Thats right, Daves deconstruction of Soundwave continues today with a look at one of the less metal, more obscure acts on the bill. The original, the funky, the delicious, PRIMUS . Primus have been around for a long time - maybe not as long as the likes of Iron Maiden but still, quite the while. And to have survived for so long despite strange production values, an obscure sound (both musically and lyrically), and at times scarcely even playing OR recording (they havent technically released a FULL [...]
So it seems to be festival overload on the dancefloor at the moment and I'm going to pitch in with my belated opinion on The Falls Music & Arts Festival line-up announcement. It'll be highly biased, but you probably don't come here for a fair and balanced report on things. Actually I think I just stole 'fair and balanced' from Fox News. Anyways, the line-up was announced yesterday and I really didn't hear much talk about it. No-one seemed to care this year, or maybe my friends are just getting old and over the idea of [...]
For those that missed out on Splendour In The Grass (me included), here is a little video of Mumford and Sons joining The Temper Trap on stage to perform Down River. Sigh...next year hopefully.
Grand Central Thursdays Launch at Kit & Kaboodle Supper Club from Bodog Olah on Vimeo . Skip Hot Damn for one Thursday, it won't kill you. Website: http://www.kitkaboodle.com.au/
Thats RIGHT everyone, guess who's back, spreading opinionated rants, not listening to what you say and maybe even asking your mum over for coffee and constantly chucking in random caps lock - its JAVID. Where have I been these past few... months? Fighting off Vampires in Romania? Juggling cats on the streets of St Petersburg? Forcing peasant women into human pyramids for the entertainment of the wealthy in Budapest? Or just working/studying/playing in bands? Maybe a little bit of all of these, put possibly none. You'll never know. What you can know is [...]
In comparison to Saturday, Sunday was going to be a far more chilled out time. Little did I know some of the impressive acts I would see today had no such plans for a dull affair. First up were Blue Mountains kids Cloud Control who've been tirelessly gigging around the place for several years now. I saw them support Vampire Weekend in May and was impressed with what I saw. After giving tracks from their latest Bliss Release a try, I was more in-the-know as far as a spectator goes. While I had to leave early, you could [...]
In comparison to Saturday, Sunday was going to be a far more chilled out time. Little did I know some of the impressive acts I would see today had no such plans for a dull affair. First up were Blue Mountains kids Cloud Control who've been tirelessly gigging around the place for several years now. I saw them support Vampire Weekend in May and was impressed with what I saw. After giving tracks from their latest Bliss Release a try, I was more in-the-know as far as a spectator goes. While I had to leave early, [...]
The good news was that Saturday had so many great acts to look forward to, the bad news was that it would be met with some very heart-breaking decisions. Let me just say that as the day wears on and the cue for Gold View getting longer and longer, one has to base their festival selections around not just preference but the stages they play on and your ability to easily move between them. First up I had the choice between Ernest Ellis or Johnathan Boulet . I chose Ellis as I had heard his [...]
After exploring the Splendour site and dabbling in a little music Thursday, it was going to be Friday where the true Splendour experience would begin! Bright and early I set out to venture to the Amphitheatre (main stage) which I opted not to explore in the dark on Thursday. I made the grueling trek to the top tier for the first and last time, enjoying a chance encounter with the African influenced sounds of Jinja Safari from a distance. They drew a decent and responsive crowd for the early time slot which then dissipated elsewhere when [...]
Photo from Pedestrian.tv I'm at university right now meaning I don't have access to my Splendour photos so I thought I'd start my Splendour posting with a run down of the location and general set up. So it's about 1pm on Wednesday afternoon and I'm frantically setting up my tent under the ominous clouds and spitting rain drops covering the Woodfordia campsite. My day had started catching a plane to Brisbane and then shuttle to Woodford. With the music not beginning until Thursday we took the opportunity to take the Splendour Shuttle [...]
This year I've been doing a lot more phone interviews with artists. This usually makes me feel nauseous, not because they are famous but because I'm scared I'm going to do a sub-par job and in turn they will be assholes to me. Luckily so far everyone I have interviewed have been generous and really friendly. Worst case scenario would be this: *Although hopefully I'll never be like that kid While I'm sure it's very annoying having the same question asked over and over [...]
Off to Splendour... See you round! I'll try to tweet.
Splendour In The Grass is less than a week away and if you are attending this is the perfect mix for you. If your going for a road trip, this will cover an hour of your journey. Make it the last hour of the long trip if you ask me. If your going by plane (like me) make it the only thing on your iPod. I would suggest asking the pilot to put the mix on the In-flight Entertainment but I'm flying Virgin, Richard Branson might use it to sleep with young models and like that guy needs any [...]
Fire Action!, White Dress from Chris Newcombe on Vimeo . Here is a video from my lovely friend Rob in England with his band 'Fire Action!' . Quite disappointed that it doesn't have the horrible low budget Australian music video aesthetic and looks visually stunning. How adorable are those kids? Also the Pixies are keeping me company while I study. Check out this article from SoundProof Magazine about Surfer Rosa . After that, you should check out the short animation The [...]
ATTENTION SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS ATTENDEES: If you didn't know before, you now know where you need to be on Sunday, 1st August!
There has been tonnes of music making my week tick over and to be honest none more so than Delta Spirit. I'd hoped to have Delta Spirit's History From Below reviewed by now but it was not to be. Now when I get sent a track called Juicy Ones by Sticky Fingers , alarm bells ring. I conjure up visions of some Butterfingers type hip hop fusion dish that Gordon Ramsey has thrown on the floor. After a few listens, the song name and band [...]
Here We Go Magic have managed to create an album that resembles that crazy maze from the bizarre Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle . Listening to Pigeons , the listener is blissfully unaware of what is around each corner, much like the hapless contestants of that particular show. Whatever is behind each door may be shocking, but it may also be quite the opposite. However, the surprises on this album do not include a 47-year old pedophile from Sapporo dressed as a ninja trying to claw at your genitalia, instead the surprises are in the form of the [...]
With Splendour in the Grass 2010 approaching I thought I'd be great to preview more of the acts who are playing. I wouldn't be difficult to post endlessly on the amount of quality acts performing but here are a few more of my personal favourites. I'm not even going to bother talking about The Strokes, Grizzly Bear, Goldfrapp, LCD Soundsystem or Florence & The Machine because everyone else has already done it and done so far better than myself. What's more, shocking as it may seem, if I'm being truthful I'm not [...]
So we intentionally avoid going MP3 crazy on this blog. But I've got that many awesome tracks on my desk at the moment it couldn't hurt to go against our principals from time to time. Get your snouts in the feed bag. I'll start with some bad news... The Middle East & The Ting Tings will not be performing at Splendour in the Grass this year. The good news is that Art Vs Science & Sally Seltmann will be replacing. Slightly disappointed with the cancellations but equally as excited with the replacements. Let's face it the line up [...]
I have been aware of Sia Furler for quite some time now but never really gave her music much credence. It seems I like many in Australia have taken far too long to appreciate such a special talent. It seems the world discovered the true brilliance of Sia before we did. When We Are Born landed on my desk last week I entered into the first listen with very low expectations. After a barely two whole listens of the album, my failings as a human being and music lover were becoming increasingly evident. For [...]
whiteboydancefloor
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
Mr Fogg - Eleven
