Daan

I’m off to Europe! I’m writing this on the Murrays to Sydney. I’m going to celebrate my Mum’s 60th with her, my dad and my brothers in Greece for a week. I’ll be celebrating with my family then heading over to the Netherlands to see my extended family over there. I’ve honestly had the best month ever. I’m so full of love! I played a couple of wholesome solo shows with Silo Country, recorded a music video with Atlast (shoutout!), spent lots of time with friends, made some shirts, did a Gutwrench market stall, spent a lot of time in the sun, had a couple of picnics, connected with a lot of beautiful people and got to experience a heap of fantastic music! I love music! 

A movie I watched this month:

I don’t think I’ve watched a movie this month which is a bit sad but I’ve been watching a lot of Drag Race, mainly the current season, with Meg & Evy (shoutouts!). We’re making our way through the current season and have placed bets on who we think will win & who are in the top five, just based on the first 2 eps. We’ve got a couple of eps left to finish when I get back from Europe so I’m hoping I don’t have the result spoilt to me before then.  

An album I listened to this month:

I’ve been rinsing two albums lately. C,XOXO by Camilla Cabello & Getting Killed by Geese. I feel quite silly that it took me so long to get around to the new Geese album. I loved 3D country and when Getting Killed was coming out I didn’t really resonate with the singles so I let it slide. I was going for a lovely drive through the country with my friend Jenna (shoutout!) and Husbands came on. It was just what I needed to hear at the time and I replayed it five times in a row, much to Jenna’s support. I just wanted to live in that moment forever. After that I went in and listened to the whole album and it all clicked for me.

A game I played this month:

I did a wordle & a crossword this month with my friend Eve (shoutout!), that was fun lmao. I don’t do the wordle but I gotta get into it. It’s awesome. 

A photo I took this month:

Felix standing alone at a party in a horse mask 

Em

This month I played my first solo set in Melbourne with Any Young Mechanic in St. Kilda! It was also my first time in St. Kilda! It was kind of a surreal/uncanny experience there but this seems to be everyone’s experience in St. Kilda? Apparently my grandmother used to take my dad out there when he was a little kid to walk along the pier and eat icecream, he was very excited to tell me this on the phone when he heard that I went. It was lovely to hangout, went to eat some dumplings and Mapo Tofu before the show, had some serious nerves (this plus spicy mapo tofu was a crazy time for my stomach) because I’d never actually done a legitimately “acoustic” show before. This was the first time it would be seriously just me and a guitar with no effects to hide behind (this also meant no pedal tuner), and on top of that my first time playing some new material. I put myself on a bit of a spiral with this one bit where I would reach for my capo after every song even though I didn’t need it, fumble to put it back on the headstock, and then squint at my phone using my hands as fake binoculars, all while some drunk men were arguing outside the bar, in front of the bar, and then heckling at me to chug my beer. It felt very slapstick but I think it was still fun. It’s been a bit of a depression month, but I’m doing my best to set myself up for success for winter. I feel like a bear preparing to hibernate, but I’m just trying to make lists and future plans to keep myself busy and distract myself from the sinking winter feeling. Things are good though! I feel so grateful for friendship, time and time again I’m shown that my friends are so special, that I love them so much and that they will keep showing up, isn’t that awesome?? I’ve eaten lots of good icecream this month, shoutouts to Luthers and my housemates who keep humouring me on late night trips there. Their Banoffee Pie is always excellent. 

A movie I watched this month:

I watched so many movies this month, one highlight was Anatomy of a Fall – I’m quite late to watching this, but I very much understand the hype. Excellent acting all round, I really felt connected to everyone in the family. I also watched Dog Day Afternoon and loved it, I think I had assumed that it would be a really challenging watch because of Al Pacino and it is a bit of a film-bro movie, but it was really fun and moving. I also rewatched Before Sunrise again, being 23 (they are 23 in the movie) and of a certain disposition made it feel very real. 

An album I listened to this month:

I’m enjoying listening to music for mixes/specific frequencies and effects to try and put my engineering hat on, but funnily the albums that I’ve been hit by the most have been Justified – Justin Timberlake (10/10) and Midnight Marauders – A Tribe Called Quest (10/10). These are truly production masterpieces to me, something about the drums, bass, sub-bass, sampling and insane textural choices (lots of mouth noises in Justified??) just hit you right in the guts and travel right through you. I think Timbaland and Pharrell were making some truly insane and incredible choices back then, and tribe have equally been good forever. Sidenote, if you have time to kill the entire making-of footage of Justified is just out on youtube, there is hours of footage and all of its crazy (thank you Vince for informing me of this). 

I’ve been listening to Leaves To The Sun – Gawshock (9/10) – this is an incredibly cute album, I’m a sucker for a lo-fi indie-folk thing, and this is very much that. The singer is clearly a hopeless romantic nerd, listening to this I feel like Roberta Flack/Lauryn Hill (I felt he found my letters then read each one out loud, strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words, killing me softly with his song etc.). This is a great album to listen to on a big walk. I did this across several days in an unusually warm and sunny Melbourne week this month. 

A book I read/game I played this month:

I am still reading Galapagos but have also started Tortilla Flat (John Steinbeck). I’ve started writing some lyrics inspired from, this who knows if I’ll finish the book or the song. 

I also got to make my own mii on Aneesha and Charlie’s Tomodachi Life Island which was awesome. 

NYT Sudoku every day. 

A photo I took this month:

Felix and I hanging out in Edinburgh Gardens

Josh

Weird but good month! Ash is away in Europe/Canada right now, so it’s just been me and Kenny at the house for the past couple of weeks. It’s been nice to have time to myself and rediscover my own space, but I’ve also had to make a more active effort to prevent myself from rotting (now that no one else is around to witness it, my self-consciousness is no longer a barrier to that bedrot spiral, especially with that freaky melbourne winter looming). Thankfully we’ve got a great group of friends I’ve been able to spend time with and have been helping me with the dogsitting (thank you Aneesha and Ella and Em). It’s made me feel a lot more like I’ve got a good network down here since moving from Canberra, which is something I’m extremely grateful for. 

It sounds like Ash’s trip is going well too – she met Bill Nighy from Love Actually at a supermarket in London. Miss her, glad she’s having a great time.

A movie I watched this month:

We’ve been having a weekly movie night with our friends which has been pretty awesome – this month we watched Bram Stoker’s Dracula (lots of moaning – 8/10), Speed Racer (underrated and insane – 9/10) Now You See Me (airplane movie but not bad – 6/10) and Scott Pilgrim vs The World (good movie but I’m incredibly thankful I didn’t see it at a more formative time in my life, as I could sense the potential danger it could have done to my character growth as a White Guy In A Band™ – 7/10)

An album I listened to this month:

This month I listened to BB Void by Mori Mori – i’m hearing a lot of that electronic-forumcore thing lately and it is very much like crack to me so thanks to Zeke for the rec. Other things I listened to this month include Gloorp ‘Em Up by Gloorp (drum machines – 9/10), Sd-3 by Loukeman (beat tape with feeling – 8/10) and Blue Angel Sparkling Light 2 by Quiet Light (bedroom pop from the internet – 7/10).

I also revisited Violent Soho after many years 😝 Conflicted feelings on that one – they were lowkey my one direction so I still love them even though I’d probably hate them if I discovered them today lmao. “Hell fuck yea” for personal growth I guess 🤪

A game I played this month:

I got the new Tomodachi Life the day after Ash left, which was one the worst mistakes I’ve ever made. This game is an absolute time parasite if you like drawing – you can customise basically everything, so it’s just creatively rewarding enough to trick you into a feeling of artistic fulfilment that immediately disappears once you realise the two hours you spent drawing a 7Eleven for your mii to live in may have been a waste of time. I had grand plans of spending my free time working on all the art/music projects I haven’t had the time for, but a mii that looks like Aphex Twin will have to do for now. I am beginning to worry that I have an addictive personality. Final Fantasy VII remakes next probably.

A photo I took this month:

me and photoshop

Ezra

We’re in a bit of struggle mode. This is the last month before Me and Daan have to move out from our house. We’ve lived together for like two years now and I’m going to be very sad to not be in a house with my friends, I had gotten very used to it. 

But no pregrief here. Change is change. 

A movie I watched this month:

I watched the movie Exit 8 which was based on the video game. I knew nothing about it, but it ended up being really slickly done and great. Guy gets trapped in a backrooms-like loop, but there’s this running theme through it of whether or not he has the ability to notice when something is wrong and do something about it. 

Good stuff, pretty scary at a few points, really great for a video game adaptation. 

An album I listened to this month:

I’ll be real I’m still stuck on the same three albums, Nina Jirachi I love my computer, Magdalena Bay imaginal disk and Underscores U.  

I have also been listening to Sophie ‘Oil of every pearl’s un-insides’ which is so good its unreal. Jane remover ‘Revengseekers’ which is fantastic. I dipped my toes into Caroline Polachek ‘Desire, I want to turn into you’ but I think I have to at least got a whole foot in before I could talk about it. I like it a lot though. 

I bought myself a Roland Sp404MkII to make some dancy stuff, so I’ve been dipping my toe back into some old LCD Soundsystem and Daftpunk too just cause I’ve got drum machines on the brain. It has a very silly rose decal wrap on it and I feel like I’m making music on a department store giftwrapped box of perfume. 

A book I read/game I played this month:

Em’s reading a lot of books I really love right now, if they end up liking Tortilla Flat enough I’m gonna bully them into reading East of Eden next. 

Myself I finished Vineland which was great and sad and easier to grip than a lot of other Pynchon for me. I put this down mostly to it’s period and setting, and me having a better grasp on it’s references to television and the rise of fascism under Reagan and what not. Great stuff. Big ups the Thanatoids. I for one believe Brock Vond is a vampire. 

Have just started Dune by Frank Herbert cause everyone loved the movies and I told myself I wouldn’t watch them until I’d watched the Lynch one and I told myself I wouldn’t watch it until I read the book. 

I played about 8 hours of Starfield and got bored so I’m back on Pillars of Eternity which is babygirl and one of my favourite games of all time. It’s so good I did the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done a little while back and messaged the lead designer in charge of writing the in game languages for a dictionary of the in game language Engwithian because I want a tattoo of one of the spells and couldn’t find it written down anywhere. I can feel the swirlie the big strong boys are gonna give me when they find this out but jokes on them cause I’m just gonna drink all the water so I don’t actually get hurt in the toilet. So there. 

A photo I took this month:

We went on a delightful camping trip and found what appeared to be a cow who exploded.

Emmett

April was very lovely, I’m working on knowing what month it is and trying to recap each week has been helpful trying to keep my head straight. Last Friday I was in Newcastle filling in on bass for my housemate Jenna’s band LIMO (was very fun) and our dear friend Meg came with us on the trip which was so fun. We sat on the beach in the morning and there must be music gods (Freddie mercury) looking out for me. Just as I have been struggling knowing where and what is going on around me, Meg showed us her diary / calendar. I know it’s nothing crazy, but it’s made a massive impact on me. Trying to keep my diary updated, thanks Meg!

Plus got to see so many friends new and old this month:)

On that trip we got to spend a lot of time with our dear friends in horse! Love them so much. Also made new friends this month! Johnny and Will yall are great house guests, come stay whenever!

Did a music Vid with Atlast! So many cool and awesome people worked on that which was lovely. 

Also spent a weekend working on the set of new Total Tommy material which was awesome. Loved having everyone in cbr for a bit:)))

One bummer from the month, our brilliant friend Eve is leaving Aus this week and this past month of outings have been great, their farewell show at gang gang was amazing and the party at ours on the weekend was magic aswell. Always sad when friends move but excited to see what the get up to and happy to have had such time together.

A movie I watched this month:

I watched project Hail Mary and I swear. Both brilliant films Robert Aramayo is magic 

An album I listened to this month:

Fell in love with Caroline 2 by Caroline and Hugo by Loyle Carner again. Plus a new EP by Elly called Then it leaves. The song River boat lights has me in a chokehold. 

Spend a lot of time in the car with Felix this month so of course lots of Justin Bieber aswell

A game I played this month:

played where the hell did my car keys go a lot this month

A photo I took this month:

This is ez and his new sp404, our collection of electronic equipment is getting fierce