click the linkage!

the arias are generally seen as a time when normal freethinking people with decent taste in music put aside 3 hours to mercilessly mock australia's most 'talented' douche bags. this year may be different however, if all goes to plan and my stormtroopers click on the shinny links, i will give you in a second, the best television of all time could come to fruition.

the lovely caitlin and declan are vying for the opportunity to grill our nations best and brightest musical leeches on the red carpet or the aria music awards. such questions may include:

cait gp

Q. you're on the red carpet and are trying to get the attention of the veronicas. how do you attract their attention and stand out from the crowd?
A. yell "i love you work".... they haven't heard that one in a while

OR

d wow

Q. keith urban has arrived on the red carpet. what is your first blog about him?

A. move over russel crowe and the 'ordinary fear of god'. it's new zealand's new favourite super musician.

it's what we have always wanted. so, make it a reality and vote for you new favourite journalists. declan here and caitlin here. if nothing else but to see their pretty faces on the telly. 

kasparov, deep blue, 1996.

i'm not sure if anyone knows this but, apparently the suburbs are the place to be. 'what? surely not!', i hear you say. i didn't believe it myself but the arcade fire do not lie, and their latest album the suburbs has been hailed as their best yet. now, it is good.... amazing even but better than funeral hmmm i'm not sure.

still, they have gone back to the idea of making an album in a very radiohead type way. it is meant to be listened to as a whole, in order and rewards this continuous listening. with every song in some way linked to the idea of the suburbs it has an understated, almost innocent, likeablity that give you a nice warm and fuzzy feeling. reminds me of home, but that could just be me.

mike diver hailed the cd as, "a complex, captivating work that, several cycles down the line, retains the magic and mystery of that first tentative encounter. you could call it their 'ok computer'. but it's arguably better than that."

now, i love radiohead and this review i agree with completely, but only because 'the bends' is my favourite album EVER. but still, breaking the golden rule of, 'thou must not speak ill of radiohead' may in this case be warranted. anyone who knows be gets how massive a deal this is.

anyway, get your ears a copy. i think 'the suburbs' will make them happy.

acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk!

an hour ago, a free copy of klaxons new album, 'surfing the void' happened to fall into my computer shaped lap. a 'laptop' if you will. i know it has been a while since i raved about a band and their music, this has been mostly due to the fact that no one recently deserved my praise. the klaxons do! their much anticipated second album is amazing. cited as a band with the complex and aptly named musical genre, 'acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk' speaks to everything i love. combine this with some amazingly odd fashion choices, my love runs free.

get your hands on a copy of their album! if you haven't heard of them, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? in prison? a coma, perhaps. well, if so you are in need of a serious musical education. one, you can find here. or just check out their new single, 'echoes' official video below. could be just me, but i feel the need to run through the desert..... i never feel the need to run. disturbing.

is that...? O.M.G!

....another one of the reasons we love stephen fry. he inadvertently introduces us to some very cool people like, THE STROKES.

(l-r: albert hammond jr., caitlin, fab moretti, nikolai fraiture, me and kathryn)

i've got sunshine, on a cloudy day.

as i was trolling the internet yesterday for something to occupy me.... as you do, i found this! POPTISIMS! we all remember the motivational posters of yore, you know the ones with pictures and stupid phrases underneath that do not in anyway promote motivation but in actual fact, make you feel slightly depressed about the creative spirit of the douche bags that come up with them. anyway, poptisms, have decided to reinvigorate the idea and they are doing it with passion and a clever up-to-date attitude.

they remind me of a funny, romantic, completely lame movie i watched last week, 'music and lyrics'. drew barrymore and hugh grant, the reigning king and queen of the rom-com, have this cool mini conversation about how pop songs really are like poetry for the modern man and woman. they are equally poetic to the great poems of yeats and shakespeare or lord nelson's love letters except, they make you feel more in the first line of lyrics and harmony than could be conveyed in an entire sonnet.

for instance, i dare you not to feel happy when listening to the the song 'my girl' by the temptations. seriously, i dare you!

the point of all this, is that i have always believed that pop music is fairly trivial and unimportant. it isn't and it is. when pop music is done well, and it rarely is, it can make you feel all pretty and happy. nothing wrong with that.

suicide's easy, what happened to the revolution?

stephen fry - the sydney opera house - 27th of july - 8pm

foals - manning bar - 28th of july - 8pm

the strokes - the hordern pavilion - 29th of july - 7pm

black rebel motor cycle club - the metro - 1st of august - 8pm

....going to be a big week of AWESOME! woop can't wait. now, i got to go practice my thrash dancing.

wollongong, i love you but you're bringing me down.

the song currently stuck in my head....

daydream, i fell asleep amid the flowers.

bit of a music post. i have recently rediscovered the wonderful band 'i monster'. 4 of the songs on their album 'neveroddoreven' i have heard before on tv but my favourite song 'the blue wrath' is the theme tune from one of my absolute rewatchable films 'shaun of the dead'. if you haven't seen the english zombie comedy then i can't suggest enough you go out and find it at your local video shop or just borrow mine.

anyways, 'i monster' is a british electronic group, made up of sheffield-based producers dean horner and jarrod gosling that formed in 1997. they themselves aren't very well know yet, their music is instantly recognisable due to subtle melodies and catchy re-mastered versions of old classics.

and if all that doesn't convince you, then do check out their first album here. they also released their latest album last yr 'a dense swarm of ancient starts'.

arh ceeelllloooo.....

avant garde is defined as, "any creative individual or group active in the innovation and application of new concepts and techniques in a given field (especially in the arts)". the video below features cellist zoe keating. she is rather amazing in her composing and layering of sounds and other music. give it a listen, check out her site and get your hands on her album, 'one cello x 16: natoma'. wondefully weird....it's when things become redefined.

danger mouse and sparklehorse present:

dark night of the soul!

this is a great cd written and produced by danger mouse and sparklehorse and deserves a serious listen for the sheer amount of wonderful names that are included in the artists list. iggy pop, pixies, the flaming lips, super furry animals, neutral milk hotel, julian casablancas, the shins, nina perssons, the strokes....it's like an orgy of amazingness! deep mellow tunes but, for some reason the album isn't actually that depressing. moody but jaunty.

still, my primary reason for this post is the rad 100 page book of photos that will be included with the cd. the picture above is one of them and shows the very talented david lynch, who contributed the stills and is responsible for great films like, 'mulhollond drive' and 'blue velvet'.

you can get your hands on a copy via the evil torrents and listen to the entire album that is live streamed here. or if you are more patient than me, and you can wait till the 13th of july when emi will be re-releasing it for a nice tangible hard copy.

why wollongong sucks.

now, i have always been a lover of wollongong since i moved here and it really wasn't until today that i started hating on it. been missing my friends that (selfishly) moved away to have lives and uni careers outside of the south coast but i have never felt it more than today. the lovely and talented brian chase (from the yeah yeah yeahs) is playing a free lunchtime gig at the uni bar and no one here seems to care. strike one wollongong.

he is wonderful and a member of one of my fave and easily coolest bands in the world and people here are going, brian who? for shame! also, i had to park today almost in freaking figtree! was late for class when a douche bag wearing a volcolm shirt saying 'your mum is my other ride' called me an indie wanker, for no reason. wtf i wasn't even wearing or doing anything weird. strike two wollongong!

i was ready to go back to bed at this stage and in hind sight probably should have!

one more strike and you are out, to use my newly acquired baseball knowledge! gota say if this happens again i'm going to have to go on a killing spree and cull the area after an extensive music and fashion quiz/poll. failure means death! you have been warned.

but, like all things there is a good side to wollongong. work is fun! but, when you're sick and grumpy all the tedious tiny annoying things jump into focus. i'm sure it's the universes way of keeping you on your toes.

combo love!

i really love film, music and trivia generally. so when i found out that this video combined 3 loverly things into one amazing music video i felt the need to share. the vid below is from the very talented band kasabian. now these young lads from leicester in the uk have been tinkering around with guitars and such for a few years now, as a result are now at the top of their game. some of you may have seen them play at the big day out this year.

this song is off their most recent album, 'the west rider lunatic asylum' and this particular song is directed by none other than mr. richard ayoade (who plays moss from 'the it crowd') and stars the very funny noel fielding (from 'the mightly boosh') as the serial killing vampire 'vlad the impaler'. the name 'vlad the impaler' funnily enough was the original name chosen by bram stoker for the character who would be later called dracula. how cool is that?!

there is also a wonderful line in the song, "joker, meet you on the other side". this is a bit of a shout out/homage to heath ledger on his work in 'the dark night' and his subsequent death. still, regardless of all the doom and gloom in this song the video is oddly funny. this is a great display of the inate humour of the band, director and the actor in this 4 minute mini movie.

i really don't get the lesbian 'dress code'.

seriously! as i write this in the uni library, cause i ran out of internet again damn house md and its addictive episode goodness, i am stting opposite a very dykie looking lesbian. though can't be sure she really is gay but the crew cut and trucker singlet are indicators.

last night i went to the opening of the sydney travelling film festival and one of the two movies we watched was 'the topp twins: untouchable girls'. the film follows the lives and careers of new zealands finest yodelling, activist, rural lesbian twins. they were hilarious! their complete abandonment when it comes to performing is very endearing and leaves you forgetting and not even caring that they are so out of this world different.

still, the only problem with them is the way they choose to dress. come one, flannel is not a good look on a lady. BUT, for these two women it doesn't really matter. the crew cut hair and thick new zealand rural accent is actually charming. maybe because they are from the country is is more acceptable. if you are gay living in sydney, you have no excuse to not dress with some sense of femininity. it's as if they think dressing feminine comes from the love of a good penis....ummm somehow i don't think that is right.

anyway back to the topp's, an act like this would never find the level of fame and receive national love were they from australia. new zealand is very lucky in this respect. maybe it is because it is comparably such a small country but the topp twins in my mind seem to personify liberal thinking and acceptance that australia is severely lacking. these two women who have been openly gay from the very beginning of their public lives are truly beloved by all new zealands from every walk of life. from the big city gay scene to their rural home town cattle drive community.

these two women through their extensive advocacy work (anti-nuclear, gay rights, anti-apartheid, breast cancer awareness) make me feel terribly good to be a human being. still, the fact that had they been from rural australia they would never had reached the level of national fame that they do in new zealand. and THAT makes me ashamed to be australian. god bless new zealand.

beat the devil's tattoo!

to celebrate the fact that i can't afford a splendour in the grass tickets this year; ok so 'celebrate' might not be the right word. but anyway, the amazing line up has spawned sideshows! hooray sideshows!

next week tickets to the amazing american band, black rebel motorcycle club (brmc) sydney sideshow go on sale! can't wait! i have never seen this band live. their new album, 'beat the devil's tattoo' is rather wonderful the song of the album title is easily my favourite!

give them a listen here and if you dig that you can pick up a ticket to their sydney show here. if you beat me out of a ticket though i will kick you to death! also so getting some merch! woop!

'cause i was born free!

m.i.a is perhaps best known for her famous song 'paper planes' but what some people don't know she is a very political artist. her latest single 'born free' is her most controversial song to date. due in part to the songs unashamed attack on how governments treat their own people. the much publicised music video has got everyones undies in knots over its violence. still, it is beautifully made and the graphic violence in this case serves a very important purpose.

i can't recommend you watch this clip enough. if you don't feel some empathy or any kind of emotion i believe you are what psychiatrists call a sociopath. please tell me what you think, i'm really keen to see what other people get from this.

WARNING the clip below does show some very violent images and i probably wouldn't watch this if you were under 18 years of age OR on your work computer.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

time waits for no man.

last thursday the lovely miss emma took me to her friends acoustic gig at the otis bar, wollongong. local kids 'sunday waits' have a very mellow vibe about them.... though, of course that could just be their acoustic sound. the band is very much a family affair and i think this contributes to the honesty of song lyrics and not to mention that the chorus' are insanely infectious. now, i bought their self titled cd that you can pick up at any of their many upcoming shows. also, they are looking for a new drummer so if you are one or know one direct them here.

great night chatting with one of my best mates over a few glasses of wine. whilst sitting down, i do love sitting down. twas all very civilised. nice change from the usual wollongong night life. even if the place was littered with regular customers from work. ha.

radiohead and a detoxing house. MAGIC!

the greatest combo ever! my love for both the band and the show grew exponentially when i saw the house md season opener. well done thom york and katie jacobs! i love you both!

you know, it's all my mothers fault i'm this way!

as i contemplate my future winter fashion choices and what i will put with what, it dawns on me the obvious impact 1950s and 60s fashion icons have on me. in some subliminal way, twiggy, bridget bardot, marianne faithfull, lauren bacal, edie sedgwick and of course janet leigh with their unique brand of amazingness have snuck into my wardrobe dreams. yes i dream of clothes, what of it! it's a nice reprieve from the giant badger with his good friend the knife wielding clown! but i digress....

i'm not naive, i know that fashion goes in cycles and my love of these amazing women is a result of what is 'cool' at the moment. still, i think my love for these radtastic ladies ('cept ole edie, not sure how to reason her away. that's her there btw.) is perhaps a product of my upbringing. good looking, clever, independent but still with nice husbands, wealthy, blonde = my mum. doesn't really explain why i have their haircut, but i suppose it could shed some light on why i do seem to enjoy somewhat of a 60s lifestyle. i mean for god sake i just bought a bicycle from that decade!

art, film, music, the sexual revolution, the pill, BARBARELLA, more sex, pop art, easy rider, the free speech movement, the original star trek series, hippys, mick jagger before plastic surgery, minimalism, 2001: a space odyssey, CREAM (the band, you dirty birds), the civil rights movement, screen printing, the beatles, more drugs, oceans eleven (original NOT remake), beehives, more rock n' roll, mini-skirts, the mamas and the papas, goldfinger AND dr. no, warhol, the bikini, jimmy hendrix, nehru jackets, planet of the apes.

i could go on, but i really should stop now while i can. anywho, i know i have an incredibly idealised vision of this era but still assassinations, wars and prime minister swimming misshaps not with standing, if the tardis were to come by i'd definitely ask william hartnell for a lift back to a more revolutionary time.

a sweet present for you all!

to celebrate the mighty release of villa cola's debut album, 3 lucky readers get a hug from ME! yep that's right A HUG! 'score!', i hear you say? and if that doesn't wet your appetite, i also bring tidings of musical joy.

all the way from sexy london this super rad band gives you some fab fresh indie tunes. mewbox recently gave the band a rave review, 'villa cola has managed to fuse these sounds together creating music with deep punk roots, rockn' roll vocal stylings, and hitting synth beats.'. see the whole article here.

you will soon be able to buy their album on itunes (i'll keep you posted) or for now you can buy yourself a piece of cd history at their official website. intrigued? well, the bands first single 'seconds' also has a sweet vid. double click for fun fun fun!

lightspeed champion!

now see that funny looking dude there? his name is devonte hynes and he is also known as lightspeed champion. the guy has a very cool album out called 'life is sweet! nice to meet you.' and 'tis good shit! he is slightly insane though, in the good me kinda way.

his album is an odd mix of elvis, grandiose chorus', indie cool and chamber music. and if that doesn't sell it to ya he tricked me into thinking he was british and he is TEXAN! not to mention his affinity to dress up as princess leia for a charity performance....not sure what he and his band were raising money for.

well, i like the song 'the big guns of highsmith'. check 'em out -> http://www.myspace.com/lightspeedchampion