpol zone and living off that strong start. In 2008 they put out the song "No Sex For Ben", a song with a noted advantage of appearing on the soundtrack to the very popular "Grand Theft Auto IV". It was inexplicably one of the most played songs of the last 20 years on triple j, something you don't notice until it's pointed out and you think 'yeah, they did play that song a lot'. It worked though and by Hottest 100 canon, The Rapture are a massive one hit wonder with a song that just looks strange in the top 20 for its year. Ben Rymer, bigger than "Skinny Love", bigger than "Time to Pretend". It was also a Timbaland production that outranked "Pork & Beans", so make of that what you will.

I'll admit that I don't fully consider "By Myself" to be in the same group of songs. By all accounts it fits, FIDLAR are just too left field to be a serious Hottest 100 contender, except here they are at #12. It's an inherently silly song too. I think though it's too aware of the fact. When I first heard the song, I thought there was some potential crossover potential because they'd really figured out how to crack this audience. It worked, of course it did.

There aren't many artists that make sense to compare to FIDLAR here. I'd say PUP is the closest but they couldn't ever make it in. It's a sound with a lot of potential on triple j, energetic skate punk that's always gonna be welcome on the playlist. It's something that works better with local artists though. You need to be like The Wombats and start effectively living in Australia, otherwise I think we're gonna prioritise our own product.

In truth, FIDLAR got pretty close beforehand. 2015 saw dual top 200 entries with "40oz. On Repeat" at #109, and "West Coast" at #157. It felt like the likely peak of their powers with just how much airplay they were getting at the time. They're great songs too, "West Coast" is one of the best new inclusions on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater remakes. "No Waves" from the album beforehand is another winner, an essential marker of the time it came out.

Then comes "By Myself", and it's a temporary game-changer. They took their bratty punk sound and found a way to make it impossible to ignore, focusing on an unforgettable hook. 'I'm cracking one open with the boys, by myself' is not exactly poetry, but I find myself admiring it a lot anyway. It's almost like a form of sacrilege because they're grafting something onto an already clunky phrase, and that's why I'm so amused. Just perfect comedic timing I guess. Almost in a real life meta sense as well. Can you believe that yet another song with serious pandemic vibes came out in 2019? Hard to think there's a world where the song becomes even more of a novelty than it already is. It's not the only lyric. The whole thing is a new rendition of Afroman's "Because I Got High", just an endless series of potentially serious issues played off in a relaxed self-deprecating way. It might not be my most ideal way to get FIDLAR into the picture, but on its own, it's a song I've never stopped having fun with.

#387. Flume (feat Toro y Moi) - Shooting Stars - Like A Version (#30, 2022)

37th of 2022

I can never be sure who's reading this, so I'm gonna relish the opportunity to go over the back story to the full extent. I've been familiar with Bag Raiders going back to their first two singles. "Fun Punch" and "Turbo Love" are very memorable to me. Exhilarating electronica that still sounds pretty fresh today. In other news, neither of these songs are properly available on streaming services anymore. As far as Spotify is concerned, their debut single is "Shooting Stars".

I'm gonna guess that you know that one, or at least you're familiar with the part of it that's used in all the memes. I think it holds a very peculiar place in popular culture because it's a song that by all accounts was a very noteworthy hit in its relevant circles, top 20 in the Hottest 100 from a band that had no prior taste of success, and spent a decent while on the ARIA Chart as well. There was no novelty to be had here, it was just 'hey, this is a good song, and people like it'. It is a good song; people are right to like it.

When I say that the song spent a while on the ARIA Chart, it didn't quite make the top 50 back when it was released. That came years later as you know when the song became a viral sensation. This happened in 2013 when Australia's Got Talent contestant Tommy Franklin did an exhilarating dance to the song, it's worth a watch. There's nothing resembling a pratfall or spinning out of control, just infectious standing energy. Then a few years later it became a YouTube meme and maybe one of the oldest ones that I still see new iterations of to this day. It's funny to look at KnowYourMeme's documentation of it, seeing the gradual development of it from humble beginnings. I can't prove it, but it's possible that the death of Harambe the gorilla contributed to the meme's birth. Apparently it's had another resurgence in the 2020s thanks to Mufasa & Hypeman finding a new format of spreading good vibes dancing alongside a moving car (a bit like the "In My Feelings" videos I suppose), so it's a rare song that's gone viral for multiple different reasons now. Shame I couldn't be posting this one on a Friday.

I find that specific kind of song that fosters unironic love but also novelty love so interesting, especially if the two don't really interact with each other. I think a lot of the people who love "Africa" by Toto aren't aware of its newfound novelty status, and many who are coming into it that way can't think of it as a monstrously popular and normal song of its time. Based on interviews they've given over the years, Bag Raiders initially seemed a bit reluctant to the idea of what the song has become, but have likely warmed to it. Hard to say it hasn't given them a greater legacy. Their one big song is more famous than anything RÜFÜS DU SOL have ever done.

In the midst of all this, Flume covered the song for Like A Version. I must once again criticise the memory of young Flume in one of these interviews, because he mentions listening to the Bag Raiders EP when he was about 12, but he would have been about 16 or 17 at least. I have no doubt that he's someone who grew up loving the song and is now loving the global exposure it's getting. I also learnt that Flume was a childhood saxophonist, until he discovered he can make music on his computer instead.

While I am rating this as a recording, I do think it's impossible to avoid acknowledging the video for it. Not that Like A Version is a strictly live performance anymore, but if you choose to buy into it, it's an incredible translation from what you heard on the radio to seeing what was actually going on at the time. Flume starts off by living up to the stereotype, putting in the CD and pressing play. Then he just stands around while Toro y Moi is singing, until it's time to pull out the saxophone. Through Toro y Moi's idea, the song's tempo picks up the pace into something resembling '90s hardstyle, and then a bunch of completely jacked dudes just enter the scene to start flexing. Flume & Toro y Moi both completely stop actually performing on the track but become a mesmerising part of the whole tapestry. I can't get enough of it. Sheer absurdity that's not being acknowledged at all. I wouldn't say Hardstyle is my scene at all, but as a one off instance, this nails the brief.

#386. The National - Graceless (#64, 2013)

50th of 2013

I only get one chance to go in with this band and I won't f**k us over, I'm writing this in November.

I'm not about to say it was a good thing or anything like that, but the timing of the pandemic worked out reasonably well for me. I was pretty prepared to take most of my pursuits online, and a lot of the important things got finished before I had to worry about navigating new circumstances and facing cancellations of things I was looking forward to. I'd already graduated, I was about ready to stop seeing a psychologist, and I completed my USA adventure just in the nick of time. It's hard to imagine that BROCKHAMPTON show in January 2020 would've ever happened if it got cancelled the first time, so I got to appreciate it even more in hindsight. Everything was checked off in the end. Except for The National.

I can't exactly remember when I first heard about The National. They pose a logistic issue in determining this because they not only have a thoroughly unmemorable name, but one that's also primed to get mixed up. Was I aware of the album "Boxer" in 2007, or was I just hearing about the band Grand National who also released an album that year, and the album "Grand National" by John Butler Trio which was very popular at the time? I'm not sure I would have paid much attention to them either way given that their music wasn't the kind to appeal to me then, but I like having a definitive answer to my own life's mysteries.

The issue was alleviated by the time the next album came around though. "High Violet" singlehandedly took The National from beloved blog hype to one of the biggest indie rock bands in the world. A rare case of a band that seizes their big 'new label, new hype' album into an instant success that doubles as their most beloved album. There might be some debate on this, but it's hard to find a source that won't strongly suggest it's one of the big ones. For a while, I just knew the song "Bloodbuzz Ohio", liked it a lot, and moved on with my life. I'd keep hearing more and then eventually dig into the whole album and get mildly obsessed with it for a while. If we're talking front to back listens, it's well up there as one of the albums I am most familiar with. My mum seemed to like it a lot as well, which can be nice.

A few years later I found out they were coming to Australia and I wanted to get tickets, but I was too late and it was sold out. I hadn't really ever been to a live show before but I'd seen performances from them online and it sold me on the idea of this slow & moody band actually being an unmissable experience. You'd never think Matt Berninger is one of the world's biggest rock star showmen, and yet look at him go. I can't believe this man thinks that when he walks into the room, he doesn't light it up, f**k. It's a nice idea in theory to say 'oh, I'll just go to the next show'. A perk of living in Western Australia means that you're at the whims of touring itineraries. We don't get it as bad as South Australia, but it's a lot less practical to fly over when you're just thousands of kilometres away from any other form of civilisation. Almost no one is immune to skipping over Perth in tours. Billie Eilish didn't even come here last time. The National skipped us over for their next tour, and I was getting a bit worried I'd never get the chance until they finally announced a tour for their 2019 album, coming to Australia, and even this part of it the year after.

This obviously did not end up happening. We were so close too, as the show was only postponed 4 days before it was supposed to happen. It was rescheduled to be late in the year, but when it became apparent that certain individuals' projections for the pandemic slipping away weren't quite on the ball, the show just ended up being cancelled. Rest assured though, in 2023 I got tickets again. Though I couldn't take my mum in the end, I finally got to see The National in 2024, fulfilling a decade long wish. It was great, I wish I was able to secure a closer spot, and I guess I wish I could have tinkered the setlist more to my liking (they weren't a total buzzkill but wasn't quite as interested in their recent albums). Time may have turned them into middle-aged uncles, but they'll still party like it's *insert the year your favourite National album came out*. They'd actually been changing up their setlist extensively at every show, so I was very close to convincing someone to take me to their show they were having at the same venue the day after, playing all of "High Violet". My only regret is not getting "Mistaken For Strangers". I've been very lucky in many instances, but I guess I don't have an angel watching over me, surprise, surprise.

Of all the shows I've been to, The National's was probably the oldest crowd I'd seen. You'd see parents with their kids and it's really not clear which one's dragging the other along. I suppose though when you're amassing an audience of all ages, you're primed to sell a lot of albums, which The National certainly have done. It'd be pretty limiting if you didn't have any fans over the age of 30.

I'm not sure how long-lasting the grand scheme to make The National a hip, cool band that the kids are listening to was ever going to be. It was just barely enough that they managed to show up here, grizzled veterans with their 3rd and last appearance and sitting among all the new sensations. Their 6th album "Trouble Will Find Me" was the big capitalisation album in Australia. "High Violet" was a strong seller over time, so it only ever got to #29 on the charts. This time they debuted at #2. Utterly miles away from the top spot because they released it on the same week as Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories", but a commendable effort when it's not usually very common to see an artist get to #1 without having something resembling crossover hits. There were over 30 #1 albums in 2013 and only two by artists who've never charted a single in Australia. The first was Hillsong United, which feels like a technicality as the album has one of the most streamed Australian songs of all time, "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)", and the other is a popular progressive metal band from Australia, could be anyone.

As for the album itself, "Trouble Will Find Me" was also very good. I don't think I'd rank it quite as highly as the three that came before it, but I think they're sitting on a very good collection of songs for it. "Don't Swallow the Cap" is a solid addition to the occasional canon of genuine National headbangers (okay, by their standards...), and every now and then there's just that one twinkling guitar riff that puts me at ease. I rate that as an explanation for why "I Need My Girl" is now by far their most streamed song that doesn't have Taylor Swift's name attached to it. "Pink Rabbits" is my absolute favourite though. It might be an early blueprint for a lot of less exciting rehashes down the track, but the song on its own merits is faultless. Not since The Whitlams have I felt more confidence in a band knowing how to weave elegant, timeless melodies out of slow piano tunes.

The triple j solution for how to adapt this old, but newly popular band onto the airwaves was to focus their attention on the song "Graceless" (they also played "Demons" a fair amount as it was the first song released). They actually didn't put the song in rotation until September, about 4 months after the album actually came out, so it might have been a bit of a late bolter. I was glad to have anything by The National on the list even if it wasn't really a song that I paid much attention to at the time. According to my own listening stats, it was actually the song I listened to the least (tied with "Fireproof"), although it's fair to say I was mostly just listening to the whole thing and not really cherry picking it yet ("Pink Rabbits" seemingly didn't click for me until 2015).

I gave "Graceless" a bit more attention from that point on, and it makes a bit more sense why it was the chosen one. I always think about the charts when they're inundated with popular artists seemingly by design. More in the age of streaming, but I see the most popular Australian songs right now include Ocean Alley, Vance Joy, Dom Dolla and the like. I always wonder how much of it is the genuine discovery and interest factor these particular songs drive, or if it's just the fake appearance of a hit that's mostly propped up by algorithms and a product of the artist's general popularity. It's easier to believe it when the song is notably catchy enough to feel like it's bringing in more than just the artist's ironed on listeners. So with "Graceless", I look at it and sense the notion that it's really just die hards for The National voting the clearly favoured choice. That might be the case, but with an upbeat song like this, it's also easy to imagine it picking up some external fans, or just genuinely being something resembling a fan favourite. I choose to believe that the system works, even if it only dreams in total darkness.