Ooh! Blogger Me!

One exciting thing about Stereogum is that it's a big time popular blog.
They even have awards and stuff. In fact, I am usually more agreeable to the outcome of the Gummy Awards than another Rolling Stone's "top 100 great singers of all time from 1990."

You can also vote for your favourite blog other than Stereogum in these awards. I don't expect to come anywhere near some of the more deserved dedicated champs out there pimping music like a full time job. But if you vote because I've alerted you to the fact that you can vote for the top music of the year then I'll like you; you know, in the internet sense.

If you can't remember what happened this year, Stereogum have provided a list of albums on high rotation this year.

My top three albums, by the way, were:

1. Lykke Li - Youth Novels

2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Happy voting!

Lions and Spiders and War, Oh My!

When you first hear C.W. Stoneking you might mistake him as a lesser known singer from the 1930s blues era. The voice, the use of instrumentation and percussion, the subject matter sung about, even the stifled mono sound rasping through the speakers sooner reminds you of Benny Goodman, than an experimental shoe-tapper from Footscray, Melbourne.

And yet I hear even on stage this man has the presence of someone torn straight out of the history books.

Stoneking's first album King Hokum introduced his playful sound. There was even some banter between himself and his wife, creating that depression era side of domestic living so far removed from the present.

But perhaps the concept of a depression isn't all as far removed as initially thought.
Fears of a financial recession occuring worldwide reveal the perfect timing of Stoneking's latest trumpet-out.

Jungle Blues takes a quirky look at the "dark corners of the globe."
Although remaining playful, you can't help but feel songs like "Housebound Blues" give a significant nod towards the interest rate crisis devastating families across the Western world.

And while the drunken, slow-sung blues sound has prevailed (and I hope continues to do so), this time a fearful mood has crept its way in too. During his adventures to the Congo, Stoneking sings;

"...we hitched a ride, lawd, lookin over the side,
Everything was goin on wrong,
There was bird-eatin spiders, big as my fist,
Snakes that hung down like vines
And eyes that watched as we drifted along."

This mood sits suitably alongside references to war, mentioned throughout the album. By the end of this tale Stoneking (or is it Hokum?) returns safe and sound, vowing "I'm never goin back to that country again," to tell a story about an orphaned boy, Samuel, who served in the Armed Forces. Towards the end of this story Stoneking tells us "The memories of war scarred Samuel the rest of his life, because he remembered nothing."

This time around Stoneking highlights the importance of the past, and how it informs our future. Thankfully he does all this while maintaining the fun aspect of his approach: he really does sound like a 1930s singer!
I can't wait to see him live at Falls!

C.W. Stoneking - Brave Son of America

Buy the album

Sound Familiar?

Some of you may have noticed the sudden disappearance of two of my posts.

The first time was unusual. I received no notification of removal... I had posted a number of dance songs, with the typical intention of exposing any lovely readers of my blog to new artists.

It was removed. I thought this was an action taken by Elbows (a blogroll I'm listed with: see links to the left). But they didn't know what I was gabbing on about.
Being a man of the Y generation, and therefore always writing and in the past commenting on forums, I have quickly learnt that written words on the net are disposable. You are likely to be "modded" or censored in some way at some point in your life online (particularly if you contribute passionately to forum debates).
So I shrugged my shoulders and left it at that.

Then it happened again. This time to a post I'd spent a lot more time constructing. And I hadn't saved the draft of it (silly me). So I was cranky...

I checked my email account and I was shocked (though not entirely surprised) to find this little message in my inbox:

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.

The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Please note that it may take Chilling Effects up to several weeks to post the notice online at the link provided.

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=254 for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Blogger can reinstate these posts upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/dmca.html#counter.

Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

Affected URLs: http://ahasbeenthatneverwas.blogspot.com/2008/09/festivus.html


Thank you, Blogger Team. It is nice to be notified this time around, I'll give you that much.

Since then I have noticed that a number of bloggers (all hosted on blogspot) have received the same notification.

I understand these copyright people (chilling effects?) are doing their job to protect the legal property surrounding music.
What I don't understand is how they believe this approach (or any) will prevent music sharing on the internet.

The first music sharing program taken to court was Napster.
Poor Metallica who must've been struggling to make a dollar, felt afflicated by Napster when a demo of one of their songs made its way into the program's library. Rather than attributing sales loss to the noticable degradation in the quality of their sound, Metallica decided eager music lovers trying to save a dollar were the reason behind why the band members have now been driven to homelessness. So to ensure they still had bread on the table they sued.

Once Napster got the wooden spoon from the District Attorney splinter groups emerged. Limewire, Soulseek... You could now decide which program operated the most efficiently and carried the biggest music library. Business-minded determination emerged from the ashes of Napster.

Now we have torrents. If I choose to (and I do not condone this) I can download an entire album in 20 minutes!
It used to take longer to download that Metallica demo, I'm pretty sure.

And we have bloggers. People who willingly endorse the music of a number of musicians, regardless of who they are, how much money they have or whether or not they believe suiing for music "copyrighting" is a good way to invest in more property.

Strangely it seems out of these two it is bloggers who are now bearing the brunt of the next wave in "legal control" over music sharing. Whether or not bloggers are promoting the music, possibly increasing music sales internationally, doesn't seem to be a question worth investigating. Best to stifle this enthusiastic burst in love of music with a blanket.

Ah McCain, You've Done it Again...

Rednecks have their say.
I guess the expression "You live, you learn" is a tad redundant in these circumstances.

Artificial Geniusness

Ipods have been a part of everybody's everything since they were released back in 2001.
And while the makers have improved its durability they are designed to ensure the consumer will "upgrade" their ipod unit and keep buying new models. Which of course I'm a big sucker for.
I just purchased the new ipod 120g classic (because carrying a lot of music in a small box is still more of a novelty to me than colour or "touchability").

With all recently released ipods comes the new "Genius" feature. This essentially runs off the idea of programs like Last FM; the Genius component "learns" the similar stylings of your songs.

So you select a nice mellow tune, like The Acorn's Hold Your Breath and the Genius will compile a playlist like:


Hold Your Breath 5:54 The Acorn

Night Windows 4:36 The Weakerthans

Seeds of Night 5:05 The Cave Singers

Waiting For Summertime 4:55 Yeasayer

Your Legs Grow 2:46 Nada Surf

Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car 4:33 Iron & Wine

Brother 3:43 Annuals

The Plot 3:32 White Rabbits

So Low So High 3:58 Maps

All The Wine 3:15 The National

It's not always entirely accurate (often it will choose the music based on the typical sound of the artist, rather than the song). But I've heard this improves over time.

I don't know whether to be excited or scared about the fact that ipods no longer simply bring music to your ears, they get in your head too...

Weekend Winddown 6

Thankfully we are now in the final month of winter. Winter seems to be the time of year when everyone goes through hardship of some form, particularly illness. It's also a time when I feel determined to rug up at home, rather that go out; to stay in and listen to some quiet music (the kind I've posted on "Weekend Winddown" mixes).

That's why Sigur Rós couldn't have performed at a better time. I saw them last Saturday night in Sydney. They were beautiful. My friends had plenty to say afterwards; about how amazing the vocals were, how mesmerising, how the beat of the faster songs really set their hearts racing. I was speechless, maybe even slightly sad. It could've been because I was exhausted, it could've been because the performance was over, but mostly it was because Sigur Rós know how to play amazingly emotive music.
Their latest studio release sets itself apart from the others with hopeful, upbeat melodies. But they still return to the beautifully soft and sad sound.

It's not yet the weekend but I'm home sick today so I'm preparing the mix early this time with an example of sad stuff Sigur Rós can produce.

Sigur Rós - Fljótavík [buy]

I saw Adele's album 19 in stores before I heard who she was. The album cover put me off so I never bothered to listen to her stuff.
Then I watched an episode of Skins, where one of the characters, Cassie (reeling from the death of another main character), runs through the streets of New York. A song is playing while this happens: a piano driven pop piece that reminds me of Sia's "Breathe Me." I later find out it is Adele. I also find out, much to my chagrin, that this song did not make it to the Skins Season 2 dvds and has been replaced by something else.

Adele - Hometown Glory [buy]

A friend recently recommended Son Lux to me. I was pretty keen to check this guy out because he had done an awesome remix of Beirut's "Sunday Smile."
His debut album reveals his large scope as he expands and contracts loud and quiet songs; some angry and violent, some melodramatic and heartfelt, and some softer; more reserved and controlled.

Son Lux - Tell [buy]

The Acorn have gradually grown on me. It's not that they require patience or repeat listening to enjoy, it's more that each song seems to compliment the other. Listening to one song by itself doesn't really do these guys justice. I initially thought "Hmmm, they sound like Turin Brakes." Which is true and I like Turin Brakes, but The Acorn have a little bit more to them.
Usually a guy sings but the example I give here is driven by beautiful female vocals that remind me of some 90's female singers, like Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash. However the use of strings and the way in which each song builds make it easy to keep them from becoming overplayed power-pop for drama series.

The Acorn - Lullaby (Mountain) [buy]

I wasn't too excited about Cat Power's release, Jukebox, last year. And I'm still not. I found it pretty ordinary compared with much of her earlier work.
But the remake of "Metal Heart" shows that Chan Marshall still knows how to tap into the beautiful.

Cat Power - Metal Heart [buy]

Fleet Foxes have been the latest big thing to sweep the blogosphere. Namely, their song "White Winter Hymnal" has been a popular hit. I downloaded it, thinking that it was good timing for winter. But I really didn't like it. At all. I'm not sure why I didn't then but I still don't. Maybe I just don't like the round-a-bout repetition of the chorus. It's too hokie.
But I checked out the rest of the album and man, was I wrong about these guys. Amazing! The vocals, the escapist lyrics, the sound which harks back to Midlake, who in turn hark back to 70s folk rock.
This song in particular reminds me of the music from the closing scene of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Fleet Foxes - Your Protector [buy]

I felt pretty content just buying Lamb's best of album, some time ago. Then I realised how much it sucks that the duo have broken up. So I've started going through their backcatalogue and found this sweet little number.

Lamb - Learn [buy]

Bring on spring!

Doomed! You're all doomed!

Friday the 13th is considered unlucky due to the the associations both Friday and the 13th have (Friday being Jesus's apparent day of Crucifixion, and 13 being seen as an unlucky number).

For most of us though Friday is the last day of the working week (which is a lucky thing) and 13 is just another two digit number.

However you take it, I'll take any excuse to watch some good horror and tonight I plan to see the classic Friday the 13th.

The charm of this film is its mawkishness. Teen counsellors find themselves in trouble-danger when they go camping at a "cursed" lake. Enter Jason, enter slaughter, roll film credits.

It's nothing new now but it is fun to watch a film which spawned a franchise and still manages to sprout sequels in cinemas (see Jason Vs Freddy 2: The Rematch), even if they are complete crap.

My friends and I also decided to watch Friday the 13th because it's on a free movie channel we have at the moment. Otherwise I would probably choose to revisit some of the following, which I highly recommend:

Scream



Nothing beats the humour and fun that goes along with this film. When it was first released in the cinemas (and even later, when it was released on vhs) we'd all pull out our Scream masks and Talkboys (see Home Alone) and scare the b-grade crap out of one another.

Not only do we get to see people killed by garage door and vocal chord puncture, but we're privy to bad play-on-word one-liners like "Liv-er alone!"

Poltergeist



Don't let the PG rating scare you off; this film is loaded with witty dialogue, creative imagery and disturbing themes.

Sure it's set in a quiet suburban town, and no one really dies but there's something deeply unsettling about the parents hearing their daughter's cries for help and knowing that they really can't do anything about it. Also, the people-eating tree and clown will make you shart yourself a little.

Night of the Living Dead



This film didn't scare me too much but I found it highly engaging and smart.

Perhaps the scariest moment in this film is at the beginning, and the most disturbing part of the film comes closer to the end (and I'm sure those who have seen the film can pinpoint which moments these are from two words: cemetary and girl).

What makes this film work is its pace: A somewhat slow initial progression builds as aggressively as the increase in zombie quota. Any director of a good zombie film will probably tell you that in order to scare the audience they need to feel more and more harrassed to get the general notion of the world coming to an end at the mercy of the undead. NOTLD definitely achieves this, without getting lost in it (notice the themes of gender, race and family hacked at throughout).

Which brings me to...

28 Days/Weeks Later



Althought slightly convoluted these were the first films to really properly explore the idea of a zombie EPIDEMIC.
Rather than simply a kill-and-come-back approach, survivors fleeing from some now monstrous humans have to be careful not to get any of the blood (which, of course oozes from every possible body part and orifice) in their system, otherwise they too will become vile, unreachable rage-ers.

Add to that the fact that the zombies are alert enough to run (rather than waddle), and angry (rather than hungry for human flesh), and it really makes for some harrassing viewing.

Danny Boyle's films always set out to confront the viewer (see, The Beach and Sunshine) and Juan Carlos is true to Boyle's vision in the second installment.

Alien/Aliens/Alien Resurrection



In space no one can hear you scream.

So goes the tag which kicks off this quadrilogy.

I hesitated seeing the first film for a long time because I thought that, as an alien film it wouldn't be too true to home (literally and figuratively, ha!). Generally I find boogeyman films and films where humans are the evil, to be much scarier than creature features.

But once I started watching I quickly learnt that these are films about human evils. The aliens merely enable this.
Without boring you with too much analytical detail, it seems to me that the scariest thing in all of these films (with the exception, perhaps, of the third film: what's with the alien dog?) is that the characters are never who they seem to be. Some of them surprise us by betraying another crew member, but some of them surprise themselves by selfishly trying to save their own skin without considering the safety of their friends.
This is all perfectly illustrated in the famous scene where an alien interrupts a friendly dinner by birthing out of someone's chest.

Further viewing:

The Exorcist

Halloween

The Birds

The Blair Witch Project

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Evil Dead 1 and 3

The Shining

Too scared to sacrifice a choice chosen for me

Work by Barnaby Furnas taken from here.

We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth - John F. Kennedy

Portishead - Machine Gun

Lupe Fiasco - Little Weapon [buy]

The National - Fake Empire [buy]

Radiohead - 4 Minute Warning

What is your childhood trauma?

One TV series I've really become addicted to this year is Skins.
I remember over a year ago when I was in London I saw all these posters for it and there was this general buzz about it being controversial (which always hightens my interest).

And it is pretty controversial, actually! All these attractive 17-year-olds are running around doing lots of adult things in adult places.
But this is not why the show is worth watching. It's a lot of fun but the characters are likeable, and the storylines are deeply engaging.
I think one of its strongest (and in others' opinions maybe weakest) points is that the writers only feed us a little snippet of what each character is going through in each episode. This is a result of the episodes usually revolving around one or two characters each week. By the time the focus returns to each character (having rotated through a number of them) a lot seems to have changed along the way.
This is pretty appealing to me because often series can be overwrought and lengthy as they knuckle out why everything happens.

With Skins you are forced to connect the dots; to allow for the idea that a lot can happen offscreen, and still know just what has hapened.

For example, in a Season One episode, "Michelle", we get a glimpse into Michelle's family life. Her mother has just married some dropkick and part of the episode involves Michelle's acceptance of him as a step-father: nice.
In Season Two, however, when we once again see what Michelle's neglectful mother has been up to we discover that she has married a different guy again, making Michelle's ealier attempts seem somewhat futile...

It might seem like this could throw the audience off the course, but it doesn't. The benign interchanging reality of life is woven through subtley amongst the teeny drama.
Despite this "interreality," the main drama (like the ongoing love triangle between Sid, Michelle and Tony) doesn't play out in leaps, skips and bounds. This is perhaps a result of the fact that each of these main characters will share a crossover point in their stories.

Another appealing aspect of this show is that the characters are the age they play (roughly). They have pimples, braces, glasses and a mess of teenage insecurities they bring to the characters.
It has been said before that America is prone to selecting adults well into their mid-twenties and older to play teenagers. I don't think this really affects the quality of the series (see Buffy), however it often just seems unnecessary. With so many talented young actors floating about, why ignore the fact that these characters can really look the age they play?

One American series which trumps the idea of adults as teens is Freaks and Geeks. In particular, the geeks were played by young actors. This means when school bullies pick on them for not having armpit hair you know it isn't because the actor is "maintaining" by waxing themselves each month.

Like Skins the series is apt at presenting itself as a thoughtful and emotional drama series, with wisps of witty one-liners embedded throughout.
This is probably why it was axed (because network execs seem to have a lot of difficulty figuring out the difference between their arse and holes in the ground, much less how engaging a series might be: particularly if, in the case of Freaks and Geeks, it wins Emmy awards for its writing).

Fortunately Skins is a British series and looks like it will continue on at least up until a third season is produced.

Freaks and Geeks sadly never saw even a second season so it is refreshing to see that at least one of these engaging teenage series is still developing.

As usual a good series calls for good music. Freaks and Geeks took its cue from the 70's (as it was set in 1980).
Skins involves a miriad of music from the 60s to present. I include two songs for your listening pleasure. The first, by Adam and the Ants, is played when Chris floats about his house party enjoying the madness.
The second is just in general an awesome song everyone should have and is played in the first episode of Season Two while Tony is riding the bus with Maxxie.

Adam and the Ants - Prince Charming [buy]

Grizzly Bear - The Knife [buy]

Fall-ing

I am still recovering from the Lorne, Vic, Falls Festival. For those who don't know, the Falls Festival is an annual music camping event held for 3 nights over the New Year. Since it involves some 10 to 15 000 people camping side-by-side, with plenty of music (predominantly of the folk variety), and... errr... "stuff" to keep you dancing and grooving and talking to strangers into the wee hours of the morn, it's pretty much a modern Woodstock. Oh, and did I mention the love? Not the "free love/make love" love (though I'm sure some cars accomodate for that) but the "look after each other" love. Feeling the warm and fuzzies?
If not, perhaps it's because you haven't attended.

So how do I sum up three days of that? Three days of great music, getting to know some new friends, getting to know complete strangers who I wouldn't see again and forming stronger bonds with good friends, all while moving overzealously to a range of music? I'll break it down roughly and unevenly and hopefully the music I've put up for you to listen to will retain some seminance of patience.

First I'm going to mention the one thing that I didn't like about the festival. It's probably unnecessary but I feel it's a good preparation point for those who are interested in going but haven't yet been.
The toilet facilities are poor. I expected this but the cisterns overflowed and crap and wee went everywhere (next to the food stands).

On the last day the temperatures soared up to 40 Degrees Celcius. Getting to common water (for showering in, cooling off, or drinking) for the most part meant a one hour que in the sun. It pushed me (and others) to breaking point. I almost fainted; I was physically and emotionally exhausted and at one point when I went looking for my friends I ended up lying down in the middle of nowhere in particular for ages.
Next time I go I'll remember to take some spray bottles full of water and some umbrellas for shade.

Now the highlights.

The bands were amazing. Most of the sets (apart from the headlining acts) were quite short but this just kept the pace moving.
I like Operator Please a lot more now. Once you see them live... the violinist especially was amazing live (just seeing her hand movements: my eyes couldn't follow, she was that fast).

Operator Please - 6/8 [buy]

Angus and Julia Stone were great too. One of my friends was sold on them from their performance. They closed beautifully with Mango Tree. I only saw the tail end of it because I wanted to see The Panics, who were also pretty amazing.

Angus and Julia Stone - Mango Tree [buy]

The Panics - Cash [buy]

A lot of people seemed disappointed with The Go! Team but I loved them. The front woman, Ninja, was very dancey and kept us all going. At one point she yelled "If I see you dancing I'm going to dance like you!" and mimicked the moves of a few people from the crowd. Mostly, the reason these guys are good live is because their music is designed for the crowd.

The Go! Team - Keys to the City [buy]

And for the first time ever I finally understood why people like Paul Kelly. There was something about hearing everyone (including myself, who used to hate the song) singing "From little things big things grow" that really makes you feel like you're part of something bigger. Probably because (as a member of a crowd) you are!

It was nice to see the crowd grow while watching Built to Spill. They were rockin' live!

Girl Talk was the perfect pre-New Year's performance. The guy knows how to mix! His eclectic range of music got people whooping with excitement as they recognised songs only they knew, songs from their childhood, and mainstream pop they usually cringed at. He got involved enough to take off his shirt while dancing and get some of the crowd on stage to boogey with him.

Suprisingly, Kings of Leon were the perfect act to take us into the New Year. You could almost feel the crowd bonding over the passionate indie sounds. It was a lot of fun to hear them play Charmer and it was beautiful to hear everyone singing "whooaaaa---oooo---ohhhhh---aaaoooohhhh" midway through Knocked Up. In particular that song will always remind me of the Falls Festival. You always feel that you've received music the best way possible when the studio version reminds you of the event.
It was during this song that I started feeling sad about the fact that the whole thing felt over. The New Year had been called (or was about to be: I'm not sure at what point the song was played) and the next morning we'd be returning to the fuss of our lives.

Kings of Leon - Knocked Up [buy]

Before doing that though my friends and I wandered into the Village. I went because over the course of the few days there my curiosity about it leapt. So many people kept saying how "weird" and "creepy" it was, I couldn't resist.
And yeah, it's creepy and weird. I'm not even sure I can explain what went on there (or if I want to).
All I'll say is a hoe-down version of Mad World was being played by some dodgy band as we walked in and that pretty much sums it up.

This was my first Falls Festival and it went off with a bang! Between all of the above things we also met some interesting people.
We met someone who demolished one of our tents accidentally, a guy who had managed to sneak in without a ticket and many random people who seemed either aggressive or good natured along a continuous scale.

I had plans to go overseas over the next summer period but now that I understand what the Falls fuss is all about it's going to be hard to turn it down in future.