Gyroscope – ‘Snakeskin’

I remember many, many years ago being at a house party one Saturday afternoon in Newtown, which I got completely munted on beer and tequila – a lethal mix! I remember people at the party playing an early Gyroscope CD because they were obsessed with the song ‘Doctor Doctor’ which was one of the very first singles that garnered this Perth act national attention.

Since then they’ve had a string of mildly successful releases, which lean to the more rockeir side of the pop/punk spectrum, though ‘Doctor Doctor’ was more post-hardcore than what they are now. But their new single, ‘Snakeskin’, taken from their forthcoming album Breed Obsession, is the first Gyroscope song that I’ve actually paid attention to since the release of ‘Doctor Doctor’ which was a couple of years ago now.

There’s nothing really complex to this tune – it’s just damn catchy. Simple piano melody introduces the song, the vocals don’t do anything spectacular and the syncopated beat keeps you tapping your feet. You’ll be singing it for days.

Oh, P.S. This may just be the greatest photo ever taken… it’s from Band Capture Photography.

http://www.gyroscope.com.au/
http://www.myspace.com/gyroscope

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We usually save videos for the weekend, but it’s been a busy last few days and anyway, this is relevant after yesterday’s post. Here’s The Veronicas performing their new single on the red carpet just prior to the ARIA Awards.

http://www.theveronicas.com
http://www.myspace.com/theveronicas

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So the Australian music industry’s night of nights has come and gone for another year. I didn’t make it to the ARIA Awards this year due to a number of factors – maybe it was lethargy; maybe it was the lack of a video camera to report from the red carpet with; maybe it was the ghost of Saturday night still haunting me. But this year’s awards was decidedly basic as compared to last year’s, ditching the usual cavalcade of pointless international guests and keeping the ceremony to just over two hours, which was a good move because, at the end of the day, there really isn’t an awards ceremony anywhere in the world that’s actually entertaining.

The red carpet kicked off early in the day with live performances from Ricki-Lee who was backed by a bevy of awkward looking dancers (check it out here – the dude with the afro cracks me up) and The Veronicas, who performed a rawer version of their current single ‘Hook Me Up’ which I reckon sounded better than the over-produced, electro-saturated studio version.

During the ceremony there were performances by Silverchair, Who the Hell fave Gotye, Kate Miller-Heidke, Australia’s most successful high school band Operator Please, John Butler Trio with Keith Urban, Sneaky Sound System and Missy Higgins. As this footage undoubtedly gets leaked online, we’ll put some up here.

The night belonged to Newcastle lads Silverchair who picked up five pointy awards, and their filmclip for ‘Straight Lines’ also garnered an ARIA. The lovely Sarah Blasko picked up a deserved award for her amazing album, and the ever-affable Wally de Backer (a.k.a. Gotye) won Best Male Artist. You Am I, who preceded the retro fad by an entire decade, won an award for Best DVD, and Nick Cave stuck it to the man during his Hall of Fame speech. In interviews during the week prior to the ARIAs, he’d spoken about his disdain for the awards and that he was going to duck out the back door after he received his award to go get a kebab. I wonder how it tasted…

Here’s a list of all the winners:

Best Breakthrough Album
Sneaky Sound System – Sneaky Sound System

Best Breakthrough Single
Operator Please – ‘Just A Song About Ping-Pong’

Best Ubran Release
Hilltop Hoods – The Hard Road Restrung

Best Pop Release
Sarah Blasko – What the Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have

Best Country Release
Keith Urban – Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing

Best Independent Release
John Butler Trio – Grand National

Best Rock Album
Silverchair – Young Modern

Best Adult Contemporary Album
Josh Pyke – Memories & Dust

Best Music DVD
You Am I – Who Are They, These Rock Stars? Live at the Mint

Best Dance Release
Sneaky Sound System – Sneaky Sound System

Highest Selling Album
Damien Leith – The Winner’s Journey

Highest Selling Single
Silverchair – ‘Straight Lines’

Best Group
Silverchair

Best Cover Art 
Debaser (Powderfinger – Dream Days at the Hotel Existence)

Best Video 
Paul Goldman & Alice Bell (Silverchair – ‘Straight Lines’)

Engineer of the Year
Wayne Connolly (Josh Pyke – Memories & Dust)

Producer of the Year
Wayne Connolly & Josh Pyke (Josh Pyke – Memories & Dust)

Best Classical Album
Richard Tognetti & the Australian Chamber Orchestra – Bach Violin Concertos

Best Jazz Album
Mike Nock & Dave Leibman – Duologue

Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album
Choir Of Hard Knocks – Choir Of Hard Knocks

Best World Music Album
Zulya – 3 Nights

Best Children’s Album
The Wiggles – Pop Goes The Wiggles

Best Comedy Release
Dave Hughes – Live

Best Blues & Roots Album
John Butler Trio – Grand National

Best Female Artist
Missy Higgins

Best Male Artist
Wally de Backer (Gotye)

Hall of Fame Inductees
Nick Cave

Single of the Year
Silverchair – ‘Straight Lines’

Album of the Year
Silverchair – Young Modern

http://www.aria.com.au
http://www.ariaawards.com.au

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http://www.loveofdiagrams.com
http://www.myspace.com/loveofdiagrams

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The divine Ms B and the gorgeous song ‘Planet New Year’.

http://www.sarahblasko.com
http://www.myspace.com/sarahblasko

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Dardanelles – ‘Mirror Mirror’

Australian bands have a fascination with the Eighties. Whether it’s the nasal snark of electro, or the dark echoes of post-punk – and occasionally the fashion sense – Aussie musos love to delve back into the era of big hair and power ballads.

Melbourne’s Dardanelles are no exception. Taking lead from bands of that era like The Cure (particularly Disintegration / Pornography era), Joy Division and artists of that ilk, they’ve built themselves up quite a following here with their combination of reverb-heavy guitars, baritone vocals and driving rhythms. .

Mirror Mirror is their debut record, recorded by acclaimed producer Pauk “Woody” Annison who’s produced, amongst others, Sydney act Red Riders’ debut record Replica Replica. Aside from similarities in album titles, their sounds both hark back to the post-punk / new-wave movement of the late 70s/early 80s, however Dardanelles throw in the extra element of keys which adds a serene ambience to a number of their tunes.

I didn’t think I’d like this album, because I’ve pretty much missed the whole punk revivalist movement, but this is rather cool.

http://www.myspace.com/dardanelles

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Cog – ‘Sharing Space’

Another taste of the forthcoming album from Sydney three-piece Cog: this time it’s the title track to the LP, Sharing Space. Once again, it’s musical gold for the band that effortlessly mixes Tool-esque progressive elements with a melodic richness that makes it palpable even to those who despise loud guitars.

Focussing more on hooks and melody than the first single off the album, ‘What If’, ‘Sharing Space’ continuously drives along, thanks in part to Lucius Borich’s constant kick drum, thumping away on the beat. The production is superb, with multi-layered vocals giving the song a rich texture and plenty of melody. There’s no monstorous riffs in this song which is somewhat of a departure for the band, and it seems they’ve wanted to listener to focus more on the vocals and the beat. There’s some deft use of electronic drums as well which adds an extra element of interest.

If ‘Sharing Space’ and ‘What If’ are anything to go by, this next album is going to be one amazing CD.

http://www.cog.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/cogrockmusic

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