Monthly Archives For May 2010

Nikko – ‘Wedding Song’

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Nikko – ‘Wedding Song’ (mp3)

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There was a time in in 2008 when it felt like I saw Brisbane’s Nikko play at least one a month. And then they kind of disappeared off my radar (probably had something to do with me being in Europe for a while, but whatevs). Anyway, these guys just came back onto my radar with this song.

I’m not going to lie: every Nikko recording I’ve heard so far has been inferior to their live show, which isn’t surprising. They often trade on that whole ‘wall of guitar crescendo’ that will probably always work better in concert than on record for any band. ‘Wedding Song’ isn’t a departure for the band, but it does suggest a growing confidence in their lyrics/vocal abilities.

‘Wedding Song’ is taken from their forthcoming debut The Warm Side. Dates for launch on their Myspace.

www.myspace.com/nikkoband

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Tame Impala – Solitude Is Bliss (Video) / MGMT tour

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Everyone’s favourite vagabond sons Tame Impala are preparing for the release of their debut album Innerspeaker, which will descend on all your curious Australian ears on the 21st of May and on the 8th of June for the rest of the world.

Shows have completely sold out for Tame Impala’s Melbourne and Sydney dates, but tickets to second show in Sydney at the Gaelic Club on Sunday 16th of May have just been released.

Continuing the psychedelic pursuit, the Tame Impala lads will trip up to the States during June with buddies MGMT, before venturing back home to play Splendour In The Grass.

Below is the brand new clip for the first single, ‘Solitude is Bliss’. It’s been getting some decent digs from Pitchfork and is the ‘most viewed’ new vid on the site.

Directed by Megaforce, the clip features a whole load of post-pillage dancing, flailing post-it notes from the sky and a rather unfortunate dog.

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Hyperbole.tv

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The last issue of JMag featured an angry quote from me regarding Google deleting music blogs. And that was before they deleted one of Australia’s finest.

Alas, last Friday we lost Mass Hyperbole, run by inthemix.com.au editor Dave Ruby Howe. As Dave points out, around four hundred posts, one million hits and three years of work disappeared at the hand of the almighty.

Fortunately, Dave has already picked up and started a new blog at hyperbole.tv (but sans the awesome banner of its previous incarnation). You should check it out and keep the dream alive. Hopefully (50% Australian) Rose Quartz doesn’t suffer a similar fate.

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Vorad Fils – ‘Lioness’

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Vorad Fils – ‘Lioness’ (mp3)

[audiohttp://whothehell.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/04-Lioness.mp3]

Vorad Fils is the new solo project for John Hassell of Seekae fame, whose debut ‘The Warmest Static’ also rounds out the excellent POWWOW new music series from Feral Media.

Vorad Fils shares a sense of amazing technical accomplishment with Seekae, but the music isvery different. Whereas Seekae trade on icy, downbeat atmospherics mixed with glitch-y beats, ‘Lioness’ is more sample based, turning snippets of strings and pianos into a beat that bisect IDM and chillwave. That said, Hassell covers a lot of ground on this album, which ultimately sounds like a talented artist unrestrained by aesthetic boundaries.

‘The Warmest Static’ is definitely worth getting your hands on.

www.myspace.com/roygbivmusic

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Aussies clean up at International Songwriting Awards

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Sarah Blasko and Chris Cheney were part of the large scoop of Aussie undertakings at the recent International Songwriting Awards in the US.

Trumping competitors with the alluring ‘Bird On A Wire’, Blasko took out first place in the  Folk/Singer-Songwriter category.  Living End veteran Cheney scored first place in the Rock category for ‘White Noise’.

Geelong sibling duo Emma and Anthony Hewitt of Missing Hours won the adult contemporary award for ‘Missing You’, while the amiable Kevin Mitchell aka Bob Evans rounded out the winnings, earning best pop/top 40 artist for ‘Pasha Bulker’.

Aussies that took out third place gongs included Eskimo Joe in the Rock category for ‘Foreign Land’ and Alexander Gow and Thomas Savage of Oh Mercy for Adult Contemporary for ‘Get You Back’.

A massive list of honourable mentions acknowledged the talents of Andy Bull, Alexander Burnett (Sparkadia), Michael Tomlinson (YKB) , John Mackay (Children Collide), Tommaso Parisi (Tom Ugly) and Ryan Ritchie (True Live) to name a few.

This year’s judges included  Tom Waits, Ben Folds, Ben Harper, Jeff Beck and Robert Smith of The Cure.

Go team.

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