Thursday 24 December 2009

Bawley (Hearts) 2009: Top 5 Concerts of the Year: Hummer

5. ATP – The Breeders, Minehead, 15-17/5/2009

The combination of The Bronx’s head smashing punk, CSS’s Brazilian carnival, Bon Iver’s emotional retelling of For Emma, Holy Fuck’s free beers, Mariarchi el Bronx’s guitarrón, Deerhunter’s daydream pop, The Breeders’ classic headline set and luxury indoor camping made for a perfect weekend on the Somerset coast. (photos, knitting)

4. Phoenix, O2 Academy, Birmingham, 24/10/2009

Still largely under the radar in the UK, Phoenix brought their delicious pop songs to an ever appreciative crowd. (review)

3. Datarock, Thekla, Bristol, 23/11/2009

The Boat That Rocked: When I think of bands on boats I get images of tired old crooners wobbling away to greys in Hawaiian shirts. Datarock on the Thekla was anything but tired, though they did play a cover of (I’ve Had The) Time Of My Life that would do Jack Jones proud (review).

2. Massive Attack, O2 Academy, Birmingham, 22/09/2009


Debuting new tracks alongside classics, Massive Attack proved they are still as angry and essential as ever. (review)

1. Nine Inch Nails and Janes Addiction, O2 Arena, London, 15/07/2009

These two behemoths of 90s alternative rock came together for a mind blowing stadium rock show.

The freshly reformed Jane’s Addiction pulled off a performance so good you could be forgiven for thinking they had never been away, before Nine Inch Nails played their rawest, rockest set in years with the urgency of a band trying to get noticed, not say goodbye. (review)

Monday 21 December 2009

Bawley (Hearts) 2009: Top 5 albums of the year: Nick

In a rare display of Bawley team synchronicity, my top 5 of the year contains 60% of the albums in Hummer's 5. I have a hunch that this has more to do with the paucity of quality albums in 2009, than anything else, but who knows?

Here are my 5:

5 Doves, Kingdom Of Rust

With their fourth album, Doves didn't quite achieve the Elbow-style breakthrough that I speculated about in January, nor did they quite hit the highs they achieved on 2002's 'The Last Broadcast', but they did break a lot of ground musically to produce a really solid album that was sonically interesting from beginning to end.

4 The XX, XX

A band, absolutely unheard of at the beginning of the year, pool their record collections to forge a style that's halfway between indie and r&b and sounds quite unlike anything around at the moment: intimate, unselfconcious and strangely compelling.

3 Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

The party album of the year: full of great tunes, and no messing about.

2 Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More

The hotly tipped Mumford & Sons launched their debut album at a hoedown in a barn in Hertfordshire, and with it started an unlikely bluegrass revival. Really impressive album all the way through.

1 Sparklehorse & Dangermouse, Dark Night Of the Soul

It's a real shame that my album of the year is not available anywhere, but when it contains some of the best work by some of the most interesting artists of the last decade, and still ends up being better than the sum of its parts, how could it not be?

Friday 18 December 2009

Bawley (Hearts) 2009: Top 5 Albums of the Year: Hummer





5. The Horrors – Primary Colours

On Primary Colours The Horrors recruited Portishead’s Geoff Burrow and ditched their goth punk in favour of rich moody textured rock. The result is one of the year’s best albums, which helped the band prove themselves to be more than the tidal wave of skinny jeans, haircuts and hype that overshadowed their 2007 debut.


4. Danger Mouse and Sparkle Horse – Dark Night Of The Soul

With its high art concept, Hollywood-style promotion, massive list of contributors, legal battles, 50 pages of glossy art work and David Lynch weirdness, Dark Night Of The Soul was going to be brilliant or a kick in the balls. Brilliant it is - the kick in the balls came when it was revealed that the album will never be released.

3. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

Droning, monotonous and claustrophobic: not words you would normally associate with great pop albums, but then again Fever Ray’s debut is not a normal pop album, just a great one.

2. The Xx – Xx

The self-produced debut album from London upstarts The Xx is gloriously downbeat: delicate guitars weave between trip hop-esque beats while the spoken boy/girl vocals give the feeling that you are eavesdropping on a private conversation.

1. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix finds the band doing what they do better than anyone else – danceable indie-pop with touches of shoegaze, dabs of ambient electro, a splatter of euphoric highs and lashings of Gallic cool.

Saturday 12 December 2009

F- you I won’t do what you tell me

What starting as a facebook campaign pointing the stiff middle finger to Simon Cowell and his X Factor karaoke clones, has grown into a legitimate battle for the Christmas number 1.

Real music fans are being encouraged to download Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name on December 13th with the hope that collaborative action can knock X-Factor from its Christmas number one perch.

Join the facebook group, buy the single on iTunes (UK) and donate here.

And tell us would a RATM win be a perfect pop moment?

Thursday 26 November 2009

Live Review: Datarock, Thekla, Bristol, 23/11/2009

Datarock and Karin Park bring Scandinavian electro to Bristol’s longest running boat based live venue.

Karin Park opened the show playing songs from her wonderful Ashes To Gold album. The combination of dark lyrics, electro beats and straight out begging got the dozen or so early comers to get up and dance at the front of the stage.

Sadly only a few more people board the Thekla before Datarock arrive on stage to the canned fanfare of The Blog: the rapturous (recorded) stadium sized cheers seem a little overstated in the hull of a sparsely populated boat.

But the tracksuit clad Norwegians soon prove that no matter the venue no matter the size of the audience a Datarock gig is always something to cheer about.

The first part of the set is loaded with tracks from the band’s new album Red: The Blog is followed by Give It Up, True Stories and Dance which are all a lot of fun but it takes the older tracks Night Flight to Uranus and Sex You Up to really get everyone in the mood and moving.

During Princess the band introduce a dance they call the running man, soon enough everyone on the boat is jumping around in a fashion more suited to Aerobics OzStyle than a cool indie dance gig.

The good times just keep coming, one girl obviously unable to control herself storms the stage starts dancing with the band, screams in to the microphone, and pashes the drummer before being encouraged back down to the floor.

The always brilliant Fa Fa Fa is followed by the whole room screaming the call/response lyrics to Computer Camp Love before the band pogo their way through I Use To Dance With My Daddy.

Having played their three biggest songs in a row the band leave the stage with the promise “We are going backstage now, if you call out DATAROCK, DATAROCK we will be back in just a minute” While most people are happy for the breather no one wants the show to stop
“DATAROCK, DATAROCK....”
And they are back on stage and before declaring "BMX is better than Sex" on Bulldozer they send out a tribute to their drummers. First best wishes are sent to their regular drummer who broke his leg while break dancing at the Birmingham show just two nights earlier. Secondly thanks is given to tonight’s drummer Daniel Park (Karin Park) who has filled the empty red tracksuit with ease, even taking on vocals duties for Ugly Primadona.

The night finishes with the whole band off the stage down in the crowd; dancing, playing saxophone, and posing for photos while leading a full room karaoke version of (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life.

If I didn’t get sea sick I would ride this boat with the band all the way back to Norway.
Now I’ve Had The Time Of My Life, No I never felt this way before .....

Bawley (Hearts) 2009: Top 6 Covers of the Year

6. The Big Pink – Sweet Dreams (Beyonce)

The Big Pink’s delicate acoustic take on Sweet Dreams is the polar opposite of Beyonce’s over produced/polished pop, luckily the song is good enough to work for both artists. (link)

5. Gomez - From St Kilda to Kings Cross (Paul Kelly)

Gomez are regular visitors to Australia but it seems they keep coming back for more than the sunshine and beaches, they have also grown to love Paul Kelly. Here they give this distinctly Australian song some international favour. (link – skip to 13:40)

4. Dappled Cities – My Girls (Animal Collective)

Dappled Cities reveal that beneath all the Animal Collective (OMG! Animal Collective) hype My Girls is a really great song. (link – 13:30)

3. Mariachi El Bronx - I Would Die 4 U (Prince)

My third choice from triple j’s Like A Version series and by far the most unexpected. LA punks The Bronx swap their thrashing guitars and screamed vocals to and give this Prince booty shaker some Mariachi sunshine. (link – 12:00)

2. The Dead Weather – Are Friend Electric? (Gary Numan)

Jack White’s other other band apply their dark swampy blues to Gary Numan’s paranoid classic. The result dark, swampy paranoia – superb (link)

1. The Muppets – Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)

Only The Muppets could pull this off, watch below - and I challenge you not to hit the replay button.


Monday 23 November 2009

Bawley (Hearts) 2009: Bottom 5 album covers of the year

Yesterday I posted my list of the best album art of 2009, now for some of the worst.

5. Morrissey – Years of Refusal

The cover of Morrissey’s latest album does nothing to dispel rumours that he eats small children for breakfast.

4. MSTRKRFT – Fist of God

A mish-mash of butts and thighs in the shape of a fist: the fist of God. God is angry, fear his wrath.

3. U2 – No Line On the Horizon

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2. Weezer - Raditude

As lame as it is, the jumping dog on the cover is the rad-est thing about this appalling album.

1. Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg

Apparently the universe is a cosmic egg that cycles between expansion and total collapse. It expanded from a concentrated form —a point called a Bindu. The universe, as a living entity, is bound to the perpetual cycle of birth, death, and rebirth

Wolfmother are an Australian rock band with a bent for 70s rock riffs, fantasy world lyrics and horrible cover art. This is one rotten egg.

Also: What is that skinny naked boy doing in the bushes?


Music Snobs Protest Predictable Use Of Metallica, Pantera To Torture Prisoners

WASHINGTON—Amid continued reports detailing the CIA's use of loud music to torture detainees at Guantánamo Bay, pop-culture elitists from across the country gathered in the nation's capital Monday to protest the uninspired song selections employed in the brutal treatment of inmates.

"To remain silent about the abhorrent methods used to interrogate alleged enemy combatants would be a betrayal of the ideals we hold most dear," said New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, a spokesperson for the loose coalition of music snobs. "I mean, 'Enter Sandman,' from Metallica's 1991 self-titled album? Really? Not to say there isn't some classic stuff on the torture playlist, but even my 12-year-old nephew would choose something a little more unexpected than Nine Inch Nails to shatter an utterly demoralized man's already tenuous grip on reality."

"They could have at least picked an excerpt from Dream Theater's A Change Of Seasons EP to play at 120 decibels for 14 hours a day," Frere-Jones continued. "If I were handcuffed to a chair with something as tired as Tupac's 'Keep Ya Head Up' blasting in my face, I'd probably pass out from boredom, despite the painful sleep deprivation stress positions."

Continue reading: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nations_music_snobs_protest

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/10/stop-the-music-torture-initiative

Do Something: http://zerodb.org/

Sunday 22 November 2009

Bawley (Hearts) 2009: Top 5 album covers of the year


Album art just about managed to survive the shift from record to CD (from 12 inches of cover space down to 5) but the move to digital downloads and ever shrinking mp3 player screens are proving difficult for many of today’s artists.

Not all hope is lost. Here are five of the best examples of album cover art circa 2009.

5. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Neko Case crouched on the bonnet of a muscle car, sword in hard ready to pounce...enjoy the album, just don’t get in her way.

4. The Xx – The Xx

The CD version of this album comes in a black cardboard sleeve with the ‘X’ cut out revealing the white inner booklet. A great idea that translates to a great image when shrunk down to 100x100 pixels.

3. Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers

The cover of Journal for Plague Lovers, an oil painting by Jenny Saville, was judged to be too offensive for public display.

Apparently the heavy red and brown brush strokes can be interpreted a blood on the boy’s face – of course, this is a subjective view.

Commenting on the controversy, singer James Bradfield said:
"You can have lovely shiny buttocks and guns everywhere in the supermarket on covers of magazines and CDs, but you show a piece of art and people just freak out ... We're not going to censor it or anything ... It is what it is."
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz

This action shot of a lady’s hand, chipped nail polish crushing an egg, perfectly captures the bands dangerous energy and, like many of the great album covers, it works no matter the size.

1. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Soul


The cover art for a blank CD-R. The release of the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch collaboration was scuppered by legal issues, but rather than bury the project the recordings were leaked to the internet and collaborators released a limited edition 100 page booklet with an accompanying blank CD-R. The packages sold out in near record time, proving that modern music fans will pay for quality album art.


Monday 16 November 2009

Heavy Metal World Cup – Drinking From the Goblet

After a week of demon summoning death growls, face melting guitar solos, whiplash inducing hair windmills and reversed satanic verses the 6Music Heavy Metal World Cup has come down to Black Sabbath vs Iron Maiden.

Two UK giants: one invented the genre, the other continues to define it.

With their 30+ year career, skeletal mascot, massive live show and refusal to die, the winner of the Heavy Metal World Cup is Iron Maiden.

Get a full run down of the results on the updated Heavy Metal World Cup wall chart.

Horns Up \m/

PS: Do watch the video’s linked above, if nothing else metal is always funny.

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Heavy Metal World Cup – The Group of Death

Today BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq announced the 16 bands that have qualified for the first round of the Heavy Metal World Cup.

The 16 bands and their first round fixtures are:
Slayer vs Van Halen
Black Sabbath vs Metallica
Judas Priest vs Def Leppard
Rainbow vs Saxon
Iron Maiden vs UFO
Kiss vs AC/DC
Deep Purple vs Anthrax
Motorhead vs Led Zeppelin
So some big first round clashes, hear Bruce Dickson's (of Iron Maiden) analysis of the first round fixtures on Listen Again.

You can follow the progress on the Heavy Metal World Cup Wall chart, or by tuning into 6Music from 5pm (GMT) every day this week. Listen Live.

Monday 2 November 2009

Bawley: More Contagious Than Swine Flu

The Bawley 100 - 2009 is coming soon

Monday 26 October 2009

Live Review: Phoenix, Birmingham Academy 2, 24/10/2009

I arrive at the Birmingham Academy in the worst mood I’ve been in for some time, a result of the early show time (6:00!), Birmingham’s labyrinth road system and some over-zealous security staff who had helpfully barricaded off the entrance to the venue.

Once inside my frustration is somewhat appeased by the lovely Chairlift, Bruises (you know, from the iPod ads) is particularly nice. But all their efforts are undone by some infuriatingly slow bar service.

With overpriced Danish lager in hand, I shuffle to the front of the small room.

I am ready to hate the night’s main performance, hate everyone around me and go home in a huff.

Then Phoenix wander on stage looking as cool as ever and my foul mood is forgotten before they reach chorus of their first song Lisztomania. Perhaps a liberal prescription of French pop would make the world a better place. Phoenix-mania anyone?

If you thought starting with Lisztomania (easily one of the year’s best songs) was an ambitious move you would be right, but Phoenix have so many great songs that it works. Older tracks such as Long Distance Call and Run Run Run only sound better played next to newer gems like tracks Lasso and Girlfriend.

Just as it does on their latest album, Love Like A Sunset is the centre piece tonight. Part I provides a nice break from the action during which I take the chance to wipe the sweat from my brow before Part II and its body melting low bass note welcomes the second half of the show which starts proper with Too Young.

On Rome, singer Thomas Mars stands high at the front of the stage singing “Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome, ... something about the coliseum”, before closing the set with digitised vocals and self congratulations on Funky Squaredance.

After a minute or so of cheering, Phoenix are (of course) back for an encore which starts with the acoustic Love For Granted and If I Ever Feel Better. The last song for the night is 1901 during which Mars climbs down from the stage and pushes his way into the audience, coming to a stop right in front of me and my delighted other half as he thanks the crowd for sharing their Saturday night with the band.

No Thomas, thank you. I’m in the best mood I’ve been in for some time.


Love For Granted:


Saturday 24 October 2009

Two great free live releases this weekend

Spooky Fever Ray download

Back in March, one half of The Knife Karin Dreijer Andersson released a solo album under the name Fever Ray.

The self-titled album is one of the year’s best, full of claustrophobic electronic-pop songs that blend into each other so well that it almost finishes before it begins, leaving you reaching for the repeat button.

Fever Ray have performed the album’s tracks at some 50 shows, all of them reported to be among the most disturbing of recent years. Venues were completely filled with dry ice, through which you could vaguely make out eerie figures on the stage: a deeply sinister clown, someone dressed as a kind of insect.

This weekend, a recording of one of these shows has been made available to readers of The Guardian.

Guardian “readers” can download the album from http://guardian.co.uk/feverray

Crowd sourcing a Nine Inch Nails show

On August 23rd, Nine Inch Nails performed their self-hate masterpiece The Downward Spiral live in its entirety for the first time ever.

While the band were unwilling to pay the venue’s exorbitant fees to have the performance professionally recorded, they were able to negotiate an open camera policy, meaning fans could film the show themselves using anything from a mobile phone to hi-def video camera.

Almost as soon as the show ended, fans started using the nin.com forums and quasi official NIN fan sites NIN Hotline and thisoneisonus.org to hunt out and compile footage from all who attended. Now only two months later, a polished multi-cam edited downloadable DVD of the full Webster Hall performance has appeared.

Forget crowd surfing - crowd sourcing is the new thing to do at rock concerts.

You can download the DVD from http://theninhotline.net/features/TDSlive/ or stream the YouTube channel here.

Saturday 17 October 2009

More on that Bloc Party Split

With the band planning an extended break Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong suggested that following their current Bloctober tour he may be finished with music
"Unfortunately that is going to be it for the time being, ... I don't know, I wouldn't mind trying something else for a while."
Bloc Party or no Bloc Party, Tong doesn’t thinks we will be hearing more from the rest of the band.
"Kele is an insatiable workaholic and creating is something he is so connected to so you'll definitely hear from him again along with Russell and Gordon also."
You can hear the whole interview on BBC’s Subculture or read more excerpts on the BBC 6 Music News website.

Friday 16 October 2009

Watch Blur in Lego Rock Band



Woo Hoo, other Lego artists to appear in Lego Rock Band game include David Bowie, Iggy Pop and hopefully the Michael Gondry directed White Stripes.

See Editors in Google Street View

It seems that those privacy invading Google street view cars have gone and caught more than smoking teenagers, bicycle crashes and sex shop customers.

Editors have hacked their own version of street view allowing fans to travel the streets of London looking for secret locations while listening to tracks from their new album In This Light And On This Evening.

http://www.editorsofficial.com/streetview/

I suggest visiting St Marks Church, Lambeth, England, United Kingdom (3. Papillon)

Bloc Party to Split?

Bloc Party have cancelled tonight’s Newport show for medical reasons, but is there something more sinister going on?

Speaking to the BBC the Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong has suggested that after three albums the band might be calling it quits.

We wait further news from the Bawley favourites.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Horchata: New Vampire Weekend

Earlier today the Vampire Weekend site started counting down, counting down to what no one knew some of the more interesting guesses were (via Stereogum):
Paul SImon vs. Vampire Weekend showdown

Their limited addition Vampire Weekend Boat Shoes go on sale.

The exact minute the new LL Bean catalog rolls off the press?

The announcement of another countdown which (after a few weeks) will lead to the revelation of two new albums: Vampire Weekend Rising and Vampire Weekend: Peace Walker.

A free mp3 of the first single!!!!
The clock hit 00:00:00 and all has been revealed: Yes, it is a free mp3 taken from their next album.

Head to http://www.vampireweekend.com/ to download your copy

Monday 28 September 2009

Live Review: Massive Attack, Birmingham Academy, 22/09/2009

GAZZ ON THE RAZZ, DARK SECRETS FROM MEGAN FOX, BOY 12 TURNS INTO GIRL, TESCO BANS JEDI, MALE BOOB OPS SOAR... New ID card scheme to be launched in Britain, UK Government to install cameras in private homes, Mandelson: filesharers will lose internet connection...
Tonight’s opening act is Martina Topley Bird, her set of light, jazzy songs are all very nice, but with the exception of rocking closer Too Tough To Die they fail to capture the full attention of the chatty audience.

Massive Attack, on the other hand, are impossible to ignore. Live, original members Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall are joined by a full band, a string of guest vocalists, and a video display almost as big as their leftist political messages.

The early part of the set is made up of all new songs, their beats as dark, brooding and atmospheric as anything in the band has done before.

As good as the new songs are, it is the classics that get the greatest response tonight. On Risingson 3D and Daddy G trade choruses while the music builds and builds, til the familiar ‘Dream On’ sample brings the song back down to earth.

Touching lyrics and beams of white light fill the room as Martina Topley Bird returns to the stage to sing a beautiful version of Teardrop.

Fifty-eight year old rasta and long time Massive Attack collaborator Horace Andy makes his second appearance of the night for Angel. His seemingly happy singing and dancing is in perfect contrast to the menacing baseline being played by the band.

As the set progresses Massive Attack get more overt in pushing their message: Safe From Harm is dedicated with an f--- you to the BNP, and Inertia Creeps is played out in front of a ticker tape of news headlines, alternating between tabloid trash and under-reported intrusions into the civil liberties of British society.

After a short break the band come back to play Splitting the Atom, the dark reggae beat title track from their new EP, before diva/vocalist Deborah Miller returns lifting the roof on Unfinished Sympathy. The encore ends with a CIA rendition flight departures board ticking over on the giant video screens and the band playing Marrakesh.

The 11pm curfew has been broken when the band return to the stage for a second encore, finishing the show with 3D and Daddy G rapping Karmacoma.

Twenty years in and on the eve of their fifth album Massive Attack have the songs, a live show and a social conscious of a band that could go on for another twenty years.

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Thom Yorke and Banksy

Thom Yorke has a new single: Felling Pulled Apart By Horses, is a radical reworking of the same 2001 track that spawned Radiohead's Reckoner.

The B-side to Felling Pulled Apart... is The Hollow Earth a glitchy song which Thom describes as a bass menace that developed from Eraser period leftovers.

The single is available now on 12 inch vinyl via w.a.s.t.e and will be in all the usual download stores from October 6th.

Ahead of this a video for The Hollow Earth has popped up on the web. The video directed by Raymond Salvatore Harmon couples Yorke's blips with images of London and retina burning flashes of Banksy's subversive graphics.

If you rather just listen cover your eyes and hit play:


Live Review: Editors, Birmingham Academy, 10/09/2009

Perhaps it was fitting that the new Birmingham Academy’s debut would be played by Editors, Birmingham’s biggest export (in recent years), themselves debuting a new sound.

Like the Academy of old, the new building boasts a three sided balcony overhanging the large square floor. Small additions such as tiered seating on the balcony and outdoor area look to have bumped up the capacity, but that doesn’t mean any more personal space tonight as the room is rammed.

Sadly I arrive too late to catch opening acts The Northwestern and Bombay Bicycle Club, in fact I barely have time to get a drink in before Editors begin their show.

Starting with the title track to their yet to be released third album, In This Light and On This Evening is a signal of intent: tonight’s show will be as much about the new Editors as the old.

It is the old Editors material that draws the biggest response tonight. Set highlights are the older screaming guitar and sing-along chorus (Joy Division/Interpol-lite) type tracks such as Lights, Munich and Smokers Outside of Hospital Doors.

The new Editors tracks have dropped the guitars and big choruses in favour of atmosphere and synths, of the new tracks it is only radio single Papillion that really gets the crowd moving.

I don’t doubt that the new tracks and audience response will improve with familiarity but tonight the alternating new song-old song set list makes for a something of a stop-start performance.

In the end the new Birmingham Academy succeeded in its debut night by delivering more of the same, where Editors perhaps lost a few points by trying one new trick too many.

Saturday 5 September 2009

Friday 4 September 2009

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Landfill Indie, now a real word.

Landfill Indie (or Indie Landfill) the term coined by The Word magazine's Andrew Harrison has been added to the Collins English Dictionary.

Expect the Collins entry to read something like
Indie Landfill: a derogatory term for indie music considered to be mediocre.
I think the definition of Landfill Indie should be expanded to cover
Landfill Indie: a type of bland, crowd-pleasing guitar based indie music, which propelled indie music from being independently spirited to the most mundane of mainstream pop genres. Especially popular in the last half of the 00’s indie landfill achieved it success in a way which Britpop, despite its hit records, never did. By 2007 a generation of teen TV presenters and rock wannabies rode a wave of mediocre pseudo-indie as youth TV schedules were filled with woeful, will-this-do music shows sponsored by phone companies.
Of course the definition would have to include a photo of The Kooks, Scouting For Girls, The Wombats, Pigeon Detectives, Cold War Kids, The Fratellis, The Hoosiers, Snow Patrol, The View, Keane, Travis, Razorlight, Hamfatter, The Maccabees, or maybe just a guy with a trendy haircut and a guitar.

Tuesday 25 August 2009

Young and Restless Call it Quits

Canberra via Melbourne band Young and Restless have played their last show ever :(

After four and a half years, one J-Award, a top twenty ranking in the 2007 Bawley 100 (Police! Police! #12), a handful of awesome singles, a kick arse debut album, and countless insane live shows Y&R have decided to call it quits.

The official anouncement on myspace/youngandrestlessau before the bands last ever show at The Arthouse in Melbourne.

If the pictures are anything to go by the bands last ever show was as wild as their first.

Thursday 20 August 2009

Wedding music is (still) boring

Last year, Hummer posted his wedding soundtrack here on Bawley: An attempt to dispense with the overpaid, undertalented wedding music DJ and produce something a bit more personal, and altogether better than your standard wedding fare.

Another year, and another Bawley wedding and this time it was my turn to put together a playlist that attempted to capture something of the bride and groom and keep the crowd happy.

In addition to our own choices, we also invited suggestions from the guests as to the songs that would get them on the dancefloor. The runaway most requested song was that wedding favourite, 'Groove Is In The Heart' by Deee-Lite.

With the wedding running well over an hour late, the list had to be chopped short (thanks Hummer for ably manning the decks) but here's the full list as was intended - a mix of tried and trusted floor fillers and a few leftfield choices:

Entrance Song:
I'll Be Your Mirror (string quartet version of the Velvet Underground song)

Signing the register songs:
Until Death Do Them Part - Paul Kelly
My Soul Sings - Delirious?

Exit song:
William Tell Overture

Reception entrance song:
One Day Like This - Elbow

First dance song:
The Magic Position - Patrick Wolf


Dancing songs:
Lets Stay Together - Al Green
All I Want Is You - Barry Louis Polisar
You Really Got Me - The Kinks
Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes
Dancing In The Street - David Bowie & Mick Jagger
I Don't Feel Like Dancing - Scissor Sisters
Dancing Machine - Jackson 5
Dancing Choose - TV On The Radio
Crazy In Love - Beyonce Feat. Jay-Z
I Like It I Love It - Lyrics Born
That's The Way I Like It - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Lady Madonna - The Beatles
You Never Can Tell - Chuck Berry
Dancing Queen - Abba
Jump Around - House Of Pain
Reach - S Club 7
No Sex for Ben - The Rapture
Groove Is In The Heart - Deee-Lite
All Night Disco Party - Brakes
Darts Of Pleasure - Franz Ferdinand
Mr Brightside - The Killers
A Stroke Of Genie-Us - The Strokes vs Christina Aguilera
Airbag - Radiohead cover by Easy All Stars
Live It Up - Mental As Anything
Common People - Pulp
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
Blister In The Sun - The Violent Femmes
Chelsea Dagger - Fratellis
Mrs Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel cover by The Lemonheads
Poison - Alice Cooper
Everyone Says You're So Fragile - Idlewild
Music Is My Hot Sex - CSS
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Banquet - Bloc Party
Hey Ya! - Outkast
Call Me - Blondie
Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush cover by The Futureheads
Standing In The Way Of Control - Gossip
I Bet that You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
Let's Dance To Joy Division - Wombats
Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head - New Order vs Kylie
Smack Me Baby One More Time - Britney Spears vs Prodigy
Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook remix) - Cornershop
Down Under - Men At Work
It Must Be Love - Madness
Hi Ho Silver Lining - Jeff Beck
Son Of A Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room) - Flight Of The Conchords
Lucky Man - The Verve

So Long, Farewell - from The Sound Of Music soundtrack
I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash
No Cars Go (reprise) - Arcade Fire

Tuesday 18 August 2009

These Are My Twisted Words: New Radiohead

Today Radiohead confirmed that last week’s Friday Freebie the leaked These Are My Twisted Words is indeed a new Radiohead song.

Guitarist Jonny Greenwood said,
"We've been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished. We're pretty proud of it. There's other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we've been practicing, and which we'll probably play at this summer's concerts. Hope you like it."
The band have also made the track available for free download via their W.A.S.T.E online store.

Friday 14 August 2009

Friday Freebie: These Are My Twisted Words (or are They?)

Last week we directed you to Harry Patch (In Memory Of), and then we mentioned that while Radiohead do not have any new albums planed they do intend to release the occasional one-off single or EP.

Now this:

An mp3 labelled These Are My Twisted Words appeared as on Radiohead fan’s forum AtEase late yesterday so far there has been no word from the band, but it sounds the part in fact it is so much better than Harry Patch I don’t even care if it is a fake. Check it out for yourself
Radiohead ? - These Are My Twisted Words

Holy Crap! Soundwave 2010

Since its 2004 inception the Soundwave festival has grown from a single stage at Perth’s Gravity Games in to a (nearly) national touring festival committed to presenting the best Australian and International (mostly American) hard rock, metal, punk and hardcore bands available.

The Nine Inch Nails headlines in 2009 were the festivals best attended and most successful yet and if the 2010 line up is anything to go by 2010 might just go one better.

One of alternative rock’s legendary bands Faith No More will headline with more than adequate support from emo-opera stars My Chemical Romance the inform and hopefully fully fit Jane’s Addiction, goth punks A.F.I., and the Heart On inducing Eagles of Death Metal.

Further down the bill Isis, Mesuggah, Trivium and Clutch should please the metal heads, while the punk kids can look forward to pogoing to Taking Back Sunday, Alexisonfire, The Get Up Kids and Paramore.

Soundwave 2010 will be held in Brisbane on Febuary 20th, Sydney the 21st, Melbourne 26th, Adelaide 27th and Perth on the 1st March 2010.

Here is the line up so far:
Faith No More
My Chemical Romance
Jane's Addiction
Afi
Paramore
HIM
Alexisonfire
Taking Back Sunday
Trivium
Sunny Day Real Estate
Eagles Of Death Metal
The Get Up Kids
Anti Flag
Reel Big Fish
Meshuggah
All Time Low
A Day To Remember
It Dies Today
Escape The Fate
Clutch
Isis
Gallows
A Wilhelm Scream
The Weakerthans
Emarosa
Anvil
The Devil Wears Prada
Comeback Kid
The Almost
Dance Gavin Dance
Four Year Strong
You Me At Six
Whitechapel
The Aquabats
Rolo Tomassi
Baroness
Rx Bandits
Maximum The Hormone
The Creepshow
Head to http://www.soundwavefestival.com for more Soundwave news.

Thursday 13 August 2009

Phoenix: Playground Love - Too Sexy for the Internet?

Last week I posted links to the two tracks Phoenix recorded on triple j's like a version.

Well it seems they were too sexy for the internet, as such have been pulled down by the fun police.

You can still go here for the triple j recorded interview and peformance, enjoy!

Original Post: (Warning Very Sexy)

On Friday morning two Frenchies combined when Phoenix covered Air’s Playground Love for triple j’s like a version.

Playground Love is something of a fake cover for the band, as the song was co-written by Thomas Mars and Phoenix were for some time Air's live backing band.

The band also played an acoustic version of
Lisztomania from their brilliant new album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

Download:

Phoenix – Playground Love (air cover)
Phoenix – Lisztomania (acoustic)

Saturday 8 August 2009

New Radiohead album: Not for a long while

Thom Yorke has told The Believer magazine that we will probably be waiting a long time for the next Radiohead album.
"None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off,"

"I mean, it's just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we've all said that we can't possibly dive into that again. It'll kill us."
This is not the end of the bands recorded output, Yorke goes on to talk about the possibility of one off singles and EPs. Let us hope for more Harry Patch (In Memory Of) like releases in the near future.

Thursday 6 August 2009

Harry Patch (In Memory Of): New Radiohead

Today Radiohead released a new song for download via their Dead Air Space website. Harry Patch (In Memory Of) is a tribute to the memory of Harry Patch, the last surviving World War I combat soldier, who died on July 25 at the age of 111 on July 25 and will be buried tomorrow.

Patch served from 1916-18, fighting on the battlefields of France in 1917. After decades of avoiding discussing the war, Patch, at age 100, became a sharp critic of WWI, and war in general. The lyrics to Harry Patch (In Memory Of) are all quotes from Patch himself.
i am the only one that got through
the others died where ever they fell
it was an ambush
they came up from all sides
give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
i've seen devils coming up from the ground
i've seen hell upon this earth
the next will be chemical but they will never learn
The download costs £1, with all proceeds going to the UK veterans' charity the Royal British Legion.

Buy the MP3 from Dead Air Space, or stream it from the BBC before donating straight to the Royal British Legion.

Saturday 1 August 2009

Live Review: Nine Inch Nails & Jane’s Addiction, O2 Arena, London, 15/07/2009

Arriving at the O2 late I find my seat just as a stage sized Kevin Bacon introduces Jane’s Addiction. (like this)

With no new material the reformed Jane’s Addiction are all about the hits and the characters.

The hits, they are all there, starting with the epic Three Days, before the dirty Whores and mind expanding Ocean Size. The real highlight comes mid-set when the huge Mountain Song is followed by the radio friendly Been Caught Stealing and the violent Ted, Just Admit It....

The characters are lively as ever: Perry Farrell prances around shaking his ‘maracas’ over every inch of the stage. Dave Navarro shirtless (of course) and posing (of course) as he shreds away on the guitar, Eric Avery rumbles out some massive baselines and drummer Stephen Perkins was at his thumping best in one of his last shows before succumbing to the arm infection that caused the cancellation of the band’s Australian tour.

Jane’s Addiction close out their set with Stop! before returning for the acoustic guitar, steel drum laden Jane Says.

I have just enough time to get an over-priced beer and bad hotdog before Nine Inch Nails wander onto the stage - with the house lights still on and stage fully lit up, what looks like a last minute sound check quickly becomes the opening song Now I’m Nothing. It is not until the starting crash of Terrible Lie that the lights go off, plunging the band into their more familiar darkness.

This is the bands Wave Goodbye tour, and tonight their last ever UK headline show. Predictably the set list focuses more on the band’s 20 year legacy than promoting their latest releases. That said, 1,000,000 from last year’s free download album The Slip proves as powerful as anything else in the amped up first half of the set.

Hersey, March of The Pigs, The Becoming, I’m Afraid Of Americans - the hard rock tracks kept coming for well over an hour of rock, punk, metal and industrial noise, until a welcome break is provided in the form of the more delicate La Mer and The Fragile.

The volume is turned back up and second half of the show kicks off again, Non-Entity, The Big Come Down, Wish and Survivalism prove popular but the biggest cheer of the night comes when the band is joined on stage by Gary Numan.

Numan, an early Nine Inch Nails influence and more recently guest star on The Might Boosh, sings Metal (which was covered by NIN on the Things Falling Apart EP) before a roof raising version of Cars.

The Hand That Feeds and Head Like A Hole close the main set before the band return to the stage to play Hurt for the last time on UK soil, with everyone in the 20,000 seat stadium singing along and waving goodbye.

Metal (w/ Gary Numan):



The Fragile:

Sunday 12 July 2009

Hottest 100 of All Time: Doing The Sums

The Bawley Doing the Sums quiz is back and, as promised, it has a Hottest 100 of All Time twist. Are you old school or nu rave, are your tastes mainstream or do you tend towards the obscure?

Here’s how to find out:

Stage 1: Calculate your Average Hottest 100 of All Time position:
1. Write out a list of the songs you voted for in the Triple j Hottest 100 of All Time.
2. Write down the position each of your songs came in the Triple j Hottest 100 of All Time.
3. If a song did not make the list, put down 101.
4. Add up the scores, and divide by the number of songs you voted for.
Stage 2: Calculate your Average Year Of Release :
1. Write down the songs you voted for in the Triple j Hottest 100 of All Time
2. Write down the year of release of each of your songs (tip: use Wikipedia)
3. Add up the years, and divide by the number of songs you voted for.
Combine the two parts and you have your Bawley Hottest 100 of All Time Classification. Here is how to interpret your scores :

Average Hottest 100 of All Time position:
1-21: You want to live like Common People, you vote like common people do...
22-45: You are the reincarnation of Ian Curtis, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, and Jeff Buckley....
46-62: You rarely buy an album that hasn’t gone platinum...
63-80: You appreciate the legends but have a few oddities in your CD collection...
81-92: You have the super request number on speed dial but only ever get hold music...
93-100: You take pride in liking the obscure, maybe a little too much pride...
101: You are living on a different planet....
Average Year of Release:
before 1950: ...and you enjoy the finer things in life such as Mozart, Wagner, and Holst.
1950s: ...and you long for the days when R&B was played on the guitar and Doo Wop was more than a ringtone.
1960s: ....and you probably ate the brown acid at Woodstock causing you to forget that most Hippy music is shit.
1970s: ....and you fondly remember when protest songs were about Vietnam and feminism rather than Iraq and bushism.
1980s: ....and you see yourself as either a post punk minimalist, or a spandex and sequins covered glam rocker.
1990s: ....and you look good in your grunge styled ripped denim/flannel shirt combo but lose some style points for the floppy britpop hair.
2000s: ....and you have room for over 20,000 songs on your ipod but still can’t find space for anything that is not..., what is it this week? emo, garage rock revival, post-punk revival, dance-punk, nu rave, indie physicadelica, The Datsuns, Klaxons, MGMT, Passion Pit, The Temper Trap
2009: ...and you might have accidently submitted a copy of this week’s NME instead of your Hottest 100 votes.
Stage 3: The Result
1. Combine the two sentences from above and
2. Post your Bawley Hottest 100 of All Time Classification in the comments section below.
Here is an example:
The CureA Forest (1980) - 101
Joy Division - Dead Souls (1981) - 101
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (2007) - 101
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds (2005) - 101
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me (2006) - 99
New Order - Blue Monday (1983) - 32
OutKast - Hey Ya! (2003) – 101
Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place (2000) - 101
Hot Chip - Over And Over (2006) – 101
The CureIn Between Days (1985) - 101
My Average Hottest 100 of All Time Position Score: 93.9
My Average Year Of Release Score: 1996

I am the kind of person who takes pride in liking the obscure, maybe a little too much pride... and I look good in my grunge styled ripped denim/flannel shirt combo but lose some style points for combining it with floppy britpop hair.
And some scores from some Triple j type people:

Richard Kingsmill
Top Ten: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100_alltime/toptens/richard_kingsmill.htm

Average Hottest 100 of All Time Position Score: 86.6
Average Year of Release Score: 1992

Richard you..have the super request number on speed dial but only ever get hold music...and you look good in your grunge styled ripped denim/flannel shirt combo but lose some style points for the floppy britpop hair.
Bob Evans
Top Ten: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100_alltime/toptens/bob_evans.htm

Average Hottest 100 of All Time Position Score: 82
Average Year of Release: 1984

Bob you...have the super request number on speed dial but only ever get hold music......and you see yourself as either a post punk minimalist, or a spandex and sequins covered glam rocker.
Wil Anderson
Top Ten: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100_alltime/toptens/wil_anderson.htm

Average Hottest 100 of All Time Position Score: 63.3
Average Year of Release: 1992

Wil you...appreciate the legends but have a few oddities in your CD collection...and you look good in your grunge styled ripped denim/flannel shirt combo but lose some style points for the floppy britpop hair.
Rosie Beaten
Top Ten: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100_alltime/toptens/rosie_beaton.htm

Average Hottest 100 of All Time Position Score: 86.1
Average Year of Release: 2001

Rosie you...have the super request number on speed dial but only ever get hold music....and you have room for over 20,000 songs on your ipod but still can’t find space for anything that is not..., what is it this week? emo, garage rock revival, post-punk revival, dance-punk, nu rave, indie physicadelica, The Datsuns, Klaxons, The Presets, MGMT, Passion Pit, The Temper Trap
What is your Bawley Hottest 100 of All Time Classification? tell us below.