Breakfasters wraps up

My stint on the Triple R Summer Breakfasters has wrapped up after two enjoyable, but tiring, weeks. Jess McGuire continues on next week with Tony Biggs.

All of our music playlists are online now:

http://www.rrr.org.au/program/summer-breakfasters/

The Yuletide Wind-down

Sleep deprived and run-ragged seems the default option for many at this time of year, myself included. If doing breakfast radio shifts, waking at 4:45am, isn't enough, I'm still dragging myself into work for a normal 8 hour shift, with little time left to prepare for the next days broadcast, let alone buy presents, food, decorations and booze for Xmas. Hmm.

Plus I'm on cooking detail for Jesus' birthday too. Which, actually I'm really looking forward to. Cooking and listening to music are the great pleasures in life, and guess what? You can do them at the same time. Perfect. So fish is on the menu this year, less as a homage to the newly birthed Lord, more as a way to try something new, instead of the underwhelming old faithfuls - ham and turkey. I've got some choice baked fish recipes too, cooking the whole thing Thai style with lots of coriander, chili, thai basil and garlic. Yum! So i'll be off to the fishmongers tomorrow, after the stint at Triple R, and then to the fresh fruit and vegie market for the rest of the shopping. I have the day off work (joy!) and can begin a small Yuletide wind down of my own.

Speaking of Triple R, and if you are keen for some decent Xmas listening, there is a team of special presenters on board for the 25th, with 'sweet' tunes for your listening pleasure. A full list of who's on air is online now. And you can check out the music we've been playing on the Summer Breakfasters page of the Triple R site.

Oh, and peace and love to you and yours over the silly season. And as someone said to me today: "drive safe".

Triple R - Summer Breakfasters

I am presenting Breakfasters on TRIPLE R for two weeks with the irrepressible Jess McGuire, Defamer blogger and presenter of I'd Rather Jack.

We start tomorrow, Monday morning, 15th of December. We'll also be on-air for Xmas day! Open your presents to our dulcet tones. It will be your pleasure.

We have the usual Breakfasters stuff like whats-in-the-papers, news on the half hour and regular special guests. We're talking film with Cerise Howard, books with Lou Swinn, sport with Jesse Fyfe and 'superlingo' with Georgia Webster.

Plus we'll be covering coolsie events, happenings and gossip in Melbourne leading up to Xmas and an absolute tonne of kickarse music. You can listen in Melbourne from 6-9am on 102.7FM or tap the glorious MP3 stream at http://www.rrr.org.au/programs/streaming/

If you are in London, we are on between 7 and 10pm, Sunday to Thursday. Breakfast for dinner, yum!

Brighten The Corners

The expanded reissue (Deluxe!) edition of Pavement's super fourth LP Brighten The Corners has at last been released (follow link for full Australian release info). If it is as well packaged, thorough and essential as the previous reissues, i'll be nipping down the local record shop this weekend to have me one of them spiffy 2CD packs, oh yes.

Fader get stuck in with Mitch Easter who may not have played the role of primary producer, in spite of what was reported at the time of its initial release... and Aquarium Drunkard ask "What sort of Pavement fan are you?"

I'm the Wowee Zowee devotee: "Someone who embraces chaos and finds life’s meaning in the constantly shifting nature of existence and human nature."

Pitchfork TV have the excellent doco on Pavement - A Slow Century - up online for free, for just one more day only!

Best Music Videos of 2008

The Best-of lists are kicking off everywhere, and Pitchfork.tv have weighed in with their fave music videos on the year, many of which are completely new to me. Check it. I gotta admit a soft spot for the floorshakin' Jerk It by Thunderheist:

War On Drugs

photo by Lauren Eileen.

I'm really getting into this record by Philly band War On Drugs. Its called Wagonwheel Blues and came earlier this year, but I somehow missed it. Fans of the woozy, countrified outings of Dylan, Neil Young, Blitzen Trapper, Beachwood Sparks and Jesus and Mary Chain should check it out.

Take a listen on myspace.

Sellers and the GBV

I'm on a bit of a Guided By Voices bender at the moment. A combination of re-discovering the fan-fave Bee Thousand in the lead up to my DJ set at Death to 1994 last week and reading the book Perfect From Now On by American writer John Sellers. He's a bona-fide GBV nut, compulsive listmaker and card carrying indie-rock fan, much like myself, and his book is a really kick-arse read. Here's a little excerpt:

At 193 listens, the song I had played most often during the previous twelve months was written by a band that most people have never heard of. In fact, the top ten songs—and seventeen of the top twenty (and thirty-five of the top fifty, and sixty-three of the top one hundred)—were all by that same band or its offshoots. The facts told me what I had only just begun admitting to myself: I was obsessed with Guided By Voices.

Ok, maybe your sides aren't yet split asunder... but he also goes on a piss-funny booze-soaked roadtrip to hang with Bob Pollard and writes about his pre-GBV obsessions with New Order, Pavement and Morissey. Perfect From Now On (also the name of the best Built To Spill album) can be found locally or on Amazon. Thanks to BK, who gave me the book for my birthday!

Top Five GBV songs, from their Best Of CD, by opening guitar riff:

05 Cut Out Witch
04 Everywhere with Helicopter
03 Surgical Focus
02 Game of Pricks
01 I am A Tree

Podcast - Episode 6

After another long hiatus, I've finally got a new podcast for you to hear. Its the usual combo of upbeat, scuzzy indie and pastoral folk, with a focus on new, excellent Australian music. Comments welcome!

everythingatonce_006.mp3

The details of the tracks are as follows:

Wolf and Cub - Seven Sevens
Jack Ladder - Best Kept Secret
Deerhunter - Saved By Old Times (Session Version)
St Helens - Get Up
Seagull - Dust Storm
J Tillman - Evans and Falls

Please visit the artists' websites and if you dig their tunes maybe give them some of that stuff clogging up yr wallet. Jack Ladder and St Helens both play shows in the coming week too, so check local gig guides for details. I can't recommend them highly enough.

The Avalanches

News from Triple J this week on a new album from lost-in-action sample-maestros The Avalanches (pictured above before they reverted to just a 3 piece).

Modular's label chief Steve Pav told Triple J:

"After many, many moons and several years that have passed by and several promises of getting a new album I've been assured that on Christmas Day they're going to deliver their new album to my little grotty hands." link

If it does surface (and this scribe isn't hedging any bets) it will be The Avalanche's first release since their incredible album of 2000 - Since I Left You. Pitchfork were reporting on the existence of its mythical follow-up way back in January 2007, quoting the band as saying of the new album, which never surfaced:

"much of last year was spent cutting up the spoken word/instructional records we need to tell the albums musical story, and we have some 40 odd songs we're narrowing down and finishing. so its real, it exists, and you know we wouldn't be serving anything up unless it was gonna give you that same special feeling that since has. funnily enough its ended up sounding like the next logical step to since, we just had to go around in a big circle to get back to where we belong." link

Oh, yeah? So the last two years have been spent doing what exactly? Going around in more circles? Some new Avalanches sounds (about 52 seconds anyway) has popped up on this teaser for the upcoming Nevereverland festival. It will be interesting to see if this represents their future aesthetic (more orchetral, pastoral, lush). But even if Santa does give Pav the album for Xmas, its likely to be a while before we get to hear it. No doubt the sample clearing is gonna be another monumental effort.

In the meantime (which could be a long time) check out details on their epic Since I Left You (a must own record) on Wikipedia, more of their tunes (including remixes) are on myspace and below is the lovely little video of that album's title cut...

1994

I have my lazy blogger socks on at the moment - no time, even less enthusiasm. There's so many gigs on this weekend i could plug: Songs/Love of Diagrams split 7" launch; Tame Impala at The Espy for free tomorrow etc. Good shit. Great for the soul. Beat has the word (of course).

But for the moment I'll get the self-indulgence on and just plug my DJ gig next Friday at the Red Room at Roxanne in the city. I'll be spinning music from 1994, a golden year for some... a shitstorm of mediocrity for others. Its free entry, and a chance to rock out to daggy/awesome tracks from Blur, Beasties, Charlatans, Pavement, Weezer, Hole, NIN etc. Feel free to suggest some tunes... and check the flyer for details!

Bon Iver for Australia

photo by angela n

Very excited to hear today that Bon Iver will be touring Australia for the first time this Summer. And he's playing some massive shows - The Forum and The Hi Fi in Melbourne, plus three nights at the Spiegeltent in Sydney. I saw him at ATP in Camber Sands UK earlier this year. His set was without doubt the highlight of that festival and Bon Iver's album "For Emma, Forever Ago" is one of my favourite records of the past year. Tickets for these shows should be on sale now. Check Handsome Tours for details.



And speaking of ATP (All Tomorrows Parties), more artists have been announced for the upcoming event at Mt Buller in January. They include The Reels, Bill Callahan (who also plays the Sydney Festival) and The Dirty Three performing their classic Ocean Songs.

Also announced this week was the 2009 Golden Plains Festival lineup. It takes place on the Meredith site on 7-9 March next year and will feature The Drones, Gary Numan, Luluc, Of Montreal, Black Mountain, Mogwai and You Am I among others. Details on the official site. I've missed out on tickets in the initial ballot, so fingers crossed for the second one!

All Songs Considered

I posted about Lykke Li the other day (see below) and then who should i hear opening the latest podcast from NPR's All Songs Considered, but the Swedish songstress herself. Great minds catch up at the same time methinks!

Anyway, it reminded me that I've been downloading All Song Considered for a few weeks now and its becoming one of my favourite music podcasts. Quite often I might have only a passing interest in the songs on offer, but Bob's presentation is so genuine and he displays such affection for the artists and their craft that its really compulsive listening. Let your inner music nerd be seduced by subscribing, or at the very least get onto their great concert and live performance archives at NPR. They currently have the recent Elephant 6 Orchestra live concert online. Bless them.

Have a great weekend x

Amaya Laucirica

I've had a little thing for Amaya Laucirica for a while now. Its not a crush, but a purely platonic love for her voice and her music. At times she reminds me of excellent Melbourne alt-country duo Royal Chord. Some might also hear bits of Mazzy Star, Neko Case or Lucinda Williams in her quiter moments. The songs are thoughful, yearning yarns of loss, love and heartbreak - wrapped in the colours of the lonesome, crowded wild west. But its not strictly 'country' music, its more a kind of slow-burning inner-city blues, for want of a better word.

"Lost and Found" from Amaya's debut Sugar Lights is a perfect example of this - straight up country-pop balladry, played with conviction and purpose, all draped in Amaya's sweet and laconic voice. Overall its not a record full of surprises, but its presented with passion and infused with talent. It has a more mature sound than on her EP from a couple of years back too, which bodes well for her next few releases. Check out some of Amaya Laucirica's tunes yourself on her website, and see her play live, with band, launching the album, this Thursday October 30th at the Northcote Social Club.

I Love Love

Pitchfork TV have a great documentary about influential American band Love online now, free for one week only.

"Love Story offers a detailed retrospective of the influential band Love. Directed by Chris Hall & Mike Kerry, the documentary features extensive interviews with Arthur Lee and other original band members. Available at Start Productions."

Thanks to Zan for the tipoff.

Love's Forever Changes, is of course dissected and discussed. If you don't already have it in your collection, its an absolute must-own...

"One of rock's most overlooked masterpieces, this third album by the L.A. folk-rock outfit led by inscrutable singer-songwriter Arthur Lee sounds as fresh and innovative today as it did upon its original release in 1968. With David Angel's atmospheric string and horn arrangements giving the work a conceptual underpinning, Lee explores mainstream America's penchant for paranoia ("The Red Telephone") and violence ("A House Is Not a Motel") with songs that are as sonically subtle and lilting as they are lyrically blunt and harrowing." -Amazon

Well, I Neverever...

Klaxons photo by NRK P3

Modular celebrates its 10th birthday this year with their big, 4 date, cross-state festival Nevereverland. The event last year focused around Daft Punk's Australian tour, and the linup for this years' festival, which takes place in December, has just been announced.

Its an exciting mix of mainly electro/indie types including Klaxons, Hercules and Love Affair, Presets, Ladyhawke, Cut Copy, Tame Impala and Whitest Boy Alive. Controversially it takes place in Melbourne on the same weekend as the now sold out Meredith Music Festival. More details about Nevereverland are on The Vine. Tickets on sale November 7th.

J Tillman

Lucky punters seeing any of the Fleet Foxes UK shows over the next month will have the chance to check out folky bluesman J. Tillman in the support slot.

Joshua Tillman is not only the drummer with Fleet Foxes, but an accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right, ploughing a field similar to Iron and Wine, Nick Drake, Sun Kil Moon and Damien Jurado (who he has also toured with as a drummer). Its sparse, sometimes haunting, at times meloncholy, at others uplifting. There's an authenticity to his approach, a craftsman's ear at work in the production.

Autumn Tone Records are releasing his three albums, which were previously only limited runs, but you'll still have to dig around Australian record stores to find them.

Hear more J Tillman on his myspace page and download some tunes from "Cancer and Delirium" at Yer Bird Records who sell his albums online. His new album "Vacilando Territory Blues" is out in January but available online in a couple of weeks time.

Oh, and tickets for the Fleet Foxes' Melbourne show in January have now sold out, but are still available for the other two gigs in Sydney and Brisbane. Details at Handsome Tours. Fingers crossed we can get J Tillman to do a little sideshow or something while he's down under!

Kill yr Myspace

Local electro-wizz Muscles has had it up to here with The Man and is deleting his Myspace page. He's posted his reasons on his blog. Its deleted tomorrow (Monday 27th of October) so get there quick while you can!

Myspace Music has recently inked a deal with US independent digital distributor IODA, but has been slammed by many for ignoring artists not on aligned with the "big four" major labels. Recent changes to their music player has made it harder for artists to allow people to download, rather than stream, their music too, pissing off artists and fans alike. CNN has the details.

ARIA washup

Dancefloor-maestros The Presets (above) and popmoppet Gabriella Cilmi were the big winners at the 22nd annual ARIA Awards last night in Sydney. The Presets haul of three awards (including Best Group and Album of the Year) adds to the two already garnered for production and artwork on Apocalypso.

The results for Australia's two-bit version of the Grammys held little surprises overall, with Cilmi and The Presets being hotly tipped to dominate. In fact we ran a tipping contest at our place last night over a couple of bottles of red, and I think there was only two awards where the four of us* didn't pick a winner. There was disappointment though that Eddie Current Suppression Ring didn't get a gong for Best Rock album, but frankly they never stood a chance against the other nominees, with the award going to The Living End.

Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernauts also missed out, and we thought Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu would pick up more than just the one award for Best Independent Release. It is interesting to note though that most nominees and winners, especially those for the big awards, either now live overseas or have had significant success outside Australia.

All the news and results are up on the ARIA Awards news site.

* disclaimer: one of the people in the room had actually voted in the awards, so, a good tipping result may have been assured!

Tom Cooney

Brisbane singer-songwriter Tom Clooney brings his tear-jerker (aka acoustic guitar) down to Melbourne town this week as part of the launch tour for his debut album “Presque Vu”. His sensitive, restrained folk ballads have drawn apt comparisons with Iron and Wine, Bonnie Prince Billy and M. Ward. The album is beautiful but meloncholy, full of unexpected textures and understated grandeur. I reckon he'll fit well between Jen Cloher and Laura Jean on their upcoming November dates.

In the meantime, catch Tom Clooney on Wednesday at The East Brunswick Club in Melbourne with George Byrne and McKisko (who also features on his CD)... and check out some of Tom's songs online at myspace or on Mess and Noise.

Department of Eagles

I am really, really into this record right now.

Listen to a sample below or hear more Department of Eagles on their own website.

Smudge and The Zebras

Melbourne fans of classic Australian jangle/power-pop should get down to The Empress on Friday October 17th for this ace double-header: Smudge and The Zebras!

Smudge (pictured above) formed in Sydney in the very early '90s, and played around fairly consistently until around 2000. They put out a tonne of singles and EPS, plus four albums, but in spite of this strong output frontman Tom Morgan gained more fame as a songwriting collaborator with Evan Dando (The Lemonheads). Smudge's first two albums Manilo and You, Me, Carpark, Now are both excellent, although probably sound somewhat dated now. You can hear some tracks on their myspace page. Smudge also do Saturday at The Empress, and then play again towards the end of the year in Sydney at The Annandale. Rumours is they're playing some new songs too.



Originally hailing from Brisbane, The Zebras (pictured above) now call Melbourne home and have just completed a successful tour of Europe. They're also toting a brand new 5 track EP - New Ways of Risking Our Lives - and have added Lachlan Franklin (frontman for The Smallgoods) to the lineup.

Buy the new EP at Lost And Lonesome and check out some of The Zebra's sunshine-drenched indie-pop on myspace.

Flaming Lips go to Mars

At long last, Wayne Coyne's and 'the Lips surreal sci-fi film is being released into theatres, if only in the US at the moment. Here's the trailer for Christmas On Mars:



"It’s Christmastime, and the colonization of Mars is underway. However, when an oxygen generator and a gravity control pod malfunction, Major Syrtis (the Lips’ Steven Drozd) and his team (including the Lips’ Michael Ivins) fear the worst. Syrtis also hallucinates about the birth of a baby, and many other strange things. Meanwhile, a compassionate alien superbeing (Coyne) arrives, inspiring and helping the isolated astronauts."

Ok. More details here, although I can't find any theatre info for Australia...

Steal some AC/DC

I just read a very interesting, if slightly ranty, blog post from Bob Lefsetz, author of The Lefsetz Letter. In it he points out that if you want to buy the new album by AC/DC called "Black Ice"...

You don’t have to wait until October 20th. You don’t even have to drive to Wal-Mart! Why waste all that gas and time when you can fire up your browser and download AC/DC’s "Black Ice" RIGHT NOW! In superior 320 kbps quality! With no DRM!

Yes, the album has been leaked, of course, and is racking up the downloads on torrent sites around the globe. Bob has little sympathy, but he is an advocate for the artist in these situations, make no mistake. He just has little time for artists and their labels who live in denial about changes in technology, and the music industry. AC/DC will be selling it's new album, out on October 20th, exclusively through Walmart in the US. Reuters reports the lead singer Brian Johnson as saying:

"Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless 'em, it's going to kill music if they're not careful... Wal-Mart were the only big store to stock all of our albums, every single one of them, and they've never deviated. And they sold AC/DC shirts and pajamas for kids, which we thought was really cool."

But Bob Lefsetz has little time for this decision:

So what has AC/DC accomplished here? The Internet kept their fame alive and they’ve decided to deny it. They got in bed with the oppressor, the retailer who censors records. Meanwhile, their fan base will just download the damn album for free. The hypocrisy is stunning. They don’t care about their fans, they just care about money. Their handlers should have drilled into them that their album should be sold on iTunes... The day the CD is dead is not far off. 548,052 of Coldplay’s 1,773,932 albums have been sold digitally. And they own the second biggest album of the year. I’d say that’s a true indicator. That soon people will only want the file."

His full post is here.

From what little I have heard from the album its not unlike their last couple of studio records (make of that what you wish), but old-school AC/DC fans like myself can get excited about the upcoming tour, their first since 2001 which is set to arrive in Australia early next year. In the meantime here's the utterly rubbish video for lead single "Rock and Roll Train"...

Laneways Erupt

Many years ago, as I stood on tip-toe, craning my neck to see Broken Social Scene, trying block out the overpowering smell of piss and drunk bogans, I swore I'd never attend another Melbourne Laneway Festival.

However, the 2009 linup for the now annual event has just been announced, and I gotta admit, I'm very, very tempted to give it a second chance. The festival has expanded from Caledonia Lane into Lonsdale Street (see the photo above) and also into Lt Lonsdale Street alongside the QV building. So maybe it will be easier to get around, as well as see bands and avoid the stinky pissy laneway. One can only hope.

Anyway, here's the lineup, I'm VERY excited by Born Ruffians, Port O'Brien, Stereolab and No Age:

GIRL TALK, STEREOLAB, ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI, THE HOLD STEADY, THE DRONES, CUT OFF YOUR HANDS, FOUR TET, TAME IMPALA, EL GUINCHO, JAY REATARD, BURAKA SOM SISTEMA DJ/MC SET, THE TEMPER TRAP, NO AGE, JOHN STEEL SINGERS, CANYONS, PIVOT, PORT O'BRIEN, HOLLY THROSBY, BORN RUFFIANS, MOUNTAINS IN THE SKY, TIM FITE, STILL FLYIN , DAEDELUS...plus more to be announced

The Laneway Festival also goes to Perth for the first time (as well as Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide), and the Melbourne leg takes place on February 1st. Tickets go on sale October 27th.

Cloud Control

Potential contender for local song of the year... this is "Death Cloud" by Cloud Control from the Blue Mountains in NSW. They play tonight in their home town, and come to Melbourne next Saturday for a show at the Northcote Social Club. Tour details on their myspace.

Megan Washington

As I sit at home, in my PJs, writing this blog, the Melbourne International Arts Festival is kicking off. I rarely make it out to see any events, but I'm often drawn to the Famous Spiegeltent, set up in front of the Arts Centre, which usually offers an eclectic program of live music and performance. This year's selection though doesn't seem quite as compelling as previous years, except maybe for the two gigs this coming Saturday and Sunday.

Melbourne singer-songwriter and 'chanteuse' Megan Washington is performing on both nights, away from usual collaborator Paul Grabowsky and debuting as a fully fledged solo artist. Buzz is building around this young singer, so get down early to check her out. Details and tickets here.

Checkout some of Megan's music at the Washington myspace page. I think the sweet pop tune "Someone Else In Mind" is my fave. Her incredibly sexy voice, and even hotter 50s librarian glasses, are featured on the latest single from Melbourne funk/soul crew The Bamboos. The video is below:

I own a Mick Turner

But no, its not that one.

A couple of years ago i stumbled into Mario's Cafe on Brunswick Street for a coffee and landed head first in an exhibition by the Dirty Three's guitarist Mick Turner. Mick has been painting the beautiful cover art for their albums for many years, and I was a massive fan of their music, and also Mick's solo albums. For years I tried to emulate his lucid, flowing guitar playing, and often put their records on at night, as i drifted off to sleep.

Anyway, among the newer pieces on show in the cafe that day was a little painting, not yet sold, of a boat on a restless sea, with a wooden handmade frame. It was in the back corner of the room, and it immediately caught my eye. Where had i seen it before? I thought as called over the waiter and told him I'd like to buy it. Most of the others had already been sold. He took my details and put a little red sticker under the painting. I drank my coffee and left happy.

A few weeks later I got a call from Mick and we arranged a time for me to come and pick it up. When I turned up at his place there was another guy there to get his painting too. We waited for Mick in the kitchen. He'd given us beers. Soon he came back in with the other guy's painting. It was slightly bigger than mine, but not nearly as nice. Money changed hands, and then he fetched mine. The other guy sat looking at his painting, admiring it, until Mick came back with my little picture of the boat. "I recognise this" said Mick, "i think this was in one of the albums".

He left the room quickly and came back with a CD copy of Ocean Songs, my absolute favourite Dirty Three records. He took the sleeve out and opened it. Inside was my little boat painting, on its restless waves. "Hmm" said Mick, "didn't realise I'd put this out for sale! Nevermind, here you go" and he passed me the painting. The other guy just stared at us and finished his beer. I paid Mick, who then kept looking at the picture in the CD sleeve. Then, after a little banter about his upcoming solo shows, Mick showed us out and i drove home, with my original Mick Turner painting, for which i paid about 250 bucks, on the front seat.

If you're as mad a Dirty Three or Mick Turner fan as I am then get yourself down to his latest exhibition - Nudes, Beasts, Angels, Flowers, a Birth, a Death and Trips to the Ocean - happening in Sydney, from the 17th to 19th of October at Blank Space gallery in Surrey Hills. If you have a spare $2000 the painting above - "Great Ocean Road" - is still available.

He's also playing solo gigs that weekend, and full details of the shows are on the Drag City Mick Turner website, or on Remote Control's blog.

Checkout the full ABCTV Studio 22 live performance, filmed in 1998, of tracks from Ocean Songs. Incredible stuff.

A tall touring troubadour

photo by Karl Gunnarsson

Its just dawned on me that Sweden's Tallest Man On Earth visits our Great Brown Land this week, playing in Sydney tonight, Canberra on Thursday and then my hometown on Saturday night at The Toff. I must remember to get a ticket...!

I've been consistently listening to and loving Kristian Matsson's beautiful debut album Shallow Grave for weeks now. The Dylan references are beyond obvious but apt, and as Pitchfork's glowing review of the album points out, he seems to have "mined the American south for inspiration, and his frantic strumming and front-porch poetry recall everyone from the Carter Family to Lead Belly to, most noticeably, country bluesman Mississippi John Hurt." It's mesmerising, compelling and, dare i say it, authentic folk music.

Full Australian dates and some tunes on Tallest Man On Earth's myspace or check out the amazing tune "Pistol Dreams" below...

Capgras Family

Fans of the now defunct, but much loved, Melbourne band Lavto Ovo can rejoice. Jono, Jim and Angela have got themselves a new band called Capgras Family *. The cerebral-pop leanings and off-centre melodies return, but with a fraction more maturity, meloncholy and downtempo ambience. The band themselves point to Yo La Tengo, Broadcast and Broken Social Scene as possible sonic-touchstones.

Caprgras Family have been busy doing smaller shows around town (they play October 17th at The Curtin in Carlton) and recording with with Neil Thomason. There's of course some tunes and gig dates on the Capgras Family myspace.

* Oh, that isn't a picture of the band above, but according to wikipedia: "The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that an acquaintance, usually a spouse or other close family member, has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor." Funny.

Thalia Zedek

This is Boston-based singer-songwriter Thalia Zedek playing live for The Deepend on ABC Radio National in mid-2005. It was filmed for DIG TV i think, and if you look quickly between 1:11 and 1:15 you see the back of my head as i reach for the reverb send on the mixing console. I'd reckon i must be turning the reverb down, since she's drowning in it! haha. Thanks to Rob for sending me this, I'd forgotten this was ever filmed.

Thalia Zedek is on tour in the UK and Europe, full details on myspace. Her latest album is Liars and Prayers and its out now on the ever excellent Thrill Jockey.

Thalia played in an incredible band in the 90s called Come. If you dig the song above but want something a bit more energetic check out their '94 release Don't Ask Don't Tell.

St Helens

Formed almost two years ago from the volcanic ashes of Melbourne band New Season is Jarrod "Lost Animal" Quarrell's latest project St Helens. Its a less scuzzy affair this time round, with more lean-and-mean swagger and grit for your buck. Royal Trux comparisons abound, and the lineup is refered to in some circles as a 'supergroup'. Joining Jarred is Ian Wadley (Minimum Chips, Bird Blobs), Lewis Boyes (Alpha Males), skinsman Damian Clarkson (Sun of Clark) and sharing vocal duties is Hannah Brooks from Spider Vomit.

St Helens are doing the Wednesday night residency in October at The Birmingham in Fitzroy. The recently refurbed venue is hosting some great shows, and coupled with Ya Ya's down the road it seems Smith Street is cementing its dirty reputation as the go-to zone for compelling live music and heavy late-night boozin' in Melbourne.

Check out some of St Helen's rough mixes on myspace from the forthcoming album, out next year through Remote Control's Dot Dash label.

ATP Mt Buller Australia - Lineup

The first lineup announcement and details are in for All Tomorrow's Parties in Australia. Here's the guff for the Mt Buller event:

In Victoria, All Tomorrow's Parties is to be held over two days - January 9th & 10th - in the remote yet easily accessible location of Mt. Buller Ski Resort, some 3 hours drive from Melbourne City. Punters will have the option to either stay on the mountain in a selection of ski-chalets, lodges or hotels, or down the mountain in nearby Mansfield. Both on-site and off-site fans alike will have the opportunity to enjoy all that Buller offers: a fully serviced township complete with bars, cafes, restaurants, walking trails, bike trails, ski-lifts and a gymnasium plus ATP's trademark rock 'n' roll trivia, cinema and 30+ bands performing over 3 stages.

The Lineup for Mt. Buller so far includes:

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
The Saints
Spiritualized
Robert Forster
Afrirampo
Bridezilla
Fuck Buttons
Harmonia
James Blood Ulmer
Laughing Clowns
M Gira
Primitive Calculators
Rowland S. Howard
Silver Apples
The Necks
The Stabs

First release tickets for All Tomorrow's Parties, Mt.Buller will be sold as an accommodation/ticket package and are exclusive to those wanting to stay on the mountain. These tickets will guarantee acommodation for each ticket holder and are onsale immediately from www.atpfestival.com only. Tickets ar AU$199 plus booking fee and DO NOT include cost of accomodation.

I'm thinking that the one day Sydney event might be better value and it could be more fun to spend a weekend in the Harbour City.

Blitzen Trapper

Amazing new album, Furr, out now. Got it yesterday. It rules. Check out more work on flickr from the guy who designed the cover art... *update* as per comment below the artwork was designed by one of the band members and the rad laser etching was done by Kurt.

New Zealand Robot Band

For real. Literally a garage band made from stuff in the garage. The Trons on myspace.

Muxtape Rises

Incredibly popular and forward thinking mixtape sharing site - Muxtape - is officially closed... but soon to be relaunched! There's an awesomely candid article on the site currently explaining how and why it was shutdown.

With the amount of money involved in online music now, and the power of big online retailers like iTunes, eMusic and Amazon growing... plus the label's own online stores popping up and deals being cut with mobile providers etc. everyone is out to protect their patch. Or that of others, in the case of the RIAA.

The new Muxtape will be good news for bands...

Muxtape is relaunching as a service exclusively for bands, offering an extremely powerful platform with unheard-of simplicity for artists to thrive on the internet. Musicians in 2008 without access to a full time web developer have few options when it comes to establishing themselves online, but their needs often revolve around a common set of problems. The new Muxtape will allow bands to upload their own music and offer an embeddable player that works anywhere on the web, in addition to the original muxtape format.

But the show is over for those of us who used the service to make out own mixtapes for friends and listen to those of others. Boo!

Incoming

I'll be presenting the Incoming program this Wednesday October 1st, filling in for Richard Moffat. Tune into Triple R on 102.7FM in Melbourne or online from 4pm AEST for the latest Australian music, and maybe even an interview or two!

The Harpoons

Forget Melbourne mop-toppers Little Red. If you're looking for a true blue 60s hit of pop nostalgia wrapped in skinny jeans and youthful wide-eyed enthusiasm then check out The Harpoons. Their ragged demos sound like they were recorded live in a bathroom, the four members arranged around some ancient, retro microphone. Check them out on myspace, where highlights are Tonight Tonight and If You Wanna Dance... plus they play live at The Birmingham with Oh Mercy tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

On Air

I'll be co-hosting the Breakfast Club program on ABC Radio Australia tomorrow, Friday and Monday. It can be heard from 7:30am AEST on FM relay across Asia and the Pacific, and also online. Tune in tomorrow for Sophie Koh playing live, and then Friday for Irish trio The Script.

I Shall Be Released

Wilco and Fleet Foxes team up for a stunning live version of this classic. Listen below or at Cause = Time, and with thanks to Boing Boing for the tipoff. Wilco are using the download as a way to get people to pledge to vote in the upcoming in the US elections, and also contributing to the "Feeding America" charity. All details at Wilcoworld.

The Rectifiers and The Sun Blindness

Sensory Projects, the excellent independent Melbourne label, has been busy releasing two of the most interesting and satisfying local releases of the year so far. The Rectifiers new long-player Playtime for John Mountain finds the band at their most confident and articulate, shedding most of the alt-country baggage (much like Wilco before them) and further embracing the more experimental and widescreen-pop vision started with their prevoius effort Wear The Weight of the Resting Sky.

The record, like the most recent by Clue to Kalo, can be thought of as a 'concept' album, as the band told Mess and Noise:

“We wanted it to be kind of pastoral,” says Jo, “it’s sort of about nature and we also wanted to find new topics and things to write songs about, lyrically. So we ended up creating a really bizarre little set of characters and fed that into the album so there’s recurring themes and characters and stuff like that, and none of it really makes sense.” Says Nick, “We were trying to sort of, almost do a children’s album, just happy, not about ourselves. We didn’t want to say, ‘I’m so sad’ or whatever. Taking it completely out of that singer-songwriter kind of confessional. So the way that we approached was just by creating scenarios and little stories and that’s why it was fun because we’d just sit here drinking beers and just going, this song, what’s this song about – well obviously it’s about a dog with a blue nose. And none of that ever gets to the final kind of cut, but just the process was like you know just completely surreal and ridiculous.” full article

Playtime for John Mountain is being launched by The Rectifiers tomorrow night (Friday 19th September) at The Northcote Social Club. More details on shows and links to tunes on their myspace.



Also coming out on Sensory Projects is the debut for local duo The Sun Blindness, which is a more psychadelic, shoegazery affair. Think Spacemen 3 or the woozy, acid tones of early Stone Roses. The guys launch their record at the Northcote Social Club on September 26. Check out some of their great tunes on myspace.

Shoot The Player

Just found this great blog which reminds me of similar ideas i've seen overseas, in particular the excellent La Blogotheque crew and the Black Cab sessions from the UK. The basic premise is to put artists in an interesting place/context (usually outside or on the street) for them to perform solo. The team behind the Sydney based site acknowledge the influence of those who've gone before (and pay aestehtic homage too) but describe their own take on it thus:

Jonathan and Amelia began making single shot music videos on the streets and in locations around Sydney – that was it; shoot whomever you want, wherever you can. What you see and hear is exactly what happened on the street that day.

Featured on Shoot The Player are rad humans like Laura Jean, Young Werther and Jack Ladder. Plus some international types like the overrated Lightspeed Champion.

Check out Shoot The Player, or have a quick look at this video featuring Pikelet:


Pikelet: Pillowcastle from shoottheplayer on Vimeo.

The Drones - Havilah

Melbourne 4-piece critic-magnets The Drones are just about to release their new album Havilah. The new set was written and recorded in a mud brick cottage near Mt Buffalo, in regional Victoria. Its every bit as dark, ragged and glorious as their previous efforts, and Gareth's lyrics are as potent and uncompromising as ever. Standouts include Oh My ..."People are a waste of food, the end is nearly nigh"... and I Am The Supercargo "And I am a ruin borne by sea, the stone age smoked by dysentry". Check them in action on the slightly bizarre video for lead single The Minotaur:



Havila, the fourth studio album by The Drones is out on September 20th through ATP recordings.

Small labels are winning

Great article on The Guardian this weekend on successful small labels like Rough Trade, XL and Domino in the UK and how they are staying true to their independent nature and finding success when many major labels are struggling in the face of the changing music business.

Once upon a time, the major labels were king. They swept up sales in their velvety cloaks, showered money from the heavens, and defined the way you and I bought music. Now they're shedding staff, dropping bands and losing their star names. Now the drivers of the record industry are small, maverick labels that define trends and launch careers. Some of them even sell records by the lorryload.

Read all about it here.

Tame Impala

Also floating my boat at the moment, and gathering the attention of many switched on radio announcers, is a new band from Perth called Tame Impala. I put them on my recent podcast and they have been added to the bill of the now sold-out Meredith Music Festival in December. They are also spreading their scuzzy 60s psychadelic witchery around the land with Oz rock-royalty You Am I for their album tour, as well as international supports in October for Yeasayer and The Futureheads. Groovy!

Catch You Am I and Tame Impala for the "Lets Be Dreadful" tour here:

Thursday October 16th – Settlers Tavern, Margaret River
Friday October 17th – Fly By Night, Fremantle
Saturday October 18th – Fly By Night, Fremantle
Wednesday October 22nd – Metro Theatre, Sydney
Thursday October 23rd – Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta
Friday October 24th – The Zoo, Brisbane
Saturday October 25th – Sands Tavern, Maroochydore
Saturday November 1st – The Govenor HIndmarsh, Adelaide
Sunday November 2nd – Prince Of Wales, Melbourne
Monday November 3rd – Prince Of Wales, Melbourne
Thursday November 6th – Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
Friday November 7th – Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Saturday November 8th -San Remo, Philip Island
Sunday November 9th – Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads
Thursday November 13th – ANU Bar, Canberra
Friday November 14th – Wollongong Uni
Saturday November 15th – Cambridge Tavern, Newcastle

Blow your little mind at Tame Impala's myspace! Freak Out! Or check this great remix by Canyons of their tune "Skeleton Tiger"...

The Maple Trail

I love it when I get really into a band, convinced they are from somewhere 'cool' like Brooklyn or San Fransisco or Copenhagen, only to discover they basically are in my backyard. Its what has just happened to me with The Maple Trail, a solo project for Aidan Roberts from Belles Will Ring. Aidan is based in the Blue Mountains, NSW and has just released his debut full length album Dirty Echo Park. On it he weaves classic sunset-glow pop tunes with romantic/nostalgic narratives, perfect for the newly sprung Spring. You can here more on The Maple Trail myspace page.

Thanks to Who The Hell blog for the geographic tip-off! I have been listening to this album for weeks on my mp3 player when i found it at my friend Chris' place while housesitting.

Dirty Echo Park is out through Broken Stone Records.

Clue to Kalo

Fans of psychadelic pop-electronica can rejoice with the release of the new album by Adelaide's Clue To Kalo. Mark Mitchell anc co. have crafted a joyful, technicolour concept album centred around a fictional character, Lily Perdida, with each song being sung by a different figure in Lily's life.

Although we never hear from Lily Perdida herself, Mark told online music site Mess and Noise:

"It was kind of like the idea of a portrait which acknowledged that no portrait of someone is ever going to be accurate. So I thought that a good way to do that is to actually never even hear from the character, never really have any idea about this character, except through all these different perspectives of what this one character is, which essentially is as close as you can really ever get anyway.”

The full article is worth reading, and you can hear the new music from Clue to Kalo's Lily Perdida on myspace. The album is out through Mush Records.

Swedes dig Foxes

Thanks to Zan Rowe for tipping me off to this super-cute video of a couple of Swedish Fleet Foxes fans singing one of their tunes in the woods:



The good news for Australian Fleet Foxes fans is that the band will be here in early January, playing The Falls Festival and hopefully also some side shows. They also return to the studio at the end of the year to work on new material. All details and dates on their myspace.

ATP Festival at Mt Buller

My favourite music festival in the world is the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK. The combination of bands curating the often inspiring and esoteric lineup and comfortable self-catering chalet's by the British seaside is a winning combination in my book. And now the franchise is coming to Australia.

ATP's Don't Look Back concert series was well received here earlier this year and now Faster Louder reports that the full festival, curated by Nick Cave (pictured in Grinderman mode above), will be taking place on January 9, 10 and 11 next year. No other acts have been announced.

Fingers crossed we get the kind of experience that New Yorkers will have in just over two weeks time at the My Bloody Valentine curated ATP in the catskills. Check out the lineup!

Neil Young Down Under

photo by Toni Mikola.

Neil Young is coming to Australia to play the Big Day Out and also do some side shows with special guests My Morning Jacket.

BRISBANE - Wednesday 21 January 2008
SYDNEY - Saturday 24 January 2008
MELBOURNE - Wednesday 28 January 2008

I saw Neil at the Myer Music Bowl for the Greendale Tour a few years back where it bucketed down with rain, and then about 5 months ago on his recent world tour when he played at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Fingers crossed I get to hear Revolution Blues this time!



Tickets for these Neil Young Australian shows are available through Ticketek and Ticketmaster and go on sale September 19th.

Podcast - Episode #5

After what seems like months - because it has in fact been months - we now have a new episode of my Everything At Once podcast series.

everythingatonce_ep005.mp3

The music featured on the podcast is:

The Woods Themselves - Comforted and Questioned
Horsefeathers - Dustbowl
Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
The Walkmen - New Years Eve
Beaches - Sandy (demo)
Jessica Says - The Sleeping One Beside Me
Tame Impala - Skeleton Tiger

Please visit the artist websites above, and if you like the music dip into your pocket and support them. If you are one of these artists and would prefer your music not to be featured, then please get in contact via the comments section.

Best Australian Albums Ever

The results are in from a poll on Mess And Noise to find the Top 50 Australian albums of all time. The top ten ended up being:

01 The Saints - I'm Stranded
02 You Am I - Hourly Daily
03 You Am I - Hi-Fi Way
04 Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
05 Radio Birdman - Radios Appear
06 Avalanches - Since I Left You
07 The Saints - Eternally Yours
08 Augie March - Sunset Studies
09 The Birthday Party - Junkyard
10 The Dirty Three - Ocean Songs

The full 50 and subsequent discussion is here. The poll came as a comment on the list compiled by The Age newspaper which asked music industry types to pitch their oz top ten. The results for their poll is here, with Midnight Oil's 10-1 leading the list. The full article in The Age is also online.

But my own votes for the Mess and Noise poll were thus:

01 Dirty Three - Ocean Songs
02 You Am I - Hi Fi Way
03 ACDC - TNT
04 The Avalanches - Since I Left You
05 Golden Rough - This Sad Paradise
06 Grand Salvo - 1642-1727
07 Gaslight Radio - hitch on the leaves
08 INXS - Kick
09 Drones - Wait Long By The River...
10 New Buffalo - The Last Beautiful Day

I think the top three are basically interchangeable, and even for someone who presented an Australian music program for 8 years on radio it was tough to pick my ten favourites of "all time".

On You Am I's "Hi Fi Way" which features toward the top of all the final lists, music journalist Ed Nimmervoll has this to say:

It’s still hard to believe how much You Am I accomplished with their epochal second album. Vibrant, even thrilling, in sound, but imbued with melancholic childhood memories and a sense of coming of age that was idiosyncratically Australian, Hi Fi Way set a benchmark that hasn’t been matched since.

True.

I've included INXS on my top 10 because it rules, and it was the first album I ever bought with my own pocketmoney. Also true.

The Woods Themselves

Sydney-siders The Woods Themselves have a new album brewing which you can hear on their myspace or download samples from at their official site. Their self titled debut from 2004 was amazing but I can't seem to find anymore details about the new record. I'll keep my ears pealed. In the meantime here's a new video from them:

Triple R Radiothon

Roll up, roll up. Triple R, regarded by many as the finest non-profit community radio station in the world, has kicked off its annual radiothon where it encourages listeners to dig deep and subscribe to keep it on air for another year. There's a tonne of prizes to be won, so get thee to a phone and call +61 3 9388 1027 or have a gander online to find out more about subscribing.

If you are in Melbourne and tune into 102.7FM tonight (Monday) from 9pm (AEST) I'll be on air with Jacinta and Local and/or General - the Australian music program I used to present.

Meredith 2008 Lineup Announced

photo by Snork Maiden

I've missed out on the first round of ticket allocation for one of the best festivals in Australia: Meredith. The good news though (according to them) is that I might be able to buy some in the second round... so fingers crossed! It will be my first year though without a free media ticket and a VIP car pass, which has previously enabled me to get in before most others and snap up a sweet spot in the bush. Needless to say I am a little worried about how I'll go this year, and having been able to experience the wonderful ease of three ATP Festivals in the UK over the last 18 months I also wonder whether I really want to do the camping thing anymore. Hmm.

So, ok, anyway... the lineup is what you came for, here is the first announcement...

TEN EAST. HOLY FUCK. MGMT. SAUL WILLIAMS. TAME IMPALA. MAN MAN. MOUNTAIN GOATS. BEACHES. THE BRONX. GRAND SALVO. FINAL FANTASY. MUSCLES. LITTLE RED. BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES. THE RUBY SUNS. YACHT CLUB DJS. ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI. REGURGITATOR. THE DATSUNS. COMBO LA REVELACION. ADAM GREEN.

Very promising. Discussion and more details on Mess and Noise if you like.

Reformat The Planet

Thanks to Create Digital Music blog comes this link:

The appeal of newer music apps for phones, current-generation mobile game systems, and PDAs is portability first. But for the Game Boy music scene, it’s as much about a distinctive sound, and acquiring Game Boys as a kind of unique synthesizer. Our friend and mobile game musician Peter Swimm points us to the new documentary Reformat the Planet. It’s available for a week free on pitchfork.tv, with screenings to follow. It’s a pretty nice survey of the New York corner of the scene, at least.

It recently screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival but get over to Pitchfork TV to check out this ace doco for one week only.

Little Red

I'm now back at work in Australia, and spent lunch talking about the rise of Little Red, the hot new buzz band from Melbourne. These guys are literally everywhere at the moment, and with not much time to write about them I thought I'd link to some tunes from their debut album which was recored and mixed by my lunch companion Steve Schram.

Check them out on myspace, or listen below.

Land of Talk

photo by Jalapeno

As i watched Ned Collette play last night at Roxanne, i tried desperately to remember who i saw him play with in London last year. "They were awesome" i told my friend Emily. She pressed me for their name and i drew a blank all night. And then just now I was reading Canadian music blog Chrome Waves and saw a little thing on Land of Talk from Montreal. Ah Huh! Yes! They describe themselves as being "fronted by the daughter of North America's first female alligator wrestler. Backed by Montreal's skinniest drummer and fattest bass player." Hmm. Gags.

Anyway, Elizabeth Powell's voice and delivery reminds me a little of Bertie Blackman from Sydney or maybe Ida Maria. Their new album Some Are Lakes comes out on October 9th through Saddle Creek, but I'm not sure if it will have Australian distro. Here's to hoping. Some tunes are on Land of Talk's myspace and official site... or check them on Seeqpod: