Kimbra - Two Way Street Remixes

 2011 will go down as the year Kimbra broke, what with the release of her stunning debut Vows, claiming 'Best Female Artist' at the ARIAS, and of course that little song with Gotyé. Rather than rest on her laurels, Kimbra has been spending time in LA recording and mixing for an exclusive release of Vows for the American market, rubbing shoulders with the likes of John Legend and producer Mike Elizondo (who's worked with artists as diverse as Dr. Dre and Mastodon), ya know the usual.

Rather than keep us waiting though, she's released her fourth single, the shimmering Two Way Street, and to celebrate there's a couple of new remixes to wrap your ears around courtesy of AMR pals, Viceroyalty.

2011 End-of-Year Celebrations: TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2011 (Part 2)

10. TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light

For all the art-rock gusto surrounding discussions of TV on the Radio, they seem to obfuscate that they can be a powerfully direct band and their fourth LP is perhaps their most approachable. Its message is simple: in the face of a fucked-up world at the end of its frayed tether, it’s important to take stock in what matters. Chiefly: love. That artsy title might not get to the heart of the matter, but the likes of You, Will Do and, most explicitly, Your Heart make it clear “With the world all falling apart/I’m gonna keep your heart.”

Where the Brooklynites’ honed their brand of horn-abetted art-funk on predecessor Dear, Science, they’ve slowed down for a contemplative set that sounds more comforting without damaging their rich scenery. The twin falsettos of Tunde Adibempe and Kyp Malone voice both alliterated poetry (Second Song) and inner-city mistrust (No Future Shock), with Dave Sitek’s adept production continuing to colour their rich sound with painterly detail. Most impressively on the record’s refined centrepiece, Killer Crane, where glowing piano chords meet slowly inked orchestral washes and metronomic banjo plucking.

It’s not all grace and tenderness, the wiry dance paranoia of Repetition and stomping crunch of Caffeinated Consciousness find the dancefloor beneath the emotional debris, but the lingering sentiment is of a band that cares. A feeling made all the more poignant when bassist Gerard Smith lost his fight with lung cancer. In retrospect, it hasn’t defined Nine Types of Light, and those who caught their recent visit to our shores can confirm their live show remains a relatively undiminished unit of funkified exorcism; but his contribution to another innovative, beautifully realised record is a fitting epitaph.

TV On The Radio - "Will Do" by Interscope Records

2011 End-of-Year Celebrations: Artists' Best Of 2011

There's been so much great music this year that there was no way that AMR was going to get to all of it, so what better way to represent the broader spectrum of the year's sounds than by asking the great artists who make it? Reaching out to a bunch of cool people/acts/shakers and makers, the Rant simply asked what their picks for 2011 were. Here are their respsones -  in vaguely alphabetical order

Melbourne's Alpine are as fresh as the snow that caps those same mountain ranges, their axeman Christian (second from left) chooses his top 5 tracks of 2011. 

Grouplove - Colours

"I heard this track in the van on our way to a show and it was the most perfect song for how brightly the sun was shining that day. They played after us at Splendour In The Grass, and they were incredible. They’re like a combination of Pixies and Modest Mouse, but with better diets."

Radiohead - Lotus Flower

"I actually saw the parody of this video before I saw the real one. I loved this track so much. Thom Yorke has the best falsetto ever, and it’s so cool to have an entire song that sits in that range again."

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

"This song is incredibly cool, its over the top orchestration, the pouting and how it just plods along and repeats that amazing chorus over and over. Love. Real love."

Kimbra - Cameo Lover

"I had to work out how to play this song for a student recently and it is an incredibly intricate, well-written bunch of chords. We love Kimbra. She’s going to take over the world."

Jay-Z & Kanye West - Lift Off (feat. Beyoncé)

"This song is so cool and it's in 6/4! I can't think of a hit in 6/4 since Sheryl Crow's Strong Enough. Great Song."

2011 End-of-Year Celebrations: The Good, The Bad & The James Blunt Awards

The moment the true AMR fan waits all year for, it's the 5th Annual GB&JB ceremony. As is usual with this kind of list there's some serious awards for artistic achievements and some serious satire for the contrary, there's some old categorical favourites, there's some new ones, and there's a lot to read.

So don your best digital frock or tux, kit up in your best musical acumen, 'cause it's time to toast to 2011.

BEST ALBUM TITLE

  Spank Rock - Everything Is Boring and Everyone Is A Fucking Liar

Not particularly clever, granted, but you have to admit the electro-rap duo have some balls to brand their sophomore effort with such a bold name. It does sound a bit like the tantrum of an underpreciated indie outfit, but you have to give props for its humour; plus I like imagining their label trying to convice them to change or soften the title. Shame then that the F bomb got censored, nevertheless it says a lot about the shallowing of today's industry, even if its with the bluntest of words.

Runners Up: British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall, 
Grouplove - Never Trust A Happy Song

I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy - SUPER EDITION

Remember that quote from Wes Bentley in American Beauty? The one about there being too much beauty in the world in the world and he can't take it? Well I feel like that at the moment, only replace the word 'beauty' with 'music' and the floating plastic bag with a wealth of amazing new tunes.

I guess first and foremost though, I should be plugging this:

Fellow lovers and loathers of music, my latest comedy show based on this very blog is already in full swing as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2011. That's the cheeky show poster up there and essentially it's a whole new hour of music based hilarity to capitalise the momentum of my comic debut, my Difficult 2nd Album in every sense of the word.

You can book tickets and find more dates and deets here:

Al's Music Rant: The Difficult 2nd Album|Melbourne Fringe Festival 2011

If you need some convincing, there's already some reviews of the show available.

Firstly via ArtsHub who give a lovely review of three-and-a-half stars

then there's Crikey, which - despite a strange obsession with my facial hair - seemed to like the show.

So come on down to The Glasshouse from this Thurs 29 - Sun 2 or next week from Thurs 6 to Sat 8 to catch some cutting musical analysis, some crazy character work and a whole bunch of powerpoints.

AMR and Kimbra re-united

Well Vows releases nationally today, and I'm assuming you've already headed to your local record store and picked up a copy; or you could just download one of the editions available on iTunes from the comfort of your net cave. Either way, to celebrate its release, here's an interview I conducted with Kimbra a couple months ago in the lead-up to its release in which we discussed its long gestation, her writing process and some of the records themes. Enjoy!

I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy

• Fronting headlines is some very exciting news from triple j, who are taking the plunge into digital radio with a brand new station dedicated entirely to new Australian music. Taking triple j Unearthed to the airwaves streaming fresh, unsigned bands 24hrs a day, seven days a week on the digital radio band. Though their launch event last night was gracefully short and to the point, it was confirmed the station will go live from Wed 5 Oct with simulataneous live events running across five capital cities around the nation. This is obviously a huge milestone in the station's career, and I for one am very, very excited. You can watch some lovely videos and get more info at the triple j website (via triple j)

 

Let's make our Vows

Unless you're lacking in eyes and ears you must have heard of Kimbra by now, not least in the fact that her guest spot on Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know is currently gracing the top of the charts, but this is a special post about her ladies and gentleman. It's been three-and-a-half years in the making, and AMR has been waiting patiently to hear the finished results of her highly-anticipated debut album and come September 2nd, you too can hear it in a variety of formats. (Would you like the iTunes Deluxe version madame? or perhaps the autographed, postcard set?). For now, here is the post I've been watiting to write since I first heard Settle Down, my beefy review of Vows.

Kimbra - Vows (WarnerMusic, 2011)

The A/V Room: July

So I've decided to make The A/V Room a semi-regular thing now, sort of like Wrangling The Heard but with visuals, let's not make a big deal of it...

I mean, I've often grumbled about the frivolities of the music video (notably here and here AMR fans), and while I still maintain that 90% of the time they're dull and boring - like this awful promo for Bon Iver - Calgary, bleerrrggggh - but they're still a pretty powerful thing when done correctly.

The following are examples of, in this blogger's humble opinion, it being done correctly.

I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy

• Firstly, to AMR favourite Kimbra. Vows is still slated for later this year (did I mention I'm excited for that one?), but in the meantime we have her contribution to Gotyé's forthcoming Making Mirrors album in the form of Somebody That I Used To Know. Due to some (let's admit it - inevitable) internet leaks, Gotyé posted the excellent video for the track on YouTube sometime this morning. The simmering, borderline-spiteful duet soundtracks a video featuring stop-motion bodypaint and the resulting effect is visually captivating as well as emotionally felt. Enough words, have a view:

There's also a full album preview of Making Mirrors kicking around too, and it's set for release August 19.

• Kins, as metioned in our in-depth chat, are relocating to the UK to follow their musical career. Their last shows in Australia were to be as part of the Castle music festival in Castlemaine (go figure), but it turns out they've managed to squeeze in one absolute last headline show before they jet off. So book the 21 July into your diaries now, as they play The Order of Melbourne with support from Steering By Stars and The Removalists. At the moment, details are only available on their Facebook page, but you've already 'liked' them now haven't you?
• Fresh off news of a new 7'' single, Wilco unveiled the artwork and tracklist for what will be their eight studio album, entitled The Whole Love. It will be the first record released under the band's own newly-formed dBpm label and if that geometric artwork and the Summerteeth-ish vibe of I Might are anything to go by, it'll mark a new stylistic shift also.
• Remember when all you could read about in the blogosphere was Kanye West? Well he's been, Mama's Boyfriend controversy aside, comparitively quiet as of late. Maybe because he's been working hard on that Jay-Z co-album he'd been boasting about earlier in the year. Watch The Throne now has a preorder website and a fancy gilded cover. Noticeably, the tracklist is missing previously released single H.A.M., at least it may mean the ever-entaining Kanye twitter feed will pick up steam.
• Radiohead recently announced plans to release a four-part, vinyl-only remix project of The King of Limbs, but now we can actually hear some of the results. Namely, Caribou's take on Little By Little and the Jacques Green version of Lotus Flower. Stereogum also has details of the second installment of the remix project. (via Dead Air Space & Stereogum)
• In other 'head news, their sticksman Philip Selway is releasing a four-track follow-up EP to his Familial album of last year. Entitled Running Blind, it contains similarly Nick Drake-esque acoustic hymnals, this time with the assistance of a full backing band. Love-er-ly. (via Pitchfork) 
• To finish things off, is FasterLouder's excllent retropsective of Recovery. No need to say much more than that, just take a nostalgic read and meida-assisted watch at some of the Australian music and television industry's awkwardest moments collide. (via FasterLouder)

This is non-stop baby

Kimbra. Remember that name.

It's both a question and a demand.

Perhaps you recognise the name from previous posts (such as our first full interview) or any one of her amazing live shows. You might know her minor hit Settle Down, which scored a spot just outside triple j's Hottest 100 at the start of the year. Also winning the coveted 'Best Use of A Tampon' award in this blog's very own Good, Bad & James Blunt Awards 2010. Or perhaps her lending her vocal talents to Miami Horror's I Look To You.

However, if it's drawing a blank, not a name you find synonymous with neo-soul pop of the highest order or one you're paricularly familiar with. It soon will be.

That was a bit Yoda wasn't it? Look, the point is, Kimbra's got a new single out and you should really check it out before she postively explodes on the music scene. It's called Cameo Lover and it's available as a handy little EP right now on iTunes. There's also a brilliant accompanying video - which you probably saw last A/V Room post.

But it's so good that I'm just going to post it again:

Yeah, that just happened.

...aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back

Two weeks. Ouch. Boy am I shite at updating my loyal fans (and capitalising on new ones). The more astute among you have probably already realised why this is. Two words: Comedy Festival.

Aside from a busy and dare I say successful season - actually yeah, it was successful and here's the proof - there was all those other brilliant shows to see and experience.

Aside from the scads of brilliantly funny shows from the likes of Sam Simmons, Tom Ballard, Steve Sheehan, Maria Bamford and Bo Burnham, here are some other MICF highlights - in no particular order or detail.

*Scatalogical humour with Paul Foot at a Hungry Jack's at 4am

*Secret Santoni Cabaretoni at The Tuxedo Cat

*Good friend/medical practitioner/living partner Dr. Professor Neal Portenza getting a special mention in the Golden Gibbo nominations.

*Dr. Brown's Clown Classes: tough, revealing and rewarding.

*Reggie Watts murdering the HiFi bar

*single-handedly starting a crowd singalong of Come On Eileen on the final night of Festival Club prior to Dave Callan's DJ set.

There's probably many more besides, but most importantly are all the wonderful people who came out and supported Al's Music Rant. If you were there, I thank you, I had brilliant audiences every night - no matter the size - and without a good audience, there is no point. Your laughter, support (and ticket revenue) are what keeps it all ticking along. So here's to the next show...

Now it's time to bring some life back to the pages that inspired the show to begin with.

The A/V Room

Remember that little collection of music video posts a while back?

No? ...really? it was quite memorable, got a lot of feedback about that one. I have a real love/hate relationship with music videos, as detailed by the lil' sorta-manifesto accompanying the original post. But collating the best videos scattered across the internet for my own nefarious purposes was a lot of fun. Plus in the intervening weeks there's been some more that have actually tickled my fancy, of course there's a million more that I hated, but let's stick to the good stuff shall we?

I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy

• Lady Gaga's new single is called Scheiße. That's a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever I heard one. (via GagaDaily)
• Turns out that the new Strokes single is pretty darn good, harkening back to their Is This It days of duelling lead guitars and strong, soaring choruses. But the best news is that Under Cover Of Darkness is available to download for free - right now! - from the band's website. Off you trot (via Pitchfork)
• Now that new single was great and all, but what really brought a smile to my face was this:the good stuff happens about a minute in, where the Purple One tells Kim Kardashian to "get off stage". Why? Cause only one thing matters in a Prince concert, and that thing is Prince. So if you ain't moving, get moving. Brilliant (via Too Fab)
• Games publisher Activision have pulled the plug on their Guitar Hero and DJ Hero franchises, closing down their guitar hero business unit and any future productions. Being an avid gamer, this was an issue I needed to express myslef on - so I did, with the lovely Irene Scott for triple j's Hack. Even my messagebank got an airing on national radio. (via Gamespot and triple j)
• Speaking of triple j, Music Director Richard Kingsmill posted the results of the 101-200 rankings of triple j's recent Hottest 100 poll on his blog. Highlights include appearances from AMR faves Sleigh Bells, Janelle Monaé and a whole lot of Yeezy. Particular kudos to both Kimbra and Big Scary who, though they should have been much higher in the list in my opinion, charted with Settle Down at 125  and Falling Away at 167 respectively. (via Richard Kingsmill's twitter)
• Finally, new music from Icelandic goddess Björk has surfaced, Biophilia is - depending on who you believe - the title of her forthcoming album, the background music for a iPad app, a science fiction film with director Michel Gondry; or all of the above. Regardless, it's a rousing instrumental. (via Pretty Much Amazing) 

Oh, and just a reminder from last post about the lil' ol' competition that's running.

All you have to do is come up with a witty musical-themed name for the new segment that is basically "Things I've Been Listening To Lately." email your idea, along with your name, mailing address and the subject line: AMR COMPETITION to alister.newstead@gmail.com to be in the running for these lil' guys:

That's right you could be the proud owner of The Jezabels' Dark Storm and Big Scary's At The Mercy Elements, as well as the proud owner of the name you come up with for my new blog segment. Dig in. Entries close Sunday Feb 20th.

Lock up your children, Al's Music Rant is coming!

 

See that dood up there, the one with the (presumably wireless) mic, acoustic guitar, finger deck goggles and craftily placed treble clef? Well he is none other than the creator and curator of the humble blog you're now perusing. And he's the one who'll be entertaining the hackles out of you as part of the Melbourne Fringe festival.  Ok now play this tune before you keep reading, and try to keep up, it's a bit wordy...

	Dj Shadow - Outsider Intro .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Wow, pretty epic huh? who is that sexy, raspy English voice? Ahhh see you're getting distracted already. Now the show probably won't be as grandiose as this tune is suggesting, but it will be as funny as this tune is epic.

The show will be a mixture of comedy and music, but that's at a very basic level.
It's an hour-long faux-presentation on music where anything (and everything) can be made a target, myself included. Much like the blog, it'll cram in a ton of content but always with the aim to be informative, passionate, and funny.
There'll be all sorts of humour to be had, character stuff, sketch stuff, songs, dancing, talking, iPod quizzes, impressions, silliness, pithy observations, bizarre reworkings, and an easel named Joni.

Guess that does sound pretty epic after all...

Now here's the deets, peeps - there are six shows for the season:

Wed 29 Sep (Preview tix)

Thurs 30 Sep

Fri 1 Oct

Sat 2 Oct

Wed 6 Oct (2 for 1 tix)

Fri 8 Oct

@ The Glasshouse, 51 Gipps St, Collingwood

You can book, pay and print your tickets online at The Fringe Website.

Or you can follow my tweets to get some sneaky previews of what you might get from the show.

Anyway you cut it, it's gonna be sweet.

Now for the regular readers, be sure to check out the last post for sweet interview with the wonderful Kimbra.

And while we're at it, here's a sweet remix of Kimbra's excellent Settle Down from the NY minimalist proudcer Penguin Prison.

Just picture the vocal loops paired with some Club happy, toe-tapping rhythms and you've got the idea - or better yet, have a listen for yerself:

Kimbra - Settle Down (Penguin Prison Remix)

So, in summary, come to the show - read the blog - live a happy life.

See you at the Glasshouse.

Settle Down, won't you...

OK, it's less than fourteen days/two weeks/336 hours until this humble blog shambles to life onstage as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. So it's about damn time I let on about what to expect, since there's no logic or rhyme or reason to these things, I'll just start splurging - throwing a bunch of words and phrases at you and see if they'll stick. Hopefully you can consider this the 'piquing of interest' variety of preview as opposed to 'spoilers ahead.'

• Finger Deck Goggles
• Dancing (of a riddick nature)
• Paul Simon, obviously
• Bill Bailey-esque stage set-up 
• Prince
• Songs, funny ones, not of a Flight of a Conchords parodic ilk, nor Sammy J lyrical excellence, or the high antics of Anyone For Tennis?, but hopefully giggle-some none the less.
• High-brow lyrical quotes
• More Prince
• Sleevefaces
• This
• Impersonations of singers 
• Masturbation
• Genre Analyses (yeah baby, plural)
• And oh yeah, Prince

There are six shows:
Wed 29 Sep (Preview tix)
Thurs 30 Sep
Fri 1 Oct
Sat 2 Oct
Wed 6 Oct (2 for 1 tix)
Fri 8 Oct
@ The Glasshouse, 51 Gipps St, Collingwood

So go ahead and point your browser here for details and book your tix online. 

And while you're there, Ihighly recommend getting along to the following shows:

Dr. Professor Neal Portenza's Interactive Goat Hour (and his amazing website)

OC/DC

The Hermitude of Angus, Ecstatic

Postcards From The Abyss

Booked a ticket? Good, we now return to our regular programming.

I've been sitting on this one for a while now, but since the buzz is (finally) starting to build for the wonderful soul-popster Kimbra, I thought I'd add my discerning voice to the rabble. Following is an interview I conducted waaaaaaay back in March. A lengthy chat that resulted in some music biography and press release material you'll see dotted about the interwebz, but since Kimbra's debut is on the cusp of public release, it still seems timely and relevant. But first, a primer: