The Hippodrome

Satalright Download
Guavaboard Download

Welcome to Melbourne, Australia. Ignore the trendy boutiques and noise restrictions imposed by invading yuppies, and you’ll find a few DIY-charged hopefuls, namely one who assumes the pseudonym Mildsparrow. Known to his friends as Matt Davidson, The Hippodrome’s first feature from down-under calls his work “a human cannonballer’s diary.”

If you like the sound of that, then ask Davidson about his local scene — he won’t hesitate to be blunt. “A lot of venues are now only ‘rented’ to promoters who will only book known acts, so the actual performance possibility of up and coming artists has been severely restricted,” Davidson says. In fact, Davidson even credits his moniker to the tribulations of the Melbourne music community. Mildsparrow “reflects the easy going nature of [my] music, combined with the tenacity of survival despite being an unknown and small bird in the musical skies of Melbourne, Australia.”

“Satalright” and “Guavaboard,” The Hippodrome’s two featured tracks, run the stylistic gambit in a way that Davidson suggests is “colored by the canvas of the cosmic Big Top.” “Satalright” has a subtle twinge of Tom Waits’ signature grime, who Davidson not coincidentally worships as a creator of the “almanac of humanity.” “Guavaboard” hits an aesthetic between The Books and Robert Ashley’s “String Quartet Describing the Motion of Large Real Bodies.”

Although these tracks are durn purty on tape, Mildsparrow is still without a live form. Davidson hopes to get a band together soon, honorably frowning upon the push and play laptop tactics used by many electronic musicians today. When said band does form (which I assure you, The Hippodrome will keep you posted on), I’m hoping that despite the challenges of the Melbourne atmosphere, Davidson will get the recognition he deserves. The chipper songwriter acknowledges local radio and fellow musicians as his biggest supporters, so small bird he may be, it seems like there’s more than a little fight in Mildsparrow.

This entry was posted by Ben Bernstein on Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Blurbs, Written By Ben Bernstein. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.