Bawley (Hearts) 2015: Top 5 Covers of 2015

5. Mark Ronson - I Sat By The Ocean (Queens Of The Stone Age)

 This cover has all the swagger of the original (here).

4. GWAR - She Bop (Cyndi Lauper) / Blitzkrieg Bop (The Ramones)

This is ridiculous (here).

3. Tame Impala - Confide In Me (Kylie Minogue)

 Ever wondered how Kylie would sound with vintage synths and an unnecessary space rock guitar solo? Wonder no more (here).

2. Courtney Barnett - Shivers (The Boys Next Door)

Courtney Barnett gets dark, covers early Nick Cave. Shivers (here).

1. Hot Chip - Dancing In The Dark (Bruce Springsteen) / All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem)

Hot Chip invite The Boss back onto the dance floor, leave with all their friends.

Bawley (Hearts) 2010: Top 3 Concerts of the Year: Hummer

This year I missed both the European and Australian summers which (as well as leaving me with the whitest skin I have had in my life) means I also missed the chance to see a lot of touring bands in 2010.

I saw too few shows to produce a Top 5, but a few of the live acts I did see stood out from the rest. Here is my Top 3 concerts of 2010:

3. LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, Horden Pavilion, Sydney, 26/07/2010

The LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip show delivered everything it promised and more. Hot Chip called the otherwise absent Joe Goddard in via video conference to recreate the highlights of their brilliant One Life Stand album. LCD Soundsystem again proved that they are the best live dance band, with the best songs. (full review)

2. Whitley, The Maram, Erindale, 18/08/2010

One of the best but also one of the strangest shows I attended all year, Whitley's final ever Canberra show was full of beautifully depressed songs, artist audience clashes and suicidal ramblings.

"this one is about suicide" (full review)

1. Band of Horses, Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 29/07/2010

A serious stomach bug kept me from seeing Band of Horses at Glastonbury in 2008, two years to the day later I have my first chance to see the hirsute band in action. The band's huge set stamps along at a great pace, new songs stand their own, but it was seeing this band play There Is A Ghost, The Funeral, and Ode To LRC that made tonight worth the two year wait. (full review)

Bawley (Hearts) 2010: Top 5 Covers of the Year

5. Klaxons - Bad Romance (Lady Gaga)

Every list of best-of-covers must contain at least one cool indie band covering a massive pop song, so here it is. (link - skip to 2:52)

4. Regina Spektor - No Surprises (Radiohead)

Spektor recorded this song in support of Médecins Sans Frontières. It is a great cover done for a great cause. Buy the charity single on iTunes or listen to the Triple j recording (link - 10:40)

3. Gorillaz - Crystallised (The Xx)

Gorillaz had a huge 2010, taking their Plastic Beach tour from Glasto to Damascus to Sydney. Along the way they stopped to record a few tracks on Radio 1's Live Lounge. Originals Melancoly Hill and Doncamatic were overshadowed by this brilliant cover of The Xx's Bawley 100 wining track Crystalised. (video)

2. Grizzly Bear - Boy From School (Hot Chip)

Grizzly Bear covering Hot Chip could have been a disaster, luckily guys remembered the vocals and pulled off this brilliant cover. (link - 11:55)

1. Beck's Record Club - Never Tear Us Apart (INXS)

In 2010 Beck's record club covered two drastically different albums INXS's Kick and Yanni's Yanni, Live at the Acropolis. Far and away the highlight of all these sessions came when St. Vincent, Os Mutantes, Liars, Annie Clark and Beck took on INXS's iconic 80's teen movie song Never Tear Us Apart. Just watch.

Hot Chip - One Life Stand / We Have Remixes EP

From the cautionary tales of Thieves In the Night to the emotive pleas of Take It In, One Life Stand is Hot Chip's electro-pop ode to commitment. By keeping tightly on this theme it is also Hot Chip's most consistent album.

Many people are saying that One Life Stand is Hot Chip's grown up record. Sure, much of the album is slower, smother and more considered than the bands previous work, but it is in no way less fun. Hand Me Down Your Love gets things moving with a kicking backbeat before the title track delivers what is perhaps the best piece of pop music I have heard in years.

It is not all slow and sensible, as the reins are loosened a little on euphoric dance tracks I Feel Better and We Have Love, both of which sound like they have been pulled straight from the ecstasy filled raves of the early 90s. (This is a good thing.)

If One Night Stand is about the commitment required to live your own one life stand, the We Have Remixes EP explores the fun that can be had when others are invited into your bedroom.

The four track EP sees Todd Edwards apply a drum machine and a high gloss shine to Hand Me Down Your Love, the result a massive club choon, while Caribou use reverb soaked vocals and nulled beats to give Brothers an ethereal feel.

Perhaps the EP's highlight is Hot City's deranged take on We Have Love, the bpm have been turned up, the bass fattened out and the vocals chopped apart until the original is barely recognisable.

Final track the Osbourne remix of Take It In is lounge house at its best. If this track is not pouring out of expensive cocktail bars this summer, I will be an apple mojito.

Live Review: Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, Horden Pavilion, Sydney, 26/07/2010

Dear Nick,

I am sorry I sold on your ticket to this show, I know you were not there please don't be jealous as I tell you how the night panned out.

After sharing dinner with friends I arrive at Fox Studios. The crowd milling around outside the Horden Pavilion are in good spirits: grabbing drinks, chatting, wondering just what kind of show they will get on this Monday night.

Not one for standing around in the cool winter air, I move inside just in time to see Hot Chip take the stage. I am sure my ticket said doors opened at 8.00...it is 8.06 and Hot Chip have already played Boy From School! Guess no one likes to stay up too late on a weeknight.

As the rest of the crowd start to realise that Hot Chip are actually on stage, some people run out to grab their mates and I make my way forward to claim my own primo piece of dance floor.

Once at the front of the stage I realise that Joe Goddard is absent (paternity leave apparently), replaced tonight by a massive Holly-esk (Red Dwarf) head on a tv screen. Joe's head bobs along singing his parts - a nice touch and I am glad they made the effort, but sadly the vocals are slightly out of sync and as well as missing his vocals, many of the songs miss his fat base synth.

Hot Chip graduated from opening band to headline act long ago and the hit laden set only confirms this. The slinky slinky One Pure Thought transitioned into One Life Stand which tonight features the best use of steel drums since Jesse (from Full House) joined The Beach Boys on Kokomo.

Over and Over had the whole room jumping, before Hand Me Down Your Love and Take It In showcased the bands sensitive side. Hold On and I Feel Better reminded everyone that Hot Chip still love to rave before the set came to an end with a rocking version of Ready For The Floor.

I am Ready For the Floor indeed, this night is only half over.

Nick, you would have hated the long beer lines and toilet crush between sets. I survived both before resuming a position at the front of the room and looking up at a massive disco ball while waiting for what could be LCD Soundsystem's last ever Sydney show.

The band arrive on stage to a massive cheer, the loudest of course reserved for frontman James Murphy. 40-odd years old, slightly grey, generous middle age spread hidden under a plain white t-shirt...I don't know why, but this guy just oozes cool.

Us vs Them starts the show, James Murphy's lyrics confirming what everyone already knows...The Time Has Come, The Time Has Come, The Time Has Come, The Time Has Come, Today ...The Time Has Come, The Time Has Come... and it is going to be awesome.

The shout out house party stylings of Drunk Girls gets limbs flying, Get Innocuous! keeps everyone dancing while Pow Pow turns up the funk. A wild version of Daft Punk Is Playing at My House leaves me covered in sweat (most of it belonging to the topless guy next to me - yuck). All My Friends is still LCD's best song: tonight it comes with a Happy Birthday message and impromptu Love Is In the Air-based intro.

The set loses its way for a few songs before the post punk of Movement brings the room back to life. Then Yeah has everyone reaching for the ceiling as the band leaves the stage.

The band return for Losing My Edge before playing New York I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down which cleaverly morphs into a cover of Jay-Z/Alicia Keys Empire State Of Mind, a wonderful end to a great show.

I am a little disappointed that cracking new tracks Home and Dance Yrslf Clean were left out, but it is hard to argue with a band playing a 'best of' set on this their farewell tour.

I am sorry I sold your ticket. I owe you a night of great indie dance music (and about $85).

- Hummer

LCD Soundsystem's set is being replayed on triplej: 8pm on Monday 6th September and again at 5pm on Sunday 12 September.

A New (Years) Music Resolution

A friend of Bawley recently pointed me to Andre’s Resolution 2010. In short, Resolution 2010 is a positive commitment that in 2010 you only listen to music released in 2010.

The rules (exceptions to):

• Re-issues and re-masters released in 2010 count as 2010 releases.
• For the month of January you are allowed to listen to anything from 2009. (edit: I suggest the Bawley 100 – 2009)
• I will probably come up with more rules as I think of them because not listening to Bad Brains for a year is starting to make me sad.

This got me thinking, could I do this? What would I miss? Would 2010 be a better year for new music than 2009? Such negative questions are not really in the spirit of Resolution 2010 so I turned the question on its head: if only listened to music released in 2010, what would I have to look forward to?

There are the already released albums from Vampire Weekend (Contra) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (IRM). Contra is more of the same preppy afro-beat indie-pop that made Vampire Weekend’s debut album so enjoyable, while IRM (sung by Gainsbourg but written and produced by Beck) is as good as anything Beck has done since Sea Change (2002).

On February 9th Hot Chip will release One Life Stand. With great reviews so far and the title track sitting on the high rotation list at triple j, BBC Radio 1 and 6Music, One Life Stand could be the album that sees Hot Chip break into the mainstream (without losing the their status as a critic’s favourite).

Daddy G returns for Massive Attack’s first album in five years, Heligoland, also set for a February 9th release. The album drops a lot of what made 100th Window pants and picks up a massive list of guest vocalists and collaborators including Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Guy Garvey, Martina Topley-Bird, Horace Andy, and Tunde Adibempe. If the Splitting The Atom preview EP and last year’s live shows are anything to go by, Heligoland should be brilliant.

Back in September The Knife provided the soundtrack to a Danish opera based on the life of Charles Darwin. The opera was called Tomorrow, In A Year and a studio version of the soundtrack is due for release on March 1st. I doubt anything stranger will come out all year.

After some time spent writing Chinese operas and fronting the re-formed Blur, Damon Albarn is back with Gorillaz third album: Plastic Beach, out March 8th. Once again the list of collaborators is impressive, drawing big names from hip hop (Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, De la Soul), rock (Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Mark E Smith, Gruff Rhys) and soul (Bobby Womack). Albarn is promising it will be Gorillaz "most pop album".

No dates yet, but LCD Soundsystem are also due to release a new album in March. Sadly, it may also be the band’s last album. Main man James Murphy told NME "I know I said (LCD Soundsystem was over) last time and things changed, but I don't like to repeat myself."

Tipped for an early 2010 release is the next album from Interpol. Drummer Sam Fogarino has said it will be more Turn On The Bright Lights than Our Love To Admire which is a good thing.

Later in the year, details of upcoming releases get sketchier. But there are some exciting albums on the horizon: The National and Band of Horses are both suggesting they will have new releases, as are The Avalanches and The Panics.

Despite the retirement of Nine Inch Nails as a touring band, Trent Reznor has said “2010 has a number of things planned including new material from nine inch nails and something else that isn't nine inch nails.”

I know I could not go a year without listening to The Cure. Luckily they also have a 2010 release planned, the 21st anniversary remastered re-issue of Disintegration. Due in the first half of the year, the release will be a three CD set, containing the original album (remastered) , twenty previously unreleased b-sides and demos from the era, and a remixed and extended version of the Entreat live album.

While 2010 looks like being a great year for new music I still don’t know if I am up for the Resolution 2010 commitment, what about you?

What are you looking forward to in 2010? What would you miss if you were to take up the challenge?

Little Boots + Blur =

Also worth checking out:

Little Boots doing 'Time' To Pretend' and 'Ready For The Floor' on her crazy Tenorion thing. Her debut album's out on Monday.

We Could Be Heroes

Bawley hearted artists such as Beck, Elbow, Hot Chip, Peaches, Franz Ferdinand, TV On The Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have recorded covers for an album raising money for charity.

War Child:Heroes is a compilation put together by the organisation War Child, which works to protect children in the world’s most dangerous war zones.

The War Child organisation has long used music to raise money and awareness for the cause. For their latest project War Child:Heroes they asked music legends like Blondie, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, The Ramones and The Clash to pick new artists to cover one of their songs.

The 15 track CD will be out in most countries on the 16th of February sadly Australians will have to wait until February 21st.

Here's the full track listing:

1. Beck - Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Bob Dylan)
2. Scissor Sisters - Do The Strand (Roxy Music)
3. Lily Allen - Straight To Hell (The Clash)
4. Duffy - Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney)
5. Elbow - Running To Stand Still (U2)
6. TV On The Radio - Heroes (David Bowie)
7. Hot Chip - Transmission (Joy Division)
8. The Kooks - Victoria (The Kinks)
9. Estelle - Superstition (Stevie Wonder)
10.Rufus Wainwright - Wonderful/ Song For Children (Brian Wilson)
11. Peaches - Search And Destroy (Iggy Pop)
12. The Hold Steady - Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen)
13. The Like - You Belong To Me (Elvis Costello)
14. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (The Ramones)
15. Franz Ferdinand - Call Me (Blondie)

New music: 5 for 2009

Here are five fairly randomly chosen new acts from around the world (I'm defining 'new' as 'haven't released a debut album yet') that it might be worth keeping an eye out for in 2009. Or not. Who knows? their albums might all be rubbish. We'll have to wait and see....

5. Soko

Slightly mental French singer Soko first emerged last year with that 'I'll Kill Her' song (number 5 in last year's Bawley 100) and judging by her Myspace, there's a bit more where that came from. She's apparently working on her debut album. Myspace

4. Jason Lytle

This one's a bit of a cheat, because Jason Lytle had been making music for ages as Grandaddy's frontman. But his debut solo album is due next year, and word has it, it's going to be up there with his best work. But they always say that. Myspace (see also: Sew Low Owl Bum)

3. Sui Zhen

Australian singer songwriter Sui Zhen has been playing a lot around Sydney recently, with her excellent band. With a voice somewhere between Joanna Newsome and Feist, and some great quirky indie-pop tunes, her debut, should be one to look out for in 09. Myspace.

2. Little Boots.

One of the many 'girls with synths' that are popping up all over the place at the moment and should be a big feature of the coming year. Little Boots has been working with Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor to create some great wonky electro pop. Download a brilliant 45 minute long mixtape from her myspace.

1. Mumford & Son

Peers of the likes of Laura Marling, Johnny Flynn and the like, This painfully shy four piece do "Folk/Bluegrass/Afrobeat" very well. Really good songs, too. Myspace

Bawley (Hearts) 2008: Top 5 Covers of the year

5. Jay-Z – Wonderwall (Oasis)

'For those that didn't get the memo, my name is Jay-Z and I'm pretty f***ing awesome.'

Well maybe, maybe not, either way there is no denying that the rappers response to the “No Hip-Hop at Glasto” press was right on the mark. (link)

4. Mobius Band – Digital Love (Daft Punk)

Taken from Mobius Band’s EP of Valentine’s Day themed covers, this largely acoustic version of the track could prove that Daft Punk are Human After All. (link)

3. Radiohead – The Rip (Portishead)

Who other than Radiohead could pull of covering this sweet but morbid Portishead track? (link)

2. Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend)

The only thing that feels more un-natural than Peter Gabriel is Peter Gabriel singing “It feels so unnatural. Peter Gabriel, too” (link)

1. Sparkadia – This Boy’s In Love (The Presets)

We love Sparkadia’s lush take on The Presets smash. It seems you love it too, our post linking to the mp3 was Bawley’s most read article in 2008. (link)

Bawley (Hearts) 2008: Top 5 Concerts of the year: Hummer

I don’t quite have the ego to tell you what were the Top 5 concerts of 2008, but I can list the 5 gigs I enjoyed most.

5. MGMT, Carling Academy, Birmingham, 10/11/2008

MGMT successfully blend massive singles like Time To Pretend, Electric Feel, and Kids in to a set of spaced out psychedelic rock providing a mind altering experience you can sing along to. (review)

4. TV On The Radio, Academy 2, Birmingham, 7/12/2008

This show would make my Top 5 for the encore alone, Family Tree, A Method, Let The Devil In and Staring at the Sun: does it get any better? (review)

3. LCD Soundsystem, Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 26/01/2008

Touring on the back of the brilliant Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem (with an Arcade Fire cameo) deliver a brilliant set of intelligent dance and post punk music.

2. Hot Chip, Carling Academy, Birmingham, 29/10/2008

From Max Tundra’s bizzaro support slot, to the indie disco of Over and Over and the emotional sing-along closer, this show was the most fun I had inside all year. (review)

1. Glastonbury, Worthy Farm, Somerset, 26-29/06/2008

Glastonbury + Sunshine = My number one concert of the year. (review)

Folk Chip

Following their successful UK tour Hot Chip are teaming up with beardy folk legend Robert Wyatt for a new EP.

The release will consist of Wyatt’s reworking of three Hot Chip tracks: Made In The Dark, Whistle For Will and We're Looking For A Lot Of Love as well a new version of One Pure Thought as remixed by Geese.

The EP will be available on the band's website from December 15th and it will be free.

Live Review: Hot Chip, Birmingham Academy, 29/10/2008

After a short drive up the M5 we find ourselves doing laps of Birmingham looking for a carpark close to the Carling Academy. We park in possibly the darkest/dodgiest carpark in all of the Midlands, but no time to waste - we are here to see Hot Chip.

Inside the venue, most of the large crowd are standing around the bar swilling hideous lager while chatting. Everything changes the when Max Tundra, a balding middle aged man dressed in a neckerchief and sports coat over white flannel pyjamas, walks on to the stage.

For close to 45 minutes Max Tundra is unstoppable, seemingly playing two, three, four songs at once while dancing manically and switching between toy instruments quicker than you can say “My First Xylophone”. It is totally insane, information overload, unlistenable but impossible not to love. Set highlights were Will Get Fooled Again, a tale of internet love and myspace etiquette, and closing song So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersen, Goodbye - yes, from the sound of music – Max Tundra was brilliant. Need more evidence of his insanity? How about a 700 word essay on leggings.

Headliners Hot Chip attract a diverse crowd but nu-rave, indie, dance, rock, and pop fans rise as one when they hear the slinky riff of set opener One Pure Thought, and the cheering doesn’t let up for a second as the band rush though Made In The Dark album tracks: Out At the Pictures, Bendable Poseable, Shake A Fist and Touch Too Much.

Over and Over proves to be just as nuts live as it is every week at your favourite indie nightclub, while new track Alley Cats is a different kind of repetitive, drilling its way into your head as you sway along. If this is where the new Hot Chip album is going, I very much look forward to its 2009 release.

The band’s current single Wrestlers is a guilty pleasure, but the cheesy R’n’B beat, the call response rap and the lame sexual innuendo is even more adorable when you can see that it is being sung by the nerdiest band on earth.

Finally, they play Made in the Dark highlight Four To The Floor as giant white balloons start spilling from the ceiling. The balloons are a great touch and serve as the perfect distraction while waiting for the inevitable encore.

Returning to the stage, the band burst the last of the balloons before playing My Piano and No Fit State. The set finishes proper with a swaying live version of Nothing Compares 2 U/In the Privacy of Our Love. The nu-ravers, indie kids, pop lovers, rockers and dance fiends all filter out, unanimous in their praise for the band.

Before heading off to see if the car is still in once piece, I get chatting with bass synth player Joe Goddard. All really I want to ask is “how did Hot Chip come to book Max Tundra?” But I already know the answer: “how could they not?!”

Wonderfully Crunchy Camera Phone Footage (most of) Wrestlers:

Big Day Out Second Announcement: Prepare to be underwhelmed

Because Bawley loves talking about Big Day Out (and because every time we do, more people visit us), here's news of that much anticipated Second Announcement .

And let's hope you weren't holding your breath, because frankly, there's not much there. There's former SOAD frontman Serj Tankian, loveable electrogeeks Hot Chip, one-hit Cure wannabes Black Kids, and quite good rapper Lupe Fiasco.

And, give or take a Vines or a Holy Ghost, that's about it. Another weak announcement by a festival determined to play it safe.

Sydney Festival announcement comes tomorrow (and with it, the rest of the ATP lineup). Should be much better.