"an unknown life-force that nobody could stop"

Just a quick note before we begin (see what I did there?), but this post marks the hundredth in my illustrious career as an amateur blogger. Can hardly believe it's been so many, I guess time flys when you're having fun. Or when you're writing passionately (and hopefully informatively) about something you love. Well just a quick thank you to all, thanks for all the visits, I can only hope you've enjoyed each and every one of them, in which case - here's to another 100!

Onward.

So Big Scary can do no wrong, they finished up their Winter launch at the Toff last Sat and due to perform the Sydney equivalent this Friday. If you're still hankering for more though, I've uploaded my full interview with strummer Tom Iansek, the resultant article of which was printed in Beat last week and is still available to view online. But for those of us who dislike word counts and cohesion, here is that same interview in full. 

Like last time I had a chinwag with them, it was on the eve of another headline show, conducted a week before the Toff gig, Iansek discusses touring, recording Winter and what's next for Melbourne's best independent band ((c) AMR 2010). Enjoy.

Al's Music Rant: Congrats on Winter, it’s another successful expansion of your sound. Following on from the acoustic style of Autumn, was there a certain style or influence towards this new set?

T: I suppose it was more of a chance for these influences that we’ve always had to come through, especially the Bon Iver influence, both Jo and I are massive fans. This set was more the kind of music that I like to listen to, so the Winter tracks are probably my favourite tracks that we’ve done. I really like the mood and the introverted feel that’s there. It’s more the kind of music I like to listen to.

AMR: It definitely contrasts more to Autumn, there’s a lot more going on in terms of layers and sound, it’s not something that’s going to be easy to recreate live.

T: Yeah, we’ve been having that problem already, we did a few shows with Midlake where they wanted only the laidback acoustic tracks and so we really had the problem of ‘do we go down the path of samplers and those sort of effects to create the sound that we’ve done on the recording; or do we just stick with the true two-piece thing and work with that. We stuck with the two-piece thing, and Jo was quite adamant about that. It worked out pretty well

AMR: Do you feel like adding samplers and things would detract from what was exciting about the duo to begin with?

T: Well, with samplers, once you hear a sound that isn’t coming directly from the stage you begin to question, ‘well what is actually being played?’ It was that which we wanted to avoid, and also I suppose we clung steadily to the two-piece.

AMR: It works

T: (laughs) yeah, its worked for us so far, so why stop now? we’re happy to have the recordings slightly different, break the rule for the recordings and that was the aim for the Four Seasons project. Just have a bit of fun and experiment a bit. There’s no reason to limit yourself in the studio

AMR: You recorded at Jo’s Place, what was the impetus for that?

T: So it might have been the first day of winter actually, it was rainy and cold and… it was just perfect. Because for time reasons we had to record Autumn in summer and that didn’t really feel right, but it was really nice to record Winter in winter. And it was recorded at Jo’s parents’ house, they’ve got this beautiful old upright that we play on when we rehearse there, and we’re quite picky about our piano sounds. That was the sound we wanted for the recording, so we just got the gear into the living room and away we went.

AMR: You’ve mentioned that before, about how the space in which your recording has as much character as the writing and anything else.

T: (enthusiastically) yeah, yeah, it’s definitely what I’ve been learning, trying to impart a lot of the character of these instruments and these rooms into the recording. Especially when there’s so few elements, there’s only two of us, there’s only so many layers to these tracks so we’ve really got to make them count.

AMR: And that stems back to the Bon Iver thing, the myth-making where he goes to a cabin and records these songs.

T: Yeah, there’s sort of that, that sort of mystical element to it.

AMR: The Front Room Recordings

T: Yeah, that home-made, lo-fi kind of feel and it’s just a bit more tangible, more character, more real. We try and do that with all our recordings, even the rockier tracks. It definitely comes through a lot more with these sorts of introspective songs. 

AMR: How has that been translating to the live show? Are you trying to keep balance between the older and newer material?

T: We still like to mix it up a little bit, we definitely tailor it to the time and the place. These Midlake shows were all laidback, acoustic, chilled-out tracks.

AMR: Did you get the beard going?

T: I did have a bit of a beard going, it paled in comparison to the Midlake beards – some of those are pretty wild.

I guess in the future we’d like to have a bit more of a mix live, and moreso just for contrast. The contrast between the two generally makes for a more exciting show, I find.

Definitely something we want to take further, but it's a fine balance between holding people’s attention and just getting carried away and trying to play people everything. You have to craft your set-list in order to pull it off properly.

AMR: You’ve been supporting a slew of high-profile local and international acts, how have the performances been?

T: It’s been amazing, The Vasco Era was a pretty intense tour for us: 16 dates in 4 weeks. It was the first time we really have done anything like that and it was a steep learning curve. I think The Vasco Era are such a great act to do it with because there’s such an amazing live band. We learned a lot from them, a lot of tricks I suppose.

AMR: How to get a bigger rider.

T: Yeah, that’s it, even things like developing a bit of a taste for playing covers. They’d often just jam out for an hour or two if they had a chance at the end of their set just playing all these covers. So since then, there’s a few covers we’ve got up our sleeve. Which is more just good to have on hand. Just for fun. It turned the live show into something that was a pressure situation into something that was more about having fun and relaxing. Which was a big step I think for us, so now there isn’t so much stress in the live performance, more about enjoying the moment.

It’s funny you should say that, because it seems like you have been touring non-stop at this front half of the year, you’re obviously very aware about reaching different audiences and different spaces.

There’s no better way to learn than just get out there and play and play. And play some more.

AMR: Can you name some highlights?

T: I think the Melbourne show at the Corner with The Vasco Era, actually all the Melbourne shows have been amazing. Like the show at Prince with Little Red, that was also fantastic. And Prince again, with Midlake was another great show. They’ve been the highlights for us. There’s just been great nights, we’ve never known Melbourne audiences to be this way. We’ve just done little indie gigs for years when there’s fifteen, twenty people in a room, standing in the back nodding along. It’s a different Melbourne with a room of 900 people. But also appreciative, I mean Little Red compared to Midlake – same room, but there’s people at Little Red jumping around, going crazy as opposed to the same number where the room’s just completely silent, standing there and listening intently to what you’re playing. Pretty amazing experiences.

AMR:That’s obviously the advantage of these support slots too is that you get to play all these great venues

T: That’s it, and again, without the pressure of…

AMR: Filling It?

T: Yeah, filling it, just relax and play.

AMR: You’re still a relatively young band but you already have a large catalogue to your name, and the EPs have been a great way to give audiences samples of what you’ve been up to; but is there still a back catalogue that you plan on releasing or are you keen to keep moving forward with the writing?

T: The next step is the album, and we’ve been demoing tracks for the album, and trying to demo all this back catalogue of songs we have just lying around. At this point we’re undecided about whether we want to release all those, or just new stuff or a mix of both. We definitely want to have a bit more direction to the album compared to the Four Seasons which has just been an excuse to play anything, go with the flow a bit and record whatever’s come to us. I think it’ll just take a bit more time to figure out where we wanna go with the album. Definitely a lot more writing and hopefully it’ll have a mix of our better old songs and some good new stuff.

Mid late next year album

AMR: And with the Four Seasons compilation, is that literally going to be the EPs back-to-back?

T: Yeah, we played around with the tracklisting and it worked best grouped together, there’s a natural flow to it still that way, and you can see it takes you on a bit of a journey from start to finish.

AMR: How did you come to collaborate with Laura Taylor on the artwork?

T: Jo found her on MySpace, MySpace Art I think. Just surfing around there was just hoards of amazing artists, and this one caught Jo’s eye. She’s just a nineteen year old from up in Gosford. She’s a very talented girl.

AMR: Speaking of which, you’ve also had a lot of videos produced in association with the songs, how did that come about?

T: Much like the artwork it’s been a bit of an experimentation process, just trying different things here and there, working with various people. It’s been fun and rewarding for the most part.

AMR: Now the scary question. You’ve released everything independently so far, has there been interest from any labels?

T: There’s been interest from labels but we’re at the point now where we feel we can do everything that a label can do for us in Australia. So we’re really hoping to stay independent. It’s a lot more work, but it’s also a lot more rewarding. Also in terms of being able to support ourselves financially, that’s quite an important point because if we can have more time to make music it’ll make for better results. So we went to head down the independent path as best we can.

AMR: It’s obviously a big issue facing lots of bands, not just in Australia.

T: Well yeah, a lot of bands don’t have the option. They just need the financial backing of a label to get them on the road and get them in the studio, to get their work out there. We’re lucky that we’re a two-piece and our costs are so low, we can be in and out of the studio really quickly. We can have both of us and all our gear in one car to get around the country. We’ve actually improved our stacking to the point where the passenger seat can recline almost fully, we’ve got it down to quite an art.

AMR: What can we expect from the sit-down shows for Winter?

T: It’s a very different experience to our regular show, it’ll be just laid-back and we hope to create a different mood. I guess intimacy’s the buzz word, we wanted it sit-down so the audience could relax – not to chat and stand around – but more formal and relaxed.

AMR: Does that mean you exclude the ‘rockier’ material?

T: That won’t be in there, it’ll be all the quieter stuff. 

AMR: And what happens after that? Gearing up towards Spring?

T: So after that we’re pretty quiet through to about October/November, another national tour that hasn’t been announced yet. Pretty full-on from October onwards.

It’s mostly exciting, we’re really excited to be able to play at Falls, and Southbound and Peats Ridge. It’s also… I’ve never been to one of those festivals before. A great way to spend the summer.

AMR: Obviously Spring is next, what can we expect from that collection?

T: Spring is much more light-hearted, upbeat. The title track is just an acoustic number, I tried to imagine what spring would be like as a person, and for some reason I just pictured this person as super-arrogant and better than all the other seasons. To the point of annoyance, which was the vibe of that track. Jo wrote the track that’ll be the single, and that’s a bit more rock, a bit Jeff Buckley rock as much as I don’t like to use those terms.

AMR: How do you feel where you are with the band, as you’ve said it’s been a very busy six months. Do you want to just plow on through, growing with the band and the audiences?

T: Well the first six months were so full-on we didn’t have a chance to think about what was happening, and these months at the moment have been a bit quieter and I’ve had a chance to think about what’s been happening. It’s sort of a mixed reaction, it’s odd to think that I’m out there trying to make it as a musician. I find that as a bit of an odd concept, it’s almost like trying to be a sports star. It’s too much fun, it’s nice that people want to hear your music and hear what you have to say, the tunes you’re writing and things are moving along so well, we’ve got such great momentum happening now. From here, it’s just a matter of going with it.

 

and thus concludes the 100th (!) post. If Triple J did one of them Hot polls now, it'd be fairly easy to choose eh?

Where have you been?

The Fringe show is rumbling away, to be sure to be sure, but if you can't wait to get a comedy fix. May I highlight my involvement with The Melbourne Uni Comedy Law Revue.

It's an annual live sketch comedy show put on to raise money for charity and it's gauranteed some big laughs and great times. There's definitely some great music gags and some even greater non-music gags. So do get along.

Check out the promo below and book online to enrich your life no end. 

In the meantime we return to regular broadcasting, dancing about architecture.

The Morning Benders - Big Echo (Rough Trade, 2010)

There’s a poem that adorns the sleeve for Big Echo that goes “shouting into a valley/big shout: big echo/small shout: small echo,” well if it wasn’t already obvious, The Morning Benders are now attempting their big shout.

After the Shins-alike lo-fi of their debut Talking Through Tin Cans, their all important sophomore effort is a much bolder step to an all-canvassing sound with a confident delivery. Opener Excuses being the aural manifest of their new ambition and a deceptively epic tune. A preamble of crackling vinyl before orchestral flourishes and harmonies befitting of Pet Sounds rub alongside a breezy Californian strum. In fact the entire first half, or ‘Side A’ as the liner notes would have it, is an accessible mesh of atmospheric indie-pop tinged with… well calling it psychedelic might be a stretch, but there’s certainly a lot of studio embellishment involved. Promises and Pleasure Sighs aspire to the same peaks as that delicious opener, albeit with slightly different musical blueprints.

‘Side B’ finds the band letting their already laidback approach unwind even further, and in so doing, the likes of Mason Jar and Stitches contain the ring and experimental amble of Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest. It should come as little surprise then to find Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor helping out with production duties to make the sunny disposition and the highbrow musicianship meet. As the cavernous album highlight Hand Me Downs demonstrates, this is what The Morning Benders, and particularly Big Echo, does best. Any one of its ten cuts could slot nicely alongside a playlist involving such hip revivalists as Animal Collective, Vampire Weekend and Yeasayer without your iTunes blinking twice.

Whether you hold Big Echo dear comes down to that age-old question of innovation: sure The Morning Benders may not be pioneers, but their music stands proudly alongside its influences, they do what they do very well even if they didn’t get their first.

Hear album opener Excuses here and get a free download of Promises for the cost of your email at the band's website.

Perfume Genius - Learning (Matador, 2010)

The term ‘personal songwriting’ seems like an increasingly quaint thing to talk about these days, sure there are still ‘confessional’ songs and ‘intimate’ music, but in an age dominated by social networking and mass media – the personal seems to be an increasingly rare commodity. If that’s the case, then Perfume Genius’ stock is valuable indeed.

Make no mistake, Learning is nothing if not personal. The recording name for one Mike Hadreas, its ten tracks are the result of months spent holed up in his mother’s house in Washington with nought but an old piano, some dinky synths and a whole lot of exorcising.

With its ghostly piano and lo-fi aesthetic, it’s the sound of someone baring their soul set to music, but what is a potentially uncomfortable, emotionally wrought experience is offset by its melodic simplicity and shimmering textural layers. Hadreas’ gentle falsetto trembling between the ether created by the shivering piano and synths that dominate the album.

At times it imagines Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne as a stark troubadour or Sufjan Stevens at his most intimate, in particular Illionis’ touching John Wayne Gacy Jr. Perfume Genius likewise tackles taboo topics, with an alchemy at work that transforms his controversial topics into stirring stuff indeed.

The story-driven narrative of Mr. Peterson should be enough to make your skin crawl, tackling as it does the love between a naive high-school boy and his teacher, “He let me smoke weed in his truck/if I could convince him I loved him enough”. But Handreas renders it with such humanity as to make it tender portraiture, “he made me a tape of Joy Division… when I was 16 he jumped off a building/…I hope there’s room for you up above or down below.”

The rest of Learning is tinged with a similar poignant complexity, though it’s not always explicitly stated there’s a veiled sense of danger and decay lurking behind the lo-fi surface. Lookout Lookout’s uncomplicated arpeggio hook belies its urgency to “lookout, lookout/there are murders about.” Likewise Perry whose closing couplets intone “we may never see you again/whatever good is left/put your trust in it.” Sometimes it doesn’t even take words to transmit its pathos. Gay Angels reaches an almost transcendental state with vocals wafting unanchored over reverberated echoes before settling into a raspy mantra of ‘shhh shhh It’s ok.”

As the title suggests, it’s as much an experience for Hadreas’ as a songsmith as it is for the listener. Some parts of Learning are like audio sketches, half-finished and in the process of emerging but distinguishable none-the-less. In fact the record is smeared with the sound of bruised guilt transcended. As if the tangible pain of its various characters and narrators has transformed their emotional damage into an up-lifting haze of attrition.

It’s a unique and discernable style that’ll ensure Perfume Genius’ debut as the kind of pure, brutally honest recording that tends to skip its potentially pretentious moors to reach a cult audience appreciative of its bravery.

Listen to Mr. Petersen here and then you can download the title track from Matador here

And my currently listening list in visuals:

Gayngs - Relayted

Tickets Please

(EDIT: So got another review up on the Beat website for y'all Here We Go Magic's Pigeons
and the Karnivool review has popped up on not one, but two, websites: Beat again, and a new website I'm penning for now called Word On the Street, an emerging arts and events type place. Check it out. S'real good.)

The Fringe show continues to fester and grow, but I don't want to reveal too much just yet. Just some more cheeky imagery as some food for thought.

Instead, here's a couple of reviews for some swell gigs recently. I often find that good concerts come in groups. There'll be nothing for months, then all of a sudden, two or three totally unique but equally awesome shows will roll round. This was one of those times.

Apologies in advance too for the lack of live photography, I'm a wrtier not a shooter, though i'm starting to think maybe bringing a digital camera to gigs might be prove to be better than nothing...

Kimbra - Live @ The Toff In Town, Sat July 10th

The small confines of the Toff were the perfect locale for Kimbra’s musical stylings, intimate as it is with the candle-lit cafe tables dotted about and especially the crimson trimmings - all suited to Kimbra’s jazz-inflected soul-pop. When those same red curtains part they reveal Kimbra giddy with energy, ready to go, alongside her four piece backing band, all in matching shirts and suspenders. A tidy visual, but the focus is most definitely on who is fronting them, dolled up in a femme fatale bob and equally natty red frock, is the songstress herself.

Tonight sees her showcasing tunes from her hotly-anticipated debut Vows, a record that's steadily gathering buzz thanks partly to the names attached to it. Namely Francois Tetaz (Bertie Blackman, Gotye) and M-Phazes (Amerie, Pharoahe Monch), but the surprise is how well her snappily produced recorded output translates to the live setting. Suprising not for lack of experience, even at the tender age of nineteen Kimbra has already been gigging for years, but how her ambitious arrangements crackle with energy in the flesh.

Diving into Cameo Lover, her talented backing band lay the perfect bedrock for Kimbra’s remarkable voice, an elastic timbre that’s comfortable with a variety of acrobatic styles. One moment she’s slyly crooning, emphatically wailing the next. It surely helps that the linchpin of Kimbra’s sound – rhythm – is given near-perfect personification in the brilliant drumming of Stan Bicknell, his muscular tone bringing out the subtle hip-hop backbone as well as the natural groove to Kimbra’s compositions.

Good Intent too brings out the infectious vibe of her music, as well as the crowd, who quickly fill the space in front of the stage with a mass of nodding heads and swaying hips. The escapist soul-hop of Settle Down, the lead single from that same forthcoming debut, follows. Its cut-up singing phrasing and melody wins over any lingering doubters in the audience. It’s easy to enjoy Kimbra’s music when she so clearly relishes it herself, with her band providing such a solid base it gives her the freedom to focus on her singing. When it comes to her voice, it’s not just about her technique but more importantly character and expression. Each cooing phrase or strained yelp is met with the same level of enthusiasm, losing herself in the music. A feeling all the more offset by the self-conscious girl between songs, modest about her own performance and fawningly thanking the crowd.

The shimmering Two Way Street follows, a shimmering highlight with starry-eyed keyboards and a lovelorn emotional core, it’s melodic hooks sinking deep. Plain Gold Ring meanwhile allows Ms. K to flex her vocal acrobatics, firstly with her trusty loop pedal – harmonising and layering rhythmic phrases – before letting her voice sail over peaking melismatic phrases and the full force of her ensemble.

Next comes Limbo, apparently a newie, but you’d never know it if it hadn’t been announced beforehand, it’s just as slickly rehearsed as the rest of the set, riding its urgent polyrhythm to excellent results. On Withdraw that Jeff Buckley influence bubbles to the surface, simmering as it does over a neat 6/4 beat, but again as always with the soulful grain of her voice, it’s as likely to throw up comparisons to Amy Winehouse or Camille. Reaching a mean climax of soaring band harmonies it segues into the equally effective Break, closing the set on a high note, a taut collection of songs that exhibit Kimbra as star-in-waiting. Kudos must go to her slick band for realising her ambitious arrangements, but as a writer, singer and performer - to Kimbra go the spoils. Even if her modest, somewhat naive persona is glaringly obvious between tunes, when she’s in the moment – whether it's the defiant swooping chorus of Settle Down or exploring her melodic elasticity on Plain Gold Ring - she’s in her element. And in the presence of such talent, and with Vows just around the corner, it’ll only take a few minor tweaks and before long it might be hard to catch at such an intimate venue as the Toff again.

Enjoy the excellent video for Settle Down below:

Kimbra - Settle Down from Forum5 Recordings on Vimeo.

Karnivool - The Hi-Fi Bar, Thursday July 8th

w/support MM9 & Sleep Parade

Being the final performance of three consecutive sell out shows at Melbourne’s HiFi Bar, this evening’s gig was not without anticipation. But after the previous night being cancelled due to illness there were concerns that tonight’s show would also be rescheduled, thankfully there was no such worry and as floorspace became an increasingly rare commodity, it seems clear everyone got the memo.

Opening proceedings were Melbourne’s own Sleep Parade, who even when playing to a sparse crowd give epics such as Everyday and Weeping Walls their all. Though they’ve already fulfilled great promise with their Things Can Always Change LP, a line-up change and a second album just around the corner could posit them as the next group most likely to “do a Karnivool” themselves. Surely ones to watch.

Less enthusing, were fellow Perth boys MM9. Though they brandish a competent brand of electro-rock, settled somewhere between Pendulum and Sugar Army, their spectacle lacks memorable tunes or engaging hooks. Still, as a warm-up for the main event they get the job done, frontman Dan Sutherland animatedly mashing his sequencer while drummer Ben Ellingworth provides the real visual focus.

It’s clear what people are really here for though, as the Perth group’s only headline shows for the year, Karnivool’s New Day tour is – outside of the Big Day Out earlier in the year – the only chance to see the group flex the musical muscle of their sophomore prog-rock beast, Sound Awake.

Easily one of the best releases of last year, its progressive structures combined with musical intensity and inventiveness catapulted the group to the forefront of the nation’s burgeoning alternative rock scene. A record as dense as it was sprawling, but just how would these complex arrangements translate to the live setting? Very well thanks, would be the short answer – but then Karnivool have never been a band to do things by halves.

Tearing straight into their lead single Set Fire To The Hive, its soon clear that nothing is lost in translation from the studio to stage. If anything, it’s spiky guitar undertow and barrelling drums that mimic a stampede of dinosaurs are given even more girth. With its taxing time signature, primal energy and anthemic appeal it demonstrates a band that needs no warm-up, taut and ready to take the audience along on their epic sonic journeys, dragging them by force if need be. It sets a high standard for the evening that never falters.

Goliath and Simple Boy follow, and in full flight the band are something to behold. Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking’s guitars aren’t split into simple lead and rhythm roles but share an exhaustive amount of work that even includes glockenspiel and electric mandolin duties. Meanwhile bassist Jon Stockman relishes every note with physical emphasis, and his six-string mastery is nothing to sniff at. Drummer Steve Judd is equally captivating and nothing short of virtuosic, underpinning the likes of All I Know and Roquefort with an irresistible sense of groove. Special mention must go to Ian Kenney however, surely one of our nation’s finest frontmen, stalking the stage with purpose possessed both of a wild-eyed candour and a pitch-perfect voice. All the more remarkable when you consider that between the Vool and Birds of Tokyo, the man mustn’t get much rest for his larynx. “I’m feeling a lot of love in this room my friends” he remarks before launching into Cote, and the room explodes with a huge singalong, the crowd matching the band moment for moment at every turn.

Such musical might needs little emphasis, and the stage set-up is fairly spartan, maintaining the use of a bank of programmed lights as well as the usual spots and colours, but arriving in tandem with the twelve minute opus that is Deadman comes the biggest signifier of the bands psych-rock ambitions: Lasers. Big green banks of ‘em and it certainly adds to the sense of space and drama already inherent in Karnivool’s catalogue. Fan favourites Themata and Roquefort are delivered with equally titanic rapture, and even Fade from their first EP gets its first airing in years. It’s nu-metal influences show through when placed alongside the newer material, but it goes to show how far Karnivool’s sound has come. Their opaque textures and layered intricacies don’t leave much room for improvisation or variation, but to see such complex compositions come to life is positively awe-inspiring.

After closing the main set with the powerful ballad New Day, wrought with emotional potential, they return for an encore of Change. Containing an album’s worth of ideas within its twelves minutes, such a sprawling, ever-evolving, epic would exhaust most acts; Karnivool simply take it in their stride. It climbs to dizzying peaks before descending into an acoustic oda that allows Judd a crazed drum solo. It’s a fitting end to the night and as the punters trundle into the cold Melbourne night, their minds blown, their grins wide, it’s clear that Karnivool have – once again - done performed their job with peerless execution.

An excellent live version of Deadman from last year


and a shoddy home recording of Set Fire To The Hive @ BDO


Anyway, on a totally unrelated note, here's some stuff I've been enjoying in pictures and links:

 The new video from Porcupine Tree for Bonnie The Cat (very Tool-esque indeed) 

The new album from Big Boi. 'bout damn time.

 

Prince releases new album. ...through newspapers.

This really came out of nowhere. Jonathan Boulet's other music project.

Big Scary's latest seasonal EP. Brilliance strikes again.

Like Kings of Leon meets Wilco. Includes hella catchy Kick Drum Heart.

N.E.W.P.O.S.T.

As the fresh lick o' paint should no doubt tip you off, Al's Music Rant is slowly making a buttefly-like transformation. Emerging from the cult scribblings of one dillettante writer, to burst forth from its coccoon into a solo live show featuring that berk with the guitar and finger deck goggles you see above. There will be laughs, there will be pretension and above all there will be music... sweet music.

But until then we will return to our regular programming.


It feels like an age since I attempted a thematic list, and in fact it has - all the way back to my playlist for Father's Day back in '09 - but these things are only fun if I can manage to scrape together more than three songs for cohesion. That, or there's too many bloody songs to choose from, but the following little collection is tidy and cohesive as a good thematic list should be.

SONGS THAT SPELL OUT WORDS

If that rather clunky title didn't spell it out for you (see what I did there?), here's a list that corrals all those tunes that, for one reason or another, put regular songwriting techniques on hold to spell something out. It's usually for different, if very vague, purposes but what ties them altogether is that strange effect it has on the song, making for a unique stamp that makes for some memorable moments, what is Village People for instance if not Y-M-C-A (and no... that's not included here).

Kele - Tenderoni

The lead single for the Bloc Party frontman's solo foray into 'going electro.' Dropping his surname for the more casual Kele, the associated albumThe Boxer finds a physically leaner, buffer Okereke diving wholeheartedly into the ring of 'proper' dance and electronic music.

The lead single Tenderoni is a decidedly love-it-or-hate-it affair,

That word still makes me think of a meat-based pasta dish (in actual fact it's slang for one's younger love interest), but even without that strange association it's a bizarre thing to spell out.

Arctic Monkeys - Dangerous Animals
Not exactly the best track on perhaps the Arctics' least favoured album, but still it's intoxicating to hear Alex Turner speed through that spelling at breakneck speed and the whole stoner rock vibe (courtesy of QOTSA's Josh Homme) certainly adds to the S&M shenanigans hinted at in the lyrics: "Sharpening the heel in your boot/and you press it in my chest and you make me wheeze/Then to my knees you do promote me." Kinky.


Aretha Franklin - Respect
Do we really need to analyse the classics? ....No, didn't think so. Sing it again!



Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
 
The clue's in the title. A no-brainer party starter, with its none too subtle MJ references and a killer intro: like a radio being tuned to the sound of kids chanting before dropping a sonic boom up in your grill. It goes without saying that the super groovy beat was the hook, but those non-sensical lyrics just made so much... welll... sense. 


Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
Supposedly inspired by an offhand remark from Courtney Love mocking Stefani as merely a cheerleader, she responded in kind with the demented chanting of this bizarre single. It featured a hollow, clunky Neptunes-produced beat, a high-school lyrical setting and even a snippet of Queen's Another One Bites The Dust. B.A.N.A.N.A.S. indeed. 



Hot Chip - Over & Over
Hot Chip are just one of those bands I should like, but I just cannot get into. Over & Over being the chief offender, I just find it annoyingly repetitive. 'Oh, but that's the point' I am told time and again; Really? Just because you're mocking something (in this case repetitive monotony) doesn't mean you have to mimic it (in this case... repetitive monotony). And just what are they spelling out? K I S S I N G S E X Y. C A S I O. YOU. ME. I. 
Yeah, I don't really know either.



XTC - Your Dictionary
Taken from the latter days of XTC's career, Your Dictionary offers up a bevy of spelt-out words in their acerbic swipe at some nasty character, the hook being that nasty words like HATE, KICK and the F-Bomb all substitute for general niceties. A little mawkish but the resulting effect still works.

They Might Be Giants - SEXXY
TMBG always flit confidently between genres, but never has such a funky track been so aptly named. It's particularly delicious in a live context, all parping horns and wah-wah guitar with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek. Whether its yours or someone else's cheek is up to you. And as the song goes, that extra X is "cause it's extra baby, Y? cause it's extra baby." Genius.


Prince - Diamonds & Pearls
Bit of a cheat this one, as it potentially opens the floodgates on a whole spate of rap and hip-hop. The soul breakdown, from the busty diaphraghm of Rosie Gaines, goes "D to the I to the A to the M/O to the N to the D to the pearls of love." It's catchy as hell, but if this kind of effect is allowed then I could have conceivably included Jay-Z's entire back catalogue (H to the izz-O, V to the izz-A etc. etc.) but whose to say he didn't nick it from the Purple One to begin with? mmmm, food for thought...


Them & Van Morrison - Gloria
Who knew that when 'Van The Man' would growl his way through those syllables that it would become an iconic part of rock-n-roll history. The G-L-O-R-I-A chant has been referenced time and again in pop culture, but some of my particularly favourite call-outs are Patti Smith's drastically reworked version for her seminal Horses album and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Venice Queen. Still, it's hard to fault Morrison's barking teenage lust in the original.

Reviews And News For You(se)

Guess what gang? This humble blog is going to be shambling to life very soon, how alive? how soon? You'll have to keep reading to find out, but to give it to you short and sweet - Al's Music Rant is going to be part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival as an hour-long faux-presentation of music and comedy. It's taken some good ideas and some greater people to get it all off the ground, and I don't want to count any chickens before they hatch, but more details as they come.

Just know i'm very, very excited and hope to give you all the quality and entertainment that this blog is (hopefully) known for, in a live show. Ace.

So it seems a little lazy that I should be accompanying such amazing news with a couple of simple record reviews, but time has been pressing lately (when isn't it really, heck I sound like a broken record). Anyway hopefully they sate your need for music goodness as winter rolls around. I highly recommend staying indoors with a good set of headphones, a cup of tea, and some good tunes.

Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You (Polydor, 2010)

Timing, as the saying goes, is of the essence. While Kate Nash’s timing was once perfectly placed, namely in the post-Lily Allen boom of female songwriters in 2007 with her debut Made Of Bricks, in the last few turns of the calendar there’s been a lot to fill the gap. A new wave of idiosyncratic female singer-songwriters with kookier influences (Bat For Lashes, Florence & The Machine, La Roux) as well as contenders to the throne (Pixie Lott, Ellie Goulding, Little Boots) not to mention a return from Ms. Allen herself; which begs the question, is there still room for a talent like Nash?

Well, for the first few tracks it seems to be possibly not. It’s all business as usual, albeit with bigger, brighter production; all handclaps and orchestral punctuation facilitated by ex-Suede man Bernard Butler.

But come Don’t You Want To Share The Guilt? and something remarkable happens. After a steadily simmering emotional narrative, Nash bursts into a torrent of ranting soliloquy and cursive self-analysis (and with her accent, is highly reminiscent of Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip). It’s the turning point for the album and the catalyst for the daring manoeuvres to follow. Though there were hints of it on her debut, that cheeky snideness has blackened into acerbic scorn, spurned it seems by a cheating ex. 

It’s positively baffling when you take into account that Nash has been in a happy relationship with Cribs frontman Ryan Jarman since her pre-fame days. Imagined or not, she occasionally gets stuck on a lyrical treadmill of spiteful jealousy (Kiss That Grrrl, Do-Wah-Do, Early Christmas Present, Later On et al.). Musically however, she charts some daring stylistic tangents.

It also asks a lot of her audience – a mainstream one to be sure – to make the leap to such polar extremes, one example being the energetic surf-rock of Do-Wah-Doo and Take Me To A Higher Plane darting to the woolly experimentalism of I’ve Got A Secret and further still to the stripped-back, confronting half-rap of Mansion Song. 

Again it’s the production of Butler that pays dividends, having worked with eccentric indie kids (Fyfe Dangerfiled) and blue-eyed soul singers alike (Duffy), he corrals Nash’s many curiosities. But even then, when her nastiest instincts are left untamed, it makes for some awkward listening. I Just Love You More may be the right side of unhinged as Nash whoops and hollers maniacally over scuzzy rock, but the experimental I’ve Got A Secret is probably a step too far. 

It’s a shame that these darker turns are more intriguing than listenable. Particularly because they’re now what sets Nash apart from the crowd. My Best Friend Is You will certainly lose her a particular demographic, the potty mouth poetry of Mansion Song (sample lyric: “strip, strip, strip n shag, fuck get fucked ‘n drag”) ensures she won’t be blurted through the speakers of your local Sanity; but few could guess - fans and detractors alike - that she had it in her. It’s a sign of her maturity and growth that even at the tender age of 22, she’s pushing the boundaries and taking risks. Lily Allen would be proud. 

Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo video

Kate Nash - Mansion Song live in Seattle

Kate Nash - I Just Love You More mp3

Danny And The Champions Of The World - Streets Of Our Time (Longtime Listener, 2010)

While the reference to Roald Dahl might suggest a spry British indie-pop outfit, it quickly becomes clear that Streets Of Our Time is a record steeped - nay positively soaking - in dusty Americana. If the album artwork, complete with artificial indentations of old vinyl pressed into its sleeve, doesn’t tip you off then the opening strains of Henry The Van surely will. 

Against a bed of gently strummed banjo and robust vocal harmonies, band leader Danny George Wilson’s voice caws out; and you’d nearly have to double check that you hadn’t stumbled across some lost sessions from Neil Young’s seminal Harvest LP. 

Danny & The Champions Of The World sound as if the last thirty years of rock evolution didn’t happen, emerging from a cocoon somewhere deep in Laurel Canyon, proof of an alternate history in which the American traditions of folk, country, blues and roots gelled with the rock mainstream but were never uprooted by the genre formations that would follow. It’s all over Streets Of Our Time; Wandle Swan trundles along on a country-rock shuffle, the title track eases back into a comforting anthemic rhythm (not unlike a rocking chair); while Restless Feet and Parakeets sound for all the world like lost jams from The Band. 

To call it nostalgic would be an understatement and nostalgia is always a dangerous vein to tap. While it guarantees an audience of those wanting to lose themselves in a rose-tinted stupor, it can also invoke the ire of baby boomers who have the Crosby, Stills & Nash catalogue memorised. Luckily Streets Of Our Time falls short of such pitfalls. Cuts like Follow The River display a kick and lightness of step. Its pulse and narrative may recall Springsteen or early Tom Petty (in Wilson’s raggedy voice), but it wouldn’t sound too out of place on Triple J rotation. The album’s last third, the likes of Your People and Bluebird, even recall Wilco at their most country-inflected, proving that not all of Danny & The Champions’ reference points are vintage.

Streets Of Our Time is without a doubt going to be one of 2010’s love-it-or-hate-it records. It richly imagines a sepia-toned vision of Americana, but that isn’t necessarily a place anyone the 21st century side of The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys generation wants to revisit. Nevertheless, even given its ironic title, you can’t fault Danny & The Champions Of The World for their passion of purpose, and isn’t that what rock n roll should be about? 

Danny & The Champions Of The World - Henry The Van mp3

Danny & The Champions Of The World -  Restless Feet mp3

Danny & The Champions Of The World - Streets Of Our Time fan video

Good Talent Is Right Outside Your Door

So i'm not always the biggest advocate for promoting local music. Oh sure, i've been bludgeoning readers with my obsession for Big Scary again and again (p.s. they're brilliant) but aside from that it's not often that you'll see these pages filled with picketing Australian - let alone Melbourne-based - bands (not like the wonderful Who The Bloody Hell Are They? blog).
But lately I've found myself browsing through the local produce, picking them up and obvserving them in the harsh light, checking them for bumps and bruises, and taking the freshest and ripest of them to heart.

Not least the following records. Both debuts from artists who aren't distinctly Australian, but you know what? I think that's a good thing. Music that's seen as OZ-tralian lately seems to be cringe-worthy hip-hop, tedious roots rock or just knuckle-dragging neanderthal noise.

Good music and patriotism don't necessarily go hand in hand.

Perhaps the following acts are great because they are independent, untainted by the fingerprints of major-label concerns, but I'd like to think that it's because they privelege their character and individuality over trying to conform to what the radios will play. 

The Tiger & Me - From A Liar To A Thief  (Vitamin Records, 2010)

Taking in hints of jazz, folk, pop, indie and even classical music, it becomes obvious from even the most cursory listen that The Tiger & Me have honed their unique sound through tireless gigging and tinkering. Encouraged by a romantic vision, the resulting effect is of a roaring twenties speakeasy troupe gatecrashing a cabaret show. Even carrying over to their rich artwork (a customised deck of cards with art-deco-meets-wild-west-saloon flourishing) as well as their vivid image-laden lyrics. ‘Til Sunrise puts it best, a group “always singing the blues to the hookers, the harlots/the chivalrous charlatans.” 

There’s a glut of talent here with no less than three songwriters contributing to the twelve numbers on offer, with no weak link among them. Each brings a particular characteristic to the group’s core sound. Ade Vincent plays the charming rogue, Jane Hendry the crystalline chanteuse and Tobias Selkirk lends a melancholic earthiness. Whether they’re trading lines (Oh My Darlin’, The Big Trapeze) or combining their voices into tight harmonies (particularly the dying moments of Many Things), it’s always a delight.

There’s even time for a handful of collaborators to share the spotlight, including the co-written Oh My Darlin’ from one Kelly Day (moonlighting from Hendry’s other group, the vocal quartet The Nymphs) as well as all manner of guest brass and woodwind muscling in on an already teeming palette of mandolins, ukuleles, banjos, pianos, violin, accordion, bass and drums.

This all-hands-in approach recalls The Cat Empire, particularly on the raucous sea shanties they often turn to for their cathartic choruses. The Circus or The Zoo winds through an atmospheric nightscape into a cacophonic, marching sing-a-long, while Lead A Merry Dance Around The Fire is ignited by the same tipsy camaraderie. The vocal interplay and impressive musicianship is akin to former hopefuls George and elsewhere Many Things and Once A Poet possess a gothic sweep that Nick Cave would be proud of. 

Meanwhile Dangerous Creatures, Half-Light and Lady Grey demonstrate a more tender and intimate side to their sound, quieter moments that bring to mind the lilting, rustic charm of early Augie March. That’s not forgetting the chamber-pop narrative whimsy of The Decmeberists that informs I Left The Wolves Behind That Night and Lead A Merry Dance Around The Fire. All the while the clean production enables the band’s ambitious arrangements, with each pluck of a string or hammer of a key given clear definition and space. 

It’s fitting that a deck of cards should adorn the front of From A Liar To A Thief, because no matter which way you cut the deck, The Tiger & Me play a winning hand – shuffling confidently between their many musical suits and moods. If you like your music articulate, expressive and theatrical, The Tiger & Me delivers it wrapped with an insidious arch of the eyebrow and a knowing wink. 

Check out the band's MySpace for tunes and the band's website for gigs and info - they really are a sight live. Oh, and they were kind enough to give me props

Lindsay Phillips - Varning (Departed Sounds, 2010)

The first thing that you’ll notice about Lindsay Phillips is that voice. Gnarled and raggedy at the edges like a country singer, yet gravitating around an eccentric, and florid centre. Imagine if Nick Cave had studied opera, or Antony ‘and The Johnsons’ Hegarty doing his best Johnny Cash impersonation and you’re halfway there. Full of character and distinct intonation, it’s certainly a voice that’s going to get Phillips noticed. Beneath that paint-stripping timbre however, is the pen of a songwriter whose earned his craft as much as he’s learned it. Despite his CV that covers choirs, rock bands and even death metal (can you imagine?), it’s evident that in the purest pairing of voice and acoustic guitar he has found his match. 

A telling summation comes in Phillips’ own words, that he has “vastly outstripped any sort of showmanship that I might have mustered in the past.” What remains is a hauntingly direct sound that taps into a economical mode of songwriting, buoyed by a melodic sensibility as well as keen observational lyrics. Take You Got Over All Those Barbed Wire Fences’ opening verse:

“who can only know just what they know/stoke the fire/that you’ve been feeding/you desired/know that when the wind blows/that you got over all those barbed wire fences”

It’s this kind of wisened view matched by a melodic tenacity that is the bedrock of Phillips’ writing.

Elsewhere the title track is a musical interlude with foreboding vocal harmonies and the strumming of a Spanish guitar, it wouldn’t sound out of place as the soundtrack to a spaghetti western. So too Legion, as it paints a vast landscape with its dark country strum, enhanced by vocal accompaniment from Melissa O’Rourke. Whose voice offsets equally well with Phillips’ croon on Infinality and When The Spirit Dies Young. The latter an album highlight with its rueful words: “and you try to find meaning/ in the soil/in the air you’ve been breathing/in the eyes of those you know/there was love and now they’re cast in stone.”

After a string of EP’s and singles, Phillips’ debut album proper is a confident statement of intent, with a focus and desire that befits his moody take on the acoustic troubadour. At risk of inciting hyperbole, it’s tempting to call it Bon Iver for the murder ballad set. 

Varning’s ten cuts sound like they’re as old as the hills. A fact that, along with Phillips unique voice, may find him unfairly ignored as a nostalgic relic. That’s not to say it’s a style for everybody; something that Varning makes no gumption about ignoring, but for those willing to listen – there’s a charm and sparkle waiting to reward the attentive. 

You can hear the entirety of Varning over at SoundCloud then purchase a copy at the man's website

And for those of you that still remember Demtel adverts... "But wait! There's more!"

Here's some other equally talented and individualistic Australian artists who've been tickling my earbones lately. 

Cloud Control

Their recent support slot with Vampire Weekend certainly sparked my interest. Their Talking Heads inspired indie rock has coloured me intrigued for their forthcoming debut Bliss Release

Kimbra

 Sharing management and producers (Francois Tetaz) with the wonderful Bertie Blackman demonstrates her pedigree. The taster of her forthcoming album on MySpace shows her talent. Think the smoky velvet of a jazz singer mees the acrobatic flair of indie rock with inventive backing to match. (*secretive whisper* you'll be reading a lot more about Kimbra in these pages very soon. Watch this space.)

Brian Campeau

Thom Yorke. Jazz. Talk Talk. Choral Folk. Painterly Atmosphere. If that sequence of words excites you, may I suggest you invest in his latest, Mostly Winter, Sometimes Spring.

Young Heretics

Yeah, yeah I mentioned them last post, but the album's FREE goddamn it. Just head to here one of this year's most promising debuts is yours.

oh, ummm... and  

Big Scary

Autumn. Good. Get.