January 2007

A month wrapped up into one post. You will have to excuse me if I appear slow in discovering songs or artists that the rest of the blog world have been listening to for months now.

Top 15 international tracks most listened to in JAN-07 (in no particular order):

Air France - Beach Party
Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
Frightened Rabbit - Go Go Girls
Voxtrot - Soft & Warm
Softlightes - If The World Had Cookies
Ghosts & Liars - We'll Carry On
Califone - The Orchids
Andrew Bird - Plasticities
Fujiya and Miyagi - Collarbone
Explosions In The Sky - So Long, Lonesome
Busdriver - The Troglodyte Wins
The Berg Sans Nipple - Along The Quai
Deerhoof - +81
My Brightest Diamond - Something Of An End
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - History Song

Top 5 Australian tracks most listened to in JAN-07:

The Rocketsmiths - Worth It
Bird Automatic - In A Minute (I'll Be Fine)
Days Like Stars - Thunderstorm
Sodastream - Twin Lakes
Snowman - You Are A Casino

Best Live Performance of JAN-07:

Snowman @ Gold Coast BDO

However, I am going to see Joanna Newsom tonight, and seeing it is effectively still January and judging by posts from other bloggers, it may pip Snowman at the post (so to speak).

The AMP 2006 - Short List announced

The Lucky 9 (they let one extra slip in) that are in the running to win are:

Augie March - "Moo You Bloody Choir"
Bob Evans - "Suburban Songbook"
Gotye - "Like Drawing Blood"
Howling Bells- "Howling Bells"
Jackie Marshall - "Fight n'Flight"
Lisa Gerrard - "The Silver Tree"
Sarah Blasko - "What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have"
The Drones - "Gala Mill"
The Grates - "Gravity Won't Get You High"

The Amp 2006 winner will be announced March 7th.

In the meantime, all of the artists who made the Long List, see my previous post here, have been allocated myspace sites so that the public can vote for the album that they think is the best. Voting closes on March 4th. Vote by becoming "friends" with the artist that you think is most deserving.

More info, and links to the artists myspace sites, on The AMP 2006 here.

Adrian Klumpes & Seathworthy - Album Launches

Beautiful Melodic Experimental Music - This will be an amazing gig.

Thursday 22nd Feb. Stone Gallery, Paddington Uniting Church Hall.

Adrian Klumpes Myspace

Adrian Klumpes website

Seaworthy website

The Annandale's never-ending fight with residents

This from the Daily Tele (sorry I can't find a link to the original article):

"The pub that put live music before pokies—the Annandale Hotel—has won a reprieve in a fight against Leichhardt Council's bid to silence it. The Land and Environment Court has overruled the council to allow the hotel to remain open until 1am for a 12-month trial period and will then reconsider a 3am weekend licence. Noise measurements in the bedrooms of local residents showed peak-hour traffic on Parramatta Rd was louder than patrons leaving at the end of the night". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), January 26.

I feel like I am somewhat opinionated on this issue, but how stupid are these residents? Are they just complaining for the sake of complaining? The Annandale, with live music, has been there for much longer than most residents have. Surely they knew that they were moving in next to one of Sydney's most popular live music venues.

There was talk at one stage of the changes to the Liquor Act encompassing the "whoever was there first has right of way" idea.

Do you know how hard it is to even get a Place of Public Entertainment (POPE) license in NSW? The onerous sound proofing requirements alone make sure that residents are being looked after. And it is not like the owners of The Annandale are ignoring the concerns of residents. There are signs up all over the pub asking people to keep quiet when leaving, and it is definitely not a legal requirement for them to do that.

I am definitely with The Annandale on this one!

The Rocketsmiths coming to Sydney & Melbourne

Fri, Feb 2nd - The Globe, Brisbane
w/ Special Patrol, Black Market Rhythm Co, Cuthbert & The Night Walkers
Thur, Feb 8th - The Excelsior, Surry Hills, Sydney
Fri, Feb 9th - Boobytrap, Melt Bar, King's Cross, Sydney
Sat, Feb 10th - Spectrum, Sydney
w/ Tokenview
Sun, Feb 11th - The Hopetoun, Sydney
w/ The Camels, Cuthbert & The Night Walkers
Wed, Feb 14th - The Greyhound, Melbourne
Thur, Feb 15th - Prince Albert Hotel, Adelaide
w/ Special Patrol
Fri, Feb 16th - The Electric Light Hotel, Adelaide
w/ Special Patrol
Sat, Feb 17th - The Edinbrough, Brunswick, Melbourne
w/ The Basics, Spargo

Do-It-Yourself Music

Below is a link to a really interesting article about the new breed of "artists" in the world who have emerged following the increase in technology, and people's ability to create and record their own music at home. In most cases these days it is cheaper to do at home, and with programs such as Pro-Tools, almost as professional as what comes from most engineers/producers, who used to do all the tweaking by ear.

Although this article is about an increase in sales of musical instruments used in home recordings, it is also electronic sounds that are becoming easier to create. As computer created sounds become more and more common I wonder what that will mean for live music? Will people be able to re-create their masterpieces on a stage, or will they even want to?

LA Times article

BRMC & Maximo Park - new albums

Now that Bloc Party's new release has come and gone for me, here are a couple of the next ones I am looking forward to:

Maximo Park - new album : Official Site : Myspace

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - new album : Official Site : Myspace

Red Riders - Webcast

Following in the footsteps of Dappled Cities Fly and Expatriate, tonight (Tuesday 30th Jan) it is the Red Riders turn to put on a live webcast.

For more information on how to get your name on the door, or what time to tune in. Check out the Defhead website: Red Riders Webcast

The Great Escape - Final Announce

The Lemonheads, The Roots, Lou Rhodes (Lamb), Dan Kelly, Alice Russell, Expatriate, Kaki King, Bertie Blackman, Damien Dempsey, The Exploders, Hermitude, Fourplay, Astronomy Class, Coda, The Bird, True Live, Sparkadia, The Flairz, King Tide, The Sins, Greta Gertler, Carla Werner, Waiting for Guiness

joining:

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, Ooh La La, Operator Please, The Stick Figures, John Butler Trio, Holly Throsby, Gogol Bordello, Deerhoof, The Cops, Little Birdy, Angus & Julia Stone, Bliss N Eso, Darren Hanlon, Flogging Molly, The Temper Trap

See the announce here.

More info on the official site and Myspace.

Gotan Project

Tango/Electro group, Gotan Project have announced their WOMADelaide side-shows, but alas - no Brisbane date:

March 2 Perth International Festival of the Arts
March 5 Sydney Opera House
March 9 WOMADelaide
March 11 Hamer Hall, Melbourne

Official Site : Myspace : Record Label

Buy the album from Inertia

The Berg Sans Nipple

I have been listening to this track from The Berg Sans Nipple for a little while now, but it keeps coming up and drawing me in with the beat and electro-pop sounds.

Along the Quai, the title track from the forthcoming album is available to download from the Record Label's website:

Team Love Records

Hear some more tracks, and find out more info, here:

Myspace

Official Site

The View From the Pit

See pics from some of Australia's best festivals, and shots from around Sydney venues.

Triple J/ABC are opening their doors (of the foyer at least) to let everyone in for FREE.

Check out the exhibition from now until 26-FEB-07.

ABC Building
700 Harris St
Ultimo

More info on the Triple J website.

Coachella - leaked announce/rumours

It's the talk of the tabloids today. Some of the Coachella (US festival held in April) line-up as follows (What a list.....!):

Rage Against The Machine, Bjork, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, Crowded House, The Roots, Sonic Youth, The Arctic Monkeys, Air, Tiesto, Satellite Party, Silversun Pickups, Busdriver, The Kooks, The Cribs, Jarvis Cocker, The Good The Bad & The Queen, Travis, The Decemberists, Manu Chao, Kings of Leon, LCD Soundsystem, !!!, Lupe Fiasco, Ghostface Killah, Fountains of Wayne, Hot Chip, El-P, Peeping Tom, The Happy Mondays, Placebo, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Lily Allen, Roky Erickson, Paul Van Dyk, Gotan Project, Kaiser Chiefs, Faithless, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Nightwatchman, DJ Shadow, Stephen Marley featuring Jr. Gong, Konono No. 1, Nickel Creek, The Black Keys, The New Pornographers, Rufus Wainwright, The Rapture, Richie Hawtin, Explosions In The Sky, Junior Boys, Sparklehorse, Soulwax, Felix Da Housecat, Blonde Redhead, Damien Rice, Jose Gonzales, Regina Spektor, Ozomatli, Peaches, Cornelius, We Are Scientists, Amy Winehouse, Spank Rock, Tapes 'n Tapes, The Klaxons, Girl Talk, CSS, Andrew Bird, Peter, Bjorn and John, Tokyo Police Club, The Fratellis, Ratatat, Grizzly Bear

See some news articles here:

LA Times
Pitchfork Media
Billboard

More info on the official sites, here are the links:

Official Site
Myspace

Los Campesinos!

Not only do they have all the UK music bloggers falling over themselves, but they still have their songs available for download on Myspace. Oh, and the best bit - they make good music! Great little catchy pop tunes to have you bopping along, with violins and xylophones.

Get yourself some Los Campesinos! on Myspace

Golden Plains - 2nd Announce

The Presets, Mad Professor, Sebastian and Kavinski (Ed Banger Tour), Darren Hanlon, Dexter, Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow, Muph and Plutonic, Riot in Belgium, George Rrurrambu and Birdwave, Sunwrae Ensemble, Jamaica Irie with RuCL and Jigzie Campbell, Muscle

joining:

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

See website for more info.

Album previews on Myspace

First The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and now Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (that I know of anyway) have put up their whole albums to be streamed through Myspace before the albums actually go on sale, although CYHSY are offering a digital version for purchase today - see the bands website for details).

And judging by the 10,000+ plays the first track off CYHSY's player received within about an hour it appears to be popular.

I wonder if we will see more of this in the future?

Moshtix Joins Myspace...

Well, not exactly - but with the news that News Ltd have recently acquired Moshtix, I wonder how long it will be before we see ticket sales in the Gig Guide section of Myspace pages?

See the article here: The Australian

Also, comes the news that Ebay has recently purchased an online ticket re-selling (scalping) company, StubHub.

Read the story here.

So if News Ltd don't already own Ebay, perhaps they should consider it - then they can get the commissions/booking fee for the original sale, and then a further commission on the re-sale...

Instituto Mexicano del Sonido (IMS)

Otherwise known as Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS).

What a great little discovery this one has been, and all from one Mexican man...

IMS website

IMS Myspace (in Spanish - better than the English one)

MIS Myspace (in English)

Listen to an IMS remix of an Irving Fields classic, Cha Cha No.29, here.

I have no idea what this website is, appears to be Korean...? but they have a CD review, and a couple of tracks to download: OHMY

Kaiser Chiefs new single - "Ruby"

Of course it has made it to the internet already. I predict this one is going to tear through the commercial radio stations.

Good copies of new single "Ruby" at:

You Aint No Picasso
Stereogum

For more info on the new album see the Kaiser Chiefs website

And they have some tracks off their old album to listen to on Myspace

Fast Festival Feasts

One of the Sydney Festival's greatest things (aside from the music) has returned again.

Get a main course and a glass of wine, or a beer, at some of Sydney's finest restaurants for just $25. An absolute bargain when you actually look at the cost of some of the main meals at these places on a regular night.

See the website for more details and the list of restaurants taking part

The Rocketsmiths

The Sandwich Club beat me to it and posted about these guys last week, but if you haven't read their post yet, please let me introduce you to The Rocketsmiths.

A very catchy rockabilly/pop band from Brisbane. Self confessed "Opshop suit wearing, upbeat suburban blues rockers", with some killer guitar riffs.

Listen to tracks on Myspace.

Or get free downloads from the band's website.

East Coast Blues & Roots - 2nd Announce

Either they need a new IT guy at Bluesfest or they are just pulling our chain - but I'm betting on the first one. Another slip up from the Bluesfest camp:

Ozomatli, Arrested Development, Ziggy Marley, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Alice Russell, Larry Carlton Blues Project featuring Robben Ford, Rodriguez, Paul Kelly, Black Sorrows, Paolo Nutini, Normie Rowe, Katchafire, Banawurun (Troy 'n' Trevelyn), Blue King Brown, Fiona Boyes & The Fortune Tellers, The Pigram Brothers, The Gin Club, Mojo Webb, Imperial Crowns, Sunshiners, Chris Smither, Ghostwriters, Eugene 'Hideaway' Bridges, C.W. Stoneking, Kaki King, The Kill Devil Hills, Blue Shaddy, Dallas Frasca, Johnny Green's Blues Cowboys, Jackson Jackson, Jim Moginie, Ash Grunwald

joining:

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

How to REALLY cut scalping

Glastonbury (UK's premier music festival) has announced that it plans to print passport sized photos of ticket-holders on all tickets to prevent scalping (or touting as they like to call it). Tickets will be non-exchangeable.

There is also a pre-registration process, where anyone wanting to buy a ticket for the 2007 event will first have to register (and supply photo). This happens BEFORE any line-up details are announced.

If you plan on attending Glastonbury this year (to be held 22-24 June) you will need to register between 1st - 28th Feb. Expect to be competing with 150,000+ other people.

Visit the website for more details.

The AMP 2006

The Australian Music Prize & PPCA (Phonographic Performance Company of Australia) have today announced their Top 25 "long list" contenders for the 2006 Australian Music Prize (The AMP). Australia's version of the UK's Mercury Music Prize.

See the Long List here.

Also, visit The AMP 2006 Myspace site for more info on the prize.

The "Short List" of 8 will be announced on 31st Jan, with the winner being announced on 7th March.

The Amp 2005 Winner was "The Drones" with their brilliant album “Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By”

St Jeromes Laneway Festival - final announce

Melbourne: Curse ov Dialect, Uber Lingua DJs, Friday Night Fighters DJ Team, Snowman, Gersey, Bumblebeez, Holly Throsby, Dan Kelly, The Shaky Hands, The Crayon Fields, Love of Diagrams

Brisbane: Snowman, Gersey, Dan Kelly, Holly Throsby, The Shaky Hands, Kate Bradley, Dappled Cities Fly, The Outpost DJ Teams

Sydney: The BellRays, Gerling, Snowman, Gersey, Bumblebeez, Holly Throsby, Dan Kelly, The Shaky Hands, The Crayon Fields, Dappled Cities Fly, Expatriate, My Disco, Uber Lingua DJs

joining:

Yo La Tengo (Syd & Bris), Peter Bjorn & John, The Sleepy Jackson, Youth Group, The Walkmen, Camera Obscura, Archie Bronson Outfit, Fionn Regan, Ground Components, Midnight Juggernauts, Macromantics (Melb), The Temper Trap, Love Is All (Syd & Melb)

More details:

Official Site
Myspace

Tax breaks for the music industry (in Italy & France)

I wonder if Australia will take note of the new laws adopted in Italy and France providing tax breaks for small music businesses. See Billboard article here.

If you take the top 4 record labels (EMI, Warner, Sony/BMG, Universal) off the list of music businesses in Australia, the vast majority of the companies keeping the music industry ticking along are small businesses.

It would be great to see some of the smaller, independent record labels get a bit of a tax break to assist their artists with production and promotion. It must be near impossible to compete with the budgets of the Big 4.

WOMADelaide - 1st announce

Asha Bhosle & the Kronos Quartet with Special Guest Wu Man, Blue King Brown, Celenod, Emma Donovan Band, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, The Gotan Project, Lila Downs, Lior, Lunasa, The Mahotella Queen, Mariza, Salif Keita, Sambasunda, Shivkumar Sharma & Rahul Sharma.

9-11 March, Botanic Park, Adelaide

For more info check the WOMADelaide website.

Tokyo Police Club

Dew Process have done it again with another cracking signing, Canada 4-piece, Tokyo Police Club.

Check out the Tokyo Police Club website and Myspace page.

Also, if you head over to Polaroids of Androids now you can get a free download of one of Tokyo Police Club's tracks.

Welcome to 2007

After a week with no internet access or phone reception I have re-emerged in the new year and have discovered the following:

Who The Bloody Hell Are They? have performed an extensive poll of musos, media, industry folk and bloggers to come up with a Top 10 for 2006. It is great to see the wide variety of choices from different sections of the industry. Well worth checking out:

http://whothehell.net/

I'm far behind the times, but have discovered I am completely in love with Destroyer's Rubies:

http://www.destroyersongs.com/

The Police are possibly reforming:

http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=1177

Deep Dish are not playing Playground Weekender, it is actually only Sharam from Deep Dish - I have amended my previous post accordingly. Thanks to Deep Dish's Booking Agent for letting me know:

http://www.playgroundweekender.com.au/artists.htm

Carlton & United products (VB, Carlton Draught, Reschs) contain tropical fish:

http://www.vnv.org.au/AlcoholByDist.htm

Welcome to 2007! Let the fun begin.