4ZZZ launched its glorious tradition of counting down listeners' 100 favourite songs on New Year's Day 1977. More than 10 years later, 2JJJ in Sydney (which employed many ex-Zed staff) began conducting its own Hot 100. Because 4ZZZ held the rights to the name Hot 100, there was a little bit of legal biffo when TripleJ became a national broadcaster, so they changed the name of their survey to the "Hottest 100".
Cartoon Physics
If you favour the more melodic side of indie rock/pop, Cartoon Physics is a Brisbane band that may be well-worth spending a bit of time getting to know.
Described as: "A warm, grungy, indie-pop bubble of comfort", Cartoon Physics were originally formed in 2008 by Pete Ayscough and Sam Magriplis, both ex-Edie’s Playpen. This nucleus independently released an album: “Per Ardua Ad Astra” in 2009 and a follow-up, mainly-acoustic ep: “The Kenilworth Sessions” in 2010, after which drummer; Simon Thomas and bass-player; Jimi Fleming were recruited.
Cartoon physics have a love of 80’s alt-pop, along the lines of XTC, REM, Squeeze, Pixies and pretty much everything in-between. A very strong set of songs balance often-melancholy themes with a love of simple, up-front melody. Arrangements alternate between subtle and sparse, to solid powerpop-style outings. Cartoon physics don’t spend a lot of time “shredding”. They won’t exorcise many of your demons, but they will leave you with some very warm melodies to curl up next to when you go to bed.
The band started playing live shows in September 2010 and have played the usual assortment of inner-city venues such as Rics, Alloneword, The Music Kafe and The Zoo, with all gigs being very well received by audiences. The band intends spending 2011 working on a follow-up album and honing their live set.
