#285-#281

#285. Ruby Fields - Kitchen (#58, 2021)

21st of 2021

It's fun to say that triple j go rogue sometimes and play whatever they want to play. Maybe once upon a time it was true too, though I don't think so anymore. They're definitely more rigid now with playing what the label and promoters want out of them, with maybe a slight influence from what seems to register with listeners. "Kitchen" was the big hit from Ruby Fields' debut album in 2021, but it wasn't released as a single. Several songs were released before it but didn't make the same impact. For me, "R.E.G.O." and "Song About A Boy" feel pretty essential, but I'll admit that I didn't vote for them either which doesn't put me in a spot to complain. Maybe the latter is just a retread of that earlier hit I still haven't gotten to, but if you like that one, maybe give it a spin anyway.

Sometimes all you need is a nice lyrical mantra to sit on. Something that sticks with everyone and makes them want to listen out for the parts they don't remember as well. "Kitchen" is one of those songs. Do you remember the part of the song where she says the title? I should because she starts both verses with the same line for it, but then I'm lost. On the other hand, more of it will come to mind if I just tell myself it's the 'You've got my back, mate' song. What a Ruby Fields-coded lyric, how did it take 4 years to get to this? What does it mean for Deep Blue Something who pined over a mediocre connection of kinda liking an old movie? Ruby Fields is out here connecting with someone for disliking the same things, and also remembering what she drinks. That's the foundation of a relationship right there.

I suppose I can make myself content that this was the pick for 2021, because it does show a different side for Ruby Fields next to a lot of more out-and-out rockers. "Kitchen" does do it as well at the end but I doubt it's the part of the song many people think of. The chorus is the money shot for sure. It's a good one too, just nice, heart-warming and breezy. I'm writing this before the Hottest 100 has happened so as it stands, it's the most recent Ruby Fields song to make the countdown. There hasn't really been a drop off period, just the harsher indictment of going several years without releasing anything. Maybe I'll look back on this when it's time to post and go 'oh, what a nice surprise, "92 Purebred" is a great song', but I'm not expecting quite as much. It just doesn't have that one mantra. Editor me is here to update that it landed at #128, not too shabby.

#284. King Stingray - Get Me Out (#46, 2021)

20th of 2021

It's nice to have things written down. There's the adage that every time you try to remember something, you're actually recalling the last time you tried to do that, and so as time goes by, you create an increasingly distorted version of events that sounds close enough but is nothing like the truth of the matter. Maybe that multi-game GameBoy game that I remember vividly but there's no information about online doesn't really exist (update: Hilariously I've since found exactly what I was thinking of, but it was for the lesser known Mega Duck console). Maybe there was no time when the footy coverage would go black & white whenever the blood rule was enacted. It's always just a mix of recollection from different things that get merged together. That's why most Mandela effect examples (at least the very popular ones) usually have some very simple explanation that boils down to 'you're thinking of this other thing'.

"Get Me Out" was my first exposure to King Stingray. Was I interested in them because of the nepotism link to Yothu Yindi? Or did I just hear the song and resonate with it in its own right? It's probably the latter, because I made a note at the time that suggested I wasn't even sure if there was a connection. In general I'm sure the story got around and it helped them. Everyone loves a story and sometimes the real benefit from being descended from someone famous is that it's a conversation starter. It doesn't even have to be positive. We can't help but spread the word about acts we're revolted by. We badly need them as conversation starters. It's like bringing up Gracie Abrams just because you really want to vent your opinions about LOST or The Force Awakens.

It certainly helps me, the person who is very much out of things to say about King Stingray but also knows I still have to do it a couple more times. Mainly though, it's fun to revisit this one now knowing they became something of a big deal in the aftermath. That's my other favourite thing to look at, to see the first thing I said about an artist when they first showed up. My favourite one is at the start of 2025 when I jokingly suggested that Olivia Dean was gonna be a big thing, akin to Olivia Rodrigo. I can't actually claim the credit on that one because I very much did not think it was gonna happen, but I love that I wrote it down. Perhaps you could make the prediction of King Stingray as well but it's probably not as bold. This is a band that just had it all worked out pretty quickly. No awkward first time growing pains here, they're ready for the big leagues. Or at least, the big part of these smaller leagues. I won't copy paste my previous entries as much as I want to, but this has pretty much all I need. Great bit of tension & release on the chorus, as well as some excellent use of the didgeridoo, which is more than just a token sound bed, but a vital part of the tapestry to rev it up.

#283. A$AP Rocky (feat Skepta) - Praise The Lord (Da Shine) (#13, 2018)

30th of 2018

With some artists, you can think about their biggest hit and it comes pretty easily. Bon Jovi? That's "Livin' On A Prayer". blink-182? "All The Small Things". A$AP Rocky and Skepta? Who even knows. For both of them it might very well be this song, but there are so many caveats that you can't really commit to it. It's done very well in the long term, but if you only pay attention to the initial short term, they've both had more impressive showings. Just a tough arrangement when A$AP Rocky started off his career with some blockbuster singles, and for Skepta, the US market is so allergic to UK rap for the most part that most of his material just lives in a smaller market. Maybe in these parts, "Victory Lap" will eventually do enough to catch up to this one, but I suspect the present 3xPlatinum certification for this is wildly out of date. Rest assured, if you haven't thought about this song in a long time, it's a monster hit.

I touched a bit on this when I was talking about "Sundress" (#498). There are some hits that seem to defy the odds and reach a far greater audience than that artist should expect. With exceptions, something you tend to spot in this is that it does very little in benefitting that artist's greater catalogue. In theory, this is a hit that solidifies Rocky's status as something of a legend, but in practice it was a brief fling just because it's a very catchy and likeable song, so that's as far as it went for the most part. A$AP Rocky hasn't really had much of anything resembling a hit on release since this one, just the occasional random bouts of virality.

I completely understand how all of this happened. Just one listen to this song and it all just immediately clicks. If you're looking for a shuffle-friendly rap song to find on your playlist and not skip, it's this one. It won't be the last time we get one that's built around a funny woodwind hook, but to bring with it such an easy to sing along hook? I know Australian radio wasn't going anywhere near it at this stage but they easily could've slid this into rotation. Okay maybe they'd need to censor out the bit about breaking the law and taking some more. Maybe it's falling apart now.

Another reason this song might seem so effortlessly catchy is because it's not entirely original. You might just recognise the entire flow from DMX's song "Who We Be". He's not credited for an interpolation or anything, but Skepta literally shouts him out when he says 'I listen to X, I peep the bars', and that seems convincing enough as proof for me. I remember it being an unusual coincidence that this song was sharing chart space with XXXTENTACION who died a week before it was released. It meant that referring to any rapper at that point as 'X' was exceedingly ambiguous, and that's not even acknowledging Xzibit who probably deserves some of that as well.

It's all odd because I think of this as a song that definitely benefitted from how popular hip-hop was at the very moment, and it's a song that I don't think would otherwise have gotten off the ground. On the other hand, it's also comfortably the 3rd highest hip-hop song in the 2018 list just behind two landmark releases, so they got a pretty good arrangement out of this. Add it to the "Just Friends" (#401) pile I guess, it's just so catchy.

#282. The Kite String Tangle - Given The Chance (#19, 2013)

44th of 2013

Maybe you've heard the story of the first ever Big Day Out in 1992. It started as just an elaborate promotion for a Violent Femmes tour but quickly became a huge festival in its own right. A big catalyst to this was the moderately famous supporting band that was booked in the previous year, Nirvana. It's a dream scenario for bookers to strike a bit of luck like that, one that not only ensures more tickets sold than initially expected, but shows the country that you're on the pulse, and maybe you'll find the next Nirvana along the way.

I first heard about The Kite String Tangle in August 2013. He was booked as a supporting act on a tour for an artist who I'm sure will one day appear on this list. I'm not sure how that tour went (it didn't make it to my side of the country), but I do know that by the time it happened, The Kite String Tangle was sitting on one of the hottest songs going around. One so hot that it landed in the top 20 while the top billed artist didn't have anything to show in the top 200. The most impressive thing is that "Given The Chance" managed to reach the ARIA chart for several weeks, despite the notable handicap that triple j were hosting it as a free download on their website at the time. That's how I got it! It's incredible just what company this song was rubbing shoulders with. I guess we all love a wunderkind when we find them.

"Given The Chance" is a song that makes me want to take my critical hat off. I think the more you listen closer to it, the more it seems to fall apart. A lot of scratchy sounding synths in the verses, a vocal loop on the chorus of very unserious woahs, and just some tinny synths to get us going. Yet there's a certain appeal to it all. You're not thinking about how the vocals are mixed when the big climax hits towards the end, just that the song is doing its own thing and it has the force of conviction to move past that.

#281. Ratatat - Cream On Chrome (#52, 2015)

37th of 2015

The gap between me knowing about Ratatat and me knowing basically anything about them is surprisingly vast. They're on Kid Cudi's "Pursuit Of Happiness", he even shouts them out in the song. What are they doing on that song? I dunno, maybe it was a guest verse I missed, maybe it's just an elevated producer tag. Technically that is what it is, but I feel like I would have appreciated knowing that they were an electro-rock duo who specialised in making instrumental music with a heavy focus on guitars. Once you get to know Ratatat, "Pursuit of Happiness" starts to make a lot more sense, that guitar solo was just staring at me for years.

Say the line, Bart. Alright then. In what has to be one of the most grand cosmic coincidences in Hottest 100 history, we had a very rare a cappella entry via Matt Corby (#889) and it was immediately followed by a still fairly rare instrumental entry via Ratatat. I know what the next thing is that you're thinking, easiest mash up ever. They've even got similar tempos so it's not so jarring to have to change one to match it. Let me just tell you that matching them perfectly was another story, as I grew more convinced that Matt was hitting his sticks out of time. Nonetheless I proceeded and created an absolute abomination. Here's a small sample that was somewhat listenable.

Still, at its core, it's a very interesting situation. It's nice to see hits like this that break away from the convention in one form or another, because that convention itself can be limiting and maybe feel strange from the outside looking in. It's a bit like how foreign language songs can often struggle to cross over. Maybe it's because people like to have recognisable words they can sing along to, but I do find myself wondering if there's a more implicit suggestion in the songs from the get-go that it's peering into a culture that's not your own, and asking you to listen to something that wasn't made for you. They can still do this, and often times the ones that do, are the ones that soar to the top, making it seem like more of an issue with the mediary gatekeepers than the public at large.

It's the kind of thing that makes you look at "Cream On Chrome" and wonder how it got the go-ahead in the first place. Someone had to decide to put this instrumental rock song on the radio and then it was up to everyone else to be content with it. You can easily foresee a world where this just doesn't happen, and Ratatat remain in their relative niche. After all, it's not like they were the new hotness that popped up out of nowhere, they'd been doing this for about seventeen years, just kickin' it from their head, you know what I'm saying? I can't even say that they just jumped back into their niche after this because they've gone completely radio silent since releasing the album this is from, aside from some solo projects. As far as I can tell, there wasn't even a notice of hiatus.

When I listen to "Cream On Chrome", I do make a bit more sense of how we got here. It's a song that can justify calling to question the necessity to have vocals, because it manages to go through all the necessary beats on its own without them. It's a conventional pop song with just one of those conventions missing. I think the real key to it though is the intro. There's a pure swagger to the way the song waltzes in, like it's begging to be in a soundtrack to a gangster movie. Well, the drop is very good too if you want to call it that.