thoughts on Big Sound Live – Day 1
I spent about two weeks trying to figure out who to see at my first ever Big Sound Live. I wouldn’t say the line-up was spectacular but there was certainly a decent amount of acts to choose from. My night starts out at the Club House, under the Tempo Bar, waiting for New Zealand artist […]
A biased review of Frankly! It’s A Pop Festival 2010: Guy Blackman + Surf City + High Places + Xiu Xiu, 04.09.10
I spent the majority of Saturday at work in New Farm, painfully waiting my clock-off time. Arriving short of breath at the Powerhouse, I was greeted with a string of bad news: that Fabulous Diamonds had already played (“So loud! So good! They’re going to be huge! You missed out”) and that during their Sydney […]
Frankly! It was a weird day, 04.09.10
I made my way into Frankly! It’s a Pop Festival a touch late and having missed Lawrence English, Guy Blackman and Fabulous Diamonds… oh, and apparently the memo to dress like an indie hipster and strongly impose all hipster qualities, namely that of not talking to anyone outside your direct friendship group, sitting on the floor during gigs and a strict, no dancing and no fun policy …
Fabulous Diamonds + Guy Blackman + Surf City + Crayon Fields + High Places @ Frankly! Pop Festival 2010
Still feeling messed up from the night before, I stagger through Brisbane’s public transport system half-dead trying to make it to the Brisbane Powerhouse in time to see Fabulous Diamonds play at 1:30pm SHARP (this is a very professional event). I arrive just as they start and someone remarks to me about the cold atmosphere of […]
Song of the day – 167: Smudge
Effortless brilliance. The song is called ‘Superhero’, the city is Sydney and the era is early 90s, slacker generation. Here’s what I had to say about the recent Smudge compilation for Mess And Noise. I’ve since been advised that Smudge have never broken up, have gigged sporadically for several years and might well be recording […]
Song of the day – 152: Black Diamonds
It would be ridiculous not to list one of the many incredible bands I unearthed in my research for my new Something Awful column. It’s called Everett True’s Australian Garage Rock Primer, and many of the recommendations came directly from a thread on the Mess And Noise message board, so props to all involved. And […]
Song of the day (Australia) – 150: Witch Hats
I’ve thought about this next entry, a lot. I want to balance out this series of being Australian with old and new, otherwise I’d just pack it with Lighthouse Keepers and Hummingbirds B-sides. And I can’t find a link to Melbourne’s own proto-Riot Grrrls Matrimony… oh wait. That’s a lie. Here’s their MySpace page. Let’s […]
Song of the day – 135: Town Bike
I’m a sucker for any band that’s a sucker for early Ramones the same as me, especially if they have a female singer. Of course, this sucker-dom can manifest itself in many ways. From Shonen Knife to Helen Love, from Soda Fountain Rag to Shop Assistants, from Vivian Girls to… ah Bangs alive, we’re going […]
Song of the day – 115: Blessure Grave
Some dark Goth for you all. It’s the best imitation of Joy Division I’ve heard in around three decades – i.e it isn’t really an imitation of Joy Division at all. There again, they do call their new cassette Unknown Blessures. I’m not sure if I don’t detect the hand of my friend Nathan from […]
