Next Saturday (Rocktober 7) is a very busy night for gigs here in Sydney (check Rocking Hoarse for the details). Melbourne’s Telecom, a band I’ve been digging quite a bit lately, will be launching their EP Sydney-style at the Hopetoun along with I [Love] Space, Merle Morris, and The Laurels (who are taking the place of The Graphics on the bill). Should be a great night at the Hoey methinks.

Telecom – Second Feature

As for tonight, The Drones are about to kick my ass again.

In other somewhat related Melbourne bloggy news, Dave is back from Europe so be sure to check his music blog based out of Melbourne (apparently they have computers there too).

Dappled Cities Fly are about to unleash Granddance upon us and from the sounds of this song (which isn’t even the single!) it’s gonna be a sweet record. I know the Sandwich Club beat me to it, but it’s such a great song I want to post it as well. So here it is, the first official mp3 taster from the new record courtesy the fine folks at Speak N Spell.

Check out this page for a streaming version or download the mp3 below:

Within Hours

I instantly recognized this song from the last time I saw them live which attests to the awesomness of the song (both live and studio versions). And Sydney’s next chance to hear it live along with stacks of other new songs is next Saturday (October 7) at the Annandale. More dates at their MySpace.

As I mentioned, I wasn’t sure what to expect upon seeing the Howling Bells last night at @Newtown. I hadn’t really heard them properly and all I could piece together was that they used to be band called something else, then they pissed off to England for two years and are now Australian again. Or something. Oh yeah, and the NME loves them. So maybe I knew more than I thought but I still felt in the dark whilst walking up the stairs of @Newtown to join the sell-out crowd.

I think the band suffered because before leaving home last night I read this article that mentioned PJ Harvey (whom I love) as a comparison of sorts. Needless to say, they sound very little like Ms. Harvey. The first couple songs I enjoyed and was hopeful the band would continue to surprise me all night. But after that the band settled into a slew of mid-tempo numbers with very similar spacey guitars, hard-hitting drums, and a dense molasses sound. Only later in the set when they played one of their dad’s songs (siblings in the band) and Dolly Parton’s ‘False Eyelashes’ did the pace/sound of the gig change significantly. Lead singer Juanita Stein does have a lovely voice but sadly at one point she sang us this metaphorical trainwreck: ‘I have a pocketful of wisdom up my sleeve.’ I never recovered. Having said all that I think I will give the album a few listens and see if I just missed it live.

Bit By Bats supported (as did some other band I missed…Ghosts maybe?) and once again I found myself impressed. For some reason during their set I kept thinking that if John Hughes was making movies like these today, Bit By Bats would be on the soundtrack. Like late 70s/early 80s post-punk bands like Joy Division and New Order (and pre-Unforgettable Fire U2) the bass and drums are just as important to the sound of Bit By Bats as the guitar. And luckily their rhythm section is damn good. Having said all that, maybe it was just the fact that lead singer Owen Eszeki stole Molly Ringwald’s shirt that I started thinking about John Hughes.

Download:
Dance the Dance
The Suburban Ballet

A few more photos here.

It seems that XL will pull a second single off Thom Yorke’s The Eraser at the end of next month. ‘Analyse’ will be released on October 30 and is accompanied by two new b-sides. Great choice for a single I think…certainly one of the more Radiohead-esque songs on the record (can’t you picture them doing it live?). At this point it looks as though this may be a strictly digital release…although there are also reports of 12 inch being released as well. If you check this page you can see the two new b-sides: ‘A Rat’s Nest’ and the interestingly (especially for Thom) titled ‘Iluvya’. I wasn’t thrilled with the last two b-sides (although they did grow on me) so I’m hoping for more from these two.

Click here for Thom performing ‘Analyse’ at the Mercury Prize Ceremony earlier this month.

So Amanda bought us tickets to the Howling Bells show tonight at @Newtown (ugh…hate that venue). I’ve only heard the album once and it was sort of on in the background so I pretty much have no idea what to expect. What am I in for? I do know Bit By Bats are opening and I enjoyed them when I saw them last month so I know I’ve got that to look forward to.

If it’s not too late I’m going to try and head over to Candy’s Apartment after the gig so I can check out the Sandwich Club partay. Hopefully I/we make it on time. They’ve just added another band to the bill too!

I think I’ll also be checking out The Drones on Saturday too. And hopefully The Paper Scissors on Sunday night at the Abercrombie.

Photo of Howling Bells by Matt Booy (flickr)

FasterLouder has this article up…it’s not confirmed, but it looks likely. And who doesn’t like a good Big Day Out rumour?

Tool
Muse
The Killers
Guns ‘N’ Roses
Foo Fighters
My Chemical Romance
Jet
The Magic Numbers
TV Rock
Bob Sinclar
Daddy Cool
TISM
Xzibit
HIM
Frenzal Rhomb
The Vasco Era
The Lost Gospel
Youth Group
Wolf & Cub

Tool and Muse are obviously for sure given their other Aussie dates. After going last year I didn’t have much desire to go again this year. And with that lineup my decision is even easier.

Alright, I mentioned a week or so ago that Joanna Newsom’s ‘Sprout and the Bean’ was featured in Visit Victoria’s latest ‘Lose Yourself in Melbourne’ ad. Well I’ve now found it on YouTube so check it out as it’s actually a pretty nice ad. And the only sound is Joanna Newsom.

Alright….the last repost. First up, Broken Social Scene live in Paris. I’ve had numerous requests to repost this Broken Social Scene concert that I originally posted back in March. The show was at La Maroquinerie in Paris on December 16 of last year. Feist and Jason Collett were there, the mp3s are 192kbps, and the show sounds great.

Download and enjoy!

The setlist ran:

1. All The Gods
2. 7/4 (Shoreline)
3. Fire Eye’d Boy
4. Stars and Sons
5. Cause = Time
6. Major Label Debut (slow)
7. Handjobs for the Holidays
8. Almost Crimes
9. Major Label Debut (fast)
10. Hotel
11. Improv
12. Superconnected
13. Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
14. Bandwitch
15. Improv 2
16. Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)
17. KC Accidental
18. (encore break)
19. Lover’s Spit
20. It’s All Gonna Break

Alright, now for a couple random mp3s that people have requested I put up again. You better get them this time!

First up, another Broken Social Scene song, the unreleased (and fantastic) Jimmy and the Photocall. They opened with this song when I saw them earlier this year and it set the tone for one of the most amazing concerts I’ve ever been to.

Jimmy and the Photocall (live in Stockholm 2004-07-08)

Yeah, so I’m a bit behind. On Friday night I made my way down to Candy’s Apartment to check out a few bands I had never really heard before. First up was Regular John who were as intriguing as their name. I couldn’t even conjure up a polite lie when asked by Regular John Girlfriend to join their mailing list. I just said, ‘no.’

Luckily Pharaohs were up next and they were pretty damn good. A few of their songs were a bit meh but there were quite a number of them (including the last 2 in particular) which kicked ass. Unfortunately for the band, they didn’t have their EPs available at the gig…not great when it was a pseudo-EP launch gig. Pharaohs will be at Rebel Rebel on October 14 with a bunch of other bands, so you may want to get your ass down to Darling Harbour to check that out.

The headliners on Friday were Children Collide. I just couldn’t get into them. Like Jonny, I found the lyrics a bit crap even if they did have one song about vikings which rocks pretty hard. At times the band reminded me of early Sonic Youth, but that was probably just due to the distortion and the lead singer’s Thurston-Moore-circa-early-90s haircut. The band did have a large crowd ‘dancing’ up front though, so they must be doing something right that I may not be getting.

And just a note to the crew I was chatting with most of the night. On my way home I spotted Little Drunken Backpack Dude on William Street. He had a big bottle (wine?) in one hand and his schlong in the other as he was pissing on the side of a building right on the sidewalk. And it was crowded. Apparently public urination in front of crowds is sort of his ‘thing.’

Sadly, I spent Saturday helping a friend move from damn near Katoomba to Campbelltown and didn’t make it back to the city until about 9pm…which means I totally suck and missed out on The Paper Scissors at Spectrum. But they’re playing the Abercrombie this Sunday (October 1) so all is not lost. Go check them out.

Head on over to McSweeney’s to read about how The Recording Industry Will Destroy You. It’s hilarious. And while you’re there, buy some books (like this one, or this one, or this one….)

Here’s a sample:

If you decide to ignore this, that’s the last mistake you’ll make before you’re on the street asking, “Can you spare some change? The Recording Industry took everything I had.” And, brother, that’s Mistake No. 2, because you just asked a record executive, who will push your frail body, crippled by years of alcoholism, into a gutter. Then, after you regain consciousness, you will wander the streets and inexplicably end up at your old house—but now there’s a Jacuzzi and an outdoor fireplace in the backyard and a new Hummer out front. You knock on the door, and that’s Mistake No. 3, because guess who answers: the record executive! And your estranged wife is there with your child, who turns to the record executive and asks, “Daddy, who is that strange man?”

“Oh, nobody. Go back to sleep.” Nobody indeed. Now pay up.

—The RIAA