Ok ... so this year's musical offerings have been lacklustre to say the least. Nothing really stands out in my mind as being trully remarkable. Perfume Genius' latest release Too Brightis unlikely to change the landscape that much. It is however great to have a bit of glamour and camp injected into proceedings.
My signed copy - in Gold Vinyl
Apart from the subtle influences afforded by the involvement of both Adrian Utley (Portishead) and John Parish (PJ Harvey), nothing has really changed in Mike Hadreas' insular close mic'd world. There are still the keyboard based confessionals, opening number I Decline being a case in point, and then there are flashes of the jolly reprobate trying to break out some Xiu Xiu badness with the wailing banshee chorus (Grid) and the vibrato heavy guitar riffs (Queen). And if you listen closely, you may pick up on the rumbly parping of a bass clarinet giving some of the songs gravelly organic gravitas.
All in all, its an album in the true sense of the word, with songs, videos, album cover all interconnected in one glorious golden thrust of a release ... well, in as far as the self depecrating and wickedly funny Hadreas can push! Finally an album to actually get excited about, and an album that is not relegated to the petty confines of the ipod shuffle mode - at least not for me. Mike, see you at The Corner next year! (oh and bitch tell your record label to let me post your song Queen on my youtube page!!)
Ok ... with that motorik shout out the crowd loses it shit ... and I am in very present danger of losing my head as arms flail and bodies thump as hardcore dancing ensues ...
I forget that Liars was born out of the fetid swamp of thrash metal and the band has shouldered that sensibility along with some of its fans on its journey into the uneasy world of EDM ...
Angus towers above us in his technicoloured woolly balaclava, removing it only to uncover cobain styled root bound blonde tresses (not real) that hides all expression from view ...
Julian mans the skins with pithy concentration, his dark bearded looks making me feel all funny ...
Whilst Aaron gives off some Nick Rhodes realness as he twiddles knobs and punches keys ...
My body spasms involuntarily in time to the relentless beat and in my mind I am the coolest of the cool ... Meanwhile the hipsters have stayed at home ... aha aha
Ok ... Last night amidst a sea of dark, shadowy heads in a crowded room, John Grant touched my heart with his songs and his deep sonorous voice.
It was my first gig for 2014 and what an amazing night. I've blogged about John Grant before and since then he's released his second album Pale Green Ghosts with a slightly more electronic bent and perhaps a stronger or more obvious LGBT agenda. The man doesn't seem to have much luck in love.
Standing slightly awkwardly dressed in black shirt and jeans, rather non-descript bordering on daggy, eyes shut for the most part, hands drooping by his sides or clutching the mike stand, John let rip with that voice and the band surged forward with him, egging the crowd on to whoops and hollers of grateful applause. And when he sang "Where dreams go to die", I swear my heart stopped beating and for a few seconds I found it hard to breath. Amazing.
Ok ... its been some time since I've done a music roundup. Mainly because the current music scene is more miss than hit and I'm hard pressed to find an album already released that is worthy of more than a sentence or two of my time.
So rather than review what has been, let's talk about what it is yet to come.
First up, Solange ... gurl ... that True EP was how long ago?? When's the album going to drop already? We need us some lo-fi, bedroom studio, shanty ass town honest soul to counter all this overblown auto-tuned twinky twerking soft porn that passes for R&B/Pop these days!
Still while you're messing about in the basement, Janelle Monae's sophomore is about to drop. And my pre-order that comes with a special edition 7" is already in the bag. I can't wait. Could there be a cooler song this year than Q.U.E.E.N.? I think not, and the Badu cameo just racks up the cool quotient even higher.
I'm not entirely convinced by second single Dance Apocalyptic, but there has always been a real sense of music erudition behind Janelle's songwriting craft. And she must have a crack production and engineering team behind her, as Archandroid was breathtaking in parts. So I'm looking forward to a rewarding album listening experience.
Next up, MIA - you ain't short of a bob or two, just release the damn thing yourself if the label is dragging its chain. Bad Girls was eons ago, and Bring the Noize with its dubstep sensibilities is already starting to sound a little dated. So its time to two step up methinks.
Kanye's discovered 90s techno, so lets aciiieeeed it up MIA!
And finally in the guilty pleasure corner, I'm really loving the new Fantasia/Kelly/Missy collab! But as with all neo-soul/r&b acts these days, they run out of the posts absolutely banging, but then the album drops and its full of by-the-way mid tempo to slow numbers, reeking of exhaustion before it even makes the finishing line. (did you know that Brandy released a newie late last year btw?)
I was going to mention GaGa, but that junket is pretty much in full swing. I'm not super sold on the video for Applause, I think she's worked with better directors in the past. But I loved the VMA performance, and this little teaser of new song "Swine" sounds very very promising indeed.
But I don't really get into this whole album as app trend (see Bjork). I want the CD/DVD combo thanks.
As an aside, I know this has been a deliberate forward looking exercise, but I've just rediscovered The Three Degrees' 3D from 1979 - what an amazing album!! You should definitely check it out sometime. Standby, Bodycheck!!!
Ok ... so having to face the possible early termination of a family pet has made me an even more stalwart advocate of Voluntary Euthanasia. Whichever way you cut it, its not an easy decision to make. It was heartening to read the article on Beverley Broadbent in the Age recently. A vibrant still vital 83 year old who decided to take her own life "rationally" in February this year. I trully hope that I will have the luxury of that choice when my time comes. Although I'm inferring that Beverley did come from a slightly elevated social strata (most certainly higher than I'll ever reach) and therefore exposed to a wider range of opportunities. But I'm sure there will be some kind of hotline for me, well at least I hope to get to it before I am totally incapacitated and imprisoned in some godawful facility where I'm once again treated like a child and deemed a social outcast due to my sexuality.
Still, our cat has seemingly turned a corner and is playing the cute card to the max! Although, he isn't quite able to clean himself as well as he once did. And so navigates his way through rooms covered in towels in a fug of stale piss and shit. But still, totes adorbs as they say. We are grateful for every second of his life that remains. Lets just hope and pray that any deterioration that may occur, happens when we're back from our holiday. The same thing applies, unfortunately, to my mother.
And then there's that! 3 weeks in Europe in Spring. I'm hoping that the trip, amongst other things, will rejuvenate the old creative writing cells, well at least the paltry few that I possess. It will at least give me something to write about. And new experiences! God! In an effort to economise in lieu of said impending holiday, we have pretty much hermetically sealed our daily routine from home to work to home to shops to occasional dinner out again local or at mates'.
Ciacci Palace - our apartment in Rome
But not long to go peops! And then I will be one of those godawful bores shoving endless photos (and possible videos) and travel soundbites down your already overstuffed broadband pipe. But suck it up. I haven't been on a proper holiday for ages, so you will allow me this little indulgence.
Besides which, I've been watching all these "youtuber" videos of mainly youthful gay americans who spruik up their daily lives and have hundreds of subscribers eagerly lapping up every mundane detail (yours truly included). So if they (admittedly they seem to lead amazingly busy lives) can do it, so can fucking I!
So stay tuned all those who haven't quite jumped ship yet. I will make it as painless as possible. Meanwhile here's something to be excited about.
Ok ... larks its been awhile!! We're already a month past and I'm only just getting round to a blog post. There's so much to catch up on, but death is a cruel mistress and you must give me some emotional room.
Perhaps its fitting then that I start the new year with something that has always given me great solace and fortitude ... music.
Despite the flagrant beer-soaked display of snobbery on the part of my very good friend (questionable!) DL, I still love the West and love even more the fact that her unassuming beauty is host to what I consider one of the better organised music festivals in Melbourne, the Laneway Festival down on the banks of the Maribyrnong.
The 2 bands I was really here to see were Perfume Genius and Bat for Lashes. And I was prepared to go it alone. But Natasha Khan is in my friend DL's Top 5 list pf artists so he had to be there too. And at the 11th hour KH scored a ticket through a work colleague of mine, so what began as a solo venture, with another friend JL in tow, turned into a quartet of music appreciation.
KH and I got in early so that she could catch The Twerp's set. The singer is her husband's cousin. Not really my cup of tea, but a nice way to ease into the proceedings of what was going to be a long day. Our Padre coffee from Footscray Milking Station (they cleverly set up a machine outside for takeways ... you could say they were milking it at the milking station ... boom tish!) certainly helped to gird the loins and toughen our constituitions.
We left The Twerps before they finished so I could get a prime possie at Perfume Genius, which turned out to be quite unecessary as there was still plenty of room. In fact I managed to head right up front of stage, although my pics are still pretty shit.
It was a great set, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for Mike as his music is more suited to intimate venues and loses some of its emotional stridence competing with the elements and general human chatter.
Still it was exactly what I wanted and needed. I sat in the full bore sun and got quietly burnt, oblivious to the exciting turn of events just round the corner.
Next it was time for a toilet stop and a brief sojourn to the Eat your Ears stage for the opposite end of the musical spectrum which was Cloud Nothings, the much feted raucous American quartet serving up a thrash metal wall of sound that has seemingly captured the attention of the young indie crowd. Needless to say we lasted perhaps 3 stanzas short of a song and opted for more prosaic sustenance instead ... Lunch.
Beatbox Kitchen always serves great hamburgers and fries, so it was a no brainer when it came to choosing what we were going to eat ... and there were plenty of choices to be had.
This time round, Beatbox Kitchen served up an even greater more unexpected treat ... Mike Hadreas from Perfume Genius in the queue!!!
It made my day, perhaps even my year.
Meanwhile DL had arrived with JL in tow. So we met up at the River Stage and sampled Minneapolis band, Polica, fronted by elfin-like Channy Leaneagh who throws the cutest shapes on stage. Strong voice too, and not anything like Enya JL, but I will concur with the Cat Power resemblance, KH. With the Bon Iver seal of approval, the band ticks most of the danceable indie boxes.
But we will need to wait for their sophomore album to see if they have the chops to last the distance. Oh and if you had had any doubts about hitting the 90s fashion paylode, check out Channy's T-shirt, cut off denim shorts and boots combo ... Girlie Show anyone?
I was intending to take in Alt-J's set, but the crowd was starting to piss me off, so leaving KH behind to take in Chet Faker, I trundled off to the Future Classic Stage to see Jessie Ware, who I have perhaps unfairly written off as Sade-lite in the past.
I'm not sure if my perception has entirely been altered, but Jessie is a spunky performer, with a great stage presence and repartee, and a suitably tight backing band. And I loved the uk-grimy bling. Its a good soul voice, strong but unadorned. And the grooves are smooth, but perhaps therein lies the rub. It is a little on the Cafe Del Mar side. And there are only so many life situations when a chilled soundtrack like this applies. I left when the Madonna cover came on. (And yes, Melbourne's mayor-in-waiting, Andrew MacConnell got a shout out. Jesse sampled his Lobster Roll over at Golden Fields).
By this stage, DL was freaking out about Bat for Lashes' impending set as the afternoon inched ever closer towards evening. Less than enamoured of the space surrounding the main stage, we formulated a plan to hang out at the peripheries during Yeasayer's set, then slowly work our way up to the front once the shirts-off-fist-pumping crowd left for more verdant climes (I hear that Flume was the hot ticket as far as headline acts were concerned.)
Our plan worked!
We were virtually up the front ensconced with the rest of the "poor and unwashed" as it were, when Natasha and Co took to the stage. Dressed in an oil-slicked pleated cape and matching skirt, Natasha and her band were an absolute revelation, and one of the best live performances I have seen in a very very very long time.
This wasn't just a band playing a set, it was theatre and catharsis and all those other big $10 words you can think of. I didn't expect the sense of creative release that Natasha brings to the fore and goes through herself even as she performs up there on stage, drawing the rest of us into her arcane world filled with fantabulous creatures suffering the gamut of human emotions.
And the girl can certainly get a groove on!! Those shoulder pops and rolls she does, with the little leg kick out the side! Adorably sensual ... is the best way to describe it. And that smile of hers - cheeky, irreverent, genuine, joyful, inclusive yet also exclusive ... and perhaps a hint of relief and wonder that its all going so well and that we the audience were responding so positively.
My advice is, even if you're undecided about their material, go see them live if ever there is another opportunity. You will not regret it. And Laura has to be, has to be, one of the few truly perfect songs.
Ok ... hello my dear blog readers, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and to thank you for your attention and your thoughtful comments.
We're about to descend into a maelstrom of Yuletide insanity, so we celebrated early with a Christmas present to ourselves.
We happen to wander down String Bean Alley at the Victoria Markets when we came across the Meykers stand housing products by Simon Cunningham (Volant Designs) and Gregory Burton (Visual Fields).
We were immediately taken by Simon's light fittings made with pressed plywood and coloured perspex. If you've been in The League of Honest Coffee in the city you would have noticed his Coffee inspired wall art.
We actually had our hearts set on a particular design which was no longer available when we returned for our final purchase. So we ended up with this:
We love the cream and blue colours against the wood, and its conical shape. This is where its going to go:
Now all we need is to organise an electrician to fix the botched job that currently exists in the ceiling. Cannot wait.
Ok ... what is it with band kids and Dave Brubeck'sTake Five? I guess its a way to learn everyone's favourite time signature, the old 5/4 (bet the boys from Radiohead know this piece inside out!) And by extension, the old 7/8, and even better, working triplets into a regular beat ... at some point you're just going to have to quit the "counting how many beats in a bar" bitch and just feel the syncopation. And here's a tip for you music kids out there, if you're learning an instrument, but you don't really listen to music, then perhaps its time to ponder one of life's big questions - Why!
So Vale Brubeck! You made counting lessons so much more fun, and you taught me how to take risks with accents and syncopation and attack. (ps Question for you Dave in Jazz heaven, did people used to mistake you for Martin Landau when you were older?)
Ok ... so Clay came through with the goods. It took nigh about 2 months but it was well worth the wait. Some would posit that we're making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but our Pioneer Rondo 3000 is a solid belt driven platter, even though its the 21st century equivalent of a no-name Euro wonder that you could possibly pick up at Aldi's today.
The belt's changed, the speed's calibrated, the make-shift earth wire removed, but the crowning glory is a switch of its not too shabby audio-technica cartridge to an amazing Ortofon 5e stylus.
Yes you still hear the clicks and pops on an old record, but oh the subtleties, and the background effects set well back in the mix, like clear atmos after a short shower of summer rain. Amazing!!
Ok ... so Clay is about 16 hours behind but nevermind ... I'm still hit up with vinyl fever ... and delirium has set in so deep that I fancy myself a crate digger eschewing the hip electronica and drone sections and heading straight to library and exotic with a soupcon of easy listening thrown in.
Remember a time when the world was loungecore mad? It was all those back-to-mine-chill-out-come-down comps that were everywhere. And DJs outdoing each other in the obscure stakes ... bloody show offs one and all.
But still, the end result was an Esquivel revival ... and that can only be a good thing ... babies!
Anyhoo, in one of those all purpose vintage stores on High Street, Northcote, I stumbled on these 2 half priced wonders which I'm suitably chuffed at acquiring.
I found a whole lot of dross elsewhere but I'm in the mood for revelling.
Andrew composed a number of variations on Paganinnin's 24th Caprice ostensibly for his cellist playing brother Julian. Its a little twee as are most attempts at melding classical to pop. But there's something about the mix of moog and acoustic that makes it even more endearing. Its so very Webber and by extension so very English. Oh and I love the cover. And Gary Moore played guitar!!
One of those multi-instrumentalist types, Walter Murpy's discofied version of Beethoven's Fifth was everywhere when it was released in the mid-70s. Its cheesy disco at its best. The rest of the tracks are pretty throwaway including a few more classical pop cross-overs ... but California Strut was a bit of a revelation ... and has a groove in its own dorky way.
What really started this all off was rediscovering Lalo Shifrin's Danube Incident (a theme off a Mission Impossible episode) on a recent dj mixtape. And no prizes for guessing which hit is completely indebted to this sample.
Ok ... I can't remember the last time I have been this excited. And really its just stuff!! But its amazing stuff.
My Blur boxset has arrived! And its a doozy.
All the albums remastered from the original tapes which had to be baked in order to prevent wobbles. In addition there is a slew of extras across 2 Cds, 3 DVDs of live and promotional material and a 7" to boot.
I wouldn't classify myself as an uber Blur fan but I've enjoyed most of their output including the various solo outings (ok maybe not so much Graham ... although he was the most friendly of the lot when I met them many moons ago). And I do love my remasters and am a sucker for packaging.
I think Damon is a genius ... just quietly. I've even warmed to his Dr Dee concept album. I just love the fact that they're so English ... and I am an Anglophile from way back.
But don't misconstrue the tweeness. As a live proposition, Blur Rawwwkkss!!
And has there ever been a cuter video than the one for Coffee and TV? I think not.
Ok ... I'm back on the Codral slide ... so I guess its as good a time as any to catch up on some draft posts including this one about my recent Amazonian Bonanza, where in one fell swoop I covered off a major part of the soundtrack to my childood. And don't let them fool you with all that soldiering palaver, today has not been productive at all.
There's no better way to start this off then when Electronic music hit the big time with the release of The Human League'sDare. Punk rock and disco morphed into New Wave at the start of the 80s. Well it was called New Wave down our parts, a blanket term that covered any band with an assymetric haricut, eye liner and a two tone shirt - whether they jangled round the edges of post-punk funk or danced elbow to knee behind a bank of synthesisers - it was alles der Neue Welle!
Dare was not the first purveyor of experimental electronic music obviously. Dusseldorf was happening several years back. Dare was however the first to hit it big in the world of Pop. And in many ways was my initiator in the world of electronic music ... a journey that has taken me round the world and round the decades from OMD, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode through to Kraftwerk, Stockhausen and beyond. In essence my love affair with cold teutonic beats never died, although we took a break to explore options once High NRG hit the airwaves and the dancefloors.
So Purchase No.1 - no brainer, especially since this version includes the Fascination EP (as opposed to Love and Dancing in a previous format) which has my favouritest Human League song - (Keep Feeling) Fascination. Nothing new in terms of sound quality on this remaster ... I'm still more partial to the vinyl edition ... it sounds a little too pristine on CD ... needs a flatter edge somehow.
A couple of years down the track, with the onset of the AIDs epidemic, all that early androgyny became politicised and in stepped Jimmy Somerville and his Bronski Beats in chinos, polo shirts and loafers, all disco falsetto and earnest declarations set to a Hgh NRG beat.
In our current relatively "enlightened" age, its hard to put into words how songs like "Smalltown Boy" and "Why" touched closeted teenage hearts the world over. Locked in our bedrooms and shouting out "Run Away, Turn Away, Run Away" at the ceiling, dancing our gay little hearts out. And boy could we dance!! And strike a pose well before Madge told us to get to it. And didn't we all rush out and buy Polo shirts in every conceivable colour to wear with our straight cut Levi's and Topsiders ... ok maybe not everyone.
Inside that black sleeve with the bold type and pastel highlights we found acceptance and validation, so far removed from the reality of the world outside. And even though I no longer fabricate a life in order to navigate life's unchartered waters, there is an ever so slight tightening of the chest even now as I type these words on the screen. I guess the insecurity and shame (yes I am going to own this!) never really goes away.
The Remastered Age of Consent comes with the "Hundreds and Thousands" remix Ep ... which is probably one of the earliest Remix Eps ever put out. And its pretty darn good. Not just isolated breaks for DJs to sequence, but actually revisioning some of the tracks of the original album.
Bronski Beat morphed into the Communards, a sort of proto-type Arts collective. You know the kind ... poetry reading at a dingy pub with a big haired woman decked out all espanol playing the violin in the background ... possibly a piano player with a jaunty hat or a woman with a severe fringe emoting some english folksong with her eyebrows over the top. And I'm sure there would have been a pamphlet of some description ... there's always a pamphlet with a manifesto!
Anyhoo, still all very gay. But this time a little bit more grown up - singing about the heartache and joys of real relationships experienced. Particularly second album Red ... that is heartache in a box ... as my friend Safuan can attest to. In fact Red is a particular favourite of mine. You didn't have to see past the irony of covering old disco tracks as on their debut release, these were songs plainly felt and plainly sung.
Loads of amazing extras with these remasters and well worth the $15 spent for each including postage!
Then there was Everything But the Girl - the early incarnation of which was vastly different beast to the darlings of the dancefloor and chill out compilations they eventually became.
Forming the vanguard of the 80s infatuation with all things Jazz, promotional shots started appearing in all the right quarters of the music press ... and everyone was buzzing about their version of Night and Day (don't try too hard to hunt this down ... its a little meh) ... and they looked ever so cool ... flat topped Ben and his pork pie hat and cotton shirts, Tracy with the haircut I so desperately tried to emulate and her summer dresses. Draped in University chic, their jazz-lite tales of lovers lost and won spoke directly to my fey pseudo-literary heart.
I wanted a spotlight in a jazz dive somewhere with a jaded far-off look from under my fringe and a matter of fact tone to my voice. I still love Eden the best, and I had to get Idlewild for their other successful cover, "I don't want to talk about it" which is part of the extras on the remasters.
Out of all the purchases I made here, the EBTG remasters are easily the most beautiful. The packaging is outstanding. Each of the CDs comes in a sort of Booklet with amazingly produced photos and a mountain of extras.
Thank you to the Remastering gods for taking me on a trip down memory lane. I'm sitting tight for my Blur boxset which is going to be amaaazzziingg!!!
Ok ... lets fuck with the timeline and pretend that I have been away in Wellington all this time hence the lack of blog posts. But the truth is I think I may be losing my Blo-Jo!! Is that a bit wrong? I tried to come up with something clever but my mind remains irretrievably in the gutter.
So while I sift through the debris of a dozen drafts left unfinished over the last couple of months, have a listen to one of the new bands I am challenging this week.
I promise I will be back to form ... soon ... ish!!
Ok ... I have updated my Year in Music page for 2012 ... so go and ch-ch-ch-check it out! And please feel free to agree and/or disagree. Love to know what you think. Just to get you pumped up for it, this little number is on there!
Ok ... I thought I was exaggerating when I remarked that they keep dropping like flies ... but its beyond a joke now. Please not my Donna!! Sadly, she is no longer with but her memories and legacy remains ... Vale Queen of Disco, you soundtracked many of my teenage years and provided pleasure well into my adult years. I am eternally grateful but for now my heart bleeds.
Ok ... its amazing how different Melbourne feels when viewed vicariously through the eyes of visiting friends from overseas. Melbourne decided to shelve its Winter coat for a few days of glorious Autumnal sunshine. We made full use of her summery choice of wardrobe and took a drive to Daylesford to take in some Trash and Treasure.
As always, a trip to Cliffy's and some homespun food is in order.
And the Convent Gallery never fails to dissappoint with its distressed walls speaking of quiet contemplation and modest palliative care.
Daylesford has it share of Byron style rainbow frippery, but we can forgive its slide into new age pontifery (sic) by the sheer presence of Alla Wolf-Tasker's Lakehouse and the fact that I managed to pick this US pressing still sealed for a gold coin donation of $2.00:
