Carlos Santone (Blue King Brown)

Welcome to the best awards ceremony of the year… it’s just a shame the weather wasn’t going to help proceedings.  The inaugural AIR Awards took place last night in Sydney at the beautiful Blacket Hotel (it’s hidden away so I never knew how great a hotel it is).  AIR is the Australian Independent Records Labels Association, and last night was organised to honour those Australian independent artists who had achieved so much in the past year.  It would have all been perfect had the weather not decided to change and catch everyone completely off-guard.  After sweltering in the Sydney heat for the past couple of days, the mercury dropped by about 10 degrees Celcius and a strong wind blew up as well – not helpful when the ceremony is held in an outside courtyard 9 storeys above the Sydney CBD.

Aside from the weather, everything else about this ceremony was fantastic.  It was a great crowd and I met some lovely people.  The food and drinks were top-notch – I ate my fair share of kebabs and drank quite a few beers.  Former Triple J and current Vega FM radio DJ Angela Catterns was the host of the awards and although she didn’t say a lot, she did a pretty good job.  It’s also the shortest awards ceremony I’ve been to – ever! I think all awards ceremonies should take a leaf out of AIR’s book!

We were also treated to some amazing live performances from Gotye and The Basics, two of Who The Bloody Hell Are They’s favourite bands (check out Jerry’s review of last week’s Gotye/The Basics Melbourne show here).  It was great to watch two quality acts in such a small venue.  Gotye was amazing as always, treating us to some songs off his album Like Drawing Blood during the middle of the awards. He was very relaxed and joked with the crowd.  He played solo most of the time (just Wally on the drums and a backing track) but was joined by members of The Basics for the final song of his four-song set. 

Once the awards were completed, The Basics, in all their 60s pop glory, entertained us with their catchy tunes, and they may well be the best dressed band in Australia.  I was hooked when they opened with ‘Rattle My Chain’; just a fantastic way to open a set.  I was worried that the small PA and high winds would have affected the sound, but there was no problem at all.  I got to meet Wally (aka Gotye) and Kris from The Basics, both of whom were fantastic guys.  For anyone heading to Homebake on Saturday, seeing both Gotye and The Basics is a must.

Congrats to all at AIR for putting such a great awards ceremony.  No doubt it will continue to grow over the years, but selfishly I hope it doesn’t because it works so beautifully on a small scale.  Anyway, here are the winners:

Best Performing Independent Album
Hilltop Hoods – The Hard Road

Best Performing Independent Single/EP
Blue King Brown – Blue King Brown

Independent Artist Of The Year
Hilltop Hoods

Most Outstanding New Independent Artist
Gotye

http://www.air.org.au
http://www.myspace.com/ozindies

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I’ve fallen in love lately with The Basics, a band featuring the drumming and singing talents of Wally de Backer, better known from the amazing Gotye project.  Now we at Who The Bloody Hell Are They love everything that invovles Mr de Backer and this song by The Basics is awesome.  It was recorded live at the Empress of India in Melbourne in August 2006.  It’s a great live recording and really showcases the live spirit this band possesses, as well as their immense talent.

Previous post: The Basics, Gotye & The Basics: Live

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photo by Sir Wheatley

Tranterco – ‘Midnight Juggernauts vs Spank Rock mash’ (mp3)

Crunking party machine DJ Tranterco treats us to one of his signature crowd pleasing mashes combining Spank Rock’s ‘Bump’ with Midnight Juggernauts’ ‘Shadows’. I see dancefloors get bent everytime he drops this one off so download it for your next party mix right now. Tranterco is a regular at the Streetparty nights in Melbourne each week but you can also catch him at the Girl Talk and Uffie shows in December.

www.myspace.com/jesuswearyourhairdown

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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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Days Like Stars – ‘Thunderstorm’

My band played a gig with these guys on Wednesday night at Sol’s Deck Bar, in Paddington, Sydney. I felt I had to make a post on Days Like Stars, because they are truly fantastic, and I want to do everything I can to let other people hear their stuff. A Sydney-based four-piece led by Billy Coleman and bass-player Tony Shane, the group first came to light in 2002 as finalists in the MusicOz Awards, a national band competition. Since then, they’ve released a number of EPs, the latest of which, Fight The Sunset, is a gorgeous piece of work. The Brag and Drum Media (free Sydney Street press) adore them, as do a number of TV producers, who have featured their tracks on sitcom episodes.

The Stars boys are like an ‘O.C Band’ on speed. They take all the best parts of indie/pop rock and throw it into the nu-millenium blender, coming out with something vastly original, yet entirely lyrics based. Apologies to those who think I’m a superlative-dropping wanker, but there’s really no way to decribe these guys unless you see them yourself. They seem to be playing 3 shows a week at the moment, so be sure to see them if you can. For all you overseas, if you like Death Cab for Cutie, The Thrills and (especially) The Shins, here is your Australian equivalent. Bring it.

http://www.dayslikestars.com/
http://www.myspace.com/dayslikestars 

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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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