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When I sit down to talk to Alister and Heidi from Cloud Control, I’m struck suddenly by a memory of the first time I heard their charming melodies at an intimate Sydney Uni Night Markets show on a makeshift stage alongside Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers. Like any Sydneysider interested in the indie music scene, I’ve seen more than a few magical Cloud Control shows.

“Woah!” exclaims Alister happily. “Out the front of the bank?” I nod. “Ah, I really enjoyed that show,” Heidi says. “I wore a good dress that night.”

You’d think that a band that have toured with the likes of Leader Cheetah, Yves Klein Blue and not to mention Vampire Weekend wouldn’t be caught dead doing such a show these days, but Al and Heidi both agree that they probably would. They’re both down to earth, unpretentious lovely people who are proud but humble in the face of the phenomenal success of Cloud Control and the release their debut album, Bliss Release on the 14^th of May.

It’s been a couple of years since that little show, and Bliss Release is finally a definitive recording of some of Cloud Control’s classic hits, along with some fantastic new material. But it’s been a long time coming. “We spend ages on songs,” explains Heidi. “Really long times, months and months and months. When songs first start getting worked on we usually work on getting them up for the next live show. We often end up writing and arranging to suit a live sound.”

And with so many shows over the years, the songs have come together over that long time. But recording the album opened Cloud Control’s minds to a whole new realm of sounds. “When it came to the recording process there was a lot of re-jigging to do to figure out how it would translate with lots of layers, layers that we can’t achieve live,” Heidi says.

“There are so many extra little things that just all add up to give it another layer of goodness that we just can’t play live,” agrees Al. “We’re getting there now, though. We’ve bought some tricky tricks like little boxes and things.” Heidi laughs and explains: “Boxes that replicate Alister, really. And this is the first time we’re going to be touring with two guitar amps, which means there’s more sounds that Alister can produce, which is good. So we’re slightly changing our live sound, of late.”

I’m interested to know how much they’ve been involved with the techy ins and outs of production after all this talk of tricky tricks. “We worked pretty closely with Liam,” says Al. “We worked at his house, his parents house actually, and I was going up there quite a lot. I was just kind of doing mixes and stuff to kind of show him the ideas we were looking for and he’d go in and do his thing. And then… results.”

Al and I are reunited in this interview after hanging out the Friday before with his younger brother and my friend, Doug, who fronts indie-electro-pop three piece We Say Bamboulee. The Cloud Control kids are often found at other Sydney gigs, supporting the scene and their friends in other bands.

“There’s definitely some really cool bands in Sydney at the moment,” says Al. “Bamboulee, obviously, I really like. And I really like WIM as well.” Heidi gushes over WIM also, but mentions she hasn’t managed to hear a recording yet. “Oh my gosh, their recordings are so cool,” says Al excitedly. “What’s that one song that kicks ass? Diamond? Oh my god, that’s awesome. I really like Danimals, and Seekae, too, and Belles Will Ring. They’ve got a new single coming out too.”

On their album tour, Cloud Control are taking Sydney friends Richard In Your Mind around with them on their exciting 15 date national trip. “RIYM are really great,” says Heidi. “We’ve played with them a few times. They’ve got a different thing going on now. Richard kind of raps a bit in the songs, which he did a little before, but now it’s got a fuller sound because that guy [Brent/SPOD]’s on the synth bringing the beats in. It’s really enjoyable seeing little Richard rapping away. He’s got some real solid beats.”

But with some big local names like Philadelphia Grand Jury going overseas recently, Al and Heidi have to think about what happens to Cloud Control after this tour. “I think what bands do in Australia is they seem to do the national rounds, supporting people for a while, and then hopefully they’ve got enough fans for a headline tour, and then they just pack up and go overseas,” says Heidi. “Once you reach that, there’s nothing much else to except go overseas and come back and play the Enmore. “I ask if they’re going to disappear overseas too? “There’s no specific, logistical, organisational thought, but there’s dreams. I think we’d love to…”

“We’re going to London in a few months,” Al says, with a look at Heidi. “ But it’s depending on if we get a grant, and hopefully we will. I mean, we’d better, because we have shows booked and a festival.” Heidi adds, “They can’t tell us ‘til the end of May and the shows are in July. It doesn’t give us a lot of time to buy tickets!”

They’re reticent to defect so quickly though. “Australia’s pretty great,” smiles Al. “I love Sydney. There’s lots of good bands here.”

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Cloud Control are on tour, and after just playing at the Oxford Art Factory on the 14th of May, they are touring around the country. Check out their myspace for more details.

With their powers combined, they are Arkestra – a relatively new but powerful force in the Sydney music scene. Arkestra are about to embark on their first Oxford Art Factory residency over the next month, and I spoke to Jasper about how the band works, how the residency will work and also small hands, Zionist music, local and international influences and the Read Palm Press.

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+ How and when did Arkestra come in to existence?
> Well, I was having a quiet cigarette outside some art gallery in December and I ran into Aleesha who was on her way to get wined and dined by some leech from MTV. Anyway, she was bitching to me about how she had recorded a whole album and she hated it and I offered to record her.

We recorded a couple of tracks together and we really liked how they came out but they didn’t really fit into the ‘Aleesha Dibbs‘ kind of thing, it was more a 50/50 arrangement so we just decided to start a band. After a month or so James Domeyko joined. We ended up living together for a couple of months just writing and recording and sleeping and eating all in my old roach/pigeon infested studio in Surry Hills.

+ What does the name mean and where did it come from?
> I think  Arkestra is Hebrew and it means a band who plays Zionist songs but I’m not too sure. Its obviously a nod to Sun Ra and Kevin Shields too.

+ Tell me a bit about the other band members… James Domeyko and Aleesha Dibbs.
> James [of Domeyko/Gonzales] is super eccentric, well groomed and musically a complete freak. Aleesha [Aleesha Dibbs] is a hard-ass hippie with a heart of gold who plays piano incredibly well for someone with really small hands. It’s a really humbling experience playing with those two.

+ What does everyone bring to the band? Who plays what, but also creatively, and in terms of personalities and energy?
> Well I am the producer of the band, so I make beats, sing a bit and play some keyboards. Aleesha takes care of most of the vocals and lyrics and also plays piano and James mainly plays guitar, generates ideas and buys juice for everyone.

We mainly write songs and come up with arrangements collaboratively. I guess we are all pretty manic people but it’s also really easy to work together because we all have an equal amount of respect for one another which is a nice change from other bands I have been in.

+ How would you describe the music that Arkestra makes?
> I suppose it is quite dark and atmospheric with the rhythms generally rooted in Hip Hop. It’s a really hard thing to describe and it’s far easier to let the audience decide for themselves.

+ What are your main influences?
> I guess our main musical influences are Portishead, Madlib, Massive Attack, Tricky, Cocteau Twins, The Neptunes, Spiritualized, Serge Gainsbourg, Dusty Springfield, Radiohead…I could name millions but I won’t.

+ Where does Arkestra fit in the Sydney music scene? Who would be your musical neighbours?
> I guess we don’t really know where we fit as a band yet. I had been playing in Warhorse for the last four years and I see this band as the complete opposite. I think Aleesha feels the same way too. Still, because of how small the scene is here people are generally pretty open minded. I guess our musical neighbours are the bands who are playing the residency at Oxford Art Factory we are doing in May as well as other bands we dig like Wim, The Laurels, Dead China Doll, Zeahorse, Fashion Launches Rocket Launches and Danimals.

+ What’s your creative process like? You’re all songwriters – is it difficult to deal with a lot of creativity going around? Or exciting?
> Usually starts with a beat or some piano and we just build and build and build until it’s built.

+ What’s the Read Palm Press?
> Jim Shirlaw’s multi-tentacled cultural assault on Sydney. If you don’t know who he is then you probably will because I think he is probably one of the most important people involved in music and art in Sydney right now. He is super organized and has vision and doesn’t talk shit or blow smoke up anyone’s ass. We are working on a festival called Double Dragon at Oxford Art Factory in July so keep a lookout for that.

+ How does a residency work? Did you curate the support bands?
> We headline every Thursday night and yeah we curate the support bands, DJs and VJs.

+ How do you feel about playing a show every week? Will it be the same show, or do you think things will develop, change, metamorphose?
> We are working on different concepts for each week. All the bills are quite different from week to week, for example on the first week Dominic Talarico and Louis Roach and Joel Burrows’ new project Disco Club are supporting which will all be very electronic and weird and dancey so I think we are going to tailor our set around something like that and have some different visuals happening. But I think it might be in the third week that The Preachers and Whipped Cream Chargers are playing, so that will be more raw and soulful and dirty so we might have some different visual aesthetic going on for that one.

+ What’s next after this? Recording?
> Yeah, we have already done a bit of recording and we are preparing a single (‘Stray Angel’) for release in June or July. I am always recording stuff and after the residency we will have more time to focus on recording. I think the idea is to release a new single every couple of months then kind of do an album early next year before going to America.

+ What are you all listening to now, and is it changing the music you’re making? What was the last thing you heard that blew your mind?
> I think James is listening to Animal Collective because he put some on at my place after rehearsal the other day. Can’t really speak for Dibbsy. I have been listening to heaps of the Neptunes, that first Puff Daddy and the Family record, Randy Newman, Giorgio Moroder and Scritti Politti.

If I had to choose one person in the world that inspires me in Arkestra it’s Green Gartside from Scritti Politti particularly on Songs to Remember and Cupid and Psyche 85 the drums, production and the vocals are a massive influence on what I contribute to this band.

+ Lastly, what can we expect from your shows?
> Epic songs, interesting visuals and no drummer.

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Arkestra’s residency at Oxford Art Factory begins on Thursday, May 6 (with Dominic Talarico and Disco Club) and continues on May 13th (with Old Men of Moss Mountain and Domeyko/Gonzales), May 20th (with Whipped Cream Chargers and The Preachers) and May 27th (with Piano is Drunk and Virgo Rising).

I can barely relate ‘Fox’ to the Danimals that played at the Throw Shapes launch party last year. There’s a distorted guitar sound, the percussion has been pushed back to a very produced, tight sounding driving beat with a bass line that just kind of pounds and grooves away in the background too. The vocals have come right up to the front of the mix and are continuous through the entire track, which is radio-ready and pop-structured, unlike the more epic, wandering structures of their previous songs. And then look a horn section! The chorus is really catchy – the whole song is super catchy – and, wow, look, it’s a great song. The echoing vocals and the bridge do hark back to ‘old Danimals‘ but the experimental nature of their music seems almost gone, replaced by a poptastic energy and overpowering brassy attitude.

I still love Fox. I keep listening to it and humming along. And it makes me excited for where Danimals are going in the future, and the kind of album they are going to release. I hope they don’t forget their experimental, beautiful, complex and geeky roots, though, because that’s what made us love them in the first place.

Download it: Danimals – Fox.

The night is going to happen in the live art space of Oxford Art Factory, tonight (24th) at 8pm. Oxford Art Factory‘s gallery space has been, thanks to these people and this kind of event, a great space to showcase up and coming alternative talent, allowing people to see exciting experimental, dark, different and delicious music for more than a year now.

With their gig coming up this week at Sedition’s Difficult Music Festival we had a chat to them about their musical ambitions and direction. Make a jump to read it…

+ Tell me a bit about your music. What are the main influences? How would you describe it? What kind of people like it? Where should you be to listen to it, ideally?

G: James and I do these kind of improvised electronica shows. The way they sound kind of depends on the mood we’re in. They [the shows] can range from super ambient soundscape stuff to being extremely loud and abrasive. It’s basically an opportunity for me to set up all my synths and pedals and instruments at once and see what happens. What I do is mostly loop based. I’m really into some weird bands I’ve stumbled across in New York recently. Check out Blues Control and Excepter. We’re also playing with some more beat driven music in the style of artists like Madlib and Flying Lotus, we did a thing like that at our last show.

D: We each bring our different backgrounds to it. Between us we cover everything from noisy no-wave stuff like Glenn Branca to spectral/minimalist music. Also we’re both really into the DIY vibe of groups like Fuck Buttons. When we play live we like to leave large spaces for improvisation and feed off each others’ ideas. That way it keeps it fresh and if we do revisit a previous idea, it’s because we really vibed off it. We don’t know if anyone likes it – anyone who has an ear for experimental approaches and likes soundscapes. We never know exactly what will happen so being open to going with us wherever it takes us is fairly crucial to getting the most out of it.

Just be where we’re at.

+ How did this musical friendship begin?

D: We’ve technically been playing music together since we were about 8 in our first band when we both played alto sax in the Woollahra Public School band. This particular project began properly when we played a cheeky gig at World Bar for Radio Social and then we got asked to program FBi, and then got asked to play another gig and then it kept coming. We’ve jammed sporadically over the years but this has brought it into a more focused realm.

G: Yep.

+ Are there any difficulties with pushing your kind of music in Sydney?

G: This hasn’t been a difficulty for us because we haven’t really been trying to push it on people, we both play a lot of music and this is a chance for us to really do whatever we want.

D: We’ve had a steady stream of gigs and from our first show we were asked to do a radio program and live performances on the air with Justin Zeltzer from the Bridge, who was cool with it when we straight out said we’re going to jam on the air. We’re still playing and people are there when we play.

+ Is experimental music reaching new audiences these days? is there a sort of aura of cool and avant-garde around it that carries it?

D: Haha, I guess if watching music nerds play with their toys is your brand of James Dean then you’re in luck. From our experience, we’d say yes. A lot of people are spreading the word about whatever is catching their imagination and everyone benefits when great new things are shared.

G: I think the only way that music progresses is through experimentation so if people stop liking it we’d get a bit stuck. I don’t think what we do is particularly cool by any standard. It’s quite honestly a bit self-indulgent on our behalves as we mainly do it for ourselves but if people want to watch then they’re more than welcome.

+ Biggest Sydney influences/Sydney bands you have the most respect for?

D: Fuji Collective, The Danimals, I Like Cats, Rockethead, Squid, Kirin Callinan, Seekae, Bridezilla, Warhorse, Ghosts of Television, Kyu, The Laurels, Fashion Launches Rocket Launches to name a few.

G: Whipped Cream Chargers, Nhomea, La Mancha Negra, Seekae, Dead China Doll, Kyu, Dead Farmers and Kirin J Callinan.

+ Tell me a bit about your upcoming gigs.

D: We have one coming up at Sedition Barber Shop on the 28th of January with Piano Is Drunk and Arkestra for the Difficult Music Festival. Sedition is a very small venue: it holds about 30 people max so I think there is a greater expectation than ever to deliver. Depending on how we feel after watching Piano is Drunk we’ll either want to chill the place or blow it out. Arkestra is going to be dark as well so keeping the overall experience in mind is important. Then we’re playing with Warhorse and Silvermoon at World Bar on the 5th of March. Bring earplugs to that one. As a rule for the gigs, anyone’s guess is as good as ours.

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http://www.myspace.com/domeykogonzalez

OAF think that the bands they’ve got lined up for a show they’ve called ‘Look Out! 2010‘ are the ones to keep an eye on this year. They are: acclaimed atmospheric post-rock outfit Parades, the psychadelic kids The Laurels, country-rock-blues floppy-haired Cabins, already raved about on this blog Bearhug, Joysticks, featuring members of Danimals, and also Georgia Fair and Sticky Fingers.

Anyway the best thing is that all of this is actually totally free, so it’s your chance to rack up all the cred you need for the whole year by seeing a bunch of bands that have been tipped to succeed for free and for such little effort. It’s happening on Saturday January 23 from 8pm. See you with your blogging glasses on.