Cooperblack will be missed
BEN LANGFORD
January 15th, 2010 NT News
Cooperblack's Kormendy, Davies, Conlon at Kitty's. Picture: DUANE PRESTON
ALL that is wrong and all that is right with the Darwin music scene was on show at a single performance last week.
It was just a little show but it was a big deal, the last for the trio I'd call Darwin's best band.
And it was one of their finest. Leaving aside how people seem to look better, sound better, once they say they're leaving, this was still a show of the highest quality.
Brilliant bandleader, singer and songwriter Jeremy Conlon has reinvented Cooperblack a few times now, and this incarnation has more guitar and more melody in the singing, where he leaves the audience guessing whether he's doing a falsetto or just singing nice and high, nice and loud.
It's a slightly more precise affair then the previous line-up, with Jess Davies' sharp drumming a little less heavy than the big German, Oliver Budack.
Simon "the Professor" Kormendy was nicely restrained on keys and theremin, and if you listen carefully you could hear how Conlon can make a song out of even the silliest little lyric (note the song Horny Tits Monkey).
Some influences were obvious, with the band's inheritance combing through the wreckage of Jane's Addiction, collecting a few pieces of Mercury Rev, a thin slice of Joy Division, a chorus as good as many Oasis have mustered and a couple of old bottles recovered from veteran Kiwi Chris Knox.
My mate reckoned he could hear the Blue Oyster Cult in there - but he says that about most bands he listens to, and there are not many of them, except for the Blue Oyster Cult.
Kitty O'Shea's must be applauded for showing some commitment to local music, a rare quality on Mitchell St. But the wet season blues affects every show, and it was a small crowd that whooped and danced - and kept the bar ticking over.
Conlon almost made it through two whole sets before the moment that has become almost inevitable in Darwin music, whenever original music is played in pubs. A drongo in a Broncos jersey, conditioned on what to expect from years of cover bands playing the same songs, called out for some AC/DC. Conlon didn't even joke about it. "We play original music, mate".
And he did. The Wally Lewis impersonator left.
A creator of fun for the ears, the heart and the brain, Conlon should do well in Victoria, where he's headed. But his collaboration with Kormendy, which is the heart of the band, will not be replaced easily. One suspects they might find a way to play it again.
Cooperblack's last Darwin show, Kitty O'Shea's, Thursday, January 8
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Pretty Cool Monkeys
NT News Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Ben Langford 30/05/08
It's not a great thing to say, but if the electro-garage band Cooperblack weren't in Darwin they'd be stars. The band will draw a fair crowd to the launch of their new CD "My Art is Bleeding" tonight. But with a unique sound so confident it borders on the crazy, and uber-modern blend of electronics, chords and high pitched languages, the hip cats of Melbourne or Sydney would pack into clubs to hear them play. Luckily for Darwin, the band's leading light, singer-songwriter Jeremy Conlon, has no plans to move away from his adopted hometown. "My Art is Bleeding" is a more rocking affair than previous Cooperblack efforts, a fact that Conlon puts down to much of it being recorded live. With Simon Kormendy on synthesizer and his madly wailing theramin, this is a local band reaching the heights of their powers. And the influence of the German drummer Oliver Budack is clear, with the album's opening track "Affen Titten Geil" among the more bizzare points. the song's title translates as "horny tits monkey", which apparently is a popular way for old-school Germans to say "that's really cool". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Cooperblack certainly don't sound like your typical Darwin band. A blend of lounge, electronica, theramin and rock, it isn't what you'd normally associate with the 'top ends' music scene. The bands lyrics are just as leftfield. A kaleidoscope of ideas and themes straight out of art school; songs about German catch phrases, owning too many books (and not reading any of them), birds flying into windows, pop corn and more. Not a blue sky mine to be found among it."
Citysearch.com- Mikolai, August 2008"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COOPERBLACK "THE SHINY SIDE"
SBS Alchemy 2005
Cooperblack's independent release 'Shiny Side' proves that Australia's top end is a hotbed for new electronica on the verge of erupting. Despite Cooperblack creating in Darwin's heat and relative isolation, the album plays like a perfect soundtrack for the East Coast winter. Its fragile melodies, down-tempo electro and subtle white noise create a sonic conversation that will relax and intrigue. Cooperblack is the alter-ego of Jeremy Colon and he uses this to include a wide spectrum of compositions with gentle intention and cheek. Listen to a sample track from Cooperblack and find out why the Northern Territory musica can't go unnoticed for much longerŠ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COOPERBLACK "THE SHINY SIDE"
from Cyclic Defrost Magazine Issue #011 (May 2005) Angela Stengel
Cooperblack - The Shiny Side (self-released) Jeremy Conlon is a Darwin artist who goes by the name Cooperblack. This release is one of interesting but conventional beats, smooth female vocals and pleasant synth sounds. It broaches many genres, but those with a post-rock or hip-hop edge work best. The title track is a slightly odd mix of industrial beats, divas, rapping and a sweet marimba. While the scatting works well in this track, there's maybe too much going on overall. 'Buttermilk Tiger' is a stand out track on the album and sure to be good live. It works where others fail because of a steady groove, interesting vocals and a nicely recorded piano that complements the more electronic sounds. The IDM styled 'Didn't Like It' lacks a strong bass on an otherwise good track. The album ends with 'Taken Away (It's All Fine)', a perfectly good indie track that is so different I wonder if another CD has started playing. The nice sounds on the album can't be faulted, however, it's the way the songs are combined which destroys the cohesiveness of the release. Too much happens at once, preventing the appreciation of individual sounds, and too many genres are crossed for no discernable reason. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COOPERBLACK "PRESBUS"
IMPRESS Magazine issue 596 9th Feb 2000
A member of excellent Adelaide band The violets ventures into soundtrack territory here - literally, as this song was originally written as the soundtrack for a short film. Taking a processed loop base and peppering it with scat vocal samples, lo-fi effects and cut-and-paste editing. Presbus comes out the other side like The The's Matt Johnson at 3am on a dark corner of jazz-soundtrack cocktail bar/ In other words, blurry but stylish.
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BEAT Magazine 16th Feb 2000
Jeremy from Adelaide group The Violets goes Cooperblack for soundtrack purposes, ends up without a film but release music anyway. Presbus at first sounds like a facinating trip hop take on jazz, until it decends into hell, sounding not unlike a basket full of wailing, screaming, meowing cats. Then it has the ability to cause illness. Further three tracks are so constrictive around poor little ears than one might think that one was living on the Hellmouth and Armageddon might be about to arrive. which is to say, it's hard to listen to.
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RIU MAG ISSUE 550 10-16th Feb 2000
A side project of The Violets' keyboardist and guitarist Jeremy Conlon, cooperblack offer a tripped out and laid back version of music of this new century. Presbus takes looped beats over spoken word vocals and introduces an element of free form jazz to produce remarkably compelling and innovative track. Bombs and Uniset World have a more conventional approach while Tr!p's Reverse Kitten is even more off beat interpretation than Presbus. A challenging but rewarding debut. Cooperblack are not to be taken lightly.
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REVOLVER Magazine 7th Feb 2000
Triphop blurred into a sonic blunder of groove and jazz. Like walking through a street demonstration with Nina Simone at the same time as listening to Tricky on your walkman [ don't you love those long winded, highly improbable aggregates of description which, if it ever were to eventuate, would almost certainly be the cause of a great deal of anxiety rather than you stopping and thinking "Wow this sounds just like the new Cooperblack record"] . Particularly cool for those people who insist on highly irregular music as far from the mainstream as possible - you wankers. Special commendation to track four for its title Tr!ps Reverse Kitten Mix which is so angular and alienating as to be almost unlistenable - cool.
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DRUM Magazine 15th Feb 2000
ELECTRONIC based, but far darker that the technology driven dance pop of what is more typical in this day and age. They call it scatter, cyberjazz. I wouldn't dare. The various loops and stuff collide and then wander over your ear, or of the soundtrack altogether, while Norman Bates whispers something you can't quite hear, or don't want to. An African chant visits. A female scatters over the top, and under the noise. I'm not sure what it all means, I'm not even sure I like it, but it makes you want to listen to it again to make you find out just why. I find myself intrigued, and i like that.
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www.triplejunearthed.com
rating: 4/5
Fun electro pop tune. Definitely strands of Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire in this one. Bouncy and fast paced with a driving keyboard line.
Dan Buhagiar, triple j
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www.triplejunearthed.com
rating: 3/5
i love the deep organ sounding bass line, the chorus lyrics are repeated a little often. One of those songs that will get stuck in my head and sometimes that
the watt riot
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rating: 4/5
Like an upbeat hot chip. I am liking it. Go Darwin!
The Brown Trout
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www.triplejunearthed.com
rating: 4/5
kind of like a ted mulry gang's jump in my car for the noughties. cool.
keith talent
Watch cooperblack on JTV in australia..watch 60 second spotlight on cooperblack...funny......
JTV..click on the link and have a search for cooperblack