Loud Noise and Pictures

First off, yeah, sorry it’s been a while. To the 20-30 odd people who still come to the site, I love you, and would do you if you’re hot.

Secondly, the best plumbing-named band in the history of Melbourne won $30 000 worth of Australian Music Prize today. That’s awesome. I personally was gunning for The Drones, but hey, they have one under their belt already. 

As long as it wasn’t The Presets (not that I have anything against them, despite Julian giving bloggers shit in Rolling Stone, but fair call, we are all hacks who can’t get a real journalism job) because they won more than their fair share already.

So, kudo’s to Edward’s Topical Band of Censorship. 

I also promise to update this a little more regularly. 

OH! Update your bookmarks to include .wordpress.com after LNAP because I can’t afford/be bothered to pay for the domain… yet.

Time to get a Stooges tattoo.

Ron Asheton, Stooges founding member and one hell of a guitarist, was found dead at his home in Michigan, aged 60.

…are a’blowing through here.

We’re not dead. Hardly. Just busy struggling with work etc. 

Plus, what’s been newsworthy? Chinese Democracy came out? Who cares! Unicorns wouldn’t mean shit to anyone if they were real. 

My weekend life is a lot quieter now that festival season in Canberra has run into it’s proverbial lightpost and stopped dead for the year, so I will post up some late-2008 CD reviews in the coming days, and we’ll also do the obligitory Top XX of 2008 album/CD/concerts/faceplants lists that EVERY blog does.

Actually, it’s the reason this blog was started, so I may do two, just to get it out of my system.

Until then, my flickr is a scorching case of photo herpes ie. grungy, discoloured, painful, and won’t go away without cream. As far as analogies go, that sucked. Like herpes. Uh, check it out.

Piglets,

Last year I had the great honour of attending both the Sydney and Melbourne V Festivals. With a lineup headlined by The Smashing Pumpkins, Queens of the Stoneage, and other amazing acts like Jesus and Mary Chain, The Presets, and Duran Du-fucking-ran, it was a pretty fucking rad festival. Needless to say, my hopes were sky high and then some for this year:

THE KILLERS
SNOW PATROL
KAISER CHIEFS
DUFFY
ELBOW
THE DØ
LOUIS XIV
TAME IMPALA
THE TEMPER TRAP
CANYONS

Can I get a ‘hopes dashed’?

I preferred the rumour of Weezer and Metallica headlining, but since Metallica is touring somewhere else at the time, and Weezer are AWOL, the air guitar is staying locked up in it’s case.

Serious question here, how are The Killers popular? I was amazed when I found out they were from Las Vegas via Las Vegas. I could have sworn they were Brits. Like Nathan Hudson from Faker, it’s all fake accents. Fuck I hate Faker. Why do people put on a British accent/rip off British music? IT ONLY WORKS IF YOU’RE A BRIT!

Foolz better recognize.

I just finished listening to Spiritulized’s “Songs in A+E” and that thing wails. I’ve got Dead Meadow in the car. I’m about to put on Dirty Three. I’m pretty sure ATP uh, FUCKING SLAYS EVERYTHING THIS SUMMER.

Festival overload continues!

Playground Weekender has pulled out some pretty decent acts, especially hype band Crystal Castles. 

Not enough Deerhunter though. Someone? Anyone?

Primal Scream
The Streets
Cold War Kids
Crystal Castles 
Blue King Brown
Salmonella Dub
Soul II Soul Sound System
Grafton Primary
Nic Fanciulli
Ashley Beedle
Norman Jay
Whomadewho
TZU
D.I.G (Directions in Groove)
Ewan Pearson
Todd Terje
Tom Middleton
Jimpster
Paper Scissors
Mark De Clive-Lowe
Pomomofo
Wow
Russ Dewbury

All Tomorrow’s Parties 2nd Round Announcement

Dead Meadow, The Reels, Psarandonis, Bill Callahan, Dirty Three performing Ocean Songs, Small Knives, The Holy Sea, Hunter Dienna, Passenger of Shit, and more to be announced. No Drones yet, but give it time, since they are playing the next two festivals I’m about to talk about.

Big Day Out 2nd Round Announcement

Serj Tankian, Dropkick Murphys, Black Kids, Hot Chip, Lupe Fiasco, Holy Ghost!, Z-Trip, Died Pretty, The Vines, Infusion, Children Collide, Pee Wee Ferris, Sparkadia, The Getaway Plan, Little Red, Mammal, Mercy Arms, Ajax, Andee Frost, The Drones.

Golden Plains Festival 1st Announcement

MOGWAI, TONY ALLEN, GARY NUMAN, BLACK MOUNTAIN, OF MONTREAL, THE DRONES, THE CHURCH, DAN DEACON, BRANT BJORK AND THE BROS, OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW, JIM WHITE AND JOHN DOE, QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT, THE BLACK SEEDS, LULUC, YOU AM I

So basically The Drones are a bunch of festival sluts. I’m ok with it though since I saw them at Stonefest on Saturday and they were FUCKING AMAZING!

Wow! these guys are off the hook

First up, check out the video of the band

If your are still with me, Crystal Antlers hail from Long Beach, California and they Merge psych, garage, lo-fi, prog, and countless other influences whilst still holding it together with musicianship beyond their years. There is a fair bit of hype about them in the blogesphere, but it is well deserved when you sound like this. Here’s hoping they tour soon or im going to have to trek to the states and stalk them.

Check out another video Fo shizzle!

After spending all day at a 200 acre, blood dripping, haunted, abandoned psychiatric hospital, it was soothing to come home to the Laneway Festival lineup last night. Late September? Uh…

Girl Talk
Stereolab
Architecture In Helsinki
The Hold Steady
The Drones
Cut Off Your Hands
Four Tet
Tame Impala
El Guincho
Jay Reatard
Buraka Som Sistema DJ/MC Set
The Temper Trap
No Age
John Steel Singers
Canyons
Pivot
Port O’Brien
Holly Throsby
Born Ruffians
Mountains In The Sky
Tim Fite,
Still Flyin
Daedelus

No Age and Jay Reatard. Dope-a-rope. Still, no Deerhunter! Ah well.

Wow!

Growing are a two piece from Brooklyn, New York. 
      
They play mind altering noise that plays out like the LSD trip you never had. Combining a more accessible Fuck Buttons noise and layer upon layer of My Bloody Valentine brilliance, these guys really know how to paint a visual picture in your head when listening to their new album with your eyes closed or on your favourite drug. Remember, only take drugs if you dont mind wanting to end up like this

Recently played some ATP festivals around the states and Europe, here’s hoping they come here for the First Australian ATP in January.

Get into it!

It has been very quiet on stroke related news lately, but do not fear as most of them have been putting out some very cool tunes.

Guitarist Albert Hammond Jnr has released his solo stuff for a while now, but it’s the tunes that the rhythm section of The Strokes that have been getting some attention.

Bass player Nickolai Fraiture has a new band with Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner named Nickel Eye, which comes accross like a folkie/reggae Strokes.

Next is all the girls fave stroke, Fabrizio Moretti and his new band, Little Joy. This consists of more tropical flavours and calypso sounds but also sounding very much like Adam Green, which is a very good thing. 

Little Joy contains Fab’s current flame Binki Shaparo and Brazlian musician Rodrigo Amarante. He is also busy playing drums with everyone’s fave hippie, Devendra Banhart. His side project goes by the very cool name of Megapuss.

Check them all out now!