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.

Live Review: Josh Pyke and Emma Pollock, Academy 2, Bristol, 15/03/2010

Tonight Ricky Gervais is performing his brand of fat jokes and self-important celebrity humour to a sell out crowd at Collson House. Just across the road, a privileged few are witness to an evening of wonderful indie music courtesy of Josh Pyke and Emma Pollock.

Pretty blonde duo Heart Shaped Things warm up the small crowd with cute indie folk songs about boys, festivals and apple cores. The highlight (and lowlight) of their short set is a cover of Lady Gaga's Pokerface.

Heart Shaped Things have barely left the stage and the house lights are still fully lit, but Josh Pyke is due on stage next and the front of stage audience is growing noticibley Australian and female. Like all Australian ladies they are impossibly good looking and their broad accents can be heard saying "I first saw him with Bob Evans", "Nah, you flaming galah, it had to be 2006 supporting Sarah Blasko", "He is so cute, and that beard! Wowie".

After apologising for his heavily jet-lagged state, Josh Pyke opens with Memories and Dust. We're more use to hearing Josh Pyke's songs with a full band but tonight he is very much solo, and what the peformance loses in harmonies and power is more than made up for by the intimacy of one man with his guitar.

The one man show thing seems to work for Pyke as well - he is relaxed, friendly, and humble. After playing the ever popular Sew My Name, Pyke addresses a girl in the front row, "Sorry, I think I had my eyes closed every time you tried to take a photo". He then poses, pretending to play the guitar with mouth slightly open, so she can re-take the photo. Pyke then opens the show up for requests, and omeone crys out for Summer - I am not sure if this is a song request or just a plea for a break from this long cold winter, but Pyke plays the song anyway.

The set is pretty evenly split between Memories and Dust and Chimneys Afire. The only new song of the night is Factory Fires - typical Pyke, a sentimental story sung in too many words. Before finishing his set with Vibrations, Pyke teases the audience with clues of a new band he has been playing with, Basement Birds. Made up of Pyke, Kevin Mitchell (aka Bob Evans) and members of Eskimo Joe, the band is something of an Aussie super group.

At the end of his set Pyke takes up a position at the merchandise desk where he spends the next hour or so talking, signing CDs and posing for photos with a long and patient queue of punters.

By the time Emma Pollock and band arrive on stage, most of the Australians have gone home. While enjoying the fuller sound of Pollock's band, my lack of familiarity with the songs left me bored and headed in the same direction - sorry Emma.

Viva La 6Music

Earlier this year we asked you to get on board the Save 6Music bandwagon by submitting your opinions to the BBC Trust Strategy Review.

This week the Trust has published the review's initial conclusions:

The Trust does not think a convincing case has been made, as presented, for the closure of 6 Music. The Trust does not agree that there is a consistent strategic rationale for closure on grounds either of promoting digital development or market impact.

Hooray, The best way to celebrate would have to be by Listening to 6Music.

Baby name or band I found on MySpace?

So it seems that all my friends have gone and had babies lately. For the most part they have chosen names from the top half of the popular names list - solid, sensible, classic names. Boring!

With a few more babies due this spring, I felt it was time to seed the minds of future parents with some celebrity-inspired baby names. With thanks to 6Music’s Jon Holmes, here is Bawley’s "Baby Name or Band I Found on MySpace?" Quiz.

Example:

Bluebell Madonna...baby name…daughter of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell

Alexisonfire...band…post hardcore band who describe their music as "the sound of two Catholic high-school girls in mid-knife-fight"

Lets see how you go with the rest:

(UPDATED WITH ANSWERS)

James…band...with a very dull name
TAIO CRUZ…band...UK Urbanistas
Moxie Crimefighter...baby name...daughter of Aristocrats producer Penn Jillette

Memphis Eve...baby name...daughter of Irish dooche bag Bono
Jermajesty...baby name...son of Jermain Jackson
Moon Unit...baby name...Frank Zappa's oldest daughter
Diva Thin Muffin…baby name...daughter of Frank Zappa, secretly pleased ‘Moon Unit’ was already taken.
Chiddy Bang…band...Sample crazy 'kids'

Audio Science…baby name...son of actress Shannyn Sossamon
Diesel & Denim…baby names...Toni Braxton’s two sons
Belle & Sebastian...band...of the brown cardigan wearing kind
Daughtry…band...caution may contain traces of American idol

Blue Angel…baby name...daughter of The Edge, he is in U2
Pilot Inspektor…baby name...son of actor Jason Lee
Sage Moonblood…baby name...son of Sylvester Stallone
MadisonFoxx…band...looking for a bassist if you are in the Brisbane area and interested
Bruno Mars…band...and experimental soul

Jazz Domino…baby name...daughter of the late Joe Strummer
Lark Song…baby name...adopted child of Mia Farrow
Little Red…band...hamony loving rock band from victoria

Satchel…baby name...daughter of director Spike Lee
Zowie Bowie…baby name...daughter of David Bowie, of course

Velvet Elvis…band...Detroit Hip Hop act, no connection to Eminem

Jim Jupiter…band...die beste Coverband in Deutschland

Speck Wildhorse…baby name...son of singer John (Cougar) Mellencamp
Aurelius Cy…baby name...son of The Body; Elle Macpherson
Cobra Starship...band...New York emo band
Bobnoxious…band...Bobnoxious rock!!!!

Kal-El Coppola…baby name...Nicholas Cage with a name like that you have to ask is he a worse actor or parent?

Anaal Nathrakh…band...black metal band, with a name like that could they be anything else

While the answers and their celebrity parents will be revealed later in the week, we will have to wait a few months to see what inspiration these names provide future parents, including Bawley's own Nick.

@Saul Williams poet, rapper, Ghanaian football fan.

	@Saul Williams The ball is all our hopes & dreams wound tight, kicked left, kicked right. The goal: the vastness of the soul. The field: the work & plight.
	Saul Williams The uniform & flag: the torch we bear through darkness of a kind. The vastness of the field: the path we cross from heart to mind.
	Saul Williams The minute or the moment? How you think is your opponent. If you had the ball right now would you aim or kick it wild?
	Saul Williams The goalie blocks the narrative from being what is told. The striker has a goal in mind. The wings are double-fold.
	Saul Williams RT @ericburkley you should do these rhymes over vuvuzelas... ===> LOL I love the sound of the game, actually. Maybe I will:)
	Saul Williams The ball, in black & white, simply reflects our need to see, to qualify the boundaries that restrict our right to be.
	Saul Williams If you control the ball then you control the game. You weave through your defenses, broadened senses, truth aflame.
	Saul Williams The crowd reflects your calling. They cheer, 'though for their kind. The energy, even against, propels the focused drive.
	Saul Williams ...and now I'm logging off. The game has just begun. The Ghanaian bar across the street seems like it may be fun;) Cheers!!

http://twitter.com/SaulWilliams

Two French Robots and a Black Guy walk into a bar....

No, this is not the set up for classic 'walked into a bar' based racism, it is the latest Adidas Originals World Cup advertisement.

Watch as Daft Punk, Snoop Dogg, Ian Brown, David Beckham and one of the guys from Oasis are transported into the Star Wars cantina scene.



While rap fans should enjoy seeing The Doggfather do some damage with a lightsaber, football fans will love the line, to David Beckham

He [Jabba The Hut] saw you play a long time ago for a Galaxy far, far away.

This is Happening: LCD Soundsystem release final album

This is Happening is LCD Soundsystem's first album of new music since 2007's massively successful Sound of Silver, and it is also reported to be the last album they will ever release.

Album opener Dance Yrself Clean starts with three minutes of quiet insecurities sung over pitter-patter rhythms, before... (Spoiler Alert, skip the next few lines if you have not heard this track) ...the beat drops, the synthesizers turn up to eleven and everything goes mental. Yes, this album is going to be great.

Lead single Drunk Girls has been described as "Drunk North American Girls Are Playing at My House", clever (yeah?) and probably fair as the track is not particularly original and by far the album's weakest moment.

The mid section of the album is rock solid: I Can Change is full of swirl-in-your-head pop, Pow Pow is dance funk at its best, while One Touch is never enough. On You Wanted a Hit, front man James Murphy sings "We don't do hits" but I don't believe that for a second. This is Happening is 100% hits.

LCD Soundsystem have never hidden their musical influences and where previous albums used late 70's post punk as a reference point This is Happening goes a step further. Blatantly borrowing from David Bowie (Heroes) and Iggy Pop (Nightclubbing) on All I Want and Somebody's Calling Me respectively.

Epic closer Home layers percussion on beat on percussion on beat, like much of the album the effect is simple and repetitive but far from boring.

If This Is Happening is to be LCD Soundsystem's final album it is a more than fitting farewell.