photo by Mia Mala McDonald

Muscles – ‘One Inch Badge Pin’

While I’m unsure if early 90s grunge music is ever going to make a fashionable comeback, Muscles is beating everyone else to the trance revivalist movement. Full of layered synths and unconventionally sung harmonies Muscles’ odd singing voice works perfectly for this tune. I’ve heard a few people say this song is about indie music betrayal, but I hear it as a simple going-out-meet-a-girl-hang-out tune. I’ve seen him play twice now and thought he would work so great in a middle of packed club, maybe even with a live skeleton backing band ala Midnight Juggernauts/Presets. He’s got some great gigs coming up, including a not to be missed Girl Talk support in Sydney and Melbourne.

www.myspace.com/musclesmusic
musclesmusic.com

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Gotye – ‘learnalilgivinanlovin’

I think I have just seen the gig of the year. Big call I know, seeing that there’s a good month left to the year but this is as strong a candidate as any. I went to see Gotye at the sold out Prince of Wales Hotel, Melbourne, in not only his first headlining gig but his first gig with this band, ever. As previously written, Gotye is a genius producer from the beachside community of Mentone, Victoria who has put out a very strong contender for album of the year, his second solo effort Like Drawing Blood.

So how did he hold up with so much expectations? Gotye began walking out to the stage, with drums set front center stage, next to his keyboard/apple computer set up. Opening the proceedings by himself on drums backed on sequenced beats for ‘The Only Way’, Gotye battled through front-of-house vocal problems and emphasised the song with his skillful drumming instead. Just by instrumentation alone, he reminds me of a Phil Collins-esque wonderment of being able to sing and drum effortlessly at the same time. Two projection screens winged the stage, showing a montage of Aishwara Rai Bollywood films mixed non-descript segments of 70s track and field movies. I know that hardly makes sense but it all comes together when you see it.

By the third song Gotye has summoned his string quartet and launched into the call center revenge song of ‘Thanks For Your Time’. and from then went into the ballad of ‘Hearts A Mess’. Note by this time the crowd, consisting of Triple J fans and occasional gig goers alike have all decided to sing along to his lyrics, to the point where he couldn’t hear his own monitoring vox, leaving him with a wide grin for the rest of the night. It was amazing to see how an audience consisting of late 20s/early 30s Adult Contemporary music loving public has warmed and connected with the most DIY and underground artists in the country.

For a first gig Gotye has picked a perfect set list of 8-9 songs full of his crowd pleasers, including a few numbers from his first album. The closer was a ‘learnalilgivinanlovin’ a very Basics 60s stylised tune that shows the real strength in his voice. Admitting that this was probably his biggest song, everyone came out on stage, including members of The Basics, the quartet, and the two backup singers. This was really the climax of the show. And then it was over, with Gotye announcing that The Basics will be on in 15 minutes.

photo by Robert Grima

The Basics – ‘Rattle My Chain’ (mp3)

That’s right, The Basics came on after Gotye, at the premium timeslot of 12pm. This is just another way how Wally de Backer shows how loyal and thankful he is to the band that he’s played with for years, and allowed him to hone his stage performance skills. I’ve heard stories how different music managers and booking tried to sign him only to be met with the condition that whoever works with him must also sign The Basics. To get Gotye for a gig, you must get The Basics on the bill, just like how tonight was, just like how Homebake will be next week.

How did The Basics hold up to Gotye’s incredible set? Brilliantly. There’s two ways of looking at this: they are either the best suited up 60s boy band in the country, or they’re the best cover band of party tunes around. And I mean that in the best possible way. The Basics have played numerous gigs over the years but they have not been taken seriously until Gotye hit it big with his latest album. The band had a flying start with hits like ‘Rattle My Chain’ and ‘Just Hold On’ and then held the crowd’s atttention with a mix of covers, reworks and originals. However the real highlight of the band was in the encore, where they played killer back to back covers of The Police’s ‘Roxanne’ and Cream’s ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’. Gotye’s vocals on ‘Roxanne’ is just dead on unbelievable.

Gig of the year? Judge for yourself, catch both The Basics and Gotye Saturday 2 December at Homebake, Sydney.

Previous posts: Gotye, The Basics, Gotye: ‘Out Here In The Cold’ Clip, Gotye vs Faux Pas

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Architecture in Helsinki vs Busta Rhymes – ‘Do The Whirlwind Mash’

Everyone’s favourite marching-band-rock outfit has a new remix album out called We Died, They Remixed. The collection features reworked songs from their In Case We Die album getting the chop and mash treatment by some of their friends from around the world including the world’s hottest geek band of the moment Hot Chip. While this Busta mash featured here isn’t on the album, the guys and girls are celebrating their release by DJing on Friday 24th November at Section 8, Tattersals Lane, Melbourne. Doors at 6pm and entry is FREE!

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Macromantics – ‘Miss Macro’

One of the most talented performers stepping into the spotlight for the year is Melbourne based MC Romy Hoffman aka Macromantics. Her debut album Moments in Movement has received lots of love from reviewers and Triple J has blessed it with a J-award album of the year nomination and consistent airplay. Produced by Sydney based Tony Buchen of the Baggsmen, her songs are dominated by tongue twisting word chains and her rapping focussed on speedy delivery with a very distinct Macromantics accent. It’s this accent that sets her apart from fellow Aussie hip hop contemporaries, and could potentially make her the first Australian hip hop artist to make serious grounds in the USA.

Soon after the album was released she announced her signing to superb American indie label Kill Rock Stars, home to Sleater Kinney, The Gossip, Deerhoof and Bikini Kill to list a few. I’ve seen her performed three times, and I admit it was hard to get her songs without listening to the album first. On Saturday she stole the stage as support for the rather underwhelming labelmate Erase Errata. As a solo performer backed by an almost invisible DJ Macromantics has an enormous amount of energy and stage presence. She exudes great confidence and harbours charisma that is hard to pinpoint why but will hold your attention right to the end.

www.myspace.com/macromantics
http://www.macromantics.com/

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With all the blog loving that these guys are getting, do we really need another entry? You bet! This tube shows the boys getting creative to kill the boredom on the road. A hilarious amateur reenactment the boys shot while en route to Lorne for the Victorian leg of the annual Falls Festival. Shot at the famous Bells Beach where the last scene of the movie was set.

Previous posts: Dappled Cities Fly: Live, Dappled Cities Fly: ‘Within Hours’

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photo by Angelo Soulas

Belinda Emmett – ‘Less Than Perfect’ (mp3)

To those not familiar with the name, Belinda Emmett was an ex Home and Away soapie actress/singer who recently passed away, losing a tabloid covered battle against cancer. She was Rove McManus‘s wife, host to the popular talk show on free to air TV channel 10. Her family recently released an mp3 of a recording meant to be part of her solo album which she never finished. The Age described it as a ‘heart wrenching ballad’. While circumstance and a media love-in drew me to the song more than its musical merit, I find it interesting that her family decided to publish the song online as a free download. Did they do it to share their grief with the masses of tabloid readers and Rove fans? Do people do that nowadays, when a family member passes? Put out mp3s on the net instead of just playing sad songs in funerals? The last funeral I went to a few years back was for a friend whose band I was involved with, he also lost his fight to cancer at 25 years old. The remaining band members sang him a song in the church. They didn’t record and put out an mp3 online. Would it have made anyone better if they did?

Belinda Emmett – Wikipedia 

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Temper Trap – ‘My Sun’

Ok so after 5 weeks in Melbourne I finally have broadband, a working computer and time to blog again. It has been frustratingly slow to resettle in Australia’s 2nd biggest city, but I’ve used that time to get out and familiarise myself with the local scene. In Sydney every second person I meet is a DJ, but here in M-town, everyone is in a band. Which is good in a way, but also means that there are a lot of shit art school bands playing around the numerous venues.

Fortunately I’ve found a few gems. One band of Melbournites that stand out from the cacophony are the Temper Trap boys. They used to call themselves Temper Temper but apparently there’s a few other bands in the world with the same idea. A few weeks ago I met Dougy the singer while hanging out at St. Jerome’s laneway bar, home to the annual Laneway Festival, a very indie, small capacity gathering that tops at 2500 capacity in 3 cities next year in early 2007. Turns out he’s from Bali. Doug has a voice that cuts through any given room. They very recently put out an EP on Liberation Records and are playing some shows around town. They will be in Sydney this Saturday playing at Spectrum with Triple J Unearthed winners Young & Restless. Catch them yo.

http://www.myspace.com/thetempertrap

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