It had been just over four years since I last saw Doves so I was pretty keyed up for last night’s gig. Maybe it was the expectations but I felt that while the gig overall was certainly a solid performance, at times the band seemed a little flat. In fact, most of these moments came early in the set (thankfully after a perfectly nailed Jetstream) as drummer Andy Williams seemed to struggle keeping time on the drums; I told myself I wasn’t hearing things correctly but then I read the SMH’s George Palathingal’s review of Doves first Sydney gig on Wednesday and he noticed it as well.

Thankfully, the band and the show got stronger as the gig progressed. Pounding totally lived up to its name (Andy managed to keep in time here) and was one of the highlights of the night. I think I had forgotten how great that song is.

I was a bit letdown that the band didn’t delve into any of Kingdom Of Rust’s second half. Spellbound and Compulsion in particular would have been welcome, especially considering some of the other new songs didn’t quite hit the highs they do on the record (I’m looking at you, The Outsiders). Having said that, Kingdom of Rust was absolutely fantastic. Delivered with passion by the band, it was greeted by the crowd as if it was an old classic.

The main set ended with one of my favourite Doves tracks (still after all these years), The Cedar Room. The band then left the stage before returning for a pretty spectacular encore. They started with Lost Souls‘ moody instrumental Firesuite (!!!) before Andy stepped out from behind the drums to deliver Here It Comes. The show then ended with a couple songs from The Last Broadcast culminating in another anthemic, percussive performance of There Goes The Fear. How can you not love that song?

Was it a spectacular gig? Nope. But it was certainly enjoyable. Which, come to think about it, is pretty much what I think about Doves.

Setlist
Jetstream
Snowden
Winter Hill
Pounding
Almost Forgot Myself
10:03
Words
The Greatest Denier
Ambition
Kingdom Of Rust
Black And White Town
The Outsiders
The Cedar Room
———
Firesuite
Here It Comes
Last Broadcast
There Goes The Fear

Photos here.

Last night’s bonus were two support acts I was keen to check out. First up were Townsville’s The Middle East. I’d heard so much about this band but I had yet to check them out live myself so I made sure I got down to the Metro early. While I’m not sure they lived up to the absolutely over-the-top things I’ve seen written about them elsewhere, I was still pretty damn impressed at times (the last song in particular totally kicked ass). While a couple of the songs hung around a bit too long and a couple meandered into samey territory, I really enjoyed their set. As I was watching all six of them up there on stage swapping instruments (flute! trumpet! accordion! banjo!) I kept thinking that this could be the most talented young band I’ve seen in a while. They show so much promise it’s crazy. If you’re reading this blog you’ve probably already heard this but I’ll say it anyway: Watch out for The Middle East.

Up next were Adelaide’s Leader Cheetah. While they didn’t grab me the way The Middle East did, they played an enjoyable, if unspectacular, set. Still intrigued me enough to make sure I give their album a proper listen soon.

Alright…I need to get out the door.

Japandroids continue to be the best thing to come out of Vancouver since Expo Ernie. The record kicks ass and they seem to be getting rave reviews about their shows pretty much everywhere they go. Due to the tyranny of distance, I’ve got to settle for live sessions on the interhighway.

First up, Noisevox has an extensive interview and performance from the band. Check out Young Hearts Spark Fire (song of the year contender) below.

Over at The Tripwire the band played a session in the backyard. I sing this one a lot…

Thanks to Dodge over at MOKB for the heads up on both these sessions.

I was also pleased to learn recently that Stomp will be putting out the record locally here in Australia. You’ll be able to find Post-Nothing in Australian shops on August 14. Hopefully by the time I get to see JPNDRDS live they haven’t turned into a couple of strung-out junkies surrounded by skinny models and flash cars.

I also just read this post over at McNutt Against The Music. It describes me perfectly.

Spectrum turns five this Friday and to celebrate a pretty great lineup of bands have been chosen to make it a memorable birthday. I’m excited to see The Seabellies and Young & Restless…two bands I’ve not seen live in ages. Also, love the billing of Dappled Dave.

Full lineup:
Young & Restless
The Seabellies
The E.L.F.
Dappled Dave
We Say Bamboulee
P*A*S*H*
More Pop Less Rave DJs

Undercutzz need to get in on this.

Buy your tickets here.

New Weird Australia is an ambitious, exciting new project put together by Stuart Buchanan and Danny Jumpertz (both of whom are very active members of Sydney/Australia’s music scene). NWA is a compilation series which is going to be available, for free, on a bi-monthly basis from the NWA website.

As the title implies, with these compilations you are going to get “new, eclectic and experimental Australian music.” Volume One has been available for a couple weeks now but I only got around to listening to it today and it was definitely impressive.

Whether or not I (or you) loved every track isn’t important (I didn’t). What is important is that I heard thirteen songs by thirteen artists whom I may have never heard before otherwise. And you know what? There are some great tracks on here. The Loom track in particular surprised me halfway through.

Do yourself a favour and download Volume One. It’s projects like this that make this whole internet/music thing really, really exciting.

I’ve also been meaning to mention that one of Australia’s best music bloggers has finally got off his arse and started writing again on Get Big, Little Kid. Great to have you back, Geoff.

And to keep with the Australia theme…it was reported recently that Augie March will be breaking up after their current tour; well at least their bassist thinks they are (nice to see he agrees with me about how badly Watch Me Disappear sucked). But then their drummer was a little less sure of a breakup. Never a good sign when your rhythm section is…out of sync.

After all the controversy surrounding the SausageFest that was Triple J’s Hottest 100 (Male) Songs of All Time died down a bit, some people in Tumblr land decided to do something about it: they started Lady Bands.

Some of my favourite Tumblr peeps are involved in the collaborative blog including Kate (who’s also partially responsible for the fantastic Sidestage zine), Morris (aka Sydney’s Most Prolific Taper), and Nom (noted Oh No! Oh My! Last. Fm Stalker).

And finally, I was emailed the following which I will paste below. It involves a project to document the career of the Lucksmiths, who have sadly called it a day.

Dear all,

I’m putting together a fan tribute in the form of a zine to give to the Lucksmiths at their final gig in Melbourne. I’ve tried to spread the word on the internet, but I haven’t gotten a tonne of submissions.

To let the band know how much their music has meant to you, please contribute an anecdote, mini essay, comic strip, drawing, poem, ticket, stub, photos, etc.

Please send your contribution to
lucksmithszine@gmail.com and include your name and city if you’d like. Contributors will get a final copy of the zine.

Love!
- Anh

So if the Lucksmiths meant something to you, get going!

As mentioned a couple days ago, Thom Yorke played a solo set at this year’s Latitude Festival in the UK. He played five songs from The Eraser as well as some Radiohead tracks, including a brand new song called The Present Tense (which had been soundchecked a few times last year with the band). In addition, a couple of Radiohead’s “lost” songs got a rare airing in True Love Waits and Follow Me Around. I’m once again getting hopeful Follow Me Around makes it onto a record.

Download
Thom Yorke – The Eraser
Thom Yorke – Follow Me Around
Thom Yorke – The Present Tense
Thom Yorke – True Love Waits

Or you can download the whole set here (see complete setlist). Thanks to nanakey (and others) on At Ease for getting these mp3s out there.

With the impending release of Zounds rapidly approaching, Dappled Cities are currently in full on assault mode. This past week the band stopped by Triple J for a Like A Version session where they played an acoustic version of current single The Price as well as a pretty solid take on Animal Collective’s My Girls. You can download the entire session complete with the interview here or stream it here. Or if you just want the songs…

Download
Dappled Cities – The Price (acoustic)
Dappled Cities – My Girls (Animal Collective cover)

In addition to that, the band have also re-recorded their old song The Birds in the style of Neu! in honour of the release of Brand Neu!, a compilation featuring School Of Seven Bells, Sonic Youth (as Ciccone Youth), Oasis, Primal Scream, Fujiya & Miyagi and others. Dappled are not actually on the compilation…so consider this their contribution, I suppose.

Download
Dappled Cities – The Birds (Neu! Mix)

Thom’s just come off stage at the Latitude Festival in England. He played Follow Me Around, True Love Waits, some solo stuff, and a brand new song.

01 The Eraser
02 Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
03 Atoms For Peace
04 Harrowdown Hill
05 Follow Me Around
06 Everything In Its Right Place
07 The Present Tense (New Song)
08 Cymbal Rush
09 Black Swan
10 Videotape
———
11 There There
12 True Love Waits

I’ll hopefully have a bootleg for you tomorrow or…soonish.

Setlist via the At Ease faithful/Twitter.

UPDATE
Click here to hear a portion of The Present Tense.

It’s always a big ask when a band plays a gig composed entirely of new material. Even if the record is brand new, the audience can get a bit itchy for some of the old stuff. It’s an even bigger ask when a band plays a set made up of entirely new material from a record that won’t be out for a while yet. But that’s what The Basics did last night at The Studio (located inside the Sydney Opera House).

In addition to the challenge of presenting new material to a seated audience, The Basics also had the additional challenge of introducing new material which is miles different from much of their older stuff (you know, the ’60s influenced rock ‘n’ roll). My suspicion is that the band are making a conscious effort to distance themselves from being seen as some sort of rock ‘n’ roll classics cover band (what with the Beatles suits and army of cover songs) which has resulted in their two singles released this year (With This Ship and Like A Brother) being somewhat new ground for the three-piece. Clearly, they are doing something right as these songs have finally cracked the Triple J playlist, something they had struggled with before. As a result, the band must surely be reaching a larger audience now than they ever have before. And they totally deserve it.

But that leaves fans like me a little bit concerned. I’ve had so much fun at Basics gigs over the last few years (as evidenced by the numerous live reviews on this site). Last night’s gig simply wasn’t as fun as previous Basics gigs. The seated venue didn’t help, unfamiliar songs didn’t help, almost getting soaked in red wine spilt by some idiots seated upstairs didn’t help…but I left the Opera House last night with little of joy I used to feel after seeing The Basics.

Don’t get me wrong the band themselves were great. In fact, they looked more comfortable on stage with each other last night than the last few times I’ve seen them. They warned us that they had yet to flesh out some of the live arrangements of the new songs but I thought they did pretty damn well. In addition, each of the boys had a little solo slot in the spotlight. Tim’s solo rendition of his song Trouble In His Head was a particular highlight as was Kris’ acoustic version of All Or Nothing (which will apparently be the last track on the new record). Perhaps most surprising was Wally playing a Steinway Grand on new song Keep The Door Open For You. Only sparsely accompanied by Tim and Kris, the song gave Wally a chance to shine away from the drums (on which he is a master). Turns out he’s great on the piano as well!

So all those great moments…yet I still felt a bit disconnected from the new songs. People used to be able to move and dance at a Basics gig but these new songs don’t seem to be offering many opportunities for joy and abandon on the dancefloor (again, last night’s stuffy seated tables were not conducive to a rock show anyway).

It was not until the final song of the night when the band played an “old hit” (Money) and I remembered why I love The Basics live so much. It was full of energy and it reminded me of all those fantastic, sweaty shows at the Hopetoun. I just wish there could have been a bit more of that last night. Of course this whole post sounds like the selfish whining of a fan as one of his favourite bands moves on (and it is) so take it with a grain of salt. Maybe I’ll come around when I have the record in my hands?

Setlist (some “approximate” song titles)
Fear Of Failure
With This Ship
On The Day Mairead Goes Away
Home Again
What Do You See In Me?
The No. 1 Cause of Death Amongst Youth Today
Trouble In His Head
The Executioner
Keep The Door Open
All Or Nothing
Like A Brother
Money (Gimme, Gimme)

A few photos here.

Too amazing not to post!

We saw The Basics last night…review to come later today. In the meantime…

Brisbane’s Andrew McMillen has written a piece for Drowned In Sound on the state of music writing in Australia:

But – why write about music in the first place? This is a topic that other writers have already touched upon this week. It surely wasn’t about money when I began. I was first published on the Australian music website FasterLouder, who pay none of their hundreds-strong contributor pool across the nation. It’s an excellent business model – pay nothing, receive content for free – but the low stakes often mirror the quality of writing. I attempted to rail against the apathy and mediocrity by writing long, descriptive live reviews that maximised the benefits of the online format. With debatable success.

It’s an interesting read. Well done, Andrew.

Also, I (somewhat begrudgingly) began my Twitter career a couple days ago. Follow me? It. Will. Be. Riveting.

So a few months back, Odawas latest record, The Blue Depths, made its way into solid nighttime rotation around these parts. At first I didn’t give the album much of chance (there’s not a lot to grab onto at first) but after Joe praised the record (much to his own bafflement) I gave it another try. And then The Blue Depths clicked.

This record is the sonic equivalent of thick honey slowly, slowly oozing downwards. The vocals are heavily treated, no tempo eclipses lethargic, and there is enough reverb here to make all of Pink Floyd’s early ’70s records hang their heads in shame. I’m not sure how often I’ll listen to this record in the light of day but it really is a fantastic record to put on as you’re drifting off to sleep.

Download
Odawas – Harmless Lover’s Discourse