CAST YOUR MIND BACK: Episode 3, 1995, Girl Power before the Spice Girls existed

1995 was the year of seminal works and debuts from bands that we have come to obsess over. Oasis released '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?', the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had 'One Hot Minute', and every girl had a copy of 'Jagged Little Pill' by Alanis Morrisette. Myself included; that being the first CD that was bought for me. Australian favourites Regurgitator and You Am I were first getting recognition and local fame, but I wasn't quite into them yet (but oh boy would I be into them). One thing I was getting into was Björk, and I bought her 'Post' record on cassette tape, the first album I ever bought with my own money. A lot of first for me in 1995! IN FACT, BJÖRK IS FIRST ON THIS LIST! HA!

Björk - "Army Of Me" (#83)

When this song came out, I could NOT get it out of my head. I spent a few days humming to it constantly until I tried to seek out who she was and how I could get her music. I had seen "It's Oh So Quiet" on Rage and soon linked the two together and soon I was fascinated by this insane backflipping pixie-ish lady. I never stopped being fascinated really. At the time I thought the lyrics were "And if you complain why I'm small, you'll meet an army of me" not "If you complain once more"... and since I was going through a "I'm the shortest person in my class and for that no one takes me seriously and it sucks" phase, it suited me very well. 

Supergrass - "Alright" (#79)

I thought this song was really old when I heard it the year it came out, and couldn't understand why it was being played everywhere. It became the soundtrack in the back of my head for fun holiday days and weekends of activities and adventure (not that many really, I was a pretty shy kid).  

N-Trance - "Stayin' Alive" (#64)

I was super surprised to see this song by "lets recycle a famous song and turn it into a clubbing piece of shit remix" collective N-Trance, make the countdown. It must have been PRETTY BIG considering it was PRETTY SHIT. I did like it though, because I was a 90's kid of the age of 9. Now it reminds me of the scene in 'Romy and Michele's Highschool Reunion' where they do a synchronized dance at a club, which is awkward and deadpan and hilarious. So the song has been good for one (1) thing. 

U2 - Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me (#57)

Let me be frank, I am not a U2 fan, and will never be one. But BATMAN, guys. The last couple of Batman movies ('..Forever', and '..And Robin') before Christopher Nolan got his hands on the franchise, were complete rubbish. But goddamn did they have excellent soundtracks. It's almost as though Joel Schumacher had to find a way to make the films worth anything, so threw a bunch of money at some decent artists to make some decent songs. This is one of them, with a pretty absorbing videoclip. God I loved watching those movie soundtrack video clips, especially if I hadn't seen the movie yet. I had seen the whole movie by the end of the clip though.


Skunk Anansie - "I Can Dream" (#41)

No one remembers this band I bet, and I have no idea what happened to them, but I really liked this song. It's very rock and screamy and loud and rough, but I think mostly I was enamoured by the lead singer. I loved how she was bald (omg she was bald!) but still beautiful and had such a powerful voice and presence, and to me that was pretty out there. 1995 may have been my total girlpower year.

Alanis Morrisette - "You Oughta Know" (#39)

SPEAKING OF. HERE SHE IS. THE QUEEN OF THE 90's FEMINISTS, ALANIS. I can't really pick a favourite song from this era because I played her album on repeat for months, but this song was the first to grab my attention. Alanis was so mad and crazy and sang with so much snipe and passion, and she had long hair and thrashed it around a bit. What more could you want, really? Unfortunately the best thing she did after this album was play God in Kevin Smith's 'Dogma'.

Pulp - "Common People" (#38)

I remember really liking "Disco 2000" more than this song, which was released in November that year (so perhaps too late in the game to get enough followers to vote). I grew to love this song pretty soon after it made the CD and it's still a classic. You may have all forgotten about the William Shatner with Ben Folds (feat Joe Jackson) cover of this song, but let me refresh your memory. I know you hate me right now but I'm not sorry. 

Swoop - "Apple Eyes" (#32)

This song was ridiculously catchy and bright, and just like most catchy bright songs of the time, was a one hit wonder of sorts. The film clip was half the appeal... I love how they discovered Green Screen in the worst possible way, so now it is so 90's it's gone past there to the 2000's and back to the 80's. The "I think I love you" bit made me cringe back then and it is making me cringe now. 

Jill Sobule - "I Kissed A Girl" (#18)

FUCK YOU KATY PERRY, JILL KISSED A GIRL BEFORE YOU DID, AND SHE LIKED IT BETTER THAN YOU DID. You thought you were so out there and taboo making a song about an occasional lapse into lesbianism (whether permanent or not) when it is OLD NEWS. It's not taboo anymore Katy and Jill didn't need fluro blue or pink hair and crazy outfits to pull it off. Where are you now Jill, to punch this girl in the throat? THIS IS GIRLPOWER, DAMMIT.

Mindless Drug Hoover - "The Reefer Song" (#12)

One of those novelty songs that was forgotten about in a year, and was truly pretty terrible. I had to get a friend who knew better to fill me in on what 'reefer' was, and once I knew, it was so deliciously naughty to sing along to. I had it soon memorized even though I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on in the song. For someone so impressionable I never developed much of an interest in actually trying reefer.

T.I.S.M. (This Is Serious Mum) - "Greg! The Stop Sign!!" (#10)

Baklava (or wine cask bladder)-clad TISM may have SEEMED like a novelty band, but they were actually very good musicians with quite a bit of songwriting wit. They can even transfer their hits on to traditional greek instruments. Their real identities were never to be revealed, with rumours that they were members of the Wiggles or Machine Gun Fellatio, but eventually were (proving all rumours incorrect). This song was one heck of an earworm and even though I only heard it a bunch of times on the radio/Rage, I heard it a million times more in my head.

Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue - "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (#8)

Possibly one of the worst Nick Cave songs ever, with some of the most compromising and cringey lyrics: "...BUT MY NAME WAS ELIIIISA DAY". Ok, Elisa. But Kylie got some serious indie cred from this (which carried over from her earlier indie-er offerings), and it was pretty mega. The song was a pretty basic 'murder ballad' (guess which Nick Cave album this is on??) and enchanted me for many months... even the terrible filmclip had me watching intently. Ok so there are some much less feminist works in this countdown... this song definitely balances out the angry lady rock songs. 

Custard - "Apartment" (#7)

For starters, this song is freaking brilliant. For seconds, I loved it to bits. For thirds, it is the first song I played on my first very own CD player. In my room. Imagine it. It was the awesomest thing ever at the time. Never mind I also purchased Hit Machine 14 to go with that CD player, let's just forget that ever happened. Lastly, I still love this song and have a great time listening to it. CLASSIC CUSTARD. NEVER FORGET. 

Presidents of the United States - "Kitty" (#4)

I was originally a cat person before we got a dog, and then I became a fence sitter. So while our family had a lovely grey persian cat named Geno, this was a song I enjoyed. (I only just realised now, as he was a very old cat, that at the time I thought cats got grey like humans did. ANYWAY) It's definitely not the Presidents' best work, and it's as novelty as they come, but I got lots of fun out of singing this song (except I never said the f's.) Goddammit I was such a boring child. 

Oasis - "Wonderwall" (#1)

And now for the song that blitzed the entire world and made Beatle-esque music totally cool and in. My parents bought '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' not long after it came out and I got heavily, heavily into it. It is an excellent album, no one can really deny that, and had a lot of staying power. I remember in that year after the countdown, mum enrolled me into a drama group nearby, and for one of our activities we had to get in a line and sing some of our favourite song. I started in a tone way too low for me "TODAY IS GUNNA BE THE DAY THAT I'M GUNNA THROW IT BACK TO YEWWW". It was horrible, and the group leader was a little taken aback. I'm still blushing from it. Anyway, this song was destined to be number one, and the fact I loved it made it all the sweeter. 

For the full list see HERE! HAVE FUN LISTENING TO THE COUNTDOWN TODAY GUYS! I'VE ACTUALLY NOT GOT SUPER UPSET YET (Except for maybe Lana Del Ray and Of Monsters and Men getting in, you really have to be kidding me.... shhh steph) BUT THERE IS STILL TIME! SEE YOU NEXT TIME FOR 1996! 

CAST YOUR MIND BACK: Episode 2, 1994 ('cause I'm a dimwit)

This post carries on from original post here!

OK. I am stupid and have no sense of time. When googling the Triple J Hottest 100 lists I naturally worked back a year, keeping in mind that all hottest 100 countdowns are announced in the new year. My last blog post was about 1993, not 1992. I used that M.I.A. reference all for nothing. I am sorry for being a total dickhead. 
Also, if you're viewing on your mobile, please click on the links to watch the videos, as for some reason the embeds didn't come up on phone screens last time. Never been a better time to switch to Tumblr!

199FOUR was the year that Cranberries nailed the top spot, The Offspring's "Ixnay on the Hombre" was everyone's most played album, and Silverchair turned up fresh off the highschool bus and became instant heartthrobs. 

The countdown list suggests that Triple J listeners WERE better back then, OR the music was better, because people voted BEERCAN (#29) above LOSER (#45) by Beck which I am assuming was a song much less flogged. HUGE songs such as "Mm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the Crash Test Dummies or "Stay" by Lisa Loeb, were only a measly 69 and 100 respectively, and the most mainstream tune that made it in was probably Warren G's "Regulate" featuring Nate Dogg (which is kinda rad really). My memory is sharper of this time and music was becoming much more a part of my world, but I will stick with 15 songs for you. 

Blur - "Girls And Boys (Remix)" (coming in at #96... should have been higher!)

I remember pairing this song at the time with East 17's awful cover of "West End Girls", because they both talked about boys and girls, had similar-ish filmclips, and were good looking. Except no one remembers that song and everyone remembers Blur's song, which you can still hear played at Ric's on a Saturday night. BLURPLEASECOMETOAUSTRALIARIGHTNOWOKTHANKSBYE.

Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes - "I'm Gonna Release Your Soul" (#79)

One my parent's favourites at the time (or so my memory tells me), Dave Graney hit pretty big with this song. It was damn catchy and stuck in your head immediately, with a bit of sex appeal that was most definitely lost on 8 year old me. I think it mostly annoyed me, but I can naturally appreciate and enjoy it in my adult life. 

Frente - "Bizarre Love Triangle" (#56)

Frente! was one of the first bands I ever got into as a very youngster, and they were very appropriate for a 7 year old to get into as "Accidentally Kelly Street" sounded like a song from Play School. This song however was a very popular, sweet cover of the New Order tune, that I thought at the time was an excellent original (remember how old I was guys). I can remember my dad remarking on the video "that girl's got something up her schnozz", and nothing more... not even bothering to tell me that this wasn't an original song. SHAME ON YOU FRANCO.


Ed Kuepper - "La Di Doh" (#55)

For some reason I really liked this song as a kid, and I don't really know why- maybe it was just my parents going nuts over it and thus modelling was the culprit. SHAME ON YOU AGAIN FRANCO. It is a really good song though, a thousand times better live rather than this kind of abrupt recording. 

Christine Anu - "Monkey and the Turtle" (#43)

Remember Christine!? She was all 'My Island Home' and 'Why don't you come join ma parteh' and before those songs got big she did this song, which was a million times better than those two. So groovy and joyous and easy to sing along. Probably danced to this in my room one time too many. 

The Prodigy - "Voodoo People" (#37)

I definitely danced to this in my room ten times too many. 

Tori Amos - "Cornflake Girl" (#35)

What was she singing about?! What was she saying half the time!? Peel out the walch wear? Who knew! All I knew is whenever I had cornflakes for breakfast, I too was a cornflake girl, and this song was in some way partly responsible for my desire to play piano some day. 

Kylie Minogue - "Confide In Me" (#30)

Remember when Kylie Minogue had some good songs? This was even before her 'Impossible Princess' Indie-queen era, during which  she also had some good songs. This was a pretty great song, and if anyone disputes that well then I don't care. It also opened up my vocabulary a bit. 

Underground Lovers - "Losin' It" (#19)

This song kills me every time. IT IS SO GOOD. Back then I was a bit saddened by it, as it sounded so mournful and hopeless. But since then its catch and hook and danceability weirdly uplifts me despite the lonesome subject matter. Underground Lovers were totally underrated. They toured recently but DID I GO? NO BECAUSE I SUCK. 

Nick Cave - "Do You Love Me" (#11)

Nick Cave's two big songs at this time, this one and "Red Right Hand", took over the airwaves and took myself to a dark, scary place with no light at the end of the tunnel. Somehow I was okay with this, (again, my parents probably had a lot to do with that... FRANCO!) and would sing along to this song in the living room. I obviously didn't listen too deeply to the lyrics. Great job Nick!

Severed Heads - "Dead Eyes Opened (remix)" (#10)

"I'm not going into details. It's too horrible." There are many many versions of this song on youtube, as it has been remixed a hundred times, and was first released in 1984. The song's sample of a British man reading an excerpt from what I read was a book called "Death on the Crumbles" made it a huge hit- it was fascinating and ghastly. Along with the addictive electronic beat, the song is almost timeless.

Max Sharam - "Coma" (#8)

I remember this filmclip EERILY well. It's not a great clip, but the song was probably my favourite ever at the time. The sense of insanity was so present, even if I was too young understand the concept of stalking and heartbreak. In a way I related to that sense of coming apart and being in a coma-esque funk, as I was a pretty anxious young girl at the time. Max Sharam was a one wonder at the time, cleaning up at the ARIAs then disappearing, but wikipedia tells me she is crowdfunding a new record. 

Veruca Salt - "Seether" (#6)

I have a distinct memory of my mum and dad watching this clip and endlessly debating what the "Seether" in the song was. "It's a cat!" "NO it's a human!" "Oh maybe it's a dog?" "No it's definitely a cat!" One of those classic 90's girl rock bands, the rawness of this song hooked me, and left me to wonder for hours how you'd try to cram a child/person back into a person's 'mound' or 'mouth', if you want to believe LyricsFreak. 

Silverchair - "Tomorrow" (#5)

It is simply quite amazing how far Silverchair came, growing up out of their Pearl Jam/Nirvana emulating beginnings and into an artistic, critically lauded band. I can't say I was a fan of them all the way through (and felt sometimes the 'artiness' was a bit gratuitous), but listen to something like Dissociatives (in which frontman Daniel Johns collaborated with Paul Mac of Itch-E and Scratch-E, another 1994 fave), and its hard to believe they're the same band. This was a perfect rock song that gave them huge exposure, whether they wanted it or not.

The Cranberries - "Zombie" (#1)

"IN YUR HEEEEAAAD!! ZAHHHHMBEHHH-YEH" Having NO concept of the Protestant VS Catholic conflict in Ireland, I of course just thought this song was about zombies and enjoyed singing along to what I thought was a hilarious tune. It was damn hard to escape this tune and it's despairing tones, and it was no surprise when it became number one. 

THAT'S ALL! I believe the countdown for Triple J's Hottest 100 songs of the last 20 years is next weekend. Do you think I can complete this blog project by then? NO WAY! I will forever be harping on about last years news. As long as someone reads it, I don't care... I SHALL CARRY ON. See you soon for Part 3, 1995!

CAST YOUR MIND BACK: Triple J Hottest 100s, Episode 1, 1992.

A few weeks ago while I was flicking through the radio on my way to work (or rather, switching between Triple J and 4zzz, and River FM because sometimes they have some MAD CLASSICS), I heard an announcement that Triple J are doing a Hottest 100 countdown of the past 20 years, to mark the yearly poll's 20th birthday. 
Whether or not you feel inclined to vote for this, and will or won't be disappointed that the poll won't contain the ones you vote for; the event is going to take your mind back regardless. As they tend to do a Hottest 100 of All Time every couple of years or so, is there a point to this poll? Who knows. But I couldn't help but reminisce, as we all so love to do, being in our nature. 
When I first started to take notice of music other than Disney soundtracks and the Beatles, it would have been about 1993-1994 when I was about 7 or 8. My family had moved to the sticks (Caboolture), and we didn't have as many friends or things to do. We were living in a rental property while our house got built and my mum had initiated a new tradition of putting the radio on in the afternoons after school, unleashing all sorts of musical havoc on my ears. Mum and Dad also bought the Hottest 100 volume 2 CD that year which I basically took possession of and never gave back. It was all thanks to Triple J that I was the only 8 year old in my school who listened to Björk, knew who Nick Cave was, would grow to obsess over Regurgitator and Ben Folds Five and complained that all my best friend wanted to listen to was "My Heart Will Go On" on repeat. My parents have a lot to answer for, but my versatility in taste and eagerness to explore more new music, was thanks to one thing, Triple J. 
These days I've become jaded and insist that the music is not as good as it was back then, and the talk back so much more irritating (is it a sign of age or is it the truth?), but I can't shake the fond relationship I once had with Triple J. It got me through high school nights of cramming, and introduced me to the musical friends that would be there for me when human friends seemed scarce. So to pay tribute to this long running government funded radio station, I've decided to do a succession of posts detailing the highlights of the first ten years of Triple J Hottest 100's existence. After that, I'm retiring this tired neglected blog, in favour of a generic newfangled tumblr. 

So Triple J's first yearly poll (since doing 'All Time' polls from 1989 onwards) was in early 1993, listing off the best from 1992. I was 7, and not quite into the music that defined me just yet- but there were some gems that ended up in the countdown, that I distinctly remember dancing, humming, singing, or being transfixed by. My Dad did a pretty good job of shielding me from the number one song, Denis Leary's "Asshole", and I'm not including the songs I got into LATER in life.... So here's 15 that I remember getting into best.

The Shamen - "Ebeneezer Goode" (coming in at #99)

This song is pure 90's one-hit-wonder bliss in it's most infectious form. I was fascinated by it's weird "noorrrty noorrrty, verrrrrrrrrry norrrrrrrrrrrrtty" intro, random laughter, and sped up cockney lyrics, in that way that you don't really LIKE something but just can't help listening to it. It belongs firmly in the 90's but enjoys being rehashed by Triple J on the odd occasion. 


Inner Circle - "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" (#94)

I remember attempting to choreograph this song with my grade 2 school friends in the playground. We all loved it's silly a-lalala-long lyrics and made impressions of the lead singer's reggae voice, and all the while not realizing that were were singing about a guy wanting to basically rape a lady. It is also a terrible song.

Green Jelly - "Three Little Pigs" (#85)

I also have Rage to thank for my exposure of music of course, without which I would not have seen this fantastically novel video. This song was perfect for an innocent seven year old who had just had The True Story of the Three Little Pigs read to her by her teacher. Bastardized fairy tales were a bit of a thing for a while.
 

Culture Beat - Mr Vain (#68) 

I think I actually had to warm up to this song in jazz dance class, or at least watch another group do it. Ok, lets be real, the early nineties had some doozies, and this was one of them. But that was 90's dance for you and we've all progressed since then. In the meantime, I am doing some mad Night at the Roxbury-esque head pops right now. 

Utah Saints - "Something Good" (#66)

This song is bloody amazing, so much so that they remixed and re-released it in 2008. Not really necessary, but at least it reminded people that the song existed and was ah, something very good (lulz) for its time. I have a memory of doing a dance in the garden to this song. 

Faith No More - "Easy" (#62)

My first exposure to transvestism was thanks to this video clip. Of course I just thought it was silly and funny, and there was nothing that a young girl should worry about, so I'm glad for my naivety. This song is played to death now, but it was always quite a solid one.

Ween - "Push Th' Lil Daisies" (#40)

My mum hated this song, and I couldn't really figure out why. It was catchy and the singer had a cute little boy voice and the film clip was weird... I had no idea what he was singing about so I assumed it was something rude and that's why mum didn't like it. Which it's not... right??? R.I.P. Ween, I miss you.

Salt-N-Pepa - "Shoop" (#35)

This song was on all the bloody time. I probably asked "What does shoop mean" enough to drive my parents nuts. I thought the middle girl's hair was pretty cool. That's all my thoughts on this song. 


Ace of Base - "All That She Wants" (#29)

I remember singing this song with Dad a little later on when mum was pregnant with my little sister. That all my mum wanted was another bab-eh was debatable... just kidding, love you Maz! Anyway I completely adored this song, along with "The Sign". I wanted to dress like those swedish girls and light candles and brood.

4 Non Blondes - "What's Up" (#24)

I utterly HATED this song when it came out, and it remains as one of my least favourite songs of all time. SO annoying. What was she trying to achieve with that fucking hat and goggles, seriously? Do you have to be so badly 90's, lady? Can you please have a better voice? Also please get out of my head whenever I think of you?! Sheeeeesh. 


The Cruel Sea- "Black Stick" (#21)

My parents got this album around this time, and played it to smithereens. Once, many years later, an American exchange student was staying with a family friend and we took her out to some of the more interesting parts of Brisbane, and my mum put this on in the car. Probably the most Australian music you could play to a US dweller, I was kind of embarrassed at the time but was also reminded of what a great album this is. 

Pet Shop Boys - "Go West" (#18)

Another shit 90's song that I loved to pieces. I had a brief Pet Shop Boys love affair as a super youngster, but so did the rest of the world at the time. I'll assume, anyway. This is an awful song. Enjoy. 


REM - "Everybody Hurts" (#11)

My uncle was a huge REM fanatic and also helped me along my musical journey. The film clip was on all the time and I remember laughing at the captions in it. It also became one of the first songs I learnt on guitar. The album was another one my parents flogged a bit too, and I remember being frightened of "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1". I thought it sounded like aliens. 

Blind Melon - "No Rain" (#4)

One of those songs that was impossible to miss, and all my easy listening loving friends would still harp on it about a decade later. I don't know how popular it would have been without that film clip (Blogger won't let me post you the clip here for some reason). I really identified with that kid, man. 

Radiohead - "Creep" (#2) 

Duh. If you didn't hear this song at the time then you were without hearing. It seemed dark and not very nice and there was a swear in it (depending on where you were hearing it) and I didn't really think much of it, but I remember wondering why the man was so down about himself. I did think he was a bit creepy myself. NOW LOOK AT ME. 

For the complete list, click here. See you in a few days with the best of 1993... In the meantime, comment with your best memories of 92, if you wish! 

The Radiohead Experience (at last.)

If you're not a Radiohead fan or a Radiohead Fan fan, then this post is not for you! Be warned as I am deeply both of these things and the amount of fangirl harping will be greater than you can handle. 

Last November (freaking 6 months ago, thanks to being a Procrastinating Polly) was the time that Radiohead finally made their way to Australia after 8 years since their last Australian tour. The last time they were in Brisbane prior to this was 1998, when I had first began to take notice of them, thanks to the hype around 1997's 'OK Computer' and Triple J Hottest 100 Volume 5 Compilation. So, this tour has been a long time coming. I was so excited that I agreed to go down to Sydney to see their Monday (12th Nov) night show  after seeing their Brisbane gig on the 9th. One of my more expensive but better decisions. 


The Brisbane Entertainment Centre wasn't going to be pleasant, but I arranged to get there as soon as humanly possible, and with brother, sister, and friends in tow, had one of the
most exciting waits of my gigging life.
Support act Connan Mockasin was pretty decent for someone having to support Radiohead, and I ended up quite enjoying their set. Then again, I was in a pretty fucking good mood.

oh my fucking god its radiohead

So the actual show. I don't want to harp on, but fuck. Radiohead live up to their cult status and expectation as a live band worth seeing. This isn't blind fandom talking, this is legitimate and honest critique; they did everything perfectly. To the point that I weirdly felt like I was just listening to their recording and Thomas Yorkus and co weren't actually in the same room as me, which in a lucky way, prevented me from screaming like a little girl. Once I got over that I relished in watching each band member do their amazing thing, from serious Phil Selway's drumming (with Portisehead's drummer Clive Deamer lending a hand) to nonchalant Johnny Greenwood with his mop top bent down low. 

The Johnny  Mop

I got the same feeling at the Sydney show, although in some ways I enjoyed it more as an opportunity to just sit back and take it all in mindfully, rather than agonise over what they were going to play next. And there was a surprising shift between playlists, making a double viewing all the more worth it.

Ed O'Brien in perfect pose

They started off both sets with a different song from the new album 'King of Limbs', and there was quite a bit of the new one in the set; songs like "Feral" and "Bloom" taking on their own new vibe as each layer of melody and rhythm built up to its full execution. Each night had a different set of favourites (e.g. "Airbag", "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" and "The National Anthem" in Brisbane; "Lucky", "Planet Telex" and "Weird Fishes (Arpeggi)" in Sydney) which were a joy to hear live. It's impossible to pick a single highlight, but one overarching positive was how much better less preferred songs became in live form, helped also by the intense accompanying light show. The epileptic chaos of "The Gloaming "was spectacular in a way not conveyed on 'Hail to the Thief', as well as explosive "Myxamatosis", with Thom spitting out the words and throwing himself around the room like a punk. And I really hadn't comprehended the power of "You And Whose Army?" until the band, with Thom on piano, trickled it out into its dramatic climax. 

Lights and music and also Thom Yorke

The bit that gave me a bit of a tear was the signature segue between encores, where Thom sidled up to a keyboard to play a small solo excerpt of Unravel, a gorgeous song by Björk (and you all know how I feel about Björk). As a fellow fan-friend exclaimed/squealed/screamed in recognition, the song slowly became "Everything In It's Right Place", with "Idioteque" finalizing the encore. This was the same both nights (except the improvised Björk) but was just as powerful a second time. Other highlights were the huge bass drums played on each side of stage by Johnny and Ed for "There There", Thom's solo vocal looping in the haunting "Give Up the Ghost", my latest favourite "The Daily Mail", and also a new song "Ful Stop", a special treat in the Sydney set.  

An upside down dancefloor for 15 Step

Each time I left on an indescribable high. Little did I know, the night after the Sydney show, that my high was about to increase. It was at a geekvention that I caught wind that Thom Yorke was djing at Good God Small Club, a short walk from our hotel. Thus our wee group of crazy fans got to experience the tail end of the man in his little rat tail and black jacket, spinning some tracks, looking like he was having a ball. We got close enough to take a few sneaky pics, and notice celebs such as Toni Collette having a dance in the VIP section. On his exit, he surprisingly walked directly past all of us. I touched his back and said something dumb, probably "good job Thom", and my brother looked paralyzed at the proximity of his long time musical idol. We couldn't believe it had happened and didn't get to sleep for a while that night.

SNEAKY PIC!

Since November, Thom has released the Atoms For Peace album 'Amok', which I have listened to quite a bit since its release. It is a meticulously put together album with a lot of repeated listening value; like Radiohead, each listen uncovers something new. While it's quite a hauntingly cold and crisp world of music within this album, there are lyrics of warmth and emotional questioning, and the clip for "Ingenue" is a playful, enjoyable watch. By the way, Thom danced up a goddamn storm on that stage, true to his performances on that Atoms For Peace clip as well as that for Radiohead's "Lotus Flower". It must also be noted how pleasant Thom appeared onstage and how much he appeared to be enjoying himself at the dj set, something I'm sure he would have shied away from 10 years ago. This wonderful interview with Alec Baldwin, along with this pleasantly puzzling 'Ask a Grown Man' video with Nigel Godrich, is further proof of how Thom is enjoying himself at the moment, not quite as afraid of being seen around town as he once may have been. Usually when artists get happy they get stagnant, but Thom is able to be in a good place and still make amazing, sensually challenging music. I am only speculating all this and have no place to make these claims of Thom's wellbeing, but my respect for this man is pretty deep. 

RADIOHEAD AMIRITE? Rating? All the minotaurs in the world out of 10! The end!

POP NOISE VS NOISE POP GIG OFF: My Bloody Valentine (Tivoli, 20th Feb 2013) VS. Deerhoof (Zoo, 1st Mar 2013)

It's a gig off everyone! Who will win between two bands I don't know enough about: veteran adored noise shoegazers MBV and quirky noise pop tunesters Deerhoof? GUITAR SOLOS OF ANTICIPATION!

My Bloody Valentine

source: thequietus.com

Every indie music fan has to respect and hopefully love this band to have any credibility (it seems), since Kevin Shields and co. propelled the shoegaze genre with their airy, wall of fuzz creations. I've only listened to Loveless a handful of times and of course the song in Lost In Translation; all enjoyable listens, all with something to come back to. Shoegaze as a genre is something a tiny little lost on me, as repetitive fuzz is a little....repetitive and fuzzy, for me. Nevertheless, I was happy to see them for their first live Brisbane show in  a million years, joining my companion after a day of excess due to my uncle's wedding.
We arrived not long before the band came onstage, greeted by a Tivoli audience not as filled out as I expected. Kev and the Gang, all looking a little old and weathered but not distastefully so, started their set with the blaring feedback filled drones of "I Only Said". We were given earplugs when we went in, and I didn't really expect to have to use them as we weren't very close, but Great Odin's raven I came close. All I could really hear was the distorted reverberating guitars, and really not much else. Even as "When You Sleep" started, the only song I proudly recognised off the bat, I still could only imagine the vocals rather than actually hear anyone sing. I know MBV is a noise band and there was definite noise, and in that manner they delivered, but due to the distortion, whether you want to blame it on the Tivoli or the band, it was difficult for this casual listener to differentiate song from song. After a tiring day, I needed more to stimulate me than just blare. 
I kept my feelings quiet until my companion shared the same ones... and sadly, during the repetition of one thunderous note during "You Made Me Realise" which could only be described as eardrum rape, we caved into our feelings and made to leave a little early. Ahh, quiet bliss. I know it's what fans of the band probably jizzed over, and reading a few reviews suggest this last (apparently TWENTY MINUTE LONG) one note session called "Holocaust" was incredible and thrilling and 'had to be there' type stuff, but for me it was more like a real holocaust, which I assume is similar to what hell is like. 
Speaking of hell, I'm probably going to reviewer hell for this, but it definitely wasn't the most enjoyable show of my life. Unfortunately MBV you get like maybe one star for being so influential to begin with. 

Really too cool to give a fuck about what I think anyway.

V.S. !!!!!!!!!!!!

Deerhoof

It turns out I have had an album by Deerhoof on my itunes for a while, but didn't pay enough attention to know how I felt about them. Turns out, I would probably dig them. This time, said companion scored some free tickets from the shop The Outpost (Save all your money and go there sometime). We headed over in time to check out a little bit of support acts Primitive Motion and all of Blank Realm. I had seen Blank Realm at Black Bear Lodge a while back and really enjoyed their sonically shifting sound, and tonight was no different. Their set was warming and empowering, a great mood setter for the night ahead. 
Deerhoof are fronted by one of the cutest ladies to hold a bass guitar, Satomi Matsuzaki. Satomi with her sweet upbeat vocals and energetic jumpy stage behaviour, held a lot of the presence onstage. The jangly pop of the band was instantly attention grabbing, and got the crowd, again quite small, moving along in time quickly. Jovial, harmonic poppy numbers accompanied noisier synthy jams, with entertaining results. Deerhoof definitely have a distinctive style, and though there were some brief change-ups in the pace and mood, it was all of a similar high energy. However, the best way to tell if a band are any good live is if you can enjoy it without knowing any of their music beforehand, and in that way they were definitely a solid live act. Knowing that neither Satomi nor a few of the other band members had any real musical background before becoming Deerhoof, also makes me want to join a band more than ever... and in that way they were also inspiring. 
Listening back, the cutesiness of the Japanese-poppy voice of Satomi is a little overpowering, but they're a band I can definitely get into. Their live show is however something you really have to see, and I was disappointed to see so few people there. Having said that, the Stone Roses were playing that same night... a band I really wish I hadn't missed (look, I'm too poor). But another defining feature of the band is how much they seemed to really enjoy just feeding off each other onstage to put on a show for us anyway, which is another thing I didn't really get from MBV. So, for an unexpectedly excellent experience, Deerhoof gets 7.5 out of 10 flashing kanye sunglasses.

YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! DEERHOOF WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Oh nice, cheers Steph!

2012 Gigs: Too Many To Blog (A LIST)

If you're about to start uni and need something to procrastinate with during lectures or study etc. then this is the post for you! It is long, with lots of hopefully not boring anecdotes, about the gigs that occurred in 2012 that I have not blogged for you, and would like to just snapshot for you, now, here, today. It's one omission is Radiohead, which deserves its own post, and maybe a gif of me kissing Thom Yorke's lazy eye repeatedly in gratitude and fanatical obsession. But here it is, all the gigs I saw last year for your reading pleasure, plus some other experiences of note. It was a pretty amazing year for gigs, I have to say, and I am very appreciative of being able to see the cream of the crop. 2013 is shaping up to contain some memorable moments as well, and I hope I can get to as many as possible. No longer sharehousing however = not as many dollars in my pockets. But we'll see. Here's to a late but hopefully great list!

Ashley Naylor of Even

Even and the Fauves, The Zoo, Saturday 7th of July

The Fauves

I was a tired and cranky bitch for this gig, but had paid my money and was going to see all the bands. The Fauves and Even are both Melbourne bands who are still kicking along since their mid to late 90's heyday, in which I was a young radio listening fan. How good that they would tour together at the Zoo for my reminiscent pleasure! The Fauves were the opener, and played an extremely energetic, solid set. There were none of their slightly gimmicky pop song favourites such as "Dogs Are the Best People", "Bigger than Tina" or "Surf City Limits", that I remembered best. This was probably not a shame really, as it gave way for their more impressive creative and heavier moments. "Celebrate the Failure" and "The Charles Atlas Way" was thrown in for Triple J friendly measure. Even was next, and their lead singer Ashley Naylor won the crowd with his enthusiasm and charming nature, playing just as solidly as the Fauves. While I was pleased to hear tokens "Black Umbrella" and "Shining Star", I was pretty enthralled with the whole thing, as they bring that slightly Beatles-ish catch to all their songs, and remind you what a good asset to Australian music history they are. People need to remember these bands more! It should have been a sold out show that night, and wasn't.

Bright young chaps.

Herman's Hermits, Sherwood RSL, Sunday 2nd September (Father's Day!) 

It's not often you get to see a 1960's British pop group for $33 in the comfort of your parent's local RSL. But I did, father's day 2012, after completing the Bridge to Brisbane 5km run in 31 minutes 57 seconds (1 second longer than the year previous), and feasting on Sherwood RSL's fathers day buffet. This also happened after we had the world's oldest and worst jokes told to us by some old bloke as pre-show entertainment. During his jokes,I went through the wrong door for the bathroom, and promptly bumped into a Hermit, who looked a bit stunned and pointed me the right way. We learnt that they weren't really the original band, in fact only one of the musicians were there from the beginning (Barry Whitwam), but that didn't spoil the music, which was very well executed in such a weird setting. I also may have got a shout out when one of the band members said "A young lady walked into our dressing room earlier- but we haven't had groupies for years!" ... Oh god. They performed, smiling and blissed out to be there, not phased by the dining room venue, 4.15pm commencement time, and upper middle class aging audience, minus me and some hangers on. They did so many songs I recognised without having realised they were them, as well as a few cover medleys of songs around their time. The show became a really nice history lesson on the 60's, as well as a realisation that there were other bands besides all the The's - Beatles, Kinks, Who and Stones... and these guys were in the forefront. Well worth it. Also if you need a cheap drink and don't care where you are, RSL's are the shit, especially if your dad is a member.

Dexy's: Runnin'.

 Harvest Festival (Sunday 18th November, Brisbane Botanic Gardens)

John McCrea: Champion of the world

2012's Harvest weekend will always go down in history as a hugely memorable day, for many reasons. I'd just moved in with my boyfriend Tiptoes, in a beautiful house in Bardon (whee!), my friend was staying with us for the weekend amongst our moving of shit, and the weather was abso-fucking-lutely raging in freak hailstorm season. We all went along with tired but high spirits, and caught some of the best of what was on offer. Dexy's Midnight Runners were so cheesy it was sickening, but were clearly having a good time, and everyone danced to "Come On Eileen" no matter who or where they were. Dandy Warhols oddly didn't really suit the festival vibe as I expected, and choosing to play slowburners like "Good Morning" and "Godless" (while favourites of mine) probably didn't help get the crowd going. I still enjoyed them because I always will, but my group was bored. Liars were kind of weird and dark and brooding and slow, and I wasn't too enthralled, but may have been in a different context. Cake was fun and solid while they opened with "Frank Sinatra" and played "Never There" and ended with the "Distance". Lead singer John McCrea however ruined the fun by shouting at us all sorts of political statements more relevant to the US than here, during and in between songs. After I'd secured a great spot for Ben Folds Five, it was announced we were all to evacuate due to a hail storm and the entire festival found shelter at the QUT grounds, while bits of ice thundered down upon us. It felt apocalyptically weird! Only about an hour or so was lost however, and the show went on, except that I had to miss bits of both Ben Folds Five and Beck due to the new timing. 

Ben Folds Five

BFF were great, I have to say, although having seen Ben enough times solo, my focus was on drummer Darren and bassist Robert, who are fantastic musicians. It was amazing to share the experience with another once (or still) obsessed fan too, and to sing along with old favourites. But I had to scurry over to Beck, who was SO much fun. He played a weird amazing group of songs, lots from later albums 'Guero' 'The Information' and 'Modern Guilt', but also some gems from 'Seachange', and 'Odelay' favourites "Hotwax" (omg!), "Devils Haircut" and "Where It's At". Tiptoes and I danced our little hearts out. Beck had a weird, lazy, fun presence, so much better than his disappointing sickly presence at V festival in 2006 when last I'd saw him. 
The show wasn't over though, even though I was ready to go home, and we caught a captivating set of gorgeous melodies from Grizzly Bear, a bit of Crazy P, and most of Santigold's energetic, dancetastic set, which made me fall a bit in love with her. Then we walked around for half an hour to get a cab and collapsed forever. Another great year Harvest! Please be as promising this year.  

J Spaceman: photo by captainsdead.com

Spiritualized, Hi Fi Bar, Tuesday 4th December

This show crept up on me, on an exhausting day involving a massive heatwave, and I wasn't sure how I was going to enjoy it in the state I was in. Luckily it was the perfect kind of gig for such a mood. At a low capacity Hi Fi, Jason "J Spaceman" Pierce, was seated comfortably at his piano and/or guitar, with his other sombre band members astride, and a couple of backing singing ladies, supported by a projection of all sorts of Windows Screensaver-esque visuals. Together with the music, this set up created a very soothing, moving experience, gently rocking me into a peaceful state. Jason's voice was not much stronger than on the latest record (see my previous entry!), but it was forgiven as you contemplate what the dude has been through... years of drug and alcohol abuse, becoming critically ill with pneumonia (he stopped breathing twice) in 2005, and now being diagnosed with liver cancer and going through chemotherapy... a weaker voice seems fitting. Regardless, his presence and musical energy was strong, and the songs flowed freely. The sound grew better with the gig (or my ears adjusted?), from the seemingly distorted first song, "Here It Comes", on to a selection mostly from 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' and the latest 'Sweet Heart, Sweet Light'. I enjoyed every moment, my highlight being the tug-at-heartstrings title track to 'Ladies and Gentleman', an ode to either drugs or love... transcribed oddly, but well to the live experience. 

Grimes + Dancers

Grimes, The Zoo, Friday 8th December

I have never seen so many young girls with hairs in high bunches, untweezed eyebrows, and bindies all over their forehead. Grimes played her hotly anticipated show at the Zoo, and i got to see what all the fuss was about... well I already knew, her album Visions is an exquisitely catchy piece of music, and worth the 40+ dollars. I was there with my sister and her friends, her first 18+ show since turning said age, which was to me an exciting achievement. I've never felt as old as i did this night, not only surrounded by teenagers I knew but those I did not. Since when did they get so damn cool? Why wasn't I that cool? What do you talk about with them these days? Ahh, youths. Anyway Lady Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) performed like the giddy school girls who adore her, giggly, bashful and babbling, and chuffed as anything to be there, flanked by dancers sharing her craziness. I couldn't understand a word she said or sang but the music was replicated wonderfully, and I felt like one of the kids in Skins for a few seconds if I tried not to remember what I looked like or who I was.

Devo: photo by Cam Ball

Simple Minds, Devo, The Church, The Models, Sirromet Winery, Sunday 9th December
(this was a loooooong week.)

The Church: photo by Cam Ball

I didn't think I would want to ever listen to Whip It again, due to having to sing it through, twice, at work, by a well meaning but mortifying team leader.... But once Devo came round at Sirromet, I was keen to see them in their ageing glory. We were a bit late for the event (yeah that was my fault) and had an awkward spot on the hill, but got to experience everything quite easily nonetheless. I only recognized a few songs by the Models, who seemed to play well but I did find to be a slight bore. The Church were more entertaining, playing strongly and replicating their hits with the passion of a younger band. It may just be that I'm a bigger fan though, as their presence really wasn't as strong as Devo's, who pretty much obliterated the festival, with costumes, video art, dance moves, and pure energy bouncing off the hills. As my family (naturally) agreed, lyrics were never their strong point, but goddamn Devo were, and still are, a fun band, without being the type of annoying that fun bands are resigned to these days. After expected classics such as "Girl U Want" "Whip It" (of course), and "Mongoloid", they ended on an extended version of "It's A Beautiful World" (or so it felt), with that weird baby faced masked boy thing singing the words. It was odd that Simple Minds closed, as they were by far inferior, with the lead singer hardly singing his words (leaving it to the crowd which is always a mistake), and the bands performance being solid but hardly excitable. It's hard to top the excitement of Devo, and after Simple Minds' signature "Don't You (Forget About Me)" we left to get a head start home.


OTHER THINGS I SAW

I went to Rockwiz for the.. third?? time, on Friday the 21st of September at the Convention Centre, which was of course laughs and music and the usual shebang. Bob Evans, Tex Perkins, Joe Camilleri, Vika, Linda, Marcia, even the guy from Even (Ashley). One day, one day.. I'll put my hand up to be a contestant on one of their tours. I could do it, I reckon, until they start asking about Dragon or Jo Jo Zep or even the Beegees... Hmm on second thoughts, I'm still too shy.

Exit? Yes please

I got practically dragged to Stereosonic on the 2nd of December thanks to a friend who works for a will-not-be-named company who gets free tickets to events so that she can check on music distribution licences (in a nutshell?). At the time I was like, a free ticket, why not! But as the day approached and I was unwell, it was the last place I wanted to be. I tried to enjoy myself during some of the dj sets (being most of the 'shows' on offer), but my god was it difficult to enjoy the same shitty, repetitive, blasting music shoved in my ears all day. Luckily my friend wasn't too fussed either, otherwise I would have been the worst company imaginable. Calvin Harris wasn't terrible, but I can kind of appreciate some of his things. Everything else was boring. I was gone before Major Lazer came out, which was probably the only thing that I would have really wanted to see. At least I can say I've been to a really shit music festival that the masses think is excellent.

Casey and Eric

Finally TIM AND ERIC came to the Tivoli on the 4th of October and it was a wonderful time. It wasn't what I expected however... sketches that we kinda had seen before (involving Casey Tatum, Spaghett!, and the Beaver Boys), interspersed with projections of favourite sketches, which the audience got to choose based on the loudness of cheering/clapping. It also seemed like a legit measure! The entire segments of "Just 3 Boys" was also shown to the audience via videoscreen. I thought using video footage was a bit of an easy move and not what we paid money for, but it was fun to watch as a group of fans of this fucked up show, and I will say there was some very interesting looking people in the crowd who will vouch for that. Also, an opening song consisting only of the words "Diarrhea", finishing tribute to Australia, and an encore involving a quiz of the show between 3 audience couples, made it all quite memorable. Also DJ DouggPound had some awesomely terrible opening jokes to kick it off. Follow him on twitter, now. Now Doug get off the track! STICK A FORK IN ME I'M DONE!