Monthly Archives For November 2010

Ghoul – ‘3Mark’

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Listen to

So I’m pretty pumped to hear that over the next six months we’ll be getting both a mini-album (due January 2011 through Speak N Spell/Inertia) and a full length from Sydney experimental/glitch/pop crew Ghoul. For those of us that were following the band’s MySpace blog in early 2009 as they wrote about the recording process before abandoning the the idea (and, so I thought, the album), this has been a long wait.

But all signs point to it being worthwhile. Not only does it mean we get TWO offerings from Ghoul, but the first track from those protracted sessions, ‘3Mark,’ is incredible. Ghoul have grown a lot since self-releasing their debut mini-LP A Mouthful of Gold in 2008. Although I’ve only heard one song, it’s immediately apparent enough that both the production and the songwriting have taken epic leaps forward over the last two years. At a time when home-recorded lofi chic is at an all time indie high, Ghoul have progressed to nuanced, crisper sounds, while the songs have less of a jazz-lite streak to them and diminish of tangential arrangements, no longer calling them on a necessity to keep the song interesting.

As much I love it, it’s nice to hear Ivan’s voice on something other than Seekae’s ‘Wool.’ And there’s a lot more where this come from around corner. With the aforementioned Seekae and Collarbones also releasing albums in the first half of next year, 2k11 could be a standout 6 months for Australian electronica.

www.myspace.com/ghoulsydney

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Melbourne's Birmy to end live music

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Only a year after it’s revamp, Melbourne’s Birmingham Hotel will no longer be hosting live music by the end of this month. Venue bookers Indra Adams and Chris Bosma confirmed the news in a statement, saying:

‘Sadly the owners of the Birmingham Hotel have found the financial viability of a live music venue with all costs attached does not present a sustainable business model. The venue will continue to operate without live music with plans for refurbishing the kitchen and existing function spaces.

We as the venue bookers would like to thank all the awesome bands and punters that have made our jobs so amazing and contributed to (what was) an incredibly vibrant and exciting music venue.

To all the bands who have shows booked in the calendar after the above date, we’re sorry if this is the first you’ve heard of the plans… We aim to contact everyone this week and do our best to find replacement shows for everyone.’



The news comes after the Birmy’s ‘re-birth’  last June under the run of new management where the likes of The Basics, Frowning Clouds, Will Wagner and The Greasers helped to relaunch the once tired building with a sign outside the venue reading ‘The Birmingham Hotel: It’s not shit anymore!’.  Considering the venue recently spent $3,500 soundproofing the windows of the venue with electric operated shutters to solve noise complaints, the news does come as a surprise.

Over the past year, the venue has established itself as a healthy breeding ground for local artists, housing up to 20 bands each week. What was reportedly once neo-Nazi hangout and a venue for nationalist hatecore gigs, became a welcome addition to the fertile ground of local venues around the area. Of course, $2 pots, a no-pretense code and consistent solid lineups for which the Birmy has become known for will be missed by many, but it seems like just another another casuality to the growing list of hallowed pubs culling live music.

Gigs will continue at the Birmy until the 19th, so make sure you catch the likes of Duvtons, Gosteleradio, Kins, Grenadiers (USA), Tobias Cummings, Useless Children and more who’ll be playing before the curtain drops. Check out www.birmingham.com.au for full details.

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Charlie Mayfair – ‘My Delirium’ cover (video)

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I’m not the biggest fan of Charlie Mayfair. It’s mainly the vocal parts that rub me the wrong way – they go way too heavy on the harmonies and the female vocalists bust into American Idol-influenced yodeling whenever they get half a chance.

That said, this cover of Ladyhawke’s ‘My Delirium’ is pretty good. Performing someone else’s material helps them keep their bad points in check, although they still manage to chuck in a bar’s rest after the “Stop!”‘s in the last chorus (Stop. No music. Get it? We’re like, totally clever and musical!) and a time and tempo change for no real reason.

This video is the first in a series, which will see the band perform acoustic covers of songs by previous Sunset Sounds artists in an attempt to raise their profile and get people to vote them into a slot for the 2011 festival.

It should be good, but it’d be even better if the band tried out the ‘less is more’ trick.

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