Created by Nick Clarke and Zac Bradtke, Banalarama is a Melbourne based online TV Channel that writes, films and produces online sketches and series that have the ability to entertain, inform and confuse at all once.
Sprouting from underneath the Banalarama umbrella came ABABCd, an independent filmed music show featuring 4 acts playing a track each live every episode. Back for the second instalment of their third season, this Friday the 15th will see ABABCd play host to Pearls, Ausmuteants, The Ocean Party and Totally Mild in their newly christened home of The Gaso, in Collingwood.
Singlehandedly under the ABABCd name the guys have managed to host sold-out events, ignite some pretty fascinating discussions, produce stunningly shot live clips, but most importantly given local musicians a platform to showcase their undeniable world-class talent beyond the usual hundred-cap local room.
As the duo describe in their ABABCd introduction “Channel V is dead. MTV cares more about the Kardashians than King Gizzard. Molly Meldrum is getting eulogised before he’s even in the ground. Where does one go for live music television when the format seems deader than ever? ABABCd.”
Being purveyors of the online music TV we asked Nick and Zac to take us though their favourite online music channels. The list branched off-track beyond the music world, but hey down the internet rabbit hole seems like pretty apt direction for an article about online videos. Check it out below and if you’re interested in coming along to tomorrow night’s filiming pop by the ABABCd Facebook page for more info.
Side Lake
Zac: I was in Kyoto recently buying some bargain music CDs from a train station and came across Enka – sentimental post war Japanese Ballads.
This channel is full to the brim of it. We like everything Japanese basically; the food and music particularly. I once performed as a Geisha at an event Nick put on. I made the ABABCd set a bunch of Shoji screens. Oh and Nick was conceived in Japan (trivia!)
The Needle Drop
Nick: I probably look at this twice a week, preferably after I’ve listened to the music he’s reviewing so I can compare notes rather than just adopting his view, which is easy to do because he’s so reasonable about his views.
Fantano is the best music reviewer around, not just because of the diversity and depth of his knowledge (a lot of music nerds know a lot about music) but because of his ability to impart opinions and insights that enable viewers to really easily judge whether the relevant music is something they themselves might like.
His reviews aren’t ego-driven and he doesn’t go out of his way to diss stuff he dislikes, plus the manner in which he’s cultivated his YouTube following with little inside jokes and humour is super clever. Great dude too.
Lowell Curry
Zac: This channel is full of episodes of Danger Man – a ’60s show about “A security investigator travels worldwide.” I base a lot of editing styles off the editing/look of this show. Observe Red or White.
Adult Swim
Nick: Only like this channel for On Cinema at the Cinema, a film reviews show presented by Tim Heidecker (of Tim and Eric notoriety) and Gregg Turkington (aka Neil Hamburger) that runs concurrently with a terrible action series called Decker that features both of them.
They rate virtually every movie a full 5 bags of popcorn, the way they weave discussions/cross-promotion about Decker into the show is absurd, and their live Oscars specials get completely out of hand. I hadn’t actually seen this show before we made our Red or White chat show but I can see certainly similarities with the On Cinema Oscars Specials that people pointed out to me at the time; the binge-drinking basically.
Memory Hole
Zac: It’s so nice. So nice that explaining it wouldn’t do it justice, so I won’t explain it, and if you trust me, which you shouldn’t, you’ll peruse at luxurious leisure, or you won’t.
Friendlyjordies
Nick: Real popular now as he’s attracted a bogue following because he sends bogues/everyone up in such a way that nobody’s willing to acknowledge, or perhaps even be conscious of the crippling reality that they are being the joke, but Jordan’s ruthless and extremely well informed and the writing in these is dense af.
Also – if you look back, these used to be shot semi-properly, with a rotating cast of different characters, but now he basically sits on his balcony in costume spouting vitriol with some slow zooms. Message > Delivery.
Food Wishes
Zac: I really enjoy cooking for guests and this channel is great and has good tips of cooking for said guests, OR FRIENDS 😄 OR BOTH? 😞
Funny or Die
Nick: I don’t really get off on Funny or Die at all tbh, but they’re obviously massive (on Youtube and their website) and recently they featured a video of ours on their website homepage (a sketch called ‘The Lewd Language of Men’s Magazines’) alongside Big Bird and Donald Trump contributions. It was ridiculous.
We couldn’t believe they ran something so niche. Thousands of views later we were adjudged to be ‘funny’ but only just. It was very stressful. Some videos get mercilessly smashed on there. So this is a shout out to them for supporting us.
