The NOW now Festival

If you like your music with lots of instruments, some jazz, the occasional inspiration from a laptop or an amplified object and some great short films thrown in, then The NOW now festival is for you.

Happening 17-20 January 2007, the free program launch is on Monday 11th December at The Factory Theatre in Marrickville.

Check out last year's program to get a feel for what's in store.

Dappled Cities - Bringing music to the world

The band of the hour, Dappled Cities Fly are putting on a live webcast of one of their shows.

Tune in (here) on Tuesday 5th December 2006 (8pm AEST) to see their live show as it happens - plus get to participate with live Q&A's after the show.

A big hats off to the band for letting all those in regional/rural Australia and also the WORLD see a fine quality Aussie act in action!

V Festival - First announce

Pixies, Pet Shop Boys, Groove Armada, Gnarls Barkley, The Rapture, Phoenix, 2manydjs, Softlightes, Bumblebeez, The Mercy Arms, The Temper Trap, Soulwax

Sydney - 31st March
Gold Coast - 1st April

Tix on sale Monday December 4

See Line-up here
See News here

Great Escape - First Announce

Wolfmother, The Vines, Gomez, The Living End, Ben Kweller, Bob Evans, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Blue King Brown, Missy Higgins, Ziggy Marley, Hilltop Hoods, The Fumes, Fishbone

Sydney (Newington Armory) - Easter long weekend

Tickets onsale Thursday December 14

(expect another impressive announce to come - as most of these were already expected after the Bluesfest announce last week...

Check out the website line-up and Myspace

Wonderland Festival - Gold Coast

For all those up Gold Coast way, there is an underground festival of Arts & Music at the Currumbin Bird Gardens this Saturday - 25th November.

Lots of local artists and bands. One being fantastic Gold Coast group The Greys. Check out The Greys MySpace

Wonderland Festival Website
Wonderland Festival Myspace

Ch Ch Ch Changes

Nothing like a bit of David Bowie when facing a Firefox v IE v Safari dilemma...

Feel free to comment or make suggestions

Tilly and the Wall

Collecting fans all over the states and recently signed to Brisbane based label Dew Process (home to Sarah Blasko, Expatriate & The Grates) expect this band to be visiting Oz in no time at all...

Official Site
MySpace

East Coast Blues & Roots 2007 - First announce

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Missy Higgins, Wolfmother, Bo Diddley, Lee Scratch Perry, The Roots, Gomez, Sierra Leones Refugee All Stars, Amos Lee, Bonnie Raitt, Blue King Brown, Fat Freddy's Drop, Ben Kweller, Fishbone, Taj Mahal, Fred Eaglesmith, Xavier Rudd, The Waifs, Kasey Chambers, Tony Joe White, John Butler Trio, Alo (Animal Liberation Orchestra), Feist, Gogol Bordello, Flogging Molly, Keiran Kane and Kevin Welsh with Fats Kaplin, Rodrigo y Gabriela

Line Up
Play Schedule

Pyramid Rock Festival - Final announce

The Loose Cannons (UK), The Spazzys, Bliss N Eso, Something With Numbers, The Red Eyes, The Josh Owen Band, Rob Sawyer, Jess McAvoy, Illzilla, Mammal, Sub Focus (UK), Ben Quin, Durbeyfield, Lowrider, Digital Primate, Simon Sleieker, Bushido, The Legs, The Long Walk Home, Crimson Flames, and Mushroom Giant

Joining:

Silverchair, The Living End, Ugly Duckling (USA), Xavier Rudd, Evermore, The Freestylers (UK), End of Fashion, Mylo DJ Set (UK), The Grates, The Beautiful Girls, Brant Bjork and the Bros (USA), Faker, Lior, Karnivool, Crazy Penis (UK), TZU, True Live, Mia Dyson, Ash Grunwald, That One Guy (USA), Sunk Loto, The Casanovas, Bomba, Bertie Blackman, Foreign Heights, K-Oscillate, Carus & The True Believers, and Behind Crimson Eyes

Snow Patrol Pre-sale tix

Quick get to the Snow Patrol website and become a member to get you hands on tix to their upcoming Aussie shows 2 days before they go on sale to the general public.

Note: be careful with the links - they have Melb & Syd "Buy" links around the wrong way....

Last chance for Falls tix

The email went out to those on the mailing list on the weekend regarding the final ticket allocation for this years Falls Festival.

Lorne tix available from Ticketek 9am tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

Marion Bay tix will be decided by ballot. Enter the ballot here.

Universal Sues MySpace

So it appears that Universal Music are trying to push their weight around, with the news breaking on Friday that Universal/Vivendi have sued MySpace/News Corp for copyright infringement. Citing video content as a particular point of concern.

Read the response from Myspace here.

Interesting to note that they haven't touched YouTube - who they signed an agreement with recently.

Also interesting to note that EMI refused to sign the same agreement as Universal, Warner and Sony BMG, as they decided that YouTube were unable to protect their interests whilst allowing people to stream a clip directly on personal websites/blogs/forums. Read more about it here.

Hot Chip join the BDO

Hot Chip website

Hot Chip MySpace

Myspace Live!

Now bringing real-time live music to your living room...

V Festival

There is finally something on this site.

It's coming...

Vote for I Heart Hiroshima

Brisbane band I Heart Hiroshima have entered the Noise Vote For Art program, which gives them the opportunity to obtain $5,000 of government funding to create their "art-work". What they need now is people to vote for them to win:

Click here to VOTE. All you have to do is find them on the Top 50 list and click away. You can vote more than once, but only once per day.

Voting closes 30th November so get to it.

Check out their I Heart Hiroshima Noise profile

They are also on Myspace

The Exploders

I went and saw The Exploders , The Panda Band & The Dirty Secrets play last night as part of their "Way of the Exploding Panda" tour that is heading around the country.

Although having seen The Exploders a number of times before I always enjoy watching really talented musicians.

I look forward to hearing their new album, which they mentioned was on its way.

The Inches

Currently at the end of an EP launch tour - but another goody nonetheless

Myspace

Operator Please

I am completely excited about another new band called "Operator Please" - hailing from the Gold Coast - it appears that they have been generating quite a bit of hype in the industry.

Soon to be on tour with Dappled Cities Fly

The Cops

It has been sometime since I danced around my lounge room (sober) on first listen of a song... but the new single from Sydney outfit The Cops had me doing just that.

"Call Me Anytime" from the new EP "80 in the Shade" is fantastic.

Highly recommended

New Copyright Laws

The SMH reported yesterday regarding the proposed changes to the current copyright laws in Australia.

Here is a copy of the proposed bill for anyone that is interested:

• Copyright Amendment Bill 2006
  

One of the reasons this has been amended is to cover our obligations under the Oz-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), however the explanatory notes attached to this bill admit that this is possibly stricter in some ways than current US copyright laws...

Snow Patrol are Coming

Snow Patrol are heading back to Oz in February.

17th February 2007 - Belvoir Amphitheatre, Perth
19th February 2007 - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
20th February 2007 - Festival Hall, Melbourne

Pre-sale tix available Tues 21st November.

See the website for details

Peats Ridge Festival

If you enjoy camping and live music and you haven't already been snapped up by the multitude of amazing festivals on over New Years this year, then Peats Ridge Festival is definitely worth a look in.

Now in it's 3rd year and more than doubling in size each year it is a perfect way to get away from the city, sit on a beanbag in the sunshine and swim in the creek, all the while being surrounded by chilled funky beats & worldly sounds, mixed in with some rock, pop, blues and roots for good measure.

There are so many bands on the bill this year that i am not even going to attempt to list them all - go and check it out the website for all the details.

Some of the more popular names: Afro Moses, Angus & Julia Stone, Bertie Blackman, The Black Seeds, Dirty Lucy, The Dolly Rocker Movement, Earl Gray, Elana Stone, Endorphin, iOTA, King Tide, Laura Imbuglia, Liz Martin, The Red Eyes, Sarah McLeod, Tyrone Noonan

Get that Bluetooth Ready

Just reading last fortnight's edition of The Brag Magazine (yes i know - a little behind the times) and chanced upon a snippet about Nokia setting up systems in Sydney Buses and Melbourne Trams, where you can use the Bluetooth capabilities of your mobile to download tracks while you are travelling.

New music available free on public transport - what a great marketing idea for bands.

Newtown Festival - This Sunday

Check out the Festival website for site/myspace links for these artists who are playing at the Newtown Festival this Sunday:

Botanics, Elana Stone, Waiting for Guinness, CODA, King Tide, Snuff Puppets, Blue King Brown, OKA

The Ramblers, Declan Kelly, The Honey Palace, Jesse Morris and the Project, The Light Brigade, Watussi, Radical Son, Beautiful World

Anna John, Hans Stoeve, Ollo, Bass Kleph, Bentley, Bec Paton, Sub Bass Snarl, Rif Raf

Plus

Afterparty at @Newtown (Level 2) with:

Soft Tiger, Cloud Control, Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers, The Mares

Zune - The battle of the portable music player

Microsoft put out a press release yesterday announcing that they had made a deal with Universal with regard to sales of it's new portable music player - "Zune".

Supposedly Universal will get a flat fee amount for each unit that is sold and the other major labels are said to be keen to make similar deals with Microsoft.

Considering that in April/May this year Apple/iPod refused to work with the major record labels with regard to setting fees for tracks, (Apple have a flat-fee per track system, and the labels wanted to introduce a system where the newest most popular songs sell for a higher price than the older back-catalogue tracks).

Now that Microsoft have gone to the other extreme and are now working directly with the record labels, it will be interesting to see where this battle ends up.

Sydney Festival 2007 - Music Picks

January 2007 is set to be another expensive month for venturing out in Sydney, with the Sydney Festival promoters once again doing their damned finest to bring the cream of the crop of world's musical talents here for our enjoyment. Although i would love to pick them all - here are some of my top picks for the month:

• Kaki King (Acoustic songstress) - 12-Jan - The Famous Spiegeltent

• Jazz in the Domain (goes Brazilian) - 13th-Jan

• The Necks (Aria award winning Jazz trio) - 13-16 Jan - The Famous Spiegeltent

• Lost & Found Orchestra (this is going to be amazing!) - 15-19 Jan - Sydney Opera House

• Marcos Valle (The sexual sounds of Bossa Nova) - 20-22 Jan - The Famous Spiegeltent

• Madeline Peyroux (Laid back Jazz) - 21-22 Jan - State Theatre

• The Violent Femmes (Oh - How I love them) - 24-Jan - Hyde Park Barracks

Short of mentioning the obvious:
M Ward - 6-8 Jan - The Famous Spiegeltent
Lou Reed 18-20 Jan - State Theatre (tix on sale from Ticketmaster tomorrow morning)
Joanna Newsom - 27 Jan - The Famous Spiegeltent

Scalping & Legislation

With QLD Premier Peter Beattie announcing last week the intention to bring in anti-scalping legislation in QLD, it poses the question of whether the other states will follow suit.

In 2002 Victoria paved the way for select sporting events to be protected by legislation, which prevents scalped tickets. The Minister for the Commonwealth Games, Sports & Recreation has the power to "declare" an event which can be covered by this legislation. To date only a few events have been "declared" - AFL Grand Final, 2006 Commonwealth Games and the upcoming FINA (Water Sports) World Championships. See a copy of the legislation below:

Link to VIC Legislation

It's a shame that this legislation is restricted to sporting events, and declared ones at that...

The new QLD legislation is a bit broader and covers all events held at Queensland sporting facilities, including live music performances, which is a great step in the right direction. From what I gather from Peter Beattie's press release this also covers the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

It's yet to be seen what other QLD venues this will cover - Gold Coast Parklands,where the 2007 BDO is being held, is a sporting/recreational facility.... However, the event is being run by a NSW promotor. How do they police this one?

What about non-sporting open areas used for music festivals? Woodford Folk Festival comes to mind...

Here is a copy of it so you can judge for yourself:

Link to QLD Legislation
An interesting one to keep an eye on.

Golden Plains - 1st announce

The Bellrays, Fat Freddys Drop, Yo La Tengo, The Avalanches DJ Show, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Gotye, Comets on Fire, The Slits, The Drones, Ground Components, Mountains in the Sky, Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Factory Theatre - One door closes, another opens

With the sad news that Newtown RSL are closing their upstairs Level 2 area to live music, comes the news that a new venue of similar size will be opening in Marrickville. The Factory Theatre will be opening around the same time that the Newtown RSL (level 2) has it's last night (Dec 2nd from what i can gather) and has the same bookers (who also book the Enmore Theatre and The Metro).

Great news for Marrickville residents as the Vic on the Park hasn't had the same calibre of bands there of late as they have in previous years.

I look forward to seeing how it goes. Hopefully they don't have the same issues as The Annandale with public transport (buses only - and even fewer down Victoria Rd compared to Parramatta Rd) and residential complaints.

BDO - 2nd announce

The Streets, Kasabian, Crystal Method DJs, Justice, Trivium, John Cooper Clarke, Afra & The Incredible Beatbox Band, Lily Allen, Lupe Fiasco, Diplo, John Butler Trio, Something for Kate, You Am I, Little Birdy, The Presets, Bob Evans, The Drone, The Butterfly Effect, love [tattoo] and Shapeshifter

join

Tool, Muse, Violent Femmes, The Killers, Peaches, My Chemical Romance, Spank Rock, Jet, Eskimo Joe, Scribe, Evermore, The Sleepy Jackson, The Herd and The Spazzys.

X-box jumps on the bandwagon

First there were computers, then portable players, then mobiles - now it seems Xbox has jumped on the bandwagon and are offering streaming media in the newest edition.

Now that they have great satellite/wireless internet coverage, surely car DVD players could stream the latest version of the simpsons on demand.... it will happen people!

let's just take a moment to reminisce about the good old days of long family car-trips. i recall there was a car game based loosely on a cricket match where different colour cars that passed were equivalent to runs and a white car meant you were "out" and the baton passed to the next player. Those days are all but gone...

DCF - did my nanna knit that?

There seems to be a lot of music blogs around lately about the wonders of Dappled Cities Fly - and rightly so - but i see that NO-ONE has made mention of the strange andean llama jumper that Dappled Dave is wearing. I find it very hard to believe that no-one has seen this gem? Anyone? It has to be seen to be believed...


Umm - it appears i imagined the llamas - but a couple of frolicking peruvian beasts would go down a right treat on that jumper!

Y Not?

One of the guys i work with has a theory that blogs and forums are just homes for people who love to complain about things. I woke up this morning realising that I have a lot to complain about so i have no choice really but to start a blog myself. Behold the music, melodrama and mischief - plus a few complaints :-)

Y.