The Boxer Rebellion - Union

The amount of good music that i seem to be stumbling across is actually astounding me. I suppose because after years of being on the front edge of music ( i.e actually going to see new bands play, buying cd's and reading music press ) i have spent the last 5 or so years in wilderness my only contact with music being the replaying of my favourite CD's and the occasional burst of FM radio. So i'd become very skeptical as to there being a lot of good music out there. Add the boxer rebellion to the shortlist for album of the year. Whilst this is an album with many obvious influences, Muse, The Editors, Kings of Leon, Placebo, the songs are all unique, catchy, enjoyable. The first 3 tracks are all high paced, textured and emotive, and when the tempo slows for tracks such as misplaced and silent movies the decrease in speed doesn't drop the intensity. It's a simple but expansive sound. Play, repeat, play, repeat.

Bob Evans - Goodnight Bull Creek

Architecture in Helsinki - Places like this

I had a strange confrontation the other day walking through pitt st mall. I was on my way back from nowhere in particular when i saw walking towards me a dishevelled man carrying a colourful square box. As we got closer to crossing paths i tried to figure out what it was that he was carrying. I finally figured out that it was the packaging for an Xbox360 console, a green white and orange striped motif kind of like a rainboe for irishmen. At the exact moment i figured this out the gentleman carrying the box looked at me and exulted "i didn't fucking steal it ya dickhead". and kept on walking past me. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked back at the man who had turned around to mutter some more words over his shoulder at me. I was speechless. I mean what do you say to that? should i have tried and explained that not for one second did i think, just because of his ragged clothing, that he had stolen the item he was carrying and that i was merely trying to work out what it was. And that i wasn;t trying to work out what is was purely so i could estimate the likelyhood of him possesing the item without some form of theft involved. And that really even if i was thinking that he stolen it, why did he chose me amongst the hundred other people he had passed to hurl his abuse at? So the moral of the story is don't look at people. and secondly if someone if so quick to be defensive about stealing something, they have either been accused one too many times, or they've stolen it.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

Soulwax - Much against everyone's advice

yeah, see earlier blogs about one song albums and times it by a thousand. I love the title track much against everyones advice but just dont see how the rest of this album fits around it. it's like those albums they release of fairly famous bands where they put one of their hits on the end of it so people who dont know their stuff will at least have something to listen to. i.e skip the first 10 songs to get to it. at least this is track 2 so you don't have to skip far. Ok i should cut them some slack, there are a few other decent tracks on the album, too many DJ's and when logics die And they are Belgian, and i like their chocloate but I dare you to listen to the whole album through. Sorry Soulwax, it's not you it's me.*





*it's you.

Whiskeytown - Faithless Street

Flaming Lips - Yoshimi battles the pink robot

William Orbit - My oracle lives uptown

Happy Mondays - Pill 'n' thrills and bellyaches

Lisa Mitchell - Wonder

back in the good old days of cassette tapes there used to be an interesting phenomenom known as the "cut off song" this was the song at the end of one side of the tape that got cut off half way through when the tape flipped over. the song would then return on the next side of the tape generally about 20 to 30 seconds later meaning that a fair portion of the song had been missed. i had this happen on so many of my cassettes that there were times when i heard a particular song on the radio i had no idea what it was because i had never heard that 30 second period of the song before. Then when listening to it on CD i'd be so used to the song cutting off at a particular time that i'd be prepearing for it and then shocked when it didn't actually occur. I mention this because one of the songs on this album just cuts off halfway through, and i'm not sure if it's supposed to be like that or if its a victim of the digital equivalent of "cut off song" phenomenom. It's actually quite annoying too because it's a brilliant song on an album of many brilliant songs, from this one time wannabee australian idol. Lisa Mitchell may end up being the most successful of any idol contestant (and no i don't count shannon noll or guy sebastian as successful ) because she's escaped the pre-determination and pigeon holing of a record label and her audience is far enough removed from the typical Aus idol fan that she can make an album of her own songs that doesn't have to cater to mainstream tastes. That's not to say this album is ground breaking in any sense, her voice is a mix between sarah blasko and new buffalo and her songs are layered in a silimar vein. But it's sweet, it's textured and it's damn fine to listen to. she also does a mean dire straits cover.

Portishead - Third

Why did Portishead wait 11 years between their second and third album? I mean they haven't exactly been out in the world experimenting with new sounds. And they're not the most outgoing people, notoriously camera and interview shy, so they haven't missed the fame. They've pretty much stuck to the formula that made their first two albums Dummy and Portishead so popular. But that was the 90's. is it still relevant today, can Portishead "do a" Portishead and pull it off? can i ask anymore stupid rhetorical questions? Anyway, if you liked the previous two albums, you'll love this. perhaps even more so as there is an added emphasis on the bass lines, and the introduction of some more synthesized sounds. "The Rip" could be the simplest yet finest song they have ever done. The sort of song that portishead and radiohead would have if they procreated and made little baby songs. "Hunter" and "plastic" follow the formula that made their first two albums so successful. And, well, if you're onto a winning formula, stick with it. if it works for nickelback...

Angus & Julia Stone - A book like this

These guys are so good they make me angry. Both talented musicians with amazing voices, multi-instrumental, good looks. Some people get all the luck/have the tenacity to work hard at something and not give in. I first saw them as a support act a few years back at the annandale hotel and was instantly hooked by Julia Stone's sweet, rolling, almost purring vocal. She has a strange sound, reminiscant of Catatonia's Cerys Matthews. What makes it even more strange is that Cerys is Welsh and Julia is as Aussie as Vegemite. But hey, whatever works. Most of these songs are soft and sweet, but it's not to say they are not still powerful. The musicianship is flawless, the vocals defined and determined, polished but emotionally raw. When Julia sings, nay pleads "Hold me, Hold me, tonight" on title track 'A book like this' only a lifeless, soul-less inhuman monster could not feel their heart strings being pulled.Amazing live performers as well their skill and passion translates well to the stage

Tom Petty - Wildflowers

Jose Gonzalez - Veneer

It's a chestnut statement but this is the album i wish i had made. And i say this for several reasons. Great guitar songs, simple vocals, a killer cover. It's quite rough, it's meandering in some stages, it's the sort of messing around on the guitar i used to do at home in my bedroom as an angst ridden teenager. The other thing is that i have no illusions about being able to sing, and neither does Jose Gonzalez. His is not a strong voice, there's not much too much range going on there, but it still conveys emotion, and rather than carrying the songs becomes one of the instruments. You'll probably recognise Heartbeats from a Sony commercial from a few years ago ( think it was the one with all the coloured balls bouncing down the street ) and i don't know whether its a help or a hinderance to a career to have something of that magnitude attached to your resume. Do people think of you as 'that guy with the song from the commercial' or do people remember you because you did 'that song for the commercial' believe it or not there is a difference. Anyway the album includes my new favourite cover of all time, just pipping foo fighters version of 'baker street'.

Red House Painters - Ocean Beach

Sarah Blasko - As day follows night

Sarah Blasko can do no wrong in my eyes. Sarah and i once crossed paths as we walked down a city street and she gave me a look that, although fleeting, said 'hey, whats up, you seem like kind of a cool guy, i know you recognise me, but you're acting cool and trying to pretend you don't, hey, thats fine with me, anyway, see you round'. a lot can be said with a fleeting glance. If sarah had've read my thoughts it would of gone something like this 'i think that's sarah blasko, oh my god it is. it is sarah blasko, oh shit, she just looked at me, look away, look AWAY!, run get out of here, jesus..'. I can sense several of the songs on this most recent album are about that chance meeting.I get the feeling sarah remembers that day as fondly as i do.

Josh Rouse - Country Mouse City House

funny story, first listen of this album was on my post work semi-comatose drive home. when the second song kicked in there was a certain familiarity that led me to the conclusion that i must've heard the song on a compilation album at some stage. but when i instantly recognised the tune to the third song i started to wonder, well surely both songs wouldn't have been on a compilation, how is it possible that this song sounds so familiar? i dont own any josh rouse albums do I?? where do i know these friggin songs from?? it was only when i checked my Ipod to see if it actually was a josh rouse album that i realised that the first song had been set on repeat, and my familiarity with the second and third songs was due to the fact that it was the first song being played again and again. I am officially a moron. here's another funny story

Triffids - Black Swan

Tim Buckley - Goodbye & Hello

I've been meaning to give tim buckley a serious listen for a long time. As a huge HUGE fan of son Jeff's music i thought i owed to the man who brought him into this world to have a listen to his own creations. I decided to start with his second album Goodbye & Hello released in 1967 and embracing the neo-folk style of the time, with lyrics touching on war, politics and relationships. It's a tough listen at times, a hard voice to get used to, part troubadour, part screaming banshee, reminiscint of Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick. It starts to grate after a while, as does the experimentations with a plethora of different instruments and background noises, often pushing past the vocals and just becoming plain annoying. I'm not dismissing it outright, it was an amazingly bold album to be released at that time, one of the early experimentations with psychedelic rock. It has lit a flame of interest and i will be checking out the rest of his work

Indochine - La Republique Des Meteors

Florence and the Machines - Lungs

I really think that the opening song on this album 'dog days are over' could be my favourite song of the year so far. Big call i know but i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say there will be none better in 09. Ok..maybe i'll change that slightly. You will not find a better opening song on a debut album for the rest of 09. The rest of the album is no dogs breakfast either. falling somewhere between sarah mclachlan, lou rhodes and Moya Brennan, Florence Welch's voice is brutally powerful and sublimely subtle at the same time, with kate bush/tori amos like flourishes she owns every song on the album and even if the backing music might become a bit samey Welch's vocals dominant to the point that the music is irrelevant. This is a brilliant vocal display and a definite contender for album of the year. ok..., contender for debut album of the year. and don't be surprised if it wins a grammy for best pop vocal next year.

Belle & Sebastian - Tiger Milk

A friend of mine once had a cat named sebastian. i thought it was an awesome if somewhat hilarious name for a cat. the cat was also deaf and we used to make jokes about it to my friend, who justifiably got upset whenever we did. I dont know why i thought making fun of a deaf cat was funny, i guess it just was. It was a cute cat though. anyway, i mention this because i think of that cat whenever i listen to belle & Sebastian. Their later albums were definetely more polished and stronger works but there is a pleasant simplicity to this their first release. Opener 'the state that i am in' is still probably my favourite B&S song. They're simple folky songs, think nick drake with a bit of sufjan and cat stevens.

Highway 61 revisited - Bob Dylan

Bringing it all back home - Bob Dylan

Another side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

The times they are a-changin - Bob Dylan

The Freewheelin Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Sebadoh - Bake Sale

I've never (gulp) owned a sebadoh album. Although i was very much a fan of other lo-fi artists such as pavement, weezer, dinosaur jnr and yo la tengo, i never actually went out and bought a sebadoh album. I think it's because i was always put off by their album covers. They're by no means horrendous, but they just make me feel ill looking at them. I mean why is that baby looking in the toilet? has he just done a poo and now reaching in to touch it? worse, has someone else done a poo and he's reaching in to touch it. who puts a photo of their naked child on an album cover anyway? This is the album i should've owned, it's their most acclaimed and has most of the songs that i have heard or listened to when younger. It's also probably most in tune with the sound of Dinosaur Jnr, of which Sebadoh Bass player Lou Barlow was also a member. Songs like 'Not too amused' and 'Skull' showcase this perfectly. It's an album worth a listen, and good for reminiscing and at least now i don't have to look at the frigging baby on the cover whenever i want to play it.

La Roux - La Roux

This is going to sound really horrible. I liked La Roux more when i didn't know what La Roux looked like. Am i the most horrible person in the world or what? I mean it's not that she's hideously unattractive say beth ditto unattractive it's just that anyone who looks like ziggy stardust david bowie is bound to freak you out. I'm also wary of albums that get so much praise and are publicly heralded as album of the year seemingly before the reviewer has even heard the album. It seems that longer it goes the less appealing this album has become to reviewers as some of the more recent ones i have read have slammed the album as just another 80's synth pop rehash, with irritatingly repetitive vocals. perhaps those ealry reviewers are just so scared of missing the 'next big thing' that they'll happily jump on the bandwagon as a a safety measure. Anyway, it's all subjective and just as irrelevant as this blog is so let me leave you with the only opinion that matters.., mine. This album is worth a listen, but don;t be shocked if you think you've heard all the songs before. because you probably have in one form or another. she may look like him, but she's not a patch on the thin white freak.

Built to Spill - Perfect from now on

I defer to my japanese residing friend, Raoul Duke for a suitable description of this album; "Best album of all time? Close. Their gig at Petersham Bowlo in Jan 08 was as close to heaven as I have been. It's hard to imagine a better progression of songs than Randy Described Eternity, I Would Hurt A Fly, Stop The Show, Made-Up Dreams, Velvet Waltz, Out Of Sight, Kicked It In The Sun. Made-Up Dreams is the highlight in the middle"