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.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Friday, 9 July 2010
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/
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/
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.
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.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Music-centric Britain and The Great Escape
One thing that has baffled me a little since I arrived in the fine isles of Britain is the amount of people I come across who are just not familiar with not only Australian alternative bands, but also their American counterparts. I guess one of the things about having your own rich musical history, its that you just never feel the need to look for something different somewhere else.
Here we are supposedly entering an age where people are supposed to become more globally aware and less eurocentric in their thinking, with the rise of the internet world making things only more accesible to everyone on a wider scale. Yet so many people seem caught up in old assumptions about other worlds, that are only a place ride away.
I guess in Australia we're lucky like that (no it's not just the ever present sunshine), we embrace big bands in different genre's from Britain, America and all over the world. This might be you could say, because we have such an underdeveloped and 'backward' music industry. But this is much much farther from the truth than most think. Has anyone ever considered the fact that maybe Kylie Minogue didn't do that well in Australia, so we shipped her over to Britain? I for one know that her sister Danni Minogue is 20 times more British than she was ever Australian. We have (just like our wine) kept the best varieties on home soil.
If I could set out to do anything by explaining this, it would be to prove that no - we are not all a bunch of acoustic guitar, country music playing bumpkins. That we have a thriving electro pop music scene ourselves (see http://www.myspace.com/cutcopy), as well as an alternative music station played nation wide which rivals Radio 6, in that it actually caters for everyone in the alternative sense, not just the one genre as well as celebrating young and upcoming artists (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/).
The Great Escape is coming up this weekend in Brighton, which has partnered up this year with Australian music organisation Sounds Australia (http://www.escapegreat.com/festival/newsdetails/display.rails?id=182) and will be showcasing the best of upcoming Australian music at the festival. This will be a great opportunity to drag my friends along to witness the incredible talents of such artists as Paul Dempsey, Eskimo Joe and the Ruby Suns from our lovely neighbour New Zealand (well, they're practically Australian).
This festival is always an opportunity for bands to get some exposure in another country whether they are big back home or not, we wanna hear it!
Here we are supposedly entering an age where people are supposed to become more globally aware and less eurocentric in their thinking, with the rise of the internet world making things only more accesible to everyone on a wider scale. Yet so many people seem caught up in old assumptions about other worlds, that are only a place ride away.
I guess in Australia we're lucky like that (no it's not just the ever present sunshine), we embrace big bands in different genre's from Britain, America and all over the world. This might be you could say, because we have such an underdeveloped and 'backward' music industry. But this is much much farther from the truth than most think. Has anyone ever considered the fact that maybe Kylie Minogue didn't do that well in Australia, so we shipped her over to Britain? I for one know that her sister Danni Minogue is 20 times more British than she was ever Australian. We have (just like our wine) kept the best varieties on home soil.
If I could set out to do anything by explaining this, it would be to prove that no - we are not all a bunch of acoustic guitar, country music playing bumpkins. That we have a thriving electro pop music scene ourselves (see http://www.myspace.com/cutcopy), as well as an alternative music station played nation wide which rivals Radio 6, in that it actually caters for everyone in the alternative sense, not just the one genre as well as celebrating young and upcoming artists (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/).
The Great Escape is coming up this weekend in Brighton, which has partnered up this year with Australian music organisation Sounds Australia (http://www.escapegreat.com/festival/newsdetails/display.rails?id=182) and will be showcasing the best of upcoming Australian music at the festival. This will be a great opportunity to drag my friends along to witness the incredible talents of such artists as Paul Dempsey, Eskimo Joe and the Ruby Suns from our lovely neighbour New Zealand (well, they're practically Australian).
This festival is always an opportunity for bands to get some exposure in another country whether they are big back home or not, we wanna hear it!
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