The band have just posted some software info on Dead Air Space.

Maybe they’re webcasting the final show of their North American tour?

UPDATE
Colin has just posted an update to DAS informing us that the band will in fact be webcasting tonight’s gig in Santa Barbara. The band will probably be on stage between 8-9pm PST. If you’re reading this in Australia that makes it 1-2pm this afternoon. More details regarding the webcast will be posted later today.

One of Australia’s most beloved bands, Augie March, will be releasing their fourth album in October. The record is called Watch Me Disappear and was recorded in Neil Finn’s studio in Auckland.

You can download the album’s title track below. I’m not sure if this is the single or not…I kind of doubt it. It certainly won’t hit that sweet spot that One Crowded Hour did. What do you think?

Download
Augie March – Watch Me Disappear

After a few hours sleep (damn you Mario Kart Wii!), we trekked down to the White River Amphitheater in Auburn – just south of Seattle – to see Radiohead. Again. (Embarrassingly, my 21st Radiohead show.) Like the previous night in Vancouver the weather wasn’t great but we had pit tickets which meant we would be dry unlike the plebs up on the lawn. Poor, soggy bastards.

Radiohead mixed up the set a lot from the previous day – in fact, they played ten songs they didn’t the night before. And some of these songs (Dollars and Cents, Climbing Up The Walls, The Gloaming) are really dark and bassy which meant that last night’s gig had a distinct foreboding feel. It made for a great vibe all night.

The gig wasn’t all darkness though. Perhaps the most memorable moment of the night came about halfway through the set when Thom and Jonny played Faust Arp. During the song Thom messed up the words, tried to get back on track and then lost it again. So the pair quickly dove into a brief cover of Neil Young’s Tell Me Why…which Thom didn’t know the words to. Phil then popped out from the side of the stage and chucked a bit of money down for the buskers…the crowd loved it. Thom and Jonny eventually got back on track and finished the song. I managed to get it all on video.

Thanks to the inclusion of Lucky and Street Spirit I was able to enjoy some of my favourite little moments at Radiohead gigs: the lights hitting the crowd during Lucky and Jonny multi-tasking during Street Spirit. In fact, every time I see Lucky live I end up thinking that it may in fact be the perfect Radiohead song. I know there are more obvious choices…but I thought it again last night.

Nude was another highlight…Thom’s vocal was absolutely perfect and he held that note so beautifully; more memorable than the performance in Vancouver. Jigsaw was great again…but didn’t have quite the power it did the night before. And Pyramid Song might have been performed better last night than I have ever seen it before. Jonny’s cello bow work on his guitar is getting frighteningly precise.

Again, the first encore provided some absolute highlights. How To Disappear Completely was a bit of a surprise to kicks things off but it was beautiful and Idioteque was trotted out again after being voted off the island by the Vancouver crowd the night before. Thom danced up a storm (which he did during The Gloaming as well).

Then things got a bit special as the band played In Limbo for the first time since 2003 complete with Nigel Godrich on tambourine. It’s not my favourite song (and I probably would have preferred Wolf At the Door which was originally on the setlist) but I’m glad I got to see it. Nigel! Then Street Spirit got an airing which sent the reverent crowd into further joyful reverence.

When the band returned for the second encore Thom, who had been virtually silent all night, dedicated You And Whose Army? to anyone who was in Seattle during the WTO Battle In Seattle in 1999. The show then ended with No Surprises and Everything In Its Right Place. I was too close to notice the night before, but the lights during EIIRP actually spell out the lyrics as the song progresses. Very cool.

Once again I was blown away by the lighting. A number of the songs that I didn’t see in Vancouver had absolutely mental lighting, Dollars and Cents and The Gloaming in particular. I really hope the band have filmed an entire gig for a DVD as it would be a shame if this stage design isn’t recorded for posterity (other than on YouTube).

All in all it was an impressive gig. The crowd were great (quiet!), the venue was well organized, and I stayed dry…take notes Vancouver! Hopefully it won’t be another two years before I see the band again but it very likely could be longer. We’ll see.

Setlist (links take you to my videos from the gig)
15 Step
Reckoner
Optimistic
There There
All I Need
Pyramid Song
Talk Show Host
The National Anthem
The Gloaming
Videotape
Lucky
Faust Arp/Tell Me Why
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Climbing Up The Walls
Dollars and Cents
Nude
Bodysnatchers
———
How to Disappear Completely
Arpeggi/Weird Fishes
Idioteque
In Limbo
Street Spirit
———
You And Whose Army?
No Surprises
Everything In Its Right Place

I uploaded a ton of photos here.

It was a long but very enjoyable two days. I have some friends who I only ever see at Radiohead gigs (it’s what happens when you see so many) and it was great catching up with all of them the past couple days. And I met some great new people as well. But that drive home last night sucked…getting home at 4am blows. I am old.

***

I neglected to mention Liars in my review of the Vancouver. I’m actually a pretty big Liars fan so I was pretty excited to see them both nights as well (Radiohead have a knack for picking great support acts). They played pretty similar sets both nights playing a relatively equal amount of material from their last three records. Angus was a lot more…silly than he was when I saw them in Sydney a couple years ago. While they may have alienated certain segments of the crowd, I’m sure lots of people left the gigs as Liars converts.

Other notes:

At Ease has some commentary as part of the setlist thanks to Juliette.

The band have also uploaded a little video from the Auburn gig last night.

There are also already two different recordings from the gig. I have yet to download either but the one Dime sounds really, really great: Dime, Etree.

The band will be touring Australia as part of the Summerdayze Festival. Check their homepage.

New Year’s Eve in Sydney is looking pretty likely…

I’ve seen my share of Radiohead shows (probably a lot of people’s share of shows, actually) but Tuesday night was my first Radiohead show in the rain. About five minutes before the band took the stage the skies opened up and didn’t let up for the entire gig. The band, however, more than made up for any dampness in my shoes as they, once again, put on an incredible show.

While this was my first time seeing the band this year, I had heard most of the In Rainbows tracks live back in 2006, so as the gig began I was keen to hear a few songs I hadn’t yet heard and even more keen to see the lighting rig I had heard so much about. Radiohead delivered on both fronts. In fact, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, a song I hadn’t seen live before, was one of my favourite songs in the entire set. The way the band build the tension in the song as it approaches it’s final verse is just nuts.

The gig featured the entirety of In Rainbows as well as Bangers + Mash interspersed with crowd favourites (Karma Police) and Sean favourites (Exit Music). Actually, I often say I never need to see Karma Police live again but on Tuesday night it was one of my favourite moments as the crowd actually stopped surging around and just screamed all the lyrics back to the band. It was a nice little moment.

Throughout the gig Thom occasionally addressed the crowd…mostly to tell off the idiots. Ed, as always, was a great cheerleader, and Jonny seemed to be very posey. Despite the weather and the crowd the band seemed to be having a really great time on stage.

The gig got pretty special in the first encore. After dispensing with House of Cards, the band trotted out Optimistic (I’d never seen it live before!), You And Whose Army? (Thom cam!), and then Planet Telex. Now, a lot has been said about how amazing/beautiful/seizure-inducing the lights are on this tour, but nothing prepared me for the kinetic, rainbow assault that was Planet Telex. It was jaw dropping. The encore then ended with a crowd-assisted Everything In Its Right Place. You can’t get much better an encore than that.

The band then returned for a final encore including Reckoner (beeeeeautiful), 2+2=5, and a request…of sorts. Before the last song Thom gave the audience the choice between Idioteque and Paranoid Android and the crowd roared louder for the OKC classic so off the band went. As Thom sang the “rain down on me” refrain, the crowd flung their arms skyward and embraced the rain as it continued to fall. It was a great end to a gig that, in retrospect, I enjoyed more than I thought I did at the time.

Setlist
15 Step
There There
Morning Bell
All I Need
Where I End And You Begin
Talk Show Host
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The National Anthem
Bangers And Mash
Faust Arp
Videotape
Karma Police
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Just
Exit Music (For A Film)
Bodysnatchers
———
House of Cards
Optimistic
You And Whose Army?
Planet Telex
Everything In Its Right Place
———
Reckoner
2+2=5
Paranoid Android

I’ve got photos up here.

***
Other bits and pieces from the night…
*Cheryl from At Ease has an annotated setlist. Thanks as always Cheryl…and it was great to meet you. Again.
*Since they didn’t play it in Seattle either, I’ll have to settle for hearing Go Slowly in the Vancouver soundcheck.
*Seriously, what was up with all the pushing in Vancouver crowd? It certainly made it harder to enjoy the gig.
*And the lineup fiasco…my god. Radiohead need a Line Czar and that needs to be me.
*If you’re torrent savvy, you can already download a recording of the gig here.

Seattle review/photos/video coming a bit later.

To say I am looking forward to Havilah, the new album by The Drones, is an understatement. Since moving to Australia in 2005, The Drones have quickly become one of my favourite Australian bands. They are devastating live, they write some incredible music, and they carry a sense of import, sincerity, and gravity unlike any other band in Australia.

The first single from the record is called The Minotaur and it certainly seems to indicate the band have written another record that will ensure “album of the year” type statements.

Stream
The Drones – The Minotaur

Havilah will be released by ATP on September 20. The tracklisting looks like this:

1. Nail It Down
2. The Minotaur
3. The Drifting Housewife
4. I Am The Supercargo
5. Careful As You Go
6. Oh My
7, Cold And Sober
8. Luck In Odd Numbers
9. Penumbra
10. Your Acting’s Like The End Of The World

The band are currently learning how to play the record live over here in North America (I’m home in Vancouver for a visit at the moment) before coming home to Australia for a tour later this year. Sadly the band aren’t playing Vancouver this time around but they will be playing Seattle on August 24 at the Tractor Tavern…a place I’ve never heard of. If I wasn’t down in Seattle three days before for Radiohead I’d be at that show in a heartbeat. They really are pretty special live. Full dates here.

Download
The Drones – Jezebel (live)

Alright…the blog was dead for a while there but things are straightened out for the time being. This review is kinda late/short…

This week The Basics kicked off their August bi-state residency at the Hopetoun and they were warmly welcomed back to the Sydney stage. The band kicked off the set with a slower new one (What Do You See In Me?) before busting out a few old jukebox classics like Hey There! and Just Hold On.

The set featured a number of new songs which, while still sounding Basicsy, do seem to indicate that the band’s new album will feature a slightly different sound from previous records. The crowd seemed to lap up the new tunes which was great to see. In fact, for a Tuesday night, the crowd was pretty damn big. I guess fans were clamouring for a little Kris, Tim, and Wally.

Mid-set the band dropped in a trio of songs from the recently re-released Get Back which went down pretty well too. It must be odd to be on stage trotting out some “new” old songs as well as brand new stuff. But the set had a nice balance ending with Call It Rhythm & Blues (which is now being sung by Tim) and an encore of Rattle My Chain (by request!). No better way to spend a Tuesday night.

Of course you can check out the band every Tuesday at the Hopetoun (8 bucks!) for the rest of the month. I’ll be out of town, unfortunately, so I had to make do with only one show this go around. Last time I made three of four!

Setlist
What Do You See In Me?
Second Best
Hey There!
Just Hold On
Wait For You
I Could Go On
She’s Gonna B. Late
Karolina
My Baby
Girl Give Me Something
With This Ship
Have Love, Will Travel
Call It Rhythm & Blues
———
Rattle My Chain

Download
The Basics – Hey There!

One of Australia’s finest bands (and easily one of the best live acts going in these parts), The Basics are following up last year’s (overly?) ambitious tri-state residency with a residency in both Sydney and Melbourne through the month of August with a couple shows in Queensland at the end of the month (see all dates here).

Once again The Basics will be calling the Hopetoun home as they play every Tuesday night starting tomorrow night. Each night has a different support and each night will surely see the boys mixing up old songs, with new old songs*, and some new new songs. And that’s not even taking into account their massive repertoire of covers (Kinks! Ryan Adams! Tom Petty! Neil Young! The Stones! New Kids On The Block!).

August 5, 12, 19, 26 – “A Month of Augusts” Sydney Residency @ The Hopetoun Hotel

I’ll be overseas for the final 3 shows…and I may have an issue getting there tomorrow night. But I will trying my best to get there…even if it does mean risking a stabbing on a train from “out west.”

*From their recently re-released, little-known debut called Get Back.

Download
The Basics – Rattle My Chain

GO SEE THIS BAND.

Making their third trip to Australia in as many years, last night in Sydney Sigur Ros once again proved why they are one of the most dynamic and awe-inspiring live bands on Earth. Despite playing in the soulsucking Hordern Pavilion, the band managed to overcome the vacuous space and transport everyone in the crowd somewhere else entirely.

The big surprise on the night was the absence of Amiina who, in addition to being a band in their own right, have been Sigur Ros’s full-time string quartet for the better part of five or six years. In fact, with the exception of my first Siggy show in 2001, Amiina have been in tow for every gig I’ve seen. At first I was a bit concerned that their accompaniments would be severely missed but in the end I only really noticed something missing in a few songs. In their place Sigur Ros brought along the Horny Brasstards to fill out the rather joyous songs from their most recent record, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust.

But before anyone else joined them on stage, the band opened up with a couple older songs. Hearing that submarine ping of Svefn-g-englar to signal the beginning of the night was rather special, especially considering it had been a while since I’d heard them play that one live. It was a perfect way to ease into the beautiful sonic assault that would follow for the rest of the evening. The sublime Glosoli and Se Lest followed, the latter featuring the grand (and rather funny) entrance of the horn section. Hearing Se Lest was great as I’d not heard them play that one live before.

While many elements of the older songs remain static, I enjoy seeing them all the same: the way Jonsi destroys a cello bow during Ny Batteri, the drum stick on the bass during Hafssol, the mass instrument switch during Saeglopur. But it was the new songs that have really changed the dynamics of the Sigur Ros show. With the exception of Festival (which was perhaps my highlight of the evening) the new songs were all short and (other than Fljótavík) really bright and sunny. With these songs interspersed throughout the set, Sigur Ros’s show has become more varied as the lengthy, crescendo-based songs have a new foil.

The main set ended with the monumental Hafssol and Gobbledigook which featured five people drumming, confetti cannons, and mass clapping. Despite not being my favourite Sigur Ros song, it’s pretty much impossible to not enjoy it immensely live. Jonsi even instructed us to all clap along, one of several occasions where he actually addressed the audience. I swear he spoke more last night than at every other Sigur Ros show I’ve been to combined. It was a nice little surprise.

The band returned for an encore of Popplagið which is pretty much worth the ticket price on its own. Orri’s drumming in the build-up was actually different this time compared to previous tours and while it’s not quite as effective the song still exploded with a power that only Sigur Ros can unleash. The extra drumming from the Horny Brasstards certainly helped. After a bow the band once again returned to the stage for a final encore, the quiet, contemplative All Alright. It was a beautiful, quiet way to end what was, once again, a tremendous Sigur Ros show.

Setlist
Svefn-g-englar
Glósóli
Sé Lest
Ný batterí
Við spilum endalaust
Hoppípolla
Með Blóðnasir
Festival
Fljótavík
Sæglópur
Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
Hafssól
Gobbledigook
———
Popplagið
———
All Alright

More photos here.

***

Pivot (omg Warp!) opened the evening. I gave their new album a listen before heading to the gig and wasn’t all that impressed. Maybe it was the low expectations but I actually ended up enjoying their set more than I thought I would. I’m still not sold on them, however. They do have a pretty sweet mixtape up on their site right now:

Download
Pivot – O Download My Heart: Cosmic Gods Of Synth

When I saw this news article pop up in my RSS reader this evening I think I may have shrieked a little. UNDERWORLD ARE COMING TO AUSTRALIA AROUND NEW YEAR’S.

I am a tad excited as they are on my rapidly dwindling list of Bands I Must See Live Before I Die. I’ve been a fan for about a decade now and I love (nearly) all their records. And their live show is insane.

So, according to FasterLouder, Underworld will be down in Australia around New Year’s, apparently to play the Summadayze event in Melbourne on New Year’s Day. Other than that, the article only hints that the band “will make at least a few high-profile appearances around the rest of the country! Who knows – they might even crop up on a less ‘dance-oriented’ line-up too…”

It wouldn’t surprise me if the band end up headlining the New Year’s Eve event at Bondi Beach which would be a great way to ring in the new year. Oblivion with Bells has never sounded more fortuitous.

But where else might the band play? Falls Festival? Sydney Festival? Presumably too early for Big Day Out 2009 (about time for those rumours to start, however).

I WILL STOP YELLING now.