Win tix to FBi, Modular + Goodgod parties @ VIVID

It’s that time of year when Sydney rolls out the giant projections and ocular spasms of joy, because VIVID 2012 kicks off tomorrow. We have a whole stash of double passes to parties and shows Modular, FBi Radio and Goodgod are putting on throughout the festival.

To win a double pass, swing an email to rsvp@whothehell.net with your contact details, show of choice and minor reasons/bribes as to why you deserve to get down with Donny, stroke Jonno Boulet’s beard et al.

UP FOR GRABS>>

____________________

Redspencer – ‘Happy Slow Riverbends’

Redspencer – ‘Happy Slow Riverbends’

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(mp3)

The only available jpeg of this these guys on the interwebs is slightly larger than a toenail clippping. But nevermind. This song makes me want to do good things to people, so I’ll stop crying over low-res and start the plead to this Gold Coast trio for more tunes.

www.facebook.com/pages/Redspencer

Mosman Alder Interview + Tour

These guys have been on our radar since Matt got on the Mosman Alder wagon early. The Brisbane 6 piece have been busy recording over the last few months at Airlock Studios in  Samford Valley with Sean Cook, Yanto Browning and Tony Espie on mixing duties. The guys are about to release their debut EP Burn Bright and are heading out on a string of tour dates – presented by yours truly.

I had a chat to Kat from the band about playing Splendour, the new EP and getting acquainted with secateurs for studio time.

How long have you guys been playing together?

We formed in January 2010 and instead of actually playing gigs straight away we tried to do a lot of writing to begin with. We tried to get some demos out there first but our first show was around August 2010.

You’re all playing Splendour again in Byron this year, but what was it like playing at Woodford for the first time last year?

We were the first band on the Sunday. I could never afford to go to Splendour so it was amazing. The vibe was great! Huge adrenaline rush. Playing in that amphitheater was just incredible.

It was intimidating, there’s massive foldback from the stage and I’m just not used to hearing myself that loud. But it was pretty amazing, it all happened very quickly!

Were you all in different bands before?

I moved to Brisbane in 2009 and before that I played in a folk rock band for a short amount of time on the Gold Coast. Jackson, Liam and Damo were also in a prog punk band together.

With Valdis reading Kafka and using ideas of mythology as an influences, was it instinctual for you all to follow that up with a moodier sound? Were you guys averse to making a lighter record with those themes?

No not at all. We never really thought of what direction we were taking it, it just happened.‘Raisin Heart’ was written when Valdis was travelling through Germany and reading Kafka and those kind of authors. We didn’t do anything purposely, it sort of just fell into place.

Is it chaotic trying to get everyone together, with six of you in the band?

It can be chaotic with communication between six of us, comprising between work schedules and such. The songwriting process can differ – it might be Valdis and Jackson having a skeleton of a song, then having the rest of the band piece it off. But there’s been other times where we’ve been jamming and we’ll just experiment and improvise.

I was reading in your presser that you guys were offered free studio time for yard work?

Yeah! Ian Haug’s been really wonderful to us and very helpful. So that’s what we did in exchange for studio time, a lot of gardening. We still need to do a little bit more I think, but yeah that was a really awesome deal and we didn’t think twice about it.

Apart from pulling out weeds, what was the most challenging thing about recording the EP?

We were trying to get the EP done in 15 days but it stemmed over a 6 month period.
It’s all a blur for me because it was so all over the place! There were a few months were we had to reschedule because of other people’s schedules and renovations happening at Airlock Studios. We wanted to release it last year but we’re really happy now that it’s finally coming out.

The clip for ‘Raisin Heart’ is quite cinematic…

We worked with Dylan Wiehahn, he was great. When you can see us performing in the video we went out to a lovely property and we were doing some shooting out there. But Dylan had to do another day of shooting and Jackson and Valdis went out to the Wivenhoe Dam. I think the guy who acting in the time lapse video spent about 10 hours in the water to get the right shot.

People have described your tunes as dark and brooding and I’m reading some of the titles on the EP – ‘Mr Pickney and the Beast’ and ‘Ice Queen’ etc. You all seem like a real serious bunch.

We’re serious when we need to be. But really, not at all.

‘Burn Bright’ is released May 25 through Dew Process/Universal. Catch the guys playing Splendour In The Grass 2012 or at one of the dates below:

Chela – ‘Plastic Gun’ Video

I’ve had a long standing affinity for this chick ever since The Gingers reached godess-like status in my sixteen year old mind. Chelsea Wheatley who used to front the band, came out with a few singles three years ago as ‘Bells’, but now goes under the moniker of Chela. Good news if you’re still hyping on Ladyhawke, although I’m enjoying that highland Wonka costuming for now. Chela also features on ‘Fifteen’ by LA producer Goldroom that’s been doing the rounds on the blog press recently. For those late on it, hear it below or grab it here as a free download.

Goldroom – Fifteen (ft Chela) by Goldroom

www.facebook.com/chelamusic

Bon Chat, Bon Rat – ‘Dust Proud’ Video

Many flashbacks here to childhood in surburbia sitting with my face pressed against the TV. Sydney director Alex Ryan created the distortions in this video for Bon Chat, Bon Rat by treating 16mm film and running it through a projector. Cool stuff.

soundcloud.com/bon-chat-bon-rat

bonchatbonrat.com

Jonti – ‘Nightshift In Waltz’ (RAJA Rearrangement)

Jonti - ‘Nightshift In Waltz’ (RAJA Rearrangement)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(mp3)

NY native RAJA recently put Jonti’s ‘Nightshift in Blue’ on the slow burner. This looser version plays out like an astral projection on a Sunday afternoon. Worth a listen.

soundcloud.com/lordraja

lordraja.tumblr.com

jontidanimals.tumblr.com

Citizen Sex – ‘Chronic of Narnia’ Video

SPOILER ALERT:

Curious Indian boy discovers golden ticket. Said ticket opens up magic portal. Instead of being greeted by Aslan, David Tennant (or the stuff you usually get when you walk through magic portals) – boy finds Melbourne four piece who refuse to put their shirts back on.

Sodapop EP is available on bandcamp.

citizensex.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/citizensex

*Also worth checking out some of the other great work done by the guys from Betty Wants In who made this clip.

Horror My Friend – ‘Leave Me Alone’

Horror My Friend - ‘Leave Me Alone’

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(mp3)

The Sunshine State may have earnt its fair share of cultural schtick in the international music press as the place for scuzz and house parties courtesy of DZ and Bleeding Knees Club, but don’t count on these guys from Adelaide to keep suburbia quiet for too long. This track has enough hooks for havoc potential and the right dose of vocal precociousness to make the kids go crazy. A heads up if you dig DZ or Children Collide’s earlier material.

The band’s EP Shivers and Spines is available on bandcamp.

horrormyfriend.bandcamp.com

Facebook

Flight Facilities – ‘With You ft. Grovesnor’ Video

You don’t really need to find much beyond ‘Crave You’ and ‘Foreign Language’ to hear that production pair Flight Facilities have bestowed some unforgivingly catchy tracks on us all.

Here’s the brand new clip for their track ‘With You’ which features Grovesnor aka. former Hot Chip member Rob Smoughton.

This clip took animator Ben Drake and his team four months to complete. I’m frankly over watching band vids with pretty chicks running through forests, so these Daft Punk/Astroboy vibes are so up on my radar right now.

Producer: Samuel Beck
Production Manager: Ben Huxter
Character Designs, Story and Directed: Benjamin Drake
Guest Animators: Alexis Dean-Jones & Xin Li
Compositors: Steven Smith & Xue Sen Wong
Special thanks: Liam Hockins & Seera Rytkölä

www.flightfacilities.com

www.facebook.com/flightfacilities

The Aussie BBQ @ SXSW 2012

Better…two months late than never. I’ve been absent from these parts because I’ve been busy doing important stuff, like eating beans for 60 days and getting mugged in rural Central America. Prior to dieting on mariachi and Mexican opera for a few months, I got along to the annual SXSW conference/festival in Austin, Texas.

I arrived at SXSW for the first time without an itinerary or a wristband for a week of music and merriment. College orientation shit really. I mean, all I had to do was dodge the kids in Goodwill sweaters handing out sample mixtapes and stomp through to the free kebabs and gigs right? Turns out 6th St was as easy as striding through a trojan warzone, with the addition of Willie Nelson clones riding over my feet with their god damn pedal tuks every two meters.

Everything is bigger in Texas, but Austin is just whack. Any fleeting hobby interest you might have had in people watching gets amplified here; everywhere is teeming with street performers, artists and their convoys, people in neon suits, morph suits, birthday suits, and unabashed locals flaunting rainbow tie dye tshirts with ‘KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD’ emblazoned across their chests. Finding some new obscure band that blows your brains isn’t difficult, as live music happens everywhere from 10am until the early hours of the morning.

While SXSW has a rep for being a goldmine for unsigned acts, I learnt that it WILL quickly turn into a wasteland of terrible free prog-rock gigs if you scribble down 3 out of the 48 free events you’ve RSVP-ed to on a piece of scrap paper that’s covered in boob-sweat. Yes, SXSW is do-able without a $750 pass, and yes, you still can bask in the glory of plenty of new bands, have lots of fun and consume superfluous amounts of free Doritos to your hearts content (see here), but stuff gets tricky when you queue for three hours, then end up climbing iron bars for a scenic view of the back of Doug Martsch’s head.

After a few days of plodding, I was welcomed into the arms of Maggie Mae’s on Saturday for the annual Aussie BBQ. Highlights included free food, familiar accents, chummy people in green attire (it was St Patrick’s Day) and resident Peter Pan aka Nick ‘Paisley Adams’ Allbrook of POND catapulting into the crowd and nearly taking out Brit TV host Alexa Chung’s glory box with his pan flute. Go ’straya.

Here’s some photos from the Aussie BBQ:

Alpine

Voltaire Twins

Pond

(click below for more photos)

… Continue Reading