Single Move Along is very much commercial emo by numbers. Piano and vocals start just over four minutes of tension and angst that if written in the first half of last decade would have been good to very good.
"They've been carving your name out in stone" swoons frontman Matthew Wright at the opening of a song that has been written by better writers 6783 times before. The addition of backing strings do nothing to prove me wrong about the Melbourne lads. It's not that I don't want to like such easy to like music but, in 2011, it feels lazy, fraudulent and, well, boring.
Take a listen to the seventh track, S.T.A.R, and you will understand the relatively benign talents of a band that has played with the reasonable My Chemical Romance and The Used. Don't get me too wrong, Requiem shows The Getaway Plan understand what they're doing by coming back after essentially a three year hiatus, what it doesn't show is how good emo was when at its height.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
At The Halfway Point
Who'd have thought Thursday would dominate 2011 like Devolucion has.
It is an astonishing reply to anyone, me included, who had essentially written the Jersey band off. Initially all I could hear was Pornography era The Cure but as with all subtle records it slowly unfolds, rolls out, shows itself to be much more than a tribute disc. Empty Glass is oft on repeat, if for nothing more than that opening line: "I lost my wedding ring down the kitchen sink" and the sonic mood - it's all very un-Thursday I realise but now it has become totally Thursday.
Elsewhere John Darnielle is ever brilliant with the latest The Mountain Goats LP. I'm not a great lover of the DCFC but that can and most likely will change.
The TV on The Radio disc caught my attention early on but I haven't returned to it in the way I've kept going back to Devolucion. Radiohead LP was genuinely boring.
On the homeland front I remain bored. A new Blueline Medic LP seems as far away as it ever has been while the same nonsense keeps getting offered up by the latest D'opus and Roshambo or Angus and John Pyke. I am yet to dig out the Jebediah LP so will be doing that.
It is an astonishing reply to anyone, me included, who had essentially written the Jersey band off. Initially all I could hear was Pornography era The Cure but as with all subtle records it slowly unfolds, rolls out, shows itself to be much more than a tribute disc. Empty Glass is oft on repeat, if for nothing more than that opening line: "I lost my wedding ring down the kitchen sink" and the sonic mood - it's all very un-Thursday I realise but now it has become totally Thursday.
Elsewhere John Darnielle is ever brilliant with the latest The Mountain Goats LP. I'm not a great lover of the DCFC but that can and most likely will change.
The TV on The Radio disc caught my attention early on but I haven't returned to it in the way I've kept going back to Devolucion. Radiohead LP was genuinely boring.
On the homeland front I remain bored. A new Blueline Medic LP seems as far away as it ever has been while the same nonsense keeps getting offered up by the latest D'opus and Roshambo or Angus and John Pyke. I am yet to dig out the Jebediah LP so will be doing that.
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Crystal Ball of 2011
There are going to be mighty records released in 2011. Here's to hoping none of them are listed below, a surprise sure would be nice.
TV on The Radio - Nine Types of Light
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
There are going to be better than good albums also.
Thrice - As yet unnamed
British India - As yet unnamed
Enter Shikari - As yet unnamed
Artists I hope might bother me in 2011
The Jealous Sound
Pvt
Air
Periphery
Derek Webb
Pilot to Gunner
Brave Saint Saturn
TV on The Radio - Nine Types of Light
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
There are going to be better than good albums also.
Thrice - As yet unnamed
British India - As yet unnamed
Enter Shikari - As yet unnamed
Artists I hope might bother me in 2011
The Jealous Sound
Pvt
Air
Periphery
Derek Webb
Pilot to Gunner
Brave Saint Saturn
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Ollie Browne
Where is Ollie Browne?
There's an anecdote of one of the lads from the likeable Melbourne outfit The Small Knives where he tells of noise coming from his shower one morning and wondering what it was.
It was just Ollie singing in the shower.
The angelic voice of Browne last appeared through the debut LP from Parallel Lions in late 2009. You are correct in pointing out it was not Art of Fighting and it had been some time since anything from the darlings of what clowns call slow-core but what is just as easily described as beautiful.
It would be easy to suggest Browne's main post with Art of Fighting has come to and given the lack of movement at camp AOF. But it's best to retain hope and believe it when Browne declares "none of this means aof is no longer, we promise".
Certainly the music of Art of Fighting is delicate and would take time to craft. How long do we wait? Tool fans routinely wait five years or thereabouts. It will be that since Runways next year. That's if you're not counting the score for the film Ten Empty, released in 2008.
It looks like I'm arguing myself out of the initial question. But still I wonder where is Ollie Browne?
There's an anecdote of one of the lads from the likeable Melbourne outfit The Small Knives where he tells of noise coming from his shower one morning and wondering what it was.
It was just Ollie singing in the shower.
The angelic voice of Browne last appeared through the debut LP from Parallel Lions in late 2009. You are correct in pointing out it was not Art of Fighting and it had been some time since anything from the darlings of what clowns call slow-core but what is just as easily described as beautiful.
It would be easy to suggest Browne's main post with Art of Fighting has come to and given the lack of movement at camp AOF. But it's best to retain hope and believe it when Browne declares "none of this means aof is no longer, we promise".
Certainly the music of Art of Fighting is delicate and would take time to craft. How long do we wait? Tool fans routinely wait five years or thereabouts. It will be that since Runways next year. That's if you're not counting the score for the film Ten Empty, released in 2008.
It looks like I'm arguing myself out of the initial question. But still I wonder where is Ollie Browne?
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Sufjan Stevens: Sydney Opera House 27.01.11
I'll start simply. After 11 years and hundreds of gigs, festivals etc I have a new favourite gig of all time. Gone is Mercury Rev at the Enmore Theatre a decade ago.
Sufjan Stevens is unparalleled in the live arena. Opening with Seven Swans might seem odd giving he was touring Adz but it was brilliance on display. Stevens, banjo, lone light and a crowd holding its breath. "There was a fire in the yard ... I saw the sign in the sky, seven swans, seven swans."
NOISE and LIGHT
Stevens is dressed in disco motor leathers and the ten musicians/family members with him are beards and bowling alley dresses and then some sort of headware. I never knew Seven Swans was on Adz, always assumed it was on the album of the same name. Lyrically it still talks of the apocalypse but now it talks of the apocalypse coming loudly and with horns and drums, it is more obviously now a song of Revelation because of its noise.
Once he has you it is very difficult to escape Stevens whose magnetism grows through two hours of glorious noise, occasionally interrupted by well-timed three minute folk songs.
Welcome too is a chatty Stevens who talks of influences and past efforts. You can read about the influence of self-proclaimed prophet, astrologer and astronomer Royal Robertson or, as he preferred to be known until his death in 2003, “Libra Patriarch Prophet Lord Archbishop Apostle Visionary Mystic Psychic Saint Royal Robertson.” But until you both see and hear that influence it is impossible to understand with any strength. To resort to comparisons this is somewhere between Dark Side of the Moon, Kraftwerk, the Old Testament and science class.
On some listens Vesuvius is the centre of Adz and live it dominated the centre of two plus hours inside the acoustic wonderment of the House. The lyrical interplay between "Vesuvius" and the one less syllable of "Sufjan" feels even more clouded live, as if the two words are being sung in opposing places just to lock you in SPIN.
Of course the finale was always going to be a jammed out version of the already 25 minute Impossible Soul. It is testament to his song writing credentials that Sufjan starts so simply. One key and his voice. Imperceptibly come cymbals and two cheerleaders for the first rise. From there a guitar solo, a disco, choral backing and you have forgotten the first key and his voice is now layered, automated but captivating.
A female voice urges "don't be distracted" by what is going on, close your eyes.
Most of us writing about music like to keep it simple. To offer our logic driven opinions on drum solos and breakdowns. Sufjan Stevens steals logic and captivates the soul.
Video of the concert is available at http://play.sydneyoperahouse.com/index.php/Music/sufjan-stevens-live-exclusive-age-of-adz.html
Monday, January 3, 2011
The King is Dead
Noise is being made over at http://www.decemberists.com ahead of the Oregon band's latest LP release, The King is Dead, on January 18.
The increasingly impressive caper of offering the album in an array of fashions (download, CD, vinyl) alongside merchandise (anything from an "exclusive" tee through to one-off polaroids of the band is the smart and growing answer to bit torrents etc al. Yes, I will pay for a well thought through package like this one:
DELUXE BOX EDITION $165
Limited edition of 2500 available exclusively on thedecemberists.com
A one-of-a-kind Polaroid photograph by Autumn de Wilde from the Impossible Project/Decemberists series
72 page hardcover book featuring over 250 unique Polaroid photographs by Autumn de Wilde and illustrations by Carson
Ellis
The King Is Dead CD
Pendarvia DVD – a 30 minute short film by Aaron Rose, documenting the making of the album
The King Is Dead on 180 gram white vinyl with special cover
Limited edition Giclée print illustrated by Carson Ellis
Digital album download code delivered on January 18
Instant download of live video of "Rise To Me" from Musicfest Northwest in Portland, Fall 2009
Instant download of "Down By The Water"
All presented in a linen wrapped, clamshell box with
foil-stamped cover
By any standard it's more than a decent deal and I'd pay $200. The Decemberists are brilliant, we all know that. They have the record that allows them to offer a package like this. The snippets of The King is Dead that have been finding their way online hint at something much mellower than the bombast of The Hazards of Love. National Public Radio in the US will be streaming the album (edit)
The King is Dead is available for those with the patience needed of a streaming listener. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/132436422/first-listen-the-decemberists-the-king-is-dead
The increasingly impressive caper of offering the album in an array of fashions (download, CD, vinyl) alongside merchandise (anything from an "exclusive" tee through to one-off polaroids of the band is the smart and growing answer to bit torrents etc al. Yes, I will pay for a well thought through package like this one:
DELUXE BOX EDITION $165
Limited edition of 2500 available exclusively on thedecemberists.com
A one-of-a-kind Polaroid photograph by Autumn de Wilde from the Impossible Project/Decemberists series
72 page hardcover book featuring over 250 unique Polaroid photographs by Autumn de Wilde and illustrations by Carson
Ellis
The King Is Dead CD
Pendarvia DVD – a 30 minute short film by Aaron Rose, documenting the making of the album
The King Is Dead on 180 gram white vinyl with special cover
Limited edition Giclée print illustrated by Carson Ellis
Digital album download code delivered on January 18
Instant download of live video of "Rise To Me" from Musicfest Northwest in Portland, Fall 2009
Instant download of "Down By The Water"
All presented in a linen wrapped, clamshell box with
foil-stamped cover
By any standard it's more than a decent deal and I'd pay $200. The Decemberists are brilliant, we all know that. They have the record that allows them to offer a package like this. The snippets of The King is Dead that have been finding their way online hint at something much mellower than the bombast of The Hazards of Love. National Public Radio in the US will be streaming the album (edit)
The King is Dead is available for those with the patience needed of a streaming listener. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/132436422/first-listen-the-decemberists-the-king-is-dead
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Map of Tasmania - Amanda Palmer
So the one-time Dresden Doll is set to tour Australia and New Zealand in March 2011 and is leading with her new single, Map of Tasmania. Available for download/stream over at http://music.amandapalmer.net/track/map-of-tasmania-feat-the-young-punx
For those beyond The Antipodes, the map of Tasmania is a reference to the vagina. Not only is it a lame lyrical turn of phrase but it's also one that, in 2011, is incredibly tired. It's not risque to talk about your cunt or even mildly amusing, it's just boring and does not mask poor song writing. Palmer sings, "they don't play the song on the radio, they don't show the tits on the radio". Correct. They probably won't play the song because Lady GaGa has this niche covered. They don't show anything on the radio so not showing Harper's tits on ABC Local Radio won't be anything to celebrate or complain about.
From a woman capable of much greater shows of genuine envelope pushing, this kind of crap is nothing but disappointing. I choose the word crap pointedly, not because I have no vocabulary. This is junk music of the kind that 30 years ago created a genuine pop star in Madonna. But now, it is a rag of a forgotten time. If Ms Palmer wants to shock and offend The West in 2011 she'd be better wearing a burqa while rapping of her self-confidence and telling us all she chose the clothing out of self respect.
For those beyond The Antipodes, the map of Tasmania is a reference to the vagina. Not only is it a lame lyrical turn of phrase but it's also one that, in 2011, is incredibly tired. It's not risque to talk about your cunt or even mildly amusing, it's just boring and does not mask poor song writing. Palmer sings, "they don't play the song on the radio, they don't show the tits on the radio". Correct. They probably won't play the song because Lady GaGa has this niche covered. They don't show anything on the radio so not showing Harper's tits on ABC Local Radio won't be anything to celebrate or complain about.
From a woman capable of much greater shows of genuine envelope pushing, this kind of crap is nothing but disappointing. I choose the word crap pointedly, not because I have no vocabulary. This is junk music of the kind that 30 years ago created a genuine pop star in Madonna. But now, it is a rag of a forgotten time. If Ms Palmer wants to shock and offend The West in 2011 she'd be better wearing a burqa while rapping of her self-confidence and telling us all she chose the clothing out of self respect.
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