A
new breed of Australian music is beginning to emerge, and there
are pockets of the rest of the world listening with greater passion
and appreciation than we are. The Avalanches have conquered England.
Gerling are pop stars in Japan. The other thing both bands have
in common is that they are amongst those forging a new path for
contemporary music by embracing technology to go where technogy
is leading, but at the same time using the freedom technology brings
to head off into other areas of interest. Like Regurgitator Gerling
are more than one band in one. Gerling are more bands in one than
Regurgitator. The latest single 'Dust My Selecta', with guest female
vocalist, casts them straight for the dance floor. The previous
single, 'The Deer In You' was and is a fantastically catchy slice
of alt-pop. 'High Jackers Manuel' is pure post punk. 'Brother Keith
On Destructor Mountain' is hip hop. The challenge is for the listener,
to follow the lead of the musicians, to cast away any barriers on
genre and just go where the music is taking them. Gerling refuse
to believe that the same person can't be into more than one style
of music, and like the album title says, they're just going for
it. Gerling are not just dabbling, having a go at some style of
music, and then moving on, but actually trying to make an impression
on that style of music they've entered, and in that process, between
the cracks, between the tracks, evolving something that's definitively
Gerling. It's an approach to music that's full of pitfalls. The
easiest thing would be to be one thing and to do that as well as
possible, but that isn't as much fun is it? Gerling are famous for
their "terrorist" image, three guys in the dark, arched over their
computers, shunning stardom, wearing backpacks to suggest a quick
smash and run arrival and getaway. The backpack thing started by
accident. One band member would arrive at rehearsals straight from
school with his pack on his back. They decided it was a good image,
like the eighties Devo, Gerling like an army. Devo's concept was
the devo-lution of music (as opposed to evolution) like stripping
the Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction' of its trademark guitar riff.
Gerling are about devolution and evolution at once. Like Avalanches
and Regurgitator, somewhere between.
A
new breed of Australian music is beginning to emerge, and there
are pockets of the rest of the world listening with greater passion
and appreciation than we are. The Avalanches have conquered England.
Gerling are pop stars in Japan. The other thing both bands have
in common is that they are amongst those forging a new path for
contemporary music by embracing technology to go where technogy
is leading, but at the same time using the freedom technology brings
to head off into other areas of interest. Like Regurgitator Gerling
are more than one band in one. Gerling are more bands in one than
Regurgitator. The latest single 'Dust My Selecta', with guest female
vocalist, casts them straight for the dance floor. The previous
single, 'The Deer In You' was and is a fantastically catchy slice
of alt-pop. 'High Jackers Manuel' is pure post punk. 'Brother Keith
On Destructor Mountain' is hip hop. The challenge is for the listener,
to follow the lead of the musicians, to cast away any barriers on
genre and just go where the music is taking them. Gerling refuse
to believe that the same person can't be into more than one style
of music, and like the album title says, they're just going for
it. Gerling are not just dabbling, having a go at some style of
music, and then moving on, but actually trying to make an impression
on that style of music they've entered, and in that process, between
the cracks, between the tracks, evolving something that's definitively
Gerling. It's an approach to music that's full of pitfalls. The
easiest thing would be to be one thing and to do that as well as
possible, but that isn't as much fun is it? Gerling are famous for
their "terrorist" image, three guys in the dark, arched over their
computers, shunning stardom, wearing backpacks to suggest a quick
smash and run arrival and getaway. The backpack thing started by
accident. One band member would arrive at rehearsals straight from
school with his pack on his back. They decided it was a good image,
like the eighties Devo, Gerling like an army. Devo's concept was
the devo-lution of music (as opposed to evolution) like stripping
the Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction' of its trademark guitar riff.
Gerling are about devolution and evolution at once. Like Avalanches
and Regurgitator, somewhere between.