A bit of youtube goodness

I don't often find myself scouring youtube (because my internet is usually capped...), but when I stumbled across the clip for Melbourne collective Keith! Party's 'Cheetah Style', and my internet WASN'T capped, i couldn't resist checking it out.

Keith! Party are an ever-evolving (not just in sound but in members) hip-hop rave-pop group straight outta Brunswick who are reknowned for their party vibes and continue to win over just about anyone that seems them live.

Here's the clip in all its glittery goodness...

A few words on the departure of a Melbourne institution

What a difference a day makes...

Lynn Kosky failed The Tote...
R.I.P The Tote & Hound...
Save The Tote...
1,000,000 Aussies to Save The Tote...
Keep The Tote Open & Close The Casino
Support The Permanent Closure of the.... oh wait, that one never quite took off.

All these groups have at least 50 members, some ranging into the thousands. Now I don't think any of Melbourne's gig goers old enough to have been to the Tote will ever forget it, perhaps for it's martyrdom. A fallen soldier in the war against the wider issue of government liquor licensing rules and an ever evolving music industry just looking for somewhere to play.

I was never a fan of The Tote. I admire Bruce Milne as a businessman, but it was not a venue I really enjoyed. So I've avoided joining most of the facebook group invitations inundating my inbox in the past few days. Stiff biscuits.

To quote Jay Mie, the creator of the Tote & Hound facebook group, we have lost too many original live music venues. The Exford has ditched original live acts (mostly), The Punters Club, Richmond Club has moved into accomodating , Duke Of Windsor, The Ninth Ward, Perseverance and now the Tote. And that's what has hit me hardest about this turn of events. I'll miss knowing the Tote was there, and admired the employees, barflies and musicians that treated it like it's home. But I won't so much miss the venue itself. And I'd rather put forward an honest truth.

As a society, a protest has become more important than the long term cause. Fight the cause, join the facebook group. It's not enough. A colleague pointed out that for every person that has stood up and supported the Tote, had they donated to the cause (or any cause) perhaps we'd be looking at a different state of affairs.

Already there are businesses and industry personnel (fans included) doing their best to keep the site of the venue and perhaps the venue itself (whether it be on its current site or elsewhere) alive, which is a fantastic way of displaying dedication to a cause, rather than just joining a facebook group about it.


I spare a thought to those who have supported the Tote through thick and thin. To you, I tip my hat.

All we can hope is that when one head falls, four small ones will move up.

Review of Tame Impala's Self Titled EP (courtesy of Tainted Media)

Long time no speak my internet companions. Despite the GFC, dwindling cd sales and more bushfire benefits than you can poke your walking stick at, the faux hard-emo wheels are falling off bit by bit, and Australian music is growing more mature, one step at a time.

Here's a review I recently wrote for the wise prophets over at Tainted Media in Queensland

In what we have so far experienced of the 21st century, there have been visible cracks of sunlight shining brightly out of the Australian music industry.

Tame Impala, from the world's 4th most liveable city (that's Perth for those who haven't ever looked up Perth on Wikipedia), are part of a new generation of groups being ushered upon the Australian public by Modular Recordings, a hip and happening record label that has an incredible knack for discovering talent (and currently running on the adrenalin generated by international success for artists Cut Copy and The Presets). These three Perth musos have produced an EP of psychedelic-esque rock and roll that emulates great 60's bands like The Doors, Cream and pushes it into the aural senses of a youth brought up on My Chemical Bromance and Sarah "Let's see how many pussy jokes I can fit into half an hour" Silverman's attempts at comedy.

I'm not sure if it's enough to make the Lords of Psych (Ray Manzarek, I'm looking in your direction) wet their metaphorical pants in appreciation of homage to the art that they crafted 40 years ago, but it provides Australia with someone other than Adelaide's Wolf & Cub getting their fuzzy psychedelia onto the national airwaves (and gaining the attention of The Living End it seems).

Gone are the embarrassing days of Perth being associated with Little "Still in the Sleepy shadows" Birdy, Jebediah (also known as "We'll just keep releasing records even if no one notices") and their ilk, and in has come the lyrical hip hop stylings of Drapht and Downsyde, the ethereal, delicate rock of The Panics and Australia's most popular hippie John Butler seems to still be getting his ugly mug around.

Moving onto the record at hand. As alluded to before, Tame Impala are a band surely well on the road to international successes and whenever their debut album hits stores, this reviewer expects the band to reach even higher ground, with heavier sounds and louder live shows (if their set at Yeasayer in Melbourne was anything to go by, it's hard to see them getting much louder).

The EP is barely over 20 minutes long, and the longest track is a measly 4 minutes and 27 seconds, but it feels far longer. Opening track "Desire Be, Desire Go" takes its time to build from a foot-tapping 60's pop song into a fully fledged stoner rock jam. "Skeleton Tiger" has an opening riff not completely unlike the Stones' 'Gimme Shelter', but the song itself would be better compared to early Doors tunes, for its swirling melodies and antique tape-deck vocals.

Track number three and debut single "Half Full Glass of Wine" is the standout. If you weren't already convinced that Tame Impala could easily have released this album under the band name 'The Gratetful Dead' , this is the penultimate track. Right from the riffs that kick off the song, through to the Bonham/Moon drum solo that rounds off the track in definitive style.

Tracks four and five ("Forty One Mosquitoes Flying In Formation" and "Slide Through My Fingers" respectively) are much of the same, but nevertheless leaves you feeling like Australian rock and roll is in good hands.

So you say you want a revolution? This is the best place to start.

B+

http://www.taintedmedia.net/reviews/music-reviews/tame-impala-tame-impala-ep.html

and another one...

Hello 2009....

Eugene McGuinness

“There are songs on the album that just come out quite melancholy like ‘Black And White Movies’, ‘Knock Down Ginger’ and ‘God In Space’, but other times it’ll be The Pogues, or The Kinks. I’d rather be known for being inconsistent and a bit scatty than for pulling the same tricks all the time, so I’ve tried to do a few different things on the album.”

“I was born in London, and grew up in Essex but I went to university in Liverpool. I’m a bit of a three-headed monster; Liverpool, London, Ireland, all of them have influenced me in some way. I find it quite a weird thing to talk about, where someone comes from. It always seems to end up defining a person, and people would instantly associate you with a particular sound or with a particular group of people. I want to try to avoid that.”

eugene mcguinness first interested me in one of those australian distro ads in beat magazine - a fellow from liverpool (the city of love...or at least of my love, the liverpool football club...).

the kid has alot of style, a songwriting talent that belies his years. it's kind of somewhere in between jamie t (only less obnoxious), conor oberst (less mid-western USA) and perhaps a hint of the orchestration and grandeur of beirut.

check out 'moscow state circus' here - http://www.myspace.com/eugenemcguinness85

Cat Stevens (And Why Michael Jackson's New Found Religion Is A Mid Life Crisis)

in times like this where an encore is less about crowd partcipation and appreciation but more about just making life hard for the poor sound guy who was rightfully assuming a band playing their 2nd or 3rd show didn't 'require' 2 x 3 song encores, it's easy to let bygones be bygones and let the heritage of music pass in favour of greatest hits DVDs and 6-single albums.

i remember earlier this year watching a fellow called paul dillon perform in 'wild world', a cat stevens tribute outfit. much to my (non) surprise i imagine i was the youngest person in the audience. i digress, anyway, all the hits were there and the band performed in a way that certainly did a good justice to a great man. but it was the pre-encore cover of 'where do the children play?' that struck a nerve.

as the story goes (whether folklore or real events), cat came to the end of his last show in 1976 and before going on to perform the afore mentioned song, unplugged his guitar and stood in front of the audience, no microphone, just an acoustic guitar. when the song ended, he said thank you and left. and he didn't play live again until 2004. this is the closest video i can find, but it's still enough to make you wonder what's happened to our independence and sense of freedom



finally... is it not too late to talk about michael jackson's 'conversion' to islam? by all means i respect his decision, but ithe poor guy's still 7 mil in debt and looking down the barrell of a court date for child molestation.

http://living.oneindia.in/insync/2008/michael-jackson-mulim-islam-convert-221108.html

i'm not even going to begin to highlight the amount of things wrong with mentioning MJ and children playing in the same blog...