Are You From Syria?

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

2008-04-28T18:19:00.003+10:00

At every single rock festival, pretty much all the bands you really want to see end up being disappointing, and the bands you've heard of but only go and see because you need a place to sit down end up being rip-snortingly awesome. Case in point are Eddy Current Suppression Ring, who take the stripped back, schizophrenic feel of post-punk (ie- The Birthday Party, The Fall), and give it some real raw, manic rockabilly fever (ie-The Cramps, The Gun Club). But they are a band of the now, and their music reflects this. Stand-out performers at this year's Big Day Out. Loud, attention-grabbing and swaggering, Mess and Noise magazine made a bigger deal out of their last album than Bob Katter makes about sugar-based ethanol.

Rest assured, that joke is funnier if you don't get it.

'Get Up Morning' sums up their sound in a packed-in three minutes of distortion-free hyperactive no-wave punk. Check it.

Get Up Morning-Eddy Current Suppression Ring

And for good measure, another of those wobbly camera-work YouTube clips people have of reunion concerts. This time it's The Gun Club.

She's Like Heroin To Me-The Gun Club (Live)

Too Twee For Thee Part One

2008-04-26T12:14:00.003+10:00

Every man and his dog realised how good The Shins were after seeing Garden State. It seems that indie-pop has exploded into the underground with the same impact of disco after Saturday Night Fever. New bands from autumny college towns are filling up the airwaves with clean-toned Telecasters and ironic earnestness, and I couldn't be happier. But with indie-pop comes indie-pop MP3 blogs, many of which I keenly read. They have mushroomed like mono at a late '80s teenage make-out party. The end result is that all these ever so twee rock and roll outfits are now having to compete for clever names with the endless parade of MP3 blogs.

The end result is Somebody Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, who aren't that different from the rest of the bunch, only they are talented enough to put them at the front of the pack. It also helps that their website has the coolest aerial photograph ever. It almost makes up for a very obvious lack of any band information whatsoever. So I'm not going to pass anything on, bar the MP3 and the ever so indie-poppish video clip.

Think I Wanna Die- Somebody Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Noah and the Whale turns the twee up to eleven. 'Five Years Time' is so pleasant that I'm sure it would go down well at a retirement home. It's all ukuleles and violins and a whistling hook. The videoclip is all matching uniforms and bad choreography. Thoroughly endearing.

Bookends

2008-01-14T14:37:00.000+11:00

The other week I was thinking about albums which have their best tracks at the beginning and end of the album, ie-the opener and closer. Usually an artist will put a good track right at the start, and the thoughtful artists will make sure they finish the album well, but it is quite unusual for them to save their best tracks until last. Anyway, here's five albums where the best tracks are the opening and closing songs.

Meat Puppets II- The Meat Puppets (Split Myself In Two & The Whistling Song)

The Whistling Song (Live)

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars- David Bowie (Five Years & Rock and Roll Suicide)

Five Years (TV Performance)

Nashville Skyline- Bob Dylan (Girl From North Country & Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You)

Girl From North Country (TV Performance with Johnny Cash)

Door, Door- The Boys Next Door (The Nightwatchmen & Shivers)

Shivers (Video-clip)

Wait Long By The River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By- The Drones (Sharkfin Blues & This Time)

This Time- The Drones (PBS FM Live Recording)

Happy listening.

Black is the New Black Part Two

2007-12-28T13:02:00.000+11:00

Hope all had a Merry Christmas et cetera.

Back to the 'Bands Whose Names Start With The Word "Black"' theme, and today's post brings us to The Black Lips. All the MP3 blogs are talking about them, and they are signed to Vice Records. Personally, I think that having an awfully cool magazine like Vice start a record label has a negative impact on their coolness. I don't know why, but I just think that.

I've heard The Black Lips compared to Los Saicos or The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, but I ain't sure that they are rip-snortingly raucous enough. They do make some pretty good music though.

Cold Hands- The Black Lips

Sorry about the rather annoying promotion at the end of the MP3.

The Black Lips' MySpace.

I'm not a metal fan by any stretch of the imagination, though I am a big fan of Jimi Hendrix, the first person to be described as 'heavy metal' (by the New York Times, for the record). I'm also not particularly a Black Sabbath fan, though I like this song, Paranoid. I also like this clip of them performing it on Belgian TV. It is surprising just how healthy, vigorous and wholesome Ozzy Osbourne looks in it. A sobering message of the dangerous effects of lysergic acid.

Happy listening.

Sad Songs

2007-12-20T12:51:00.000+11:00

I am at a loss to describe what actually links these two songs, other than the fact that I listen to both of them quite often, and that they are both sad in their own separate ways.

'Road To Peace' is a perhaps the best informed "protest" songs around. It portrays a prosaic and detail-heavy series of events in Israel/Palestine, the underlying theme being the futile cycle of violence. All to gritty bar-blues. The highlight of his latest 3CD album.

Road To Peace- Tom Waits

Tom Waits' website

The next song is as tender as the above song is rough. While 'Road to Peace' is sung by a disconnected narrator, 'Lonesome Valley' is a personal song. The instruments are undistorted and restrained, and the tone is rather melancholy. It harks back to Harvest-era Neil Young, only a bit more pastoral.

Lonesome Valley- Magnolia Electric Company

Magnolia Electric Company's website.

Bodies of Water

2007-12-16T17:26:00.000+11:00

It's always frustrating when a band lacks the ability to define themselves. Usually it is because they don't want to draw attention to the fact they just make bad Kid A era Radiohead impersonations. LA-based Bodies of Water fortunately don't sound like Radiohead, but they do have trouble defining themselves. This grab from their website sums it up:

"They draw from a number of disparate traditions, combining the metaphysical intensity of gospel, the primitive gusto of punk rock, the earnest idiosyncracy of american folk, the sonic inclusiveness of tropicalia, the planned jamming of prog, and the sincere melodrama of musical theatre."

As it turns out, they don't really have any connection with any of those genres, save perhaps folk. But their vagueness in developing songs shows through in tracks from their well-titled album 'Ears Will Pop and Eyes Will Blink'. Rather than coherent and defined tunes, with set verses and choruses, the songs seem to go from one movement to another. Strangely, the music is downbeat enough not to seem thoroughly pretentious. The track 'I guess I'll forget the sound, I guess, I guess' is actually a gem. At first it seems indeterminate, but three minutes and twelve seconds in, it makes it all worthwhile. 'Doves Circle The Skies' is more set in its ways, and requires less patience. Good tracks, though.

I Guess I'll Forget The Sound, I Guess, I Guess- Bodies of Water

Doves Circle The Skies- Bodies of Water

Happy listening.

Black is the New Black Part One

2007-12-14T12:05:00.000+11:00

It's a mystery as to why, but there are so many wonderful bands with 'Black' in their name. So much so that there is obviously space for several more blog posts of the same theme, without the apparent need to repeat samples of the same band.

I first came across Black Nielson in the first weeks of uni, back in 2005. I was given a copy of their album 'Current Sunlight' to review. I remember listening to it, and loving the tinny, sodden, delicate feel of the album. I then logged on to the internet to find out about them, to discover they had broken up the day before. Lame.

In absence of an MP3 for them, here's the videoclip for their best song, 'Love Song to Chan Marshall' (aka Cat Power). It is a fittingly understated tribute to the singer I adore so dearly.

Getting more current meanwhile. My mate Richy introduced me to The Black Kids. They're from Jacksonville, Florida. Their entire EP is available on their website, but here's my favourite song from it.

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You- The Black Kids

It should also be noted that one of the band's members is called Reggie Youngblood, which is the most indie-rock name ever.

The Black Kids' Website

Happy listening.

Are You From Sweden?

2007-12-13T16:52:00.000+11:00

It's a beautiful day here in Gerringong, on the south coast of New South Wales on the east coast of Australia. The sun is shining brightly, and so long as I'm in the shade it suits me fine. Curiously, no bands of any significance have come from Gerringong, though once Peter Garrett was once swimming at Werri Beach. I looked out of my window that day and thought, "Hmm. That looks like Peter Garrett. I'd go down for a closer look but the odds of it being Peter Garrett are too low to be worth my while." As it turns out, my poor statistical analysis contradicted the fact that the odds of a seven-foot tall, lanky, completely bald man swimming on Werri Beach being Peter Garrett are actually rather high. It was Peter Garrett.

But aside from that brief moment, Gerringong is not very rock and roll. The weather is very pleasant, which makes up for its lack of musical prominence.

It is currently overcast and -5 degrees celsius in Stockholm, Sweden. And as it turns out, Sweden is cranking out more great music per capita than the Haight-Ashbury circa 1967. As a result, some highlights from Sweden seem like a great place to start this MP3 blog.

I stumbled upon Lacrosse on another MP3 blog, and fell in love with this song. So much so that within three days it became the third most played song on my iTunes. And the songs beating it have been on there for so much longer. It is twee and joyous, but with solid production values. It feels like floating on a cloud of happiness.

You Can't Say No Forever- Lacrosse

The videoclip does the happiness of the song justice. Check it out.

Lacrosse's MySpace

If Lacrosse feels like floating on a cloud, Love is All feel like riding down a staircase in a desk chair. They tear it up live.

Talk Talk Talk Talk- Love is All

Love is All's website

Happy listening.