TROVE 004 | Lovejoy

Lovejoy, as the name would suggest, is all about two things.

Founded on a hope to provide a safe & carefree outlet for local music, Lovejoy has for years held this mantra at the core of everything they do.

Exploring the many kinds of people, environments, sounds & artists that Sydney has to offer, Lovejoy is always on a mission to learn and grow as their community does.

Today’s selections come at a time when we, aka Jack & Morgan, have never been further apart. Morgan’s recently taken up some work as a music coordinator in a remote community in the NT, & I (Jack) have just quit my job of six years & am travelling internationally to celebrate, right now sitting in my accommodation in Tanzania.

Our coordination of this, while thousands of kilometres apart, is as we usually are, slightly chaotic.

Here are the Lovejoy boy’s selections.

1. Co-aligned | “Windowseeker” (Morgan)

Windowseeker has got to be one of my favourite contemporary producers. His productions have this tremendous overarching personality, characterised by gentle IDM sensibilities and.. maybe a touch of PC music? They manage to be hard and soft all at once and that really gets me going. His debut album absolutely kicks ass, and the song I’ve chosen off it is ‘Co-aligned’ (i95 Drifter and Optical Resonance are the other big hitters off this album). I love the wonky nature of this song, the way the kick drum kind of feels like a bouncing ball. The sound design on this is just outrageously good, and it’s one of my favourite headphone tracks.

2. Carla Vallet | “Fantaisie Sign” (Jack)

I’m a big fan of anime but put off watching Cowboy Bebop for years. I’ve got a problem with “saving things” for an unknown time when I think I’ll appreciate them more. Suffice to say that watching Bebop earlier this year was outrageously overdue. Enough has been said on the OST already, but I’ve found myself regularly coming back to this one, which my friend Jordan showed me a year earlier, as we escaped the heat of Hopkins Creek from the comfort of his car. Carla Vallet has done a number of tracks for other anime like Gundam & you can really hear why. No moment isn’t made more major with something like this.

3. Solaris | “The Source Experience” (Morgan)

It’s been a trip hearing the progressive sound have a renaissance over the last couple of years, and this trance weapon from 2002 is a masterclass. Robert Leiner is just on another level and all of his songs seem to tell a story. The way the sounds evolve and play off each other is just magical, and I’ve seen this one light many dance floors on fire. Pure energy.

4. Eastern Distributor | “Earth Shifter” (Jack)

Eastern Distributor is my top pick for Australia’s next biggest thing. This track, recently released on local label Pure Space’s highly revered Proximity series of compilations, is by far his best work. While at first listen it sounds proper gnarly (& don’t get me wrong, it is), in relistening to it I’m so consistently impressed by just what it releases. It broods & builds, with some very gritty & bubbling bass to match, before really letting itself go at the halfway mark. It’s a balance of intensity & softness that I’m really addicted to, & could very well compare with the likes of Skee Mask or HVL. This is a song to dance to by yourself.

5. Babla, Kanchan | “Aay Mere Dil” (Both)

Nowadays Morgan & I are sadly more often apart than not. We’ve both been living in different states but always talking, organising, & regularly sharing music. This is one that he sent me recently, & has made its way onto my regular rotation. Originally released in 1984 by icons of Desi Folk, Babla & Kanchan, Morgan came upon this on a Psychemagik compilation that’s re-released it, the rest of which is mega tight.