tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85317571926193852212024-03-14T03:23:19.173-07:00Al's Music RantAlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-7037169000055020392013-09-02T04:59:00.003-07:002013-09-02T05:04:08.207-07:00Al's Music Rant: Fear Of A Blog Planet @ Melbourne Fringe 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nowadays musicians are mostly annoyed, annoying, or cheating on their partners (except Beyoncé and Paul Dempsey); less art - more ‘being kewl’ and ‘making bank’. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But perhaps it’s not their fault. Maybe they’re a product of their environment.
Human iPod, cultural satirist, and music journo Al Newstead is a product of his, and he’s ready to blow the whistle/drop the bass on the industry's absurdities once more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Returning for a third outing after <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/als-music-rant-melbourne-international.html">two critically acclaimed shows</a>, Al now shares his all-singing, all-stand-upping brand of comedy edutainment with a mysterious co-conspirator.
The Oates to his Hall or the Yoko to his Lennon? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anna O'Bryan makes <i>Al's Music Rant</i> 100% more female, which is an oppressive way of saying she's going to bring as much wisdom and wizardry where it is (sorely) lacking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing's certain: intelligent wit and knowledgeable silliness in a multimedia experience that’ll have you rethink your stance on popular music. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Bookings and info at:</b> <a href="http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/al-s-music-rant-fear-of-a-blog-planet">http://www.melbournefringe.com.au</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>When: </b>Sep 18th - 28th, 2013 (except Wed 25th) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 9.30pm (Sun 8.30pm), 55min </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Where: </b>Tuxedo Cat - The Urchin, 17-23 Wills St</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tickets:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Full Price: $20.00 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Concession: $15.00 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday: $12.00 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Group: $15.00 (per person for 4) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Social:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/AlNewstead">@AlNewstead</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Facebook event <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/426234514163667/?fref=ts">here</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Image:</b> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JudithChamizoIllustration?directed_target_id=0">Judith Chamizo Illustration</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Additional Praise For Al's Music Rant:</span></b><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jhnosy Award Nominee - </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/comedy/blogs/last-laugh/best-newcomers-announced-20120419-1x8pi.html">MICF 2012</a> </b></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Unmissable. The quality doesn’t dip.” - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">★★★★</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <b><a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-features/review-als-music-rant-the-difficult-second-album/story-fncv4qxa-1226327532513">Herald Sun</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"A walking, talking opinionated jukebox that will blow you away" - </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.beat.com.au/comedy-festival/als-music-rant-difficult-second-album">Beat</a></b></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Funny, intelligent and thoroughly entertaining” – </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://comedybeastmagazine.com/alsmusicrantmff2011.html">Comedy BeastMagazine</a></b></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">His
knowledge of the music industry and its genres is wide-ranging and seemingly
all-encompassing” – <b><a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/laughtrack/2011/09/28/review-al-newstead-in-als-music-rant-melbourne-fringe/">Crikey</a></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">“For
those of you who despair about the state of the arts, you might just find
yourself a new leader in Al Newstead.” – </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://au.artshub.com/au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/als-music-rant-the-difficult-second-album-185790">Artshub</a></b></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">“His eye for the absurd marries perfectly with his shrewd ear.” – </span><a href="http://www.theenthusiast.com.au/archives/2011/review-als-music-rant/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 115%;">The Enthusiast</a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">"His persona allays fears that this will be a whiny hipster complaining for an hour.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Al may be ranting, but his cynicism is suitable for more than a niche crowd." - </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://union.unimelb.edu.au/farrago/stage/nights-at-the-festival-13-april">Farrago</a></b></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Various </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Ephemera</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">:</span></b></span></div>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">YAWP</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Magazine cover story </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.joomag.com/magazine/Yawp_Issue_1_Issue_3/57049/p13">here</a></b></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Comedy Diary for </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Everguide </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Al's Music Rant: The Difficult 2nd Album</i><a href="http://everguide.com.au/entertainment/comedy/news/never-mind-the-laughter-als-music-rant-.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Part 1</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> | </span><a href="http://everguide.com.au/entertainment/comedy/news/never-mind-the-laughter-als-music-rant-part-2-.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Part 2</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> | </span><a href="http://everguide.com.au/entertainment/comedy/news/never-mind-the-laughter-als-music-rant-part-3.aspx" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Part 3</a></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Lip </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Magazine Q&A</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </b><a href="http://lipmag.com/arts/qa-al-newstead/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 115%;">here</a></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-73143881469758986372012-06-27T19:51:00.000-07:002012-06-27T19:51:01.660-07:00Review: V/A - Rock Of Ages Original Motion Picture Soundtrack<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This review was originally syndicated with <b><a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/new-music/174163/rock-ages-original-motion-picture-soundtrack.htm">Tone Deaf</a>, </b>and reproduced here in its entirety. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmPb4J1SK-OUXLNxRXEuEVO-bgtFTM-USHRc7p7Ps-RvlxKQAiDZaVwzNnv4FCRF4GTaX417C3N4L-zuVye0GGsMwB8S6kjHtGD__3EckMOIMT6zC8xfea4GWxK_iYx2IEE3mFJ_Y9GV9x/s1600/rock+of+ages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmPb4J1SK-OUXLNxRXEuEVO-bgtFTM-USHRc7p7Ps-RvlxKQAiDZaVwzNnv4FCRF4GTaX417C3N4L-zuVye0GGsMwB8S6kjHtGD__3EckMOIMT6zC8xfea4GWxK_iYx2IEE3mFJ_Y9GV9x/s1600/rock+of+ages.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Various Artists - </b><b style="font-style: italic;">Rock of Ages Original Motion Picture Soundtrack </b>(Sony Music, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><br />Guitar Hero </em>and <em>Glee </em>have a lot to answer for, but perhaps we can start the inquiry with their bastard child – namely, the <em>Rock Of Ages </em>soundtrack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether simulating a rock star with a plastic instrument in the comfort of your loungeroom, or selling a message that ‘anyone can be a pop singer’ - from the wheelchair-bound geek to the clean-cut preppy - both forms of entertainment are essentially about mimicry. Like them, this soundtrack of the movie adaptation of the 80s MTV Generation musical is too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The effect however, isn’t as heroic or cheesily rewarding when the people performing the same glorified karaoke are some of Hollywood’s biggest and richest stars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enter Tom Cruise…. Sorry, “Stacee Jaxxx”… singing <b>Guns N Roses</b> gold standard, “Paradise City”, the track that opens the compilation is pretty much a microcosm for the whole shameless experiment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, it’s liable to bring about the right nostalgic feelings for LA in its sleazy, glam heyday, but it’s also just as likely to make you want to wretch if you think any deeper about the money-spinning exercise that’s lying beneath the slick surface.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s not to say Cruise makes for a bad Axl Rose, it’s actually a pretty good approximation. In fact, the entire production – from its Marshall stack guitars and arena rock drums, to the dainty piano flourishes and weepy strings – is top-notch. Cover versions buffed with a slick gloss that instantly shows up their problem, they lack grit, soul and more importantly – passion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cruise, along with a cast of young twenty-somethings (Diego Boneta who?) are merely playing pretend. <b>Pat Benatar</b>’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” is performed by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who’s about as rock n’ roll as her husband’s grizzled hairline (re: not very). Likewise Mary J. Blige, caterwauling up a storm on “Harden My Heart” or Paul Giamatti bungling through a few lines of <b>Whitesnake</b>; while no amount of irony can excuse Russell Brand from schlepping his way through <b>REO Speedwagon</b> and <b>Poison</b> – he really should know better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which brings us to another problem, are you able to distract yourself enough to fully immerse yourself into yet another version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” just for the added benefit of a greasy, long-haired Alec Baldwin? (‘cause you know, he’s funny and stuff)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best moment comes when “We Built This City/We’re Not Gonna Take It” boils down the best bits of <b>Starship</b> and <b>Twisted Sister</b> – the choruses – and blends them together into a hybrid medley that’s unashamedly musical theatre and yet diverges from its source material.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ultimately <em>Rock of Ages </em>never rises above what it set out to be, a series of facsimiles - not necessarily hollow ones – but versions that never should, or will, replace the legacy of the originals they’re based on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So who then, is this album really for?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the curious it might be worth a spin or two for a chuckle and to see that it’s not as ear-bleedingly bad as you might think. Then there’s the fact that surely the original rockers are getting a share of the royalties. Which actually might not be such a bad thing. If <em>Rock of Ages </em>ends up being the first taste for newcomers to a deeper introduction to musical history – then maybe that’s a good thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Rock of Ages </em>doesn’t pretend to ignore its Broadway heritage but instead panders to the stage musical crowd. The very same fans who appreciate the spectacle of <em>Glee, Idol, The Voice </em>et al. and can still stomach the kitsch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It isn’t for the rock fans who so obviously inspired it, unless it’s for the fact they might get a kick out of seeing their generation’s radio soundtrack being introduced to a younger and newer audience; even if it’s in a hand-me-down, Chinese whisper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But really, why settle for Tom Cruise reworking every stripper’s song of choice, <b>Def Leppard</b>’s “Pour Some Sugar On me”, when you can go straight to the 1987 bubblegum metal original?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Say what you will about the poodle-haired creators, the Top 40 radio fodder of <b>Whitesnake, Bon Jovi</b> and <b>Foreigner</b>, but at least their leathery, haggard frames were filled big dreams, as much as obscene amounts of alcohol, drugs and ego.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s a bizarre heroism in a Tommy Lee or Axl Rose living their rock lifestyle as much as singing and playing about it, but their glory days are long behind them, which creates a safe enough distance for a photoshopped Gen Y to toy with it. It’s not trying to be an authentic recreation, but merely a fun new dress-up box to play razzle dazzle with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A masquerade that sees reason enough for a sprat like Julianne Hough to doll up and pretend to be a rock tart. Never mind the fact she was born in ’88, meaning the glory days she’s emulating were all said and done before she’d entered primary school.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Rock of Ages </em>is just another in a trend, from <em>Chicago, Mamma Mia</em> and <em>Hairspray </em>before it and no doubt any number of big-budget rehash musicals coming down the pipeline to follow it, but <em>Rock of Ages </em>does nothing new. It’s not a full-blooded tribute to a bygone era, it’s merchandise – recycling the familiar for the benefit of someone’s bank account.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We might get star X or starlette Y singing about how they ‘love rock n’ roll’ and to ‘put another dime in the jukebox baby’, but it’s hard to ignore the bitter irony. If you really love rock n roll, don’t put dimes into this particularly slick, meaningless jukebox.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go buy a hair metal compilation- you’ll have just as much fun and embarrassment.</span></div>
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F48542423" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/stuart-robson-1/19-russell-brand-and-catherine">19-russell brand and catherine zeta-jones-we built this city-were not gonna take it</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/stuart-robson-1">Stuart Robson</a>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-51068682269143254032012-06-17T20:09:00.000-07:002012-06-27T04:29:30.779-07:00"My hideous little baby" Interview: Jonathan Boulet<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">This interview was originally </span><a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/features/interviews/171254/jonathan-boulet.htm" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">conducted for, and published by <b>Tone Deaf</b></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">. Reproduced in its entirety here because I can...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon release of his self-titled debut three years ago, </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jonathan Boulet</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> quickly found himself labelled as Sydney’s ‘skate rat’. Albeit an internationally recognised one, thanks to the street cred of hip label, Modular, but a ‘skate-rat’ nonetheless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With his second release however, Boulet is ready to outgrow those previously constricting tags, starting with his new album’s tongue-garbling title.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is one of the lengthier titles in recent memory, it’s sing-song name bound to appear alongside <b>Fiona Apple</b>’s</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When The Pawn Hits The Conflicts He Thinks Like A King… </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(we’ll spare you the full title) in future music lists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Originally, there were two parts to it,” explains Boulet, speaking in gentle, clipped tones and adorned with a bushy facial scrub that Ned Kelly’d be jealous of, “the second part – it did make it onto the album artwork actually, it’s there on the inside cover… there was a list of about ten more different versions…” He trails off but confirms the title was originally taken from a scrapbook of lyrics. “A word document,” he adds, “of about ten pages made up of lyrics from every couple of years.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether as a result of it being the last interview in a long day of them, or simply not feeling the need to elucidate his unique brand of music-making; Boulet’s demeanour is in direct contrast to the up-tempo, percussive music that's supposedly spurned as a result of his diagnosed ADD.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sounding calm, even a little reserved, he calls his recent Vivid LIVE-endorsed Modular showcase “really fun;” with all the energy of someone who’s had too much of it. Playing alongside UK electro-bending pop acts <b>Kindness </b>and <b>Tom Vek</b>, Boulet describes the gigs as “some of the best shows we’ve ever played. They were really fun, all those dudes are really nice, cool normal people.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shows also offered the first taste of <em>We Keep The Beat</em>’s material in the live setting. “We’ve started to get more comfortable… there’s a couple of the new songs that we haven’t attempted yet,” reveals Boulet, before adding humorously, “this tour it’s going to be ‘good, good, good’ – then a really shit song. There’s always a period where it’s a little bit dodgy, then it just becomes second nature. We need to get the dodgy ones out of the way as quick as we can.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though it's the first time some of the new songs are being played on tour, interestingly, they’ve been finished on tape since early 2011. “Yeah, we had all the audio finished and mastered by May of last year” Boulet admits casually, “the artwork and all the little pieces that come with putting it out, all took their time, it kept getting pushed back and eventually we ended up here… I was happy to wait for it to be done properly this time.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Doing it properly’ also extended to the recording. Though Boulet’s success meant he was granted access to a larger budget, and therefore a flashier studio; he instead opted to return to his parents’ garage, the same home-made studio in which he recorded his entire 2009 debut.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When asked about his decision, there’s a long pause before offering a sensible answer. “With a studio there’s a lot of pressure and time constraints,” he says, “recording costs a lot of money as well these days. I felt confident with the skills I’d built up over the last couple of years… it’s a lot easier to get it done, you can take your time but you don’t have to deal with a producer trying to get their way.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only meddling from the label was getting someone to originally tackle mixing Boulet’s output, “just to see how it would turn out… to hear it from another perspective.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the 24-year-old wasn’t keen on the results, “there were a lot of subtleties that I was married to that I thought got lost… so I said, “naaah, I’ll get better, I’ll get better’.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After obtaining a “couple extra bits and pieces,” Boulet set to work in his small studio, allowing more of his </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">character to set in. “I had to be able to do it a lot better this time. It helped me to progress… [besides]I feel a lot more connected to it this way as well. My hideous little baby.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the name and the image of a man alone in the studio tinkering away at his solo project, Jonathan Boulet has always been a communal beast. Most pointedly with his teeming live ensembles made of muso friends. Boulet explains it’s about “it’s not just a big spotlight on me in the middle and just my show. It’s supposed to be about people instead of one person.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It speaks of the sense of community that runs through Boulet’s music, most obviously in the summery chanting and infectious percussive tones of surprise hit “Community Service Announcement.” But the sense of kinship his music engenders extends to Boulet’s own sense of belonging in the musical community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aside from his ‘solo thing’, he’s the full-time bassist for hardcore act Snake Face who have just finished a national tour accompanied by the release of their debut album on vinyl (“they look really great – can’t wait to hold one”). While as the drummer for criminally underrated Sydney act Parades, Boulet’s commitments have cooled down (“we’re all just doing our own thing for now”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sense of community is the lingering influence of the punk and hardcore scene, “there’s a vibe, a community around metal music,” explains the Sydney-sider. “It’s something that’s kind of lacking in the pop and indie world. It’s something I’m always trying to strive for. How can you translate that over, is it through music or through more than that? I’m always trying to get characteristics of that style into our pop music.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way in which this surfaces in <em>We</em> <em>Keep The Beat</em>’s material, is in the rhythms. Whether it's the muscular urgency of grammatically-taunting lead single, “You’re A Animal”, or the clattering pounding of “Trounce”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lathered in what their craftsman calls “too many layers” of percussion, it’s perhaps the most essential element to the multi-instrumentalist, but what is it about it that excites him? “That’s the whole plan, that’s why there’s a beat and a chance to move to it… maybe it’s just from our genes,” he begins, “rhythm and early man, I feel like it’s all ingrained in our bodies. I feel that when you hear a good rhythm - you start to move to it. It’s very primal.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though primal might undersell the sophistication of his arrangements, it speaks perfectly of the spirit and energy in his anthemic rackets, swells of upbeat movements and communal chanting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When pressed about what Jonathan Boulet represents, the bearded man states in casual philosphy, “It’s being part of a group, it’s everybody’s music. We have connections to the music and each other, a feeling that you can’t get anywhere else.” In these cases, to use Boulet’s metaphor, it’s everybody’s baby, he adds with a final joke “we’re all crowded around it telling everyone how cute it is.”</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart </em>is out now through Universal, with Jonathan Boulet embarking on a nation tour from June 27. Full dates and details <a data-mce-href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/tournews/168074/jonathan-boulet-album-national-tour-2012-announced.htm" href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/tournews/168074/jonathan-boulet-album-national-tour-2012-announced.htm">here</a>.</span></strong></div>
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://hypem.com/soundcloud-embed.php?&size=big&p=Jonathan Boulet" style="height: 250px; width: 550px;"></iframe>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-79998350580269091662012-06-11T18:29:00.000-07:002012-06-27T04:29:43.244-07:00'have fun, find a girl' Interview: Devin<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">This interview was originally <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CFgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tonedeaf.com.au%2Ffeatures%2Finterviews%2F164169%2Fdevin.htm&ei=fJvWT9r0E-iSiQenqeSdAw&usg=AFQjCNEUwBDyHv9Hp_qra4bo1xR1EI2L2A">conducted for, and published by Tone Deaf</a>. It is reproduced here in its entirety.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the moment </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Devin</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’s debut album, </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romancing, </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bursts to life with the brash garage rock and raucous riffs of ‘</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/orchardmktg/devin-masochist" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Masochist</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,’ the New Yorker sounds every bit the passionate upstart rocker he looks on the front cover.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A monochromatic photo of the bequiffed singer/guitarist slouched against a stairwell, dressed in a tweed jacket and snappy open-breast shirt, his model-handsome face pulling his best vacant stare; it’s a look that, like its aural contents, is at once a balance of retro-chic and modern style.</span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romancing’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">twelve tracks are straight-up, no-nonsense rock n’ roll inspired by the classics. With his nasal twang that hovers somewhere between the sneer of a young </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mick Jagger</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and the raw clarity of early </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Iggy Pop</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Devin barrels through punk-infused chunks of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stooges</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-powered guitar delivered with a dash of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Strokes</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-worthy cool.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />His musical mix of references is so clear, and Devin’s appeal so direct and simple, that it’s almost too well calculated, too straightforward to work.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even his rag-to-riches story, or more accurately, (warehouse-to-worldwide exposure) over a few short months has the faint waft of record label machination about it; but even a short few minutes with him and it’s clear it’s no act. “I’m a real practical guy” he says in his authentic Brooklynite drawl, his responses peppered with ‘y’knowhadimean’s – you can almost picture him sucking his fingers from a recently scoffed New York ‘slice.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s unbelievable” he remarks, “the whole situation. I never would have thought of going to Australia ever, or that I would be on the radio there… it is really mind-blowing.”</span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romancing</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’s swift success has made Devin one of 2012’s hotly-tipped acts, quickly certifying him as the darling of UK press, with </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NME </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time Out </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">toasting his raw, upbeat rock across a whirlwind tour of Britain and his native US.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surely the rapidfire media exposure has been difficult to adjust to? “Has it been strange? Talking about myself? Yeah, it has,” he confesses. “That’s one thing I didn’t think about at all or foresee, even while recording the album. Interviews and videos... I had no idea that was a responsibility of mine. But I’m getting used to it now, I’m getting better.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The international recognition has meant an enormous change in lifestyle for the self-described “practical guy,” who less than a year ago was slumming it out in a lonely one-bedroom apartment, working in a shipping warehouse job he hated.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Luckily, it wasn’t a heavy work load,” he explains. Left to his own devices at work, it was this same nine-to-five routine that drove him into songwriting “I would just obsessively think of songs in my head and know that when I got back to my apartment, I could try them out.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The majority of </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romancing </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">was recorded entirely at home on Devin’s laptop, “that’s the way most of them were done,” he admits, “just thinking about them a lot while I was at work. Singing them out loud… I had eight hours a day to work mentally on the song then another eight hours when I got home.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is perhaps this workman-like approach that gives cuts like ‘Born To Cry’ and ‘</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/barrygruff/devin-run" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Run</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’ (“the first song I wrote”) their raw simplicity.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interestingly, helping craft </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romancing</em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’s attitude-laden</span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sound was producer Chris Zane. A man typically known for his work with electro-pop sensations like </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Passion Pit</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friendly Fires</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, not punk-spirited rock music. So what led to Zane’s involvement? “You could see the link because Chris is a drummer, so just the way he records drums; and the drums on </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romancing </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">are really important.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I programmed all the parts on midi in my apartment” Devin explains, “and they really are the structure of the songs. They’re the main instrument under the lead vocal and also what brings new life to a song. Even if it’s an old chord progression, the drums really make it modern... we knew Chris could get a cool sound from them.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of cool sounds, Devin’s music directly channels his city’s rich history of leather-clad rockers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Confessing to “listening to music exclusively before my time. <b>Johnny Thunders</b> is a great New York character, <b>New York Dolls</b> is pretty authentic… that seventies rock sound. They’re going back and taking direct references from the ‘50s…”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which brings us to another scepticism levelled at Devin’s classicist take on the genre, lfiting his explicit references from Stooges to Strokes. Your garden-variety cynic would suggest he’s simply regurgitating popular sounds but he doesn’t bother defending himself. Instead, he’s openly honest about his musical homages, “Oh yeah. All the references – lyrically, musically – in the songs are all very direct.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He makes no bones about copying others’ groundwork, “they’re taken from definite sources, on purpose. You make another version of the song. I did it for myself, again for writing. I knew what I was doing, they would keep me on point.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Besides,” he continues “a lot of music in New York right now is not that fun.” Devin’s mission is to reinstate the joy of an old-school rock show. Like his favourites New York Dolls for instance “with that ridiculous sense of humour – I like that. Why not have fun? You don’t have to be so serious, they’re not fucking artists.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the Brooklynite doesn’t consider himself an artist?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“No, not in </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">way. I’d rather be an entertainer, that’s what you’re there for. Again, I don’t want to go to a show and have to learn something or be confused and uncomfortable. If you go to a rock show: have fun, have the time of your life, run around, find a girl.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He could very well be describing the narratives of his own tunes, whether that’s the rebel balladry of ‘White Leather’ or the spit-fire passion of ‘I Died’, their high-energy coming to life in a visceral live show that Devin promises is “definitely rawer than the album.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So is Devin a hipster by-product or the genuine article?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether you buy into Devin’s ‘garage-punk spirit of New York’ chic relies entirely on the fact of whether the man himself does too. Quite plainly, he doesn’t - he’s too busy making the most of his opportunities, or as he puts it “it’s about writing great songs.”</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6CycE_JJPhc" width="560"></iframe></div>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-57654267382259897642012-06-03T23:01:00.000-07:002012-06-03T23:01:53.410-07:00Review: Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="color: #222222; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Storm Corrosion - </b><i style="color: #222222; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 115%;">Storm Corrosion </i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(Roadrunner Records, 2012)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To say that <b>Storm Corrosion</b> was highly anticipated by the musical community for which it was intended, is a bit like saying the internet only mildly revolutionised modern technology. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />Steven Wilson</b> and <b>Mikael Åkerfeldt</b> are two men whose names have not only become synonyms for the most revered kind of distinctive, creative art in their field (progressive rock and metal music for those playing at home); but also two names that had been paired together in fevered anticipation ever since Wilson produced <b>Opeth</b>’s <i>Blackwater Park</i> in 2001.
<br /><br />Even with full disclosure from the pair that their much sough-after collaboration would deliberately fly in the face of the prog-metal supergroup tag they'd been saddled with; the results of their creative partnership are still a surprising listen.
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Perhaps in an attempt to circumvent the ridiculous hype that surrounded their music (which swelled at one point to include drum virtuoso <b>Mike Portnoy</b>), Storm Corrosion feels specifically designed to confound the idea that the sum of its two famous musical parts would equate to the greatest record known to prog-metal-man. <br /><br />Fans predicted the mixed ingredients would draw from Åkerfeldt’s diverse work with Opeth amd <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2009/09/twenty-minutes-with-idol.html">Wilson’s <b>Porcupine Tree</b> genetics</a>. Storm Corrosion is a far less mathematical exercise, but a no-less fascinating equation.
<br /><br /><a href="http://stormcorrosion.com/index.html">Between Wilson and Åkerfeldt’s descriptions of their early sessions</a>, calling them “mellow, strange and disturbing” as well as “frightening, exhausting, profound and rather intense;” they nearly hit the nail on the head.
<br /><br />Nearly, because they also forgot symphonic, enchanting, amorphous, and even vaguely frustrating.
<br /><br />Storm Corrosion’s six measured tracks pay more tribute to the band’s exhaustive, eclectic vinyl collections than it does their own back catalogues. Citing the experimental ensemble work of late <b>Talk Talk</b>, the macabre spectre of Scott Walker’s <i>The Drift</i>; as well as nods to mottled psychedelia and extra-musical minimalism. Still, there are references to be found.
<br /><br />In Åkerfeldt, we have the deliciously tasteful guitar solos with the kind of restrained, melodic phrasing he so relished on Opeth’s metal-free <i>Damnation</i> of 2003 (an album produced by, you guessed it, Steven Wilson). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />From Wilson’s half of the coin, much of the record could be considered as Åkerfeldt’s skewed additions to the quieter, lingering moments of <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-end-of-year-celebrations-top-20.html">Wilson’s latest solo record, <i>Grace For Drowning</i></a>. It’s not difficult to imagine the crawling tension of “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYW-BSFpuis">Hag</a>” or the eerie “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYH5ETZNI5o">Happy</a>” as refugees from that record’s material.
<br /><br />It’s a mild disappointment too, that it is Wilson who voices the lion’s share of the tracklist. Disappointing not because Wilson is a poor vocalist or lyricist (his keen production ear had always propped up any shortcomings splendidly), but because it means that the two never share vocal duties much. <br /><br />The one time they do – on the <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2012/05/av-room-may.html">moody “Drag Ropes”, the album’s ten-minute opening</a> – it’s stunning.
Akerfeldt's voice cooing like folded silk, before Wilson’s cascading harmonies enter, coiling like dry bark through his phrasing until the two intertwine into a gothic, multi-tracked hydra. <br /><br />Besides that, Åkerfeldt contributes one more lead vocal that book-ends the album, on the exquisitely beautiful “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qtQ2-5wWP8&feature=related">Ljudet Innan</a>” (which literally translates to ‘the sound before’); and then, only for a brief but no-less exemplary turn that sees him singing in a honeyed falsetto that's pure sultry, shimmering R&B.
<br /><br />Shocking? For fans of the Opeth frontman’s death howls, absolutetly. But it’s partisan to the kind of devil-may-care attitude in the record’s more experimental moments. Entertaining a grab-bag of sonic tricks (canned laughter on “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYW-BSFpuis">Hag</a>”, subtle drum-machines on “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYkEL4ncYOY&feature=relmfu">Lock Howl</a>”) that are almost surprisingly simple in their application, but willingly avant-garde in their approach.
<br /><br />The folk-sparring title track in particular is almost subversive in its textural shifts. Beginning with a solemn woodwind playing against a literal storm before the elegant plucking of an acoustic enters, later ushering in a tasteful mesh of verdant strings and melodic interplay. Then drifting into a sea of building dissonance that bloats like an ink stain before it’s cut off, dying like a machine whose plug has been pulled, against the returning guitar pattern. <br /><br />It’s a moment so self-consciously abrupt, that it makes the famously fucked up breakdown of "Karma Police" sound like an entry into Eurovision.
<br /><br />In some ways, it’s a moment that’s indicative of <i>Storm Corrosion</i> as a whole - it’s at once entirely expected and unexpected. Shocking to the ear? Most certainly the first time, but multiple listens reveal something less sensationalist. <br /><br />Supposedly recorded over a series of drunken dinner catch-ups in Wilson's lounge. The record does possess a rare combination of raw immediacy with the kind of sonic detail that both parties are famous for. Containing both the rasping fluidity of such a process, but also the meticulous design required by two aural craftsman to bring them to life.
<br /><br />For instance, it’s not difficult to swallow that the pair wrote the skeleton of the winding gothic mini-sonata that is “Drag Ropes” in one boozed evening, but far more difficult to conceive they envisioned it’s vivid arrangement in the same time. <br /><br />Particularly because the opening number teases familiar musical expectations without ever falling into them. You anticipate some of Porcupine Tree's groove-locked riffs or Opeth’s metal licks to emerge from its mid-section, but the pair never conform to such expectations. Not only here, but throughout its fifty minute running time.
<br /><br />The closest they come to indulging fan service is on the instrumental “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYkEL4ncYOY&feature=relmfu">Lock Howl</a>”, as a persistent syncopated figure acts as the engine humming beneath reedy organs and winding, complex phrases. Or the punctuated mid-section of “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYW-BSFpuis">Hag</a>” that allows drum fills from [Porcupine Tree’s] Gavin Harrison; but only in a cloud of muddy distortion.
<br /><br />For completists, <i>Storm Corrosion</i> opens up yet another fascinating dimension for two artists whose own prolific catalogues already champion diversity; but it also occasionally, and frustratingly, denies their strengths. <br /><br />An entry-point into either musician’s oeuvre, this is not. But even as it dares to risk their recognisable appeal, there is indeed no record quite like it. A high achievement in exploring the furthest reaches of the musically uncharted.
<br /><br />Here’s hoping it’s not the last excursion under the Storm Corrosion banner. There’s plenty more left to explore.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/utFMSVRv0Cg" width="420"></iframe>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-60849939725044870332012-05-30T18:17:00.000-07:002012-05-30T19:51:28.892-07:00Prince - The Official Thank You Australia Afterparty<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, the big question for everyone who missed out on the Prince afterparty is: what happened? What did the lucky 700+ in attendance get that couldn’t have been attained</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/shows/163529/prince.htm" href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/prince-live-rod-laver-arena-may-14.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in your garden variety arena spectacular?</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did those who went in search of the big purple whale last night land a big catch?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Well, let’s put it this way. We got “Gett Off”, “Alphabet St.”, Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” and, of course, “Kiss” – performed live you ask?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Oh dear, you better take a seat, it’s going to be a long night…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with all things to do with the elusive 53-year old pop star, the anticipation of the myth once again threatened to overshadow the actual event. <a data-mce-href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/tournews/162844/prince-secret-melbourne-club-show-details-leak-tonight.htm" href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/tournews/162844/prince-secret-melbourne-club-show-details-leak-tonight.htm">Having already played a series of ‘secret’ gigs at various haunts across his appearances in Sydney, Canberra</a> and, most intimately, <a data-mce-href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/local-news/167376/prince-performs-secret-gig-bennetts-lane-secret.htm" href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/local-news/167376/prince-performs-secret-gig-bennetts-lane-secret.htm">Melbourne’s Bennett’s Lane jazz club</a>; the ‘Official Prince Thank You Australia Party’ was laced with fevered anticipation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Even as Prince was bringing a close to the final show of his tour at Rod Laver Arena, punters were already scrambling to Melbourne’s HiFi Bar to be the first through the door for a paltry $25. By the time the advertised beginning of midnight rolled around, the Swanston Street side-walk was throbbing, shoulder-to-shoulder with early birds and late-comers alike, the hangers-on and the wide-eyed hopefuls, (and plenty of police) stretching several blocks in numbers that reached the thousands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Numbers that would be soon be thinned by would become a staggering endurance test that ran late into the evening to catch a rare intimate sighting of the elusive pop icon. Designed to sift the truly dedicated from those simply swept up in Purple fever, those who had prepared for the long-haul needed to keep up with the singer’s lifestyle, with those who could not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />What eventually greeted those lucky enough to make it downstairs to the armpit of HiFi’s bandroom, was nothing short of a 3hr long tease.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />After much setting-up and un-subtle sound-checking, the publicised “Funk Jazz Band” took to the stage at around 2am. Five young fellows, decked in knitted wear and flat-caps, playing tasty funk with the requisite Hammond organ grooves and stinging guitar lines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Lit in smoky blue tones, giving the proper club atmosphere, they were clearly the warm-up act; but even as they played their way through some efficient jams, fears began to swell that perhaps there was to be no public appearance from the Purple One after all. That is until the bass player leaned into the mic, whispered some guff about ‘getting ready to funk,’ before whetting the audience with a promise, “we’re gonna play a few more, then something special’s gonna happen.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />A fairly unambiguous suggestion that kept the throng glued to the front of stage as the venue’s PA reverted back to a tasteful selection of classics including Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Jackson 5.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A further trickle of hints to Prince’s presence came in members of the New Power Generation swanning about the crowd. Not enough to warrant any immediate stage invasion, but again the promise was all that was needed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />DJ Rashida, Mr. Ex-love symbol’s touring jockey of choice, soon shuffled towards the sound booth planted at the Hi-Fi’s centre, draped in an open-back dress like some Bond villainess. Soundtracking what was to be another gruelling slog of waiting. Though encouraging a wave of gyrating bodies and pop-locking audience members, it was more to stave off boredom than to enjoy her skills.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Damaris Lewis, one of Prince’s dancing entourage, soon flanked her. Taking it upon herself to shoo away the encroaching attention, in a vague attempt to uphold the ‘strictly no photography’ policy. Shooting stern looks at the clutch of smartphones thrusting their way into the sound-desk to grab a look at something, anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />DJ Rashida’s set included some deep jazz breaks, shuffling hip-hop and the first of many teasing drops of Prince’s hits, albeit in more beat-laden form. The first of which was a sneaky segue from Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison” into “Kiss.” Inevitably receiving earth-shattering applause from an increasingly impatient crowd, taking her hints as a less-than-ambiguous sign that the man everyone was waiting to see was coming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even within the HiFi’s crowded belly, the stylish and the not-so-hip buzzing back and forth from the bar, the rumours began swirling that 3am would be the start of a short set -but 3am came and went, then quarter- past, then a full half-hour; all the while the DJ spinning her crowd-pleasing selections (including large helpings of Michael Jackson), but never treated with more revelry than you’d expect of a standard pre-gig iPod selection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Suddenly, there he appeared. Literally popping up from inside the sound booth, leering across the crowd with an appropriately messianic pose, was Prince. Meekly swatting at the sea of paparazzi flashes while simultaneously mugging for the cameras in mock annoyance; and lapping up every bit of the attention.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />He sunk back into the booth to spin a couple records, then just as quickly as he appeared he was ushered towards the side of stage to an undulating wave of cheering on-lookers, like a boxer prepping for a match.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Surely he would have to play now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Fifteen minutes rolled by and still the funkified soundtrack continued without a hint of activity from the stage. At 4am the chanting began in earnest, “we want Prince!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />At quarter-past, many began facing the excruciating decision to hold out for an increasingly unlikely scenario, or to throw in the towel and attempt to catch what few hours of sleep were left before a new day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Even if Prince had graced the stage in one final, searing, performance – would it have really been worthwhile? Would it have provided a satisfactory resolution? Worth the wait directly proportionate to the disappointment?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imaginging a full-blown blood, sweat and tears set that would send a sea of people into the frosted Melbourne streets with fables and bragging rights perched on their collective tongues, singing of the best night of their lives; and it still may not have been enough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It’s then the obvious began to sink in, there was to be no performance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Instead the promise of the performance was the point, the tantalising whiff of the myth. Not any kind of resolution. No grand celebration; but a room full of eager fans waiting on false hope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Even as an exercise in orchestrated anticipation and mass-ego stroking, it left a lot to be desired. Perhaps the afterparty was only ever intended as it was vaguely prescribed: a chance for Prince and his hardworking band to let their down, but the drawn-out parade of teasers suggested otherwise. Some may have been satisfied with being in the same room as the man, dancing to a serviceable soundtrack, but there was little in the way of bragging rights, let alone the glory of an exclusive concert.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Every single person in that epic line, from the HiFi's doors to the steps of Flinders Street, was hoping for something that seventy-odd lucky punters at a small jazz club had already claimed two nights previous: a unique experience. A chance to say you were there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It seems you get what you pay for. $25 for an okay DJ set and the chance to catch <a href="https://twitter.com/AlNewstead/status/207887416453894144">a blurry, shadowy photo of the artist-formerly-known-as-now-known-as</a>. Like Bigfoot, like the Loch Ness, a rare sighting of the Purple One to justify a vastly over-hyped event.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />In that regard, the best seats in the house in fact belonged to the smokers outside, who would’ve caught a first-hand glimpse of Prince and the NPG as they entered and exited the venue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moral of the story?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />If last night you found yourself agonising over the decision of missing out on Australia's last, fabled, ‘secret’ Prince show, rest assured, you missed nothing but an over-hyped promise of a 'maybe'.</span></div>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-42386724742990268432012-05-29T03:28:00.000-07:002012-05-29T03:28:02.959-07:00Review: Shady Lane - Built Guilt<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another album review for <a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/new-music/164908/built-guilt.htm">Tone Deaf</a>, reproduced here in its entirety<b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shady Lane - <i style="font-weight: bold;">Built Guilt</i> (Rice Is Nice, 2012)</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shady Lane</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is the musical brainchild of Jordy Lane… at least it was. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Built Guilt</i>, finds the Sydney-sider expanding his solo moniker into a fully-fledged band, with the addition of Pete Avard (drums), Sarah Jullienne (synth) and most notably, Conrad Richters on bass; on loan from label-mates <b><a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/album-review-dump.html">Richard In Your Mind</a></b>. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The result is more of a team effort, with a graceful pendulum swing between hazy rock and their more experimental, electronically-tinged excursions.
Rather than sounding like a young band flip-flopping between genres however, these stylistic migrations are handled with confidence, experience and – in 'Gwimnoddles'’ references to ‘soft dicks’ – a good dash of humour. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More importantly, the gauzy , psychedelic touches don’t dominate, but enhance the flavour of Shady Lane’s pop sensibilities. The likes of 'Eraser Brain' and 'Fluff n Stuff' demonstrating a taste for the eccentric without forgoing the accessibility needed for listeners’ to join in the fun.</span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/S3fCJW-yAQs" width="420"></iframe>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-41501539919562693982012-05-27T21:12:00.001-07:002012-05-27T21:12:14.317-07:00"like going to get a haircut but the hairdresser’s really rough.” Interview: The Chemist<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">This interview was originally published online<a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/features/interviews/160431/chemist.htm"> over at Tone Deaf</a>, and reproduced here in its entirety</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With two eclectic EPs already under their belt, </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Chemist</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> are getting ready to take the plunge and release their debut album. With attention already building with the release of </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Wolves Howls Shatter The Old Glass Moon </em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and last year’s </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/dirt-diamonds/sets/lullabies">Lullabies</a></em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, the quartet are also gaining buzz from their hometown of Perth with their strong live show.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Having supported the likes of <b>Boy & Bear</b> and fellow Perth natives <b>Birds of Tokyo</b> and <b>Sugar Army</b>, they’re set to continue to defy both expectations and genres as they embark on their second national headline tour, their first chance to showcase their new material.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The group’s press release features an eccentric description from frontman Ben Witt on the new recordings, “we blended electricity with the insides of a badly beaten blues & folk rock piñata to make a milkshake that is not dissimilar to cement or hair wax. You may not like it, but your dog will fucking love it.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Speaking down the line, he’s less colourful about the time it’s taken to roll the album out to the general public, “it’s kind of laborious… it takes a while. The actual recording didn’t, we cut it in November and finished some things off in January. But it’s just a lot of waiting for each step to happen next.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Following on from the stylistic mix of their EPs - <em>Wolves</em>… prioritising <b>Tom Waits</b>-esque warping to <em><a href="http://soundcloud.com/dirt-diamonds/sets/lullabies">Lullabies</a></em>’ plaintive use of acoustic and glockenspiel - Witt guarantees their debut will see the band marching in yet another new direction. Albeit one “probably less pop.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“The songs, in their embryonic stage,” clarifies Witt, “started as folk and blues songs, inspired by <b>Dylan</b> and Waits – those kind of guys. Then it was trying to come up with the most interesting grooves and parts we could, finding some abstract guitar for the melodies.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Named <em>Ballet In The Badlands, </em>the forthcoming album contrasts light and dark, “we needed a name that worked phonetically… and I felt it sounded like a junkyard ballet,” remarks Witt, “there’s dirty elements, but then the backing vocals are more like <em><a href="http://soundcloud.com/dirt-diamonds/sets/lullabies">Lullabies</a></em>, where there’s reverb and a pop vein like <em>Pet Sounds </em>or <b>Sleepy Jackson</b> with washed-out backing vocals.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Producing The Chemist’s balance of shades and experimentalism was the winning production team of Matt Lovell and Burke Reid, who turned out to be a snug creative fit</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“We’d grown up in high school listening to <b>Silverchair</b>,” remembers Witt, whose album <em>Freak Show, </em>Lovell engineered, “also we checked out, and really liked, <b>The Mess Hall</b> record that he did (2005’s <em>Notes From A Ceiling</em>). When we chatted on the phone, we just hit it off. He knew what we were going for. We have similar tastes, like <b>The Pogues</b> for instance. We were very privileged to work with him, because unlike us, he really knows what he’s doing .”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />His involvement naturally led to Burke Reid’s, another Mess Hall record alumi, “they were good friends,” confirms Witt, “also I’d really liked <b>Jack Ladder</b>’s last record (<a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2011/10/jack-ladder-dreamlanders-live-corner.html">2011’s <em>Hurtsville </em>with The Dreamlanders</a>), and the <b>Drones</b> as well" which Reid also worked on, "so Burke seemed like a natural choice. They both just knew how to get the best sounds, took what we suggested, and took it that extra distance.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The Chemist’s first chance to road-test the material comes this May, when Witt and his bandmates embark on the curiously titled <em>Precarious China Pig Tour</em>. When pressed on the name he offers, “it’s a slight reference to <b>Captain Beefheart</b>, but also to our financial position,” he declares humourously.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />And what can punters expect from the live setting? “It’s like going to get a haircut but the hairdresser’s really rough.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“I think before when we’ve toured,” Witt continues, “we’ve just said ‘okay, this is the song we recorded.’ You try to condense it in the recording, then just replicate it; but now we’ve become more aware of the fact that you’re entertaining people. Putting in sections that are for the benefit of the drinkers. You’ve got to keep them happy.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“Just recently, we’ve tried to inject some extended sections, just to get it a bit freer.” It seems the sense of experimental adventure has crept into their sets, “I’ve really been loving a lot of free-jazz, like <b>Mark Ribot</b>” confesses Witt, “I’ve also been listening to <b>John Lurie & The Lounge Lizards</b>. I found out about him because he’s in all of Jim Jarmusch films and soundtracked a bunch of them.” It’s had a direct result on the band’s outlook, stretching out their compositions in a performative sense, “we’ve got some intros, outros and sections where we’re playing around with the rhythms as opposed to just sticking to the songs.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Speaking of his own solo performances, Wit remarks “you can really follow your mood and instinct. If songs don’t work in that solo form, I’ll just go <b>John Cage</b> on it.” Using the famous musical philosopher and composer’s name as a verb surely shows how much experimentalism has leaked into Witt’s attitude.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“The last gig I did, I had a fan with paper in it, spinning around and a bell while I was just singing the melody of the top of that. Instead of trying to keep it clean, just fuck it up a bit.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It’s an approach that he brings to The Chemist’s writing process, and in particular the impending debut, “there’s a song on the record, which is one of my favourite moments, which is inspired by <b>St. Vincent</b> and Mark Ribot – the whole riff is built around the abstract sounds you can pull from a guitar. Pick scrapes, plucking strings behind the nut, hitting the fretboard, but putting it into an actual pattern and structure. Things like that I enjoy, because then I feel I’ve pushed or surprised myself.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It’s the kind of inventive approach that gets you nominated, as Witt has just been, for ‘Guitarist of the Year’ as part of <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CGAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wam.asn.au%2Fawards%2F&ei=55S7T_LfA-K3iQeh7smVCA&usg=AFQjCNFcY6SNLXF7jyQXESVNu9Int9NKww">Perth’s WAMi Awards</a>, which – tidily – marks the closing dates of The Chemist’s tour. Witt playing solo for the event’s opening party, then with the full line-up for the Festival’s closing ceremony.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Is he humbled by the award nod? “Yeah, for sure, I’ll do my bit to bring back the burn in 2012,” he adds with characteristically dry humour, “I think you get a lamington if you win. So you get to have your cake and eat it too.”</span></div>
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F41311054" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/the-chemist-band/01-lullaby-1-mercy">Lullaby #1 (Mercy)</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/the-chemist-band">The Chemist - Band</a></span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-25283534335043941942012-05-25T22:27:00.000-07:002012-05-25T00:04:17.997-07:00PVT - Live @ Phoenix Public House, May 24<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqoiB7iBgfNadM_zvEn-DtunDLEbs1qesb_m-JIUoaDAFw4KwnKY0XNeOXeQJUn68MVFMdlq6bu4Ez5VMfsGuf9YcaA4UuBNsLNQ2mTNZSVXewnydD5v-Tswv6csZ2lUmujmTuh3Et9Ue/s1600/PVT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMqoiB7iBgfNadM_zvEn-DtunDLEbs1qesb_m-JIUoaDAFw4KwnKY0XNeOXeQJUn68MVFMdlq6bu4Ez5VMfsGuf9YcaA4UuBNsLNQ2mTNZSVXewnydD5v-Tswv6csZ2lUmujmTuh3Et9Ue/s1600/PVT.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For their first Melbourne show since last year’s Laneway
Festival, electro-experimental trio </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PVT</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> showcased material from their
forthcoming album in an intimate setting; which also afforded the Sydney-siders
a warm-up before taking to the grander environs of their hometown Opera House
in a series of appearances at the </span><a href="http://www.vividsydney.com/events/pvt-aus/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">VIVID Festival</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Offering a rare opportunity to hear the bulk of their new
record, it also marked one of the last gigs to be held at Phoenix Public House
before the Brunswick venue is tragically forced to close its doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />With a rough but intriguing set from support act Forces
done, and with a set of new toys gleaming under stagelights, brothers Richard
and Laurence Pike and electronics-wrangler Dave Miller took to the stage to
roaring applause.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “Thanks for coming
out and showing you know we still exist,” half-jokes drummer Laurence, before
an arpeggiated synth buoys a timid vocal from frontman Richard; quickly
bringing the packed bandroom to silence, allowing for the throbbing bass and
signature soundscapes to take hold. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The new cut, called “Shiver”, closes with hearty approval
before Richard takes up his bass –distorted and primal for much of the performance
– against a building electro rumble. “Evolution”, the second new cut of the
set, also introduces Laurence’s first surgically effective beat of the evening
as Pike Jr. sings of “traps on the ground.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Interestingly, Pike Sr.’s drumkit isn’t mic’ed up – save for
his cracking snare and some of his toms – but the force of his precise strikes
and powerful fills give the necessary volume and punch against the storm of
experimental sonics. Also lending PVT’s brooding electronics an organic, human
edge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The blue-light siren signalling ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/pvt/light-up-bright-fires">Light Up Bright Fires</a>’ brings
cheers of familiarity from the audience, who latch on to its immense, tribal
rhythms and mammoth synth bass. Which seems to swell and gnash against the walls. Upon finishing
though, they run into the first of a few technical issues.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Though it doesn’t characterise their set of fresh material,
the gremlins do unfortunately continue to plague their performance. Producing a
few prominent lulls into their set. Firstly, revealing that a 9V battery has
died, Laurence sighs aloud, “fuck, this is embarrassing” as it unsticks their
equipment, and their pacing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It’s a humorous moment rather than a disastrous one; and
better here than under a dazzling light show and the eyes of hundreds in the
cavernous Opera House at VIVID. Something the drummer duly notes before his
sibling returns triumphant with the necessary ‘tools.’ </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Another newie, “Electric”, with its loping bass-line (think
a more sinister version of the ‘Peter Gunn Theme’) gets their set moving again,
with a stark rhythmic figure that soon explodes into a monstrous shuffling
groove from Pike’s drumkit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The newer songs, like “Cold Romance” and “Homosapien”, demonstrate
that PVT are building upon the success of their bold sophomore record, <i>Church
With No Magic</i>. An album that combined a stark approach to texture with a
love for experimentation, into a sophisticated synergy of swelling grooves,
illuminated digital flourishes and a steady, urgent undertow of throbbing
pulses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />At their most menacing and intoxicating, they could be the
imaginary soundtrack racing through Han Solo’s head as he’s frozen in
carbonite. Nerdy sci-fi references aside, there’s a dark, thrilling tone to PVT’s
music. It has the hypnotic thrum of dance and electronica, but none of its posturing
simplicity, charged instead by unpredictable shifts in sound, but no-less
controlled moods and tone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Upon playing <a href="http://soundcloud.com/pvt/church-with-no-magic">the title track of their second album</a>, with its
refrain of “in control/in the church with no magic” – it could very well be a mission
statement for the group. With Dave Miller’s impressive bank of laptop, pads and
all manner of wired sounds; combined with Richard’s array of effects pedals and
manipulated guitars – they’re a band with a code, mysterious as it may be to
decipher in the live setting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Think Joy Division if they continued to take their jittery
electro to its gloomiest conclusion. Cold pulsing synths and growling rhythmic judders
that coalesce into steely grooves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />However, the trance is broken again as more technical woes
set it in. Despite the proposal that their new material aimed to “downsize”,
the more gear, the more potential for problems it seems. The significant break gives credence to the ‘warm-up
gig’ status, but once again, the crowd is forgiving. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Fortunately, following new track “Casual Success” (“nothing
casual about it”), the appearance of the booming instrumental, “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CtOS2PFE0E">Didn’t IFurious</a>” (from their Pivot days), gets the punters back into full-swing. Even
Miller, not exactly a static dancer to begin with, snaps his neck with ferocious
intensity against its heaving beats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The appearance of a lighter, more ambient tune called “Morning
Light” comes next. Proving that surprise radio hit “<a href="http://soundcloud.com/pvt/window">Window</a>” wasn’t an anomaly,
with Pike cooing endearingly “if you want me, I’m yours” over a track that sounds
remotely like Yeasayer (or at least a more mechanical PVT-shaped version of the
New York bohos).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The appearance of exotic songstress <b>Sophia Brous</b> offers
another delightful surprise, who lends some serious sex to a slinky new jam
called “Vertigo.” A set highlight that sands down their angular edges to a feline
groove as Brous and Pike sing in unison, “feels like Vertigo” - the electronic
undertow purring rather than growling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Capitalising on the high, they follow with the title track
from the band’s debut “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCtBtSB2u10">O Sountrack My Heart</a>”. Its sci-fi prog keys and intense punching
rhythms still hit beautifully hard in the live setting, a beloved fan favourite
in a night short on them. Still demonstrating that PVT would have made a better
fit than <b>Daft Punk</b> for the <i>Tron</i> soundtrack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />They close the main set with the slow, meditative digital
hymnal “<a href="http://soundcloud.com/pvt/crimson-swan">Crimson Swan</a>” before swiftly returning for an encore that rewards the
audience’s patience with an excellent showing of “<a href="http://soundcloud.com/pvt/window">Window</a>”. They doubly thank
the audience for their tolerance and support, but it seems, the pleasure was
all ours. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Tonight heralds the imminent arrival of an excellent third
album, or at the very least – barring technical mishaps – that VIVID attendees
are in for an excellent treat indeed. </span></div>
<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F15400135">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F15400135" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/pvt/light-up-bright-fires">Light Up Bright Fires</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/pvt">PVT</a>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-68363969465399167702012-05-24T19:09:00.000-07:002012-05-23T19:09:31.103-07:00"Things that aren’t complicated" Interview: Bahamas<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">This interview was originally conducted for, and published by Tone Deaf. It is reproduced here in its entirety.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chances are you’ve heard Afie Jurvanen and you don’t even know it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Though best known under his tropical non de plume <b>Bahamas</b>, Jurvanen is actually a musical stalwart of his native Toronto, having played with an impressive list of Canadian musicians that includes fellow troubadours <b>Jason Collett</b> and <b>Kathleen Edwards</b>. He was also a key part of <b>Feist</b>’s touring ensemble for the better part of three years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“I know when you list off all the names like that it seems like I’m a hotshot, session guitar player but, the reality is, Toronto does have a relatively small and tight music community,” explains Jurvanen humbly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Speaking down the line from a non-descript hotel during a day-long promo stint, he speaks with eloquence and humility, “I’m in a nice room, people are bringing me glasses of water, I’m sitting on a leather couch… I feel like <b>Elton John</b>!”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Currently in the country as part of the backing band for Dallas Green’s <b>City and Colour</b>, Jurvanen has also had the opportunity to play a series of intimate solo shows as Bahamas. “I feel really lucky,” he admits, “not only do I get do my own shows, but I get to hang out with my friend and play these big, beautiful theatres.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The thirty-year old singer/guitarist has been here before, but never to play his own music; which brings us back to that long list of musician friends he’s accumulated. “When someone’s working on an album,” he details, “it’s not a secret, you see your friends at the coffee shop… you run into people and they say ‘why don’t you come by and play on my record?’ For me, I just feel really fortunate that all the people that have said that to me have, first and foremost, been my friends. Secondly, they’ve been making music that I think is cool.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Under his own stage name, he performs a mix of blues-tinged rock and deft acoustic numbers that prioritise his raspy vocals and understated, but effective guitar playing. Something he has instinctually gleaned from his love of old bluegrass and classical recordings, that were, as he states “all about the performance... because there’s virtually no production.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“They just place a microphone in front of the musician and that’s the performance,” he continues, “if it moves you, great. If it doesn’t, there’s no secret why… that’s what I admire about those old recordings, because of the limitations of the equipment, all they could really do was manipulate the performance.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />This classicist approach to the studio is what lends Bahamas, and by extension Jurvanen, their easy-going modesty. “I definitely subscribe to those production ideas and I just hope the performance translates at the other end of the speaker… I don’t want to assume that people are going to give a shit about what I’m doing in fifty years, but that’s what you hope for when you’re making something.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Though only history will tell, there is a timeless quality to Bahamas’ latest, <em>Barchords</em>, and its rich, heart-worn songs. The reflective break-up of <a href="http://soundcloud.com/hiddentrackmusic/02-hiddentrack-bahamas-caught">‘Caught Me Thinking’</a> or the lazy blues of <a href="http://soundcloud.com/hiddentrackmusic/07-hiddentrack-bahamas-i-got">‘I Got You</a>’ possess what their creator calls “a connective tissue, from the first song to the last.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />What of the dissolution of relationships that seem to be his lyrical preoccupation? “It’s the only way I know how to write,” Jurvanen offers, “to just go from my personal experiences. It would be difficult for me to fabricate or conjure something from thin air. I recognise that a lot of the lyrics are darker… but I think the album’s biggest success is it doesn’t leave me feeling down, he adds. “To me it’s an optimistic record. There’s a sense of celebration and acceptance of all the things you can’t necessarily deal with.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“There’s a sense of celebration and acceptance of all the things you can’t necessarily deal with.” Indeed the simple chordal and choral hooks of opener ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/rlackritz/lost-in-the-light">Lost In The Light</a>’ begin the record on a beautiful, hopeful mood that persists even through the juxtaposition of darker lyrics with brighter, relaxed arrangements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Both live and on record, space is the key characteristic of his music. The gaps of silence between phrasing, the space afforded between the instruments. This characteristic is “not just with music,” says Jurvanen, “I feel that way about everything: conversation, cuisine, literature. I’m just drawn to the things that don’t seem forced. Things that aren’t complicated."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“I suppose that’s just reflected in my songwriting and the music I like to make. I just think that it’s more interesting if there’s room for the listener to insert themselves in the song, rather than worrying about cramming every hole.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />To put it another way, Jurvanen’s musical language would rather say nothing than feel forced to say something for the sake of it, “I’m fine with silence, it doesn’t make me feel awkward” he concurs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Does he feel that other contemporary music is afraid of silence? That it does try to fill up that space regardless? “Of course” he confirms, “the vast majority of contemporary music and fashion and movies - it’s all about getting someone’s attention. You probably have a ten, fifteen second window at getting it… for me, I’m not drawn to that stuff,” he reflects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Again he defers to that instinctual humbleness, “I’m not the only one playing acoustic guitar… there’s a lot of people doing it and doing it really well. But it would be way more difficult for me to do something else. I’m just doing what comes easiest to me.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Whether that’s acting as the unsung backing guitarist for famous Canadians, or offering his own lilting solo works as Bahamas – for Jurvanen, this sense of discipline is simply a way of life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“When I get dressed in the morning, I put on a pair of jeans and I put my jacket on when I leave the house. I don’t worry too much about the right bracelet, or the right belt, it’s just the simplest way. That current runs through everything I do.”</span></div>
<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F34018817">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F34018817" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/rlackritz/lost-in-the-light">Lost In The Light</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/rlackritz">bahamasmusic</a></span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-27275649815354118402012-05-23T21:30:00.000-07:002012-05-22T16:52:53.107-07:00Review: The Temper Trap - The Temper Trap<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3a3a3a;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">This album review was originally published over at </span></span><a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/new-music/162832/temper-trap.htm" style="color: #3a3a3a; line-height: 20px;">Tone Deaf</a><span style="color: #3a3a3a;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">, reproduced here in its entirety.</span></span></span><b style="color: #3a3a3a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><br /></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Temper Trap - <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Temper Trap</i></span><span style="color: #3a3a3a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"> (Liberation, 2012)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Temper Trap's self-titled sophomore begins with a slow start and takes even longer to gain traction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Opening with <a href="http://soundcloud.com/the-temper-trap/need-your-love">‘Need Your Love’</a>, is a poor introduction. A vast mis-step of broad musical and lyrical clichés find vocalist Dougy Mandagi warbling emptily over incessant riffs. ‘London Burning<em>’ </em>follows, and doesn’t fare much better. A weak political stance that jams news bites alongside a chorus punctuated by yobbish ‘ayys.’</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s not until ‘The Sea Is Calling’, four tracks in, that the record begins to finds it feet with an approach planted between the familiarly earnest band we know from </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sweet Disposition"</span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">;</em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> with a new, synth-friendly, production sheen.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mandagi’s rich vocals and piercing falsetto still demand attention while providing engagement, but his musical backing, sometimes les so. </span><a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2009/06/sweet-mutation-aka-since-weve-been.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the few faults of debut record, <em>Conditions</em>,</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> revealed room for growth, on its follow-up the cracks begin to feel like deeper-seeded flaws.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moody dynamics of ‘</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZJdYNJ1CDg" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rabbit Hole’</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and rousing march of ‘I’m Gonna Wait’ prove to be late album highlights, but otherwise they too often lean on pop posturing like a crutch.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s not a bad album per se – unless you consider a three-year long wait for an undercooked record a sin – but the chances that it will re-light the fire that ignited their initial hype are less likely. Ultimately it's more misses than hits on the much-hyped follow-up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MZJdYNJ1CDg" style="background-color: transparent;" width="560"></iframe></span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-79018736022949051942012-05-21T21:06:00.000-07:002012-05-22T05:57:28.847-07:00Review: Alt-J - An Awesome Wave<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following on from <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2012/05/introducing-alt-j.html">their entry in 'Introducing...'</a>, here's the <a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/new-music/160615/awesome-wave-2.htm">Tone Deaf</a> published album review of the art</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sy debut for UK purveyors of self-described ‘folk-step.’ </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Alt-J -</b> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">An Awesome Wave </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(PIAS/Infectious, 2012)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If all you did was read about Leeds outfit </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alt-J</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, you’d be forgiven for thinking they had long disappeared at the wrong end of pretentiousness. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After all, their band-name is technically an unpronounceable symbol (∆), with a history involving hallucinogens, Fine Arts degrees and members named Gwilym. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Work past the high-brow conceits (and their extraordinary origami packaging) however, and you’ll discover an act that isn’t too smart for their own good.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />They mix a rhythmic approach to keys and guitar with textured vocals and claustrophobic beats to intoxicating effect on “</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/pias-france/alt-j-tessellate" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tessellate</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">;” while “Dissolve Me” possesses both brighter strides as well as torchlight intimacy, without forgetting the hooks. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even the penultimate track, “Bloodfood” features a choir sidled alongside electronics. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following in the footsteps of other sophisticated English forebears, namely the tertiary favoured </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Foals</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and intellectual </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wild Beasts</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, without mimicking them; Alt-J’s ideas turn out to be as captivating to the ear as they are to the intelligencia.</span><br />
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="225" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1481862" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/alt-j/sets/fitzpleasure-matilda-double">Fitzpleasure</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/alt-j">alt-J</a></span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-34298996831604982052012-05-17T22:46:00.000-07:002012-05-17T22:59:53.652-07:00Mutemath - Live @ The Corner, May 15<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can read an edit of the following review over at <a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/shows/164150/mutemath.htm">Tone Deaf,</a> but for the purists (and in the spirit of Mutemath's extended live show) the following is a slightly longer version. Enjoy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the lights dimmed on a sold-out crowd, packed to the
rafters for <b>Mutemath</b>’s virgin performance to not only Melbourne, but Australia;
necks craned between the shoulder-to-shoulder masses to get a peep of the band
emerging on stage. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead, they marched in from the back corner of the venue,
where <b>The Cairos</b> had just finished their rocking support slot, under a parade
of fairy lights and clattering percussion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A special entrance that signposted the magic to come.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once on-stage, the newly-bearded drummer Darren King
performed his ritual of taping his monitors to his head, making him look like a
boxer before a match; or in Mutemath’s case, a title fight considering the
blistering endurance of their live show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later frontman Paul Meany declares “we’ve got a lot of songs
to play,” and he’s not kidding, in what turns out to be a 26-strong setlist
that went for nearly two hours without a break. Including everything except the
<b>Jamiroquai</b>-fronting-<b>Zeppelin </b>fireworks of ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/mutemath/allies">Allies</a>,’ but it’d have been churlish
to complain given the vibrant musicality and passionate delivery on display.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New Orleans group wasted no time launching into the same
brilliant trifecta that opens their latest record, <i>Odd Soul</i>. Namely,
wowing the awed crowd with the title track, the relentless groove of ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/libbycm/mutemath-prytania">Prytania</a>’
and ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/warnerbrosrecords/mutemath-blood-pressure">Blood Pressure</a>.’ It went a long way to loosening up the crowd with an
extended coda of rhythmic hammering that first demonstrated the sheer
knuckle-white tightness of the quartet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So watertight is their synergy that it makes their daring
leaps of style and mood look easy, or more philosophically, an audience trusts
a band who trusts each other. Allowing Mutemath to hop from searing prog-lite
rockers (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3BsOk9KQlk">Plan B</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYA1QAkw4Zo">Walking Paranoia</a>) to slow, moody numbers (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx3JJrwmvIs">Lost Year</a>, <a href="http://soundcloud.com/weare1radio/mutemath-picture">Picture</a>)
and even some experimental moments. Particularly on the reggae-inflected
‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPzstQy9M3o&fm=18">Peculiar People</a>’ where Meany samples the audience’s cheers before looping,
pitch-shifting </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and throwing them back into the mix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though always an able keys player and soul-tinged singer, Meany
has now evolved into quite the showman. Between-song he charms with affable
banter, while during ‘Spotlight’ he leads the audience through some I sing/you
sing theatrics which, by the end, have the crowd eating out of the palm of his
hand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though Meany admits “it’s becoming a cliché” they dedicate
‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyOwwokNwYc">Sun Ray</a>’ to the recently deceased Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch. Not more than a beautiful
two minute mood piece on record, live, ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyOwwokNwYc">Sun Ray</a>’ - like most compositions
tonight - is stretched into a meatily satisfying display of technical chops and
irresistible groove.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7-VRKrpXSc">Equals</a>,’another highlight, finds the frontman wading out to
the sound desk, where he sings emphatically over the electronically flourished
ballad as confetti is blown out around him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though he is the audience’s conduit, it is the rhythm
section of King and Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas that steal the show. That’s not to
take away from Meany or guitarist Todd Gunnery’s deft contributions, but
there’s no doubting the rhythmic heart that beats ferociously at the centre of
Mutemath belongs to the bass and drums.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">King’s beats snake and shuffle in the background when
required but he’s an absolute monster on the skins when he wants to be.
Meanwhile, Mitchell-Cárdenas’ basslines look spidery, but sound buttery-smooth;
or as it demands it, punch with a satisfying pop and crunch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given that he looked like a young Walter Becker (of <b>Steely
Dan</b>), combined with the faint waft of pot in the air and the band’s fierce
blues rock, you’d be forgiven for
thinking you’d been teleported to a seventies night-club. Disregarding the
bobbing sea of smartphone screens attempting to capture the band’s explosive
playing.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As they careen through their set, you catch snatches of their
influences. Are they a psychedelic funk band playing loose blues? A jazz-rock outfit
with more groove than grit? It’s hard to tell, and it matters little. It's a
thoroughly joyful fusion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The middle of their set sees them steering towards their
older material, and by association some of their <b>Coldplay</b>-baiting ballads like
‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdoExbtboYs">Control</a>’<i> </i>or the lingering influence of <b>The Police</b> on fan-favourites
like ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTV0Aa4lC04&ob=av2e">Chaos</a>’ and the high-speed ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBefgm7hdpU">Noticed</a>.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their strongest material however, is easily the
genre-defying alchemy they’ve achieved with <i>Odd Soul</i>, or what <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2012/05/were-just-acing-what-we-do-live.html">Meany described in our recent interview as “just acing what we do live.</a>” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Songs with frameworks that are compact enough to digest, yet
possess a flexible structure that exercise their improvisational skills. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/onesnarekick/cavalries">Cavalries</a>’’ chugging back-end is elongated to a muscular
jam that lurches around sharp rhythmic corners, King even standing on his kit
as a valve-release to their infectious energy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AGldIFNgfg">One More</a>’ and ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt-7PsKeXw8">Quarantine</a>’ see them pulling out
every trick they’ve got. The latter even sees Meany risking his safety as he
boards a makeshift raft that floats across a sea of audience hands. At one
point, some eager punters ignore the low-roof, sending the singer’s head into
the lighting rig. But like a true hero, he soldiers on unhindered.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seconds later and King is dismantling his kit, piece by
piece, to redistribute it to the front row for a brief but incendiary solo,
then reconvening the band around his fragmented drums for a full percussive meltdown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their encore includes <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lCTaoY4s1U">a reading of Alicia Keys’ ‘Falling’</a> as
a psychelicious blues standard, followed by the sprawling instrumental opus of
‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57FcwUoCdmQ">Reset</a>.’ The resulting answer to ‘what If <b>Sigur Rós</b> were a funk troupe with a
penchant for glitchtronica?’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As they depart the stage in a sweaty heap, Mutemath have earned
the adoration and respect of all present, but also the title: ‘must-see live
act’.</span><br />
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<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F41609765">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F41609765" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/onesnarekick/cavalries">Cavalries</a> </span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-53884081326932373602012-05-16T04:48:00.002-07:002012-05-16T07:08:03.038-07:00Prince - Live @ Rod Laver Arena, May 14<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This review was originally written for the blog, but it's also been syndicated <a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/shows/163529/prince.htm">over at <b>Tone Deaf</b></a>. Check it out.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovU9IajYDhdl3Bq0e-CsdKv7jO_TV2n6pO9BAybaDpbIg9QVBIHWxTqTUEnQCxgdcA9ugmg5NK0lkuOPVX5-ozk1uG5CWITEgKtoWg2Z9jXO7jgDLnowmK0gV_fnG8TZ0KSk6wBXdwuH_/s1600/Prince.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovU9IajYDhdl3Bq0e-CsdKv7jO_TV2n6pO9BAybaDpbIg9QVBIHWxTqTUEnQCxgdcA9ugmg5NK0lkuOPVX5-ozk1uG5CWITEgKtoWg2Z9jXO7jgDLnowmK0gV_fnG8TZ0KSk6wBXdwuH_/s1600/Prince.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Here we are folks/the dream we all dream of”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He may not have performed ‘U Got The Look’, but Prince’s
1987 sing-off with Sheena Easton best captures the euphoric mood for the 12,000
strong in attendance at the first of the Purple One’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">two Melbourne dates.
Whatever ‘the look’ is, Prince has still got it. In spades.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Through his own iconic myth-making, and as arguably the last
great pop star of the ‘old skool,’ his stadium shows have taken on the status
of grand-standing event. Not least in a city that’s been starved of his
presence for some time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or as Prince kept goading coquettishly throughout his set, “How
long has it been Melbourne?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eight years actually Mr. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P. Rogers Nelson, but who’s counting?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether planted in the cheap seats, or had put a small
mortgage to be amongst the club-style tables that girt the stage </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Prince certainly gave good value in a
two-and-a-half hour set that cherry-picked some twenty plus selections from his
three-decade long catalogue.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To the sound of thunder, and screens flashing lightning over
the same ‘love symbol’ shape that the impressive catwalk was designed on, the
show opened with Purple Rain; albeit rendered as an acoustic instrumental by
guitarist Andy McKee.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soon his crowd-baiting plucking draws not only roars of
applause, but like a siren’s call, also an Amazonian woman draped in a long
white-veiled dress. She slinks across the catwalk towards the guitarist before
kneeling before him, the two slowly disappearing as they descend by a central
elevator into the maw of the stage. A trick that Prince and most of his entourage
will abuse for much of the performance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The deliberately drawn out drama does set the mood and tone
for the evening’s sense of scale. Iindicative of the kind of faux symbolism the
Purple One loves gorging on. The marriage of the evocatively cryptic and sheer
spectacle that has come to define his career since the turn of the century. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, the man himself emerges to perform ‘Gold’ (from
1995’s <i>The Gold Experience</i>)<i> </i>to an appropriate flood of beaming
yellow light and confetti. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Subtlety, it seems, is not on tonight’s agenda.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The feverish crowd is soon introduced to his eleven-piece NPG
possé that includes the aforementioned guitarist and Amazonian, bassist,
drummer, two sets of keyboard wizards, three harmonising back-up singers, and a
pair of identical dancers bluntly dubbed ‘The Twinz.’ And of course, running
the show with the kind of combination of ruthless bandmaster and show-stopping
flash previously reserved for James Brown, is Prince himself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As he flaunts his way through ‘Jam of the Year’ or croons
through ‘Sometimes It Snows In April’ it strikes, like one of his pointed
high-heels, that this is a man who’s north of half-a-century; Yet the
53-year-old can still shred his electric with the best of them, dance and strut
better than performers half his age - and yes - party like it’s forever 1999.
For nearly three hours straight, mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’s still given to spouting ridiculous rhetoric, one of
many highlights coming during a suitably filthy ‘Cream.’ Following the line “You’re
so cool/Everything you do is success,” with the proclamation that “I wrote this
song while looking in the mirror.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along with his catcalls to the crowd (“don't it feel good?”)
and general persistent enquiries as to “where my choir/the party at?,” it’s the
kind of sleazy charm that at once captures our imagined ideal of Prince as both
cocky showman and self-conscious ‘artist at work’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given to extending his whip-tight grooves into lengthy jams
that allow him to indulge in further crowd work. During the mid-section of the scintillating
‘Little Red Corvette’ he coos, “I got two words” before licking into repeated
syrupy phrases of “slow down” into a call-and-response workout. Later, it’s
just one word (on a steamy ‘I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man’).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cheesiest part of the night however, was also arguably
the one that drew the biggest applause. Prince, placed alone at a
grand-piano-come-sampler, reeling of a medley of his hits that leaned perilously
close towards Vegas showboating. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few bars of ‘When Doves Cry’ driving the crowd wild before
jumping erratically to ‘Darling Nikki’ via the obscure ‘Nasty Girl’. ‘Pop Life’ into
snatches of ’Sign O The Times,’ and so on and so forth. Including a cheeky gag
where the Purple maestro played ‘Single Ladies’ only to cut out with a “waiddaminute,
I didn’t write that” with perfect pantomime delivery. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This abridged jukebox trick could easily be critiqued as
being a cheap and nasty way to dole </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">out fan-favourites, but at the same time it’s
playfully ironic, really hammering home Prince’s own hammy admission that there’s
simply “too many hits.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually he settles on a full performance of one of his
biggest, an explosive ‘Kiss’ that rewards our patience for enduring his
mash-up, even adding a dance-break finish of his finest and fanciest of foot-work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For all its curious flaws and odd pacing (the ringleader
constantly demanding the lights to his circus be brought up and down before vanishing
on-and-off stage for minutes at a time)it's the kind of eccentricities you’d
expect, nay demand, at a Prince concert. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even an epic-20ish-min-long version of Purple Rain, complete
with a ‘life-affirming’ diatribe worthy of Bono mid-way, could unstick the
sheer awe and power of Prince in the live setting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether you view him as a maverick who forever changed pop’s
DNA with his unconventional flair, or a madman now content to woo audiences with
promises of ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ (another absentee in the setlist), only to
strike them with decadent ego-stroking; we can all agree that the myth forever
exceeds the man.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s all part of the unspoken agreement that we commit to when
it comes to the artist-formerly-known-as-now-known-as-again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or to reference another Prince lyric, from the obscure b-side
‘Things Have Gotta Change’ – we “wouldn’t have it any other way/’cuz it’s part
of the game we play.”</span></div>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-59433746394929106832012-05-14T18:14:00.000-07:002012-05-14T18:15:40.467-07:00Review: Beach House - Bloom<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This album review was originally written for <b>Beat </b>magazine, and published in print and <a href="http://www.beat.com.au/music/beach-house-bloom">online</a>, where it was <a href="http://www.beat.com.au/music/beach-house-bloom">featured as 'Album of the Week.'</a> It is reproduced here in its entirety</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Beach House</b> - <i style="font-weight: bold;">Bloom</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (Sub Pop, 2012)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s a brutally efficient way to summarise the Baltimore duo’s fourth LP, and while labelling it as <i>Teen Dream</i> 2 is perhaps not an unsurprising summary, it unfairly underlines a ‘if it ain’t broke’ mentality that betrays Beach House’s characteristically organic craftsmanship.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Naturally </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bloom</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’s predecessor was the pair’s breakthrough album, critics and fans alike flocking to the most accessible evocation of their gently nostalgic dream pop yet, besotted by its beauty and brilliance. Fashioning a sequel that matches its slow-burn appeal, Bloom is more of a casual extension of Teen Dream’s successes than a daring artistic leap. But again, that takes nothing away from its haunting effect and unfussy vividness.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teen Dream</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was an appropriate title for a record that employed plaintive intimacy to score adolescent star-gazing; so too is </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bloom</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a stylistic moniker. An album that fittingly and gradually blossoms with colour, its organic details flourishing with each subsequent spin, an album that reveals more of itself over time, its gentle hooks sinking deeper with each listen.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Opening with a characteristically strong number, '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/the-artistree/beach-house-myth" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Myth</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' lays Beach House’s modest toolbox out on the table: whitewashed keys, waifish guitar arpeggios, spartan drum patterns and – of course – Victoria Legrand’s majestically flawed yet distinctive singing. Her androgynous croon hovering between the husky drone of an adolescent boy while retaining the graceful chanteuse depth of her natural French breeding.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the album relies on similar tools, but there’s a grander sweep to their arrangements now that suggests the pair of Legrand and accomplice Alex Scally are comfortable to move beyond the bedroom to embrace their status in the indie big leagues. Cascading melodies are doubled, the synths laid thicker and the guitars, in particular, no longer solely ring and tremble. 'Wild' and 'Wishes' recall '80s guitar fashions, plucking reverbed notes or scraping into a stratospheric tremolo; while on the gentle bob of '</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb0Rs_-Hsjo&feature=related" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On The Sea</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' their slow-dive resembles a string section.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s a darker tone than previous efforts too, their mystery transformed into a nocturnal melancholy on 'Troublemaker', or the dramatic shift in '</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-a99Ds3NHI" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lazuli</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">’s emotive coda; Legrand lamenting "Like no other, you can’t be replaced."</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thankfully, these subtle new emphases are introduced without sacrificing the lucid haze that defines Beach House’s sound. Once again, the pair forgoing typical verse/bridge/chorus structure in favour of a far more subtle approach than simply growing bigger, lusher and louder.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s in the masterful combination of deliberately outdated elements – the dinky Casiotone melody that opens '</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-a99Ds3NHI" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lazuli</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,' the clunky beats beneath 'The Hours' – deceptively complex components built into shimmering textures that result in an effect best described as impressionistic.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which leads us to the main criticism of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bloom</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> – it’s almost too much of a good thing.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its pace never moves beyond a steady metronomic nod, not once faltering beyond the comfortable sweet spot between lilting slumber and gentle nod. After ten tracks, the songs seem to bleed into a pleasing blur. But it could just as easily be taken as treading the fine line between brilliant cohesion and being ‘too samey.’
This hazy wash has always been Beach House’s consistent style, ever since their 2006 debut, but to detractors this tremulous wash may seem dull, or at worst tedious. But few complained that Rembrandt’s watercolour style was ‘formulaic.’ Here, Beach House have once again perfected their meticulous mix of elements.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The closing seven-minutes of '</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOBfhdIq06s" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Irene</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' best demonstrates their triumph. A soothing upward movement of familiar chordal shifts, before the half-way drops it all away to the relentless hammering of a single note. Almost childishly monotonous in its simplicity, but it soon informs a gilded sweep into a lush, shimmering cadence. A spine-chilling moment that caps an album rife with them, to the defiant refrain of “it’s a strange paradise,” a phrase that surreptitiously describes the record in general.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bloom</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> articulate anything new about Beach House’s sound world? No, but it is perhaps the most delightfully satisfying expression of their music yet, and could well be dream pop’s new definitive gesture.
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F43526746" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/cooperative-music-spain/beach-house-myth" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beach House - Myth</a>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-41396103910280308822012-05-14T18:00:00.000-07:002012-05-14T00:59:46.406-07:00Introducing... Alt-J<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until 24 hours ago I wasn't even aware of <b><a href="http://altjband.com/#_">Alt-J</a></b>'s existence, now, I'm convinced that the Leeds outfit's possess in their debut release, <i>One Awesome Wave, </i>one of this year's more interesting listens.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Packaged in an elaborate, origami-styled sleeve, their album grabbed my attention as soon as it arrived on my desk. Emblazoned with photography contributed by a space program, and sleek minimalist liner notes, it telegraphed something interesting about the band even as it revealed little detail about them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before even listening, further research actually portrays them as disappearing at the wrong end of pretentiousness. For starters, their band-name is actually derived from the computer inputs on a Mac to achieve their real name, an unpronounceable symbol: </span>∆<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then there's the matter of the band's formation, the four members meeting while completing Fine Arts degrees who bonded over a love of hallucinogens, Tudor-era composers and perhaps recognising kindred spirits in equally eccentrically named fellows like Gwilym and Gus Unger-Hamilton.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Work past their arty conceits however, and you'll be rewarded by the rich, textured ideas that lie beneath.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />With naught but a single EP to their credit, they claimed the attention of UK Press including </span><a href="http://news.qthemusic.com/2012/05/alt-j_-_breezeblocks.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q Magazine, who made their cut 'Breezeblocks' their 'Track of the Day.</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' As well as attention from taste-making electro maestro </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Vek</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, who remixed the track.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><i>One Awesome Wave</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is the band's first full-length, and a solid introduction to their genre-bending tunes. Making full use of UK's propensity for claustrophobic beats in the garage/post-dubstep mould, yet not disembarking from more traditional, albeit rhythmic, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">approaches</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to piano and guitar. All mixed together in what the quartet has labelled 'folk-step.' </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />In a lineage that could be traced through the tertiary favoured </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Foals</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> through to </span><a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2011/06/wrangling-heard-june.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the sophisticated music of <b>Wild Beasts</b></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Alt-J prove they aren't n</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ecessarily too smart for their own good.</span><br />
<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F41993188">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F45801838" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/pias-france/alt-j-tessellate" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ALT-J - Tessellate</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> by </span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/pias-france" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pias France</a>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-44756562848364910792012-05-13T17:30:00.000-07:002012-05-13T00:26:06.733-07:00Review: Last Dinosaurs - In A Million Years<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Dinosaurs - </b><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">In A Million Years </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Dew Process, 2012)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Much like </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Little Red</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hungry Kids of Hungary</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> before them,
</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Dinosaurs</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' debut confidently re-packages the hook-laden guitar pop of
</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phoenix</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Strokes</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for an Australian audience, relying heavily on slick
production punch to compliment the group’s youthful enthusiasm.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The first half of the record draws from the template set by
runaway singles '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/lastdinosaurs/honolulu-1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honolulu</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the successful electro-flamenco guitar zing
of '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/dewprocess/last-dinosaurs-zoom" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zoom</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'. '</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH3n75uuTxQ&feature=relmfu" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I Can’t Help You</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' and '</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSivtCWBk9g" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andy</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">similarly feature
Sean Caskey’s yearning upper register over a sonically watertight unit that
bounces off snappy post-punk rhythms that snake alongside some addictive guitar
riffs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Though they occasionally risk sounding formulaic (step forward '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYVBCdobjk&feature=relmfu">Sunday Night</a>'), there’s
enough to suggest the Brisbane quartet are thinking beyond the constraints of
radio-friendly singles. While the atmospheric interlude, '</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Satellites'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">provides
a much-needed breather, the heavier '</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxO81JHwhEE">I Can’t Decide</a>'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is winningly juxtaposed
with the softer '</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv4J8Oaxk8A">Used To Be Mine</a>'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, closing track '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzJS6lUvWDM&feature=relmfu">Repair</a>' is addictive - naggingly so - its pop-corn bassline hopping across a driving beat and airy two chord turnaround, but it proves that when Last Dinosaurs hit their groove, they're thoroughly enjoyable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In spite of its adolescent moors and sugary production, <i>In
A Million Years </i>is not another vacuous statement of style over substance, but
an assured and exciting debut that allows the Brisbane hopefuls to *ahem* zoom to the top of the pop class.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How often can you say you get a CD with the price of entry? <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=348120048584069&set=a.304047829657958.73551.163075917088484&type=1&theater">In an individual fabric pocket no less, handmade by the headline act's front woman</a>? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Exactly. But there was more to </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Private Life</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s single launch than just a heartfelt trinket. Beginning with some solid support acts.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />When AMR last caught </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neighbourhood Youth</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/i-man-live-northcote-social-club-ep.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">they were the opening act for the excellent<b> I, A Man</b> launch</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, now they have a few new tunes up their sleeve after recently returning from a trip overseas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Still based around solid hooks and smooth verse/chorus changes, their newer material shows they've been honing in on their elements. Namely, echoing guitar riffs on the upper register of the fretboard, a particularly wired rhythm section and John Philip's earnest voice. Unfortunately, it's a struggle to hear him over the punch of the guitars. Neither the loud volume, nor the mix, do them any favours. The only other concern being that they still lack a strong visual presence with only bassist Sam Nathan looking like he's </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">really </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">getting into it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Their tunes however, are strong enough to make up for such gripes. One newbie reminds of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Dinosaurs</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' zippy guitar rock with similarly speedy drum rolls and a melodic bassline that shifts smoothly around a simple but evocative two chord progression.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />They finish strongly with the duo of '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/face-studios/the-neighbourhood-youth-stone" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stone</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' and 'The Only One,' as the close of their set is met with pockets of girls swaying jubilantly to their barrelling rhythms and choppy guitars.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Taking to the stage without a word shortly after, Private Life waste no time getting straight into their pop-orientated dance rock. The core duo of Renee Cassar and Jamie Barlow is expanded to a five-piece unit for the live setting, including a very meaty dual Roland synth set-up to side of stage, key to the band's eighties-tinged sound.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Cassar's guitar and Barlow's popping bass sit tightly alongside the tidy, professional drumming of one Josh Barber, while the guitar stylings of Nick Lam, (looking like a younger Jimmy Barnes - check shirt, headband and all) provides some Strat-shredding highlights to the set.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />They sound well-oiled, and in early tune 'The Other Side,' passionate; you can even see the veins in Cassar's neck as she strains in order to give the necessary yelp to her singing. There's a new wave flavour to Private Life's grooves, helped in no small part by Cassar's ending her phrases with a characteristic curl, a trick she thankfully doesn't overplay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Her voice is akin to </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Debbie Harry</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s seductive sneer, but wrapped in the bubbly adventure of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Grates</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' Patience Hodgson. Essentially, a very strong mix that provides the bridging gap between their jerky eighties reference points and a more contemporary dance rock edge. As she patters a tambourine in (short) shorts, she also gives the band a strong focal point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />As the next cut sees her vocals slithering across a dotted synth line and an equally slinky rhythm section, it's clear she's having a ball. Even when the crowd fails to match the band's rising energy, encouraged to dance, she's still all smiles between-song.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Their set is filled with more than a few memorable choruses, notably 'One More Taste' as it bounces off its disco backbeat and leather-clad guitars and 'Lego' again recalls The Grates with a peppy energy and naive charm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Meanwhile, 'Any Tuesday' could pass as post-punk if it wasn't for the deliberately antiquated keyboard sounds that dance across the wiry guitars; before diving head-first into a crunchy coda launched by a refrain of 'you stole the love right out of my heart.'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />They provide a darker twist to their set with '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/private-life/honeymoon" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honeymoon</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.' Starting slow and moody before breaching a chorus that sees Cassar singing 'the honeymoon is over.' More accurately, wailing, turning a potentially clichéd line into something emphatically desperate as its smeared with loose timing across an unsettling riff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Smartly, they move straight back into another dose of upbeat eighties-via-indie rock with '<a href="http://soundcloud.com/private-life/black-heart-1">Black Heart.</a>' A tune that'd give </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Duran Duran</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, or more accurately </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ladyhawke</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, a run for their money in the pop smarts economy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The final leg of their set includes the pairing of their (Unearthed featured) tracks, '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/private-life/run-run" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Run Run</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' and the single that tonight's launch is for - '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/private-life/private-life-follow-the-sun" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Follow The Sun</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' - which possesses a mix of dark swagger and nervous energy. But not before Cassar and bandmates request a photo of the crowd holding up their handmade cds for a final memento.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Private Life are certainly head</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ing in the right direction for wider exposure, possessing a neat set of tunes with enough pop nous and radio-friendly charm. They may not possess a singular, killer track yet, but you get the impression they're not too far off. Here's hoping they keep at it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F18478528">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F42729635" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/private-life/private-life-follow-the-sun">Private Life - Follow the Sun</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/private-life">Private Life</a></span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-10016755219745038002012-05-10T09:34:00.000-07:002012-05-09T17:35:28.897-07:00"We’re just acing what we do live" Interview: Mutemath<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This interview was originally conducted for, and published by, <b><a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/features/interviews/154782/mutemath-2.htm">Tone Deaf</a></b></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7KELjLZAI32p-VjLlVZeizPBqVbvXFGp7khU4YJO0iiLCrRnxPCXAEPG2_JJaXqjkjAka47Btt-NKUhRkTx4NavBOcPVkByZLhSfEyQAcBAHnMimy3SzT-S-_k-F2HB3FLLqsTJYULVy/s1600/Mutemath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7KELjLZAI32p-VjLlVZeizPBqVbvXFGp7khU4YJO0iiLCrRnxPCXAEPG2_JJaXqjkjAka47Btt-NKUhRkTx4NavBOcPVkByZLhSfEyQAcBAHnMimy3SzT-S-_k-F2HB3FLLqsTJYULVy/s1600/Mutemath.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The regional music festival <a href="http://www.gtm.net.au/">Groovin’ The Moo</a> has been
growing steadily for over half-a-decade now, it’s line-up now swelling to regularly
ensnare international acts. This year is no exception, bringing <b>Mutemath</b> to
Australia for the first time. “This is it” chuffs Paul Meany, “this is our big
excuse to come out,” the band’s keys man and de-facto leader, Meany is the face
and soul-studded voice of the New Orleans fusion quartet. A band whose
reputation is built on their exhilarating live show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />They’ve come a long way since their virgin festival
appearance, back in 2006 at Tennesee’s four-day shindig, Bonnaroo. “We got to
squeak in. It was totally last-minute, somebody dropped off the bill and
someone pulled a favour and got us in. We had to play in the coffee house tent,
which was only set up for singer-songwriters… with a small sound system, it
held about 200 people… and we just bring all this gear in there.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It’s humorous to imagine their ballistic aural assault in
such an intimate space, but as Meany recalls fondly, they walked away with 200
new fans in one fell swoop; “It was quite a rush, we got in there by the seat
of our pants, and then got invited back next year to play on the bigger stage
in the night-time slot – it was wonderful.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />His anecdote reflects just how large a part the live show
makes up Mutemath’s identity. Four musicians who can <i>really </i>play, not
just individually but also collectively. A taut unit barrelling around the
searing corners of their whip-tight riffs and electronic-abetted synergy.
Something the band have truly captured with their latest album, last year’s <i>Odd
Soul </i>(one of <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-end-of-year-celebrations-top-20.html">AMR's top 20 albums of last year</a>), a culmination of the band’s powers channelled with all of the
velocity of their live performance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Surprisingly, the genesis of its energy was somewhat of a
gamble explains Meany, “we didn’t road-test [the album] at all, we were in the
studio trusting our intuition that it was going to work live.” Work for the
record began immediately following <i>Armistice Live</i>, a document of the
band’s touring show but also of their sophomore effort of the same name, an
album who’s creation was a difficult time in the band, after which, their
guitar player walked. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Reduced to a three-piece, Meany along with his bandmates,
drummer Darren King and bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas, made the decision to
retreat, telling their label “consider us dropped,” while they holed up in
Meany’s apartment to begin what was to become their third album. “We had a lot
of residual energy from mixing and working on <i>Armistice Live</i>, feeling
the show. We thought ‘let’s just make a record of songs that’s a continuation
of that, which is what we did, locked up in my house for six months and followed
that until we had something we were proud of.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The result was a searing hybridisation of styles and
influences, with references to more indulgent genres like prog, afrobeat and
psychedelia, but filtered with the upright attack of rock, blues and soul. Cuts like “<a href="http://soundcloud.com/mutemath/blood-pressure">Blood Pressure</a>” and “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZTnbkHU7v4&feature=fvst">Prytania</a>”
seem to merge these seemingly alien spheres of influence, “<a href="http://soundcloud.com/mutemath/allies">Allies</a>” crackles
with the intensity of <b>Jamiroquai</b> crooning over <b>Led Zeppelin</b>, while the title
track sounds like The Black Keys would if raised on a love of kaleidoscopic
keys. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It’s fascinating to learn that the band’s listening habits
are inherently random, quite literally in some instances. “One thing we used to
do in the morning when we got stuck,” confesses Meany, “was use <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CIQBEBYwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pandora.com%2F&ei=kdWlT8LQBqi9iAfCtNHWAw&usg=AFQjCNHNuigWUpz3mGty_51_VqqsPf5STA">Pandora</a>’s radio
[a streaming digital service of music recommendations], type in old school
blues, afrobeat, classical soul, whatever it was. Usually stuff from the
fifties and sixties, and we didn’t know what we were listening to half the time
but the mix of it, hearing this new stuff and not paying attention to who it is
or if it’s cool or recognisable, it’s just following the vibe. It was our
creative morning cup of coffee.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br />Odd Soul </i>also found the group embracing their
collective religious background for the first time. Meany, raised in a heavily
proto-Christian environment in New Orleans calls it an uprbinging that “all of
us in the band share in common, Darren grew up in Missouri and Roy down in
Texas, so all of us to some degree had experienced that bible belt culture… to
different levels of severity.” How severe did it get? “I remember going to
these big rallies and they’d get everyone fired up about the city, especially
down in New Orleans, going down Bourbon street was ‘going to hell’. ‘Everyone,
we’ve got to tell them and convert them to our way of life.’ Then we go on a
bus… to the streets and…” he’s interrupted by his own exasperated laughter, remembering
his evangelistic exploits. “to put it mildly, it was a very humbling time in my
life. I got beer thrown at me and cursed out in public, completely humiliated…
because there’s nothing people want to hear <i>least</i>, while they’re
partying and having a good time, than to have someone bring religious subject
matter. That’s what we did. We thought we were doing a good thing. This quest –
as a young person – that you were actually going to save the world.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Drummer Darren King has even remarked previously about his
own attempts to “out-Jesus even Jesus.” Meany, still giggling from humility
remarks, “It gave us something to do, it kept us out of trouble, looking back
it certainly gives a lot of cringe-worthy moments.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Where previously this embarrassment meant the group kept
their upbringing in their back pocket, <i>Odd Soul </i>found the band
internalising their collective background into the music. “I think we’ve always
kind of wondered ‘what do we do with this?’” ponders Meany “It’s a big part of
how our minds and perspectives are shaped, whether we like it or not. Maybe it
has been a bit of a challenge, I think this record we decided to have fun with
it, not overthink it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The key lyric from “<a href="http://soundcloud.com/mutemath/blood-pressure">Blood Pressure</a>” goes “Why can’t you do/a
little more for Jesus?”a line that emerged from Meany and King collaborating on
many of the album’s lyrics, “we’d end up discussing it and telling stories.
There is a certain autobiographical quality to this record, perhaps making our
peace with what we weren’t sure about with ourselves, that weren’t previously
articulated.” Unlike <b>U2</b>’s undertones of Christianity, or worse, <b>Creed</b>’s dour
preaching, Mutemath’s beliefs aren’t a preoccupation but simply another texture
to their character, or as Meany jokes “let’s just put in the songs and see how
it goes.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />‘Rather well’ would be the critical response, <i>Odd Soul</i>
refines their unique alchemy, while its subsequent tour translates its electric
fusion naturally to the stage. Or as Meany puts it, “as far as something that
was stage-ready. We’re just acing what we do live.”</span></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cv2mjAgFTaI" width="560"></iframe>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-84509513647391609812012-05-09T19:03:00.000-07:002012-05-08T16:13:08.779-07:00The A/V Room: May<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a while since the last edition of the A/V Room, and to be honest it's less to do with laziness and more to do with a lack of clips good enough to justify being collected together worthy in one post. Then, like karmic backlash, a whole spate of them arrive in one month! When it rains...</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lowlakes - <i>Buffalo </i>(Dir: Lacey Whelan)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kicking us off is the latest from Melbourne-via-Alice Springs quartet <b>Lowlakes. </b>The<a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/introducing-lowlakes.html"> recent AMR Introductees</a> (yeah, that's a thing now) recently delivered not only a beautifully realised self-titled EP, but <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/lowlakes-live-northcote-uniting-church.html">an excellent live show to launch it</a> as well. Now, there's a clip to accompany EP highlight, 'Buffalo.' An animated fable that suits the song's mystique and haunting tone. <br />The moral of the tale? Don't throw apples.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tUnEyArDs - <i>My Country </i>(Dir: Mimi Cave)</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>tUnEyArDs</b> - aka Merrill Garbus, she of the eccentric vocal acrobatics and<a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/tune-yards-live-corner-jan-15.html"> impressive live show</a> - offers up the second video from her impressive <i>W H O K I L L </i>record from last year (and of <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/2011-end-of-year-celebrations-top-20_06.html">AMR's Top 20 of 2011</a>). 'My Country' is the spiritual sequel to the previously joyous '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ1LI-NTa2s&feature=related">Bizness</a>,' again with Mimi Cave at the helm and featuring Garbus mucking about with face-painted kids in an explosion of colour and movement. This time adding beating hearts, sax-playing and one very cool pop-locking kid. If it doesn't bring a smile to your face, then you don't have a pulse.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Storm Corrosion - </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Drag Ropes </i><b>(Dir: Jessica Cope)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shadow-play narrative of the ten-minute mood epic 'Drag Ropes,' is our first visual and audio taste of <b>Storm Corrosion; </b>the moniker for <b>Opeth</b>'s Mikael Åkerfeldt and prog's hardest working man, Steven Wilson. <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2009/09/twenty-minutes-with-idol.html">As an enormous fan of the latter</a> in particular, with his previous work as a member of <b>Porcupine Tree</b>, <b>No-Man </b>, <b>Blackfield </b>and many, many others. To say that I - along with the collective heavy rock community - have been awaiting the fruits of their creative partnership with baited breath, is an understatement. If the first results are anything to go by, we're in for something satisfyingly familiar yet sonically surprising. <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CG0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstormcorrosion.com%2F&ei=iBOpT-DqA_GwiQf887W2Aw&usg=AFQjCNE9-EVhWXv949pVbidTiZCHnfxMNA">There's sure to be more on Storm Corrosion</a> in AMR when their album surfaces in the next week or two. Watch this space...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Joe McKee - </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Darling Hills </i><b>(Dir: Liam Saint-Pierre)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Joe McKee </b>was a member of the now defunct, but still criminally underrated <b>Snowman</b>. AMR has been keeping tabs on Mr. McKee ever since <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/bsence-makes-heart.html">our informal chat</a> about the demise of <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/2011-end-of-year-celebrations-top-20_06.html">their spooky, ambient brilliance</a>, and his own future music plans. Fresh from <a href="http://everguide.com.au/music/gigs-and-festivals/news/you-need-to-know-joe-mckee.aspx">a local residency and a national tour with <b>Ben Salter</b>,</a> McKee has now unveiled the first official sounds of his debut solo album<i>, Burning Boy</i> in the form of 'Darling Hills.' Named for the same geographical ranges of his native Perth, it features echoes of McKee's former band in his grave baritone and hypnotically lush production, all matched visually by the artist tossing in sleep, super-imposed beneath a dream-like series of fuzzy Australiana and archival footage. Cannot wait for the full-length after this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Major Lazer - </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Get Free </i><b>(feat. Amber Coffman)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_2049771458">new standalone release from </a><b><a href="http://www.majorlazergetfree.com/">Major Lazer</a> </b>(who's actually producers <b>Diplo </b>and <b>Switch</b>) is uncharacteristically introspective, downplaying the usual dancehall bonkers escapism in favour of supporting Amber Coffman with restrained dub flourishes. Meanwhile, the <b>Dirty Projectors </b>lass (and <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com/2009/06/goodbye-female-audience.html">AMR heart-throb</a>) punctuates the track with her cascading guitar lines and finely textured vocal parts. The video to accompany it is equally reflective, though the animation is crude and the pace gravely slow, it's a fitting stylistic accompaniment.... complete with on-screen lyrics. That'll be the karaoke video sorted then.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Grimes - </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Oblivion </i><b>(Dir: Emily Kai Bock)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JtH68PJIQLE" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Already touted as one of 2012's hotly-tipped acts <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/introducing-grimes.html">before she was even featured for 'Introducing...'</a> Canada's <b>Grimes</b>, or Claire Boucher as she's known when not concocting pop futurism, released a curious but captivating video for the second single from her major-label debut, <i>Visions</i> (<a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/review-grimes-visions-my-best-fiend-in.html">handily reviewed here</a>). Featuring Boucher miming in a variety of sports arenas in a series of fluffed takes, or with man-boys in various states of undress, makes for some fun viewing. Perhaps used to complicate the stereotypically girly image of the female pop singer, her hipster 'look' is at once frustrating and charmingly fey.</span></div>
</div>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-46623652833461629942012-05-05T18:27:00.003-07:002012-05-05T18:29:02.704-07:00Reviews: Mystery Jets - Radlands, Patrick Watson - Adventures In Your Own Backyard<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following album reviews originally appeared in print for <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/mag/" style="font-weight: bold;">triple j magazine</a>'s April Issue (no. 60), </span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Mystery Jets - </b></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Radlands</b> </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Rough Trade)</span></u><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Radlands </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">was recorded in Austin, TX and Mystery Jets want you to know it. From a song called 'Lonestar' (obviously) to the lilting blue-eyed country of 'Roses'; the sonic influence of Americana has rubbed off on their considerable knack for penning smart pop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Broadening their approach and ambition, there’s choirs on '<a href="http://soundcloud.com/forcefieldpr/mystery-jets-sister-everett">Sister Everett</a><i>', </i>glam somp for 'Saviour'<i> </i>and the buzzing Britannia allusions of '<a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CFkQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6ZJbMiIRTSg&ei=KNKlT5XgEe6TiQfX4JGfAw&usg=AFQjCNEO_MlL8-wuZfpDTIaYw82jxLDMdA">Greatest Hits</a>'. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It may be their most inconsistent set to date, but it’s all the more interesting for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCzh2GVEw4ZXrP2Rj39eWfmbfC-rkAYQOHq5J3gSCyrlZcfCJCeikbAswIdPcogQk-sY1BLSj5uqPtmPwwrZJAKSfZ-Kj1RWwNLvuwppJMfivrByc_stWSnNvKvtiTkq3RaJkbgE4XK6Jn/s1600/Patrick+Watson+-+Adventures+In+Your+Own+Backyard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCzh2GVEw4ZXrP2Rj39eWfmbfC-rkAYQOHq5J3gSCyrlZcfCJCeikbAswIdPcogQk-sY1BLSj5uqPtmPwwrZJAKSfZ-Kj1RWwNLvuwppJMfivrByc_stWSnNvKvtiTkq3RaJkbgE4XK6Jn/s320/Patrick+Watson+-+Adventures+In+Your+Own+Backyard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<u style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Patrick Watson - <i>Adventures In Your Own Backyard</i></b> (Domino)</u><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Little has progressed in the musical world of the Canadian singer/songwriter, but that’s no bad thing. Despite recording exclusively in his Montreal apartment, his third LP possesses his typically sweeping musical elegance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">His uniquely haunting falsetto populating intimate chamber hymnals (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghaCkGMhWF4">The Quiet Crowd</a>) and lush arrangements alike (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R23bifAbWWs">Lighthouse</a>). There’s a cinematic quality too, from the <b>Sufjan Stevens</b>-meets-<b>Ennio Morricone</b> of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDYe1F4zI4">title track</a> to the closing instrumental, '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYf2-GDrdCY">Swimming Pools</a>', sounding like a <i>Donnie Darko </i>migrant. In a word: beautifully evocative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F37602689" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/patrick-watson-into-giants">Patrick Watson - Into Giants</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco">DominoRecordCo</a></span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-1391890148591955062012-05-03T19:38:00.002-07:002012-05-03T19:38:55.181-07:00Introducing... Eliza Hull<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5rndBOAo5so8fTQWFUxyW8BmX_v168KBB1FInJu_LAPmo4pk2h7tskYXpGXSa_T3HDyHiiXiuvRVRFXspj5eazz7e_daFSGSlE1E3dyREu8AZAUg0NFc7d0PpKqCtzl7wzp9TwTATbAu/s1600/Eliza+Hull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5rndBOAo5so8fTQWFUxyW8BmX_v168KBB1FInJu_LAPmo4pk2h7tskYXpGXSa_T3HDyHiiXiuvRVRFXspj5eazz7e_daFSGSlE1E3dyREu8AZAUg0NFc7d0PpKqCtzl7wzp9TwTATbAu/s1600/Eliza+Hull.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ms. Hull is ready for her proverbial close-up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Though she's been toiling away at her craft for nearly three years now, the arrival of Eliza Hull's forthcoming EP </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dawn </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">heralds her formal arrival on the music scene. First coming to my attention as a founding member of local music blog </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://largenoises.com/">Large Noises</a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, a music website that films original clips of local and international acts, </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/28987545" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eliza Hull herself was later showcased on the site</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a>Stand-alone single <a href="http://soundcloud.com/showoffservices/sets/five-eliza-hull" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'Five</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' followed soon after, demonstrating bother her strong lyrical storytelling as well as her interesting musical palette. Her debut EP, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dawn, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">follows Hull's ability to weave lyrical narratives. She takes a more practical approach to songwriting than most, after receiving a government grant (</span><a href="http://artstartgrant.com.au/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Australia Council's ARTSTART</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">), Hull spent the year travelling, teaching and - as part of a creative writing course - inking poetry and lyrics. The influence of her experiences is brought to bear on her music, itself an eclectic mix of moody, downtempo tunes balancing lush instrumentation with elements of eletronica.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Centered around her vocals that balance the character of lilting songstress with smoky chanteuse, there's a trip-hop streak to her sound too, with lead single '</span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/showoffservices/without-words" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without Words</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">' chanelling </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Portishead</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s stinging noire guitars against sampled strings and harps reminiscent of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Björk</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s nineties output. Elsewhere '<a href="http://soundcloud.com/showoffservices/saturation">Saturation</a>' employs warm horns and a steady march that climax into a drum-and-bass-lite coda of 'it's not raining/it's pouring'.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />More importantly, Hull's mature music bucks the trend of the 'fey-girl-with-pretty-music' cliché that seems to be the sticking point of many emerging female acts. Already surrounding herself with strong collaborators and a production team to properly articulate her musical world, Eliza Hull is definitely one to keep an ear on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dawn </i>is officially released on May 20 through Showoff Services</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and Eliza Hull will be playing <a href="http://www.thetoffintown.com/shows/">The Toff In Town</a> for the EP launch. Tix through <a href="http://www.moshtix.com.au/Event.aspx?id=55679&pLock=&vip=&skin=&ref=">MoshTix</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>May 31: </b>The Toff In Town, Melbourne VIC</span><br />
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</div>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-17435761866994610722012-04-29T20:27:00.000-07:002012-04-29T20:29:18.845-07:00"We didn't have to push anything really..." Interview: The Rubens<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This interview was originally conducted for, and </span><a href="http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/features/interviews/153637/rubens-2.htm" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">published by, Tone Deaf</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It's reproduced here in its entirety.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMKxk4YIHY_hn8A-1A_keY6yzsCNG6t2U_TUg8BvL2Gpi3iyanyew0ssBRWF6sLtAZFHfAF7o8sEOgiZdvqxqTEBxEdYY9UDUerVib2JiREGchaLmTas7r2dhZsd2RowrwJQkQYdrklUX/s1600/the+rubens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMKxk4YIHY_hn8A-1A_keY6yzsCNG6t2U_TUg8BvL2Gpi3iyanyew0ssBRWF6sLtAZFHfAF7o8sEOgiZdvqxqTEBxEdYY9UDUerVib2JiREGchaLmTas7r2dhZsd2RowrwJQkQYdrklUX/s1600/the+rubens.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll’ sang
the legendary Bon Scott. Nobody, it seems, told </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Rubens</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />That or they’re harbouring the most well-kept shortcut to
fever-pitch exposure in Australian music history. Their story is a PR man’s
dream, the fabled rise of three brothers and their childhood friend raised in
the isolated town of Menangle, NSW. They knock out a raw slice of bedroom soul
which captures the attention and adulation of national youth radio, cue calls
from internationally renowned producers, a label bidding frenzy and pending fame.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That would be the basic trajectory of The Rubens’ press
sheet. That’s if they actually had one, of course. Never mind the official
recording such bios are usually attached to. The Rubens, have neither. A fact
that makes their swift stratospheric rise all the more baffling. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />At the genesis of their home-grown success story is ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/therubensmusic/01-lay-it-down">Lay ItDown</a>.’ A confidently stripped-back dose of blues rock, its central vocal hook
of ‘it’s you’ phrased with a bruised croon that rotates on a series of downward
guitar stabs and slithering organ. Its heavy airplay on triple j enchanted
listeners enough that it ranked <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/11/countdown/60-41.htm">just outside the top fifty of the station’sHottest 100</a> music poll. An impressive feat for a song that isn’t even available
on iTunes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Similarly, they’ve managed to sell-out their homecoming tour,
including four consecutive nights at the Northcote Social Club. Speaking to the
group before they head on-stage for their third evening, the significance of
their achievement is not lost on them. “Definitely, it’s crazy,” remarks lead
guitarist Zaac Margin, grinning beneath his mop of shaggy blonde hair. “That
all these people have come to hear our music.” adds organ-playing brother
Elliott, “after hearing just ‘Lay It Down’ which was recorded in a bedroom –
yeah, it’s crazy.” Squeezed alongside the brothers on a stooped couch is drummer
Scottie Baldwin, “triple j has done a lot for us, which we’re pretty thankful
for.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“We didn’t have to push anything really…” Zaac ponders aloud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“We haven’t had to do much” concurs Sam Margin, perched adjacent
to the trio on the arm of a second lounge. The band’s de-facto leader, he
speaks with a calm, collected clarity. Though The Rubens have only officially
existed for just over a year, Sam spent time previously as a solo artist. His
experience shows in his down-dressing of the hype, “we’re not that well-known,
people are just curious what it’s about. I think the fact that we went away to
America to start our album, just as all the hype happened; It kind of left this
mystery around us, this anticipation which helped us sell this tour. People
want to see what’s going on. They’re not just sitting through all these other
songs so they can hear ‘Lay It Down’ at the end” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />For better or worse, it remains the sticking point of every
conversation concerning the quartet, were they surprised that it would come to
define them? “We thought, ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/thezedmiester/the-rubens-my-gun">My Gun</a>’ if anything, was going to be the single, but
at that point we had no idea how we were going to get triple j to listen to it.”
Alongside ‘<a href="http://www.triplejunearthed.com/GetFile/727754/Cowboy%20Song.mp3">Cowboy Song</a>’, it was one of <a href="http://www.triplejunearthed.com/TheRubens">three tracks uploaded to Unearthed</a>, but
as it happened, “one day they picked ‘Lay It Down’ – we didn’t even know they
were going to play it, that’s what they chose and they smashed it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It’s the kind of ‘big break’ story that has <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDUQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.messandnoise.com%2Fnews%2F4451943&ei=TgWeT_yDDOKsiAfiirjIDg&usg=AFQjCNEvP7gqOqie8wDTidre8b02VsbKXg">seen criticismsteered triple j’s way, specifically Richard Kingsmill’s role</a>, with Unearthed
poised a gauntlet that ‘makes or breaks’ young acts with unchecked power. The
quartet weren’t privy to the media coverage, having spent the better part of
the year in New York recording their debut, but “fair enough” Sam admits, “I
guess they do have a ridiculous amount of power in Australia of what bands
break and we’re a great example of it; but I don’t see how that’s a negative.
It could just be people who didn’t get that who are pissed off. The thousands
that didn’t get picked up, but the reality is it would be even harder if it
wasn’t for Unearthed. They still wouldn’t have made it. It would’ve been the
same story, but they have someone to blame now.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Is Margin senior saying that triple j simply accelerated
their fast-track to success? When pressed, he cautiously counters, “oh, I can’t
say we definitely would have got this far if it wasn’t for triple j, it
might’ve taken five years or we might not have ever got there; but we got a
break. But it is definitely a way of fast-tracking your career, it skips a
level. We skipped about twenty levels in the last year. We have played crappy,
little shows… but we didn’t have to do it for years. That’s what triple j did
for us. Within a week of ‘Lay It Down’ being played, we didn’t have to worry
about that anymore.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />A similar level of luck surrounds the circumstances that
found them winding up working in New York with heavyweight producer Dave Kahne,
whose CV includes <b>Paul McCartney</b>, <b>Regina Spektor</b> and <b>The Strokes</b>. Originally
they’d planned to record locally “do it with Tunza [Dean, engineer] down the
south coast” explains sticksman Baldwin, “then he went over to France, on a
scholarship, where he met David and basically dropped our tracks to him… and the
facilities we had to record. Just amazing.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />A mantra Kahne soon had the band reciting was ‘make your
third album, your first album.’ </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“He kept saying that to us” recalls Sam,
“because the third album is often <i>huge</i>, [going] stadium rock at that
point. We’re not trying to do that, to a certain extent I agree, but then it
still needs to sound like we’re new. It’s not going over the top, still keeping
our roots but somehow making it stand out from all the other ‘first albums’ you
hear.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />He plucks his words with consideration, but the impression
that there’s an ambitious streak to their gameplan is undeniable. “I consider ‘Lay It
Down’ the lo-fi introduction to The Rubens for everyone. We’re not trying to
revive the blues with the same old instruments and sounds, put it to tape,
we’re quite open to making it more ambitious and contemporary and now I’m
thinking we have to take it up to the next level.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Having already ‘skipped twenty,’ Margin begins to wax
inadvertently about international success, “We didn’t get a big, heavyweight
producer to <i>not </i>utilise him either, he is ridiculously musically
talented. He knows how to work structures, make singles and make stuff work to
translate to the American market. We were trying to do a lot of that as well,
it was a big thing to tackle, but that’s the reason we went to work with him.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />As if on cue, Michael Gudinski, the legendary Mushroom
records mogul himself, has crept into the room. Though already recently signed
to Ivy League records, his presence alone confirms the intense interest in The
Rubens crossing over to the mainstream. That they’re soon to outgrow their
perception as a ‘triple j band.’ Despite the commercial ambition, the serious
attention, the sell-out shows, the hyperbole and buzz – they’re just trying to,
as they put it, “put a new spin on something that’s old.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Seems hard to believe
given their circumstances, but as the interview comes to close, allowing
Gudinski full audience with the group; two members exit for the bathroom,
inquiring aloud, “who’s that guy!?” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />It seems they may still be just four lads from
rural New South Wales after all. You can take the boy out of Menangle…</span></div>
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<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F42123339">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F42123339" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/therubensmusic/01-lay-it-down">Lay It Down</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/therubensmusic">therubensmusic</a>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-25395162488797131792012-04-26T18:58:00.001-07:002012-04-26T18:59:02.081-07:00Big Scary - Live @ The Corner, April 24<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqywjq3KWRP8QxI3hcbxzEXqNHvPph0sf57sGkC-oAOO_MEpDh15aQ_C94sXQvca1fQ09Yb0n6BIK_mK-rD4_RalyyEkVY6O_bJL0CIwvyFDQRPo7i6wF3Rox6uu7Pn9tbd_zslKOT-0f/s1600/Big+Scary+NYC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqywjq3KWRP8QxI3hcbxzEXqNHvPph0sf57sGkC-oAOO_MEpDh15aQ_C94sXQvca1fQ09Yb0n6BIK_mK-rD4_RalyyEkVY6O_bJL0CIwvyFDQRPo7i6wF3Rox6uu7Pn9tbd_zslKOT-0f/s400/Big+Scary+NYC.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following a confidently rich set from the six-strong <b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/MosmanAlder">Mosman Adler</a></b>, <b>Big Scary</b>’s other handpicked support act supplied his brand of synth-pop.
The bespectacled man in question, <b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GeoffreyOConnorMusic">Geoffrey O’Connor</a></b>, along with his three piece
band, settled for laconically swaying to the bona fide eighties vibe of his
solo record </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vanity Is Forever</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> than excite the record. He may have
sounded authentic, but seriously lacked in the energy stakes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />There was the familiar buzz of sawing synths, hopping
basslines and even drum pads nicked straight from <b>Phil Collins</b> (or the intro to
<i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plJbeUWiJhM#t=0m9s">Art Attack</a></i>). <i><a href="http://soundcloud.com/geoffreyoconnor/whatever-leads-me-to-you-1">Whatever Leads Me To You</a> </i>mined a fine pulse in its
<b>New Order</b> hooks, but soon succumbed to its cool affectation. Though the
blue-light new wave of O’Connor’s album works well at home, on-stage, it
translates as ‘music to pout by.’ </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />A duet with his keyboardist skirting perilously close to a
karaoke parody. Ironic or not, the sight of the two engaging in a mock embrace
before standing mawkishly at front of stage was awkward. Overall, it was more
<b>Berlin</b>’s <i>Take My Breath Away </i>than <b>Depeche Mode</b>’s <i>Violator</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Though Melbourne duo Big Scary have graced the Corner’s
hallowed stage countless times as a support act, tonight marks “the first time
we’ve played last,” notes Tom Iansek, opening proceedings alone at the guitar
with newly returned “studio beard,” his bronzed falsetto in fine form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Rejuvenated from their American sojourn playing dates at
SXSW, Canadian Music Week and their first international headline slot in New
York; the pair of Iansek and Jo Syme (Melbourne’s Coolest Female Drummer<sup>TM</sup>)
are nothing if not creatively restless. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Though they settled into a masterly mode of delicate introspection
for <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/2011-end-of-year-celebrations-top-20_06.html">debut album <i>Vacation</i></a>, their full bag of tracks includes explosive
garage rock, finely polished piano pop and more than a few stripped-back duets.
A feat all the more convincing when performed with just two bodies on stage.
Though they’ve transcended the early sonic comparisons to <b>The White Stripes</b>,
they still share the magical ability to generate, bottle and subsequently
unleash terrific bursts of energy as much as evoke poignant reflection.
Tonight, on the first of two sold-out shows, they provide both - as well as a
handful of impressive new tracks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Following the rousing march of <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gaga-digi/sets/big-scary-autumn">‘Autumn’</a> and the scale-tastic
‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bigscary/big-scary-mix-tape">Mix Tape</a>’ we are treated to the first of the fresh material. The deep
melancholic chords of ‘Secrets’ lap against Syme’s hip-hop worthy shuffle as
the pair coo “your mouth was open/but you waited for too long.” Another newbie
finds Iansek strumming big flanged guitar chords straight out of <b>Link Wray</b>’s
‘<a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDYQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dbjs5QWjvNWc&ei=ZfuZT5X_EqmaiQeGv5GzDg&usg=AFQjCNGtp-TIW0HxgzDX4YgukFLeDBSR4w">Rumble</a>’ against a stripped-back rolling drum pattern. Stylistically it
suggests <b>Springsteen</b>’s <i>Nebraska </i>has been getting a workout on the tour
stereo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Latest single ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bigscary/leaving-home">Leaving Home</a>’ is a set highlight, the duo
sharing a warm smile after reaching its cathartic apex featuring Iansek’s <b>Jeff
Buckley-</b>worthy wail. Also tapping into Buckley’s 'Dream Brother' for another
new song entitled 'Belgian Blues', Iansek encouraging some “wolf howling” to
buoy its enigmatic shapes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The final half of
their set features a slower take on fan favourite ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bigscary/bad-friends">Bad Friends</a>,’ and the
fragile, hypnotic ‘Of Desire;’ juxtaposing the slow-burn introspection favoured
by their debut with their louder, rockier material. Namely, the <b>Zeppelin</b>-esque corners
of ‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/gaga-digi/big-scary-tuesday-is-rent-day-1">Tuesday Is Rent Day</a>,’ and the infectious blues groove of ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQcIjip_m3E">Purple</a>.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />With their strictly ‘no encores’ policy, the pair close with
‘<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bigscary/gladiator">Gladiator</a>,’ perhaps their most well-known and loved song, combining their
passion for intelligent songcraft with a visceral performance. It summarises
all of the group’s best qualities, musical and otherwise, in just three-ish
minutes and provides a fitting end to another splendid evening with one of
Melbourne’s finest musical duos.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/H4GAK92u_f8" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UejgxtaL6-U" width="560"></iframe>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531757192619385221.post-14806149121726917652012-04-25T23:56:00.000-07:002012-04-25T23:57:01.666-07:00Review: Battles - Dross Glop<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another album review for <a href="http://www.beat.com.au/music/battle-dross-glop">Beat </a>street press, originally available both in-print and also <a href="http://www.beat.com.au/music/battle-dross-glop">online</a>. Reproduced here for the AMR'ers.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NKb_AA3pxhptYACNtnaVbhl1OGhNvcuiw7hg2yJugkgIGUHXKVN7m2hEtb9KtFKQZgqqPNglcUejD6FoDXaWGBEwHCBUXw9h_6xEJxrfETCo2BgCtdD9vMhfAHkXEwcgbxyuRwxVkUcx/s1600/Battles+-+Dross+Glop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NKb_AA3pxhptYACNtnaVbhl1OGhNvcuiw7hg2yJugkgIGUHXKVN7m2hEtb9KtFKQZgqqPNglcUejD6FoDXaWGBEwHCBUXw9h_6xEJxrfETCo2BgCtdD9vMhfAHkXEwcgbxyuRwxVkUcx/s1600/Battles+-+Dross+Glop.jpg" /></a></div>
<u style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Battles</b> – <i>Dross Glop</i> (Inertia, 2012) </u><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://alsmusicrant.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/battles-live-forum-big-day-out-sideshow.html">unique rumble of Brooklyn art-funk-fusion outfit</a> <b>Battles</b> has always been begging to be remixed. Now, thanks to the sweeping success of their sophomore album, the un-spoonerised <i>Gloss Drop</i>, their music undergoes a full makeover. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having been handpicked by the trio themselves, the sheer variety of producers and beat-makers on offer reflects the group’s eclectic tastes. Much how its source material employed a global panorama of collaborators (eletro godfather <b>Gary Numan</b>, Chilean originalé <b>Matias Aguayo</b>), <i>Dross Glop</i> similarly features artists from all over the musical world. Sweden, Berlin and Japan all get a look in, while Brazil’s <b>Gui Baratto</b> gives a deep disco flicker to '<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bugra-senyoruk/battles-wall-street-gui">Wall Street'</a>, while Scotsman <b>Hudson Mohawke</b> embellishes '<a href="http://soundcloud.com/copio/rolls-bayce-hudson-mohawke">Rolls Bayce</a>' with his brand of wonky beats. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The problem, for better or worse, is that many of these new versions play closer to the spirit of the artists mixing them than the muscular approach to experimental rock that serves as their blueprint. For instance, <b>Kangding Ray</b>’s deep trance take on '<a href="http://soundcloud.com/mrlutto/toddler-kangding-ray-remix">Toddler</a>' or the heavily cyclic house of '<a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEYQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbttls.com%2Fdross-glop-1-sweetie-shag-the-field-remix%2F&ei=IfGYT-fuIdObiQf007DtBQ&usg=AFQjCNHgzST3PWjIbbIuU_7jazdtxiWxzA">Sweetie & Shag</a>' from <b>The Field</b> will certainly appeal to their respective fan-base, but are completely unrecognisable renditions to fans of Battles. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Arguably, the very people this record is for.
Many of these remixes alienate the most important element of Battles’ music: complex rhythm; with John Stanier’s titanic drumming all but removed from the majority of them. There are exceptions, such as <b>Gang Gang Dance</b>’s stripping back '<a href="http://soundcloud.com/myblogcliche/battles-ice-cream-brian-degraw">Ice Cream</a>' to its percussive core, or cult hip hop act <b>Shabazz Palaces</b> spitting psychedelic over the warped lines of '<a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CFwQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbttls.com%2Fdross-glop-2-white-electric-shabazz-palaces-remix%2F&ei=XPGYT_jLKe2ViAeslqmDBg&usg=AFQjCNGPqwtNxkXOEAuAlf_Hf5D8d0G79g">White Electric</a>'. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Both demonstrate that the best of these mixes, are those that look at their originals from a skewed perspective rather than rewriting their foundations.
</span>
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F43761385" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/synth-glasgow/battles-rolls-bayce-hudson">Battles - Rolls Bayce (Hudson Mohawke remix)</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/synth-glasgow">Synth.</a>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607623915024418979noreply@blogger.com0