The best of the noughties, part the second

Right, I'm feeling inspired, so here is part two in my list of the best albums from the 10 years that make up what is colloquially known as the noughties.

Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth (2005)

Many had written these boys off a long time ago. And who can blame them. After launching out the blocks with Definitely Maybe in the early 90s, it had been a case of diminishing returns for Oasis. Yeah they sold tons of records, but while there were some great tunes, the albums were generally disappointing. 2002s Heathen Chemistry had shown that a more diplomatic approach to song writing may suit the band, but I have to admit when I put this into my CD player for the first time, I wasn't expecting an album quite this good. First up you get Turn Up The Sun, which starts off with some nice pastoral acoustic guitar action, before yr typical Oasis guitar onslaught, with vocalist Liam Gallagher putting in a particularly impassioned vocal. Next up is Mucky Fingers, a Noel sung tune that betrays the influence of, believe it or not, The Velvet Underground. A nice wee chugger of a tune, it even features guitarist Gem Archer performing a harmonica solo. Then we get 1st single Lyla, which ticks all the right Oasis boxes, great vocal, catchy as hell, singalong. One of this albums strengths is the fact that on drums, Oasis had managed to recruit one Zac Starkey. Yep, Ringo's son. Yep, touring drummer with the Who. Perfect for this bunch of tunes and the albums secret weapon, with a deceptively light touch, given that one of the guys who taught him how to play drums was "Uncle" Keith Moon. This lightness of touch is perfectly displayed on Love Like A Bomb, a song that features one of Liam's most tender sounding vocals is ages. The Importance Of Being Idle, another Noel sung tune, is all full of Kinks damage, but then Oasis have often tread that fine line being "influenced by" and "ripping off blindly." I reckon this falls the side of the former (just), a view that isn't universal amongst some folks I know.

Next up, The Meaning Of Soul, possibly the best tune Liam Gallagher has ever come up with. Its all driving acoustic guitars, driving drums (wooden spoons on a box of corn flakes apparently) and another impassioned vocal. Just fantastic. Followed up by the vaguely psychedelic Guess God Thinks I'm Abel, an OK tune, though possibly the weakest on the album. We then get the 3rd Noel sung tune on the album, Part Of The Queue, a jaunty shuffle of a tune.

At this point, we generally get to the point where Noel has run out of steam and dashes off a rather silly tune to pad the album out, which is where the Digsy's Dinners (great) and She's Electric (no so great) of this world. But no, this time we get Keep The Dream Alive, a song with some wonderful chiming guitars and a chorus as epic and soaring as anything Oasis had ever done. And they follow that up with A Bell Will Ring, another tune that just soars and soars and soars. They then close the album out with Let There Be Love, an understated attempt at the Oasis epic album closer.

I really didn't think Oasis still had it in them to produce an album so strong from start to finish. Hell, even the filler kicks arse and, I think I like this more that Definitely Maybe (just maybe though). This could've been a new beginning for the group, leading to the most extensive international touring is ages, increased sales, and general good times (check out tour doco Lord Don't Slow Me Down for more on this). But, it wasn't to be. A weak follow up was followed by a pre-gig bust up between the Gallagher brothers, and it was all over. For good this time, Noel embarking on a solo career, while Liam and the rest of the band carried on as Beady Eye.

Hooter Hooter Hooter

Head Like A Hole / Cairo Knife Fight - San Fran Bath House - Thursday August 25th

Yeah, it was a school night. Yeah, I had a really early alarm call the following morning. Yeah, but when you have two of the best live bands in the country playing in yr town, you ignore such inconveniences. My pals and I arrived a bit late and missed the start of Cairo Knife Fights set. Its a complaint I have with gigs in this town. You never know when these things are gonna start. Sure they advertise when doors will open, but then the bands start really late, meaning yr sitting around bored, especially if you are attending by yrself, or the bands start really early and you miss the start, which sucks when you wanna check out the opening bands. Surely we can be given an idea of when the bands expect to start? Some gigs do announce this, but its a practice that needs to be adopted by more venues/bands/promoters/etc. Anyhoo, enough ranting.

I last saw CNF at this venue about a year and a half ago, when the produced a thoroughly entertaining set opening for The Veils. In the mean time, they've released a couple of fantastic EPs and playing more shows, and impressing a bunch of the right people. Thursdays set was business as usual. For a 2 piece, they make a huge sound. Classic without pastiche, they build their songs around a massive groove, and yet aren't particularly groovy, if that makes sense. Its just a shame I didn't get to see their full set, but they're playing in a few weeks with Beastwars, The Eversons and others.

For the past few years, the reformed (in more ways than one) Head Like A Hole have been playing the nostalgia game, playing a bunch of rapturously received gigs. However, they've recently released an album of brand new tunes and were road testing them this time out. Having not managed to hear any of the new material, I was intrigued to see if they stood up to the songs in their back catalogue. One things was for sure, they were gonna be great live. Opening with a new song, were then treated to Comfortably Shagged. Yep, they were playing well, but then they were always pretty damn good live back in the day. With a set evenly divided between old and new songs, Booga and co had the crowd on side and wanting more. Highlights included Wet Rubber, Fish Across Face, and a stonking version of Hootenanny. The new songs, while good, didn't hold up quite so well against the older songs, though that could have had more to do with familiarity as much as anything else. Bonus points go to guitarist Nigel Reagan for performing a solo while crowd surfing, a feat that not only amazed the crowd, but also his band mates. Main set done, we got the obligatory call for an encore. A four piece horn section make their way on stage and tease out the intro to A Crying Shame, possibly HLAHs biggest hit. The band joined them, and then it all kicked off. A couple more tunes and they were done. A thoroughly enjoyable gig, it has to be said.

Beastwars -Mighty Mighty - Saturday August 13th

An odd venue for a metal show it has to said, given that the Mighty is usually more of a hipsters paradise. But, Beastwars have been playing some great shows in recent months (this was the 4th time I'd seen 'em in 2011), plus their self titled debut album is one of the better records released this year. Support bands Viking Weed and Spook the Horses played enjoyable, if somewhat anonymous opening sets, during which the venue filled up more than I'd ever seen the Mighty. After a short wait, Beastwars stepped up and layed down the sludgy metal goodness we've come to expect from them. They played pretty much the whole of the first album, Lake of Fire being unleashed early, while Daggers, Cthulhu and Damn The Sky all standing out. As usual, they were great, tho possibly not as good as other gigs they've played this year (their album release gig was probably better, despite them killing power to the stage 3 times during their set), not quite reaching the heights they a capable of.

That's all from me for now. Stay tuned for the 2nd entry of my best of the noughties, coming soon (promise)

Check you on the flipity-flopity

I'm A Conservative

Die! Die! Die! - Bar Bodega- Friday July 1st

Its weird, but it seems each year, I tend to see a lot more gigs at one particular venue. In the past, its been San Fran Bath House, or maybe Mighty Mighty. This year however, it seems that I'm spending more time than usual at Bar Bodega. For example, the other Friday, I dragged myself down there to see one of my favs, Die! Die! Die!

I was excited about this one, having missed their last couple of Wellington shows, not to mention turning down the chance to catch them while in Sydney. So I wasn't gonna turn down this chance to see 'em, fresh from a trek around Europe, China and Japan.

Me and my gig going bud turned up just in time to check out the opening act, The Eversons. These guys are cool, Wellington based and have an EP out on Lil Chief Records. But, unlike most of the bands on Lil Chief, they aren't twee as fuck (not that I hate Twee, mind you). Their sound has elements of the Modern Lovers, kinda new wavish and they are smart without being too clever. I particularly enjoyed Loser, Boyfriend and Creepy. Like I said, they have an EP out, which I picked up the day after the gig and have been enjoying a lot since. A band to look out for.

Next up were Reptilian Future Cops. They covered the "you wouldn't steal a car" ad you see at the start of DVDs. Apart from that, they were shite. The only other nice thing I can say about them is that they had the decency to finish. Fuck, they could've bought Sets down from Hamilton or found another good local band rather than these awful cunts. Awful.

Now the excitement was really beginning to build. As I've said before, if there is another band currently doing the rounds that can whip a crowd into a frenzy as good as Die! Die! Die!, I haven't heard of 'em. After a quick set up, these lads set about slaying us several ways the far side of next week, opening with Britomart Sunset and not letting up for the rest of the set. Usually, I find myself at DDD shows right in the pit, thrashing around like the good lil indie punker I am, but this time I decided to hang on the periphery and actually watch the band for most of the set (Hey! I'm old and I have glasses now, so......) What stands out with these guys is just how rock solid the rhythm section is, especially given how much touring they've been doing. With guitarist Andrew Wilsons playing getting more and more shoegazey, a tight rhythm section is crucial. Good thing that Lachlan ??? and Mikey Prain are more than up to the task. They played us a chunk of last years stand out album, Form, along with plenty from Promises Promises and a couple of tracks from their debut. A.T.T.I.T.U.D was a stand out, while Lil Ships, Howye and We Built Our Own Oppresors from Form were as awesome live as they are on record. After the main set, and the obligatory call for an encore, they delivered a few more tunes, before finishing with traditional epic closer, Blue Skies. And then it was over, and we filtered out into the cool night, to marvel at how they can leap around sooooo much and still be tight as a nuns wotsit. And how the bassist didn't kill the whole front row swinging his bass about (I got to the front later on in the set once my chinstroking grew tiresome, so I know just how close he was to lopping some poor gig goers head clean off). A great show.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Its tempting to wonder whether there is something in the water. In the past year or so, there have been a handful of brilliantly psychedelic-influenced albums being made by New Zealand groups. Be it The Phoenix Foundation, An Emerald City, or little Connan Mockasin and his wonderfully creepy 2010 album Please Turn Me In To The Snat, psychedelia seems to be quite a popular influence at the moment, which is fine by me. And now we have another one to add to the list. For those of you out of the loop, Unknown Mortal Orchestra is the new musical project for Ruban Nielsen, ex of the Mint Chicks. Opening Track FFunny FFrends emerged last year, no info, just a bandcamp page and an MP3, and it set the blogosphere alight, and with good reason to. Its a catchy wee number and sets the album up nicely, with a slightly funkish backbeat and spidery guitar line and Connan-esque vocal. Next up is the slightly more insistent Bicycle, which is catchy as all hell. Seriously, it popped up on my Ipod the other day and I was humming the tune for the rest of the day, and the day after that. Yep, a perfect little earworm. Thought Ballune is up next and really reminds me of Piper era Pink Floyd, especially the descending guitar line and whimsical lyric. Those expecting Mint Chicks retreads are going to be surprised by this album, which has a more relaxed feel to it. Mind you, as much as I love me some Mint Chicks action, had this album been a Mint Chicks style punk-up, sans Kody, I'd have been somewhat disappointed. Thankfully, Ruban is following a different path with this record. The Mint Chicks did have elements of psychedelia, sure, but not to this level. They were a punk band, for better or worse, and this isn't a punk album. One particular favourite tune for me is How Can You Luv Me, a song that is almost soul like, with a cool falsetto vocal, contrasting nicely with Nerve Damage, which is where UMO sound most like the Mint Chicks for mine. I really love this record, I've been thrashing it for the past month or so and I'm not tired of it. Every time I play it, it makes me smile and you can't get much better than that.

Until next time, be good to yr barkeep.

A one. A two. A 1234

Wow! Two posts in one calender year, eh! And more to come too. Heady stuff. Anyhoo, Friday May 6th 2011. A day that shall go down in infamy. Why? Cos Shane P. Carter bought his Last Train To Brockville tour to windy Wellington, Bar Bodega to be precise. And why was this so damn noteworthy, I hear you ask? Well. Well, for the first time in forever, Mr Carter, currently plying his trade under the Dimmer moniker, has decided to dip his toes into his wonderfully vast back catalogue of tunes from his previous musical entities. Y'know, bands like Bored Games, Double Happys, Straitjacket Fits. Those tunes. He's always seemed to be a forward thinking fella has our Shane and when one of his bands ends, clean slate, don't look back. So the fact that he was playing these songs was more than reason enough to head down to the Bodge on a chilly Friday. I mean, some of these songs ain't been played for over 20 years. You'd want a piece of that right. Right? Especially given the band Carter had assembled. Gary Sullivan on drums. Vaughan Williams on bass. As they say, 'nuff said.

Bodega was packed, really packed. I turned up late-ish and struggled to find a spot where A) my view wasn't ruined by that bloody pillar in the middle of the dance floor and B) I wasn't surrounded by those dickheads who spend their hard earned cash to go to a gig and have loud conversations about sweet fuck all. I struggled, but I managed it. I didn't have to wait too long for Carter and band to step on stage and proceed to tear through Grate, a song off the first Fits album. Magnificent, it was. I had my doubts when I heard Carter was only touring as a three piece, would he be able to pull off the epic Fits material, not to mention the early Dimmer stuff he was gonna be playing, without the help of an extra guitarist. I need not have worried, Shane Carter is more than good enough to carry it off and with THAT rhythm section behind him, y'know. Next up we got a Double Happys number, Big Fat Elvis, before Done came along and slayed the crowd. A couple of songs later, we got the one song that had no writing input from Mr Carter. I Don't Wanna See You Again is an old Double Happys tune, written by Wayne Elsey, who is sadly no longer with us. Shane, obviously a little emotional about playing this tune, pointed out how cool he thought the song was and didn't we all agree. I certainly did. Next, we were transported to the early part of this century, as Shane and co unleashed a few early Dimmer tunes for our collective enjoyment. Dawns Closing In hadn't been played for about 10 years, mostly cos people liked to talk through this subtle, rather quiet number. Thankfully, the assembled were respectful this time. Then, my highlight of the night, Crystalator. My god, I've witnessed some great renditions of this song over the years, but this time, it was just EPIC! The lighting, with blue strobes and plenty of smoke, was perfect. The rhythm section was sublime and pummelling at the same time, and Shane was wringing seven shades of who knows what from that guitar of his. Just incredible. The fact that the next song, She Speeds, quite possibly my favourite New Zealand song in the world, ever, was somewhat of an anti-climax (that is to say, fucking awesome, BTW), says it all methinks. A couple more tunes, then the band headed back stage, job done. But, the crowd were not satisfied and demanded an encore, which the band duly delivered. First up, we got the oldest song of the night, Joe 90, a song by Shane's first band, the Bored Games, and a song that Shane is somewhat embarrassed by. Why, I do not know, its a fun tune. He even turned the microphone around so the front row could sing the last chorus. Then, Carter did something nasty. He gave us a choice. Did we want him to play Life In One Chord, or would we rather he played If I Were You. I know!!!! Anyways, he called for a show of hands and got roughly an even number of votes for both songs (rather than a sign of division amongst the audience, I think most of us were possibly voting for both songs. I know I was, teeheehee), so Shane, good fella that he is, did the decent thing and played both of them. Finally, we got the usual epic version of Seed from the first Dimmer album and Shane and the boys left us to return home, stunned by what we had just witnessed.

What I liked most about the set was how Shane and co were subtly changing the songs, nothing radical, just enough to keep things interesting for both the band and the audience. For example, Fits tune APS was played in straight time, as opposed to the shuffle timing of the studio version. A great night. And, for the first and possibly last time on All This Useless Information, a set list:-

Grate

Big Fat Elvis

Done

Needles and Plastic

APS

Some Fantasy

I Don't Wanna See You Again

Dawns Closing In

Crystalator

She Speeds

Randolfs Coming Home

Dialing A Prayer

------------------------

Joe 90

Life In One Chord

If I Were You

Seed

Before I go, a couple of shout outs. First up, if you are one of those folks who regularly attends gigs here in Wellington, you will probably seen a good friend of mine, Shaun Jones, taking the odd photo or six. You can check some of these photos out at his website http://www.shaunjonesphotography.com/ as well as any number of websites featuring photos from gigs. Well worth checking out, he does great work. Also, I recommend you head over to a new blog started by the man that coined (or possibly stole) the phrase "the worlds greatest Kiss tribute band, Kiss", which featured in my first ever blog post, Mr Liam McIndoe. The blog is call The Sound As Ever (http://thesoundasever.blogspot.com/). He's gonna review a bunch of old prog albums, but you'll find that out when you check his blog out. I used to share a stage with both of these lads, so you know you gotta check their stuff out.

Anyhoo, until next time, be good.

Guess who's back

Hello kids,

In the past I have made various threats regarding how often I'm gonna be updating this blog, threats I've not followed through on. That, however is about to change. Today, I shall be posting the first in a series of posts, where I shall reveal to all and sundry my Top 10 albums of the first ten years of this century, the "Noughties," in descending fashion. Hence, we shall start with number 10 in the list:-

Mogwai - Rock Action (2001)

I dunno, I resisted their charms for quite some time. It wasn't until I heard some tunes from the Scottish post-rockers 2nd album, Come On Die Young, that these guys made sense to me. That albums slightly more desolate soundscapes hadn't left my stereo for a while, when one hungover Saturday, I popped into one of my favourite record stores, with the express purpose of picking up a recent Teenage Fanclub album (Howdy). I got chatting with guy I knew who worked there, who asked if I was in a rush and could he play me a few things. Sure, I said. I can't remember all of what he played me, but I do remember leaving with not only the Fannies album I'd intended on buying, but also this album, Rock Action, as well as "All We Lost In The Fire" by Low.
Now, as much as I loved "Come On Die Young," I wasn't prepared for the revelation I experienced when I hit play on the CD player at the record store that hungover Saturday. Opener "Sinewave" starts off small and just builds and builds, swellingly gorgeous. From the moment this song started, I knew this album was gonna be a different ride compared to their previous album, an impression confirmed by second track "Take Me Somewhere Nice." Hell, as well as strings, this song had singing. As far as I knew, they'd not tried that before. Two songs were all I needed, I had to own this record.
Over the next few months, this album replaced it predecessor on heavy rotation on my stereo. I raved to friends about how great it was, fuck, some of them even bought it and fell in love with the album as much as I had. Every listen was a pleasure. I especially dug Dial:Revenge, featuring vocals from Gryff Rhys of Welsh nutters Super Furry Animals. 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong was another fav. But for me, the highlight of the album was its centre piece, You Don't Know Jesus. I could get lost in that song, it was so vast. Word of advice though, don't listen to this tune while sleep deprived and having just seen the film "Miracle Mile." Damn near had a freakout after attempting that one.
While the band themselves may not hold this album in such high regard and have made some fine albums since, this is the one I come back to.
Just majestic.

Stay tuned for number 9 in my top ten albums of the noughties, as well as my reviews of some recent albums and gigs (Warning : May contain excessive praise of one Mr Shane P Carter). Until then, take care and shit

Morgs

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!

Yep, long after I promised to return and write in this thing more regularily, I've finally followed through on that promise. So what do we have in store for you in this installment. Well, reveiws of all this gigs I've seen this year.

Cairo Knife Fight / True Lovers / The Veils
Sanfrancisco Bath House 13/01/2010

A couple of weeks into the new year and I find myself at the Bath House, on a Wednesday before Big Day Out, to witness the Big Night In, a gig that has been running for a few years now featuring a number of bands performing at the Auckland leg of the BDO.

A large squall of feed back anounced to those present that Cairo Knife Fight, the first band of the night, had taken the stage. Id heard great thing about these guys, especially after their set opening for Gomez late last year, so I was excited to see them. They make a big sound for a 2 piece, a jammy sound built on the band looping themselves live. The drummer in particular plays against multiple loops of his own drumming aa any given time. Very cool stuff. In fact, these guys are quite possibly the best new band I've seen in a long time, tho they have been around for a few years. They have an album out, called Iron, which I've since purchased and am still digesting, and are well worth checking out.

Next up was Dion, ex of Nothing At All and the D4, with his new group, New York based True Lovers. For this band, he has taken the more skelletal elements of the D4s sound, which on paper sounds interesting, but in a live setting, it fell somewhat flat to these ears, tho given that the band hasn't played out much yet, they may still be working out the bugs. I dunno, but I did feel like the one thing missing was the ballance that Jimmy Chrismas provided to the D4 (his group, Luger Boa, from what I've heard has similar issues with their sound, which is a little too anthemic for its own good). The other thing that stood out at this point was the fact that the venue sound wasn't 100% clear. In fact, it bordered on appalling.

This was made clear when the Veils hit the stage. Now, I'm not a big Veils fan, not by a long shot. in fact I think they are rubbish. I lasted one song and had to go home. Not the bands fault however. No, the sound was worse than it has been for True Lovers, all dsitorted and grimey. Now that may be fine for some groups, but it didn't work for the Veils. Plus it was just too loud for the venue. I'm all for ear bleeding volume and all that, but not at the expense of good over all sound.

Overall, a disapointing gig, tho Cairo Knife Fight showed they are a band to watch.

Neko Case
San Francisco Bath House 20/01/2010

After many years of my flatmate raving about her, americana goddess Neko Case finally made her way to Wellington for 2 shows.

Before we go on, I have a confession to make. I almost forgot I had tickets to the first night, instead thinking I'd bought them for the 2nd gig. Thankfully at half past 9 that night, I managed to glance at my tickets that we sitting on a set of shelves in my room, freaked out, put some pants on and hightailed it to thew venue. Thank god I live within 3 blocks, eh? All my forgetfulness meant i missed the support act, which by all accounts wasn't a bad thing.

After an announcement asking us not to take photos during the gig, Neko and her band entered the stage. And Neko has quite a backing band too, with backing vocalist Kelly Hogan and multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhous being quite well known in their own right in Alt-country circles. The gig was very cool, the band sticking mostly to recent material (I recognised a chunk of stuff from her most recent album Middle Cyclone). Neko has an amazing voice, even if she seemed a tad nervous (she apparently loosened up on the 2nd night). And, tho having an amazing voice, she didn't indulge in what I like to call "stunt singing" the kind of singing done by American Idol contestants. No, Neko sang what the songs required her to sing, and then when she really let rip, WOW!!!!!!!

A great and enjoyable show, now I need to check more of stuff out.

Handsome Family
San Fransisco Bath House 28/01/2010

These guys must really love little ol' NZ, now on their 3rd visit in the past 5 years. Maybe it was this, combined with the fact that AC/DC were playing the same night, and Wellington gig goers being spoiled for choice this summer, that led to the crowd being a tad more sparce than at previous Handsome Family shows.

White Swan opened the evening. With one woman and some keyboards, the songs be cool but a bit spare, possibly in need of a band to flesh them out a touch. That said, we did get covers of The Spelling Mistakes "Feel So Good" (last heard advising Export Gold) and the Toy Love tune "Rebel" (last heard being raped by The Checks. Seriously, if you are going to cover a song to go on a tribute album that has been put out to help cover the medical bils of the person who wrote the song, at least go to the trouble of hearing it a couple of times and trying to learn how it goes. I've always hated The Checks, but now I wanna beat the living shit out them and put them out of MY misery).

Husband and wife combo, Brett and Rennie Sparks, as the Handsome Family are a charming proposition live. The songs are just gorgeous and they fill a gaps between their songs with plenty of spirited banter and whatnot, almost to the point you would mind if they didn't play any songs cos they are so amusing. Then the start another song and you don't want that to end. They have a new record to promote, so we got plenty of new songs, along with plenty of old favourites.

Overall, and enjoyable gig, maybe not as good as previous visits, but still pretty cool.

So, that is all for this post. Next time out, more gigs (Yo La Tengo, 3Ds and some unknown band from Australia whose brother was it the Easybeats), some album reviews and the 1st in a series where I reveal my top ten albums from the last decade.

Bye!

I'm still here

Hey folks,

All has been quiet on the western front, but never fear, as far as this blog goes, things are gonna get louder so to speak. As for why so quiet on my part, well there are a number of reasons, the main one being a re-evaluation of what I actually want this blog to be. Basically, I've decided to not update this blog as regularly, BUT each update will feature more stuff. So every month or so there will be gig and album reviews, plus some editorial/opinion stuff, as well as stories from my music fandom/anorak past. So the same but different essentially. So stay tuned for a bit of a "year-ish so far" round-up (featuring such diverse talents as Mountain Goats, Girl Talk, Morrissey, David Byrne, IRON MAIDEN and more). (this round-up will not take 5 months, promise)

2008 - The Albums

So another year, another bunch of albums. As always, it was hard to decide where to rank everything, and if I were to re-assess this list in 6 months time, it would probably be completely different, but then, that's the game innit? So now, here are my top ten albums of 2008:-

1) Portishead- 3rd : After 10 years away, they've delivered a fantastic set of post-punk influenced tunes, still blowing my away after 8 or so months of living with it. Top Stuff

2) You Am I - Dilettantes : Tim Rogers is in a rich vein of song writing form, this being the 3rd brilliant record he's been responsible for writing in as many years.

3) Radiohead - In Rainbows : Yes, I know the songs were released online in 2007, but they were only physically released on January 1st 2008, so it makes the list. A real return to form too.

4) Sloan - Parallel Play : Canada's finest purveyors of power pop goodness. My surprise of the year.....not that it was this good, but that after releasing the marathon effort that was 2007s Never Hear The End Of It, I'm shocked they had songs left over to record.

5) HDU - Metamathics : This has grown on me over the year. After not being blown away initially, having seen them play this stuff live, it all makes sense now.

6) Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling : A real return to form from these Scottish post-rockers, rather than (over)reacting to their previous albums, they've just gone out and created a masterpiece.

7) The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement : A rather awesome collection of 60s influenced pop gems.

8) Fleet Foxes - S/T : A late discovery, could possibly have made it higher up the list with a bit more time to digest this album.

9) Sam F. Scott and the Bunnys on Ponys - Straight Answer Machine : Lovely indie pop gems, well played by some of the biggest and brightest names in the Wellington indie scene.

10) The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride : While not hittin the heights of previous efforts, there are still some great tunes on this album.

There you have it. Unlucky to miss out were albums by Brian Wilson, Mudhoney and School of Language, with albums that, while having their pleasures, were good rather than great.
On the other hand, the latest efforts by Wire and The Futureheads were highly anticipated on my part and turned out to be rather disappointing (tho The Futureheads album featured 3 fantastic singles it must be said)

STAY TUNED FOR MY TOP TEN SONGS AND GIGS OF 2008

Brandy is not a fruit

Building on 2006 return to form Convicts, Aussie rock 'n' roll legends You Am I have return with a new album, Deletantes. An album that is not as rough around the edges as some previous releases, it has a lot in common with lead singer Tim Rogers last solo album, 2007s Luxury Of Hysteria, some of the songs having a somewhat floaty, almost psychedelic feel to them.
The album opens with the title track, which certainly epitomises this floaty, swelling approach, starting with acoustic guitar and building to a massive climax. This slow build approach continues through the next 2 songs, before we finally get one of You Am I's trademark rockers, Frightfully Moderne (Chorus - You Ain't Seen The Best Of Us Yet). Continuing with the fun glam rock action of Wankers, the album delivers tune after tune of You Am I goodness, with honest to goodness rockers mingling with lovely ballads, and in Giving Up and Getting Fat, what sounds like an anti music industry rant. Hell, Tim even half-raps on stand out tune The Big Wheel. The momentum threatens to drop off towards the end of the album, before they close things off with The Piano Up The Tree, a perfect album closer, all swelling and anthemic. Damn this album is good!!!

Its been a while

Portishead were one of those bands for me that came along at a crucial point in my life and will always remind me of that time. So I was quite excited when news surfaced that after about 10 years, Portishead were about to finally release a new album, entitled 3rd. Now, before I go on, a disclaimer of sorts. Despite having the album since pretty much the day it was released, I've been incredibly reluctant to actually review it, the thought of thinking about it in a critical fashion almost too much to fathom. But here we are.
First off, while 3rd shares DNA with Portisheads previous two albums, there are some important differences. The first difference is the distinct lack of film score samples used. While the album retains that noir-ish soundtracky quality the band were famous for (opening tune Silence sounds like the theme tune to a really cool spy film), they're not relying on other peoples work to achieve this.
The other major difference is just how post-punk the album sounds. Its all quite angular really, with lots of harsh sounds and abrupt shifts during the songs. Hunter is a perfect example in many ways. It grooves along quite languidly, in no real hurry, and then, without warning, a harsh, abrasive keyboard riff spoils the mood in the best way possible, before returning from whence it came and the song resuming its languid pace.
A personal favourite of mine is The Rip, a song that just builds and builds and builds, gorgeous. And then in the middle of the album, there is a 3 song run that just leaves me for dead, with We Carry On (where the band invoke Flowers Of Romance era PIL). into the ukulele led Deep Water with its oldtimey feel, then the albums startling 1st single, Machine Gun, which is all drum machines, vocals and stabby synths.
This album really does live up to the hype, sensational.

When Things Are Spliting At The Seams

My my, haven't Sub Pop been experiencing a renaissance as of late, with great record after great record coming out and actually being noticed, thanks to a certain film and a certain comment about how a certain Sub Pop band will change yr life. And here is another. In late 2007, Band Of Horses released their 2nd LP, Cease To Begin, tho I didn't actually discover it until the middle of 2008, when the opening tune from the album, Is There A Ghost In My House, started getting a large amount of airtime on ALT TV. This song is fairly typical of the album as a whole, with a wide screen cinematic feel somewhat reminiscent of fellow Sub Pop group The Shins(as referenced earlier in this post). In particular, both bands feature vocalists that sing in a particularly keening fashion. 2nd single No Ones Gonna Love You More Than I Do is a particular stand out for me, with keening vocals in full effect, plus a gorgeous chiming guitar and organ underpinning the song quite nicely thank you very much. Other songs on the album betray the influence of the Beach Boys, tho on The General Specific, this influence is balanced out with some nice countryish touches.
Side 2 opens with a cool little instrumental piece called Lamb On The Lam (In The City), before Islands On The Coast kicks things up a notch, upping the tempo with a riff that wouldn't be out of place on a Wolfmother album. And later on, just when you could be getting a touch sick of the chiming guitars, along comes Marry Song, with its electric piano and country style vocal harmonies.
All in all, an amazing album and one of my favourites of the past year or so.

Yr gonna need an ocean...........

Apparently, the best way to organise a freakishly ice cold night in this fair city of ours is to put an All Blacks Test on at the stadium. Seriously, we've had two test matches in Wellington this year, and both nights have been great nights to be inside, in yr bed, under the covers, wearing every bit of clothing you own and watching yr breath freeze before your very eyes. That said, I still dragged myself and some pals to The Mighty Mighty on this cold July 5th to catch one of my favourite bands, The Situations, who were touring around with The Quick and The Dead, and The Transistors. Due to poor road conditions trapping all three bands on top of the Rimutakas for 3 or so hours, none of the bands actually made it to the venue until 11pm, so the night was gonna be a late one, and given the on road difficulties, you could've forgiven the bands for phoning it in, so to speak. But no, they all played blinders.
First up were the Quick and The Dead, a nuggets/british invasion influenced band from Auckland. The lead singer/guitarist was an energetic lad, playing the songs within an inch of their lives, while the rhythm section was totally rock solid. The only real criticism I had was that they under use the back vocals of the bass player, cos they worked really well when deployed.
I was very excited about checking out the Transistors, having heard nothing but praise for them and managing to miss their previous Wellington gigs. And boy were they worth the wait!!!!! Easily one of the most energetic bands I've seen, they sound like early Replacements (a fact hammered home when they covered Customer off the 'Mat brilliant 1st album, Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash). They played their thrashy little garagey Rock and Roll tunes with such force that at one point, the drummer had to play standing up having kicked his drum stool off the back of the stage. Seriously, these guys were sooooo good, I was wondering how The Situations were gonna top this.
I need not have worried, as always The Situtations kicked some serious ass. I mean, come on, I've seen these guys more than most bands and they always blow me away. Having spent x-mas/new years playing gigs in Europe, they were tight as. Didn't recognise many songs, this time they concentrated on new material. By the sounds of the new songs, the next album is gonna be a corker, tho we're not gonna hear them for a while, as while they've finished recording, the band are probably gonna sort out a european release before even thinking about releasing it here, which is sad for me as an fan, but great news to think that the band might actually get to release stuff overseas.
Three great sets from three great bands, on a night where the odds of this happening were slim to none.

Where we goin'....................to the city.................ISTANBUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a couple of years re-living the 80s touring with her old band The Pixies, Kim Deal is back with a new Breeders album. Mountain Battles (4AD), is the bands 4th album, and as per usual, the songs are varied as anything, tho on the whole, the album is popier than 2002s Title TK. The album opens strongly with Overglazed, which is all chiming, shoegazerish guitar action, absolutely stunning. Other album highlights include Walk It Off, which is catchy as hell with a sweat bass led groove, Here No More, a country-ish tune featuring some lovely Deal sister harmonies, and Istanbul, the closest to anything off Title TK, tho with a deceptively catchy chorus. Elsewhere, the quirkiness of some of the songs leave me a little cold. German Studies (sung in German) and Regalame Esta Noche (sung in Spanish) are both guilty of this, songs that are good rather than great, relatively inoffensive tunes.

Overall, another great album from the Deal sisters, I for one am hoping we don't have to wait another 5 years for the next album.

www.breedersdigest.com

"For a singer, he's a good guitarist"

It was a Thursday, May 15th, and some mates and I headed up to the San Fran Bathhouse to sample to sonic pleasures of HDU and Bachelorette. We arrived at 10pm sharp, and were rather surprised to hear that Bachelorette had already started, it being rare for a gig in Wellington to start much before 11. Bachelorette is one lass, a guitar, some keyboards and backing tapes, with a very cool stage set up consisting of a whole bunch of old school computer monitors displaying graphics that looked like the lines on a heart monitor thingy, very much like the cover to Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures album. The better songs were the ones that were more keyboard led, tho overall, I really enjoyed Bachelorette and will one day get around to checking out the 2(?) she's released so far on Arch Hill Recordings.
After a very short wait, High Dependency Unit made their way onto the stage and immediately set about slaying the crowd with a set that I would describe as epic, loud and awesome. Fans of the somewhat more aggressive side of HDU (songs such as El True East, Visionson, and Schalblute) were in for slim pickings tonite, as HDU concentrated on some of their longer, driftier songs (Lull, etc). Now while I love a good HDU style rave up as much as the next guy, in a live setting, I prefer it when HDU play the longer tunes that give them a chance to stretch out a little, especially when they get to play through a PA system that is up to the task, something that hasn't always been the case when HDU have played the Bathhouse. This time around it was perfect. The one aggressive tune we got, Stupormodel from new album Metamathics, was a nice change of pace, even if the band messed it up the first time and had to start it again. Highlight of the set for me was The Nation Grid and Irma Vep, played one after the other much like on the new album, amazing, powerful and as beautiful live as they are on record. It was pretty much over on the stroke of midnight, good to see bands realizing that some(most) of their fans actually have to get up in the morning for work. A great set by a band that doesn't get out nearly enough. Awesome!!!

I wish I was special

So Radiohead decide not to renew their contract with EMI and instead decide to release their latest album, In Rainbows, firstly as a download from their website, then as a physical release on XL Records (The vinyl is fucking sweet I have to say). So, somewhat predictably, EMI are cashing in. First off, they reissued all the EMI era CDs just in time for last christmas, but with neither bonus tracks, nor prior consultation with the band (Both of which would have been a nice touch). In the very near future, EMI are gonna re-release these same albums on vinyl (please make it tasty 180gm, please). In between these re-issues, EMI decided to do a best of, in both CD and DVD formats. The CD is not essential if yr a fan already, tho will be handy for those who didn't buy the albums or just need to plug a few gaps. What excited me most when these were announced was the DVD, which features all the videos from their EMI era singles. A few years back, Radiohead released a DVD called 7 TV Commercials, which only had the videos from The Bends and OK Computer, so having videos from before and after the period covered on that DVD was very appealing.
The early videos, while not suffering from the over familiarity of the Bends/OK Computer era vids, are fairly basic affairs. That said, Stop Whispering is a hilariously over wrought effort, the over-riding impression you get is "this is a band who wants to be massive." Non-album single "Pop Is Dead" features singer Thom Yorke being carried around in a glass coffin, tho both the video and the song suffer from not being very good.
Things start to pick up somewhat when you reach the Bends and OK Computer videos, the videos getting more adventurous. Good to see that the original "High and Dry" video was included, as it was barely shown once the US version was made.
Post OK Computer, the band went on a bit of a media anti-blitz, hence no videos for Kid A. EMI could've included the "blip-verts" but chose not to, which is a slight disappointment. The other disappointment is the lack of extras, no commentaries or anything like that. You could blame EMI, but looking at previous Radiohead DVDs, and you tend to find that "extras" cupboards are bare, so this not a new thing.
Things are restored from Amnesiac onwards, tho the videos tend to be interesting ideas for videos rather than actually being any good. That said, there are exceptions. Knives Out is a wonderful Gondry directed vid, while There There from 2003 album Hail To The Thief has an enchanting children's story book gone oh so wrong. Also worthy of a mention is the video for Push Pulk / Spinning Plates, which is basically porn fro animation nerds.
Some great videos here, but overall a somewhat disappointing release.

www.radiohead.com

I was so happy, I didn't feel like me

When the Arctic Monkeys burst onto the scene a few years back in a blaze of CDRs and Myspace hype, there were those of us who were prepared to write them off before hearing a note of their music. But alas, rather than being shite like I'd hoped, they were brilliant, reminding me of John Cooper Clarke and The Fall. Two brilliant albums and a Dizzee Rascal collaboration later and its time for the Arctics lead singer, Alex Turner, to spread his wings into those most dangerous of areas, the side project zone.
So we get The Last Shadow Puppets, where Alex is joined by his good buddy Miles Kane, from The Rascals. Together, they've recorded an album called The Age Of The Understatement, released by Domino Records, also home to the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand amongst others.
By rights, this album should suck great big donkey balls, the song writers from 2 hip young bands thinking the world needs to hear songs that weren't good enough for their main bands, or maybe trying on some new musical stylings and running with it, no matter how poorly they fit them. But no, as an album, it actually stands up. The songs remind me of those late 60s spy movie theme songs, as well as the early solo work of Scott Walker. Having heard sweet naff all of from the Rascals, I'm not sure what influences Kane is bringing to the party, but in a lot of these songs you can hear that slightly surf guitar twang that sometimes comes through in Turners playing on the Arctics.
First up on the album, you get the two singles (The Age of The Understatement, and Standing Next To Me), which set the tone nicely for the album, reminiscent of the past without making the fatal error of falling into pastiche. If I was to make one complaint, its that, while their voices work together really well, they at time blend a little too well and it can be a bit hard to distinguish who is singing what.
Side one continues with the slightly less frantic The Chamber, a nice change of pace from the earlier songs which almost threaten to overtake themselves at points, before Only The Truth rounds out side one, with a brilliant stop start arrangement. Listening to the album on vinyl (which I did), its apparent that Turner and Kane were thinking into terms of having two sides to fill, rather than a CD. This is a good thing (though not having listened to the album on CD, I'm not sure if sequencing works on that format as well), given that bands these days seem to think less in terms of "An Album" as opposed to "A collection of songs." While this can be a subtle art, a well sequenced album is a joy to listen to and its great to see bands not thinking "Oh well, who cares what order we put these songs into, they're just gonna put it on their I-Pods anyways."
My Mistakes Were Made For You opens up the 2nd side, a lovely song that reminds me of Shirley Bassey, who the Arctic covered at Glasto in 2007 (She rules in case you were wondering), before Black Plant changes things up again, some what jarringly with its angular arrangement and stabby synth action, quite possibly my favourite song on the album, if I had to pick a favourite (and I don't really wanna, so there).
The album finishes on a somewhat understated note with Time Has Come Again, all acoustic guitars and soothing vocals.
A top effort from these lads. Apparently, the are about tour this album throughout the UK with an orchestra, which I would love to see, but I doubt they'll bring it to little ol' NZ (tho one can only hope)
www.theageoftheunderstatement.com

Why Put The Body Where The Body Don't Wanna Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a couple of years mourning after the anouncement of McLusky's demise, I was pretty darn excited when a good friend of mine played me a song called adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood by Future Of The Left. Why would I be excited???? Well, apart from the fact that its a fucking great song, it features 2 former members of McLusky, as well as the bassist from Jarcrew. Now I'm even happier, cos I've managed to pick up their debut album, Curses, on Too Pure.
Their sound is pretty much identical to that of McLusky's, tho on some songs (including 2nd(?) single Manchasm), the put the guitar away, and replace it with some synth action, while the final track, The Contrarian, features piano, which was apparently controversial in some of the more lunk headed corners of McLusky's fan base.
As well as retaining the signature McLusky sound (punky and nasty in the best way possible), they also retain lead singer Andy Falkous's way with a nasty sarcastic lyric and some great song titles (personal fav. Real Men Hunt In Packs).
If you were a fan of McLusky, you wont be disapointed with this album, as it's all that was great about Mclusky, only better. Check their website www.futureoftheleft.com and their myspace (there is a link form their website), which is worth it alone for some very funny blog posts from Andy Falkous.

This Raver Must Be On His Best Behavior

Sam F. Scott from Wellington indie legends Phoenix Foundation has just released his 2nd solo album with the Bunnies On Ponies, Straight Answer Machine, on Loop Recordings Aot(ear)oa. And what an album, full of songs similar to Phoenix Foundation, tho much less proggy and more understated, Pavement-esque in parts to these ears.
Much like his live band, Scott utilises some pretty well known Wellington indie types to good effect on this album, including Tom Watson and Craig Terris from Cassette, Julia Deans from Fur Patrol, Age Prior, as well as the co-production skills of Lee Prebble.
Stand out tunes include first single Llewellyn (featuring some tasty backwards guitar action), the ukulele led Black Mark, instrumental live fav Moist People (Tom Watson on trumpet!!!!!!), tho my personal favourite Raver On Probation, which features some very humourous lyrics from Sam, helped by Prebble and Prior.
Overall, a very good album, one that I would've fit into the Flying Nun catelogue in the mid 80s with no problems at all, and one that deserves to be heard far and wide. Hope fully he can carry his song writing purple patch from this and the last Phoenix Foundation album over to the next Phoenix Foundation album. If so, it will be a cracker! But until then, buy this album and crank it.

Not Lost But Gone Before

Saturday saw the return of the Deal sisters and their band the Breeders, playing the San Fran Bath House like they did in early 2003. This time, they are here supporting their new album, Mountain Battles, and also seem to be the hottest ticket in town after their Auckland show had to be moved to a larger venue and the Welli gig selling out with about a week to go.

I arrived too late for the support act, not sure who they were so I'm not sure if I missed out on anything special.

Shortly after 10pm, The Breeders hit the stage to a fairly rapturous applause. For the slightly oldish (ie, those of us who were fans in the 90s), it was 1995 all over again. I was very happy when Huffer from their 2002 album Title TK got an airing 2 songs in. Divine Hammer was also delivered very early in the set. As well as plugging the new album, The Breeders played a large chunk of their first two albums Pod and Last Splash, tho not enough from Title TK for my liking (I only recognised one song, the previously mentioned Huffer, tho there may have been more). Apart from too few Title TK tunes, my only other complaint was that they didn't play German Studies or Istanbul from the new album. Mind you, that is only a minor quibble, as we got great versions of Walk It Off and Overglazed, which Kim pre-faced by telling us how when they opened their Cochella set with Overglazed, they fucked it up. They played it pretty damn good this time.
Biggest cheer of the night was received for Cannonball, no shock there really.
Then after what seem too soon, but in reality was about an hour and a half, The Breeders departed the stage for good. One of the best gigs of the year so far.

One from the archives

So, I've not written on here for an age. Plenty of stuff to review, but I'm being a slack bastard (more stuff on the way soon, promise). And after getting a bollocking for not posting anything in ages (people check this thing regularly-shucks), I thought I'd dig back through the archives of old reviews I'd done. Not a large archive really, consisting as it does of this review, and only this review. BUT, there is a kinda funny story behind how I ended up reviewing The Mint Chicks in the late, lamented, Wellington gig guide The Package.
A good friend of mine was meant to do it, but right before it was due to be handed in, he had bugger all and emailed me for some help. I was at work and had 15 minutes to kill before quiting time, so it was head down, bum up and 15 minutes later I was clicking send. My friend liked what I'd written and submitted that to The Package under my name. What you are about to read is the un-editted version (The Package cut it down a bit, not too much, and sadly I no longer have a copy of that particular edition. Thankfully Spanky still had the email I sent him years after the fact, the gig taking place around April 2005. Cheers Spanky). Enjoy

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Missed the very opening act due to my cocktail holding my attention longer than expected (sorry to whoever you were), so turned up in time to check out This Night Creeps. Equal parts punkrawk and freejazz, they warmed up the crowd just nicely with a violent display of geetar noise (how they didn't kill anyone with their gat swinging is a mystery). Totally worth checking out again.
With the crowd champing at the bit, it was time for The Mint Chicks to tear the Indigo audience a new arsehole. Jeez, how good are these blokes, haven't seen a band this energetic in a long long time, an energy level that was met and raised by the crowd, with an enthusiastic mosh pit up front. The band played a large selection from their album, F**k The Golden Youth, as well as occasionally ripping into some older stuff off their previous EPs. And how!!!!!! Kody, the singer, has such a stage presence, I'd personally like to anoint him the Roger Daltrey its OK to like, twirling the microphone within an inch of its life. After an awesome version of "F**k The Golden Youth", the Mint Chicks retreated back stage, only to receive one of the more enthusiastic calls for an encore I've heard in a while. The band returned to the stage, and after a main set that featured songs that remind this scribe of the Ramones and the Buzzcocks, The Mint Chicks belted out two Ramones covers (Blitzkrieg Bop & Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue) and a Buzzcocks cover (Even Fallen In Love). A couple more songs, a near beaning with a full water bottle (Cheers Kody), and it was all over. One of the best local gigs I've been to in a long time. Check these guys out next time they come to this city of ours (that goes for local lads This Night Creeps also).

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So there you have it. Reading through it again, I'm happy with my first attempt at gig reviewing, tho I was in need of a fact checker, as This Night Creeps were not from Wellington (I believe they were from Hamilton). Sadly they are no longer with us, having broken up in 2006. I got to see them once more, again at Indigo (cannot remember if it had changed its name yet), again opening for The Mint Chicks, who were touring their 2nd album, the blindingly brilliant Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! album (that was another sweet a gig too, might write about that one someday too?)