Wolfgang Armadeus Freebie

Back at the start of the year we gave you a heads up to expect a new album from Phoenix in the Northern Spring, now the band have posted this note:
Yes, the new Phoenix album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix will be available to everyone everywhere on May 25th.

Staying with the French lads this week’s Friday Freebie is the first track to be made available from the new album, the song is called 1901 and you can download it directly from the bands website.

Lights go out Trent blogs

During a 45 minute power outage at last night’s Nine Inch Nails Sydney headline show Trent Reznor took the time to keep the audience informed via a mega-phone and (I guess for iPhone owning concert goers) via his blog on nin.com.

2.24.09: Power's back on
The show stopped for around 40 minutes while the building fixed the
power. Now resuming full set.

More news for iPhone holding NIN fans, if you haven’t already done so jump on your apps store and get yourself Tap Tap Revenge: Nine Inch Nails Edition – warning it is addictive.

Dark Was The Night

Over the past twenty years Red Hot Organisation have raised around 7 million dollars for HIV/AIDS causes around the world on the way they have released a bunch of star-studded compilation albums.

Red Hot’s latest offering Dark Was The Night is curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National and has a track list that reads like a roll call of indie rock’s brightest stars.

Without any specific theme the collection of covers, collaborations and new tracks work surprisingly well together. The first disk has a more folky feel; starting with Knotty Pine an unlikely collaboration between Dirty Projectors and David Byrne. This is followed by Cello Song on which The Books produce a lofi fuzz for Jose Gonzalez balance his delicate voice.

Other highlights of the first disk are new tracks from Bon Iver (Brackett, W1) and Yeasayer (Tightrope).

Proving to be more than just curators with a lot of friends The National also contribute So Far Around the Bend, before Bryce Dessner teams up with Antony Hegarty to cover Bob Dylan’s I Was Young When I Left Home, and brother Aaron Dessner works with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) on new track Big Red Machine.

Disk one ends on a high with Stufjan Stevens’ brilliant version of You Are The Blood, stretching The Castanets original out into an 11 minute journey.

Starting with new tracks from Spoon, The Arcade Fire, Beirut and My Morning Jacket but it is not until Dave Sitek’s version of With A Girl Like You that the second disk really reaches the standard set on the first. Sitek gives The Troggs original a warm fuzzy reverb drowned sound not dissimilar to that of his own band TV On The Radio.

Blood Pt.2 is a re-working of You Are The Blood, this time Stufjan Stevens' work gets added production from Buck 65 and rapping from Serengeti - result: still brilliant.

The New Pornographers and Yo La Tengo make great contributions on Hey Snow White and Gentle Hour respectively. Sigur Rós singer Jón Þór Birgisson appearing under the name Riceboy Sleeps provides spacey ambient track Happiness, and Andrew Bird does a superb job on The Handsome Family’s The Giant of Illinois.

The only complaint I can have with Dark Was The Night is that with 30+ tracks spread over two hours is where do I find the time to give this album the attention it deserves.

The Presets to play Grand Final

The FFA have confirmed Bawley favourites The Presets as the official entertainment act for the 2009 A-League Grand Final.

The Presets will play a three song set including A-League anthem My People (Bawley 2007 #33), so far there has been no hints on what other songs they might play but I am hopeful they will cover the New Order football classic World In Motion. (video)

Of course pulling off such a cover would mean recruiting an A-League star to perform the John Barnes rap section, I can see Melbourne hard man Kevin Muscat busting the rhymes, or perhaps Adelaide fans would rather see Cassio take the mic Fo Realz!

Bawley Wants You! (to review Nine Inch Nails for us)

We already know that Nine Inch Nails Soundwave headline shows will be among their last before disappearing for a while.

What we don’t know is just how mighty these farewell shows will be. But I have a suspicion they are going to be flip’n awesome.

Reviews of the band's recent New Zealand shows have been positive, saying the newest line up is as fierce as ever playing songs from across the bands 20 year back catalogue, as well as new tracks from the 2008 albums Ghosts I-IV and The Slip.

The light show promises to be huge, so huge in fact Soundwave organisers have issued a warning recommending that those who may be susceptible to epileptic fits or loss of consciousness avoid the performance.

A fierce band with a seizure inducing light show - like I said, flip'n awesome!

Are you going to be there? Would you like to review the shows for Bawley?

We are without tickets and would love for one of you to send us your pictures and reviews telling all how it went down, if you are up for it get in touch so we can get you on board.

Come Saturday (on Friday)

New York band The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are one of the leaders in the current shoegaze revival (nu-gaze – yuk!).

Playing dream-pop with influences that touch on a million of my favourite bands The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are hard not to love, you can listen for yourself with this week’s Friday Freebie: Come Saturday is taken from their self-titled debut album and can be downloaded here.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart is out now in the US, international release dates will come later in the year.

A Wave Goodbye

Twenty years after their first releases it is time for Nine Inch Nails to disappear for a while is the key message from Trent Reznor’s latest post on nin.com.

Before they wave goodbye Nine Inch Nails will be doing a string of less choreographed shows with support from Jane's Addiction.

Read the full text for yourself here.

Congratulations!!!!

Congratulations to KTMac for correctly guessing the artist and track name of each song in the Bawley 100 – Mega Mix, as promised a very special prize is heading your way.

Here are the answers:

0.00 - 0.15 Neon Neon - I Told Her On Alderaan
0.14 - 0.50 Hot Chip - One Pure Thought
0.38 - 1.31 My Morning Jacket - Touch Me I Am Going To Scream Pt II
1.01 - 1.40 Lily Allen - The Fear
1.37 - 1.53 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - We Call Upon The Author
1.39 - 2.50 Santogold - L.E.S. Artists
2.28 - 3.27 Architecture in Helsinki - That Beep
3.03 - 3.25 Bon Iver - Skinny Love
3.23 - 5.05 The Presets - This Boy Is In Love
4.18 - 5.30 Sparkadia - This Boy Is In Love
5.23 - 6.05 Flight of the Conchords - Inner City Pressure
5.55 - 6.22 Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
6.21 - 6.30 Bjork - Nattura
6.28 - 6.52 Kanye West - Love Lockdown
6.40 - 7.40 Band of Horses - No One Is Gonna Love You
7.11 - 8.05 Lyrics Born - I Like It, I Love It
7.40 - 9.00 Elbow - One Day Like This
8.30 - 9.47 TV On The Radio - Golden Age
8.58 - 10.04 MGMT - Time To Pretend

If you have yet to download the Bawley 100 - Mega Mix you can still get it here.

If I Had a Heart of Chaos

This week’s Friday freebie is a double act from Australian indie alt-country group The Howling Bells and Swedish electronic songstress Fever Ray.

Head to www.howlingbells.net for your free copy of Into The Chaos, the lead single from Radio Wars, The Howling Bells new album their first since 2006's critically acclaimed debut.

Depending on where you live Radio Wars is either out now or will be available from the first week of March.

If new stuff from The Howling Bells doesn’t float your boat perhaps you would be more interested in Fever Ray.

Fever Ray, better known as Karin Dreifer Andersson (one half of The Knife) has recorded an album of atmospheric electro pop songs. Triple j are offering an exclusive remix of Fever Ray’s first single If I Had a Heart. You can download it here.

Fever Ray's self titled debut album is available for download now and physically from March 18th.

Download for free, donate for a good cause.

Wee are the world. Wee are the people.

Last month, at a Metallica concert in Boston, off-duty police officer Joseph Houston allegedly urinated into a nearby seat and on to a fan. Houston was ejected from the concert and now faces a disciplinary hearing.

Steven Wells asks When did rock music become so prissy that taking a leak in your concert seat – a seat that you've paid for – is such a terrible no-no?

Let's declare March 2009 Rock Urine Freedom Month

From Jetstream to Airstream

Last Friday we bought you news of the new Doves download, Jetstream. If, for this Friday, you were, for some reason, looking for another free MP3 download with the word ‘stream’ in its title from a Northern English indie band, well, you’re in luck.

Go carefully to www.gomeztheband.com to download ‘Airstream Driver’, the first taste of the band's 6th album, ‘A New Tide’. I really like it. Lots of bass. And cowbell.

The album’s out March 28 in Australia, two days later in the UK, and the day after that in the US.

Bawley 100 - 2008 Mega Mix

In 2008 mash up master Girl Talk fed the animals with his album Feed The Animals. Now it is our turn...

The Bawley 100 - 2008 Mega Mix is a (very) amateur effort containing a number of highlights draw from the 2008 Bawley 100. The Megamix can be downloaded from here.

The first downloader to correctly post the Artist and Track name of each song used in the Mega mix will win a special prize.

Here is a Tip: There are clues in the cover art. (Included with the mp3 in the zip file - get it here)