Children Collide playlist

Wed 9th Mar, 2011 in Features

This weekend Children Collide will be playing at the all ages Push Over festival in Melbourne with Break Even, Illy, Dream on Dreamer, Hunting Grounds and many more, towards the end of the month they’ll play at the Grand Prix Sidetracked event and then they have a national tour to take care of. The band’s touring schedule is certainly busy, but what about their playlist?

FasterLouder asked the band’s bassist Heath Crawley what he’s been listening to and get his tips on everything from trash anarcho-punk and psychedelic wizards to epic hook filled pop songs and psych inspired garage.

Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To the Sky
This is Swans’ late 2010 album release. Thought provoking unrest is promoted from the get go. No Words/No Thoughts’ off kilter bells chime through elusive machine gun drums. Relentless nauseating bass holds court in an abyss of tumultuous synth/guitar/chain noise. All the while *Michael Gira’s * lyrics rewrite the bible, creepily and beyond authoritatively. It’s mental patient. Realing The Liars In follows directly. Minimal sandpaper percussion and acoustic guitar tread a gentle path for Gira and his hymns-men to create their take on pre-depression African American field hollers. It’s the calm before the extravagant and chaotic storm that is the remainder of this album. I’m actually off to see them in a few days. They’re playing the Forum Theatre in Melbourne as part of their 2011 Australian Tour… I’m currently repenting my good deeds.

Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand
One of the most important recordings in lo-fi indie rock history. I will never stop listening to this album.

Best Coast – Crazy For You
If ‘80s filmmaker John Hughes was to create a musical ensemble, consisting of band members informed by the ‘90s Riot Grrrl movement, to star in and perform the soundtrack to a young adult flick about the trials and tribulations of love in surfin’ ‘60s California, the creation might not be to dissimilar to Best Coast. They should not be labelled as derivative, though. Not at all. I’d say they’re more re-evaluating boy/girl relationships over the contemporary ages and packaging them, neatly, sweetly and cool as shittily, for a greater ‘10s listening environment.

They’ll be touring Australia very shortly, playing their own shows and supporting the massively influential tropical psych rockers Os Mutantes. If you’re a boyfriend of a girlfriend you should buy her the album. You can listen to it together forever. If anything comes between you, it’s better she has it. It’ll only make you cry.

Ride – Nowhere
This is without a doubt one of my favourite albums of all time. Brilliantly epic hook filled pop songs, all dressed up in a stormy cloak of disillusionment. Shimmering guitar feedback, tidal melodic bass, frantic drums and, from the surging fray, beautiful vocal harmonies. At tune with its cover, an ocean of emotion.

This is Ride’s debut LP, originally released in 1990, and has recently been remastered for reissue, with bonus 12”, this year. The extra vinyl contains a live recording of the lads at the Roxy, LA in ‘91 (which is an unlikely choice). The pack will also include a massive booklet filled with photos of the band from the day, liner notes and a retrospective of the bands creation of the album. No one has done shoe-gaze like Ride since. I can’t wait to pick this up.