One of the joys of working in radio is being able to promote great music that a lot of people otherwise may not hear.
Whether that be a new young artist, like singer Matilda Poole, or niche US band The Cybertronic Spree, being able to spruik music you love is just a joy unto itself.
Therefore I am very happy to give a shout out to The Offtopics. Having gone to University with frontman Polash Larsen, I have fond memories of him strumming his guitar at parties or in the beer garden at The Eagle Bar, and it’s fantastic that decades later he is still making music. Several years ago I was able to promote on The Big DJ Trev Show on KRRfm the Polash from the Garden album (Melbourne Rain still makes me think wistfully of the city I lived in for so long), so am very happy I get to do so again for the The Offtopics new single and upcoming album.
Check out their press release below:
MELBOURNE’S PURVEYORS OF PUNCH-DRUNK FUNK AND UNSTEADY ROCKSTEADY RELEASE FIRST NEW SINGLE SINCE THE BEFORETIMES
Send Me To The Doctor is the first single to be released from Naarm-based quirky soul band The Offtopics’ forthcoming album Tomorrow is a Month Away. Inspired by the band’s typically absurdist worldview the song presents a protagonist who wakes up after a big night alone and feeling rough. Are they merely hungover? Are they emotionally bereft? Are they in a state of acute hypochondria? Or are they, as they insist, in need of urgent medical attention? Whatever the situation is, Send Me To Doctor with it’s pulsing bass, ticking timebomb drums and a wallowing, univibe-laden guitar that makes you instinctively reach for the Travacalm is eminently danceable from the opening few bars. The song itself grew out of a rehearsal room jam at the Merri-Bek City Band Hall with frontman and lyricist Polash Larsen penning the feverish scenario. The band pedals in a semi-improvised fashion over simple chords for the verses and choruses before dropping into a lazy rocksteady feel for the saxophone solo. The rhythm tracks for the single were recorded at The Garden Studio in Brunswick West with horns, percussion and vocals recorded by the band in various backyard sheds between Merlynston, Northcote and Brunswick. Producer Darius Kedros takes the rocksteady instrumental break in the middle of the song through an accelerated tour through the history of reggae and dub dragging the listener into the singer’s fever before the release of a dreamlike refrain. Send Me To The Doctor teases some of what’s to follow on the Tomorrow Is a Month Away album as The Offtopics treat genre the way a carnival balloon artist treats his animals.
Send me to the Doctor is available for download & purchase on the bands Bandcamp Page, can be listened to on AMRAP as well as of course on The Big DJ Trev Show! Thursday nights on KRRfm.