Mike Katz here, AKA Harvey Sutherland – producer, synthesiser guy, DJ and one-time Mess+Noise forum lurker. My new record, Debt, is about “the cost of doing business in the meme economy” – reckoning with the idea of myself and my work as just another drop in the endless scrolling ocean of content and losing all sense of identity in the process.
I have drunk deeply from the swill and now lie bloated and brain-rotten, when I probably should have been touching more grass.
1. Chaos in the CBD DJ compilations
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Beans and Louis from house music duo Chaos in the CBD have made it their duty to unearth the most unhinged and cringe moments in global DJ culture, from the evergreen EDM clown show to highly aspirational bedroom jocks. It’s a broad church.
2. Michael Caine tweets
Why do we fall?
So we can learn to pick ourselves up.
Batman Begin
— Michael Caine (@themichaelcaine) August 19, 2024
I am going down with the ship over on Twitter (never “X”). Forever a home to the funniest people on the internet, even the ones such as Michael Caine who probably don’t intend to be. “Batman Begin.”
3. Lil Wayne leaf blower
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This scratches my brain in a very pleasant way. The swivel to the camera at full throttle cracks me up.
4. Yacht Rock (the Channel 101 web series)
I am not beating the Millennial Unc allegations, but 20 years on this remains an endlessly quotable sketch series rivalling More Cowbell in its impact for fans of album-oriented rock.
The episode where Van Halen hypnotise Doobie Brothers producer Ted Templeman to help them make I’m the One is pure mania. Smooth Jesus made me do this.
5. Aura Deleter
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This has ruined me; I cannot go through airport security without thinking about this video. Who is this man? The hunch. The unnecessary, awkward torso exposure. The commitment to the bit, whatever this bit is.
6. La Fuerza está con Cerveza Cristal (The Force is with Cristal beer)
This is a masterful display of product placement. The story goes that in order to avoid commercial breaks in the Chilean TV screening of Star Wars, they just spliced in some extra shots along the way. Cue: Obi-Wan Kenobi reaching into an Esky to fetch Luke Skywalker an ice-cold brewski. The triumphant “Cerveza Cristal” jingle really ties it together.
7. Kaye Loggins AKA Time Wharp – The Pulse of the Culture
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Kaye Loggins opened for us at Brooklyn venue Baby’s All Right a couple of years back. I knew her music on Leaving Records but didn’t quite realise how tremendously funny she is. She has a strong Twitter game and her lo-fi vox-pop Pulse of the Culture series is brilliant, as she runs around Times Square to a free jazz soundtrack asking people about “the best American band of all time”. Spoiler: “They’re actually British.”
8. Every Australian professional theatre monologue
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Theatre kids really cop it on TikTok. Is it fair? Probably not, but if we’re looking for rarefied sources of cringe it’s a great place to start. “Where did you get this video of my failed Nida audition?”
9. Bad Rube Goldberg machine
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This is probably the most wholesome of my selections – it’s just a great silly bit. Also: couple goals? I love how much fun they’re having through this whole elaborate process.
10. Lil’ Travioli
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Trav is the people’s champion, skewering government bureaucracy with his earbuds wrapped around his head. There’s shades of Ben Mendelsohn in his sinister MyGov character.
Harvey Sutherland’s latest album, Debt, is out on 10 October. He tours Australia in November.