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

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

photo by Sir Wheatley

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

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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

photo by Mia Mala McDonald

Muscles - ‘One Inch Badge Pin’

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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

Days Like Stars - ’Thunderstorm’

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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 

Gotye - ‘learnalilgivinanlovin’

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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)

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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

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

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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!

photo by Marcus Flack

Justin Grounds - ‘Cathedral Bells’ (mp3)

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So, there’s been some whiplash from The White Room post, and I’ve learnt my lesson about overhyping bands. Sort of. In the spirit of fair blogging, I’ve signed up to Superlatives Anonymous to get help. To pass the time between meetings, I’m going post on someone else I think deserves a mention; who ISN’T from Sydney, but Jerry’s new hometown of Melbourne.

I discovered Justin Grounds during one of those typical 3-am-too-drunk-to-sleep-myspace-trawling evenings, and I’ve been hooked for a while. I guess I’m just a bit disillusioned with the whole spiky-indie-retro thing going on at the moment and finding someone who just writes proper songs is a breath of fresh air. And it’s also cool because it doesn’t lean towards that uber-popular brand of alt-folk that only very talented guys like Ryan Adams can pull off. Simply put, it’s a nice white boy crying his heart out - and there’s always room for more of them, if they’re good enough. This guy is going to be slapped with some rampant comparisons to fellow lost souls Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley. His voice leans more towards the latter, and he’s also got some serious proficiency on the guitar. And there’s some whacked out hippie lyrics happening, which is rad ‘cos you can start hypothesisng about whether Justin had his heart broken by some vegetarian mystic named Moonbeam. Pretty much, it’s chilled music for the soul. Nuff said, go have a listen.

http://www.justingrounds.com/
http://www.myspace.com/justingrounds

The Suitable Few - ‘The Fringe Of Society’

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When something becomes extremely massive, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes the subject of parody.  Enter The Suitable Few and their song ‘The Fringe of Society’.

They’re not exactly hip-hop, but they’re not exactly rock, and they’re sure as hell not rap-metal or nü-metal or any of those late 90s alternative disaster scenes.  This Sydney five piece have been kicking around for a few years creating their own special brand of live hip-hop.  They released a self-titled EP in 2004 which contained a lot of live favourites, but didn’t properly capture their great on-stage energy.  It’s been their live set that has propelled The Suitable Few up the social music ladder, especially their ‘Topic Jams’ - improvised songs where MCs Adikkal and Balistik freestyle about topics suggested by the audience.  It’s so simple, but its brilliance lies in its simplicity, and the audience responds so well to them.  The fun nature of The Suitable Few is infectious, and you can’t help but smile and dance along to their tunes.  They’ve supported some of the biggest names in the local Aussie hip hop scene such as The Herd, Downsyde and Fast Crew but also more rock-oriented acts such as 28 Days and Spiderbait. 

And that’s where ‘The Fringe of Society’ comes in, The Suitable Few’s brand new song off their as-yet untitled EP, due for release in 2007.  This song is hilarious and takes a shot at the ultra-serious emo scene.  It was only a matter of time before someone did an emo parody, and thank God it was these guys because they do it so well.  Live, this song is even funnier because often the emo kids don’t think it’s a parody! There’s also a great filmclip to accompany this song, which can be viewed at the band’s website.

http://www.myspace.com/thesuitablefew

Macromantics - ‘Miss Macro’

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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/

The Instant - ‘Fight The Valentine’

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I was complaining not too long ago about the lack of instrumental rock (or dare I say, ‘post rock’) bands coming out of Australia. Then out of nowhere, all these awesome instrumental bands have started appearing, many of which I’ll blog about in the near future, but at the moment a band that’s pushing all the right buttons for me is The Instant, a four piece out of Newcastle, NSW.

I don’t know much about these guys, and their bio doesn’t help either: “The Instant are the bastard offspring of experimental tunings, savage precise drums and a mining town filled with minimal and spacious industrial sounds that echo throughout their debut album Notes And Errata.” Said album is a beauty I must say, and it was The Brag’s Indie Album of the Week in last week’s mag. It brings to mind the angular guitars of early 90s acts such as Sonic Youth and bands of that ilk, but it’s instrumental and the lack of vocals is by no means a noticeable omission. In fact, it’s the singer-less nature of the music that makes it so endearing and so emotional.

I’ve heard that these guys are only around 17 years old - I don’t know if that’s true or not, maybe they’ll drop by and correct me, but if it is then they’re doing an awesome job for a band so young, and I can’t wait to see what else they’ve got coming up.

http://www.theinstant.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/theinstantmusic

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’

photo by Angelo Soulas

Belinda Emmett - ‘Less Than Perfect’ (mp3)

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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 

Temper Trap - ‘My Sun’

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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

Bushido - ‘Romeo’

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With no blogs from me in quite a while, I’ve got a backlog of artists to write about. But since I couldn’t decide who to blog on, I just picked up the first CD in the pile.  And that’s how we’ve all arrived at Melbourne three piece Bushido.

*Edit - so previously I had written that Bushido’s account had kept being deleted by the MySpace hierarchy, which it had.  But I’m happy to say that’s it been reinstated and all the issues have been cleared up.  Check out Bushido’s MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/bushidomusic and you can read about the whole situation.  Anyway, back to your normal blog reading…

But Bushido have been kicking around for a few years, playing some major Aussie festivals including the inaugural Pyramid Rock Festival and supporting the likes of Cog and Karnivool.  And it’s no surprise really - these guys are riff masters and pull the shit off live as well with precision.  I’ve only managed to catch them live once and they definitely got the room moving with the grooving tunes.

Their debut EP Last Breath is completely sold out, but their brand new EP Mercina is available from Rare Records.  They’re not creating earth-shattering original music, but it’s groovy as hell and if you’re a fan of heavy music like I am, Bushido are following the right path.

http://www.bushidomusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bushidomusic

The White Room - ‘Enemies Closer’

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The White Room will be, without doubt, your new favourite band. Trust me on this one, the four piece are the freshest group to emerge out of the fledgling Aussie rock scene since Silverchair became our favourite ‘Freaks’. Unlike Wolfmother (massive props to Mike Patton, hahah!), Jet, the Casanovas and the proliferation of 70s rock imitators, these guys (and one girl) are vastly original – embracing their culture rather than simply ripping off one from years gone by. Led by the power duo of Marc and Steph Collins, their debut, White Room Music is a grungy, bouncing ride that will have you addicted from the moment it hits your ears.

It’s like AC/DC meeting a 70s Funk band in a pub. Guttural but groovy, grungy but gorgeous, the White Room are a true anomaly in the Sydney scene; a group so great which continually resists catergorisation. The album was recorded by Phil McKellar, probably one of the most famous Australian producers - ever. And it shows: every note is crisply polished to perfection. The tunes rollick about with some moody-ass lyrics helping them along the way. Needless to say, there’s definitely some major label backing behind these guys but I’m yet to hear them on local radio. Check them out now, it’s definitely worth it!

http://www.thewhiteroommusic.com.au/
http://www.myspace.com/whiteroommusic

Busy hands means less blogging.  So apologies on behalf of the team for the lack of updates.  We’ve all been stupidly busy lately which means that blogging has slowed quite a bit, but I’ll do some updating over the weekend.  To tide you over ’til then, and to reward those of you who constantly check our site for updates (and a biiiiiiiiiiig thankyou to you!), I thought I’d put up a video that’s not necessarily Australian, or about new Aussie music, but that’s just a good laugh.  Here’s Mike Patton telling us all what he really thinks of Wolfmother.  Ahhh, the wonders of YouTube.

Jumping into the time machine, this is the filmclip for the Inga Liljeström song ‘Phoenix’ from her album Elk which came out in 2005.  Yeah, it’s a bit of a slow blogging day…

Previous post: Inga Liljeström

Andrew Hansen

Last night in Sydney, one of the more under-recognised award ceremonies took place in the City Recital Hall.  The AGSC (Australian Guild of Screen Composers) teamed up with APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) for the fifth year of the APRA-AGSC Awards. 

The awards recognise the art of music composition for the screen.  Unlike the long-winded and boring ARIA Awards, the APRA-AGSC awards went for a little over 2 1/2 hours.  There was a 13 piece orchestra led by award-winning composer Paul Graboswky.  Not only did they play each winner’s piece as they were approaching the stage, but they performed a selection from each film nominated for Feature Film Score of the Year.  It was a great touch and made the music come to life, especially the Nick Cave & Warren Ellis-penned score for The Proposition, easily my fave score.  The night was hosted by Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough, regular guests on the ABC-TV music quiz show Spicks & Specks. 

I scored prime tickets up the front, which was fantastic.  The afterparty was a far more formal affair, with dinner and drinks, but the food was great.  Sadly I didn’t get to meet presenters Decoder Ring, but I did have a chat with legendary rock photographer Tony Mott.  That man has some fantastic stories… anyway, here’s the winners from the night:

2006 International Achievement Award
Peter Best (Crocodile Dundee I & II, Muriel’s Wedding, We of the Never Never)

Feature Film Score of the Year
Francois Tetaz - Wolf Creek

Best Music in a Documentary
Paul Grabowsky - Unfolding Florence - The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst

Best Music for a Short Film
Jonathan Nix - Gustavo

Best Music for a Television Series of Serial
Roger Mason - Peking To Paris

Best Music for an Advertisement
Elliott Wheeler - McDonald’s Inner Child

Best Soundtrack Album
David Bridie, Albert David, Kado & Key Torres Strait Island Composers - R.A.N

Best Music for Children’s Television
Christopher Elves - Faireez (Episode 40)

Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie
Iva Davies - The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant

Best Original Song Composed for the Screen
Michael Yezerski - ‘Thursday’s Fictions’

Best Television Theme
Andrew Hansen - The Chaser’s War on Everything

Most Performed Screen Composer - Australia
Jay Stewart

Most Performed Screen Composer - Overseas
Garry McDonald & Laurie Stone

http://www.apra.com.au
http://www.agsc.org.au

photo by underexposed.org.uk

The Grates – ‘Trampoline’

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I think my attendance at The Grates’ London gigs might just about be approaching double figures… they seem to have been practically living in the UK over the last few months. Either that or just non-stop touring everywhere, which I expect is the more likely scenario. Apparently, these guys are really popular in Australia, but I’m not convinced they’ve yet made a serious impact on the UK scene. The notorious NME dismissed their album with a disappointing 4/10 and despite the seemingly ubiquitous presence in terms of gigs, other than the occasional interview, I really haven’t seen a great deal of coverage about them. Being on a major label (sharing a roster with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, no less), I can’t help but feel a little anxious about their future here if they don’t start generating more of that all important “buzz”.

The band headlined Kings College last week, and there were plenty of people there, but it was by no means full and who knows how much of the crowd was made up of ex-pats rather than hip young Londoners. But it was another great performance, with Patience strutting her stuff in a magnificent white tutu and breaking out into random dog yelps here and there. Crazy as ever then. Apparently they’d had a load of stuff stolen the night before, but you would never have guessed it. How refreshing to watch a band perform and actually seem to be enjoying it. Certainly a welcome antidote to playing it “cool” and looking miserable. Maybe the UK just needs a little longer to digest such undiluted fun.

Previous post: The Grates