31 Saturday Oct 2009
Posted in Leftovers
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Sunset down the river
There is nothing like the thudding of your feet on an old wooden bridge
This gum tree must be at least 500 years old
I don’t walk down this path anymore. Two weeks ago I almost stepped on a brown snake – they’re out early this year.
Woody Brown River – Guillemots
Drops in the River – Fleet Foxes
Bonus coverage:
Many Rivers to Cross (Jimmy Cliff Cover) – Vika & Linda
27 Tuesday Oct 2009
Posted in Coverage
The home studio of The Low Anthem
My coverage collection is pretty light on at the moment, but I do have a few gems to share with you.
I’m not a huge Dylan fan, but I love anything The Low Anthem guys get up to.
Dignity (Bob Dylan Cover) – The Low Anthem
I love the Guillemots version of Franz Ferdinand’s ‘Take Me Out’ – don’t let its slow beginning fool you, this is a chaotic romp much of the way through. Fun stuff.
Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand Cover) – Guillemots
I quite like this Dawn Landes version of ‘Young Folks’, with its background singalong, plucking banjo and strings.
Young Folks (Peter, Bjorn & John Cover) – Dawn Landes
This take on Band Of Horses ‘Funeral’ (a truly magnificent song) is really quite lovely. Though it lacks the buildup and crashing climax of the original, its more muted sound makes for a pleasant listen.
Funeral (Band Of Horses Cover) – Serena Ryder & The Beauties
24 Saturday Oct 2009
Posted in Leftovers
23 Friday Oct 2009
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Girl Talk
I’m off to Big Day Out next year and I’m pretty damn stoked – I’ve never been before and while I’m not really a fan of massive crowds, I’m sure the lineup will more than make up for it. I’ll be front and centre (ok, well maybe not literally) for headliners Muse and Powderfinger, along with Girl Talk, The Temper Trap and The Decemberists. I have to admit I’m slightly interested in checking out Lily Allen too – I’ve never been a big fan but I’d be interested to see what all the fuss is about.
Big Day Out 2010 Lineup – First Announcement
Muse
Powderfinger
Lily Allen
Eskimo Joe
Groove Armada
Grinspoon
The Mars Volta
Ladyhawke
Dizzee Rascal
Karnivool
Peaches
The Temper Trap
Kasabian
Midnight Juggernauts
Rise Against
Magic Dirt
Mastodon
Lisa Mitchell
The Horrors
Bluejuice
Calvin Harris
Kisschasy
The Decemberists
Tame Impala
Girl Talk
Supermassive Black Hole – Muse
Lost and Running – Powderfinger
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect – The Decemberists
Picture pinched from You Ain’t No Picasso – head over there to check out 10 Girl Talk Bootlegs.
22 Thursday Oct 2009
Posted in Leftovers
The first announcement for the 2010 Laneway Festival is up and I have to say that I’m all kinds of excited. I’d definitely be front and centre for Mumford & Sons and would also like to check out Echo & The Bunnymen, Florence & The Machine, Wild Beasts and The XX (the latter just to see what all the fuss is about – I haven’t been convinced by all the hype I have to say). Tickets go on sale on October 30th and I’m going to be doing my darndest to score one for myself.
Lineup:
Echo & The Bunnymen, Florence and The Machine, Black Lips, The XX, Daniel Johnston, Sarah Blasko, N.AS.A, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Hockey, Dappled Cities, Mumford and Sons, Radio Clit, The Very Best, Wild Beasts, Whitely, The Middle East, Kid Sam, Dirty Three (Melbourne only) and more to be announced.
Kiss With A Fist – Florence & The Machine
All The Kings Men – Wild Beasts
21 Wednesday Oct 2009
Posted in Leftovers
I love it when music and literature intersect.
I know I wrote about Mumford & Sons just yesterday, but I was listening to the title track from their debut release Sigh No More today and I can’t keep it to myself any longer. Those of you who are familiar with Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing may have felt a spark of recognition when reading their album title, and you’d be right in thinking that perhaps this tune took its influence from the song and several of Benedick’s lines featured throughout Shakespeare’s play.
Before I say any more, if you’ve not seen the film adaption of Much Ado About Nothing it’s well worth a watch. It was adapted by Kenneth Branagh, who is completely faithful to the play and puts in a stellar performance as the eternal bachelor Benedick opposite Emma Thompson’s eternal spinster Beatrice. I remember when I first saw this film and I thought that they must have invented their own lines and just given them a Shakespeare-esque feel – until then I had never known that Shakespeare could be so funny! The play is fantastic too, and a less challenging read than some of his more well known works.
What I love about this song is how they’ve taken little snippets of the play and woven them in. ‘Serve God, love me and mend’ is a line that Benedick speaks to Beatrice and I’ve always admired its simplicity. It’s a beautiful opening line. ‘Man is a giddy thing’ is also a Benedick quote and refers to the human tendency to be unpredictable and fickle and unsure.
Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons
Serve God love me and mend
This is not the end
Lived unbruised we are friends
And I’m sorry
I’m sorry
Sigh no more, no more
One foot on sea and one on shore
My heart was never pure
And you know me
And you know me
And man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Love will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,
It will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be.
There is a design,
An alignment to cry,
At my heart you see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be
Here’s a live rendition – the picture isn’t always fantastic but for a live video, the sound is pretty good.
William Shakespeare
Sigh no more, ladies sigh no more
Men were deceivers ever
One foot on sea, and one on shore
To one thing constant never
Then sigh not so, but let them go
And be you blithe and bonny
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny, nonny
Sing no more ditties, sing no more
Of dumps so dull and heavy
The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leavy
Then sigh not so, but let them go
And be you blithe and bonny
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny, nonny
Sigh No More (Live Woxy Session) – Mumford & Sons
For the rest of this session, head to Woxy.com
Favourite Benedick quote:
“When I said I would die a bachelor… I did not think I would live till I were married.”
20 Tuesday Oct 2009
Posted in Leftovers
I had Triple J on in the car on the way home from dinner tonight and this live gem came on. I was totally zoned out and not really paying attention so I didn’t hear a word of the announcer’s intro, but as soon as the music kicked in I sat up and took notice, going so far as to sit in my carport, frantically entering lyrics into my phone so that I could google it once I made it inside.
After a few hit and misses during my search (I had misheard some of the words, naturally) I discovered the track was a live take of the superb ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ from the recently released debut album Sigh No More by the UK’s Mumford and Sons. I’d heard good things about these guys but I hadn’t paid them much attention til now – more fool me, I say.
A quick youtube visit netted this video (just listen to that banjo!), and an mp3, and I believe much of my evening will be spent tracking down more of their stuff to fall in love with. Make sure you visit their myspace as well – give them your email address and they will give you a download of the newly recorded ‘Sister’. Enjoy!
Roll Away Your Stone (Live) – Mumford and Sons
If you’re still hankering for some more live gear and you haven’t discovered the Hear Ya live sessions yet, now’s the time. The Low Anthem stopped by recently and recorded this beautiful set for your listening pleasure.
I want my own studio. Now.
And how gorgeous is ‘This God Damn House’? It’s stunning. This recording is from the Newport Folk Festival in August, but the Hear Ya version is also wonderful.
This God Damn House (Live) – The Low Anthem
Bonus live mp3:
Falling Slowly (Live) – Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
(Thanks Sandy!)
Click here to check out another Mumford & Sons post featuring a live version of ‘Sigh No More’.
18 Sunday Oct 2009
Posted in Leftovers
Every now and then I hear a song that I haven’t heard since I was a kid and it sparks something of a revival. I had a two hour drive to do yesterday and I think I played this a dozen times on the way. Are the lyrics bad? Yes, they are. Should I be embarrassed to admit that I like it? Probably. Does it belong at the top of a 2006 poll of the 111 Wussiest Songs Of All Time? Perhaps. But we all have those songs that we can’t help but like, even if they do challenge our own particular brand of self-imposed musical standards and snobberies. This is one of mine.
14 Wednesday Oct 2009
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I went to a funeral last week. I haven’t been to many funerals, and only one of them has been for a person I was close to. Most of them have been for people who were older and had enjoyed a long and happy life. Two, however, have been for people close to my own age. One of them was for a boy who committed suicide when we were in Year 11. The other was for the brother of an old friend, a man only two years older than myself. This was the funeral I attended last week.
For some reason, this one has really affected me, almost more so than my grandpa’s, which was the first death I experienced of someone that I was close to. I think it might be because I hadn’t talked to this man in a over a year, and only once or twice since I learned he had cancer. I think it’s because he’s my vintage, my generation. I think it’s because I grew up with his family and now part of that family is gone.
Maybe we don’t fully grow up until our peers start falling down around us.
I’ve been listening to The Antlers Hospice this afternoon, an album that, coincidentally, is about a man who watches a loved one die of cancer. I’ve been meaning to write about it for months now, but every time I’ve tried, words have failed. It’s a heartbreakingly gorgeous album, too gorgeous to justice to with mere words I think, and that’s why I’ve been struggling.
I don’t think it’s enough to just have a digital version of this album either – you really need the physical copy to fully appreciate its beauty. The artwork is haunting and lovely and the lyrics, written out as paragraphs and not lines, give the feeling of an epic novel, rather than just a collection of songs.
Every track is magnificent, truly, but the standouts for me are ‘Kettering’, ‘Bear’ and ‘Two’ (potential song of the year?).
Kettering:
You said you hated my tone, it made you feel so alone, and so you told me I ought to be leaving. But something kept me standing by that hospital bed, I should have quit but instead I took care of you. You made me sleep and uneven, and I didn’t believe them when they told me that there was no saving you.
Bear:
There’s a bear inside your stomach, the cub’s been kicking you for weeks. And if this isn’t all a dream well then we’ll cut him from beneath. Well we’re not scared of making caves or finding food for him to eat. We’re terrified of one another and terrified of what that means. But we’ll make only quick decisions and you’ll just keep my in the waiting room. And all the while i’ll know we’re fucked and not getting unfucked soon. When we get home we’re bigger strangers than we’ve ever been before you sit in front of snowy television, suitcase on the floor.
Two:
Something in my throat made my next words shake, and something in the wires made the lightbulbs break. There was glass inside my feet and raining down from the ceiling, it opened up the scars that had just finished healing.
That line about being ‘bigger strangers than we’ve ever been before’ slays me every time, and could easily be applied to any human relationship, regardless of the medical status of the participants. While this is a concept album specifically about somebody dying of cancer, what I love about it is that it can be interpreted in so many ways.
The Antlers are currently touring everywhere but Australia (grrrrr) and you can find out more about their upcoming gigs at their myspace.
13 Tuesday Oct 2009
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After two weeks of impatience, speaking to tech guys, testing two new routers and systematically tearing at my follicles, I’m finally back online.
During my absence I have moved house, obviously, watched season 5 of The Office (god I love that show), checked out the new Muse album (it’s awesome, and I’m genuinely surprised at how much I love it), read several books, watched two seasons of CSI, scored tickets to Big Day Out, been to the movies several times and gone running in the mornings around my new neighbourhood.
These are all great things to do and all, but you can’t imagine how much I’m looking forward to downloading music and writing posts and catching up with all my favourite blogs again. I’m less excited about trawling through my inbox though – there are almost 1000 emails there, screaming to be ignored and then read and then deleted.
It’s a bloody good thing I have the next two days off isn’t it? Thank god for part time work…
From the (500) Days Of Summer Soundtrack (great soundtrack to a great movie, but pity about that final line. “Hi, I’m Autumn….”. Blerrrgh.)
Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (The Smiths Cover) – She And Him
