Christine Anu

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What do folks think of her?

Listening thru her debut for the first time I'm struck by how "Monkey & Turtle" seems like a straightforward version of the sort of earnest differentness/newageness that M.I.A. tweaks.

There's something a bit aor about it all, but lots of these wide-open tunings also have a sort of 80s synthish echo -- is this a sort of warumpi band descended effect? i know v. little about all this so i'm sort of just throwing out ideas.

was there a sort of "world-inflected" genre that this would slot into that got dismissed for earnestness even tho it set the sonic precedents (and with a coupla flips, the thematic ones) for the more ironized/punky-art-school stuff of more recent years?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 10 March 2006 15:34 (twenty years ago)

bump in case any australians might want to come on and talk about this.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 10 March 2006 23:52 (twenty years ago)

Well, it's been a long time gone for Christine. "Monkey & THe Turtle" was such a striking debut single, completely unlike anything else in 1994, but apart from "Come On", there wasn't anything on the first album that really flat-out worked, and the uptempo songs like "Keep Up" and "Party" didn't have much legs (though the latter was an unlikely top 20 single) after the initial fun. I never cared for her version of "My Island Home" in either of its versions and her second album had precisely nothing of note on it. I would have loved more quirky folk-pop from her.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 02:02 (twenty years ago)

Well OK, it wasn't strictly speaking her debut, as she'd been on Paul Kelly's "Last Train" single the year before, but anyway..

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 02:03 (twenty years ago)

This is too easy to troll. Sorry folks.

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!! (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Saturday, 11 March 2006 02:44 (twenty years ago)

Haha, I was so hoping you would troll on it Esteban. She was in a production of Rent for a while, which I guess says it all.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 03:01 (twenty years ago)

leave the last "s" off for SUCKAGE

― matress king, Saturday, 11 March 2006 03:35 (twenty years ago)

Why is this in ILM anyway? There was that one song about a decade ago. And being a judge on Popstars Live. But she ditched all that shitty weak music of hers a long time to become a professional Torres Strait Islander, amirite?

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!! (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Saturday, 11 March 2006 03:49 (twenty years ago)

urite.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 03:52 (twenty years ago)

she sort of reminds me of edie brickell which doesn't sound like a compliment but is. also 4 non blondes, for which likewise.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 11 March 2006 05:33 (twenty years ago)

I liked "The Monkey & The Turtle" and "Come On" quite a bit. I didn't like "Party" much at all... it was sorta like kidz-Neneh-Cherry wasn't it? I don't trust my 13/14 yr old opinions really.

Should we talk about Merril Bainbridge here too?!?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 11 March 2006 09:08 (twenty years ago)

Tim and me in mindmeld shocker.

Merril Bainbridge has come up lots of times on ILM, amazingly. Her cover version of "Being Boring" was crap, though. "Mouth" is a classic though.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 09:22 (twenty years ago)

"Mouth" was great.

"Under The Water" was scary.

I remember hearing the first song of her first album and it being some mystical plush affair - it was called The Garden yeah?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 11 March 2006 09:26 (twenty years ago)

Was that "The POwer Of One"?

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 09:38 (twenty years ago)

I dunno, i have to admit I am not as much of an expert on mid-90s Australian radio pop as I might sometimes pretend... I became violently anti-Australian around the time of Bachelor Girl and have erased a lot of my prior knowledge.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 11 March 2006 09:51 (twenty years ago)

But "Lucky Me" by Bachelor Girl was terrific! Okay, the other singles were awful but still.

My plan to write a book on the decline and fall of Australian pop is still in stasis (as I've said before; the watershed point was Tina Arena throwing possessions out of the window in the "Chains" video, abnegating and then killing Australian pop).

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 10:15 (twenty years ago)

Even When I'm Sleeping would have to be in there.

― ratty, Saturday, 11 March 2006 10:36 (twenty years ago)

Why must you all bring up such awful aural memories? WHY? (And I take exception at the claim that Tina Arena killed Australian pop.)

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!! (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Saturday, 11 March 2006 11:06 (twenty years ago)

Not only did Tina Arena kill Australian pop, she also raped its still-warm corpse.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 11 March 2006 11:46 (twenty years ago)

I loved "Chains" when it came out! And I liked "Sorrento Moon" as well. But whatever the third single was, "Heaven Help My Heart" I think, became this awful blueprint for everything afterwards...

A close friend of mine Simon is a Tina Arena fan in the same way that most gay guys are Kylie fans, so it's made me try to be a bit even-handed on the matter. Having said that, all the singles from her second album were awful as far as I can remember.

What was that song on Tina's third album that Casey performed on Australian Idol? That was alright.

Edward don't even try to defend Bachelor Girl in my presence - I loathe "Treat Me Good" more than just about anything.

Also I despised Leah Haywood's "We Think It's Love" at the time.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 11 March 2006 23:12 (twenty years ago)

Not only did Tina Arena kill Australian pop, she also raped its still-warm corpse.

Tina Arena owns a strap-on? Uh, I...er...wha?

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!! (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Saturday, 11 March 2006 23:16 (twenty years ago)

Remember 'I Want Your Body?'

― ratty, Saturday, 11 March 2006 23:37 (twenty years ago)

Ed has all these singles, no doubt in my mind at all.

― ratty, Sunday, 12 March 2006 00:10 (twenty years ago)

I have "I Need Your Body" on cassingle. AND THAT IS IT.

Tim, you mean all the singles off her THIRD album were terrible, as you said you liked "Sorrento Moon". "Chains" isn't bad, I'll grant. Good power-ballad sort of thing. "Soulmate #9" is also quite good in a Nile Rodgers style-ee.

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 12 March 2006 01:55 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah I wasn't counting Strong As Steel.

I'm not sure which was worse - "Burn" and "If I Didn't Love You" being released consecutively despite having the same chorus, or the unspeakableness that is "Now I Can Dance" (which is also a good example of everything that is wrong and annoying about Australian video clips).

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 12 March 2006 03:45 (twenty years ago)

ok this is also now the thread where you recommend me more good mid-late 90s australian chartpop. and also aboriginal related music.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 12 March 2006 03:54 (twenty years ago)

This is gonna be a tough one!

Okay, tangentially related, how about Robyn Naou? Anyone remember "Sick With Love" and "Love Addiction"?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 12 March 2006 04:05 (twenty years ago)

Ah, Robyn Laou. I bought both those singles and loved them. The third, "Got That Kind Of Feeling" was OK. The album, "Malaria" got shelved and is rumoured to be something of a classic.

Sterling, you need "Sick With Love" - GET. I'll do a YSI.

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 12 March 2006 04:11 (twenty years ago)

What about Max Sharam's "Coma"? I loved that heaps. Did not like "Be Firm" though.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 12 March 2006 04:13 (twenty years ago)

It's actually odd how much Australian pop of yore has followed the pattern of Great Odd Debut Single --> Increasingly and not even Enjoyably Generic Follow-Ups. It's like, once the first single is released a clock starts ticking somewhere.

Also Sterling you should know by now that Frente's Shape is urgent and key.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 12 March 2006 04:16 (twenty years ago)

LOAU. Goddamn. Maybe she'd have had more success if her name weren't so hard to spell.

YSI of Sick With Love
Ooh! She has one Myspace and is putting out an EP this year. Awesome.

I loved "Coma" (actually, my second favourite single of 1994) and "Hunting Ground" by Max Sharam, but I haven't listened to either in a very long time.

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 12 March 2006 04:20 (twenty years ago)

coma is a very good song, i have that ep somewhere

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Sunday, 12 March 2006 08:21 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, so do I. Listened to it again for the first time in about two years, probably and it still sounds fantasticL

Coma: http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=36W6BLLL0KCGU3RN2C8XCP9HMZ

Hunting Ground: http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0J8DKNOQTDNH12F4BRJZGZL5X1

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 12 March 2006 10:24 (twenty years ago)

Whoa whoa whoa, you are YSIing MAX SHARAM songs? Are you HIGH?

This after accusing Tina Arena of owning a strap-on too.

Crazy!

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!! (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Sunday, 12 March 2006 10:27 (twenty years ago)

Sterling asked for mid-90s Australian chart pop, Esteban.

Strap-on? For all you know, I could have been accusing Tina of being a hermaphrodite. You seem to know an awful lot about this. WAY MORE THAN YOU ARE LETTING ON.

Are you Tina Arena, Esteban Buttez?

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 12 March 2006 10:28 (twenty years ago)

No. Not at all. I was a fan when I was 12-years-old. NOTHING MORE.

Besides, I thought Max Sharam only had one song.

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!! (ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!!), Sunday, 12 March 2006 10:32 (twenty years ago)

TINA ARENA POSTING HERE! HERE!!!! Is esteban an anagram? I KNEW it!

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Sunday, 12 March 2006 10:33 (twenty years ago)

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