Thursday, 28 November 2013


That's Entertainment : Skyhooks AND John Farnham



 Today was hot.  I heckled a ute driver with a LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT bumper sticker, asking him if I only 'liked it most of the time, could I stay and take overseas holidays every once in a while?'  I cooked snags smothered in tomato sauce; I wiped my mouth on an Australian flag tea-towel.  I've sunk a couple of VB stubbies.  Aus Music month should be over, but I just realised there were 5 columns due in November and well, I exhausted my loot.  There's soooo many acts I forgot too...

So feeling the becalming affects of said VBs, I've thought stuff it.  After watching England thumped by Australia at the Gabba in the Ashes, I'm loud, proud and an emboldened Aussie - whatever that may be.  I loved sticking it to the stiff upper lip types.  I'm proud to be one of the sons of beaches; to be a convict.  Am thinking of getting a Southern Cross tat but I don't like needles.  

Instead, I'll give you TWO for the price of one.  Yep true, blue Aussie icons.

Who? you may ask.

Well.

Here's the first.

He was a teen idol.  His biggest hit was Sadie The Cleaning Lady.  He ended up in Little River Band.  When I was a kid, he was no Johnny come lately...he was simply The Voice.

Yep.  John Farnham.

When I was a kid, no one carried off the mullet and trench coat quite like our John Farnham.  Jeez...just thinking now, from 1986 on, John Farnham owned the ARIA charts.  His 'comeback' album Whispering Jack is still the biggest selling Australian album of all time.  When it came out, I told my mum I wanted this 'new' thing...she laughed.  It was all new to me; she remembered him as a teen idol.  

You're The Voice was the sound of Australia growing up and taking on the world in the 1980's.  It was the song of the Bicentennial year in 1988.  Pressure Down, A Touch of Paradise, Reasons...all massive hits.

In 1988 he released Age of Reason and smashed it all again with Age of Reason and Two Strong Hearts.  In 1990, Chain Reaction carried on the chart domination with Chain Reaction, That's Freedom, and Burn For You.   He continued on in the 1990's, having more 'Farewell' tours than we've all had hot dinners.  Still, naff as some may think him, he has a special place in my heart.  John Farnham always came across as a but of a dopey bloke who had just had extraordinary luck and a decent set of pipes.  But that's part of the charm.  He was one of us.  Just a bloke, who sang songs, but could be your mate, suck down a Tooheys or two and watch the cricket with you and your mates.

You're The Voice  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbkOZTSvrHs

Pressure Down  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emutat3_IP0

Reasons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX6eMwAQ83Q

Two Strong Hearts  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWNb8UeXnZo

Chain Reaction  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDWIVl1Fejk

Burn For You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDJMgANjLwk



Next up, I give you Skyhooks.

See, when I was a kid, Red Symons was just the bespectacled, suit wearing ba$tard judge on Red Faces on Hey, Hey It's Saturday.  And Shirl was the co-host of the home makeover program Our House on Channel 9 and earlier in the 80's, Shirl's Neighbourhood. 

But late in 1990, they released Jukebox In Siberia.  Being an impressionable 14 year old with absolutely no idea, I loved it.  

Little did I know, and only after I told my mum it was a new band she had no idea about and was laughed at, that Skyhooks is probably on of the quintessential and most influential Aussie rock bands of the 1970's.  Their debut album Living In The 70's was #1 for 16 weeks and contained the hits Living In The 70's, Horror Movie and You Just Like Me Cause I'm Good In Bed.   They touched on drug culture with Carlton and sex - Balwyn Calling and Smut, and the gay scene - Toorak Cowboy.

A 'glam' band because of their flamboyance, colour, make-up and costumes, Skyhooks had six albums off the ten track album banned for radio play.  In defiance, Double-J's first spin when they went to air in 1975 was You Just Like Me Cause I'm Good In Bed.   

The follow up album, Ego Is Not A Dirty Word contained the hits Ego Is Not A Dirty Word and All My Friends Are Getting Married.

Skyhooks released a couple more albums.  They were fan favourites and irritated the establishment.  It's all harmless - now - but at the time, certainly was something right out there...something that would lead to the decay of Australian civilisation as we knew it.   And after years of a fabricated 'war' with the teeny bop pop band Sherbet (the singer was Daryl Braithwaite) to sell magazines and records, they petered out.  So it was in 1990, in time for their greatest hits album did Skyhooks pen and release Jukebox in Siberia.  

Their songs still get heaps of airplay and deservedly so.  They still sound as fresh now as I'm guessing they were in the early/mid 1970's.  There's a certain naughtiness, a certain frisson of excitement when I hear their tracks.  There's that up-yours puerile Australian with a wicked sense of humour laughing at the insanity; the hey guys and gals in this great red land...we count too.  And who else uses Twisties in their lyrics?

I guess, when all is said and done, it's with a degree of sadness I listen to Skyhooks too, as Shirl was the guy I knew on Our House and from Shirl's Neighbourhood kids TV, that distinctive voice and enthusiasm.  He died in a helicopter crash on August 29th 2001.  To see Red Symons, the hard man ba$tard of countless Red Faces panels tear up for his old mate and lead singer, well, it makes me shed a tear too.  

Horror Movie  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7l8rlnMpCI

Living In The 70's  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLUtKKoMetM

You Just Like Me Cause I'm Good In Bed  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfLNjDSfkcY

Ego Is Not A Dirty Word  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UduuxKdPt9Q

Why Don't You All Get  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0lfCcbQPyk

Anyway - what's the irony of all this.  Despite hammering the poms in the cricket...I hold a British passport through my immigrant dad.  John Farnham was 10 when his family shifted from the UK to Australia and Red Symons immigrated to Australia from the UK in 1958 at the age of 9 (on the same boat as the Bee Gees Gibb brothers).  See...Aussies all come from somewhere.  I still don't like the English cricket team though.  Carn Australia...let's win those Ashes.  Now after me...you're the voice try and understand it...  And if you don't like it, why don't you all get...  :-)



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Thursday, 21 November 2013


That's Entertainment : Aus-Music Month - The 2010's



AusMusic Month Part 4 - the 2010's.

So here we are...right here, right now.  The 2010's.  And I promise, next week, back to a slimmer column.

I've always been selfish with this column...guiding you towards stuff I grew up loving or towards stuff I reckon is under appreciated.  It's a balancing act.  The column also serves as something my sons can one day read and figure why their dad listens to sooooooooooo much music.  

Well, this week, I'm guiding you towards a swag of new-ish (a flexible, fluid description) acts as well as some up and comers.  All of which are Aussie, all of which demand your ears, all of which kick ar$e in some way or another.

With the changes in the music industry - the death of CD singles, the long rumoured demise of CDs, the return of vinyl and even cassettes, the biggest thing I feel now is social media & the internet.

See, when I was a kid, you joined a fan club with a SAE and usually got a sticker and an annual newsletter mailed to you.  You bought 7 inch singles and made mixed tapes.  Now, I can hear a song on the radio, use my i-phone to Google the song's lyrics, find the band's website, head to YouTube to find the song and head back to Amazon, JB Hi Fi or the band's own site and download the song (or buy the CD...yes, I am a CD slut...I just love the cold reflective surface spinning in the player ;-)  ).

But the one thing that hasn't changed is the hard slog.  Not to bag your Australian Idol and X Factor winners - ok, I own some Shannon Noll singles and Lee Harding's WASABI - but it's not real.  It's a TV set up.  Real bands slug it out in the garage, in their bedroom, in their local halls and pubs, sweating it out.  It's bloody hard work.  There's debt to everyone, there's endless touring (if you can afford it) in dive bars, there's fickle fans, radio stations and record labels.  Even self producing and uploading songs is bloody hard work.  

For mine though, there is still that moment of magic.  That moment when a song you have written is played back.  Hits a press and is issued.  Gets a video on RAGE or gets spun on a radio station.  Or when you get a snippet in street press.  There is that dream of something more to come.  I've always been ever so intrigued to know if some of the songs I love were just throw aways or songs that when recorded, the band sat back and said 'bloody oath, that's a hit'!  

I guess the other thing I regret is that even if your Katy Perry, Rhianna, Beyonce types have legit reasons to grab all the headlines and the money, there's all these other bands struggling to bob in the sea of uncertainty.  It seems so unfair.  

So here endeth the downer, the lecture.

Now for something good.

All the bands listed here are Aussie acts.  They're all fighting for your attention.  They've all certainly grabbed mine in one way or another.  I used Facebook to contact every single band, and I got heaps of feedback, personal notes and links.  A lot of them I heard breaking on Triple J or community radio, or supported international bands touring Australia.  [[ Lee and I always get to the gig early - because 1, we're out for the night, away from the kids and when you spend $80-$100 on a gig ticket, you want bang for your buck and because 2, the support bands are fugging awesome. ]]

To begin the Aus-Music month, I looked to the past - my cherished, loved boxes of LPs, cassettes, CDs.  My Icehouse and INXS, my Ratcat and TISM.  Australia has its ups and downs, good times and bad.  We've had some well wicked bands deliver brilliant tunes to us.  Our Aussie scenes have been vibrant and chock full of gems.  

To end Aus-Music Month, here's to the future.  It's in safe hands.

Even if you check out one band...you're doing something grand for the nation.  If I was you, I'd check em all out, and more.  There's plenty to go round.  There's influences and originality aplenty, but most of all, it's all stuff you can tap your toes to, sing along to in the car or in the shower, and best of all, see down your local pub slogging it out.  Then, if you've got time, email your local radio station and tell em you want to hear more new Aussie stuff AND email your local politician and tell em to support the local music industry.

But best of all, sit back, listen and enjoy!

-----------------------

The following bands/artists all took time out of their busy touring/recording schedules to reply to me on Facebook.  To each - thank you!  Not only has their music enriched me, entertained me, kept my faith in 'new' music, but they all took time to have a chat and give me some info about themselves.   A couple are established acts, some are independent.  But they are all fresh, exciting and Australian, and they all have CDs out and gigs to attend, so check out their Soundclouds (am still getting used to this), Facebook, official website for info or head over to Itunes or JB HI FI to score yourself a bevy of goodies.  Xmas is just around the corner...take a chance.

Amazing too how most of these bands were found by chance - on the radio dial, on RAGE or clicking on the wrong link.  

Anyway, it's always exciting communicating with musicians as being a left handed tub thumper of dubious ability, it's always fascinating to meet/chat to people who can play and record for real.  The people with the 'talent'.  I am totally besotted with music and not only do I reckon these bands are grouse, here's how I found 'em.  So go on...read on...




My story:
This a band I happened upon listening to 2SER in late 2010.  I was driving through Fairfield on my way home from work and This Madness just smacked me right between the eyes.  And as usual trying to remember the band name without a mondegreen, trying to commit it to memory sans pen and driving in peak hour traffic was killer.  But not as killer as this band.  With the chilled retro vibes of Bowie, Bolan and Supertramp, Sons of Rico are a great summer BBQ soundtrack.  Their latest album is a bottler and Get To You is another one of those songs that really oozes chillaxed vibes.  The kind of band that should be filling the airwaves!

Parralox

My story:
Parralox are a Melbourne pop duo who I chanced upon back in early October by clicking on a YouTube link whilst listening to the Eurogliders.  They don't have anything in common really.  However, Sharper Than A Knife with it's driving synth beat and Madonna-esque vocal - it's just got 'something'.  I blew half our internet usage listening to all their tracks on MySpace - YES! - MySpace! -  over and over, until finally I had to buy the song off I-tunes.  And what could be cooler than a synth pop band in my own backyard giving Alan Parsons Project a whirl, with their cover of Eye In The Sky?  

WIM

My Story:
This is one of those tales of turning up to a gig early and checking out the support act.  With Lee 5 months pregnant in early 2011, we went and saw Gypsy and the Cat at the Metro, and WIM were the support.  Man...blew me away with their live show, and the next day I had to have the album, which memory serves was just about to come out, and I had to wait a bit.   However, the wait was worth it and WIM's self titled debut is a keeper.  

Private Life - CD EP - http://www.privatelifeband.com/

My Story:
Lee and I love Garbage.  Just one of the great 90's post-pop/grunge bands of all time and with Shirley Manson striding the stage and Butch Vig bashing the tubs, you can't go wrong.  Anyway, another support band who just absolutely aced it on the night.  Popping down to the merch stand, they had a home produced CD EP in the cutest little home sewn CD single purses.  Recently, they released their debut EP and for $3, I feel like I'm stealing.  Go and buy one NOW!  With gloss, hit track 2 - Otherside.  Close to my song of the year, for it's driving beat, tinkling 80's retro vibe and meshing contemporary pop sensibility with a hint of the Cocteau Twins.  I've been right in to another Scottish band in 2013...Chvrches; Private Life is better [someone at NME is just hiring an assassin to shoot me...but hey, it's true!].  When I am published, and they make the movie, Otherside will be a soundtrack song.  Cannot wait for the album now!

Loon Lake

In August 2012, Lee's nan was banged up in St George's Hospital and each day, I'd take the boys over to visit.  With Triple J on, there was this golden couple of weeks where every tune was new, Aussie and kicking out the jams!  Loon Lake had this jerky, quirky track called Cherry Lips.  Honing their sound, Loon Lake have got their debut LP Gloamer out in the shops only recently, with the latest single being City Lights.  It's amazing how much they've developed and improved in between recordings and Loon Lake are definitely a band to file under 'one to watch'.  I will follow these chaps with much interest, let me tell you.


My Story:
Anyone who knows me knows I love blowing Friday night/Saturday morning trawling RAGE for tunes.   Aussie / South Africa combo Clubfeet were one of those bands that made me sit up and gasp.  Not only is the video for Everything You Wanted a video masterpiece, the tune is one of those songs that seeps in to your nervous system and sends you spasming towards the dancefloor.  The chorus and keys are stunning.  Furthermore, since the death of CDs, I buy a lot of compact discs for one song.  I am pleased to say that all 10 tracks are great and Heirs & Graces is one of those dance-pop albums that nails it from go to whoa.   With a new remix EP out, this is one band I am excited to see live soon EXCEPT I'LL MISS THEM IN SYDNEY AS I WILL BE IN MELBOURNE ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  Looking forward to the follow up.

Dappled Cities

My Story:
RAGE - thank you!  In 2009, The Price had to be close to 'my' song of the year.  It's got this grandiose atmospheric and air-raid siren noise effect, magic drum and strings.  The vocal is sumptuous and it lifts in to this beautiful, most amazing piece of pop crunch.  Like most of the songs here, The Price should have been #1.  It will become one of those classic Aussie songs - in my mind - up there on the pedestal of great Aussie tracks.  Then in 2012, we saw US band Death Cab For Cutie, and again, another support band slot we checked out and being clueless, was stoked it was Dappled Cities.  They played 'new' songs and Run With The Wind completely, utterly blew away the Enmore.  Fark me!  It was a religious moment for me yet the album was still months away.  The wait was unbearable.  But once it hit, the album Lake Air stunned me to my core.  Don't take your eyes away, don't take take take your eyes away indeed!!!  New album out now...celebrate hard!


My Story:
Heard Jacob's Ladder one morning on 2SER and I was driving down Gov Macquarie Drive and pulled over, finished listening to the song and wrote down the name of the song and artist.  It took me a while, because Yeo was something else, but finally found 'em.  Yeo is a chap from Melbourne who produces awesome indie electro pop.  It has an earthy quality to it but a cool funky charm.  The album - the Sell Out - which is available off the website, is bloody good.  Lots of little bleeps and blips.  Check out Bacteria too...loving it at the moment.  Girl is the new single, just in time for summer.  Grab a wine, wind down.  

Green Stone Garden

My Story:
Was surfing Triple J's unearthed webpage and clicked on this band by accident.
Which was serendipitous because The Island is one of those dreamy, spacey slabs of rock that wouldn't have been out of place in any era. 
With a debut album around the corner, Green Stone Garden will win a lot of excited admirers if they produce a record that matches this debut effort.  
Definitely another to file under 'one to watch'.    Not bad for a fluke click on my part, eh.

============================================

These are current bands I truly recommend you check out in some form or another.


Voltaire Twins

Convaire

Sparkadia

PVT

Gypsy and the Cat

Snakadaktal

Expatriate

Strange Talk

Jezebels

Birds of Tokyo

Club Sport

Nantes

Bluejuice

City Calm Down

Temper Trap

Tame Impala

Worlds End Press

Melody's Echo Chamber
Jagwar Ma
Usurper of Modern Medicine
Motorolla Borealis      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThG1tlu7XY

DZ Deathrays
Northern Lights   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhJ0grMCKYc

Kirin J Callinan
Victoria M   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pb0HJPS9EI

Rufus
Tonight  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCa_TKn9ghI



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Thursday, 14 November 2013


That's Entertainment : Aus-Music Month - The Noughties


AusMusic Month Part 3 - the 2000's.

It feels weird to think you can already bundle up the first decade of the 21st century.  It doesn't seem like that long ago - granted the tail end is only 4 years ago - but it was another great decade for Australian music.

The big alt bands of the 1990's continued to prosper and release great albums OR had their fanbases eroded by record label changes and what not.  Powderfinger and Something For Kate hit commercial peaks, You Am I released more gems and Regurgitator pushed boundaries with the genre hopping and the band in the bubble concept.   The Living End continued to release excellent rockabilly punkish social commentary.   Silverchair released 2 more massive albums and Daniel Johns did his side project The Dissociatives with DJ Paul Mac. 

The i-pod, file sharing and online music started to bite too.  Bricks and mortar record shops disappeared only for the jolly yellow giant of JB Hi Fi to spread.  The end was predicted, but bands started to realise you didn't need record labels, utilising the internet to build websites, create rapport and spread their message.  YouTube began, so videos could be uploaded.  Social media like MySpace was red hot in the late 2000's before Facebook and Twitter and all the rest, and recently made a bit of a cool comeback.

In Australia, synth-pop with nods to the 80's bubbled to the fore.  Bands like Decoder Ring, Presets (who owned much of 2008), Cut Copy, Pnau, Van She, Architecture in Helsinki and Midnight Juggernauts dropped wonderful electro pop and began to win over overseas fans and labels with their abilities.  Even Pseudo Echo got back on the wagon to release some new millenial synth pop.  The disaffection of synth pop and cold electronica took on a new cool with the Aussie flavour and for mine, it was (and still is) a great period for electronica...to a point the local stuff is what I exclusively listen to.  A scene often cannibalises itself but the local product just keeps improving.    A lot of nods need to also go to Sonic Animation who brought in the new century with their brand of electronica, and Groove Terminator's album Road Kill is a classic, spawning the song Here Comes Another One (used for The Block).  Also, if you can findit On Inc's Size Does Matter is a ripper.

Perth seemed to generate a scene, so far from everything, that produced a line of great artists like Eskimo Joe, Little Birdy, Sleepy Jackson, End of Fashion, and Gyroscope.  Mixing dreamy pop with dollops of fun, these bands traipsed our great land in search of willing ears.  

In the early part of the decade, Lo-Tel was a band I really, really liked.  Teenager of the Year won them plenty of fans when included on the Looking for Alibrandi soundtrack, but for mine it was A Pop Song Saved My Life and it's b-sides Replaced By Vinyl and www.writersblock.com that found their way on to my playlists and mixed CDs.  Another little pop band that eventually hit it big was Faker.  I first heard them with Teenage Werewolf in 2001 and scrounged around for the EP.  Some years later, they conquered the chart with This Heart Attack but unfortunately things seem to have gone quiet for this band.   Another dreamy little pop band was Space Like Alice with Compensate and Ice Cream Hands with Rain Hail Shine.   For something cool, check out the Red Riders Slide In Next To Me.

Eskimo Joe were probably one of the success stories of the 2000's.  Keeping their indie darling cred and having commercial success, songs like Liar, Black Fingernails Red Wine, Love Is The Drug, Foreign Land and To The Sea were quintessential Aussie tunes needed on your Ipod.  With the loss of their record deal, they got crowd funding for their 2013 album which is totally kick ar$e little record.  The one thing that caused me to wonder - when you hear their song Sarah - is this lyric:  Sarah....won't you tell me your name.  Hmmm...you call her Sarah and then ask Sarah her name...ummm....yep.  

Another artist I found kind of by accident was Gotye.  Nestled on a Homebake sampler from the SMH, his track Thanks For Your Time was something totally different and 5 years before he was a global #1 with Somebody That I Used To Know, his 2006 album Like Drawing Blood was something jazzy and chilled and Lee and I played it a lot.   Heart's A Mess is another wonderful track and you should check out Eyes Wide Open and Giving Me A Chance .  Gotye was also a member of the criminally ignored band The Basics that performed indie pop rock with heaps of influences chucked in for good measure.  I regret not seeing them live and am spending time checking them out in retrospect.

And just as reality TV confection music shows came along, out popped my guiltiest of guilty pleasures from 2003 - Mandy Kane.  His singles Stab and Stupid Friday were both out of place and perfect goth-synth pop.  He seemed to be big for about 15 minutes, enough to get himself a large number of haters and a slew of ardent supporters (of which I am kinda one).  If he'd waited a few months, he'd have won Australian Idol.  Instead we got Guy Sebastian.  And talking about guilty pleasure - please give me The Veronicas.   I've dedicated a whole article to them previously and there's nothing better in bubblegum pop than Lolita lesbo sisters pouting as they deliver slabs of pop.   While we're 'fessin' up to sins - Rogue Traders Voodoo Child peeps?  One of the most infectious pop dance hits of the 00's.  Yep - own it.

And look, I don't want to bag the reality TV muso quests.  Sure, I own some Shannon Noll singles - Loud will always remind me of 2007 and the Bunnies making the NRL finals for the first time since 1989 - I always thought he was punching above his weight and seemed fairly genuine - but the rest was all like a Maccas cheeseburger.  Eat it, poop it.  Bubblegum flavour lasts longer.  And the horror is these poor saps win and 12 months later the next series wipes them away to be forgotten.  What About Me?  Indeed!!!

Something For Kate delivered in spades in the naughties and should be a band you check out.   Three Dimensions and Monsters from their 2001 album are essential, but you really should own most of their albums.  Vocalist Paul Dempsey's 2009 solo album is a peach too, with Ramona Is A Waitress being one of those aurally exciting songs that makes my nerves stand on end.  How he ever got writer's block is beyond me cause the guy is a lyrical genius.  

Retro rock found three standard bearers in The Vines, Jet and Wolfmother.  Like thieving magpies they cherry picked the 70's genre to produce some great rock n roll, and it was no surprise to see places like the UK lap up some of their stuff.  I actually went to school with The Vines' Hamish Rosser (his brother Gavin was in my year)  [I also went to school with Chris Lilley of Ja'ime fame...just saying ].    Oh and Nick Littlemore of PNAU, he was a couple of years below me (his brother James was in my year).    Australia also has a strong prog rock - metal scene.  I must confess, my metal head bangin' days were over by the late 1990's...but it's a scene that gets no ARIA support in this country and that's a bloody crime.  

Talking six degrees of separation, a Sydney band in 2001 called Oblivia released a track called Mindbomb.  Oasis-esque, I believe the guitarist is related to our own XXX XXX.  ;-)

One of the shortest hits of the decade was Rhubarb's Exerciser from 2000.  At about a minute thirty, it's a perfect gem and a Triple J short fill to the news song.  I recently downloaded all their albums off their site and their catalogue is littered with nuggets of bop that you should all check out.    All free downloads here : http://www.rhubarbmusic.com/

Another band who seems to get slagged a lot is Thirsty Merc.  Jeez, what a crime to write and release breezy summer time pop.  I seem to remember Triple J breaking them back in late 2003 with Wasting Time.  Just shows you how fickle people can be.  Me?  I don't care to be honest.  But they do seem unfairly maligned.  

The rise of Skip Hop in Australia needs respect paid to The Herd and Hilltop Hoods.  Whilst not my cup of tea, I can see and admire what they're doing.

Finally, John Butler Trio.  When I worked at Borders the music dept always banged on about these guys and over the decade they became bigger and bigger.  I still didn't get it, until one of their later singles One Way Road hit the air.  Just shows that any band can grab me with one song, and this one did.  Probably close to the last CD single I bought before they were discontinued back in 2009.  Just a jiving little gem.

Other bands who produced great tunes that should be noted are Neuropa, The Cat Empire, Magic Dirt, Machine Gun Fellatio, Empire of the Sun, Gerling, Peter Murray, Kisschassy, British India, Missy Higgins, Angus and Julia Stone, Cog, Ben Lee, Sarah Blasko, Karnivool and The Butterfly Effect.   The most spectacular one hit wonder of the century has to go to The Avalanches.           

As always, there's soooooo much more I missed, so much more that I could squeeze in here, but I have run out of space.  

Next week, look out for the thrilling final instalment for Aus-Music Month where we look at where Aust music is going in the 2010's. 

                             
The Avalanches Frontier Psychiatrist   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLrnkK2YEcE

Gotye - Heart's A Mess  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnXFJOXvL_A

The Basics - With This Ship    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lALFpUKmInQ

Groove Terminator Here Comes Another One  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFs4MjIQVKI

Thirsty Merc Wasting Time  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQHqF_ZfBcQ

Faker  - Teenage Werewolf  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yegdLr2kEw

Lo-Tel -  Teenager of the Year  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjjLItLRfL8

Something For Kate - Three Dimensions   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8SdYqHT3xE

Paul Dempsey - Ramona Was A Waitress  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zaiy_ZxCGyE

Eskimo Joe  Liar  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxb3IrObNTc

End of Fashion   O  Yeah    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGC2wqmvtMA     

Mandy Kane - Stab   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmB16EDV0LU

Cut Copy - Saturdays   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7c4JypIQyI

Midnight Juggernauts   Into The Galaxy   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6SKNEYvZvQ

Gyroscope - Doctor Doctor  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJpCtEcydeE

Van She  Talkin   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1unkCLKU9Q 

Oblivia   Mindbomb   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQY39FGpLw

28 Days  Goodbye   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BEnx4KUvI0

Shannon Noll - Loud  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7unZR9EFc8

Pnau - The Truth  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbmgxKEwB8A    AND    Unite Us   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjiyM5NIHuU

Superheist  Step Back   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBNzCF2QNFU

Presets   Are You The One  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1D-w5VVLnQ

Rhubarb  Exerciser  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKUvT0B_kko

The Veronicas  Everything I'm Not  Jason Nevins remix  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJZ1Sc-x4TY

Wolfmother  Joker and the Thief  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySjXFjLTagQ

Jet - Seventeen   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BYMPPm34as

The Vines - Ride   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFDHVuGeem8

Sonic Animation Get Up  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V05luvZ2-UY

Youth Group - Friedrichstrasse  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47R7jdXgEdk

Decoder Ring   Out of Range

John Butler Trio  One Way Road  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5f3gfFtHY8

Sleepy Jackson  God Lead Your Soul   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AUq6Y9GWR8

Little Birdy   Bodies   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG8vnsZZiQs    and Come On Come On   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-PfhQGIVkA

Silverchair   Greatest View   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA_ZiyI3Ros

The Dissociatives - Somewhere Down The Barrel  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjkMf-oMk0s

Magic Dirt - Locket    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkXyvyppRuU

Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrlhLaNClgw

Ice Cream Hands Rain Hail Shine  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0VFNiPfmg

Red Riders - Slide In Next To Me    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VH_rI0uIdE
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Sunday, 10 November 2013


That's Entertainment : Aus-Music Month - The Nineties




AusMusic Month Part 2 - the 1990's.

In the early 1990's, four pivotal things occurred in Australia.

* Pubs got pokies
* Triple J went regional and national
* Vinyl LPs were discontinued as a mainstream music format 
* The Recession we had to have

All of a sudden, pubs that had crammed in drinking punters for bands could fill their dance room with one arm bandits, and ker-ching, instant moolah.  More and more venues became gambling dens and the local Sydney live scene began to shrink.

In late 1991, LP and 7 inch singles were also discontinued (and soon cassette tapes would follow).  CDs were the future.  Anecdotal estimates say that up to 50-60% of the Australian music buying public stopped buying music.  The 80's had ended, and in 1990, the last golden hurrah of BIG albums - Midnight Oil, Icehouse, The Angels occurred.  I would hazard a guess that with the Recession biting, disposable income dried up and with the more expensive compact disc now the only format (at $30 a CD, or $10 a CD single), most punters couldn't afford music.  

Of course, there were global changes occurring and newer trends replaced pub rock and electro pop.  But despite these industry setbacks, by 1996/97 - the breakout years of the new Aussie sounds - every city and town in Australia had recovered and were giving us great bands to listen to.

One of the first to burst this bubble was the breakout act of 1991 - Ratcat.  Mixing buzzing alt-pop and shoegaze aesthetics, Ratcat's Tingles EP (at $5) was a steal and rocketed to #1.  The song That Ain't Bad is one of the classics of the 1990's, as were the breakthrough follow up hits Don't Go Now and Baby Baby.  For mine, Ratcat were probably 5 or so years ahead of their time, and had they come out late 1990's, they'd probably still be around now.  Alt Aussie pop was rubbing against the grain, and we got gems like The Clouds, The Fauves and TISM.

Another band that successfully side-stepped the death of pub rock was The Screaming Jets.  Hailing from Newcastle, their straight ahead bluesy rock and working class ethics saw them barnstorm around the nation, releasing a string of well selling albums and interesting rock videos.  Better is another of the 1990's Aussie classics.

In the early 1990's, Triple J also went regional then national.  Many of the changes, unpopular at the start, led to a more corporate Aussie radio station.  Some of the J's initiatives  like the Hottest 100 and unearthed continue to produce [and give a leg up to] new bands, create ongoing revenue and with the mid-1990s rise of the alternative, gave us the 1990's seminally influential acts like Powderfinger, Silverchair, The Whitlams, Spiderbait, Regurgitator and You Am I, along with the lesser acts like Custard, Grinspoon, Fauves and Superjesus.  Whilst Triple M stuck rigid to a pub rock playlist it wasn't until 2001 that Triple M 'pretended' they'd always supported Aussie bands, by latching on to the Aussie bands who'd gone gangbusters with 3-4 albums with mostly Triple J airplay.

Powderfinger went on to sell more records than Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel - emulating both bands.  Silverchair (Nirvana In Pajamas) were massive (even in the US with their debut album).  Regurgitator released wicked albums full of crude and sly references and pastiches.  I took my mum to see them at Gosford Leagues Club (she loved Polyester Girl) and had a mind altering freak out night with the band.  You Am I had THREE ARIA #1 albums in a row, releasing a string of intrinsically Aussie sounding records (though Tim Rogers def wears his 60's English Mod references on his sleeve).  You Am I hold a special place in my heart after seeing them at Homebake in 1998 - it was raining cats and dogs, the previous band Skunkhour had chucked a tanty, and Tim Rogers and the boys said 'fug the rain, let's rock!' and proceeded to win the day.  The Whitlams went from Newtown trendies to radio darlings with the independently produced Eternal Nightcap.  I saw them at the Long Jetty hotel on that tour and was amazed Tim Freedman could play piano and sing after downing a couple of bottles of red wine.

Many bands suffered from the 3 album deal.  MASSIVE debut, decent follow-up, forgotten non-selling third album.   Plenty had a hit or two, and with RAGE acting as the de facto video/TV arm of Triple J, and with Dylan on RECOVERY on Saturday mornings, many of these bands got to blaze their one big hit to a national audience, and the better ones got a few singles out before falling by the wayside.  The rise of The Big Day Out and later Homebake led to day long bills filled with these bands who were giving it a crack and were seen one year and gone the next.

On the pop front, Diesel (Mark Lizotte / Johnny Diesel) had some huge albums with some unforgettable rocking hits.  Seeing him live at Toronto (Newcastle) playing to a couple of dozen punters, he put on the BEST show ever.  Savage Garden blitzed the world, esp America, where their blend of pop won them fans and then with album #2, they pandered to the American market, releasing syrup.  Bands like Things of Stone and Wood with Happy Birthday Helen, Chocolate Starfish with Mountain and You're So Vain, Rick Price with Don't Walk Away Renee and Southern Sons notched up decent sales too.  Towards the end of the decade, poptastic bands like Taxiride and Vertigo (Desensitised) existed too.  Alex Lloyd released his fantastic debut only to become a bland pop star.  Yothu Yindi - an indigenous pop band, obliterated the chart in 1992 with their hit Treaty.

The Baby Animals got stuck in that post hair band - pre grunge period of 1991/92, releasing their debut album chockfull of classics...and Suze DeMarchi has to be one of the coolest, sexiest women in Aussie rock EVER!!!  For the stoners, Wollongong's Tumbleweed provided hits for the bong.

Another band that had the charismatic female vocalist was Frente!  If you were around in 1992, there was no way you could miss Accidentally Kelly Street and Ordinary Angels  (Angie Hart also sang Tingly with Pop!).  There was also Max Sharam with Coma and Rebecca's Empire with Atomic Electric and So Rude, and towards the end of the decade, we got Bachelor Girl and Madison Avenue.

And notice something else?  Out of the beer fuelled masculine pub rock 80's, there's more woman making massive strides.  What - chicks like rock music?  Apparently they can play guitar too.  If not out front, many 1990s bands were blended male/female groups with vocals, writing and playing all shared.  

For the tres cool, Nick Cave hit his peak.  Tex Perkins took over the Cruel Sea and minced/menaced stages with his whiskey and cowboy boots.

For the tres naff, like me, we had Peter Andre.  Yep.  Champion!

Of course one of Australia's greatest independent bands - The Hard-Ons - mixed metal, pop,  surf and punk and released a slew of 7 inch singles, Eps and damn fine albums populated by perfect 2 minute ditties about everything and nothing.  Greater Western Sydney's true giants, they brought the greatest waste of space - Western Sydney - to the masses with their own brand of wonderful that shits on anything Americans did later in the decade.

There were the girlbands - Girlfriend and Teen Queens.  There were the bands who'd done it tough like Weddings Parties Anything.  There was The Sharp - who were HUGE for about 3 months in 1992.  Even a glammy hair band in Roxus.  There was techno like Nick Skitz and Itchee and Scratchee and Southend (The Winner Is Sydney), and the first of the skip-hop acts in Sound Unlimited Posse.

For your punks there were the snot nosed Frenzal Rhomb.  For your more shouty, picket line punk, the Living End.

And of course, my fave - TISM.  This Is Serious Mum is an anonymous band that heaps scorn upon and embraces and belittles the Aussie way of life.  To me, they are the quintessential Australian band.  Humorous, vulgar, ironic, unafraid to say it how they see it.  They existed in the 80's but hit their commercial peak in the 90's with a clutch of rip roaring ditties tearing shreds off everything.  When I think of ANZAC diggers, I think of Aussie blokes who take the p!ss in the face of disaster and I think of TISM, flying the flag for our freedoms.  

For mine, there were plenty of fantastic albums and singles in the 1990's.  Heaps to see and do.  We won the Olympics.  Our sports teams smashed everyone to win World Cups around the globe.  I know I've missed bands.  I've missed songs.  I don't mean to.  If you think I've forgotten anything, feel free to email me.  I know someone will remind me of something cool.

Aussie music in the 1990's, twas a great decade.



Spiderbait : Greatest Hits
(contains : Buy Me A Pony, Joyce's Hut, Calypso, Shazam, Stevie)


Regurgitator : Jingles
(contains : Kung Foo Sing, Polyester Girl, Everyday Formula, Black Bugs, Fat Cop)




Diesel : Rewind - the Best of Diesel
(contains: Never Miss Your Water, Tip of My Tongue, Love Junk, All Come Together)


Screaming Jets : Hits and Pieces
(contains : Better, Living in England, Shivers, Helping Hand, Stop The World)




The Whitlams : Truth Beauty and a Picture of You (Best of the Whitlams)
(contains: Blow Up The Pokies, No Aphrodisiac, I Make Hamburgers, You Sound Like Louis Burdett)
  
The Hard-Ons : Suck and Swallow : 25 Years 25 Songs or The Best of the Hard-Ons!
(contains: Radio, You Disappointed Me, Missing You, Missing Me, Where'd She Come From, Suck n Swallow, She's A Dish)
  

You Am I : The Cream and the Crock 2CD
(contains : Purple Sneakers, Jaimme's Got A Girl, Berlin Chair, Good Mornin', Heavy Heart, Damage, Get Up)


Powderfinger :  Fingerprints/ Footprints - the Best of Powderfinger 1994-2000 & 2001-2011) 2CD
(contains:  My Happiness, Passenger, Pick You Up, These Days, DAF, The Day You Come)
[criminally leaves off Good Day Ray!!!]


Grinspoon :  Best In Show
(contains : Just Ace, Ready 1, Champion, Black Friday, DCx3)




Jebediah : Slighty Oddway (debut album)
(contains : Leaving Home, Benedict, Harpoon, Jerks of Attention, Military Strongmen, Teflon)



Custard : Goodbye Cruel World
(contains : Apartment, Girls Like That (Don't Go For Guys Like Us), Music Is Crap)



TISM :  Best of
(contains:  He'll Never Be An Ol' Man River, Greg The Stop Sign!,  Whatareya, 5 Yards, All Homeboys Are D!ckheads, Defecate on My Face)



The Badloves : The Definitive Collection
(contains : Lost, The Wright, Green Limousine, Caroline )



Weddings, Parties, Anything : Trophy Night - The Best Of
(contains : Father's Day)


Savage Garden : Truly Madly Completely: The Best of Savage Garden
(contains : I Want You, To The Moon and Back, Break Me Shake Me, The Animal Sing, Truly Madly Deeply)


Ratcat :  Twisted Tails
(contains : That Ain't Bad, Baby Baby, Don't Go Now, Candyman, Skin, The World In A Wrapper)



Silverchair :  The Best Of - Vol 1
(contains : Anthem for the Year 2000, Freak, Ana's Song, Tomorrow, Cemetery, Abuse Me, Pure Massacre)



The Clouds :  Favourites
(contains: Hieronymus, Anthem, Soul Eater, Say It)




The Fauves : Surf City Heart
(contains: Surf City Limits, Bigger Than Tina 1, Dogs Are The Best People, Celebrate the Failure, Self-Abuser)




The Hummingbirds :  Greatest Hits
(Contains:  Blush, Alimony, Word Gets Around)


Peter Andre : The Very Best of Peter Andre : The Hits Collection
(contains : Mysterious Girl, Flava, Gimme Little Sign, Kiss The Girl, Funky Junky, Get Down On It)


The Living End : From Here On In - The Singles 1997-2004
(contains: Prisoner of Society, Roll On, Second Solution, All Torn Down, Who's Gonna Save Us?)




Cruel Sea : The Most
(contains: Better Get A Lawyer, Black Stick, Honeymoon Is Over)





Something For Kate : The Murmur Years
(contains: Monsters, Electricity, Whatever You Want, Captain - Million Miles An Hour, Three Dimensions)






The Falling Joys : Lock It






Bands (most) without best ofs (as yet) but well worth checking out:

The Mavis'  (Cry, Lever)
The Falling Joys (Lock It)
Lavish (Careless, Parasite, Homosapien)  [Polaroid is an essential album]
Lino (Troubleshooting, Wasted, Drop)
Taxiride (Get Set, Everywhere You Go)
Defryme (God Inside A Man)
Baby Animals (Rush You, 
Superjesus (Down Again, Gravity, Enough To Know, Saturation)
Sidewinder (Here She Comes Again)
Ammonia (Drugs)
Single Gun Theory (Fall)
Skunkhour
Def FX (Psychoactive Summer)
Bodyjar
Sugargliders
Fini Scad (Coppertone)
Deadstar (Run Baby Run, Deeper Water)
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