Bluejuice – Broken Leg, and more.
Bluejuice are a band from Sydney, Australia. I caught them at a show at the Annandale Hotel a few years back and was blown away on performance alone. These guys put on such a good show they force you to like their music even if your not that into it… yeah.
Anyway, check out their new video which is the first single of their upcoming second LP which is out the second half of 2009 through new label Dew Process The music video is a classic!
It’s in the similar vein of the popular single off their first albums music video, Vitriol (check that out below) They probably need their own TV show or something.
New track from The Cribs! “We Were Aborted”
The first track off their upcoming album. The first with none other than former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr as permanent band member! It sounds more mature than their previous stuff but still has that poppy vibe that probably no one else does better. Methinks this will strip them of their underrated badge also, why they’re not huge outside of the UK I will never figure out.
Local produce.
Captains log, stardate 2009> I’m going to make more of an effort pimping local bands and their releases that I think rock. Simply because… well Australia has a heap of bad bands and a small group of upencoming gems that don’t seem to be getting a mention above the gen pop.
Stay tuned.
A novelty – My hottest 100 of all time!
Yeah, so I thought I’d have a shot at my top 100 songs of all time. It’s a total novelty because It will probably be completely different come next week. And as opposed to songs that I think are great as per my voting in the JJJ hottest 100 I’m just going to go with songs that have stood out to me personally over the years or as I remember them standing out. Here goes; (I’ll try and not repeat bands but it’s tough!)
1. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
2. Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
3. The Beatles – Twist & Shout
4. The Temptations – My Girl
5. At The Drive-In – 198d
6. Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
7. The Smiths – This Charming Man
8. David Bowie – Life On Mars?
9. Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot
10. John Lennon – Imagine
11. Radiohead – Karma Police
12. The Clash – Train In Vain
13. Cap’n Jazz – Little League
14. Nirvana – Drain You
15. The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
16. Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
17. Iggy Pop – China Girl
18. The Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love
19. Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds
20. Johnny Cash – Big River
21. Lou Reed – Perfect Day
22. Roy Orbison – Love Hurts
23. The Easybeats – Friday On My Mind
24. Sonic Youth – Schizophrenia
25. New Order – Blue Monday
26. Pulp – Disco 2000
27. The Go Betweens – Was There Anything I Could Do?
28. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
29. Weezer – Tired Of Sex
30. TV On The Radio – Wolf Life Me
31. Ramones – Needles & Pins
32. The Clash – London Calling
33. Little Richard – Good Golly Miss Molly
34. The Beatles – Can’t Buy Me Love
35. At The Drive-In – Pattern Against User
36. Bloc Party – This Modern Love
37. Buddy Holly – Rave On
38. Blur – To The End
39. Muse – Stockholm Syndrome
40. Radiohead – Creep
41. The Cure – Friday I’m In Love
42. Gang Of Four – Natural’s Not In It
43. The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
44. Babyshambles – Fuck Forever
45. Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
46. Mental As Anything – Live It Up
47. Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime
48. Hunters and Collectors – Throw Your Arms Around Me
49. Blondie – Call Me
50. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand
51. The Cribs – My Life Flashed Before My Eyes
52. Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The UK
53. The Mamas & The Papas – California Dreamin’
54. Cursive – Staying Alive
55. U2 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
56. The Stone Roses – I Wanna Be Adored
57. Sonic Youth – Dirty Boots
58. Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
59. Bruce Springsteen – Dancing In The Dark
60. Counting Crows – Colorblind
61. The Mars Volta – Cicatriz E.S.P
62. David Bowie – Space Oddity
63. DFA1979 – Blood On Our Hands
64. Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
65. The White Stripes – My Doorbell
66. Joy Division – Transmission
67. Iggy Pop – The Passenger
68. Thursday – Signals Over The Air
69. The Doors – Roadhouse Blues
70. Wire – Sand In My Joints
71. The Fall – Rebellious Jukebox
72. At The Drive-In – Embroglio
73. Tegan & Sara – Nineteen
74. Janis Joplin – Piece Of My Heart
75. Tom Waits – Blind Love
76. Cut Copy – Out There On The Ice
77. ACDC – Highway To Hell
78. The Promise Ring – Red & Blue Jeans
79. We Are Scientists – Lousy Reputation
80. The Offspring – Bad Habit
81. Pavement – Silence Kid
82. The Smiths – Still Ill
83. Ikara Colt – Rudd
84. Fugazi – Merchandise
85. Interpol – Pioneer To The Falls
86. Jay-Z – 99 Problems
87. The Drones – Jezebel
88. Ramones – Commando
89. The Breeders – Huffer
90. The Knife – Heartbeats
91. The Strokes – Hard To Explain
92. Radiohead – Street Spirit
93. The Rakes – The Guilt
94. CSS – Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above
95. Peter Bjorn & John – Objects Of My Affection
96. Love Outside Andromeda – Bound By Heart Dissolved
97. My Bloody Valentine – When You Sleep
98. Metallica – One
99. Refused – Rather Be Dead
100. The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
A few things have become apparent here; I’m a sucker for a hit single and I apparently have an unhealthy love for era’s long past. Oh well.
Triple J – Hottest 100 of All Time!
Triple J (JJJ) Also known as Australia’s national broadcaster are holding their hottest 100 of all time music poll again. For either the fourth or fifth time depending on how you look at it. Basically every year since 1989 the station has run an end of year “What is the best song of all time poll” In where bands/songs from any era could be chosen. This ran from 1989 to 1991. Joy Division came in at #1 in ‘89 and ‘90 with “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” got #1 in 1991 (Joy Division came in at #2)
In 1993 after a year off the format was changed to a year-in-review hottest 100 in-where people could vote for what they perceived as the best songs of the previous year (singles released in that year)
In 1998 as an almost 10-year Anniversary the ‘all time’ poll happened again. Nirvana – “Smells like Teen Spirit” got #1 whilst Hunters & Collectors – “Throw Your Arms Around Me” was #2.
Anyway, besides what you may think about this poll; It is the Biggest public music poll on the planet (by votes counted) So I don’t see it as a bad thing at all, besides what the whingers out there say.
And It’s being run again, 10years since the last one!
Sure it is hard to vote; How do you vote for songs? By what you think is technically a better song? Or do you just go by what you love the most? It get’s yet more complicated when you start thinking about other people and how they’ll vote. For example; What’s the point of me voting for “INSERT_OBSCURE_SONG” because no one else is sure as hell not going to vote for it. So my vote won’t even show in the 100, I might as well vote my favourite bands hit single right? Well that’s how the line of thought goes I think.
Anyway because I’m usually all over the place musically I’ve decided not to vote in a certain way ie “only the best technical songs” rather I’m going to mix and match and here’s the way my vote is going:
*Note; You get to vote for 10songs in no order*. Get voting here; It’s open to everyone. Yes I’ve added links for viewing pleasure.
#The Beatles – Twist & Shout
#The Temptations – My Girl
#Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
#David Bowie – Life On Mars?
#Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
#Nirvana – Drain You
#Radiohead – Karma Police
#The Smiths – This Charming Man
#At The Drive-In – 198d
#Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot
Yes, Yes It’s oh so hard sometimes. Choosing Nirvana, The Ramones and Sonic Youth’s “best” song was particularly the hardest… I’ve gone with the ‘popular’ Ramones choice likewise Sonic Youth but I’ve chosen Drain You over Teen Spirit… (and a sea of others) So darn hard to decide! :s
Bands just outside the Top10 for me: The Clash, Cap’n Jazz, Gang of Four, Blur, Iggy Pop, Muse, Bloc Party. Oh what a travesty to leave them out!
Voting closes Sunday 28th June 2009 – midnight AEST.
Nardwuar – From Nirvana to Jay Z.
I randomly came across an Interview with Nirvana on youtube the other night. The Interviewer was someone called; Nardwuar The Human Serviette. It took me about 30sec to start convulsing at the microphone IN YOUR FACE ’silly put on voice’ Interview style but about a minute later my ears started to ‘light up’ at some of the references he was dishing out to Kurt Cobain… still in that stupid voice. The Interview was in 3 parts (30min long) and by the end of It I was completely blown away at how much Information he’d dug out of Kurt.
And there was more… Soon I found Interviews with Sonic Youth, N.E.R.D, The Mars Volta, The Strokes, The Libertines, Weird Al Yankovic, Blur, Henry Rollins, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arctic Monkeys, Slipknot, Marylin Manson, The Roots, Ice-T, Snoop Dogg, Common and Jay Z.
I ended up watching all of those in a row.. Not because I particularly like all of them but because of Nardwuar’s approach to Interviewing. Basically all of the Artists mentioned initially react in exactly the same way. They’re sick of Interviewers, they’ve done hundreds if not 1000’s to popular media Journo’s who don’t really give a damn.
His wikipedia page states (rather factually) that he’s an Indie rock expert. I couldn’t agree more, sometimes I like to pretend I have a knowledge of music history but the connections that Nardwuar put’s together will blow you away. It’s basically A-class journalism ala an oldschool 60miutes, BBC or Dateline reporter mixed with the comical approach of Bobcat Goldthwait (circa Police Academy) and the stylings of say… an Irish golfer. Perhaps this guy’s research ability has something to do with his bachelor’s degree (with honours) in history.
Anyway. Apart from all the cool things you’ll pickup watching these interviews another reason to watch them is (after you watch your first one) try and pick which band will snap it in complete incomprehension whilst which artists will get it, be in Awe and deliver give an insight into their past and yet others who will fall somewhere in between!
Since Nardwuar has been doing his thing for a Canadian radio station since 1987 there’s a bunch of written and audio Interviews on his website. But I recommend you definitely watch the Youtube videos… nothing catches the awkwardness better than a Video Interview. Some are lengthy-er than others I guess probably based on Nardwuar’s affection for the Artist he’s Interviewing, or perhaps allotted time. Particularly look for the ones spanning from the early 90’s to early 2000’s. As of late the format has seemed to change to shorter cuts with newish Artists.
Here’s a small selection!
Nirvana – January 1, 1994. (Also with Courtney Love)
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
Kurt handles it with a kind of sick desperation to please. You can see the worked up ability of dealing with any number of dull Interviewers over the years serves him well here.
The Mars Volta
PART 1
PART 2
Omar and Cedric find it all rather amusing. The question is, were they also joking when talking about ex band mate Jim Ward? At this point they totally came across as pretentious dicks IMO, I’ll give them the benefit and say they’re pretty amusing.
The Strokes
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
This is one of my favs. Singer Julian in the early early days after a big night and probably on something good. He eventually warms to Nardwuar and tells about the utter battle in his head about being credited for their music as opposed to being perceived on Image alone or as a band all about Image. And selling out and all that. It’s kind of eerie seeing this in comparison to Kurt Cobain (who was also very very weary of this situation) he lived through it to get to the state of cynical regression you see in the Nardwuar interview above… but as we all know he never really got through that phase.
N.E.R.D – Pharrell Williams
PART 1 (Extended)
Pharrell is high as a kite here, which is rather unfortunate as he gets totally stumped by the questions put to him. I would’ve loved to hear him talk more about Carl Sagan. I think I like this one so much because it’s refreshing to see someone who has achieved that much as seemingly as still chilled out and down to earth (well perhaps more in the clouds in this Interview!)
The Roots (with drummer Questlove)
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
One of the better Interviewee’s that opens up without everything going to a shambles, you learn a lot here!
Funniest Interviewee goes to Iggy Pop! Members of Sonic Youth and Blur win awards for being the biggest dicks. Jay Z wins the biggest stoner award and It’s a tie between Cobain and Questlove for most chilled out!
Check out all the video interviews here.
The Science News Cycle!
Brilliant comic from PHD Comics which create a bunch of cool Science related online comics. This one is oh so true!
May Sydney Zine Fare @ MCA
Made my way to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art on Sunday to attend a zine fare. I was kinda blown away at how many people there were there, even after hanging around for a few hours the human traffic never once subsided. You could literally browse for hours in there. I did make some purchases though I regret not getting more! They’re a great read for the train ride home.
Also went for a bit of wander for photographic antics… and more importantly to find foodz. Alas Circular Quay is not the place to be on a Sunday if your really hungry and your after some good food because after doing a few circles of the area my friend and I eventually decided on a certain Italian place upon where we essentially payed $20 for a blob of cheese which was apparently meant to be eggplant lasagna. Hmmm. Out of my depth for finding good food in that Area of Sydney!
Here’s a few purchases;
From the Zinester;
Ahhh, the things we do for love, and the ridiculous, stupid, pathetic things we do for lust. People are, quite simply, fucking ridiculous. The pages of this zine are adorned with the kind of bizarre statements that have been made to me, or people I know, in relation to matters of the heart. Or perhaps more accurately, the groin. Enjoy.
Check out more from Ashdesignsthings
From the Zinester;
This zine is lovingly nicknamed The Sadface Issue. It was written in March and April of this year and put together in May. The writing is about a lovely boy-thing, and how the lovely thing with the boy-thing dissolved because he had to move overseas. Hence, the Sadface. It’s a bit, a lot on the angsty side, even more so than my other zines…but I had to get it out of my system. This is also the first issue I wrote completely on my typewriter! (I’m so surprised the ribbon lived through it.)
“You smell like cigarettes, you smell like sleeplessness, is she a smoker, is she a bad influence, is she really the one you want. He is too nice for you, he is too young, and you will damage him, you will. Let’s wait for the sunrise. Let’s tiptoe through your house. Let’s pretend we were never here.
And more from Ivana Stab
I’ll post pics of the day when I eventually get around to getting my ever increasing rolls of film developed!
Craig Schuftan On Romanticism & Rock n Roll
I’ve caught this program called Fora on ABC TV a few times now, It’s an Australian equivalent of something like CSPAN. A show dedicated to Talks on intellectual, political, cultural and economic debate in Australia. However they also have a website and offer their feature segments IN FULL for viewing online, great stuff.
Their current feature is Craig Schuftan, who Triple J listeners might know as occasionally presenting a short segment called “The Culture Club” which basically traces contemporary music and specific bands/artists back through time to the origins of the subject matter a particular artist happens to be talking about. In some cases it’s easy work; Craig takes in song/album titles or lyrics and traces their origin. In other cases however, he thoroughly investigates the links to the motif’s and movements/underlying statements of a particular song/album/band. It’s powerful stuff.
The segment was turned into a book but this ABC Fora talk is about his most recent book on the ties between modern music and romanticism. It’s must watch viewing for all you fellow music nerds. I’ve tagged a handful of the artists mentioned in the talk.
Enjoy! – Click here to view video. *Click play, then Play Full Clip*
Alternatively you can listen to the MP3 right here.
The Milky Way Time-Lapse!
You have to watch this! An amazing Time-Lapse photo blend of our Galaxy passing through the field of view of our night sky. Amazing stuff. Clicky below!
Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.
Radiohead and The Libertines.
Go the BBC for music news! Radiohead are recording a new album! Bassist Colin Greenwood told 6 Music the Oxford band have been busy in the studio over the last week with producer Nigel Godrich.
“It’s at the stage where we’ve got the big Lego box out and we’ve tipped it out on the floor and we’re just looking at all the bits and thinking what’s next?”
And… The Libertines are probably going to reform, says Adam Ficek (drummer of Babyshambles) This after NME has posted video of a unannounced on-stage reunion show recently. Also of note is Adam mentioned Babyshambles are working on their third album.
Swine Flu.
I’ve been waiting to post this report from New Scientist. It’s the real facts minus mainstream media wire-crossing.
Sonic Youth – Sacred Trickster, Antenna. Live on Jools Holland
Another two new tracks off the bands upcoming album The Eternal. Can you believe Thurston is 50years old? I can’t. To me he’ll always be that late 20-something shaggy haired crazy dood circa the 1980’s!
Sonic Youth month continues…
