(and has a good taste in music)

watch:

i’m trying to stay optimistic, but the latest offering from motion city soundtrack is fairly bland. it seems, gone are the days of when jesse johnsons’ thrilling moog riffs were the hallmark of the bands’ sound. but ever since 2003s ‘i am the movie’ the scene has been flooding with copy-cats. the artwork i find pretty disappointing too, it looks like something in between the cover of len’s* ‘you can’t stop the bum rush’ and fat freddy’s drop’s ‘dr boondigga and the big bw’. just plain lame.

its not all bad news in the mcs world though, they’ve been doing some pretty interesting stuff tour-wise lately. It was announced the band would be playing 3 nights in a row in chicago (from december 18 – 20), over the three shows the band will play each of their previous 3 albums in their entirety. man i wish i could go to the first two shows, ‘i am the movie’ and ‘commit this to memory’ still remain two of my favorite records. in the lead up to album 4, ‘my dinosaur life’, frontman justin pierre, has been playing impromptu acoustic shows around the states, allowing his fans to decide on the locations and suggest ideas via twitter. calling the feat ‘on the dino trail’, each of justin’s movements have been documented in a series of youtubisodes.

*the band that gave us that 1999 hit ‘steal my sunshine’

listen:

motion city soundtrack – disappear

len – steal my sunshine (don’t pretend you don’t want it!!)

every now and then, you come across a track that instantly blows you away, that happened to me a few days ago when i caught the opening guitar lines to fool’s gold’s ‘surprise hotel’. a 7-minute tropical rock experience, ‘surprise hotel’ features some of the most incredible instrumentation you’ll hear this year. the group is made up of 11 members; yes, 11 members; including lewis pesacov, a classically-trained guitarist. not too sure what exactly the other 10 members are doing, but i’d say quite a few of them are responsible for the layers upon layers of african percussion that creates the backdrop of the track. it seams tropical tunes are the in-thing at the moment, but this a whole lot more refreshing than any vampire weekend to date. not to mention, it’s featured in the latest episode of the line traveling circus, during some sweet grass-skiing action.

don’t let the name fool you like it did me, fool’s gold aren’t a country-living folk band. they’re based in los angeles, california, play afro-pop, and are signed to iamsound records; the label home to: florence + the machine, cut off your hands, telepathe, and little boots. their debut self-titled album came out on september 29. though i am yet to hear the whole release, from what i have heard, it sounds fantastic! (even with some lyrics sung in hebrew!?) it’s a real shame they haven’t been penned for any aussie festivals during festival season, but when you’re approaching nearly a dozen members, i’m sure touring overseas isn’t exactly the most affordable thing to orchestrate. oh well.

look:

listen:

fool’s gold – surprise hotel

fool’s gold – nadine

“we only write about two feelings: one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. the other is when you’re walking alone in the rain and realize you will be alone forever.”

they are the opening lines to the drums’ bio, which pretty much sums up the drums perfectly. jonathan pierce (the blond-haired guy above) and jacob graham (the guy in the coca-cola t-shirt) have been friends since their childhood days. they played in a electro-pop band named goat explosion originally. in 2003 pierce started a new indie rock project, elkland, and graham formed a band as well, horse shoes. years passed, and they both left those projects to reunite in 2008 as the drums; deciding to swap the synths for guitars (even though, neither of them knew how to play). adam kessler and connor hanwick completing the lineup.

the drums sound like the beach boys’ second coming, which isn’t a bad thing by any means, but if i told you they were from brooklyn, would you believe me? yes, that’s right they’re from new york, not some sunny californian beachside town. they’re debut ep, ‘summertime!’, sounds like the kind of vinyl you’d find at your local recycled record store lifted straight from the 1950s. its, well, jolly? and beachy? and its hard to avoid the beach boys comparisons with songs like ‘let’s go surfing’. but it’s the second track of the ep that really shines, ‘saddest summer’ is the song you need playing while you’re checking the surf from the headland carpark in your vintage convertible.

listen:

the drums – let’s go surfing

the drums – saddest summer

okay, so i may have missed posting during the major hype-period of these guys by about a month… but if you missed it, here’s what you need to know: girls aren’t girls, they’re actually an all-male jangle pop band, who are usually credited as a duo, from san francisco. christopher owens, the vocalist, grew up a member of the children of god cult. though he has since left the cult, it has had a major effect on his songwriting. growing up in such a highly controlled environment meant the first time he was exposed to queen was during a movie night, where he focused more attention to the soundtrack of highlander (note: don’t see highlander, it sucks). the churchy singalong vibe also is evident in their music (“it’s the constitution, it’s mabo, it’s justice, it’s law, it’s the vibe and… no, that’s it… it’s the vibe!”). girls have quickly risen to critical acclaim, pitchfork media recently rated their single ‘hellhole ratrace’ as one of the top 500 songs of the 2000′s.

so anyway, yes they have some great songs; take the second verse of ‘lust for life’, it will be hard to top this year:

oh i wish i had a sun tan,
i wish i had a pizza and a bottle of wine,
i wish i had a beach house,
then we could make a big fire every night…

their debut album, aptly titled, album, was released on september 22.

listen:

girls – lust for life

girls – laura

hoorah! jamie t has announced he will be playing a falls festival sideshow at the corner hotel on january 1. so that means that every melbournian who missed him and his pacemakers in september, or missed out on falls tickets, will get a third chance to catch him! kings & queens, jamie’s sophomore release, is simply brilliant. it’s like panic prevention, only a little more folky and more refined production-wise. anyways the tickets will be on sale soon, at cornerhotel.com, so remember to set aside some funds!

a video has been made for kings & queens’ next single ‘the man’s machine’.  if you have a keen eye, you will notice that st kilda makes a short but pivotal appearance in the video, with some extreme luna park and tram action around the 1:36 min mark. (check it below!)

watch:

listen:

jamie t – spider’s web (kings & queens, 2009)

jamie t – st. christopher (sticks ‘n’ stones – ep, 2009)

how many hip-hopping dudes can you name that are fans of the smiths? well there’s theophilus london… and… err… that’s all i got! i first became aware of theophilus london, after hearing his wonderful reworking of ‘sabali’ by african blues duo amadou and miriam. the track, titled ‘grey x sage’ appears on his second mixtape, this charming mixtape, along with 17 other songs which sees him mashup everything from bill withers to whitney houston and includes the guest services of lykke li on one track. now there’s not many people who can use a whitney houston song, and still look cool, but mr london can (yes, theophilus london is his real name). infact, theophilus has been refining his cool, he is actually rather photo shoot friendly! just see for yourself, i challenge you to find a photo of him where he’s not looking like the most fastidious man on the globe.

im sure we’ll be seeing alot more of theo over the years; in just the last two, he has released two mixtapes, jam! (2008), this charming mixtape (2009), and his first studio album, this charming man, dropped in april this year. not to mention his latest work, a collaborative project with mark ronson, sam sparro, and victor & thomas, called chauffeur (do i have to say he’s freindly with passion pit, and touring with jack peñate, and remixed peñate’s ‘pull my heart away’ too). hence, the fact that theophilus london’s fame is quickly rising, best you jump on the bandwagon now people!

oh and don’t forget to check his dance lessons below and check his blog… THIS CHARMING BLOG.

watch:

listen:

theophilus london – grey x sage (sabali remix) (this charming mixtape, 2009)

theophilus london – ooos and aahhs (feat. jesse boykins III) (this charming man, 2009)

finally some new good shoes! after pretty much hibernating for all of 2008, the mordeners have returned to the studio to record album number 2 (due for a january 2010 release). since their debut, think before you speak, bassist joel cox has left the band and been replaced with a fellow by the name of will church. interesting fact! before joining good shoes, church played in a band called vincent vincent and the villians, of which the frontman’s name was actually vincent vincent!

‘the way my heart beats’ was recently offered as a free download from goodshoes.co.uk and is the first taste of the new material… new material? well, its not really anything new, it’s the same jolly, bouncy, indie rock that made think before you speak one of the funnest albums of 2007. so while it wont send you into any kind of what-happened-to-arctic-monkeys shock, it does set the stage for another nice little indie pop album.

listen:

good shoes – the way my heart beats

lightspeed champion – never meant to hurt you (good shoes cover)

chillwave, islandtronic, electrosurf, whatever sub-sub-genre you prefer to use… if you can imagine mgmt on a summer holiday, making some lo-fi synthy recordings, you’d have a sound like neon indian. neon indian is texas-living mexican-native alan palomo’s musical identity. the dreamy sounds of ‘terminally chill’ and ‘deadbeat summer’ (off the debut album psychic chasms) have been flourishing in the blogosphere, it’s not hard to see why, they’re both fantastic! and are sure to be reoccurring on mixtapes all summer!

listen:

neon indian – deadbeat summer

neon indian – terminally chill

minus the bear @ soundwave 2009.

the latest offering from math-rock/experimental/indie legends, minus the bear, is a thrilling 5 minutes of guitar sampling and over-dubbing, coupled with jake snider‘s trademark vocals, and the added surprise of guest female vocalist rachel flotard (of visqueen). ‘into the mirror’ is the first indication of what the new record will sound like, which will drop sometime in early 2010. ‘into the mirror’ will sound familiar to those of you that have seen the band’s promo video for the australian soundwave festival last february (or the keyboard cat’s cover!). the band will be releasing the single on vinyl and digitally on october 27, and it will come with the spacey brill b-side ‘broken china‘.

listen:

minus the bear – into the mirror

the 2010 soundwave festival is suddenly looking more exciting, with the second batch of announcements occurring yesterday.

quick recap! the first round announcement: faith no more, my chemical romance, janes addiction, afi, paramore, him, alexisonfire, taking back sunday, trivium, sunny day real estate, eagles of death metal, the get up kids, anti-flag, reel big fish, meshuggah, all time low, a day to remember, it dies today, escape the fate, clutch, isis, gallows, a wilhelm scream, the weakerthans, emarosa, anvil, the devil wears prada, comeback kid, the almost, dance gavin dance, four year strong, you me at six, whitechapel, the aquabats, rolo tomassi, baroness, rx bandits, maximum the hormone, the creepshow.

to me, (with the exception of an odd few bands) this looked like whole lot of noise pollution. however, the 7 new acts added to the bill, have now made the festival worthwhile! kudos to the soundwave organizers for getting two of my favourite bands of all time to play on the same day! yes, it is true, motion city soundtrack and taking back sunday will both be playing the same festival in australia! after missing all of both bands previous visits, (including mcs’ soundwave appearance in 2007) i couldn’t be more happy!

second announcement: placebo, shinedown, anthrax, motion city soundtrack, set your goals, enter shikari, closure in moscow.

but wait, there’s more! soundwave organizers still have a joker up their sleeve, as there is one more act yet to be announced! speculations are coming thick and fast, with people throwing around names such as slayer and metalica into the mix. not my cup of tea, there’s enough metal in the mix already guys… i’d like to think it is the newly reformed blink 182… but thats probably a little too far-fetched.

so with that said, here’s my picks for the festival…

acts not to miss:

motion city soundtrack – the here away (back to the beat – ep, 2000)

motion city soundtrack – the sun woke up the whole state (motion city soundtrack/limbeck – split ep, 2004)

taking back sunday – you know how i do (tell all your friends, 2002)

taking back sunday – new american classic (where you want to be, 2004)

other picks:

closure in moscow – a night at the spleen (first temple, 2009)

afi – this celluloid dream (sing the sorrow, 2003)

placebo – special k (black market music, 2000)