Monthly Archives For February 2010

Flying Foxes new album tracks

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Flying Foxes – ‘Napoleon’ (mp3)

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Flying Foxes – ‘Everything Will Change’ (mp3)

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Everything is better when it’s free, that’s a scientific fact. The Flying Foxes debut was probably going to be pretty good anyway, but by the aforementioned logic my appreciation for it has been heightened by roughly 20% since you can get your dirty mouse-clicking mits on that shit for free from their website right now. Yup. They’re calling February ‘Free Album Month’ or something, which would suggest that you have 28 days (well, only 20 now) to get a-downloading – but then maybe March will also be ‘Free Album Month,’ I haven’t asked. Don’t risk it, head over to flyingfoxes.tv to get in on this socialist cultural exchange.

The above songs are both pulled from that debut, Ticking Boxes. ‘Napoleon’ is the opening number and gives a pretty good idea of what Flying Foxes are about for the uninitiated. A mix of sparse, brooding, and upbeat sensibilities; simple guitar playing mixed with slightly-weak-but-in-a-cool-way vocals; a big chorus that never sounds too big thanks to the understated instrumentation.

Then ‘Everything Will Change’ is about the least Flying Foxes-esque track on their, sounding more like a post-punk band reinterpreting a BRMC cast-off. It’s nonetheless a catchy song and represents probably the most use guitar distortion on an otherwise restrained record. If you like these tracks then you’ll probably like everything in between too. And when all it costs is a fraction of your time and download quote, why not hit it up?

flyingfoxes.tv

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The Hot Licks Festival

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A friend of mine told me that he was playing in a little festival called The Hot Licks Festival in Mount Gambier, 4 hours in between Melbourne and Adelaide. The lineup is mostly local bands in Melbourne. When he told me that one of his friends Riley Ellard is running the festival, I contacted her to find out just why she has decided to undertake such a massive project on her own. The whole vibe of DIY initiative and going out to see new local bands is something that we promote strongly here at whothehell.net . So this is what she had to say:

The festival was initially conceived based on my own experiences growing up in Mount Gambier and really craving a stronger arts presence in the region. The community is extremely sports-focussed and in terms of accessing live music, performance, contemporary art, photography, e.t.c. you are very much at a disadvantage. Its a sentiment that’s definitely been echoed by the majority of young people from the region – there are very few activities for young people and a strong sense of sociocultural hardship. When I moved to Melbourne to study I realised just how completely divorced rural and regional areas tend to be from the creative arts, particularly the kind of flourishing underground music scene that exists in Melbourne.

The original idea was to start taking bands down to the region to do shows – something akin to a $5 gig at The Tote – and try and make live music more accessible. Although kids in the region will sometimes travel to the city for kind of grand-scale arena shows with international artists or the larger festivals like Big Day Out, they really have no way of experiencing those very intimate, grassroots gigs where you make a gold coin donation on the door and get that sense of being a part of something as you charter the growth of a band from when they first start playing.

The bands were chosen with that concept in mind and we very deliberately shied away from approaching more prominent or recognised artists. Somewhat unexpectedly all the bands said yes straight away, the city council jumped on board by awarding us a permit to hold the event in the Valley Lakes area and so Hot Licks was born.

Its definitely been a struggle to start the event with no real infrastructure in terms of existing sponsors or funding – we’ve had some really great feedback from potential sponsors who want to be involved in future events, but this first one has very much been built from scratch. Particularly in Melbourne we’ve received overwhelming support – graphic design and web design has all been done for free and the bands have really risen to the occasion by helping with poster runs.

The biggest issue has been that this is quite a novel event for the Mount Gambier community so we’ve had some barriers in terms of people getting on board – surprisingly its been older people in the community who have really supported the project, probably because there were similar events when they were younger and in the last couple of decades there’s been a real lull. We’ll be going down with the bands early Friday to do some surprise guerilla shows and spread our enthusiasm, so there should be a real sense of anticipation come Saturday morning.

Riley.

www.hotlicksfestival.com.au

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Operator Please – “Logic”

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Operator Please – ‘Logic’

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After the song about ping pong, after their keyboard player lost her shit and left the band to become a minor-league porn star, after massive national and international success, Operator Please have grown up and into themselves.

‘Logic’ doesn’t have the gang vocals, spiky guitars or buildups of their older work, instead relying on a bass hook and cowbell. Yes, cowbell. It’s much slower than their previous stuff and definitely cooler.
They’re on the touring lineup for this month’s Future Music festival, which gives a bit of an indication of the direction they’re trying to go in; indeed, it’s hard to imagine older songs like “Crash Tragic” fitting in with this new band.

You can download Logic after you sign up to their mailing list here.

www.myspace.com/operatorplease

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The Thin Kids – ’23 Things I’d Change About The Brisbane Music Scene’

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The Thin Kids – ’23 Things I’d Change About The Brisbane Music Scene’ (mp3)

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You probably already know what this song is about just from reading the title – it’s not meant to be clever or ironic, just an accurate description of the lyrical content therein. What you might not know is that The Thin Kids is a new project from (in)famous British music critic Everett True (pictured above), now a restless Brisbane-based academic and “fading critic,” mainly of Pitchfork and Animal Collective. The band also features actual Brisbane folk in Edward Guglielmino, Margaret Collins and Scotty Regan – but it’s Everett who has the wikipedia entry so, you know, he gets some special mention. Plus it’s him doing most of the ranting in the above song.

The tune is apparently named for an open letter True published upon first arriving in Brisbane that singled a number of venues, publications and bands as being fairly crap – fellow Thin Kids member Ed G among them. But then other Thin Kids member Margaret Collins supposedly helped them make peace etc etc.  I’m not sure how much of the bio on their MySpace is for shiz but, like this song and most things True touches, it stirs curiosity and interest regardless. Head over there to hear some of the other tracks available for streaming (two of which are called ‘We Never Rehearse’).

The Thin Kids make their live debut at the Troubadour in Brisbane the 24th Feb. I assume Mr True won’t have see cause to complain about this through song, but I wouldn’t put it past him.

www.mypace.com/thethinkids

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White Noise @ Brisbane’s “The Edge”

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Located at the State Library in South Bank, The Edge is the shiny new home of creativity in Brisbane, with plenty of computers and communal space for creative types to do their thing.
Brisbane digital distributor Musicadium is running a series of workshops at the facility under the name White Noise, with goal of educating musicians on the best ways to promote and manage their music.

From the presser:

White Noise consists of a series of free workshops for up and coming artists to be held at the Edge, a brand new state-of-the-art creative facility in South Bank.
The two sets of three-day sessions, now looking for applicants, will include workshops and seminars on song-writing, recording, distribution, management, marketing and promotions.
Local and national music industry professionals will host each seminar or workshop, passing on invaluable insight and information to the young artists.
The sessions will culminate in a showcase held in the Edge auditorium, which will provide an opportunity for the public to see the progress made by the artists over the course of the program.

They’re looking for applicants now, so head to their website to apply.
The sessions run 15th-20th of March and applications close 28th February.

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The Gifthorse & Break Even, East Brunswick Club 30/1/2010

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I don’t usually take photos at shows, but then again I’m not usually at shows in Melbourne so I thought I’d make an exception. Brisbane’s The Gifthorse and Perth’s Break Even have been supporting New York band Polar Bear Club on their Aussie tour, which wound up at the East. To be honest, I wasn’t a  fan of the venue; Brisbane does small grungy venues better, and with cheaper drinks.

The Gifthorse:

Break Even:

See my Flickr for more.

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