At least for now.
As you have probably noticed I'm not really doing this so much anymore. It's been a productive two years and a lot changing during that time, but unfortunately I'm not feeling the passion for it anymore and feel as if recently it's becoming more of a chore that's taking away from my enjoyment of shows. I took a month of going to gigs in general and came back trying to tape Sun Araw and that was not a good experience, I might release that later. Hey, I might even come back to the blog later if I feel and resparked interest in it, or maybe if the Sydney scene really switches it up in the near future. That said it's been a fun 2 years, met a buttload of people, heard a lot of incredible music and I think I've captured a very important time in Sydney music on tape forever. Thanks to everyone that listened, commented, let me tape them, hung out with me at shows, let me know that my efforts were appreciated, Adam Lewis for having me on Radiant on FBi a few times, Papaiti for playing my tapes on his show in Wellington, and Chris over at Fan Made Recordings for getting me into this in the first place.
As for regrets, I regret never being able to record the following bands: Ether Rag, Thylacine, Yes, I'm Leaving, Let Me Down Gently, Jungleman, None Music, Ghoul, Michael Crafter, Carborator and plenty more from beyond Sydney.
And for the sake of numbers, my most downloaded shows were The Cure, Pavement, Rowland S. Howard, Glassjaw and Paul McCartney in that order, each downloaded tens of thousands of times each. I might do a few posts in the future revisiting my favourite shows.
I might have some new blogs up soon, something small for now that I run with Adam Lewis from Radiant on FBi fame is ausreleases, just an archive of albums released for free by Australian bands.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Royal Headache + Wollen Kits
Photos by Dimity. Full set over at Two Point Eight.
I didn't get a chance to record Lowlife and the Warm Feelings as I was pretty all over the place at that part of the night, but they were pretty cool.
But before I start anything, fuck Newtown RSL. I haven't been there since I saw Animal Collective play there years ago, unless that Kiosk + Calvin Johnson show was after that, I forget. But the sound is fucking atrocious, at random points the sound would just totally blow out and either become all high end or get drowned in bass, and at the best of times it was like hearing the bands play through a hand held radio, also I know it's standard RSL fare but trying to tell people that live within 5kms that they need to get a membership is annoying as hell when you have an event such as this going on.
Woollen Kits played just as well as they did the night before, but with pretty poor sound, but less guitar cutting out.
Woollen Kits - Newtown RSL, Sydney, 20/08/2010 - 47mb - 30 minutes
Playing the shortest set of the night in true Royal Headache style, they stepped it up a notch and reminded everyone why they love them so much. No other band in Sydney can get a crowd going like these guys can and it's pretty awesome/fun to see that sort of reaction. It still amuses me how much they hate even the slightest suggestion of playing Honey Joy, despite the fact that song is pure genius.
Royal Headache - Newtown RSL, Sydney, 20/08/2010 - 33mb - 23 minutes
I didn't get a chance to record Lowlife and the Warm Feelings as I was pretty all over the place at that part of the night, but they were pretty cool.
But before I start anything, fuck Newtown RSL. I haven't been there since I saw Animal Collective play there years ago, unless that Kiosk + Calvin Johnson show was after that, I forget. But the sound is fucking atrocious, at random points the sound would just totally blow out and either become all high end or get drowned in bass, and at the best of times it was like hearing the bands play through a hand held radio, also I know it's standard RSL fare but trying to tell people that live within 5kms that they need to get a membership is annoying as hell when you have an event such as this going on.
Woollen Kits played just as well as they did the night before, but with pretty poor sound, but less guitar cutting out.
Woollen Kits - Newtown RSL, Sydney, 20/08/2010 - 47mb - 30 minutes
Playing the shortest set of the night in true Royal Headache style, they stepped it up a notch and reminded everyone why they love them so much. No other band in Sydney can get a crowd going like these guys can and it's pretty awesome/fun to see that sort of reaction. It still amuses me how much they hate even the slightest suggestion of playing Honey Joy, despite the fact that song is pure genius.
Royal Headache - Newtown RSL, Sydney, 20/08/2010 - 33mb - 23 minutes
Woollen Kits + Bed Wettin' Bad Boys
Photo by Dimity. Full set available at Two Point Eight.
Bed Wettin' Bad Boys played a set with Shortty (currently of Royal Headache fame) on drums. It's pretty cool that they switched things up but I definitely prefer it as just the 3 of them, it kinda took away from the amateur charm and made it all a bit stale.
Bed Wettin' Bad Boys - Gallery Bar, Sydney, 19/08/2010 - 41mb - 28 minutes
Woollen Kits came up to Sydney for the weekend to play a stack of free shows. The vocals sort of become over powering in the last song so everything else is mixed a bit lower throughout as a result, I might fix it later, but their brand of double-guitar-pop is just beautiful. First time getting to see them live so half the set was new music for it and I dug it all heaps.
Woollen Kits - Gallery Bar, Sydney, 19/08/2010 - 44.7mb - 31 minutes
Bed Wettin' Bad Boys played a set with Shortty (currently of Royal Headache fame) on drums. It's pretty cool that they switched things up but I definitely prefer it as just the 3 of them, it kinda took away from the amateur charm and made it all a bit stale.
Bed Wettin' Bad Boys - Gallery Bar, Sydney, 19/08/2010 - 41mb - 28 minutesWoollen Kits came up to Sydney for the weekend to play a stack of free shows. The vocals sort of become over powering in the last song so everything else is mixed a bit lower throughout as a result, I might fix it later, but their brand of double-guitar-pop is just beautiful. First time getting to see them live so half the set was new music for it and I dug it all heaps.
Woollen Kits - Gallery Bar, Sydney, 19/08/2010 - 44.7mb - 31 minutes
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
First ever Absolute Boys show.
Long long ago I got to witness and record Absolute Boys first ever show supporting My Disco, Holy Balm and Royal Headache. The recording was great, and they were great, but this has been unavailable since then. But as of right now I'm allowed to put it back up so everyone can hear, and I cannot recommend it more. Give it a spin. Here's what I said at the time:
"Who are the Absolute Boys? I only found out who they "might" be the night before and this was enough to make me excited, 1 part Eucalpyt, 2 parts Ohana, and the result was fucking awesome. Got about half way through the intro to the first song before realising this was going to be a great band. Pretty sure this was their first show."
Minimalist awesome.
Absolute Boys - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 24/09/2009 - 30.54mb - 21 minutes
"Who are the Absolute Boys? I only found out who they "might" be the night before and this was enough to make me excited, 1 part Eucalpyt, 2 parts Ohana, and the result was fucking awesome. Got about half way through the intro to the first song before realising this was going to be a great band. Pretty sure this was their first show."
Minimalist awesome.
Absolute Boys - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 24/09/2009 - 30.54mb - 21 minutes
Monday, August 2, 2010
Pisschrist farewell
Supported by Pathetic Human and Teargas.
This was due to start at 4pm in Footscray Park, but this damn hyped up thing I've been hearing about all weekend called the "Arctic Blast" hit and just started pissing down, being windy as hell and into single digits of temperature, so we had to stand around for about an hour and a half while things were slowly set up, was actually quite painful but easily worth it.
Was really pumped to see Pathetic Human, I expected nothing more than the 10 minutes set they gave us, I couldn't see anything but they played well.
Pathetic Human - Footscray Park, Melbourne, 01/08/2010 - 15mb - 10 minutes
Never heard of Teargas but I am an instant convert, once again didn't see what they looked like. The power cuts out about half way through after one of the many dogs pull it out of the pole, followed by a human pyramid being built to plug it back in.
Teargas - Footscray Park, Melbourne, 01/08/2010 - 39mb - 26 minutes
And on to the final ever Pisschrist show, they were awesome, so damn awesome. BUT. They played for 50 fucking minutes. I was exhausted by the end, I granted that it was their farewell show but I had really had enough by this point with the weather/location and what not. Though huge fans of the band would have been loving it, and so ended my adventure to Footscray Park and Melbourne.
Pisschrist - Footscray Park, Melbourne, 01/08/2010 - 77mb - 51 minutes
This was due to start at 4pm in Footscray Park, but this damn hyped up thing I've been hearing about all weekend called the "Arctic Blast" hit and just started pissing down, being windy as hell and into single digits of temperature, so we had to stand around for about an hour and a half while things were slowly set up, was actually quite painful but easily worth it.
Was really pumped to see Pathetic Human, I expected nothing more than the 10 minutes set they gave us, I couldn't see anything but they played well.
Pathetic Human - Footscray Park, Melbourne, 01/08/2010 - 15mb - 10 minutes
Never heard of Teargas but I am an instant convert, once again didn't see what they looked like. The power cuts out about half way through after one of the many dogs pull it out of the pole, followed by a human pyramid being built to plug it back in.
Teargas - Footscray Park, Melbourne, 01/08/2010 - 39mb - 26 minutes
And on to the final ever Pisschrist show, they were awesome, so damn awesome. BUT. They played for 50 fucking minutes. I was exhausted by the end, I granted that it was their farewell show but I had really had enough by this point with the weather/location and what not. Though huge fans of the band would have been loving it, and so ended my adventure to Footscray Park and Melbourne.
Pisschrist - Footscray Park, Melbourne, 01/08/2010 - 77mb - 51 minutes
Super Wild Horses album launch
Supported by School of Radiant Living, Boomgates and Total Control.
So I went to Melbourne for the weekend, I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out which Victoria Hotel this was since the address I had been given was an actual hotel. Turns out the show was literally in a hotel, in a function room. Which turned out to be surprisingly good, as I'm sure they don't normally have gigs there so there was no limiter and it was preeeeeeeeetty pretty loud.
Boomgates were quite interesting to see, who are (correct me if I'm wrong) Rick from the Twerps, Steph from Dick Diver, Gus from Teen Archer, Brendan from Eddy Current Suppression Ring and maybe one other person. There are some really well thought out songs here, but they also played a few duds as well, a short set of all the good stuff would have gone over really well, but this dragged on a little. Brendan spent half the set shredding into a melodica and I don't think I heard a peep out of it once.
Boomgates - Victoria Hotel, Melbourne, 31/07/2010 - 45mb - 31 minutes
I was always looking forward to seeing Total Control, but did not expect them to be this good, one of the best sets I've seen all year, if I had to go down "x meets y" path I'd say Chrome Dome meets Brainiac. Best I saw all weekend, as far as I know Total Control is Mikey from Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Dan from the UV Race/Straitjacket Nation, Al from UV Race/Dick Diver and two other dudes that I'm sure people from Melbourne know.
Total Control - Victoria Hotel, Melbourne, 31/07/2010 - 41mb - 27 minutes
Super Wild Horses, seemed to be a bit of an off night and they played wayyy to long. I didn't even know they had this many songs, plenty of enjoyable moments through out though.
Super Wild Horses - Victoria Hotel, Melbourne, 31/07/2010 - 63mb - 44 minutes
So I went to Melbourne for the weekend, I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out which Victoria Hotel this was since the address I had been given was an actual hotel. Turns out the show was literally in a hotel, in a function room. Which turned out to be surprisingly good, as I'm sure they don't normally have gigs there so there was no limiter and it was preeeeeeeeetty pretty loud.
Boomgates were quite interesting to see, who are (correct me if I'm wrong) Rick from the Twerps, Steph from Dick Diver, Gus from Teen Archer, Brendan from Eddy Current Suppression Ring and maybe one other person. There are some really well thought out songs here, but they also played a few duds as well, a short set of all the good stuff would have gone over really well, but this dragged on a little. Brendan spent half the set shredding into a melodica and I don't think I heard a peep out of it once.
Boomgates - Victoria Hotel, Melbourne, 31/07/2010 - 45mb - 31 minutes
I was always looking forward to seeing Total Control, but did not expect them to be this good, one of the best sets I've seen all year, if I had to go down "x meets y" path I'd say Chrome Dome meets Brainiac. Best I saw all weekend, as far as I know Total Control is Mikey from Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Dan from the UV Race/Straitjacket Nation, Al from UV Race/Dick Diver and two other dudes that I'm sure people from Melbourne know.
Total Control - Victoria Hotel, Melbourne, 31/07/2010 - 41mb - 27 minutes
Super Wild Horses, seemed to be a bit of an off night and they played wayyy to long. I didn't even know they had this many songs, plenty of enjoyable moments through out though.
Super Wild Horses - Victoria Hotel, Melbourne, 31/07/2010 - 63mb - 44 minutes
Monday, July 26, 2010
Golden Staph + Super Wild Horses
I missed all of Golden Staph's shows this weekend because shit was busy as and I'm lazy but they were awesome, regret only seeing them the once but that didn't take away from it at all.
Golden Staph - Repressed Records, Sydney, 25/07/2010 - 29mb - 20 minutes
First impressions from seeing Super Wild Horses back at Flip Out last year left me less than impressed. In fact I hated them, time to admit I was wrong because this was great.
Super Wild Horses - Repressed Records, Sydney, 25/07/2010 - 29mb - 21 minutes
Golden Staph - Repressed Records, Sydney, 25/07/2010 - 29mb - 20 minutes
First impressions from seeing Super Wild Horses back at Flip Out last year left me less than impressed. In fact I hated them, time to admit I was wrong because this was great.
Super Wild Horses - Repressed Records, Sydney, 25/07/2010 - 29mb - 21 minutes
Intentions + Dead China Doll
Intentions rule. Simple as that. It's a bit jumpy at the start and the vocals are blaringly loud.
Intentions - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 24/07/2010 - 25mb - 17 minutes
Dead China Doll rule. Simple as that. It's a bit jumpy at the end and the drumming is amazing.
Dead China Doll - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 24/07/2010 - 26mb - 17 minutes
Intentions - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 24/07/2010 - 25mb - 17 minutes
Dead China Doll rule. Simple as that. It's a bit jumpy at the end and the drumming is amazing.
Dead China Doll - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 24/07/2010 - 26mb - 17 minutes
Sally Seltmann - Heart That's Pounding launch
I don't normally go to shows like this, but I was entertained and Sally Seltmann writes a damn fine song. Darren from the Avalanches was on the drums as well. She plays quite a few New Buffalo songs as well, crowd was strange, 30-somethings trying to hold on to their youth through FBi vs. Triple J mouth breathers. The type of crowd that when the performer asks for quiet spends the entire song shushing each other.
Sally Seltmann - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 23/07/2010 - 91mb - 1 hour 5 minutes
Sally Seltmann - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 23/07/2010 - 91mb - 1 hour 5 minutes
Naked on the Vague + Southern Comfort
I'm not 100% on what Southern Comfort is. It's just Harriet and Angela yeah with Jack filling in whatevers vacant? Every time I see them he's playing a different instrument. Anyway, pretty cool.
Southern Comfort - Spectrum, Sydney, 23/07/2010 - 40mb - 28 minutes
Naked on the Vague played a sort of stripped down set, a lot less keyboards and pedals and such and lots more guitar, the result was brutal, one of the best sets I've seen them play.
Naked on the Vague - Spectrum, Sydney, 23/07/2010 - 52mb - 36 minutes
Southern Comfort - Spectrum, Sydney, 23/07/2010 - 40mb - 28 minutes
Naked on the Vague played a sort of stripped down set, a lot less keyboards and pedals and such and lots more guitar, the result was brutal, one of the best sets I've seen them play.
Naked on the Vague - Spectrum, Sydney, 23/07/2010 - 52mb - 36 minutes
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Aktion Unit + Alps
Went to the new Dirty Shirlows during the day for a set from Aktion Unit. It's pretty cool the way they've done it up, proper PA, a (wide but shallow) stage and even some lights. Didn't expect it coming in, so I guess that explains why they were closed for that time.
I guess Alps of NSW is just Alps now, but this set was el grande. I missed everyone before he came on though.
Alps - Dirty Shirlows, Sydney, 11/07/2010 - 34mb - 23 minutes
When Aktion Unit started it was some big band mode, there were 8 people on stage but my first impression that it was going to be some very low key ambient affair, but by about half way through everything was building up and by the end it was just an incredible cacophony of sound. A really great set all around. People were employing shit they'd learn from the Dead C the night before.
Aktion Unit - Dirty Shirlows, Sydney, 11/07/2010 - 24mb - 16 minutes
I guess Alps of NSW is just Alps now, but this set was el grande. I missed everyone before he came on though.
Alps - Dirty Shirlows, Sydney, 11/07/2010 - 34mb - 23 minutes
When Aktion Unit started it was some big band mode, there were 8 people on stage but my first impression that it was going to be some very low key ambient affair, but by about half way through everything was building up and by the end it was just an incredible cacophony of sound. A really great set all around. People were employing shit they'd learn from the Dead C the night before.
Aktion Unit - Dirty Shirlows, Sydney, 11/07/2010 - 24mb - 16 minutes
The Dead C for the Biennale
The Dead C played their first show in 7 years in Australia as a free one at the SuperDeluxe Artspace. Spent the whole week pretty excited for this one and it met expectations, I missed the first minute or so because I was playing pool. Everyone seemed pretty stoked about when they started raking their guitars around during the feedback section at the end, I'm glad the sound quality turned out as well as it did because I had pretty low hopes at the time. There are at least 3 other recordings floating around out there if you don't like this one.
The Dead C - SuperDeluxe Artspace, Sydney, 10/07/2010 - 80.6mb - 55 minutes
The Dead C - SuperDeluxe Artspace, Sydney, 10/07/2010 - 80.6mb - 55 minutes
Monday, July 5, 2010
In Sepia/Nim split launch
Since it was just down the road from Black Wire, why the hell wouldn't I?
Hira Hira played, you know the deal, there's a bit of clipping from my shitty wire that caused problems all weekend. Sing-a-long good times.
Hira Hira - Jura Books, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 25mb - 17 minutes
Been waiting a while to finally see In Sepia, totally entrancing stuff. They were really really great. One of those bands I realised I had never seen before until they mentioned that it was their first time in Sydney.
In Sepia - Jura Books, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 44mb - 30 minutes
I had never heard of Nim before and assumed I like them by association. They frikken ruled, really showy stuff, but great, fun post-hardcore in the same vein of Life at These Speeds/Moving Mountains, but from Japan instead. A band I wish I had known of before going in, but what better way to discover them?
Nim - Jura Books, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 59mb - 36 minutes
And so ends the most incredibubble weekend ever.
Hira Hira played, you know the deal, there's a bit of clipping from my shitty wire that caused problems all weekend. Sing-a-long good times.
Hira Hira - Jura Books, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 25mb - 17 minutes
Been waiting a while to finally see In Sepia, totally entrancing stuff. They were really really great. One of those bands I realised I had never seen before until they mentioned that it was their first time in Sydney.
In Sepia - Jura Books, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 44mb - 30 minutes
I had never heard of Nim before and assumed I like them by association. They frikken ruled, really showy stuff, but great, fun post-hardcore in the same vein of Life at These Speeds/Moving Mountains, but from Japan instead. A band I wish I had known of before going in, but what better way to discover them?
Nim - Jura Books, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 59mb - 36 minutes
And so ends the most incredibubble weekend ever.
Black Wire to Common Ground in-store
So Black Wire is pretty much the new Paint it Black. First time I've been there and it rules. Great room for gigs and they have every Murder City Devils LP for $12! Entirely volunteer ran.
The Fighting League represented Canberra and were basically a shit load of fun. I dunno if I wanna bother describing it, just listen.
The Fighting League - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 36mb - 25 minutes
I've been pretty obsessed with Assassins 88 tape the past couple of months, but I didn't know what to expect from them live. Just assumed it would be a duo and the bassist would sing, but turns out they both sing, with the drummer doing most of it with a mic (Telephone receiver? Ribbon mic? Same thing? Neither?) duct taped into his mouth. Live gave me mad Lightning Bolt vibes, without sounding like them at all. Just loud as shit pop music with crazy drumming.
Assassins 88 - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 27mb - 19 minutes
Bitch Prefect again. Awesome again. What a band. Come back soon.
Bitch Prefect - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 51.5mb - 37 minutes
The Fighting League represented Canberra and were basically a shit load of fun. I dunno if I wanna bother describing it, just listen.
The Fighting League - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 36mb - 25 minutes
I've been pretty obsessed with Assassins 88 tape the past couple of months, but I didn't know what to expect from them live. Just assumed it would be a duo and the bassist would sing, but turns out they both sing, with the drummer doing most of it with a mic (Telephone receiver? Ribbon mic? Same thing? Neither?) duct taped into his mouth. Live gave me mad Lightning Bolt vibes, without sounding like them at all. Just loud as shit pop music with crazy drumming.
Assassins 88 - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 27mb - 19 minutes
Bitch Prefect again. Awesome again. What a band. Come back soon.
Bitch Prefect - Black Wire to Common Ground, Sydney, 03/07/2010 - 51.5mb - 37 minutes
Naked on the Vagues - Heaps of Nothing album launch
A friend reminded me before their set that I once said that Holy Balm flip flopped between being "Eh" and the best band in the world. I retract that statement now, they're consistently amazing. Another great set.
Holy Balm - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 02/07/2010 - 40mb - 27 minutes
Just the same as everyone else, after hearing Kitchen's Floor do Bad Decisions and deciding that it's pretty much the best song ever, I had to see Bitch Prefect. They are great not a single bad song all set, just really great pop music, me and everyone I've hung around in the days since have just been singing along to basically any song from this set.
Bitch Prefect - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 02/07/2010 - 46mb - 31 minutes
First chance I've had to see Naked on the Vague since releasing the best album ever. They ruled, had never heard Blank Minds live before, but the whole place basically turned into a metal gig when that was dropped, just heavy as hell. Band were at the top of their game at this show, a flooring set. Just the worlds darkest music with genius pop melodies is all.
Setlist
These Days
Mysterious Oven
New Song
The Joke
Wrong Room
Sacred Youth
Treading Water
Black Lettuce
Blank Minds
Naked on the Vague - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 02/07/2010 - 62mb - 43 minutes
Holy Balm - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 02/07/2010 - 40mb - 27 minutes
Just the same as everyone else, after hearing Kitchen's Floor do Bad Decisions and deciding that it's pretty much the best song ever, I had to see Bitch Prefect. They are great not a single bad song all set, just really great pop music, me and everyone I've hung around in the days since have just been singing along to basically any song from this set.
Bitch Prefect - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 02/07/2010 - 46mb - 31 minutes
First chance I've had to see Naked on the Vague since releasing the best album ever. They ruled, had never heard Blank Minds live before, but the whole place basically turned into a metal gig when that was dropped, just heavy as hell. Band were at the top of their game at this show, a flooring set. Just the worlds darkest music with genius pop melodies is all.
Setlist
These Days
Mysterious Oven
New Song
The Joke
Wrong Room
Sacred Youth
Treading Water
Black Lettuce
Blank Minds
Naked on the Vague - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 02/07/2010 - 62mb - 43 minutes
Dualplover End of Financial Year Party
Don't know how, but Lucas Abela managed to get Sydney's music scene to go to Home Nightclub. That was an odd experience.
I got there about 9pm, and now that the line up was basically nothing like it was originally planned, I don't know who the first couple of bands I saw were, I'm assuming I missed Godswounds, but the first I recognised were Crab Smasher, one of those bands that are awesome and on every line up, but I keep managing to miss. Was a good way to start the night, there's a short conversation I have towards the start of it, sorry about that, also I can't remember how much of the first song I missed, my gear has been fucking up recently, and I know exactly how to fix it, I just don't have the money.
Crab Smasher - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 23mb - 17 minutes
Drunk Elk played next I think, I've completely forgotten the order, and were a bit of a downer and didn't quite suite the night, but were still great. There's about 5 minutes I cut out in the middle of them just tuning their instruments.
Drunk Elk - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 28mb - 19 minutes
10 minutes of Rice Corpse next, don't know why so short, guess Lucas had better shit to do that night. Still mad regrets not taping them at Auralted States, probably the best I've seen them played, also the longest.
Rice Corpse - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 13mb - 9 minutes
Then in true Dualplover style it turned into some fucking weird rave-core rave for about an hour and a half and everyone acted like a bunch of fucking weirdos, after counting down to the new financial year. It was awesome.
I had been quite excited to see Horse MacGyver, (Probably better known as ///▲▲▲\\\, fucken #\\/\\/|†©|•| |•|▲µ§, too far? Too far.) so I was a bit shitty that he played a short set, and some cunt spent the entire set throwing shit at him, but when he got into the flow of things it was really fucking good, but by all accounts his set at Serial Space the night before was just mind blowing. Because I decided to consider that I was seeing him tonight and skip out on that show to go to my usual Tuesday Night Trivia at the Clare. I'm dumb.
Horse MacGyver - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 24mb - 17 minutes
I saw Teen Ax once before when they were Liz Hurly, and was really impressed, they were still really good but it occurred to me that night that the drummer is just fucking appalling, even playing shit as simple as this and everything about it is so weak. Here, have the potential award.
Teen Ax - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 20mb - 14 minutes
Whores rule. Whores fucking rules.
Whores - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 25mb - 18 minutes
I got there about 9pm, and now that the line up was basically nothing like it was originally planned, I don't know who the first couple of bands I saw were, I'm assuming I missed Godswounds, but the first I recognised were Crab Smasher, one of those bands that are awesome and on every line up, but I keep managing to miss. Was a good way to start the night, there's a short conversation I have towards the start of it, sorry about that, also I can't remember how much of the first song I missed, my gear has been fucking up recently, and I know exactly how to fix it, I just don't have the money.
Crab Smasher - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 23mb - 17 minutes
Drunk Elk played next I think, I've completely forgotten the order, and were a bit of a downer and didn't quite suite the night, but were still great. There's about 5 minutes I cut out in the middle of them just tuning their instruments.
Drunk Elk - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 28mb - 19 minutes
10 minutes of Rice Corpse next, don't know why so short, guess Lucas had better shit to do that night. Still mad regrets not taping them at Auralted States, probably the best I've seen them played, also the longest.
Rice Corpse - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 13mb - 9 minutes
Then in true Dualplover style it turned into some fucking weird rave-core rave for about an hour and a half and everyone acted like a bunch of fucking weirdos, after counting down to the new financial year. It was awesome.
I had been quite excited to see Horse MacGyver, (Probably better known as ///▲▲▲\\\, fucken #\\/\\/|†©|•| |•|▲µ§, too far? Too far.) so I was a bit shitty that he played a short set, and some cunt spent the entire set throwing shit at him, but when he got into the flow of things it was really fucking good, but by all accounts his set at Serial Space the night before was just mind blowing. Because I decided to consider that I was seeing him tonight and skip out on that show to go to my usual Tuesday Night Trivia at the Clare. I'm dumb.
Horse MacGyver - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 24mb - 17 minutes
I saw Teen Ax once before when they were Liz Hurly, and was really impressed, they were still really good but it occurred to me that night that the drummer is just fucking appalling, even playing shit as simple as this and everything about it is so weak. Here, have the potential award.
Teen Ax - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 20mb - 14 minutes
Whores rule. Whores fucking rules.
Whores - Home, Sydney, 30/06/2010 - 25mb - 18 minutes
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Oren Ambarchi for the Bienalle
Yeah I don't really consider going to the eastern suburbs for a gig a good time, but Oren Ambarchi blissed everyone and their free noodles the fuck out. I don't know how long Oren Ambarchi gigs normally go for but 25mins leaves me wanting a lot more.
Oren Ambarchi - SuperDeluxe Artspace, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 33mb - 25 minutes
Oren Ambarchi - SuperDeluxe Artspace, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 33mb - 25 minutes
Graf Orlock/Dangers House show
Yeah I went to a house show and took my recording gear, nerd alert.
Nice Guys opened up proceedings at the neighbourhood friendly time of 1pm, I only ever seen these guys one other time at their first show, and got damn they've improved. They got really good really fast. Eager to see them again after this.
Nice Guys - House Show, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 29mb - 20 minutes
Dangers were up next, and my impression was that the vocalist was trying to murder the crowd, he at one staged jammed me into a fireplace. Pretty darn good set but there were times where the vocals verged into the yelping territory, but the rest of the time they were really solid.
Dangers - House Show, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 40mb - 28 minutes
Graf Orlock last. It's not every day you attend a gig where everyone shouts along to movie quotes, but these guys really brought it. The mics clip a whole heap when shit gets rough but I managed to get a good sound out of it, sounds a bit fucked up as well when a few guys and I tried to jam him through the bannister. Classic ending of doing a cover of the Jurassic Park theme while crowd surfing through the room, through the kitchen and out into the backyard.
Graf Orlock - House Show, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 35mb - 25 minutes
Nice Guys opened up proceedings at the neighbourhood friendly time of 1pm, I only ever seen these guys one other time at their first show, and got damn they've improved. They got really good really fast. Eager to see them again after this.
Nice Guys - House Show, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 29mb - 20 minutes
Dangers were up next, and my impression was that the vocalist was trying to murder the crowd, he at one staged jammed me into a fireplace. Pretty darn good set but there were times where the vocals verged into the yelping territory, but the rest of the time they were really solid.
Dangers - House Show, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 40mb - 28 minutes
Graf Orlock last. It's not every day you attend a gig where everyone shouts along to movie quotes, but these guys really brought it. The mics clip a whole heap when shit gets rough but I managed to get a good sound out of it, sounds a bit fucked up as well when a few guys and I tried to jam him through the bannister. Classic ending of doing a cover of the Jurassic Park theme while crowd surfing through the room, through the kitchen and out into the backyard.
Graf Orlock - House Show, Sydney, 26/06/2010 - 35mb - 25 minutes
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Crow album launch
So this was pretty cool, never had a chance to see Crow before, though they mostly played new songs, they were done alright, but the older material was amazing and refreshing to hear. The PA system in the venue sucked balls and there were tech problems galore. Notes is a Vanguard-esque venue, which means it sucks. Also middle-aged drunk people. Can't get enough of them.
Crow - Notes, Sydney, 04/06/2010 - 120mb - 1 hour 22 minutes
Crow - Notes, Sydney, 04/06/2010 - 120mb - 1 hour 22 minutes
VIVD Festival: The King Khan & BBQ Show
This show, quite simply, was weird.
It started off good enough, with King Khan walking off stage, out the fire exit and up onto the balcony where Lou Reed was seated to try and play a guitar solo, unfortunately the guitar dropped out and it was left up to Mark Sultan to fill the gap. From there on the show was up and down. Great parts included the music, Mark Sultan, getting everyone to throw a rubber snake around, and feeding everyone, the weird parts were King Khan being a general douche, being incredibly racist and getting the person he was being racist towards to dance for him still, cracking the shits with people in the crowd, kicking a dude in the fucking face, and desperate chicks getting up on stage being desperate.
It was easy to tell what was part of the King Khan and BBQ Show and what wasn't, seemed to me like King Khan was just trying to hard to impress Lou Reed, who greeted him mostly with his heroin face.
So yeah, The King Khan and BBQ Show ended after this show, and King Khan was banned from the Opera House. They are no more. Read King Khan's side of the story here, though he quite obviously left a lot out, what was written there wouldn't have caused Mark Sultan to break up the band, but it's all very sad, they were great together.
The King Khan & BBQ Show - Opera House Studio, Sydney, 03/06/2010 - 99mb - 1 hour 8 minutes
It started off good enough, with King Khan walking off stage, out the fire exit and up onto the balcony where Lou Reed was seated to try and play a guitar solo, unfortunately the guitar dropped out and it was left up to Mark Sultan to fill the gap. From there on the show was up and down. Great parts included the music, Mark Sultan, getting everyone to throw a rubber snake around, and feeding everyone, the weird parts were King Khan being a general douche, being incredibly racist and getting the person he was being racist towards to dance for him still, cracking the shits with people in the crowd, kicking a dude in the fucking face, and desperate chicks getting up on stage being desperate.
It was easy to tell what was part of the King Khan and BBQ Show and what wasn't, seemed to me like King Khan was just trying to hard to impress Lou Reed, who greeted him mostly with his heroin face.
So yeah, The King Khan and BBQ Show ended after this show, and King Khan was banned from the Opera House. They are no more. Read King Khan's side of the story here, though he quite obviously left a lot out, what was written there wouldn't have caused Mark Sultan to break up the band, but it's all very sad, they were great together.
The King Khan & BBQ Show - Opera House Studio, Sydney, 03/06/2010 - 99mb - 1 hour 8 minutes
Thursday, June 3, 2010
VIVID Festival: Melt-Banana
This was awesome.
The set starts out with 15/20 minutes of the Yasuko Onuki & Ichirou Agata collaboration that was shown at Noise Night, once again in complete darkness with nothing but head torches, before the rest of the band joined them for an hours worth of awesome Melt-Banana material. Yasuko has the craziest eyes ever when she's not being adorable and Ichirou is still blowing my mind as a guitarist. Encore includes them covering the Specials covering Monkey Man.
Not that any one that has any say in this will read this, but I really think the Opera House should have gigs in the Studio like this more often, and not just for international bands/established Australian acts. The sound is amazing and it's got a good vibe, plus the novelty of being the god damn Opera House.
Setlist - Thanks to Wiebke's awesome Melt-Banana live archive.
Phantasmagoria
T for Tone
Slide Down
One Drop, One life
Lock the Head
In Store
Cat and the Blood
Dog Song
Dig a Pit
Chain Keeper
Shield for Your Eyes, a Beast in the Well on Your Hand
RRAGG
Spider Snipe
Heiwaboke Crisis
Cat Brain Land
Too Rough to Scoop
The Call of the Vague
Loop Nebula
Leeching
Circle-Jack (Chase the Magic Words, Lego Lego)
A Hunter in the Rain to Cut the Neck Up in the Present Stage
Pain in Ash
Cracked Plaster Cast
Green Eyed Devil
A Dreamer who is too Weak to Face Up to
Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold
Blank Page of the Blind
Encore
Monkey Man
Spathic!!
Encore
Scratch or Stitch!
Melt-Banana - Opera House Studio, Sydney, 02/06/2010 - 113mb - 1 hour 14 minutes
The set starts out with 15/20 minutes of the Yasuko Onuki & Ichirou Agata collaboration that was shown at Noise Night, once again in complete darkness with nothing but head torches, before the rest of the band joined them for an hours worth of awesome Melt-Banana material. Yasuko has the craziest eyes ever when she's not being adorable and Ichirou is still blowing my mind as a guitarist. Encore includes them covering the Specials covering Monkey Man.
Not that any one that has any say in this will read this, but I really think the Opera House should have gigs in the Studio like this more often, and not just for international bands/established Australian acts. The sound is amazing and it's got a good vibe, plus the novelty of being the god damn Opera House.
Setlist - Thanks to Wiebke's awesome Melt-Banana live archive.
Phantasmagoria
T for Tone
Slide Down
One Drop, One life
Lock the Head
In Store
Cat and the Blood
Dog Song
Dig a Pit
Chain Keeper
Shield for Your Eyes, a Beast in the Well on Your Hand
RRAGG
Spider Snipe
Heiwaboke Crisis
Cat Brain Land
Too Rough to Scoop
The Call of the Vague
Loop Nebula
Leeching
Circle-Jack (Chase the Magic Words, Lego Lego)
A Hunter in the Rain to Cut the Neck Up in the Present Stage
Pain in Ash
Cracked Plaster Cast
Green Eyed Devil
A Dreamer who is too Weak to Face Up to
Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold
Blank Page of the Blind
Encore
Monkey Man
Spathic!!
Encore
Scratch or Stitch!
Melt-Banana - Opera House Studio, Sydney, 02/06/2010 - 113mb - 1 hour 14 minutes
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
VIVID Festival: Noise Night
Holy. Fucking. Shit. What. Did. I. Just. Witness?
To start off it's hard to believe that these bands are all playing the Opera House, let alone all on the one night. Always knew tonight was gonna be special, but no idea it would end up being this huge. Not the loudest gig I've ever been to but definitely one of the most sustained.
We walk in to find about 30 people on stage setting gear up and just a dull drone that goes on for about 20 mins before the almighty Zond begin playing. Now if you went to Flip Out last year, you'd know barely anyone got a chance to see them since they opened the doors after they had already started playing, I was always bitter about this, this set was great though, album is out today on RIP Society in fact. The set ends with a massive drum solo from the drummer, doesn't make sense on the recording, but if you were there, you would have seen that like clock work, the entire stage was flooded with crew bumping out all their gear and setting up for the next band while the drum solo went on, they even removed and replace pieces of the kit while he was playing, then the bassist and guitarist from Melt-Banana come out and fill some time with feedback leading into their set.
Zond - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 32mb - 21 minutes
Melt-Banana weren't really suited for the seating environment, but I was blown away by them, the guitarist is beyond amazing. Some really cool sounds and great, punchy and fast songs. Based on this performance I've decided to go see them on Wednesday night as well now. Them pumping out 6-7 songs in their timeslot is pretty funny considering later on Boris only got through one.
Melt-Banana - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 31.6mb - 21 minutes
It was hard to tell but the next set was actually Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson & Sarth Calhoun. It was odd to see such a legend play so far back on the stage while the sound crew wheeled out all of Boris's gear, but it was actually really good, this is what I was expecting to hear last night, Laurie Anderson really added a lot to it.
Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson & Sarth Calhoun - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 19.4mb - 13 minutes
Oren Ambarchi played a short ambient set in the lead up to Boris, I've never had the opportunity to see him, I've only heard various live tapings of his and all sorts of praise from my friends. Totally blown away, this guy is amazing, I wish he was around more often. Some of the highest calibre of music I think I've ever heard.
Oren Ambarchi - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 15.1mb - 11 minutes
Oren Ambarchi remained on stage and joined Boris for one the most face melting 20mins of my life. This was just amazing, they only got through the final Untitled track from Smile, but all of it was amazing. This band, this is the band. Perfect way to close the first half of the set. People really got into it. Four fucking guitars at once though.
Boris & Oren Ambarchi - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 30.3mb - 22 minutes
Now there was an intermission, I don't know if people were only there for Boris, or didn't know there was an intermission at all but half the people left, to be honest I didn't know there was going to be one but had just assumed as such when the house lights came up, but I've heard a lot of stories of people missing the second half of the show, which is when shit got crazy.
Rice Corpse opened the second portion, Lucas Abela playing the fucking Opera House, too be honest it didn't really suit it, I find his performances to be quite confronting and a great time, but a lot of that comes from how close and involved in the crowd he usually is, rather than on a stage 15 or so metres away from anyone. If was after this set that I realised the second portion of the show would have really poor flow, though the biggest cheer of the night was when a vacuum cleaner was brought out to clean up Justice Yeldham's mess, with every cheering for it to be turned up. Noise Night guys.
Rice Corpse - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 17.3mb - 12 minutes
Bardo Pond were up next after a bit of awkward silence, with guest spots from Marc Ribot and Miles Brown. This was probably the loudest part of the night, shame it didn't go for longer but everyone had their time slot I guess. Marc Ribot was amazing to watch.
Bardo Pond, Marc Ribot & Miles Brown - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 27.7mb - 20 minutes
After a way to long intro, there was only enough time for the Night Terrors to get through 2 songs, I could see potential but there just wasn't enough time for them to do their own thing, will be looking out for a solo show of theirs soon enough.
The Night Terrors - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 22.1mb - 16 minutes
Though not on any of the line ups, Yasuko Onuki & Ichirou Agata from Melt-Banana returned to the stage with a different set up and basically trolled the crowd, playing off synth pads, drum machines and all sorts of pedals, they played in complete darkness with only head torches on, playing a constant stop and start set, only giving people enough time to begin playing before starting to blast them with noise again. To be honest, I really liked it. Felt like it went for a life time though.
Yasuka Onuki & Ichirou Agata - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 10.5mb - 7 minutes
Then there was the collaboration. This was amazing, thought I'd never see anything like it, has to be heard to be believed, once again, what I was more expecting from Metal Machine Trio.
Line-Up
Lou Reed - Guitars, Effects
Laurie Anderson - Violin
Sarth Calhoun - Programming (Metal Machine Trio)
Marc Ribot - Guitar
Ichirou Agata - Pedals (Melt-Banana)
Miles Brown - Theremin (The Night Terrors)
Tym Krasevac - Drums (Zond)
Marney MacLeod - Guitar (Zond)
Justin K Fuller - Guitar (Zond)
Matthew Brown - Korg (Zond)
Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Sarth Calhoun, Marc Ribot, Ichirou Agata, Miles Brown, Tym Krasevac, Marney MacLeod, Justin K Fuller & Matthew Brown - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 36.6mb - 25 minutes
After this, Lou Reed thanked us all and hoped we enjoyed it, and then just sat there while everyone walked out. About 80 or so people decided they weren't going anywhere and stared demanding a Zondcore. After much talking with the various people on stage, the lights went off again and a second jam started for the people who were smart enough to stay behind, this was the much better of the two improv sets at the end and was one of the best things I have ever seen.
Line-Up
Lou Reed - Guitars, Effects
Laurie Anderson - Violin
Sarth Calhoun - Programming (Metal Machine Trio)
Ichirou Agata - Guitar, Effects (Melt-Banana)
Jason Kourkounis - Drums (Bardo Pond, Hot Snakes, The Delta 72)
Oren Ambarchi - Drums
Miles Brown - Theremin (The Night Terrors)
Justin K Fuller - Guitar (Zond)
Matthew Brown - Korg (Zond)
Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Sarth Calhoun, Marc Ribot, Ichirou Agata, Jason Kourkounis, Oren Ambarchi, Miles Brown, Justin K Fuller & Matthew Brown - Opera House, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 30.6mb - 21 minutes
If anyone knows any more info/people I left out from the collabs, let me know.
To start off it's hard to believe that these bands are all playing the Opera House, let alone all on the one night. Always knew tonight was gonna be special, but no idea it would end up being this huge. Not the loudest gig I've ever been to but definitely one of the most sustained.
We walk in to find about 30 people on stage setting gear up and just a dull drone that goes on for about 20 mins before the almighty Zond begin playing. Now if you went to Flip Out last year, you'd know barely anyone got a chance to see them since they opened the doors after they had already started playing, I was always bitter about this, this set was great though, album is out today on RIP Society in fact. The set ends with a massive drum solo from the drummer, doesn't make sense on the recording, but if you were there, you would have seen that like clock work, the entire stage was flooded with crew bumping out all their gear and setting up for the next band while the drum solo went on, they even removed and replace pieces of the kit while he was playing, then the bassist and guitarist from Melt-Banana come out and fill some time with feedback leading into their set.
Zond - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 32mb - 21 minutes
Melt-Banana weren't really suited for the seating environment, but I was blown away by them, the guitarist is beyond amazing. Some really cool sounds and great, punchy and fast songs. Based on this performance I've decided to go see them on Wednesday night as well now. Them pumping out 6-7 songs in their timeslot is pretty funny considering later on Boris only got through one.
Melt-Banana - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 31.6mb - 21 minutes
It was hard to tell but the next set was actually Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson & Sarth Calhoun. It was odd to see such a legend play so far back on the stage while the sound crew wheeled out all of Boris's gear, but it was actually really good, this is what I was expecting to hear last night, Laurie Anderson really added a lot to it.
Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson & Sarth Calhoun - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 19.4mb - 13 minutes
Oren Ambarchi played a short ambient set in the lead up to Boris, I've never had the opportunity to see him, I've only heard various live tapings of his and all sorts of praise from my friends. Totally blown away, this guy is amazing, I wish he was around more often. Some of the highest calibre of music I think I've ever heard.
Oren Ambarchi - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 15.1mb - 11 minutes
Oren Ambarchi remained on stage and joined Boris for one the most face melting 20mins of my life. This was just amazing, they only got through the final Untitled track from Smile, but all of it was amazing. This band, this is the band. Perfect way to close the first half of the set. People really got into it. Four fucking guitars at once though.
Boris & Oren Ambarchi - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 30.3mb - 22 minutes
Now there was an intermission, I don't know if people were only there for Boris, or didn't know there was an intermission at all but half the people left, to be honest I didn't know there was going to be one but had just assumed as such when the house lights came up, but I've heard a lot of stories of people missing the second half of the show, which is when shit got crazy.
Rice Corpse opened the second portion, Lucas Abela playing the fucking Opera House, too be honest it didn't really suit it, I find his performances to be quite confronting and a great time, but a lot of that comes from how close and involved in the crowd he usually is, rather than on a stage 15 or so metres away from anyone. If was after this set that I realised the second portion of the show would have really poor flow, though the biggest cheer of the night was when a vacuum cleaner was brought out to clean up Justice Yeldham's mess, with every cheering for it to be turned up. Noise Night guys.
Rice Corpse - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 17.3mb - 12 minutes
Bardo Pond were up next after a bit of awkward silence, with guest spots from Marc Ribot and Miles Brown. This was probably the loudest part of the night, shame it didn't go for longer but everyone had their time slot I guess. Marc Ribot was amazing to watch.
Bardo Pond, Marc Ribot & Miles Brown - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 27.7mb - 20 minutes
After a way to long intro, there was only enough time for the Night Terrors to get through 2 songs, I could see potential but there just wasn't enough time for them to do their own thing, will be looking out for a solo show of theirs soon enough.
The Night Terrors - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 22.1mb - 16 minutes
Though not on any of the line ups, Yasuko Onuki & Ichirou Agata from Melt-Banana returned to the stage with a different set up and basically trolled the crowd, playing off synth pads, drum machines and all sorts of pedals, they played in complete darkness with only head torches on, playing a constant stop and start set, only giving people enough time to begin playing before starting to blast them with noise again. To be honest, I really liked it. Felt like it went for a life time though.
Yasuka Onuki & Ichirou Agata - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 10.5mb - 7 minutes
Then there was the collaboration. This was amazing, thought I'd never see anything like it, has to be heard to be believed, once again, what I was more expecting from Metal Machine Trio.
Line-Up
Lou Reed - Guitars, Effects
Laurie Anderson - Violin
Sarth Calhoun - Programming (Metal Machine Trio)
Marc Ribot - Guitar
Ichirou Agata - Pedals (Melt-Banana)
Miles Brown - Theremin (The Night Terrors)
Tym Krasevac - Drums (Zond)
Marney MacLeod - Guitar (Zond)
Justin K Fuller - Guitar (Zond)
Matthew Brown - Korg (Zond)
Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Sarth Calhoun, Marc Ribot, Ichirou Agata, Miles Brown, Tym Krasevac, Marney MacLeod, Justin K Fuller & Matthew Brown - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 36.6mb - 25 minutes
After this, Lou Reed thanked us all and hoped we enjoyed it, and then just sat there while everyone walked out. About 80 or so people decided they weren't going anywhere and stared demanding a Zondcore. After much talking with the various people on stage, the lights went off again and a second jam started for the people who were smart enough to stay behind, this was the much better of the two improv sets at the end and was one of the best things I have ever seen.
Line-Up
Lou Reed - Guitars, Effects
Laurie Anderson - Violin
Sarth Calhoun - Programming (Metal Machine Trio)
Ichirou Agata - Guitar, Effects (Melt-Banana)
Jason Kourkounis - Drums (Bardo Pond, Hot Snakes, The Delta 72)
Oren Ambarchi - Drums
Miles Brown - Theremin (The Night Terrors)
Justin K Fuller - Guitar (Zond)
Matthew Brown - Korg (Zond)
Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Sarth Calhoun, Marc Ribot, Ichirou Agata, Jason Kourkounis, Oren Ambarchi, Miles Brown, Justin K Fuller & Matthew Brown - Opera House, Sydney, 31/05/2010 - 30.6mb - 21 minutes
If anyone knows any more info/people I left out from the collabs, let me know.
VIVID Festival: Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio
Don't know how I feel on this one. It wasn't quite as expected, I was hoping for a massive wall of feedback and noise with the associated feeling of discomfort through the whole thing, but it ended up being kinda pleasant. There were some very enthralling structured bits, but the improv used to link it all up was pretty sketchy at times. Lou Reed is looking pretty haggered these days, and he sorta just sits on his throne and orders his minions around to do the leg work for him, but overall this was very much worth it.
Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 30/05/2010 - 127.45mb - 1 hour 29 minutes
Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio - Opera House Theatre, Sydney, 30/05/2010 - 127.45mb - 1 hour 29 minutes
Saturday, May 29, 2010
VIVID Festival: Boris
Simply floored. Amazing show. If not for Dirty Three, Boris would be the best thing I've seen all year. Opening song is amazing, closing song is even better, they did a bit of everything, a really varied night. Struggling to find the words, a must listen. The atmosphere in the room was great, the light show was stunning, though it wasn't as loud as expected, but that's hardly a bad point.
Can't wait to see them again on Monday, wish I was going tonight.
Setlist
Farewell
Rainbow
8
Message/Statement
Floorshaker
A Bao a Qu
16:47:52...
Akirame Flower
Pink
Korusu
1970
You Were Holding an Umbrella
[ ]/Untitled
Boris - Opera House Studio, Sydney, 28/05/2010 - 128.5mb - 1 hour 28 minutes
Can't wait to see them again on Monday, wish I was going tonight.
Setlist
Farewell
Rainbow
8
Message/Statement
Floorshaker
A Bao a Qu
16:47:52...
Akirame Flower
Pink
Korusu
1970
You Were Holding an Umbrella
[ ]/Untitled
Boris - Opera House Studio, Sydney, 28/05/2010 - 128.5mb - 1 hour 28 minutes
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Circle Pit - Bruise Constellation Launch
Supported by Lost Animal, Dead Farmers and Bed Wettin' Bad Boys.
I only had enough battery to record two bands, so naturally I picked the head liner + the band I had never seen before.
Lost Animal was interesting, some great tunes, backed up by this bassist who has been playing in pretty much every Melbourne band to visit Sydney lately, I saw him play with Pikelet a few weeks ago and then with Pets With Pets last week, and now Lost Animal. This is a set I think would be really interesting to see played with a live band, even if it's all synths and sequencers, could be really cool.
Lost Animal - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 26/05/2010 - 38.1mb - 26 minutes
Circle Pit owned. They owned. Tight as hell, vocals were spot on, there was guitar troubles here and there but over all a fucking awesome performance. Bruise Constellation is so freaking good. Really stoked on this band right now. Can't really say much more to be honest, a must listen.
Circle Pit - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 26/05/2010 - 59.4mb - 42 minutes
I only had enough battery to record two bands, so naturally I picked the head liner + the band I had never seen before.
Lost Animal was interesting, some great tunes, backed up by this bassist who has been playing in pretty much every Melbourne band to visit Sydney lately, I saw him play with Pikelet a few weeks ago and then with Pets With Pets last week, and now Lost Animal. This is a set I think would be really interesting to see played with a live band, even if it's all synths and sequencers, could be really cool.
Lost Animal - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 26/05/2010 - 38.1mb - 26 minutes
Circle Pit owned. They owned. Tight as hell, vocals were spot on, there was guitar troubles here and there but over all a fucking awesome performance. Bruise Constellation is so freaking good. Really stoked on this band right now. Can't really say much more to be honest, a must listen.
Circle Pit - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 26/05/2010 - 59.4mb - 42 minutes
Batrider Return
Supported by Dead Farmers, Pets With Pets and Brian Chase & Seth Misterka.
Good to see more shows being played at the Red Rattler, love this place. Dead Farmers up first played a pretty killer set to a pretty apprehensive room. The sound is a bit weird and there wasn't much I could do to it, but it's still quite good quality, and they had great amounts of energy.
Dead Farmers - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 27.6mb - 20 minutes
Always hearing a lot about Pets With Pets, I was somewhat suspicious watching them set up. Seemed like a bunch of overly image conscious people who just graduate from Rock and Roll 101, but once they started playing it was not what you'd expect at all from a band with a dedicated tambourine player who has a bandanna hanging off his mic stand. Really quite enjoyed this set, starts off very droney on the first song but because quite dancy towards the end. I accidentally tagged this one as being on the 26th of May. Oops.
Pets With Pets - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 49mb - 33 minutes
Bringing in the douchepatrol was Brian Chase & Seth Misterka. I only found out a week beforehand that they had been added to the line up, I didn't realise until I arrived there that the place would be full of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans. They played exactly what I expected them to, which was quite refreshing compared to the rest of the line up, but naturally all the people who just knew Brian Chase ended up either sticking their fingers in their ears and turning around, or just talking loudly to their douche friends for the entire set. Short, but great set. I accidentally tagged this one as being on the 22nd of April, I'm getting bad at this.
Brian Chase & Seth Misterka - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 34.8mb - 24 minutes
I hadn't seen Batrider in years, but I mustn't have been paying close attention because I seem to remember there being 4 of them, and I didn't recognise the other 2 that were playing on this night. Great set though, pretty much what you'd come to expect from Batrider, hard to elaborate on it apart from that.
Batrider - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 49.1mb - 34 minutes
Good to see more shows being played at the Red Rattler, love this place. Dead Farmers up first played a pretty killer set to a pretty apprehensive room. The sound is a bit weird and there wasn't much I could do to it, but it's still quite good quality, and they had great amounts of energy.
Dead Farmers - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 27.6mb - 20 minutes
Always hearing a lot about Pets With Pets, I was somewhat suspicious watching them set up. Seemed like a bunch of overly image conscious people who just graduate from Rock and Roll 101, but once they started playing it was not what you'd expect at all from a band with a dedicated tambourine player who has a bandanna hanging off his mic stand. Really quite enjoyed this set, starts off very droney on the first song but because quite dancy towards the end. I accidentally tagged this one as being on the 26th of May. Oops.
Pets With Pets - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 49mb - 33 minutes
Bringing in the douchepatrol was Brian Chase & Seth Misterka. I only found out a week beforehand that they had been added to the line up, I didn't realise until I arrived there that the place would be full of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans. They played exactly what I expected them to, which was quite refreshing compared to the rest of the line up, but naturally all the people who just knew Brian Chase ended up either sticking their fingers in their ears and turning around, or just talking loudly to their douche friends for the entire set. Short, but great set. I accidentally tagged this one as being on the 22nd of April, I'm getting bad at this.
Brian Chase & Seth Misterka - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 34.8mb - 24 minutes
I hadn't seen Batrider in years, but I mustn't have been paying close attention because I seem to remember there being 4 of them, and I didn't recognise the other 2 that were playing on this night. Great set though, pretty much what you'd come to expect from Batrider, hard to elaborate on it apart from that.
Batrider - Red Rattler, Sydney, 22/05/2010 - 49.1mb - 34 minutes
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The Garbage and the Flowers
Supported by Chris Petro, Holy Balm and Circle Pit.
I don't know what the reason behind this show was, but when Garbage and the Flowers play a show, you show up. I missed Chris Petro and have no idea who he is/what he's like but a friend said "You'd know who he was if you saw him."
So first up I saw Holy Balm, they are awesome again. This set ruled, there was a bit of an odd mix at times and very little drums to be heard, but they still played a great one.
Holy Balm - Red Rattler, Sydney, 14/05/2010 - 34.3mb - 23 minutes
I keep missing opportunities to tape Circle Pit, one of the best bands in the world. I taped them when the supported the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but assholes were talking shit (a common theme with Circle Pit) about them, one person of which happened to be directly to me. Not the best set I've seen them play, but the first time seeing them since getting my hands on Bruise Constellation. Fucken great set still. Felt like it dragged a bit in the middle but they played 2 or so new ones which were refreshingly rocking.
Circle Pit - Red Rattler, Sydney, 14/05/2010 - 50.4mb - 35 minutes
Garbage and the Flowers are a band that have always eluded me live, so for a first timer this set blew me away, it's always hard to tape a band of their sound but it turned out pretty well, captivating set. It's not often you get to see them.
The Garbage and the Flowers - Red Rattler, Sydney, 14/05/2010 - 60.3mb - 43 minutes
I don't know what the reason behind this show was, but when Garbage and the Flowers play a show, you show up. I missed Chris Petro and have no idea who he is/what he's like but a friend said "You'd know who he was if you saw him."
So first up I saw Holy Balm, they are awesome again. This set ruled, there was a bit of an odd mix at times and very little drums to be heard, but they still played a great one.
Holy Balm - Red Rattler, Sydney, 14/05/2010 - 34.3mb - 23 minutes
I keep missing opportunities to tape Circle Pit, one of the best bands in the world. I taped them when the supported the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but assholes were talking shit (a common theme with Circle Pit) about them, one person of which happened to be directly to me. Not the best set I've seen them play, but the first time seeing them since getting my hands on Bruise Constellation. Fucken great set still. Felt like it dragged a bit in the middle but they played 2 or so new ones which were refreshingly rocking.
Circle Pit - Red Rattler, Sydney, 14/05/2010 - 50.4mb - 35 minutes
Garbage and the Flowers are a band that have always eluded me live, so for a first timer this set blew me away, it's always hard to tape a band of their sound but it turned out pretty well, captivating set. It's not often you get to see them.
The Garbage and the Flowers - Red Rattler, Sydney, 14/05/2010 - 60.3mb - 43 minutes
Monday, May 10, 2010
Nom goes to America.
So my friend Nohemy Vivas went to America, saw a buttload of bands and recorded a few of them on an Edirol R-09HR that I lent to her. Due to the nature of the Edirol, some of them turned out with a few minor technical glitches, such as clicking or distortion, while others came out perfect. Quite a few don't start until a verse or so into the first song, but apart from that not much is missing. I'll get her to write some wonderful stories about them later and I'll throw up some setlists for what I know.
SXSW:
The Depreciation Guild - Wave Rooftop, Austin, 17/03/2010 - 45mb - 34 minutes
Fanfarlo - Galaxy Room, Austin, 18/03/2010 - 37mb - 27 minutes
Fucked Up - Emo's, Austin, 17/03/2010 - 52mb - 39 minutes
Memory Tapes - Emo's, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 38.6mb - 28 minutes - Mind-blowingly good set.
Midlake - Buffalo Billiards, Austin, 18/03/2010 - 57mb - 43 minutes
Oh No Oh My - Lovejoys, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 39.6mb - 30minutes
The Russian Futurists - Habana Calle 6, Austin, 17/03/2010 - 48mb - 36 minutes
So Cow - The Scoot Inn, Austin, 16/03/2010 - 45mb - 34 minutes
Surfer Blood - Emo's, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 25mb - 19 minutes - Really quiet.
Titus Andronicus - The Compound, Austin, 18/03/2010 - 62.6mb - 47 minutes
Toro y Moi - Lovejoys, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 36mb - 26 minutes
Washed Out - Lovejoys, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 46.5mb - 35 minutes - I got this a bit wrong, the first half of the set is actually Small Black, and the second half is Washed Out.
Elsewhere:
Andrew WK - Big Ears, Knoxville, 26/03/2010 - 54.6mb - 41 minutes - This is a lecture.
Deerhunter - Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, 01/04/2010 - 54.6mb - 41 minutes - Supporting Spoon, the bass is incredibly loud in this due to big venue + being in the front row, but everything else is audible so I decided to throw it up on here, great set.
Nada Surf - Bowery Ballroom, New York, 25/03/2010 - 99mb - 1 hour 1 minutes- Once again, really bass heavy and distorted, but still listenable if you really like Nada Surf.
Sets by Beach House, jj, St Vincent and the XX were also recorded, but all come out like balls, and two of those bands suck ass.
Also blogspot wouldn't let me tag this properly, can only do 200 characters apparently, so I did most of the bands only.
SXSW:
The Depreciation Guild - Wave Rooftop, Austin, 17/03/2010 - 45mb - 34 minutes
Fanfarlo - Galaxy Room, Austin, 18/03/2010 - 37mb - 27 minutes
Fucked Up - Emo's, Austin, 17/03/2010 - 52mb - 39 minutes
Memory Tapes - Emo's, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 38.6mb - 28 minutes - Mind-blowingly good set.
Midlake - Buffalo Billiards, Austin, 18/03/2010 - 57mb - 43 minutes
Oh No Oh My - Lovejoys, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 39.6mb - 30minutes
The Russian Futurists - Habana Calle 6, Austin, 17/03/2010 - 48mb - 36 minutes
So Cow - The Scoot Inn, Austin, 16/03/2010 - 45mb - 34 minutes
Surfer Blood - Emo's, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 25mb - 19 minutes - Really quiet.
Titus Andronicus - The Compound, Austin, 18/03/2010 - 62.6mb - 47 minutes
Toro y Moi - Lovejoys, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 36mb - 26 minutes
Washed Out - Lovejoys, Austin, 19/03/2010 - 46.5mb - 35 minutes - I got this a bit wrong, the first half of the set is actually Small Black, and the second half is Washed Out.
Elsewhere:
Andrew WK - Big Ears, Knoxville, 26/03/2010 - 54.6mb - 41 minutes - This is a lecture.
Deerhunter - Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, 01/04/2010 - 54.6mb - 41 minutes - Supporting Spoon, the bass is incredibly loud in this due to big venue + being in the front row, but everything else is audible so I decided to throw it up on here, great set.
Nada Surf - Bowery Ballroom, New York, 25/03/2010 - 99mb - 1 hour 1 minutes- Once again, really bass heavy and distorted, but still listenable if you really like Nada Surf.
Sets by Beach House, jj, St Vincent and the XX were also recorded, but all come out like balls, and two of those bands suck ass.
Also blogspot wouldn't let me tag this properly, can only do 200 characters apparently, so I did most of the bands only.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Dead Farmers/Royal Headache double launch.
I had heard only terrible things about 202 Broadway, and having walked past it frequently and never seen a soul in there, I wasn't expecting much. The band room in the basement however is pretty cool, I dug the vibe, an acoustic nightmare, but I really enjoyed seeing these bands there.
Dick Diver came all the way up from Melbourne to support, I hadn't seen them since they came to support Mum Smokes, and I was equally blown away this time, they've been one of my favourite bands since then and this set was solid as hell. What a band.
Dick Diver - 202 Broadway, Sydney, 25/04/2010 - 48.1mb - 35 minutes
The good thing about seeing Royal Headache every single time they play is that they tend to bust out 2 or so new songs each time. Tonight there were 3 new songs and all of them amazing, they did seem to cut out all the songs that required actual singing though, not bad though because this was easily the best set I've ever seen them play. Everyone was so into it, there did seem to be some people near me treating Royal Headache like gods, and they were on fire. For some reason though (and it was like this on the night) the vocals keep getting louder and louder as the set goes on, so the last song is basically awash with distorted vocals.
Royal Headache - 202 Broadway, Sydney, 25/04/2010 - 35.5mb - 25 minutes
Dead Farmers finished off the night of what was pretty much a perfect lineup and were as amazing as ever, I decided to not be in the first two rows for this one so I couldn't see shit, but they've always been an amazing band and they played an amazing set. The LP fucking rules as well.
Dead Farmers - 202 Broadway, Sydney, 25/04/2010 - 41.6mb - 30 minutes
Dick Diver came all the way up from Melbourne to support, I hadn't seen them since they came to support Mum Smokes, and I was equally blown away this time, they've been one of my favourite bands since then and this set was solid as hell. What a band.
Dick Diver - 202 Broadway, Sydney, 25/04/2010 - 48.1mb - 35 minutes
The good thing about seeing Royal Headache every single time they play is that they tend to bust out 2 or so new songs each time. Tonight there were 3 new songs and all of them amazing, they did seem to cut out all the songs that required actual singing though, not bad though because this was easily the best set I've ever seen them play. Everyone was so into it, there did seem to be some people near me treating Royal Headache like gods, and they were on fire. For some reason though (and it was like this on the night) the vocals keep getting louder and louder as the set goes on, so the last song is basically awash with distorted vocals.
Royal Headache - 202 Broadway, Sydney, 25/04/2010 - 35.5mb - 25 minutes
Dead Farmers finished off the night of what was pretty much a perfect lineup and were as amazing as ever, I decided to not be in the first two rows for this one so I couldn't see shit, but they've always been an amazing band and they played an amazing set. The LP fucking rules as well.
Dead Farmers - 202 Broadway, Sydney, 25/04/2010 - 41.6mb - 30 minutes
Chrome Dome album launch,
Supported by every band ever.
First band up was Liz Hurley, I didn't record them and I'm assuming first gig ever for them, but I dug it for what it was.
Somehow I've lost every recording I've done of Whores, but they were pretty good tonight, not the best I've seen them, but def up there. Also has some awesome Clarinet shredding by Nic De Jong on some tracks. Recording comes in during the first song and the sounds a bit iffy for 30 seconds, but good from then on.
Whores - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 23.8mb - 15 minutes
I had forgotten Dead China Doll were on this bill so this was the best surprise ever, what a fucking fantastic band. Killer set, came out great as well. No idea why I haven't recorded these guys before but got quite a few opportunities coming up.
Dead China Doll - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 33.4mb - 24 minutes
The Nevada Strange are getting better each time I see them, but they're not quite there yet, some great ideas going around though. About 14 minutes there's some insane feedback so you know, watch out.
The Nevada Strange - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 37.8mb - 26 minutes
This was the point I realised it was going to be a long night and that a shit load of bands were playing. The Warm Feelings played but the recording turned out to be shitty as. Shame.
I was showing Justice Yeldham to my girlfriend for the first time and was expecting to blow.her.mind. but forgot that shits pretty toned down as Rice Corpse. Great set. GREAT SET. Amazing drumming.
Rice Corpse - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 25.5mb - 17 minutes
Chrome Dome finally rounded at the night. All hail Chrome Dome. A must listen this one. Not even going to give details, fucking listen to it.
Chrome Dome - Supper Club Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 38.9mb - 27 minutes
First band up was Liz Hurley, I didn't record them and I'm assuming first gig ever for them, but I dug it for what it was.
Somehow I've lost every recording I've done of Whores, but they were pretty good tonight, not the best I've seen them, but def up there. Also has some awesome Clarinet shredding by Nic De Jong on some tracks. Recording comes in during the first song and the sounds a bit iffy for 30 seconds, but good from then on.
Whores - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 23.8mb - 15 minutes
I had forgotten Dead China Doll were on this bill so this was the best surprise ever, what a fucking fantastic band. Killer set, came out great as well. No idea why I haven't recorded these guys before but got quite a few opportunities coming up.
Dead China Doll - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 33.4mb - 24 minutes
The Nevada Strange are getting better each time I see them, but they're not quite there yet, some great ideas going around though. About 14 minutes there's some insane feedback so you know, watch out.
The Nevada Strange - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 37.8mb - 26 minutes
This was the point I realised it was going to be a long night and that a shit load of bands were playing. The Warm Feelings played but the recording turned out to be shitty as. Shame.
I was showing Justice Yeldham to my girlfriend for the first time and was expecting to blow.her.mind. but forgot that shits pretty toned down as Rice Corpse. Great set. GREAT SET. Amazing drumming.
Rice Corpse - Supper Club, Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 25.5mb - 17 minutes
Chrome Dome finally rounded at the night. All hail Chrome Dome. A must listen this one. Not even going to give details, fucking listen to it.
Chrome Dome - Supper Club Sydney, 24/04/2010 - 38.9mb - 27 minutes
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Ivy St 7inch Launch w/ The Stabs
Ivy St started off a night of very similarly themed music and played a killer set, probably my favourite from the night. Good effort coming all the way from Hobart. Recording cuts in during the first song.
Ivy St - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 23/04/2010 - 44.9mb - 31 minutes
No idea why I've never recorded the Holy Soul before, despite being a bunch of great song writers, I always find their sets to drag on for that little bit too long, still a great set. Wish they got through the entire cover of Candy.
The Holy Soul - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 23/04/2010 - 59.4mb - 41 minutes
The Stabs weren't as good as past sets, they were fucking stellar at Flip Out and at GoodGod, this time they just seemed... kinda there and nothing else. Was awesome to hear Wading and That's It. Also they should probably set up their drum kit before playing, thing fell apart each song.
The Stabs - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 23/04/2010 - 63.5mb - 44 minutes
Ivy St - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 23/04/2010 - 44.9mb - 31 minutes
No idea why I've never recorded the Holy Soul before, despite being a bunch of great song writers, I always find their sets to drag on for that little bit too long, still a great set. Wish they got through the entire cover of Candy.
The Holy Soul - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 23/04/2010 - 59.4mb - 41 minutes
The Stabs weren't as good as past sets, they were fucking stellar at Flip Out and at GoodGod, this time they just seemed... kinda there and nothing else. Was awesome to hear Wading and That's It. Also they should probably set up their drum kit before playing, thing fell apart each song.
The Stabs - Excelsior Hotel, Sydney, 23/04/2010 - 63.5mb - 44 minutes
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Kitchen's Floor 7" Launch
Supported by Bed Wettin' Bad Boys and Holy Balm.
Never been to the Friend In Hand before but I really quite enjoyed it, great atmosphere, don't know what the chances are of having more shows there in the future there are, but was a pretty good alternative to GoodGod Small Club.
Holy Balm were up first, I've been a bit on and off about these guys, sometimes I think they're the best band in the world, and sometimes I find them a bit dull, tonight they were the best band in the world. So. Amazing. Can't wait for the 7inch.
Holy Balm - Friend in Hand, Sydney, 17/04/2010 - 31.5mb - 22 minutes
One of my biggest regrets was not recording Kitchen's Floor last time they came down, they killed it, they were amazing, sound gets a bit iffy at points but it's more than listenable.
Kitchen's Floor - Friend in Hand, Sydney, 17/04/2010 - 42.7mb - 28 minutes
I was really tired so I went to sleep, next time BWBB.
Never been to the Friend In Hand before but I really quite enjoyed it, great atmosphere, don't know what the chances are of having more shows there in the future there are, but was a pretty good alternative to GoodGod Small Club.
Holy Balm were up first, I've been a bit on and off about these guys, sometimes I think they're the best band in the world, and sometimes I find them a bit dull, tonight they were the best band in the world. So. Amazing. Can't wait for the 7inch.
Holy Balm - Friend in Hand, Sydney, 17/04/2010 - 31.5mb - 22 minutes
One of my biggest regrets was not recording Kitchen's Floor last time they came down, they killed it, they were amazing, sound gets a bit iffy at points but it's more than listenable.
Kitchen's Floor - Friend in Hand, Sydney, 17/04/2010 - 42.7mb - 28 minutes
I was really tired so I went to sleep, next time BWBB.
Hira Hira/Little A split launch.
Man. Fuck World Bar.
Little A was great and charming as hell. Sound is pretty fucked up in this one, drums machines come in incredibly loud at points. Remind's me somewhat of Best Coast, lyrically anyway.
Little A - World Bar, Sydney, 16/04/2010 - 37mb - 26 minutes
A while the "Bordello" has shitty sound, shitty lighting and is stupidly hot, Hira Hira fucking owned it. The energy was amazing and they blasted through the whole set. A few newies as well.
Hira Hira - World Bar, Sydney, 16/04/2010 - 44mb - 30 minutes
Little A was great and charming as hell. Sound is pretty fucked up in this one, drums machines come in incredibly loud at points. Remind's me somewhat of Best Coast, lyrically anyway.
Little A - World Bar, Sydney, 16/04/2010 - 37mb - 26 minutes
A while the "Bordello" has shitty sound, shitty lighting and is stupidly hot, Hira Hira fucking owned it. The energy was amazing and they blasted through the whole set. A few newies as well.
Hira Hira - World Bar, Sydney, 16/04/2010 - 44mb - 30 minutes
New Weird Australia
Featuring Karoshi, Caught Ship, Alps of NSW and Paint Your Golden Face.
Photos by Tenzenmen. Full set here.
A show organised by the endlessly marvellous New Weird Australia.
Yeah yeah long time between updates and this was a long time ago. Plenty of reasons.
I missed Karoshi but they were by all accounts amazing, and only saw the second half of Caught Ship, and by my account were also amazing.
Alps of NSW played stuff I mostly hadn't heard, and all of it was great. Only plays three songs over 20 minutes, but I really dug it all, hadn't seen him since last August.
Alps of NSW - St Petersburg, Sydney, 27/03/2010 - 25.7mb - 24 minutes
When I heard Paint Your Golden Face's name, I knew it would be Liars influenced, but to be honest I just felt like I was listening to a poor man's Drum's Not Dead. Really not my thing, it was just lots of looping really simple drum beats without going anywhere with them. Though when it gets good, it's really great, but those times are way too far and few between.
Paint Your Golden Face - St Petersburg, Sydney, 27/03/2010 - 51.7mb - 36 minutes
Photos by Tenzenmen. Full set here.
A show organised by the endlessly marvellous New Weird Australia.
Yeah yeah long time between updates and this was a long time ago. Plenty of reasons.
I missed Karoshi but they were by all accounts amazing, and only saw the second half of Caught Ship, and by my account were also amazing.
Alps of NSW played stuff I mostly hadn't heard, and all of it was great. Only plays three songs over 20 minutes, but I really dug it all, hadn't seen him since last August.
Alps of NSW - St Petersburg, Sydney, 27/03/2010 - 25.7mb - 24 minutes
When I heard Paint Your Golden Face's name, I knew it would be Liars influenced, but to be honest I just felt like I was listening to a poor man's Drum's Not Dead. Really not my thing, it was just lots of looping really simple drum beats without going anywhere with them. Though when it gets good, it's really great, but those times are way too far and few between.
Paint Your Golden Face - St Petersburg, Sydney, 27/03/2010 - 51.7mb - 36 minutes
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Crowded House Fanclub Show
I had never seen Crowded House before. When they played the Entertainment Centre in 2007, I was in Melbourne, when they played the Enmore in 2008, I was in Fiji. So I finally got to go to what was originally a secret fanclub show thanks to the grace of the fanclub, especially a man named Crimpies, who bought me a ticket so I could record it, and to all the others who approached me offering to, Crowded House has the nicest fanclub ever.
The main point of the show was to show off new tracks, and they were pretty good I must say, but they did play a whole bunch of old songs as well which blew me away, so happy to see them live. I've seen the Finn Brothers before and Tim Finn before, but to hear Crowded House play them gave it a bit more of a legitimacy. The vibe was really relaxed and they fucked around a whole heap, Neil "The Silver Fox" Finn is just the most charming bastard ever. But as a result of fucking around they went over time and I can only assume cut off an encore, there was so much more I wanted to hear, but then again that wasn't the purpose of the show. My only real complaint about the show was the mix, in no ways bad, but unexpected, just made the band and the songs (especially the new ones) seem really delicate and brittle, sometimes matched with over powering piano when Mick Hart went up back. Apart from that, stellar show.
Attn Fanclubbers: FLAC is coming soon.
Setlist
In My Command
Saturday Sun
Fall at Your Feet
Don't Stop Now
Amsterdam
Either Side of the World
Four Seasons in One Day
Twice if Your Lucky
Pour le Monde
Isolation
Whispers and Moans
It's Only Natural
Falling Dove
Archer's Arrow
Private Universe
Distant Sun
Encore
Fingers of Love
Elephants
Into Temptation
Video Killed the Radiostar (The Buggles) (Teaser)
I Got You (Split Enz)
World Where You Live
Don't Dream it's Over
Crowded House - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 31/03/2010 - 194.7mb - 2 hours - 2 hours 15 minutes
The main point of the show was to show off new tracks, and they were pretty good I must say, but they did play a whole bunch of old songs as well which blew me away, so happy to see them live. I've seen the Finn Brothers before and Tim Finn before, but to hear Crowded House play them gave it a bit more of a legitimacy. The vibe was really relaxed and they fucked around a whole heap, Neil "The Silver Fox" Finn is just the most charming bastard ever. But as a result of fucking around they went over time and I can only assume cut off an encore, there was so much more I wanted to hear, but then again that wasn't the purpose of the show. My only real complaint about the show was the mix, in no ways bad, but unexpected, just made the band and the songs (especially the new ones) seem really delicate and brittle, sometimes matched with over powering piano when Mick Hart went up back. Apart from that, stellar show.
Attn Fanclubbers: FLAC is coming soon.
Setlist
In My Command
Saturday Sun
Fall at Your Feet
Don't Stop Now
Amsterdam
Either Side of the World
Four Seasons in One Day
Twice if Your Lucky
Pour le Monde
Isolation
Whispers and Moans
It's Only Natural
Falling Dove
Archer's Arrow
Private Universe
Distant Sun
Encore
Fingers of Love
Elephants
Into Temptation
Video Killed the Radiostar (The Buggles) (Teaser)
I Got You (Split Enz)
World Where You Live
Don't Dream it's Over
Crowded House - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 31/03/2010 - 194.7mb - 2 hours - 2 hours 15 minutes
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Sydney Tapes on the Radio.
So I'm going to be on Radiant on FBi next Monday night at 9pm. Listen to me pick some of my favourite live tunes and talk about stuff in relation to the questions I am asked. I have a fine fine fine selection of tracks, four from Sydney, one from Melbourne and one from beyond.
So tune into 94.5 if you're in Sydney, or else, stream it from the FBi website. It should hopefully be being podcasted as well.
As you can tell my blog is pretty much dying at the moment, simply put I have been unemployed for 4 months now and am dead out of money, so I have only been recording gigs that I bought tickets to 6 months ago. It's hardly been "Sydney" Live at all. Anyway, there's nothing much coming up either, I got a free ticket to see Crowded House in a few days and that's it. Sorry guys, once I get a job it'll be back to why I started doing this in the first place. If I do come into money, then expect heaps because basically from this weekend onwards, Sydney becomes awesome again.
Update: Now play one track from Melbourne, one track from Brisbane and four tracks from Sydney. Was gonna play a La Quiete one but it sounds like shit.
So tune into 94.5 if you're in Sydney, or else, stream it from the FBi website. It should hopefully be being podcasted as well.
As you can tell my blog is pretty much dying at the moment, simply put I have been unemployed for 4 months now and am dead out of money, so I have only been recording gigs that I bought tickets to 6 months ago. It's hardly been "Sydney" Live at all. Anyway, there's nothing much coming up either, I got a free ticket to see Crowded House in a few days and that's it. Sorry guys, once I get a job it'll be back to why I started doing this in the first place. If I do come into money, then expect heaps because basically from this weekend onwards, Sydney becomes awesome again.
Update: Now play one track from Melbourne, one track from Brisbane and four tracks from Sydney. Was gonna play a La Quiete one but it sounds like shit.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Pixies play Doolittle
And that's exactly what they did, played Doolittle. They were tight and the show was awesome, but it just didn't reach the heights of the 2007 tour. Not much to say to be honest, 10 minutes of intro video was annoying, then playing the first 4 songs in pitch black, before turning all the house lights on for the final encore after filling the entire venue with excessive amounts of smoke.
If anyone bought one, wanna lend me the CD of the show that they were selling? Me have no monies.
Setlist
Dancing the Manta Ray
Weird at My School
Bailey's Walk
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away
Encore
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into the White
Encore
Velouria
Nimrod's Son
Vamos
Where Is My Mind?
Pixies - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, 15/03/2010 - 136.2mb - 1 hour 33 minutes
If anyone bought one, wanna lend me the CD of the show that they were selling? Me have no monies.
Setlist
Dancing the Manta Ray
Weird at My School
Bailey's Walk
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away
Encore
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into the White
Encore
Velouria
Nimrod's Son
Vamos
Where Is My Mind?
Pixies - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, 15/03/2010 - 136.2mb - 1 hour 33 minutes
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The Drones.
Supported by the Holy Soul.
I don't know why the Drones are touring but it was a damn fine show, strange as hell set list was really heavy on old stuff, after last tours playing all but one song off Havilah. But the strange part was the show ended up being an incredibly aggressive one. Stage banter from Gareth was genius as usual.
Setlist
Jezebel
Nail it Down
The Minotaur
The Freedom in the Loot
Hell and Heydevils
Sharkfin Blues
Six Ways to Sunday
She Had an Abortion That She Made Me Pay For
The Miller's Daughter
Encore
The Cockeyed Lowlife of the Highlands
I Don't Ever Want to Change
The Drones - Annandale Hotel, Sydney, 05/03/2010 - 113mb - 1 hour 19 minutes
I don't know why the Drones are touring but it was a damn fine show, strange as hell set list was really heavy on old stuff, after last tours playing all but one song off Havilah. But the strange part was the show ended up being an incredibly aggressive one. Stage banter from Gareth was genius as usual.
Setlist
Jezebel
Nail it Down
The Minotaur
The Freedom in the Loot
Hell and Heydevils
Sharkfin Blues
Six Ways to Sunday
She Had an Abortion That She Made Me Pay For
The Miller's Daughter
Encore
The Cockeyed Lowlife of the Highlands
I Don't Ever Want to Change
The Drones - Annandale Hotel, Sydney, 05/03/2010 - 113mb - 1 hour 19 minutes
Friday, March 5, 2010
Pavement
So it's safe to assume that a lot of people will be visiting my blog for the first time for this, if you are, take a second to read the introduction off to the side to see what goes on here, and thanks for checking this shit out, and have a look around, there's plenty of other goodies here.
It's good to get a reunion tour while it's still fresh and the band are still into it, which Pavement clearly were. Heart-warmingly so. They could have played the crappiest setlist (They didn't) and been sloppy as shit (they weren't) and I would have walked away happy, they were all so animated and happy to be there, even singing a long to song that didn't require them to sing. There's a lot of false starts but as a friend say, they just charmed you more. SM is pure entertainment, and Bob is accidental entertainment, they even had the occasional choreographed moved. Anyway, as for the set list, it was awesome, and they were hella tight, there's a few moment where they need to restart songs but you know, who cares? This was a great show, I could play the "I wish they played..." game all day but those songs wouldn't have made the show any better, it was amazing. Sit back and enjoy. Also props to the old guy behind me for pouring his entire beer on me during Cut Your Hair.
Wish I was going to tomorrow's show. Unfortunately I had to sell my ticket because I am really strapped for cash. Wish I was going to Golden Plains as well, seeing this in the Supernatural Amphitheatre would really be something else.
"As they say in the drum and base world... TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNES!"
Setlist
Silence Kit
Stereo
Frontwards
Father to a Sister of Thought
In the Mouth a Desert
Trigger Cut
Date With Ikea
Grounded
Range Life
Unfair
Elevate Me Later
Zurich is Stained
Hexx
Cut Your Hair
Stop Breathin'
Summer Babe
Here
Gold Soundz
Kennel District
Conduit for Sale!
Fight This Generation
Encore
Debris Slide
We Dance
Shady Lane
Perfume-V
Encore
Fin
Spit on a Stranger
Pavement - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 04/03/2010 - 156.2mb - 1 hour 50 minutes
It's good to get a reunion tour while it's still fresh and the band are still into it, which Pavement clearly were. Heart-warmingly so. They could have played the crappiest setlist (They didn't) and been sloppy as shit (they weren't) and I would have walked away happy, they were all so animated and happy to be there, even singing a long to song that didn't require them to sing. There's a lot of false starts but as a friend say, they just charmed you more. SM is pure entertainment, and Bob is accidental entertainment, they even had the occasional choreographed moved. Anyway, as for the set list, it was awesome, and they were hella tight, there's a few moment where they need to restart songs but you know, who cares? This was a great show, I could play the "I wish they played..." game all day but those songs wouldn't have made the show any better, it was amazing. Sit back and enjoy. Also props to the old guy behind me for pouring his entire beer on me during Cut Your Hair.
Wish I was going to tomorrow's show. Unfortunately I had to sell my ticket because I am really strapped for cash. Wish I was going to Golden Plains as well, seeing this in the Supernatural Amphitheatre would really be something else.
"As they say in the drum and base world... TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNES!"
Setlist
Silence Kit
Stereo
Frontwards
Father to a Sister of Thought
In the Mouth a Desert
Trigger Cut
Date With Ikea
Grounded
Range Life
Unfair
Elevate Me Later
Zurich is Stained
Hexx
Cut Your Hair
Stop Breathin'
Summer Babe
Here
Gold Soundz
Kennel District
Conduit for Sale!
Fight This Generation
Encore
Debris Slide
We Dance
Shady Lane
Perfume-V
Encore
Fin
Spit on a Stranger
Pavement - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 04/03/2010 - 156.2mb - 1 hour 50 minutes
Friday, February 26, 2010
Jimmy Eat World Sidewave
Supported by Sunny Day Real Estate, Glassjaw, Motion City Soundtrack and Rx Bandits.
All the times were changed with very little noticed and Rx Bandits started an hour before doors were due to open so I missed them, slightly bummed. Motion City Soundtrack aren't my thing.
Glassjaw played a much shorter and more muted set than at Soundwave but they were really good tonight, I really enjoyed this one, hope they come back one day for a full tour with a crowd that's a bit more energetic and a lengthier set. The crowd just wasn't what you expected from a Glassjaw gig. I share the sentiments of "We waited 10 years for this" but getting negative doesn't help, what they brought was awesome.
Setlist
Mu Empire
All Good Junkies Go to Heaven
Ape Dos Mil
Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
Jesus Glue
Two Tabs of Mescaline
Glassjaw - Roundhouse, Sydney, 23/02/2010 - 48mb - 33 minutes
Sunny Day Real Estate fucking owned this show. They destroyed, an amazing set, absolute perfection. Not a single flaw. It wasn't until much later that someone pointed out that the set was only 45mins long, and then realise they didn't care because it was so immensely satisfying, also features the first Song #9 in about 17 years. I'm glad this band exists.
Setlist
In Circles
Seven
Song About an Angel
48
Iscarabaid
Song #9
J'Nuh
Sometimes
Sunny Day Real Estate - Roundhouse, Sydney, 23/02/2010 - 67mb - 46 minutes
I wrote very highly of Jimmy Eat World at Soundwave, and I got what I expected, they weren't quite that at this show. The set sorta dragged on in the centre and there was lots of new material (though the younger audience members loved it) so I was a bit lost, but they still had moments of utter greatness. It was good they did swap the setlist up so much from Soundwave, especially playing Goodbye Sky Harbour.
Setlist
A Praise Chorus
Big Casino
Crush
Work
Dizzy
In the Same Room
Lucky Denver Mint
Goodbye Sky Harbour
Pain
23
Bleed American
Let it Happen
Always Be
Blister
Hear You Me
The Middle
Sweetness
Jimmy Eat World - Roundhouse, Sydney, 23/02/2010 - 108mb - 1 hour 16 minutes
Man, did that lineup really just happen in Australia?
All the times were changed with very little noticed and Rx Bandits started an hour before doors were due to open so I missed them, slightly bummed. Motion City Soundtrack aren't my thing.
Glassjaw played a much shorter and more muted set than at Soundwave but they were really good tonight, I really enjoyed this one, hope they come back one day for a full tour with a crowd that's a bit more energetic and a lengthier set. The crowd just wasn't what you expected from a Glassjaw gig. I share the sentiments of "We waited 10 years for this" but getting negative doesn't help, what they brought was awesome.
Setlist
Mu Empire
All Good Junkies Go to Heaven
Ape Dos Mil
Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
Jesus Glue
Two Tabs of Mescaline
Glassjaw - Roundhouse, Sydney, 23/02/2010 - 48mb - 33 minutes
Sunny Day Real Estate fucking owned this show. They destroyed, an amazing set, absolute perfection. Not a single flaw. It wasn't until much later that someone pointed out that the set was only 45mins long, and then realise they didn't care because it was so immensely satisfying, also features the first Song #9 in about 17 years. I'm glad this band exists.
Setlist
In Circles
Seven
Song About an Angel
48
Iscarabaid
Song #9
J'Nuh
Sometimes
Sunny Day Real Estate - Roundhouse, Sydney, 23/02/2010 - 67mb - 46 minutes
I wrote very highly of Jimmy Eat World at Soundwave, and I got what I expected, they weren't quite that at this show. The set sorta dragged on in the centre and there was lots of new material (though the younger audience members loved it) so I was a bit lost, but they still had moments of utter greatness. It was good they did swap the setlist up so much from Soundwave, especially playing Goodbye Sky Harbour.
Setlist
A Praise Chorus
Big Casino
Crush
Work
Dizzy
In the Same Room
Lucky Denver Mint
Goodbye Sky Harbour
Pain
23
Bleed American
Let it Happen
Always Be
Blister
Hear You Me
The Middle
Sweetness
Jimmy Eat World - Roundhouse, Sydney, 23/02/2010 - 108mb - 1 hour 16 minutes
Man, did that lineup really just happen in Australia?
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Soundwave 2010
Flawless day, I ended up having so much fun and seeing some sick bands. A lot better organised than last year, but still hot as hell without any shade (The biggest cheer of the day being when the sun went behind a stray cloud for 30 seconds at about 3pm.) but you know, I thought this day was gonna be all about my inner early/mid-teenager but I ended up having an awesome day regardless. If anyone can help me out with any of these setlists would be appreciated.
First up and the criminally early time for one of the best bands ever was Sunny Day Real Estate. I never really consider it much but their set was truly ruined by being on so early in the day, they played perfectly and they were all pretty stoked to be playing but by half way through the day I had completely forgotten they'd even played, and they were the primary reason I had gone. But lucky I taped it because it's amazing.
Setlist
Song About an Angel
Seven
Theo B
48
Iscarabaid
J'Nuh
In Circles
Sometimes
Sunny Day Real Estate - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 63mb - 43 minutes
Saw Isis next as nothing else much was on, they had me pretty enthralled for moments and completely bored for others, enjoyable overall though. I think they played 3 songs?
Isis - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 51mb - 36 minutes
The Weakerthans, a surprise highlight for the day, it was between seeing them or Alexisonfire so I went with the band that probably will never come back. Really stood out from the rest of the lineup playing what was basically indie pop, and they were hella fun.
Setlist
Bigfoot
Tournament of Hearts
Our Retired Explorer (Dines With Michel Foucault In Paris, 1961)
Benediction
Reconstruction Site
Aside
The Reasons
Left and Leaving
Plea from a Cat Named Virtute
(Manifest)
The Weakerthans - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 50mb - 35 minutes
For some reason, I only had to walk two stages over, but that took me some 20 minutes because Glassjaw/gLASSJAW/GlassJAw were already half way through their first song when I got there. Daryl Palumbo's voice is damn amazing and they played a tight set, I didn't recognise that many songs though so I found myself a bit lost at points. You always hear stories about Daryl being a wanker and such but god damn, he was a douche on stage at this show. He also had all sorts of cuts all over his body. His voice was spot on though, a great set. Sound is a bit jumpy at the start as I'm still walking towards the stage.
Setlist
Tip Your Bartender
All Good Junkies Go to Heaven
Mu Empire
Ape Dos Mil
Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
Jesus Glue
Pink Roses
Two Tabs of Mescaline
Siberian Kiss
Glassjaw - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 66mb - 46 minutes
Now I went to the mainstage to tape Placebo for a friend as nothing else was on and Paramore were still playing, so I thought it'd be funny to record That's What You Get and upload that, turns out it was only the third song of the set and I got to see all of it. tbh I've always thought Paramore write catchy singles but they were damn good live. I quite enjoyed it and Hayley Williams is like an energiser bunny.
Setlist
That's What You Get
Looking Up
Careful
Let the Flames
Pressure
Decode
Misery Business
Brick by Boring Brick
Paramore - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 51mb - 36 minutes
Another reason I bought a ticket to this was The Get Up Kids. Best crowd of the day, everyone was so into it, and they were loving it. I had always heard stories of them being crappy live and what not but they went alright. I forgot to do a setlist for these guys, later.
Setlist
Holiday
I'm a Loner Dottie, A Rebel
Coming Clean
The One You Want
Woodson
Red Letter Day
Stay Gone
Close to Me (The Cure)
Action and Action
Don't Hate Me
Ten Minutes
The Get Up Kids - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 56mb - 39 minutes
Due to the maintsage being an hour late, I ended up being able to see AFI as well. I'm walking into the D Barrier as Kill Caustic starts, I don't know what they played before then. But simple truth is, AFI have moved on and I haven't, this almost killed my inner-early-teenager. Though I did still enjoy hearing the Sing the Sorrow songs for a nostalgia trip, but the only time they went further back then that was for Love Is a Many Splendoured Thing. Oh well, they've got a shitload of fans now so it's working for them.
Setlist
Kill Caustic
Crash Love Song
Love is a Many Splendoured Thing
Crash Love Song
Dancing Through Sunday
The Missing Frame
Death of Seasons
Silver and Cold
Crash Love Song
Love Like Winter
Miss Murder
AFI - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 58mb - 39 minutes
Jane's Addiction had their moments. I think people are taking them a bit too seriously, take it for what they are, a bunch of ex-junkie rockstars being ex-junkie rockstars, and it's a bit of fun. Perry pretended to have a three way with some dancers, he rolled around on the floor proclaiming himself a role model and never once looked at or acknowledged the presence of Eric Avery, but you know, this set was rock and roll. I've seen reunions where certain members aren't "into it" but Eric Avery looked downright pissed off to be playing.
Setlist
Up the Beach
Mountain Song
Had a Dad
Three Days
Whores
Been Caught Stealing
Then She Did...
Ocean Size
Ted, Just Admit It...
Stop!
Jane Says
Jane's Addiction - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 95mb - 1 hour 7 minutes
I was extremely pleased when Jimmy Eat World were added at the last minute, and something seemed right about this set, something was clicking between them because what I saw is not what I ever hear about in reviews of Jimmy Eat World shows. It was fucking amazing. The set list was pretty damn great sing-a-long funtimes and the crowd were really enthusiastic. One of the best sets I've seen.
Setlist
Sweetness
A Praise Chorus
Let it Happen
Always Be
Lucky Denver Mint
23
Get it Faster
No Sensitivity
Work
The Authority Song
Futures
Big Casino
Blister
Hear You Me
Bleed American
Pain
The Middle
Jimmy Eat World - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 98mb - 1 hour 9 minutes
And then I went home. Don't email me about Faith No More.
First up and the criminally early time for one of the best bands ever was Sunny Day Real Estate. I never really consider it much but their set was truly ruined by being on so early in the day, they played perfectly and they were all pretty stoked to be playing but by half way through the day I had completely forgotten they'd even played, and they were the primary reason I had gone. But lucky I taped it because it's amazing.
Setlist
Song About an Angel
Seven
Theo B
48
Iscarabaid
J'Nuh
In Circles
Sometimes
Sunny Day Real Estate - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 63mb - 43 minutes
Saw Isis next as nothing else much was on, they had me pretty enthralled for moments and completely bored for others, enjoyable overall though. I think they played 3 songs?
Isis - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 51mb - 36 minutes
The Weakerthans, a surprise highlight for the day, it was between seeing them or Alexisonfire so I went with the band that probably will never come back. Really stood out from the rest of the lineup playing what was basically indie pop, and they were hella fun.
Setlist
Bigfoot
Tournament of Hearts
Our Retired Explorer (Dines With Michel Foucault In Paris, 1961)
Benediction
Reconstruction Site
Aside
The Reasons
Left and Leaving
Plea from a Cat Named Virtute
(Manifest)
The Weakerthans - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 50mb - 35 minutes
For some reason, I only had to walk two stages over, but that took me some 20 minutes because Glassjaw/gLASSJAW/GlassJAw were already half way through their first song when I got there. Daryl Palumbo's voice is damn amazing and they played a tight set, I didn't recognise that many songs though so I found myself a bit lost at points. You always hear stories about Daryl being a wanker and such but god damn, he was a douche on stage at this show. He also had all sorts of cuts all over his body. His voice was spot on though, a great set. Sound is a bit jumpy at the start as I'm still walking towards the stage.
Setlist
Tip Your Bartender
All Good Junkies Go to Heaven
Mu Empire
Ape Dos Mil
Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
Jesus Glue
Pink Roses
Two Tabs of Mescaline
Siberian Kiss
Glassjaw - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 66mb - 46 minutes
Now I went to the mainstage to tape Placebo for a friend as nothing else was on and Paramore were still playing, so I thought it'd be funny to record That's What You Get and upload that, turns out it was only the third song of the set and I got to see all of it. tbh I've always thought Paramore write catchy singles but they were damn good live. I quite enjoyed it and Hayley Williams is like an energiser bunny.
Setlist
That's What You Get
Looking Up
Careful
Let the Flames
Pressure
Decode
Misery Business
Brick by Boring Brick
Paramore - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 51mb - 36 minutes
Another reason I bought a ticket to this was The Get Up Kids. Best crowd of the day, everyone was so into it, and they were loving it. I had always heard stories of them being crappy live and what not but they went alright. I forgot to do a setlist for these guys, later.
Setlist
Holiday
I'm a Loner Dottie, A Rebel
Coming Clean
The One You Want
Woodson
Red Letter Day
Stay Gone
Close to Me (The Cure)
Action and Action
Don't Hate Me
Ten Minutes
The Get Up Kids - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 56mb - 39 minutes
Due to the maintsage being an hour late, I ended up being able to see AFI as well. I'm walking into the D Barrier as Kill Caustic starts, I don't know what they played before then. But simple truth is, AFI have moved on and I haven't, this almost killed my inner-early-teenager. Though I did still enjoy hearing the Sing the Sorrow songs for a nostalgia trip, but the only time they went further back then that was for Love Is a Many Splendoured Thing. Oh well, they've got a shitload of fans now so it's working for them.
Setlist
Kill Caustic
Crash Love Song
Love is a Many Splendoured Thing
Crash Love Song
Dancing Through Sunday
The Missing Frame
Death of Seasons
Silver and Cold
Crash Love Song
Love Like Winter
Miss Murder
AFI - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 58mb - 39 minutes
Jane's Addiction had their moments. I think people are taking them a bit too seriously, take it for what they are, a bunch of ex-junkie rockstars being ex-junkie rockstars, and it's a bit of fun. Perry pretended to have a three way with some dancers, he rolled around on the floor proclaiming himself a role model and never once looked at or acknowledged the presence of Eric Avery, but you know, this set was rock and roll. I've seen reunions where certain members aren't "into it" but Eric Avery looked downright pissed off to be playing.
Setlist
Up the Beach
Mountain Song
Had a Dad
Three Days
Whores
Been Caught Stealing
Then She Did...
Ocean Size
Ted, Just Admit It...
Stop!
Jane Says
Jane's Addiction - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 95mb - 1 hour 7 minutes
I was extremely pleased when Jimmy Eat World were added at the last minute, and something seemed right about this set, something was clicking between them because what I saw is not what I ever hear about in reviews of Jimmy Eat World shows. It was fucking amazing. The set list was pretty damn great sing-a-long funtimes and the crowd were really enthusiastic. One of the best sets I've seen.
Setlist
Sweetness
A Praise Chorus
Let it Happen
Always Be
Lucky Denver Mint
23
Get it Faster
No Sensitivity
Work
The Authority Song
Futures
Big Casino
Blister
Hear You Me
Bleed American
Pain
The Middle
Jimmy Eat World - Soundwave, Sydney, 21/02/2010 - 98mb - 1 hour 9 minutes
And then I went home. Don't email me about Faith No More.
Ghosts of Television last ever show
Supported by Dominic Talarico.
Arrived pretty late as I was at Yo La Tengo, so I missed Dominic.
Final show for Australia's best band? They did it perfectly. This show was fucking perfect. Not a single flaw, no better way to go out than the way Ghosts of Television did. Good to hear Know Weather for once as well.
Setlist
Hezbollah
New Flesh
Arhritis
Topsoil
Know Weather
Empty Thrones
Coelacanth
Juicy (Biggie)
Explosions
Buzzrd
Ghosts of Television - Gallery Bar, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 63mb - 43 minutes
Arrived pretty late as I was at Yo La Tengo, so I missed Dominic.
Final show for Australia's best band? They did it perfectly. This show was fucking perfect. Not a single flaw, no better way to go out than the way Ghosts of Television did. Good to hear Know Weather for once as well.
Setlist
Hezbollah
New Flesh
Arhritis
Topsoil
Know Weather
Empty Thrones
Coelacanth
Juicy (Biggie)
Explosions
Buzzrd
Ghosts of Television - Gallery Bar, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 63mb - 43 minutes
Yo La Tengo
Supported by Songs.
Haven't seen Songs in a while, they were solid as.
Songs - Metro Theatre, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 60mb - 42 minutes
Yo La Tengo were very different from the night before, begins to drag on in the middle but apart from that, a pretty good show. The ending is hilarious. Too bad they were totally blown out of my memory by Ghosts of Television who I saw afterwards. If someone help me with a setlist would be much appreciated.
Yo La Tengo - Metro Theatre, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 161mb - 1 hour 55 minutes
Haven't seen Songs in a while, they were solid as.
Songs - Metro Theatre, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 60mb - 42 minutes
Yo La Tengo were very different from the night before, begins to drag on in the middle but apart from that, a pretty good show. The ending is hilarious. Too bad they were totally blown out of my memory by Ghosts of Television who I saw afterwards. If someone help me with a setlist would be much appreciated.
Yo La Tengo - Metro Theatre, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 161mb - 1 hour 55 minutes
Monday, February 22, 2010
Freewheelin' with Yo La Tengo
Supported by The Twerps. Seen them once before at Repressed Records (Was overseas when they came up the time before that) but didn't record them then. This time was an acoustic set and it came off pretty well, so enjoy.
The Twerps - The Basement, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 49mb - 33 minutes
Freewheelin' with Yo La Tengo? I wasn't quite sure how this would pan out but it turned out to be great, the questions were awesome, they have a lot of history and are great talkers. The Story of Yo La Tango was the highlight for me. There's quite a bit of phone interference in this so that's annoying, also you can't really hear the questions but you can infer what was asked.
Setlist
Big Day Coming
Nothing to Hide
Sugarcube
Nuclear War (Sun Ra)
The Story of Yo La Tango
Let's Save Tony Orlando's House
Drug Test
Government Centre (Modern Lovers)
How She Boogalooed It (Beach Boys)
Cherry Chapstick
Blue Line Swinger
Here to Fall
Mr. Tough
Encore
Autumn Sweater
Dreaming
Yo La Tengo - The Basement, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 162mb - 1 hour 57 minutes
The Twerps - The Basement, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 49mb - 33 minutes
Freewheelin' with Yo La Tengo? I wasn't quite sure how this would pan out but it turned out to be great, the questions were awesome, they have a lot of history and are great talkers. The Story of Yo La Tango was the highlight for me. There's quite a bit of phone interference in this so that's annoying, also you can't really hear the questions but you can infer what was asked.
Setlist
Big Day Coming
Nothing to Hide
Sugarcube
Nuclear War (Sun Ra)
The Story of Yo La Tango
Let's Save Tony Orlando's House
Drug Test
Government Centre (Modern Lovers)
How She Boogalooed It (Beach Boys)
Cherry Chapstick
Blue Line Swinger
Here to Fall
Mr. Tough
Encore
Autumn Sweater
Dreaming
Yo La Tengo - The Basement, Sydney, 18/02/2010 - 162mb - 1 hour 57 minutes
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Dodos
I've had some pretty bad lucky recording the Dodos, I've seen them 3 times and they've all screwed up, so 4th time lucky. The show was pretty great, turned into a request fest by about the second song. They were also just so stoked to be here. That intro you hear at the start is the sound of a Vibraphone being played by 4 bows.
The Dodos - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 13/02/2010 - 122.3mb - 1 hour 25 minutes
The Dodos - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 13/02/2010 - 122.3mb - 1 hour 25 minutes
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Don't Look Back: Australia Day
Featuring Laughing Clowns and Dirty Three.
Laughing Clowns performed History of Rock n' Roll Part 1, the first half was alright but the second half really picked up, started to really enjoy it then, but the mix is terrible. Can only hear half the drum kit and the bass is overpowering. I also cut out the intro because there was just crazy amounts of feedback during it.
Laughing Clowns - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 26/01/2010 - 85.4mb - 1 hour
Dirty Three performed Ocean Songs. Simply, this is going in my Top 5. I had always heard Dirty Three were good live but I was not prepared for this at all. Some of the most amazing shit I've ever seen. Listen for yourself.
Dirty Three - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 26/01/2009 - 139mb - 1 hour 39 minutes
Laughing Clowns performed History of Rock n' Roll Part 1, the first half was alright but the second half really picked up, started to really enjoy it then, but the mix is terrible. Can only hear half the drum kit and the bass is overpowering. I also cut out the intro because there was just crazy amounts of feedback during it.
Laughing Clowns - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 26/01/2010 - 85.4mb - 1 hour
Dirty Three performed Ocean Songs. Simply, this is going in my Top 5. I had always heard Dirty Three were good live but I was not prepared for this at all. Some of the most amazing shit I've ever seen. Listen for yourself.
Dirty Three - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 26/01/2009 - 139mb - 1 hour 39 minutes
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Joanna Newsome in Wollongong
Supported by Jens Lekman and Robert Forster.
I was seated in row F for the show really over to the side, so the mix isn't quite that even but I did what I could and it turned out alright. It was pretty hard to record as well considering the PA was quite low and every was incredibly loud between songs. Also I was sitting directly in front of the drums and not that far away from them so that had quite an effect.
I'm not allowed to records Jens Lekman but he was amazing and charming as all hell, probably my favourite set from the night. Argument With Myself is still genius.
Robert Forster was next and while he started off a bit slow, by the end I was really enjoying it. Played a song of Friends of Rachel Worth as well.
Robert Forster - Anita's Theatre, Wollongong, 23/01/2010 - 49mb - 35 minutes
Considering I only recognised only 3 or so songs in Joanna Newsom's set, she was completely captivating. Walked out hells impressed by her. New songs are damn fine, looking forward to the album.
Setlist
Jack Rabbits
Bridges and Balloons
Have One on Me
Ribbon Bows
California
Easy
Inflammatory Writ
Soft as Chalk
Autumn
No Provenance
Emily
Peach, Plum, Pear
Encore
Occident
Joanna Newsom - Anita's Theatre, Wollongong, 23/01/2010 - 149mb - 1 hour 49 minutes
I was seated in row F for the show really over to the side, so the mix isn't quite that even but I did what I could and it turned out alright. It was pretty hard to record as well considering the PA was quite low and every was incredibly loud between songs. Also I was sitting directly in front of the drums and not that far away from them so that had quite an effect.
I'm not allowed to records Jens Lekman but he was amazing and charming as all hell, probably my favourite set from the night. Argument With Myself is still genius.
Robert Forster was next and while he started off a bit slow, by the end I was really enjoying it. Played a song of Friends of Rachel Worth as well.
Robert Forster - Anita's Theatre, Wollongong, 23/01/2010 - 49mb - 35 minutes
Considering I only recognised only 3 or so songs in Joanna Newsom's set, she was completely captivating. Walked out hells impressed by her. New songs are damn fine, looking forward to the album.
Setlist
Jack Rabbits
Bridges and Balloons
Have One on Me
Ribbon Bows
California
Easy
Inflammatory Writ
Soft as Chalk
Autumn
No Provenance
Emily
Peach, Plum, Pear
Encore
Occident
Joanna Newsom - Anita's Theatre, Wollongong, 23/01/2010 - 149mb - 1 hour 49 minutes
Friday, January 15, 2010
Al Green in the Domain.
Part of Sydney Festival first night, was pretty special. Al Green playing before some ridiculous sized crowd (In the range of the hundred of thousands) that I raced to get to from the Annandale. He played a pretty short set and it was pretty quiet, but it was damn fine, he's still got it basically. The medley he does in the middle really got everyone going. I love free shit.
Setlist
Intro
L.O.V.E. (Love)
Let's Get Married
Lay It Down
Let's Stay Together
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
Take Me to the River
I Can't Help Myself >
My Girls >
I've Been Loving You Too Long >
If You Ever Change Your Mind >
Dock of the Bay >
You Are Everything
Tired of Being Alone
Love and Happiness
Al Green - Domain, Sydney, 01/01/2010 - 78.7mb - 54 minutes
Setlist
Intro
L.O.V.E. (Love)
Let's Get Married
Lay It Down
Let's Stay Together
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
Take Me to the River
I Can't Help Myself >
My Girls >
I've Been Loving You Too Long >
If You Ever Change Your Mind >
Dock of the Bay >
You Are Everything
Tired of Being Alone
Love and Happiness
Al Green - Domain, Sydney, 01/01/2010 - 78.7mb - 54 minutes
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Ghosts of Television at the Annandale Hotel
Supporting the Laurels and Love of Diagrams.
I only got time to see Ghosts of Television before I went off to go see Al Green play in the city. Worth it though, awesome awesome set, probably the best sound I've got of them.
Ghosts of Television - Annandale Hotel, Sydney, 09/01/2010 - 41.8mb - 29 minutes
I only got time to see Ghosts of Television before I went off to go see Al Green play in the city. Worth it though, awesome awesome set, probably the best sound I've got of them.
Ghosts of Television - Annandale Hotel, Sydney, 09/01/2010 - 41.8mb - 29 minutes
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Supported by Circle Pit.
Yes yes, I got evidence of the time Circle Pit played the Hordern but the guy I was with talked through most of it and the crowd were pretty much assholes (a common theme for the night) so I won't be putting it up though. Fuck what everyone else thinks because they were great as usual.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs were pretty good. The set list order pretty much made no sense and they didn't really play the songs I wanted to hear, but I can't really fault it, I was distracted most of the time by the douchebags in the crowd, don't care what anyone else says a bad crowd can ruin a show and ruin it easily. Also $80 for an hour and twenty minutes of music.
Setlist
Shake It
Phenomena
Heads Will Roll
Black Tongue
10x10
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Y Control
Skeletons
Soft Shock
Pin
Zero
Cheated Hearts
Encore
Maps
Art Star
Date With the Night
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, 08/01/2010 - 118mb - 1 hour 21 minutes
God damn it. I tagged this wrong, it's not 2009 anymore. You may want to correct that when you download it.
Yes yes, I got evidence of the time Circle Pit played the Hordern but the guy I was with talked through most of it and the crowd were pretty much assholes (a common theme for the night) so I won't be putting it up though. Fuck what everyone else thinks because they were great as usual.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs were pretty good. The set list order pretty much made no sense and they didn't really play the songs I wanted to hear, but I can't really fault it, I was distracted most of the time by the douchebags in the crowd, don't care what anyone else says a bad crowd can ruin a show and ruin it easily. Also $80 for an hour and twenty minutes of music.
Setlist
Shake It
Phenomena
Heads Will Roll
Black Tongue
10x10
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Y Control
Skeletons
Soft Shock
Pin
Zero
Cheated Hearts
Encore
Maps
Art Star
Date With the Night
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, 08/01/2010 - 118mb - 1 hour 21 minutes
God damn it. I tagged this wrong, it's not 2009 anymore. You may want to correct that when you download it.
King Khan and the Shrines
Supported by Royal Headache.
Royal Headache were awesome, but I've decided that I've been recording them too much and feel pretty bad for it. I got the show but I'm not gonna put it up, gonna keep it that way for a while. They finally got their 7" coming out "soon" on RIP Society. Get on that shit.
King Khan and the Shrines were beyond awesome. 10 piece band crammed on to the OAF stage, a cheerleader, tight as hell playing and just some damn fine songs. Ending the main set with Know Your Product pretty much ensured everyone would go mental. I recorded this from up on the balcony to see if it would make sound any better and I'd say the results are damn fine. So stoked on this show, better than most things I saw last year.
Setlist
Intro
(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way
Picking Up the Trash
Land of the Freak
Le Fils de Jacques Dutronc
Took My Lady to Dinner
Welfare Bread
Burnin Inside
I Wanna Be a Girl
Shivers Down My Spine
Stone Soup
Take a Trip
Know Your Product
Encore
Ghost Rider
No Regrets
Yes I Can't
Live Fast Die Strong
King Khan and the Shrines - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 06/01/2009 - 107mb - 1 hour 15 minutes
Royal Headache were awesome, but I've decided that I've been recording them too much and feel pretty bad for it. I got the show but I'm not gonna put it up, gonna keep it that way for a while. They finally got their 7" coming out "soon" on RIP Society. Get on that shit.
King Khan and the Shrines were beyond awesome. 10 piece band crammed on to the OAF stage, a cheerleader, tight as hell playing and just some damn fine songs. Ending the main set with Know Your Product pretty much ensured everyone would go mental. I recorded this from up on the balcony to see if it would make sound any better and I'd say the results are damn fine. So stoked on this show, better than most things I saw last year.
Setlist
Intro
(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way
Picking Up the Trash
Land of the Freak
Le Fils de Jacques Dutronc
Took My Lady to Dinner
Welfare Bread
Burnin Inside
I Wanna Be a Girl
Shivers Down My Spine
Stone Soup
Take a Trip
Know Your Product
Encore
Ghost Rider
No Regrets
Yes I Can't
Live Fast Die Strong
King Khan and the Shrines - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, 06/01/2009 - 107mb - 1 hour 15 minutes
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