Seabellies Come Alive @ Beach Road Hotel

Multi-instrumentalist Newcastle sextet Seabellies wrenched hearts at Beach Road Hotel recently tailing off their national By Limbo Lake LP release tour. They’re a band that have managed to channel their once-choppy instrument-swapping stage performance into a tight tank of dreamy indie-pop: without drowning out the energy. Their swoon-worthy melodies bound simply and beautifully over a complex layering of synth, sampling and at times an entire brass fanfare: the band rallying the crowd as they crescendoed into “Ices” to begin their set, incidentally the first track of the LP. Seabellies music is weighted in nostalgia and lifted by front-man Trent Grenell’s playful falsetto and the band’s rollicking musical phrases as they dance that fine line between sweetness and sorrow.

Check out the video for their latest release “Trans Ending” below for a taste:



The Bellies are a band with more raw talent than Ozzy Osbourne’s speech pathologist and yet they seem to have been left off many a summer festival line up (Laneway? What gives?). Fortunately, you can catch them at Peats Ridge Festival just out of Sydney this New Years or if you're in Melbourne, they have a Wednesday night residency with Aleks and Ramps @ the Evelyn.

If you haven’t seen these kids live, get your head out of the fish bowl and some sea into your belly: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll probably get really drunk and send inappropriate picture messages to your ex – but it will be well worth the ride.

You can stream or grab a copy of By Limbo Lake from the Seabellies website.

In the meantime have a listen to their cover of Angels classic "Am I Ever Going to See Your Face Again" for Triple J's Like a Verson below, amazing stuff:

Delorean “Real Love” live – Psyched for Parklife?

If this video is anything to go by, these guys are going to be cosmically coma-inducing (the coma of lurrrve) at Parklife. Cannot wait to see the Spanish four make my head swell and my feet shuffle. The boys have also done remixes for the likes of Franz Ferdinand (Alex Kapranos always has his finger on the pulse doesn’t he) and the likes of recent Mercury prize snatchers The XX.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts…

Delorean | FOR NO ONE from FOR NO ONE on Vimeo.

Falls, Southbound & Sunset Sounds Festival Line-up Review

With many of us almost busting out of our skinny jeans this morning in anticipation for the inaugural Falls Festival and twin sisters Sunset Sounds & Southbound line-up announcements for 2010-11, I’m wondering if there will be any slightly droopy faces out there.

Obviously there are some mad Interpol fans out there (I for one can wait to hear there beautifully stretched melodies drown out the green fields at Lorne or the amphitheatre at the Botanic Gardens) and The Klaxons, soulful indie rockers The National & The Soft Pack should also draw some major interest. However, compared with last years first announcement of internationals, which included the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Grizzly Bear, The Editors, Moby and considering the ever-soaring ticket prices, I know I’ll be hanging out for second round announcements before I whip out the old credit card for yet another burn (sideshows are another matter).

The local supporting talent is without doubt the saving hero including: Angus & Julia Stone, The Middle East (although they cancelled both last years Sunset Sounds & this year's Splendour performances so let’s hope they make it this time!), Jonathan Boulet, Children Collide, Cloud Control, Boy and Bear, Tame Impala, The Jezabels (Falls only), Dan Sultan (Falls Only) & many more.

The issue is that many festival diehards have already managed to swing by the local to spy this kind of talent and it won’t warrant the extra x-hundred dollars it takes to get your arse there, as well as into a tent at night.

What are everyone else's thoughts?

Here's the full list (Note this list is just for Falls though, some acts won't be appearing at either Sunset Sounds or Southbound):

INTERPOL (USA); JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS (USA); THE NATIONAL (USA); THE LIVING END; PUBLIC ENEMY (USA); KLAXONS (UK); ANGUS AND JULIA STONE; TAME IMPALA; THE RAPTURE (USA); LADYHAWKE (NZ); COLD WAR KIDS (USA); SLEIGH BELLS (USA); PEACHES (USA); HOT HOT HEAT (CAN); PAUL KELLY; ASH GRUNWALD; CHILDREN COLLIDE; THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS; THE SOFT PACK (USA); DAN SULTAN; THE MORNING BENDERS (USA); THE COOL KIDS (USA); JUNIP (SWE); KITTY, DAISY AND LEWIS (UK) MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS (UK); THE MIDDLE EAST; CLOUD CONTROL; YACHT CLUB DJs; WASHINGTON; BOY AND BEAR; SALLY SELTMANN; THE BAMBOOS; TIJUANA CARTEL; A-TRAK (CAN); EDAN THE DEE-JAY (USA) Vampire Weekend's CHRIS BAIO (USA); BEARDYMAN (UK); THE CUBAN BROTHERS (UK); WORLD'S END PRESS; CASIOKIDS (NOR); DAN KELLY; DAARA J FAMILY (AFR); JAMAICA (FRA); CHARLIE PARR; JONATHAN BOULET; THE JEZABELS; BIG SCARY; LAST DINOSAURS; SAMPOLOGY; EAGLE AND THE WORM; JINJA SAFARI; TIM AND JEAN; THE PUBLIC OPINION AFRO ORCHESTRA.