Today is Halloween, the day when Australian children are bittlerly dissapointed that that don’t live in America where people actually give out lollies and the words “too American” aren’t thrown about every two seconds.
I thought I would celebrate by posting some Zombie Ghost Train. Zombie Ghost Train are a really fun pyschobilly band who sing songs about being a zombie and perform wearing zombie make-up. Very cool indeed.
I have a bit of a confession to make:
Although I was impressed by what very little of Oh Mercy’s material I had heard, the real reason why I bought Oh Mercy’s In The Nude For Love EP was because I liked the title. And I really hope I’m not the only one, firstly because it would make me think that I’m not completely crazy for buying CDs based on their titles, and secondly, because it’s one of the best local releases I’ve heard all year.
Oh Mercy make the kind of dreamy pop music that even your Grandmother would probably appreciate (although they drop the f-bomb in Seems Like a Good Idea, so unless you have a really cool granny, perhaps not). It is very easy to see why they’ve been compared to the likes of The Go-Betweens and Augie March.
The band have also released an album Privileged Woes. While I am yet to hear it (I’m buying it as a “you survived your exams and didn’t go mental” present to myself in a few weeks), the first single Get You Back is a brilliant slice of laid-back pop music that will get stuck in your head. So don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Sorry about the lack of posting lately. I’m not dead, only studying, which is much, much worse. If you have any complaints you can send them to VCAA, preferably along with some anthrax
Anyway, there are a couple of all ages events in Melbourne coming up which I highly recommend you go to if you enjoy your gigs drug, smoke and alcohol free, or are forced to because LIQUOR LICENCING LAWS ARE STUPID!
Ahem.
The first one is a battle of the bands. The bands are The Refunds, Sheer Abandon, Mercey, Thieves in Law. I’ve only heard the The Refunds, who are great fun live and I reckon it’ll be worth going just to see them. The gig is happening on Friday the 30th at the Camberwell Civic Centre. Entry is $10 or $8 with Halloween costume. Doors open at six and bands start at seven. I’ll be working on cloak for most of the night, so make sure you come and say hi.
The second event is for us folks who didn’t get a school formal because of the bad (read drunken) behavior of the year above us, who get a formal anyway. It’s a Parody Prom and there will be daggy costumes, ice swans and a daggy DJ. The Rhetorics will also be playing and chances are they will cause some kind of ruckus. While it may sound a bit lame, tickets are selling fast and there will over 200 people attending and it’ll be heaps of fun. It’ll be on the 6th of November at the Hawthorne own Hall.
I should have more posts for you sometime soon, depending on exams, sleep deprivation, stress and my ridiculous workload. In the meantime, you can checkout the blogs in my blogroll. Just make sure you have plenty of download limit…there are a lot of great mp3s to be found.
After the release of their epic folk-opera The Hazards of Love the Decemberists are coming to Australia for the first time. They will be playing the Big Day Out(yay!) as well as a couple of sideshows which are:
Tuesday 19 January – The Metro Theatre, Sydney
Sunday 24 January – Billboard, Melbourne
Tickets are on sale now.
There’s one big problem with Young Werther’s Treasure mini-album. It isn’t long enough.
Hell, even if it was a 2 hour long double album it wouldn’t be enough.
You see, Young Werther (A.K.A Mick Young) makes the kind of folk music you can get lost in. Full of delicate melodies and the kind of poetic lyrics that make you want to keep listening just to see what is coming next, Treasure is as close to a perfect EP as you can get.
Bird Made of Ice is a heart-breakingly beautiful song and is a good indicator of what is to come next. Brother’s In Harm’s Way is the catchiest track on the EP and conjours up images of country towns and old men telling each other stories in their pubs(which is no surprise considering Mick Young is from rural Victoria). The real centerpiece of the EP however, is Cornish Green which makes the acoustic guitar sound like the world’s most exciting instrument, as well as his usual standard of fantastic lyrics.
Why Young Werther isn’t seen as one of Australia’s best songwriters is beyond me, however if he continues releasing music this good, hopefully he’ll get the recognition he deserves.
10/10
Horchata is a drink made from ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice and barley. It is also the name of Vampire Weekend’s new single which they’ve been nice enough to relase as a free download.
Although reaching the heights of their slightly patchy but incrediby fun debut album was always going to be a massive task, Horchata is hopefully an indication of what is to come because it’s sounding pretty damn good.
Admittetly, It isn’t a huge departure from their earlier sound, however there is a notable absence of guitars and more of an emphisis on percussion, which comes curtesy of Mauro Refosco who recently joined Thom Yorke’s band.
On another note, Vampire Weekend are coming to Sydney to play a show on the 21st of November. I don’t really see why they would come to Australia to play just one show, especially since it’s all the way over in the arse-end of world. Anyway, if someone knows, that would be great.
Horchata can be downloaded from the band’s website. And they even give you an option to download it without haivng to sign up for anything. Other bands should take note.
It’s no secret that I love Yves Klein Blue. They are probably one of the more exciting Aussie bands at the moment and they can go from rockabilly to indie to country, almost seamlessly.
Make Up Your Mind is the first track from their debut album Ragged & Ecstatic and was also available for free download through their Twitter promotion. It’s probably the most poppy track on the album and does get a bit annoying once you’ve heard it 20,000 times, which probably makes it perfect for radio.
This is the new video from these guys and it’s worth a look. I can totally imagine Mr Cho liking this 
While I’ve never been a huge fan, British India are at their best when they are creating catchy danceable rock songs. So I was more than a little suprised when they chose a slow number as the first single from their upcoming album.
While there is nothing wrong withVanilla, it could be by anyone. The melody is catchy enough, the lyrics are good but it’s just a little bit average. It isn’t until Declan Melia starts shouting out of tune that it really sounds like a British India track. While British India released a slower single with God is Dead(Meet The Kids), Vanilla never reaches the same heights.
You can download the track for free from the Triple J website.
(500) Days of Summer is not your typical romantic comedy. There are no grand declarations of love, no airport chase scenes that inexplicably don’t involve wait for hours at security, it doesn’t do that annoying thing where they try and add as many sub plots and characters as humanly possible and thankfully it doesn’t star Hugh Grant or Sandra Bullock.
Instead it is a fun and kind of heartbreaking film about how love doesn’t always work.
The story focuses on Tom and Summer. Tom is a would-be architect who works at a greeting card company. He listens to too much British pop music (as if there is such a thing) and believes he will never be happy until he meets “the one.” Then he meets Summer immediately and falls in love. And she doesn’t.
(500) Days of Summer, as the name suggests, tracks the 500 days of their relationship as they fall in and out of love. The story is told in a non-liniar fashion and skips from day 1 to day 270 and so on. This does force you to think, however it does get a bit confusing having to keep track all the time.
The acting is excellent. While Zooey Deschenal is her usual quirky self, Joseph Gordon Levitt is the real star. He is brilliant as Tom and plays the heart broken character so well that all through the movie you could hear “awww”s coming from all directions. The soundtrack is also worth mentioning. It features many indie bands including Melbourne band The Temper Trap, which is pretty damn cool.
The movie isn’t perfect. The ending feels too contrived and Toms 12-year-old sister is incredibly annoying, but it doesn’t stop it from being the best romantic comedy to come out in quite some time.
8/10
While I usually just post about music, I thought I’d share this with you, because it looks amazing and I’m too young to enter anyway.
Universal Music Australia are running the My World Tour competition and the prize is amazing.
Two lucky people will win the oppurtunity to report from 11 of the best worldwide festivals, interview the bands as well as flights, accomadation, transfers and plenty of other exciting things.
So how do you be in the running for such an amazing prize?
Well, you have to be over 18, but aside from that you just need to head over to http://www.myworldtour.com.au and build up a profile.
Pretty cool, huh?
