Thursday, 30 July 2015

That's Entertainment : Devo


Dun dun dun dun dun…

Whip it…whip it good!

Ha!  Right through my childhood and teens, Devo’s Whip It was one of those ‘novelty’ songs, like Mexican Radio or Rock Lobster, that seemed to be played at Blue Light Discos or on late night TV video shows and always got the crowds jumpy and happy…like some sort of nergasm fun-time button had been pressed.  Funny to think it was written as a pi$$-take theme with then-American President Jimmy Carter in mind as a way to get Americans to ‘work harder’.

It was only later that I learnt and appreciated what an envelope Devo pushed.  Taking New Wave synth hooks, dry wit, whacked out experimental art and visual style along with punk rock trappings, Devo combined these elements to release surreal, satirical observational songs and albums that cut at the core of 1980’s American society.  Devo - a contraction of de-evolution - were seen as weird, nerdy, out there by the mainstream yet today they seem to have been prescient pioneers.  That’s right, the nerds inherited the Earth but we didn’t listen to their warnings.

Where George Orwell spoke of Newspeak, Devo predicted America’s reliance on Doublespeak - language that deliberately disguises the stupidity and sinister cynicism of those in control of the media and the governments.  And funnily enough, where we’ve had a generation of political spin, Devo were embraced by Australia early on in the piece by Countdown (although for it’s popularity, Whip It only made it #77 here).  

Not only Devo in name, Devo made famous songs their own, covering Working In The Coal Mine as well as appropriating both the Rolling Stones’ I Can’t Get No Satisfaction and Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?   They also utilised the new video format to produce quirky and arty video clips which were often visually opposed the lyrical content of the song.  

By the end of the 80’s, Devo had had their day, slowly becoming bigger than their cultish status allowed.  Now, Devo are acknowledged as pioneers and originals, paving the way for popular culture to be skewered, remixed, rehashed, reheated and re-examined.  Their songs are used for ads - often the band thinks it is subversive but it pays the moolah and they get to laugh.  For me, every time I watch Yo Gabba Gabba! I laugh out loud - lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh is the resident artist and I can’t help but think he is ‘corrupting’ a whole new generation of independent thinkers.  Ha!

Whip it?  Whip it good!





Mongoloid          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6lY8UmMIUY   [fan made video]



Gates of Steel         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goV57pGmiCk










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Friday, 24 July 2015

Plug It In: Big Black Delta


Big Black Delta is back with a stomping, synth boogie pop dance rocker called It's Ok that will slam itself in to your head and force your knees to angulate and your feet to tap.  Soon, you'll be smiling like a Cheshire Cat and burning a whole in the floor as it infuses in to your brain.

This new one reminds me of ELO, Marc Bolan and that song from Flashdance - Maniac whilst being totally fresh and contemporary - almost peerless.

Check out the track here:


And seriously, the last album was AMAZING, if It's Ok is a taste of things to come, get ready to have your mind blown.  Currently taking Pledges for the new album, sign up here http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/bigblackdelta and get in to the goodies on offer.

And to reacquaint yourself, check out BBD's previous hits.



This is the past, present and future served up in delicious 4 minute feasts.  





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That's Entertainment : Death Cab For Cutie




First up, let me allay your fears:  Death Cab For Cutie are not some death metal act intent on excising you of your soul.  They are, however, a rock act who like to twist your heartstrings and leave you  an emotional wreck, killing you with heart aching, heart breaking, gloom-pop that’s great if you want to get yourself up for watching The Notebook.

With poetic song titles that evoke emotional turmoil, love lost and the human condition, Death Cab For Cutie are a band that have been around for almost 20 years.  They were appropriated as a flag waver for the 2000’s ‘emo [emotional] rock’ genre because of their downbeat sound and poetic lyrics however it was in 2003 via Adam Brody’s Seth Cohen role in The O.C. that DCFC gained widespread notice.  Appearing on the soundtrack for 2009’s Twilight : New Moon caught them more ‘teens’ looking to sob in to their diaries.

A number of brilliantly crafted albums have seen DCFC slowly become a big-selling rock band with an impeccable live act.  Having seen them a few times in the past couple of years, the lads in DCFC certainly serve up a live show that is impossible to ignore.  And despite the ‘emotional’ leanings of their music, the band are jovial chaps, well versed in rock history and ply their trade with much gusto. 

Singer, guitarist and writer [the main man] Ben Gibbard was also briefly married to Zooey Deschanel and the latest DCFC album, Kintsugi, is a result of that marital disintegration.  Better still, Ben Gibbard was one half of another band The Postal Service which release a masterpiece in 2004 [their single Such Great Heights was used by Telstra in the past 2 years for ads].

And if you want to cry - like quite literally sob uncontrollably - try listening to What Sarah Said.  A song about a true-love dying, the dying patient’s words to her lover are “Love is watching someone die”…So who’s going to watch you die?  

Yep.  Choked up.

Anyway.  It’s not all miserablism.  There’s some lovely pop gems as well.

But I’ll leave that up to you.  I’m out of here!

Taxi!!!!

Ahem…Death Cab For Cutie.




Death Cab For Cutie




You’ve Haunted Me All My Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AKCne5vvaQ


The Postal Service

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Thursday, 2 July 2015

That's Entertainment : Charli XCX


After self-recording and producing a handful of indie singles as a 14 year old then recording a debut album and handing them out at raves, Charli XCX came to notice after writing Icona Pop’s I Love It.

And with the quick release of her first and second studio albums, augmented by a string of snot-nosed, J-Pop inspired, bombastic, booming party anthems and video clips, Charli XCX has hit the mainstream in a big way.

Playing up the Lolita pop image and rocking and raving harder than most ‘rock’ acts, Charli XCX is brains too.  She writes (or co-writes) her own material, acts the brassy badass and tears up the stage.  She swans in to town, glams up, reaches in and rips out your heart, and sneers her way through what could only be described as the ultimate feminist fantasy.

Move over Madonna, clear off Rihanha.  Charli XCX is beauty and the beast.

Don’t believe me?  Check out Boom Clap (a song attached to the teen movie The Fault In Our Stars).  It’s a glam stomper Marc Bolan would be proud off.  Funny story too - in-between balls at the cricket all summer they play snippets of songs.  This boomed out every so often and for weeks I couldn’t pinpoint a lyric to search and when I did, I came up empty.  It was only when I went to the Australia Vs England One-dayer at the SCG that a young English backpacker and his mate used Shazam to tell me who it was.  

I ended up buying the Japanese version of the new album Sucker cause it had all the hits sung in Japanese as bonus tracks.  Ha!

I’d like to think Charli XCX has a big future.  I’m kicking myself I didn’t go see her at The Metro in April.  Least of all because I could have scored a cool t-shirt or two.  That said, no one wants to see a thirtysomething lurching around a gig full of young ‘uns daubed in gloss and glitter and dressed like jailbait.

Charlie XCX!  Better than candy in your pocket outside a school!  Check it out!














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