Another Version of the Truth: The Gift

Back in January 2009 we pointed you to some 400GB of raw HD footage captured during Nine Inch Nails' 2008 Lights In The Sky tour.

A year on and things have come along more than anyone could have imagined.

Fans have edited thousands of videos from the footage, assembled their own DVDs and live albums, even held theatrical screenings of their creations. And now, the ambitious and well-organised group known as This One Is On Us (remember this) have released their massive, highly-anticipated creation, Another Version of the Truth: The Gift.

Created by a team of dozens of NIN fans spanning the entire globe have pooled their efforts to create this professional-quality 1080p 5.1 concert film, and it has been released on just about every format from Blu-ray to DVD, iPod to YouTube.

That something of this scale was produced entirely by fans, on their own time, purely for the sake of giving something back, is absolutely unprecedented. You can read all about the project and find all the download links here, or watch it immediately on YouTube here. Theatrical screenings are already being organised, you can find more info about those here.

"Nine Inch Nails fans kick ass." – Trent Reznor

"We did it for fun and stopped before it stopped being so"

I was listening to 'The Broken Family Band' on my way in to work this morning. Having Remembered again how brilliant they are (were), I checked their website on arriving at work to see if they had anything new coming out soon. Alas, it seems they called it a day back in November.




Shame. They were great. A Cambridge based alt.country / indie band who wrote funny, tender songs and didn't take themselves too seriously (their website proudly quotes the NME's description of them: "A dickless Radiohead" ). Their extensive back catalogue is well worth checking out - start with 'Balls' or 'Cold Water Songs'.

What better way to start the new year than with a bit of LAMBCHOP news?

Lambchop surprised their fans at the end of 2009 with their second live album in as many years.

Filmed at the band's American record label Merge's 20th anniversary party and released as an MP3 download (with an optional SD or HD video download) or as a limited edition CD with a voucher for HD video download (it's a chunky 1gb file), it's a world away from the band's previous live release.

While 2007's 'No Such Silence' beautifully captured Lambchop, in front of a polite Belgian crowd, at their most restrained and delicate, 'Live at XX Merge' sees the band at their most euphoric, tearing through their more raucus moments ('Your Fucking Sunny Day', 'Hey Where's Your Girl', 'Up With People'...) with a rare zeal.

It's an awesome performance which concludes with an epic version of 'Give It' - the track that lead singer Kurt Wagner released in collaboration with dance act X-Press 2 - with a bit of Talking Heads chucked in for good measure. It's well worth checking out:

LAMBCHOP LIVE AT XX MERGE: GIVE IT / PROMO from Show Cobra Productions on Vimeo.

Bawley (hearts) 2009: Top 5 Concerts of the year: Nick

2009 wasn't a vintage live music year for me, but it was a bunch of older, established acts who have honed their live show over hundreds of hours of performance who impressed me most. And The Metro continued to impress me as Sydney's best live music venue, with three of my favourite shows of the year taking place there.

5. The Hold Steady, Metro Theatre (04/02/09)
The Hold Steady seem to play every show like it's the most important one they've ever played, and despite poor sound (backing vocals and keys too low in the mix), and a less than full venue, they stormed through a great set of bar room rock and roll with bucketloads of energy and personality.

4. Elbow, V Festival Sydney(29/03/09)
I Wouldn't normally put a festival set in a list like this, but Elbow seemed to be having the time of their lives in Centennial Park on a perfect March afternoon, belting out songs like 'One Day Like This' and telling stupid jokes. The crowd were having the time of their lives too.

3. Gomez, The Metro Theatre (23/10/2009)
10 years and 6 albums into their career, Gomez know exactly how to work a crowd. Their back catalogue is big enough and strong enough to play almost entirely different sets over two consecutive nights at The Metro without diminishing the quality of the material. I was there on the second night and had a blast. But my foot is still sore from dancing too much.

2. Basement Jaxx, The Enmore Theatre, 03/03/09
Still the best live dance act in the world. (FasterLouder review)

1. My Morning Jacket, The Metro Theatre, 22/01/09
Last January I doubted I'd be going to a better gig than this one for the rest of the year. And I didn't.

The Bawley 100 - New Years Eve 2009/2010

When you or someone in your family suddenly begins to experience the symptoms – fever, blandness, aches, chills, tiredness, miley cirrhosis, u2-itis – you have just moments to take action. Trust BAWLEY FLU, the most frequently prescribed antiviral top 100 song list of 2009.

With NYE listening parties spreading from the backyards of Braddon and beaches of Bondi to the baths of Budapest, the 2009 Bawley 100 is everywhere you wanna be.

The 2009 Bawley 100:

111 Radiohead - Harry Patch

99 Karen O And The Kids - Worried Shoes

98 Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers

97 Them Crooked Vultures - Nobody Loves Me & Neither Do I

96 The Maccabees - No Kind Words

95 Datarock - Give It Up

94 Dappled Cities - The Price

93 Jason Lytle - Yours Truly The Commuter

92 Yeasayer - Ambling Alp

91 Idlewild - Readers And Writers

90 Hot Chip - Transmission

89 Ian Brown - Stellify

88 Gomez - Little Pieces

87 Kasabian - Underdog

86 Editors - Papillon

85 Thom Yorke - The Hollow Earth

84 Mumford and Sons - The Cave

83 Bat For Lashes - Daniel

82 Wild Beasts - Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues

81 Muse - Undisclosed Desires

80 The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea

79 Phoenix - Girlfriend

78 Eels - In My Dreams

77 Jarvis Cocker - Angela

76 Books feat Jose Gonzales - Cello Song

75 Fever Ray - When I Grow Up

74 The Dead Weather - Will There Be Enough Water?

73 Mariachi El Bronx - Slave Labour

72 British Sea Power - No Man Is An Archipelago

71 Young And Restless - Creeps

70 The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Higher Than The Stars

69 Little Boots - Remedy

68 Cornershop - The Roll-Off Characteristics (Of History In the Making)

67 Lily Allen - Fuck You

66 Karen O And The Kids - All Is Love

65 Temper Trap - Love Lost

64 Bloc Party - One More Chance

63 La Roux - Bulletproof

62 Bon Iver - Blood Bank

61 Massive Attack - Pray For Rain

60 The Big Pink - Dominos

59 Doves - Kingdom Of Rust

58 Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone

57 Girls - Lust For Life

56 Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man

55 The Xx - Shelter

54 Dave Sitek - With A Girl Like You

53 Jeffery Lewis + The Junkyard - Roll Bus Roll

52 Brakes - Two Shocks

51 Bluejuice - Broken Leg

50 Health - Die Slow

49 The Horrors - Who Can Say

48 Fever Ray - Triangle Walks

47 Massive Attack - Splitting The Atom

46 Decemberists - The Rake's Song

45 Camera Obscura - James

44 Art Brut - What a Rush

43 Bridezilla - Beaches

42 God Help The Girl - Come Monday Night

41 Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

40 Phoenix - 1901

39 The National - So Far Around The Bend

38 Hilltop Hoods - Chase That Feeling

37 Hungary Kids of Hungry - Scattered Diamonds

36 The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Age of Revolution

35 La Roux - In For The Kill

34 Thom Yorke - Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

33 Animal Collective - My Girls

32 Fuck Buttons - Olympians

31 Art vs Science - Parlez Vous Francais

30 The Cribs - We Share The Same Skies

29 Gomez - Airstream Driver

28 Camera Obscura - Honey In The Sun

27 Danger Mouse and Sparkle Horse - Just War (ft Gruff Rhys)

26 Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy

25 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

24 Doves - Outsiders

23 The Middle East - The Darkest Side

22 Kasabian - Where Did All The Love Go?

21 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero

20 Mariachi El Bronx - Cell Mates

19 The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Contender

18 Washed Out - Feel It All Around

17 Florence and the Machine - Dog Days

16 Art Brut - Am I Normal?

15 Hot Chip - Take It In

14 Radiohead - These Are My Twisted Words

13 Portishead - Chase The Tear

12 The Horrors - I Only Think Of You

11 Danger Mouse and Sparkle Horse - Little Girl (ft Julian Casablancas)

10 Fleet Foxes - Mykonos

9 Super Furry Animals - Inaugural Trams

8 The Xx - Heart Skipped a Beat

7 Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

6 Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart

5 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hysteric

4 Camera Obscura - Away With Murder

3 Phoenix - Lisztomania

2 Danger Mouse and Sparkle Horse - Revenge (ft The Flaming Lips)

1 The Xx - Crystallised


If symptoms persist please see a doctor.

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)

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?