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Dardanelles (band)
Encyclopedia
Dardanelles are a four-piece indie rock
band from Melbourne
, Australia formed in early 2006. Often incorrectly labelled or billed as "The Dardanelles", they are named after the narrow strait in northwestern Turkey of the same name
.
from Sydney
, Brisbane
, Adelaide
and Geelong and shortly afterwards formed the band.
After streaming their first recordings online, they were signed to a Sydney-based label who co-opted the songs to form half of the debut EP of the same name
. Released in November 2006 to critical acclaim, it spawned the single Origami Tree
which spent at least 5 weeks in the top 10 of the Australian Alternative Radio Play Chart. A second single, "Of Course You Said
", was released later that year alongside remixes by Riot in Belgium and others. "Of Course You Said" and the Origami Tree (Coda) deconstruction that appeared on the EP were recorded six months after the other songs on the disc, and foreshadowed a move into more spatial, experimental and electronic territory.
Their debut album Mirror Mirror
, released in October 2007, continued the move away from garden variety post-punk towards something more filmic in scope. Widely seen as a departure from their guitar focused debut EP, it took sections of their fanbase and the music industry alike by surprise, and aroused a passionated critical response.
It was variously flagged in the domestic music press as "the finest Australian album of 2007 bar none", "A seminal record", 'Flat-out outstanding.... epoch-making', and "the most ambitious record of the year". The single Footsteps
was subsequently released via iTunes
and received heavy rotation on Triple J
, Australian community radio, and one of the United States' largest indie stations. In the week of its release, it was the second most added track to alternative radio in Australia behind Yeah Yeah Yeahs
.
After several re-pressings, the album was reissued in 2008 with a second disc featuring 8 bonus tracks. The band are currently working on their second album, mentioning that it'll be a departure from their previous work.
, as well as being one of only two Australian albums on the list.
In November 2006, Dardanelles were added as Triple J
's "Next Crop" feature artists and also made the iTunes
"Band to Watch in 2007" list. Most recently, they were selected for Australia's first "JD set" in 2008.
, Ratatat, The Howling Bells, The Shocking Pinks, Dappled Cities Fly
, Cut Copy
, and the Midnight Juggernauts
.
Live festival's include "Pyramid Rock Festival", Phillip Island, Sydney's "Field Day", "The Playground Weekender", Canberra's "Trackside" and the "Essential Festival" in Melbourne and Sydney. In addition they have toured nationally, playing in all Australian capital cities and internationally at events including the "In the City Festival", Manchester
.
Ghostly vocals and darkly subdued interludes grafted against bursts of noise amount to a certain degree of difficulty in pinpoint the genre of Dardanelles, who blend elements of punk
, electronica
, dance and pop
into a distinct variant of art rock
. The music press have likened elements of their sound to contemporaries Liars
and TV on the Radio
, as well tribal-era Cure material, Can
, The Creation Records stable, psychedelic 80s Northern England outfits such as The Chameleons
, aspects of first-wave Detroit-tech and, frequently, to Joy Division
.
The band has a demonstrated contempt for genre, with Quinn-Watson claiming "genres are quicksand, so we write songs blind to genre walls".
The band members deeply interested in groove-driven music as the basis of their song-writing, and as an anchor for their excursions into atmospherics. As guitarist Alex Cameron explains "we’ve layered the recordings with backing vocals and noise that more reflects our live show". The sheer inability to categorise their sound has resulted in frustrated music journalists resorting to inventing new genres suck as "post-crunk-nu-rave", "industrial gospel/industrial pastoral" and "neu-gaze". The band neither condone nor deny such titles.
On the "Mirror Mirror" LP, the lyrics had a more surreal tinge, seemingly aimed at accumulating impressionistic detail to the sonic landscape. Childhood and dreaming are common lyrical threads, reflecting an interest in the philosophy of André Breton
and others.
, he did spark the bands initial interest in music and they draw a great deal from his chameleonic approach to his art. Other influences cited by various band members include Avant-Classical pioneers Terry Riley
and John Cage
, the soundtrack work of Phillip Glass and Vangelis
, German experimentalists Cluster
, Kraftwerk
, Can
and Popol Vuh
, Brian Eno
's solo work and collaborations, Australians The Triffids
, The Birthday Party
, and Bob Fisher and the Renegades, and the Factory Records
' production values.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band from Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia formed in early 2006. Often incorrectly labelled or billed as "The Dardanelles", they are named after the narrow strait in northwestern Turkey of the same name
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
.
Biography
The founding four members met during university after moving to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
from Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and Geelong and shortly afterwards formed the band.
After streaming their first recordings online, they were signed to a Sydney-based label who co-opted the songs to form half of the debut EP of the same name
Dardanelles (EP)
Dardanelles is the debut EP by Melbourne based Indie rock band Dardanelles released in November 2004.-Background:Following 12 months of touring to critical recognition from both fans and the music press, Dardanelles set out to record a few demos, which ended up being released as an EP...
. Released in November 2006 to critical acclaim, it spawned the single Origami Tree
Origami Tree
"Origami Tree" is the first single taken from Melbourne Indie rock band Dardanelles EP of the same name released in 2007.-Background:"Origami Tree" was written and re-written over nearly four months of gigs. The song is said to be about sociopaths and follows a general theme of many Dardanelles'...
which spent at least 5 weeks in the top 10 of the Australian Alternative Radio Play Chart. A second single, "Of Course You Said
Of Course You Said
"Of Course You Said" is the second and final single taken from Melbourne Indie rock band Dardanelles EP of the same name released in 2007. The song, which the band reveal deals with the theme of spiritual bankruptcy, was subsequently remixed by Melbourne based electro DJ "Riot in...
", was released later that year alongside remixes by Riot in Belgium and others. "Of Course You Said" and the Origami Tree (Coda) deconstruction that appeared on the EP were recorded six months after the other songs on the disc, and foreshadowed a move into more spatial, experimental and electronic territory.
Their debut album Mirror Mirror
Mirror Mirror (Dardanelles album)
Mirror Mirror is the debut album by Melbourne based Indie rock band Dardanelles released in September 2007.-Background:Taking their fans by surprise, Dardanelles' debut album proved to be a departure from their guitar infused debut EP, filled with dark haunting vocals and complex electronic...
, released in October 2007, continued the move away from garden variety post-punk towards something more filmic in scope. Widely seen as a departure from their guitar focused debut EP, it took sections of their fanbase and the music industry alike by surprise, and aroused a passionated critical response.
It was variously flagged in the domestic music press as "the finest Australian album of 2007 bar none", "A seminal record", 'Flat-out outstanding.... epoch-making', and "the most ambitious record of the year". The single Footsteps
Footsteps (Dardanelles song)
"Footsteps" is the only single taken from Melbourne Indie rock band Dardanelles' debut album Mirror Mirror released in 2007.-Background:The band claim the song was written in about 10 minutes and is the simplest track off the album. Originally planning to scrap the song, their producer convinced...
was subsequently released via iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and received heavy rotation on Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
, Australian community radio, and one of the United States' largest indie stations. In the week of its release, it was the second most added track to alternative radio in Australia behind Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...
.
After several re-pressings, the album was reissued in 2008 with a second disc featuring 8 bonus tracks. The band are currently working on their second album, mentioning that it'll be a departure from their previous work.
Critical recognition
In March 2008, Mirror Mirror was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize, alongside the Devastations, Architecture in Helsinki, New Buffalo and eventual winners the Mess Hall. The album had been previously shortlisted for the QANTAS Spirit of Young Australia Music Prize. The Inpress music-critics poll ranked "Mirror Mirror" at #6 in its year-end list, surpassing RadioheadRadiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, as well as being one of only two Australian albums on the list.
In November 2006, Dardanelles were added as Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
's "Next Crop" feature artists and also made the iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
"Band to Watch in 2007" list. Most recently, they were selected for Australia's first "JD set" in 2008.
Live shows
The quartet are renowned for their hyper-kinetic live performances, in which they frequently reinterpret, expand or combine their recorded output. Music journalists describe their live persona as "a frenetic mass of addictive and schizophrenic sonic madness". They have also played or toured with the likes of Who Made Who, The 1990s, Crystal CastlesCrystal Castles (band)
Crystal Castles are an experimental electronic band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, consisting of producer Ethan Kath and lyricist and vocalist Alice Glass. Crystal Castles are known for their chaotic live shows and their lo-fi home productions. The duo released many limited EPs between 2006 and...
, Ratatat, The Howling Bells, The Shocking Pinks, Dappled Cities Fly
Dappled Cities Fly
Dappled Cities are a five-piece indie rock band from Sydney, Australia.-History:The band, originally called Periwinkle, first came together in the leafy, northern Sydney suburb of Pymble in 1997. Dave Rennick and original drummer Hugh Boyce were soon joined by Alex Moore on bass and Tim Derricourt...
, Cut Copy
Cut Copy
Cut Copy are an Australian electronic band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford on vocals, keyboard and guitar. Other members are Tim Hoey on guitar and sampler, Ben Browning on bass guitar and Mitchell Scott on drums. Their second album, In Ghost Colours peaked at number-one on the ARIA Albums Chart in...
, and the Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Juggernauts are a band from Melbourne, Australia composed of Andrew Szekeres, Vincent Vendetta, and Daniel Stricker. The band has been described as anything from 'prog dance meets cosmic film scores', to 'slasher-flick disco' to 'deadpan landscape',...
.
Live festival's include "Pyramid Rock Festival", Phillip Island, Sydney's "Field Day", "The Playground Weekender", Canberra's "Trackside" and the "Essential Festival" in Melbourne and Sydney. In addition they have toured nationally, playing in all Australian capital cities and internationally at events including the "In the City Festival", Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
Musical style
"Dardanelles is a place of transformation. It's scarred by the past – a theatre of the Trojan and first World Wars, and the campaigns of Xerxes I and Alexander – but its ongoing physical beauty slaps mankind's lust for a longer shadow in the face. And the failure at Gallipoli, instead of remaining an open wound, is trumpeted as the birthplace of the Australian identity. Transforming sore spots into celebration is something we aim for in music. We want people to bounce to music with a dark bloodline".— Frontman Josh Quinn on the rationale behind the bands name.
Ghostly vocals and darkly subdued interludes grafted against bursts of noise amount to a certain degree of difficulty in pinpoint the genre of Dardanelles, who blend elements of punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, dance and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
into a distinct variant of art rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. The music press have likened elements of their sound to contemporaries Liars
Liars (band)
Liars is a three-piece band formed in 2000 consisting of Angus Andrew , Aaron Hemphill , and Julian Gross...
and TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
, as well tribal-era Cure material, Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
, The Creation Records stable, psychedelic 80s Northern England outfits such as The Chameleons
The Chameleons
The Chameleons were an English post-punk band that formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester, England in 1981. They consisted of singer and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarist Reg Smithies, guitarist Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever...
, aspects of first-wave Detroit-tech and, frequently, to Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
.
The band has a demonstrated contempt for genre, with Quinn-Watson claiming "genres are quicksand, so we write songs blind to genre walls".
The band members deeply interested in groove-driven music as the basis of their song-writing, and as an anchor for their excursions into atmospherics. As guitarist Alex Cameron explains "we’ve layered the recordings with backing vocals and noise that more reflects our live show". The sheer inability to categorise their sound has resulted in frustrated music journalists resorting to inventing new genres suck as "post-crunk-nu-rave", "industrial gospel/industrial pastoral" and "neu-gaze". The band neither condone nor deny such titles.
Lyrics and themes
The subject matter of the band's lyrics is a layered and ambiguous as their haunting sonic landscape. With the EP, the lyrics tended towards shadow and dislocation, with Josh Quinn-Watson claiming "the content of our songs is always cathartic – subjects which haunt or inspire us, or both". With the EP, there was a focus on intentionally contrasting the tone of lyrics and music, a move Quinn-Watson described as akin to "subliminal advertising". They abandoned this technique with the album, where both music and lyrics shared a dreamy, Borgesian quality.On the "Mirror Mirror" LP, the lyrics had a more surreal tinge, seemingly aimed at accumulating impressionistic detail to the sonic landscape. Childhood and dreaming are common lyrical threads, reflecting an interest in the philosophy of André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
and others.
Influences
Despite sounding not at all like Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, he did spark the bands initial interest in music and they draw a great deal from his chameleonic approach to his art. Other influences cited by various band members include Avant-Classical pioneers Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
and John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, the soundtrack work of Phillip Glass and Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, German experimentalists Cluster
Cluster (band)
Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...
, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
and Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh (German band)
Popol Vuh was a German electronic avantgarde band, in the mainstream-media so called Krautrock, founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch and Frank Fiedler...
, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
's solo work and collaborations, Australians The Triffids
The Triffids
The Triffids were a seminal Australian alternative rock and pop band formed in Perth, Western Australia, in May 1978 with charismatic, David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist. They achieved negligible success in Australia, but greater success in the U.K...
, The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (band)
The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...
, and Bob Fisher and the Renegades, and the Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
' production values.
Singles
| Year | Song | EP | Album | Chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Origami Tree Origami Tree "Origami Tree" is the first single taken from Melbourne Indie rock band Dardanelles EP of the same name released in 2007.-Background:"Origami Tree" was written and re-written over nearly four months of gigs. The song is said to be about sociopaths and follows a general theme of many Dardanelles'... |
Dardanelles Dardanelles (EP) Dardanelles is the debut EP by Melbourne based Indie rock band Dardanelles released in November 2004.-Background:Following 12 months of touring to critical recognition from both fans and the music press, Dardanelles set out to record a few demos, which ended up being released as an EP... |
||
| Of Course You Said Of Course You Said "Of Course You Said" is the second and final single taken from Melbourne Indie rock band Dardanelles EP of the same name released in 2007. The song, which the band reveal deals with the theme of spiritual bankruptcy, was subsequently remixed by Melbourne based electro DJ "Riot in... |
||||
| Footsteps Footsteps (Dardanelles song) "Footsteps" is the only single taken from Melbourne Indie rock band Dardanelles' debut album Mirror Mirror released in 2007.-Background:The band claim the song was written in about 10 minutes and is the simplest track off the album. Originally planning to scrap the song, their producer convinced... |
Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror (Dardanelles album) Mirror Mirror is the debut album by Melbourne based Indie rock band Dardanelles released in September 2007.-Background:Taking their fans by surprise, Dardanelles' debut album proved to be a departure from their guitar infused debut EP, filled with dark haunting vocals and complex electronic... |