Grouplove - Get Involved

Much love to Grouplove: a nouveau LA collective consisting of: Christian Zucconi, Sean Gadd, Hannah Hooper, Ryan Rabin, Andrew Wessen. The boys and girl joined salty hands together one summer on the remote island of Crete (Greece) after meeting by chance: Hooper invited to participate in an art installation . Their music almost resembles a melting pot of Manhatten sound: the gritty textured riffs of Les Savy Fav mushed together with layered Local Natives style keys and vocals.

I am a bit slow on the uptake in posting this killer track "Colours" which was released earlier this year, but the group's self-titled EP is only just available this month in Australia on iTunes.

Get involved in Grouplove.

The Amazing Broken Man - New Year Son

Hunted online for this track after watching the 4th season of Skins recently. It’s one of those series with a brilliantly off-beat soundtrack thanks to music director Kyle Lind… and this track is just an eyelash on the snare of musical goodness it has to offer. The artist is Odorico Leal AKA The Amazing Broken Man from Sao Paulo, Brazil and this track is called “New Year Son”. It's love... for a while, until you open up your eyes at the end.



If you haven't seen Skins, get out of yours and underneath those of the horny dysfuntional teens of Bristol. You won't be the same again.

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:

New NIDA Triple J Unearthed Videos

It is always magical to see students and purveyors of the arts transcend their own craft pool and come together to muddle up some creative genius. This year’s NIDA Masters of Directing students have joined forces yet again with some of the top Triple J Unearthed contenders to do just that.

It is something I love about the arts that you don’t find in any other industry – perhaps its because we are free spirits that live on long necks & clag paste mutually bound by big dreams & small bank balances…or perhaps it’s because we keep running into each other at bottlo’s and art supplies shops so the cumulation is unavoidable.

Either way, here are my 2 picks from the latest crop of talent to sprout from the National institute of Dramatic Art; both featuring some really clever shot composition and editing. Make sure you check out the Triple J Youtube channel for the rest.



Directed by: Jimmy Dalton
BUNGALOWS Unearthed Profile
triple j Unearthed NIDA Coproduction 2010



Directed by: Jeffrey Jay Fowler
A CASUAL END MILE Unearthed Profile
triple j Unearthed NIDA Coproduction 2010

Kings of Leon Album Review – Has their Sundown Come Around?

Southern rockers, Kings of Leon release their 5th full-length studio album, Come Around Sundown this week amid disgruntled murmurs from self-proclaimed ‘original’ fans, unsure of where the band’s bracing raw energy went. It begs the question, is a great band defined by their ability to perforate the cling-filmed expectations of fans by pushing beyond the expected 3rd/4th LP plateau?

One recurring line you hear a lot of bands churn out in interviews around about this career juncture goes something like:

“It came to a point where we just started making music for us - music we liked. And if our fans liked it too, then that was just a bonus.”

It’s a maturation curtailed somewhat in the self-indulgence of commercial success, but it’s one that makes sense.  As fans, we have to cling to the hope that bands are broadening their own influences and continuing to experiment in producing different sounds, as we are in trawling blogs & vintage record stores to seek them out.
  
Come Around Sundown is certainly a unique addition to King of Leon’s body of work and regardless of whether it will get a good burn on your Mp3 player or not, it remains musically unambitious. I fear the precedent for whatever buzz this album generates, was set when the Grammy Award hit the shelf and KOL went from a hardcore band to a household brand in 2009. As a whole, Come Around Sundown is even more placid than 2008’s Only By The Night which marked the first big steps the boys took away from the fuzz and deep into the studio (and church).




The first single off the LP, ’Radioactive’ has an opening riff that hooks you in with its potential to explode, until an offensively wet rhythm guitar barely rises to back it (Slash is that you? And are you on a Valium bender?). Caleb’s vocals also seem more tidied than ever: the grit & screech that used to whip-crack the edge of phrases in classics like ’King of the Rodeo’, a distant memory (as is the lyric “All out of fags and I just can’t wait”). Interestingly, the path to clean production the band seem to have skewed onto must have been one of their own volition; songwriter/producer Angelo Petraglia having worked with the boys since they rolled out of Sunday school to sign with RCA Records at the start of the decade.
  
‘No Money’ would have to be one of the album’s standouts and one of the few tracks where Nathan is drumming to a sweat-inducing tempo. Yet there is something sadly lacking in the mix: when backing vocal harmonies wash over the chorus, they suck the weight out of the major riffs and however much you try to feel the reverb in your chest, it just never quite moves you like you know it should (live - maybe be a different story). In tracks like ‘Back Down South’ the Followill boys have bust well and truly through the saloon doors to produce an unashamed Country Western ditty - it’s definitely tumbleweed territory – and I don’t even know if they grow in the region they are singing about.


   
It’s as if Come Around Sundown is living in the chorus of ‘McFearless’ (off Because of the times (2007)- an album I felt stitched the band’s stage energy & studio sound impeccably, despite Pitchfork’s harrowing review). The chorus is epic with its open major chords that stretch and soar to the lyrics “Where I stand, it’s my role, it’s my soul”. But the power of this track lies in the chorus running off the back of the rampant percussion, messy riffs and scratchy-tailed vocals of the verses: the ones that tore us up from the start on Youth & Young Manhood (2003). Where Kings of Leon once made music like a dirty whiskey shot: burning down your throat, toxifying your blood and grating at your muscles till they jerk to life; they now fail to pack a punch.

Undeniably, the battle between “true original fans” and “bandwagon jumpers”, meshed in with this quandary will continue to rattle on, and if it’s a bi-product of people feeling passionate about music they’ve sought out and supported in dingy back-street bars, then it’s not entirely unwarranted. Kings of Leon themselves admitted to NME they struggle with ‘Only By the Night’ fans in the crowd not recognising their older material (they probably wouldn’t like it to be honest) – if you compare their slower numbers ‘Trani’ (2003 – check the epic live video at T in the Park ’04 below) with Grammy Award winning ‘Use Somebody’ (2008), the music speaks to polar opposite audiences.




So is the tirade of backlash from “indie-snobs” unjustified or is just that they feel they’ve been left with a sound they can’t relate to anymore, that’s tangled up in overpriced merchandise & clichéd cinematography (Check out the video for Radioactive if you don’t know what I mean).

As a music-lover, chart positions are meaningless belt-notches and bands can revel or negate them as they see fit:  it’s when commercial success and the lifestyle it affords becomes the endgame that true creativity seems to fade. Hell, Paul McCartney shifts between his countless estates and you don’t hear anyone whinging about that (Heather Mills excluded). 

In a recent interview with Triple J’s Tom & Alex, Caleb said,

 “Hopefully the people that listened to it online [the leaked version], even if they think its shit they’ll still go out and buy it, that’s what I hope for.”  (He goes on to discuss affording a beach house after this album hits it *cringe*)

If this kind of sentiment is entrenched in the bands new “mainstream” arrangements, then it’s no wonder the indie kids have their skin-tight jeans in a twist!

For better or worse, with the release of Come Around Sundown Kings of Leon have clearly said so long to the slow nights and turned to greet the rock-arena with open arms – and as fans, we can take it, leave it, or sit back and rant their misgivings to the empty blogisphere (snap).

I’m not sure about you, but it all seems too soon for Kings of Leon to kick the bucket into mainstream obscurity; but as Caleb once sang:
    
“Too young to die, but old is the grave”

You can stream Come Around Sundown in full until the 18th on the Triple J website.

Let us know what you think!
   

What I Know Now... thanks James Blake

Shuffled into this track “I only Know (What I know now)” on Pitchfork recently and it instantly immobilised me in an effort to feel every inflection of sound (even had to put the wine glass down). It's the latest offering from British once-bedroom producer James Blake; off his Klavierwerke (simply meaning “Piano Works”) EP released via R&S records.

The breathless chords divulge slowly until a blunt handclap directs the pace and moves the track from haunting into some kind of sensual melancholy: one voice impelling through the atmosphere in echoing pulses.

The top vocal lines reminded me of Bon Iver in The Wolves (Act I and II), though softer; more sexually forlorn than open-wounded: like the soundtrack to making love for the last time to the one you can’t be with.

Well at least that’s how it made me feel…

Mark Richardson from Pitchfork wrote a near perfect technical deconstruction so make sure you check it out after you re-emerge.

Flaming Lips New Video Featuring Stomping Naked Girl

Known for their frenetic live performances (complete with human hamster ball in which front man Wayne Coyne rolls across a sea of adoring fans hands, like some modern-day Jesus) it is no wonder this latest video release by The Flaming Lips’ “See The Leaves” seems as if it was born from some sexually awakening hallucinogenic.

The video begins with a naked girl blindfolded in a creek, sipping at the juices from a giant weeping coconut (a coconut of the female persuasion it would seem), then as the song kicks off she proceeds to dance, limbs flailing, through streets, parks and car parks, rhythmically flicking yellow liquid from her squiggly nether regions. And who said Lady Gaga was controversial? You really have to watch this one yourself and reap your own profound post-modern meaning from it. Check it out below:



You might recall the Flaming Lips’ produced and released a sci-fi feature film entitled Christmas on Mars back in 2008 after 7 years in development. Apparently 7 years wasn’t long enough either; the film directed by Coyne and featuring the band as cast-members, receiving mixed-poor reviews.

Despite his “no holes barred” creative genius, Wayne Coyne is infamous for his over inflated ego; perhaps partially to blame for the film’s lethargic plot progression.

Ego’s fortunately seem to go hand in hand with a wicked sense of humour which is the case with Coyne (fairly safe to say where his other hand is). Check out some of his twitter rants:

“I think the best costume that can be worn is just people hanging around naked. When you’re with the Flaming Lips there is usually a bunch of naked freaks running around.”

“Most of the good rock things that I've done were actually done before I was in a rock band, like doing cocaine and having sex with people that you don't really know.”

“I want you to know your boobs are beautiful. They’re just wrong for my film, that’s all.”

Foals Spanish Sahara Bar 9 Dubstep Remix

Stumbled across this epic remix of Foals'"Spanish Sahara". Such an beautifully ethereal track off their latest release Total Life Forever, hard to believe a cranking dubstep reverberant baseline could possibly work. You will be surprised... Time to get your crunk on!

Let Glasser Take You Home...

It’s hard to believe Glasser is the orchestral yield of a single person: Cameron Mesirow. The one-woman wonder produces such vast expanses of sound that both bellow and wilt within the same refrain, you can imagine the seasons flickering by in time-lapse before each track dies. Amazing how something so synthetic can sound so organic: Cameron’s sea of vocal layers might have something to do with it: check out this first release of her forthcoming LP Ring called “Home” out via True Panther records on the 28th September.



If you like, there is also this dreamy Delorean remix of Glasser's track "Glad" streaming on her Myspace: www.myspace.com/glasssser

Lord Huron Has a Problem With Your Daughter... Find Out

Came across this band Lord Huron whilst tripping through the new Myspace matrix (yes I still stroll the supposed ghost town from time to time) and was instantly moved by their self-proclaimed “pop/tropical” resonance.

“The Problem with Your Daughter”, baring resemblance to Fleet Foxes with its soft choral vocal harmonies, is definitely one of my picks and hopefully featured on band’s forthcoming EP Mighty (although has already been bundled in with a pre-released single “Into the Sun” pictured). The band’s Californian roots make for the perfect marriage of coast and country that perforates any plastic generalisation, leaving you serene and sun-drenched inside.

You can steam their EP on the Lord Huron Myspace page or you can buy the “Into the Sun” single from their website for $3.20 AUD (bargain!). Pitchfork also listed the melancholy professions of “When Will I See You Again” as one of their best new tracks, also one of my faves. Make sure you sit back and soak it up (preferably alone, overlooking the ocean…thinking about the one that got away).

Take a Step Back into Twin Shadow

Twin Shadow’s George Lewis jr has set his synth back to 80’s pop, pompadour-ed his hair back to 50’s rockabilly and spun out an album Forget sure to make some waves in 2010 (nu-waves?). The first single release of the album “Slow” begins with a steady drum-machine, which channels what sounds like a mix between Depeche Mode & New Order and builds into a wash of synth-string and bare-hearted Michael Hutchins/Anand Wilder style vocals blaring “I don’t wanna believe, or be in love”. It’s challenging not to make comparisons when some sounds strike tender nostalgic chords, but I have a feeling Twin Shadow’s Forget will forge new memories all on its own. The album is being released by Terrible Records, the label run by Grizzly Bear producer Chris Taylor. My personal other highlights are: “I Can’t Wait”, “Forget” and “Castles in the Snow”.

You can stream the album on the Twin Shadow Website in its entirety or check out George’s video for “Slow” below.


Twin Shadow 'Slow' (NSFW) from Twin Shadow on Vimeo.

“Lucky Shiner” by Gold Panda: it will hit you in the heart

‘Snow and Taxis’ (video below) is taken from London Dj/producer Gold Panda’s first LP release Lucky Shiner (Ghostly International) and was mixed by Simian Mobile Disco’s James Shaw. There is something about this beat-driven track laden with dancing chimes that gets under your skin. Gold Panda’s obvious Asian influence effervesces up memories of Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation: predominantly tracked by Kevin Shields wistful, melancholy sound-scapes. Apparently Gold Panda spent years studying Japanese language and culture, you can hear it in his music. You can download another one of my faves “Same Dream China” at RCRDLBL or stream the entire album at the Lucky Shiner website.

Let me know if you like it!

Snow And Taxis from Gold Panda on Vimeo.

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.

Deerhunter’s New Video Helicopter: from their forthcoming album Halcyon Digest

Drench yourself in the slow-dripping nostalgic juiciness of this new track from four-piece ambient-indie outfit Deerhunter from their forthcoming album Halcyon Digest. It sounds different to anything on Microcastle (2007/8) one of the great independent releases of that year: deliciously so. I for one, can’t wait to get a dose of the album in its entirety. It’s the culmination of the four members: Bradford Cox (also of Atlas Sound), Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver and Lockett Pundt; after various other friends stage-lefting out of the line-up over the years.

Let me know what you think!

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby: the low-down on their trip down Lonely Avenue

If you’ve had at least one of your ears clag-pasted to the radio (namely Triple J) over the past month you would have managed to sample the latest release "From Above” by musician & songwriter: Ben Folds (Underground, Brick, Army) and literary quirk-ster/Academy Award nominee: Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy).

Over dinner last year, the pair decided to sandwich together their artistic genius’ to plate-up the whimsical, piano-based pop-from-the-heart album, Lonely Avenue.

"There's such a wide world of things you can do with music," Folds told Billboard.com. "I feel like I can get a football player and have him tell his life story and turn it into music and I think it would be unique. With Nick, my biggest fear was he would send me great lyrics and I wouldn't be able to do anything good with them. I had complete confidence in him."

And that’s how it came to be: Hornby sent lyrics and off-beat anecdotes to Folds who weaved them into imagined melodies; later recording the songs onto two-inch tape for better vinyl audio quality, with string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster.

"It's precisely nine years since I started working on ProTools," he notes, "but after the experience of the last record (2008's Way to Normal), I just asked myself, 'Digital recording, is that helping my records?', because it was not fun. If it's not fun and it's making them better, great. But it's not that fun, and I don't think it's improved (the records). So I'm coming back to analogue simply because I really gave digital a full go and I appreciate it, but I like rewind time and I like making choices on the fly...and that's what you do when you're working with tape."



Interesting to hear Folds change tact with production in making Lonely Avenue; he really manages to sound out Hornby’s stories with such beautiful emotional tension, meshing loneliness with a sweet, up-beat tempo. If working in analogue helped to enhance these elements, then perhaps nostalgia isn’t just a guilty pleasure.

Here is a taste of Hornby’s words taken from the track “From Above”:

They even looked at each other once across the crowded bar
He was with Martha, she was with Tom
Neither of them really knew what was going on
A strange feeling of never, heartbeats becoming synchronized

It's been that way forever but most of the time it's just near misses
And kisses once at a bookstore, once at a party
She came in as he was leaving and years ago at the movies
She sat behind him, the 6:30 showing of "While You Were Sleeping"

He never once looked around

Genius. Listen to it below:



Lonely Avenue is due out October 1.

20 Hottest Rockstars of this Decade: 2000-2010 (AKA the Noughties)

After stumbling upon blog entitled The Official Iggy Pop Shirtless Aging Timeline (pure gold) it got me to thinking what new age rockers of this decade (and ones that don’t resemble an old handbag) have left their sweat on our stages, their breath on our mics and their voices reverb-ing inside our skulls for so long after the pub/festival gates have shut that we can’t sleep for days; often waking up half-strangled in earphones with their latest offering on repeat.

This year’s Splendour in the Grass festival saw over 20,000 camp-ready punters explode over the rolling hills of Woodfordia like a tie-dyed tarpaulin in an effort to witness 3 days of some of the best musical talent scene-ing right now. And it may just have been the best 3 days of some of our lives.

With that in mind I will start this list off with one of the festival’s ultimate highlights…

(The rest of the list follows in no particular order)

1. Julian Casablancas: The Strokes

Arguably dubbed the best rock voice of this generation, Julian Casablancas is the chief songwriter for The Strokes who formed back in 1998; their first album This Is It (2001) named by NME as their album of the decade. Massive chops to nab that title! The king-hit quality of their live performances beat any studio recording as Julian toys with quirky one-liners and anecdotes (“Flo-Mo, just Flow-in the Mo” – sorry Splendour “in” joke) before man-handling the mic for another round. Julian also released a solo album Phrases for the Young just last year to mixed reviews: it must be difficult to take a new direction with such an identifiable, sexually charged tone of voice. In his own words “Take it or Leave It” I guess!

Fave quote: “With a hundred ways to do a dozen things, why not try it all?”

Rock Cred Lyric: 29 different attributes, And only 7 that you like, uh oh, 20 ways to see the world, oh oh, Or 20 ways to start a fight – You Only Live Once

2. The Followill Boys: Kings of Leon (sorry couldn’t separate them)

The Tennessee trio of brothers: Anthony aka Caleb (Lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Ivan (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Michael (bass, backing vocals); along with their cousin Cameron (Lead guitar, backing vocals) form the Southern-rock, testosterone-charged unit Kings of Leon. Since they are bound by blood I felt it unfair to separate the 4, who in recently years transformed their raw, twang-tailed version of rock into a more generic power-ballad production with the release of Only By the Night (2008). Despite this evolution finally achieving the boys chart success, a few people (myself included) were a bit disheartened by there new overly-produced sound (and maybe the fact that I saw pre-pubescent-boppers in school uniform screaming that their ‘sex was on fire’). Their new album Come Around Sundown is due out October. Let’s hope it packs a sweaty punch of raw riffs - right to the kisser!

Fave quote: "The other night there was someone on the front row and we had played a new song, and then we played 'Trani' which is off our first album. I saw the girl look at another girl and say, 'Is this another new song?' So it's like a lot of them don't know the difference."

Rock Cred Lyric: I cock and load my mergers when you question my mood, ‘Cause you ain’t got no taste. You talking 'bout my baby, I could flip him upside down and I could mop his place. – My Party

3. Win Butler & Régine Chassagne: Arcade Fire

Husband & wife duo Win & Régine, head up the famed Montreal Septet, Arcade Fire, who recently struck gold with their latest release “The Suburbs” which reached #1 on the US Billboard charts – almost unheard of where ‘quality’ music is concerned! Both Win & Regine have a background in Jazz: from their heritage or from being honed in their own bedrooms and both are multi-instrumentalists, some of which include: Mandolin, Violin, Guitars, Keys, Piano, Bass, Synth, xylophone, recorders, vocals (obviously) and the hurdy gurdy (strange version of a fiddle)! Arcade Fire’s unique song structure and chaotic rhythms can rattle you like turbulence or ghost right through you; intoxicating and undeniable. So much talent packed into the pants of these two characters it’s no wonder Win often wears suspenders.

Fave quote: “Some bands are just manipulating people to buy music. That’s how 90 percent of the record industry works! It’s basically the same as selling a fucking toaster or a cruise package.”

Rock Cred Lyric: Do you know where I was at your age? Any idea where I was at your age? I was working downtown for the minimum wage, And I'm not gonna let you just throw it all away! I'm through being cute, I'm through being nice. O tell me, Lord, am I the Antichrist?! - Antichrist Television Blues

4. Kevin Drew: Broken Social Scene & Kevin Drew

Kevin Drew is the chief architect behind the multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist anarchic collective that is Broken Social Scene (and possibly one of the best bands to ever cram up a stage). Drew and the member-changing outfit hail from Toronto in Canada and emerged as part of this new wave of Canadian sound sometimes dubbed “baroque pop” (music-journo speak I know, but it gives you an idea of the antique-usque arrangements of guitars, strings, horns, woodwind instruments and how the group meshes all the talents of it’s sometimes 10+ vagrant members). Drew even started his own record label Arts & Crafts which boasts artists like Phoenix, Feist (who he dated at one stage) The Dears, The Apostle of Hustle & more. For such a pint-sized shaggy-haired package, Drew can belt out one hell of a tune – it can be raw as f**k or serene wash of subtle – either way it is bound to bring you to your knees.

Fave quote: “We've always been a band that sings about exactly what's inside of us and exactly what's happening outside as well. Like, if we're screaming, let's have something to scream about.”

Rock Cred Lyric: When I was a kid, you fucked me in the ass, but I took my pen to my paper, and I passed you. You know I love the shit, 'Cause the shit tastes so good, I've got pastures waiting in the woods. - It’s All Gonna Break

5. Marcus Mumford: Mumford & Sons

Marcus heads up the alt-folk-rock troop Mumford & Sons. He plays everything from guitar to the drums to the Mandolin as well as lending his bellowing British-accented vocals to front-wall the house of his ‘sons’ harmonies. Mumford exploded onto the Australian music scene with potentially even more force than they did on their own turf with debut album Sign No More: “Little Lion Man” voted as the #1 song in Triple J’s 2009 Hottest 100. They are definitely one of the most phenomenal live acts to surface in recent times touting 4-way A Capella’s - and if you’re lucky enough - you might even get to throw down to a hoe-down worthy banjo solo. The best thing about Marcus is that his humble segways between songs show he is genuinely honoured to perform for fans. Bail me up some of that goodness!

Fave quote: “We used a 100-year old harmonium [to record the album] that I love. Although it's at my parents house, because I can't fit it in my flat. We borrowed a bunch on vintage guitars off people we knew [too].”

Rock Cred Lyric: But you rip it from my hands, and you swear it's all gone. And you rip out all I have, Just to say that you've won. Well now you've won. – I gave you all

6. Karen O: Yeah Yeah Yeah’s

Karen O is the Geisha from hell, and one that can unleash a fire on a microphone to boot. She is of course front women to the New York trio, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; an indie fusion of rock, dance, art, punk and screaming the f**king house down. Karen’s well known for her churlish tongue and crazy stage antics: when she is up there she totally owns it. It’s as if she is the human embodiment of confetti in a rocket launcher strapped to the gullet of a T-Rex. The band has released 3 LP’s: Fever to Tell, Show Your Bones and the most recentIt’s Blitz: taking a less brutal approach to song writing with the latter (my personal fave actually), but its one that will still make you scream their name all 3 times (preferably from a bed with Karen O in it).

Fave quote: “There’s no detachment when I’m up there. I don’t allow myself the distance. I’m fully putting myself out there for the people and for the sake of trying to lure them into the experience. I think that’s why it takes so much out of me. And I think that’s why I resent it to some degree. I feel like I’m picking up the slack for a whole generation of non-believers.”

Rock Cred Lyric: You can keep your black tongue, Well I found at the mortuary, you know I'm gonna want some want some – Black Tongue

7. James Murphy: LCD Soundsystem

He’s the big guy with the big voice and too much creative and technical skill to poke a drum stick at: writer, musician, producer and DFA Records co-founder; James Murphy. James is probably most well known for heading up the dance-post-punk (although their sound is completely unique) people of LCD Soundsystem. Their latest release “This Is Happening” was dubbed poignantly by Triple J as a “free-wheelin' masterpiece” – and it is. Fans were obviously nervous to see if Murphy could produce anything on par with the hectic magic of Sound of Silver (2007) which earned itself a Grammy nomination for best for best Electronic/Dance Album, but deliver he did. Hard to comprehend why but James is highly self-critical. He told Pitchfork recently “It's kinda soul-crushing in a way to listen to 'Perfect Day' and say, 'I'm gonna go write a song like that,' and it'll be fucking horrible by comparison.” Dude - what are you on about! All My friends, Someone Great and the epic This is Happening opener Dance Yrself Clean with a bass drop that will make you split your pants, Murphy – Daft Punk should be inviting you to play at their house!

Fave quote: "I make dance music, or disco... And dance music isn't really about anything. I can tell if it's working: 'Are people dancing? Yes.' Then I've achieved my goal.”

Rock Cred Lyric: I've heard lies that could curdle your heartstrings (Drunk girls). A couple truths, maybe burn out your eyes (Drunk boys). Drunk boys leave their irons in the fireplace (Drunk girls) 'Cause drunk girls give them too many tries – Drunk Girls

8. Yannis Philippakis: Foals

The UK university town, Oxford has always been a breeding ground for artistic talent; so it was only a matter of time until indie five-piece Foals spawned. Yannis Philippakis (whose name coincidentally means 'little friend of horses’) fronts the band who with their latest release Total Life Forever have seen their cult following inflate to epic proportions. Yannis spruiks these high-pitched, angular vocal lines that can flick from ghostly to acidic on one phrase. Layer this over the top of the staccato-ed guitar riff style Foals pioneered (less severe on TLF than on Antidotes), and you’ll have to GPS the location of your own mind to find it. Yannis is said to write music that is ‘sonically tidy’ and it shows. You can lose yourself in the bands sound-scapes of dissonant chords but at the same time you can tell that’s exactly where they want you to be (in 100m, turn left). For a self-professed grouch and ‘boring homebody’ Yannis (who “boringly” leapt into the crowd after their recent Glastonbury set) and the boys have an on-stage energy that will pulsate to your core; it must be that Western feeling.

Fave quote: "There's an old school rock feeling at Reading and Leeds that you don't get anywhere else, people really releasing negative energy. If we had our way, there wouldn't be any barrier between the band and the crowd."

Rock Cred Lyric: I've been to the darkest place I know. You my dear shouldn't fear what lies below, it's just bones. Now you go softly soft, Picking out better bones than your own. Oh I see you creep in the dark. – What Remains

9. Kele Okereke: Bloc Party

Openly poetic and overwhelmingly intense; Kele is the co-founder and front man of British band Bloc Party who tsunami-ed onto the scene earlier this decade, breaking down music genre barriers in their wake. I think everyone can remember the first time they heard 2005’s Silent Alarm, the hypnotic crescendo-ing drum beats of “Like Eating Glass” blew my mind, moved my feet and with one crack-hit of Kele’s piercing croon: addicted my being. Three albums later: still hooked. Kele’s also just released his first solo album The Boxer while Bloc Party are on hiatus which is definitely more of a retro-synth, dance-pop piece of production for the artist. He tours Australia solo for Parklife this year and it will be interesting to see if his stage presence resonates without Russell, Gordon & Matt in the half-light behind. (I think it might)

Fave quote: “When British music magazines say we're overly serious or po-faced, I think it's actually an indication that the mindset of people right now is to be completely apolitical and not be concerned about what's happening in the world. To try and draw attention to this, you're labelled as a political party person or something and I think that's sad.”

Rock Cred Lyric: You said you were going to conquer new frontiers, Go stick your bloody head in the jaws of the beast. We promised the world, we'd tame it, what were we hoping for? – Pioneers

10. Matt Bellamy: Muse

Hailing from Teignmouth, in Devon, Bellamy was always going to bring some kind of meat to the musical table (however strange the mash-up), and he did. Not only did Matt’s progressive metal vocal stylings cut through the wash of mediocrity back in the late 90’s, but the incorporation of rock-piano into Muse’s repertoire must have made many a kid out there re-think there mum’s constant pestering to practice their scales. And if that wasn’t enough, the Muse front-man is now dating Kate Hudson, who came to support him at their recent Coachella performance (you know you’ve made it when you’re bagged a movie star). Muse’s latest release (to the screwed-up faces of some of their earlier fans) The Resistance (2009) peaked at No. 3 of the US charts and they premiered it earlier this year at The Big Day Out.

Fave quote: “We were all off our faces on mushrooms when we recorded Plug In Baby... There was this big field next to the recording studio filled with them. So we ate them all. I don't know what we were doing, but we all ended up naked in a Jacuzzi and I went deaf in one ear from falling asleep in the sauna...”

Rock Cred Lyric: You'll make us wanna die, I'd cut your name in my heart. We'll destroy this world for you, I know you want me to. Feel your pain – Space Dementia

11. Thomas Mars: Phoenix
12. Liam Howlett: Prodigy
13. Tom Meighan: Kasabian
14. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden: MGMT
15. Beth Ditto: The Gossip
16. Wayne Coyne: The Flaming Lips
17. Thom Yorke: Radiohead & Thom Yorke
18. Jake Shears and Ana Matronic: Scissor Sisters
19. Dougy Mandagi: The Temper Trap
20. Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam: MIA

Wild Card: Kevin Parker – Tame Impala
Wild Card: Lawrence Greenwood - Whitley
Wild Card: Jonathan Boulet – Parades & Jonathan Boulet

Please add comments or any you think I have missed!!
Peace out. x

Went to Oxford Art Factory last night to see WIM and Deep Sea Arcade, two great Sydney bands who I have seen quite a bit of back in my days of working behind the bar there (the good old days). WIM have really taken their music to a new level. I was totally blown away! Keep an eye out for this band...

Listen to WIM here.

Homebake Festival 2010 Not Happening! Where's the local love?

Hard to believe our favourite home grown festival Homebake: boasting the latest and greatest local talent will be taking a break in 2010 (read the official statement below). It begs the question, is the music market oversaturated with festivals and specialised events these days? Post GFC we saw a marked decline in punters having to sit - finger poised at the mouse - in hopes their broadband was fast enough to nab the hottest tickets.

Now it seems there are so many festivals you really have to disperse your personal funds wisely to ensure you don’t miss your favourite touring artists. Inthemix recently published an expose on our local club scene and the effect that festivals were having on regular punters who were finding it continually harder to get out and see their fave DJ’s of a weekend as they’d burnt the credit card a month in advance to get themselves to Parklife, Splendour in the Grass, Field Day or one of the other dynamically staged odes to hedonism.



Considering local acts are being syphoned off to support internationals for larger festivals as we saw with the latest Falls, Sunset Sounds & Southbound line-up announcements, are you sad to see Homebake go on hiatus?

Here's what Homebake Festival HQ released as an official statement:

Whilst this past weekend witnessed a state of political confusion, we concur that we've certainly had our fair share as well. That said and with such a plethora of festival announcements of late, we've decided to go against the grain and as such - after much deliberation (& some procrastination) - we here at Homebake festival HQ have decided to take a break and postpone Homebake Music, Film & Arts Festival for this year only, 2010.

As we've not been able to have the 'planets align' to a standard we feel appropriate to the long standing reputation of Australia's largest 'locals only' event, we'd rather focus on a positive future and are instead planning for a unique return version of Homebake Festival to take place during the first week of December 2011.

The intention is for Homebake to return proverbially 'bigger and better' than ever, incorporating even more facets of the antipodean arts industries & with special incentives in place for the few generations of thousands of loyal Homebake devotees whom have attended over the past 15 years.

We ask you to stay tuned for now as we commence preparations for what will be the 16th Edition -Homebake Music, Film & Arts Festival, 2011.

Huge thanks for your patience & we're looking forward to have you all join us to celebrate in 2011.

Kasabian Babies Forcing Band into Hiatus!

Normally you hear about drugs being the focus-pulling perpetrator where band dynamics are concerned - not kids - especially for the pseudo-hardcore British rockers, Kasabian. But the band are facing an open-ended hiatus due to the band’s guitarists Serge Pizzorno and Chris Edwards preferring the pitter-patter of little feet to the epic strumming of their own instruments.

Front man Tom Meighan, not ready to be a father, thankfully has his sights set on going solo:

"Serge is doing great and our bass player Chris Edwards had a baby as well. I'm the only one left without anyone but I'm not ready to be a dad. We have got the break after today mainly so the guys can see their families."

He adds, "We are a super-tight rock band and we will be back in the studio before long. I will do something musically in between. And I'm thinking of doing a TV documentary - I am just going to see what comes up." (Britain’s News of the World)

They played their last show in Essex as part of V Festival just yesterday (V Festival hasn’t been out to Australia in 2 years due to a lack of financial return from the last 2, even though they were sold out).

Meighan continues, "It will be good to bow out at V. After tonight we are taking some time off... we are going to have a proper tear-up. V is such a major festival so it's emotional for us. The gigs are great but we've worked so hard. It's the travelling that gets you. You have to look after yourself. We have been to so many countries, you forget where you are. It wears you down."

For a band that seem to have been going from strength to strength since their explosive 2004 self-titled debut to last years highly acclaimed “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum”, the news must come as a disappointment to die-hard fans, presumably awaiting the next post-tour titles.

How do you guys feel about it? Are you excited to see what Tom comes up with on his own or just plain shattered?

Kings of Leon Shun Spots on Glee and Ugly Betty

Bassist Jared Followill (of the Followill brothers three who make up Kings of Leon) told NME in their latest issue that the band “no-dealed” offers to guest star on Ugly Betty and more recently to appear/have their music featured (destroyed) on musical high-school spoof, Glee.

Despite the boys refusal in the name of integrity, I’m sure there will be lots of original Kings of Leon fans that would subscribe to the notion that just being asked to appear one of the most mainstream pop TV series ever to bubbled brightly onto our sets, is an indication that the “selling out” may have already occurred.

There last album “Only by the Night” was exhausted internationally by mainstream radio to the point where the idea of sex producing and kind of heat brought a little bit of vomit to the back of our mouths – and that is not a healthy outcome. The album was a lot more overly produced than its predecessors “Aha Shake, Heartbreak” and “Because of the Times” (my personal fave) which toyed more with different tempos and had a raw quality about it which is what made the boys Kings or rock in the first place. It will be interesting to see how their new album “Come Around Sundown” due out this October makes waves.

Having said that, “selling out” is such an ambiguous concept these days. It is such a struggle for bands to spike their way into our airwaves and when they finally do and achieve commercial success, we muffle them out and complain how ‘music isn’t music anymore - it’s just the sound track to a good marketing proposal’. At least Kings of Leon have drawn a line in the sand, even if it should have been drawn a fair way back down the track.

What do you guys think? Did the Kings lose their crowns a long time ago or have they still got it?