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Big Day Out @ Olympic Park 26.1.2012

January 28th 2012 01:16

It has become the Australia Day tradition in Sydney for the last 20 years for anyone under the age of 35.... The Big Day Out festival! A day of sun, beers, friends and music. Sadly the sun was hungover like me and didn't feel like coming out until later in the day, but it didn't stop 30000 faithful from cramming into trains and avoiding sniffer dogs to head out to one of this countries most premium music festivals.


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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - "The Magic Of Youth"

January 24th 2012 09:55
Ska punk may not be in vogue anymore but it doesn't mean all those great bands just packed up and got real jobs.... Well actually the Bosstones did. Dicky Barrett worked on radio and TV as an announcer, Lawrence Katz went on to be a music teacher, some went into movies and regular office jobs but clearly the 9-5 grind did not suit these eight men so they are back with a new album and a new lease on music.

This album takes it back to the nineties era Bosstones. A healthy mix of horns and skanking beats mixed with punk rock power chords. Barrett's voice is still as gravel fueled as ever and the energy is the highest it's been for quite some years. The Bosstones are back baby.

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The Black Keys - "El Camino"

January 23rd 2012 09:03
There is something about The Black Keys that's makes it almost impossible not to like. Each new song and each new album sounds so familiar. It's like a favorite pair of slippers - warm and comforting. The fuzz driven rock n’ blues guitar backed by the beating drums of Patrick Carney, it's the the sound they are known for and will hopefully be their sound for a long time to come.

Truth is, this album is kind of difficult to review. I could sift through my history and find some previous Black Keys reviews, change the title at the beginning and be done. The consistency of this record, along with the previous six records, is paramount to The Black Keys. It's what makes them so damn good. I think the band are incapable of writing a bad album. "El Camino" is just as good as "Brothers", "Rubber Factory", "Magic Potion" et al. And while the fundamentals are the same, the band do make natural progressions. The production is crisper than on "Brothers" but still keeps that's 70s vibe as that record had. The instruments are layered with more use of extra guitar tracks and keyboards which only adds to enhance Dan's brilliant songwriting.
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Tom Waits - "Bad As Me"

January 21st 2012 02:31
The cigarette scarred, whisky graveled voice of Tom Waits is probably one of the most recognizable voices in music. I have always admired Waits even if I feel his last few albums of early part of this century were not his strongest releases. However, "Bad As Me" is a cracker of a record that reminds me of some of sounds of his earlier work coming out of the late seventies and early eighties.

Some have credited Dylan as the best poet in music. These people have certainly never listened to Waits. His almost avant garde performance style of wordplay mixed with his graveled croons allows the words to have greater impact and create their own musical line filling the spaces in between the song structure. Tom Waits sorrowful blues takes you to the slums of a cold New York city playing in dank blues bars to a few old barflies and lost souls. Still, a man of his years, he comes across as wounded and in need of love. He has once again created a mood that really only allows this to be played when you are alone and have the blues yourself.
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H2O - "Don't Forget Your Roots"

January 21st 2012 02:28
Cover songs are always polarizing. You either have people fall in love with your version that the song becomes yours.(Johnny Cash "Hurt") Or they hate it so much it becomes a black spot on your musical history. (Madonna "American Pie"). But what about an entire covers album? Metallica tried it, Guns N Roses tried it, even NOFX put one out last year. It too, is often fraught with danger. But taking risks is what hardcore band H2O have taken their entire lives. Drawing from the bands and songs that have influenced their music and their lives, the New Jersey? Natives tackle some of punks moat respected artists. And do so with an impressive result.

H2O's "Don't Forget Your Roots" serves as a tribute album than a cover album. They stay true to the original vibe even if they do make some stylistic changes where appropriate. There's no ska upstrokes or horns in the Mighty Mighty Bosstones track "Someday I Suppose" but it's as catchy as the original and is one of my favorite tracks on the album. While on the other hand their version of 7 Seconds "Satyagraha" has a Bouncing Souls feel to it, that you could almost mistake it as Bouncing Souls covering the track. There's a few lyrical change to Rancid's "Journey To The End Of The East Bay" and "Sickboy" by Social Distortion holds true to the original.
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Boy In A Box - “The Pretty Litters”

January 21st 2012 02:24
As I sit here on the bus with the rain pissing down outside, I close my eyes and daydream of summer. I can't wait for the sunshine again. And Boy In A Box's new EP would make a perfection addition to the summer soundtrack. Think late afternoon. You've spent the day at the beach baking and swimming. It's time to get some friends together and have a BBQ by the shoreline. That's the daydream I'm having as this blasts in my ears.

A happy, pop friendly, indie vibe that has songs with hooks the size of umbrellas to catch sunshine and good vibes. All four tracks are gems but the first two "Moon Comes Up" and "Glitter Gold Ruin" are so damn catchy you'll be singing along in no time. Get this for when the sun finally shines.
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Year in Review 2011

January 4th 2012 09:13
Wow, hasn’t that year flown by a little too quickly. So much music to sink my teeth in it was one hell of a year. We saw many bands break up or go hiatus and many more reform. We had more tours and more festivals than you can shake a glow stick at and had a few cancel last minute. I set myself a goal to see a hundred bands perform live this year. I can proudly say I ended up seeing 147! (and I didn’t see anyone in June)

And is such the norm for this part of the year, top 5’s!!!!!! So go grab a beer/wine/vodka/coffee or whatever tickles your fancy and read my self indulgent opinion on everything this year condensed down to a few paragraphs


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Bliss N Eso/Jebediah - V8 race gig @ ANZ Stadium 2/12/2012

December 13th 2011 09:35
With a little known rapper from the States playing across town(!), there was a pretty small turn out who stuck around after the races to watch tonight's concert. Perhaps there were also in my boat where kicking of a gig at 4 when I finish work at 5:30 was not a smart move by the organisers. It meant I missed Calling All Cars and got in for the last 30 seconds of The Herd.

It must be hard to play to a stadium that holds over 80 000 people seated when there is barely 300 people there. I think it may have had an impact on Jebediah’s set as they were a little bit like going through the motions and the effort was not quite to their normal standards. While they delivered the songs most people would know. (“Harpoon”, “Leaving Home” etc) The overall response was lacklustre. It probably didn’t help when Kevin questioned why Holden and Ford fans couldn’t get along because ‘both are nice colours!’. It’s like asking Israel and Palestine to get along because both have interesting headwear. Not going to go down well.
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Interview : Guttermouth

December 8th 2011 10:31
Guttermouth have been tearing up the clubs and small stages all over the world for the best part of twenty years. Their unabashed style of punk rock has enthralled fans and disgusted alot of others. At times, outspoken and they have incurred the wrath of quite a few bands and countries over the years. (they have been kicked off tours and was once banned in Canada) The one place that has always welcomed them with open arms has been Australia. returning for another tour in 2012, I got the opportunity to catch up online with vocalist/lyricist Mark Adkins to discuss new music, the state of the world and why he will never grow up!
Guttermouth


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Hunters & Collectors/John Farnham - V8 Sydney race gig @ ANZ Stadium 3/12/2012

December 6th 2011 08:50
Crooked Saint had the unenviable task of opening for the line up created when the cars were still racing around the track. They put in a solid effort to a near empty ANZ stadium playing tracks of both EPs. While the crowd didn't really care for them, I appreciated hearing songs like "Big Easy", "Lazy Bones" and "Every Angry Inch".

James Reyne, Australian Crawl frontman returned to the live stage with a new single and set of classic hits such as "Reckless". The late afternoon crowd warmed to a man who, I'll admit, had forgotten some of the great songs he had written. You could see he was back in love with music and enjoyed playing live again. Up next was a surprise guest in the form of X-Factor series winner.
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