Dream pop your ass'

What I've been hooked on these last two weeks...




love the use of Thurstons Moore's words in this...



and well I just can't stop listening to this...




x

Soft, subtle, magnific...

Released earlier this year, this cover of the late great Alex Chilton's by Indie Swedish singer Kendal Johansson is hauntingly moving and perfectly poignant. A stunning tribute to Big Star's front man and my new favourite song...



This caught my ear on a recent episode of Gossip Girl, I only wish I'd heard about it sooner!

Nostalgia for the days of old

A track from one of my playlists started playing the other night whilst my friend was visiting from London and he commented that it 'sounds like Morrisey, who is this?'. To his surprise I revealed that it was in fact a band that was around at a similar time in Australia. Yes, it was the Go Betweens.

So today I've spent the day looking back at videos and songs from that era that we Aussies did so well out of - yet no one probably realised it was us...please indulge in the below for your listening pleasure.

R.I.P Grant McLennan.

Jens on repeat

'A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill' - Jens Lekman

Nothing makes you more happy than a song sung by Jens. Another artist that graces the playlist at work - I'm still trying to explain to interested customers how to pronounce his name and the place he hails from 'Gotheburg' (although he moved to Melbourne in 2008). If you haven't already listened to Mr Lekman, you clearly haven't done your Swede-based homework. There are few songs that capture the essence of summer (and a Swedish version of summer at that). But Jens manages to do so with his campfire style sing-alongs along with toe-tapping trumpet, sax and the group singing 'Bompa -bompa bomp' ('can you hear the beat of my heart'). This song is all about reminiscing and will literally make it impossible for you not to want to dance. As many people say, with Jens, his songs make everything fun. Seeing him live back in 2008 in lil' ol' Adelaide was probably one of the most joyous evenings I'll ever have, and gazing at the lovely swedish cheek bones on smiling faces just made it infinitely more enjoyable.

I once had a conversation with my Mum about contemporary music and the bands I listen to. For someone from her era I would say she has good taste (I was brought up on Lou Reed, Ian Dury, The Band, Nirvana, Jeff and Tim Buckley, Joplin, Bowie, Young and the Stones). She was saying how very depressing and boring music had become, how our generation was never going to have the great musicians they had. I guess I could agree somewhat, but I like to think there are still a lot of happy bands out there. If only people would stop making break-up albums, then maybe the music world would be a much happier place. But no, there will always be 'fragile' artists that cry at the drop of a hat and find beauty in plastic bags floating in the street (ha...ha), and there will always be heartbreakers, and homewreckers.

I played her Jens Lekman's 'Night falls over Kortedala' album and suddenly she said "Oh, well who's this then? Is he old?"

So please Jens, more happy, silly sounds.

He plays Union Chapel in London on Tuesday 3rd of August.




Also...here is a lovely cover of 'You can call me Al'

Cloud Control

It all started with making a cd for work. Now the staff at England at Home would have to be exposed to my idea of the feel good summer cd.

This cd just happened to have a song on it called 'Gold Canary' by Cloud Control, a lovely little four piece hailing from the Blue Mountains near Sydney. I am forever in a quest to prove to the masses in the UK that yes, in fact we can produce amazing artists, and no they don't all sound like Rolf Harris and sing about bush tucker and budgie smugglers.

But bands like Cloud Control make that job a whole lot easier by just being amazing.





I challenge you to get this tune out of your head.

So Cloud Control is the Australian band of the week. Or month. However long it takes for the song to get annoying. I've listened to it everyday at work about 20 times for the past couple of weeks and still feel the need to press repeat...

Also worth a look in on youtube is the video for 'Into the Line' which is more psychedelic (the singer has amazing hair in this video), the live video for Buffalo Country where they play in a square in Sydney at 9:30am, and the song Vintage Books.

See Cloud Control (along with all those I've coaxed into loving them) at The Hope (there is a venue change from the Freebutt) on Tuesday 20th July and for those in London at The Luminaire on the 22nd of July.

It's a whirlwind UK tour with only two other shows in Cambridge, then back to Australia in time for a gig at the Corner Hotel In Melbourne with The Magic Numbers.

With similarities drawn with bands like Vampire Weekend, The Shins and The Beachboys, and an attractive front man (apparently the girl in the band is his sister - my excited friend Tiffany pointed out), hopefully they'll come back over here again and stay a bit longer next time...


http://www.myspace.com/cloudcontrol

http://www.redhotvelvet.co.uk/music-news/cloud-control-gigs/

Foucaultious

Seriously, if I see another distressed copy of a penguin classic (most likely the History of Sexuality) 'casually' stuffed in the back pocket of an indie kid (there needs to be a more inclusive word for it these days: Foucaultious?) whilst they're struggling to do their poor excuse for a weekly shop at Tescos I might just have to walk right over there and demand "Have you actually read this book?!"

Okay so there is more than one university in Brighton and subsequently several arts based degrees in this city, so maybe I am living in artsy try hard hell.

But please. If someone tries to discuss Existentialism and Foucault with me in any social beer based situation whatsoever. I may just have to...well...

Move back to Adelaide.

Virginal attempts to get your attention

I have this friend you see, his name is Greg. I used to know someone called Greg back in High School. I think he had a band after school that did quite well back in Adelaide for a while. He invited me to a gig when I saw him out at a gig one night. I didn't show because I was busy. He sent me a message afterwards and expressed how disappointed he was but with swear words.

My other friend Greg hails from somewhere closer to Brighton UK, than Brighton Aus, and he doesn't cuss much (I don't think). He's also my friend Hannah's boyfriend. Hannah's one of the smarter people I know and if she's dated him for so long - he must be pretty smart too.

Greg is also an editor of Virgin.com. You may have heard of it yes?!

Okay, so Greg is at the tender age of 23 and already he has been headhunted (I can only hope that one day someone will headhunt me for something even remotely cool).

He's worked very hard to get where he is, and most of us being in our 20's will know exactly what I'm talking about. You don't get anywhere without a little blood, sweat and tears.

Let's give him a helping hand and check out the Virgin.com website. His interview with Johnny Flynn is my favourite (but as my Mum says, even I can't even resist his lovely face).

http://www.virgin.com/music/red-room/johnny-flynn-interview-been-listening

Hannah might like to argue that Greg also has a beautiful face (and yes it is lovely my dear), but Johnny's is pretty damn fine too.

So two pretty faces for one people!

(Oh and the music is pretty fanstastic too - 'Barnacled Warship' is my favourite)

You know when someone asks you a favour, just a few minutes of your time?

This is that moment.

If you could join up on the Virgin.com website and get commenting it would be just so nice of you.

If you could do it every other day it would be super nice of you.

Just think - you are doing something nice for a friend of a friend and hey - you might just discover a new band or a catchy song to listen to incessantly on your ipod/ipad/crazy new age machine.

It's a tough world out there, and if I've learnt anything from moving to Brighton, it's that nothing happens on its own.

You need mates. You also need web traffic.