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BDO07 - Licence To Kill

My good friend Alison and I rocked up (geddit?) to the Big Day Out in Melbourne this year. The Melbourne venue is not as good as the Sydney venue, there’s more dust, and less seating. There’s also more smokers in Melbourne.

First up I saw Triple J unearthed competition winners Oh Mercy. They were pretty cool, and sounded like an Australian version of The Thrills.

Bob Evans was good. Better than I expected even, he started out with my favourite song of his – Nowhere Without You – and managed to keep me hooked all the way through the rest of the set.

After that we saw Afra & The Incredible Beatbox Band, just because they were playing before The Herd. They were exactly what they sound like. They were pretty good, I was almost convinced they were cheating and had a beats machine hidden away somewhere. But at ten or so minute sets, and fair enough, their tongues and lungs would be royally wrecked after what they did, they were somewhat a novelty act. The Herd were tops. Overly political as usual, but still thinking, and not just churning out battle raps for the sake of it.

After that it was Lily Allen. I wanted to see her get angry and mouth off at someone, but I only stayed for two and a half songs, because TZU were playing at the same time. TZU were the best set of the day, but I was expecting that. I got myself wedged between the front barrier and the crowd, and sweated profusely, and it was all just great. Joelistics looked like was having an off day, as he spent half the time staring off into the sky, forgot some lyrics, and appeared generally tired. My suspicions were confirmed when halfway through he admitted he was having “a shocker of a day” (yep, he’s filing the restraining order this week).

Eskimo Joe were good. Mr. Temperly has taken to yelling “thankyou very much” after most songs, whether anyone cheers or not. I’m not saying Eskimo Joe are not one of the greatest bands around, but their recent live shows I can take or leave.

Heard the John Butler Trio set as I waited for The Killers. He’s a machine that guy.

The Killers were awesome. When Mr. Brightside played everyone sung along. It’s almost the perfect song. (Coincidentally did you know that if you add the stats for ‘Mr. Brightside’ and ‘Mr Brightside’ on last.fm, it makes it the most listened to song by The Killers, even in front of When You Were Young, which is currently number three in the last.fm charts. In fact, it makes it the number one sing overall on last.fm – over four years after the album was released!).

Between The Killers and Muse we caught a few songs from The Streets and also You Am I.

Muse were much better than I expected. I was hanging back in outer ring of fans, much like I did for Eskimo Joe and The Killers. (That’s the ‘huge fan, but somewhat lost and disillusioned with the recent material’ group of fans).

The Sleepy Jackson were great. So good that in hindsight I probably should have skipped the last bit of Muse so I got to see all their set.

Why the Violent Femmes were playing I have no idea. We stayed until the played Blister In The Sun: fortunately they played it third. Then we cleared out to avoid the rush for the station.

Would have liked to see Kasabian, but hey, timetable clashes.

All in all, ’twas great.

Music. Australian.

To celebrate Australia Day, here’s some skip-hop for you. First, Pop Kulcha from Jay K & The Amazing Z. Now apart from having a really stupid name, and only forming a couple of months ago, these guys have put together one seriously good track. It’s witty, fast, and catchy. In fact, so recently was this song obviously written and recorded, it’s like real-time social commentary put to music, if that makes sense.

The Shirt Song by Illzilla. A hip-hop track that explicitly goes against objectifying the fairer sex? They must be crazy.

Scorch by Macromantics (Buy). She’s got the raps.

Via Josh

This week’s been a great week to be an Australian. Tomorrow is Australia day. There’s going to be some serious chillaxin’ going on around here. And to clarify, the true meaning of chillaxin’ involves Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown, and the cricket on telly (sound turned down of course). It also may involve a couple of beers.

Chris Cheney, a man who loves Australia. (Photo: Janie Barrett).

Have a good one Australia. Sorted.

Oh, and if anyone wants to drop round to enjoy aforementioned chillaxin’, feel free.

Howard’s War On Everything

Some days, I just love being an Australian. Today is one of those days.

For your reading and viewing pleasure, the case against Chas Licciardello. There is no humour as amusing as reality. It just couldn’t have turned out better. Genius. Pure genius.

Edit (and how it fits…):

Licciardello emerged from court draped in the Australian flag.

“I’d just like to say how deeply disappointed we are with the court’s decision,” he told reporters.

“We will not rest until this injustice has been corrected.

“We will be appealing the decision to the Supreme Court to the High Court to the UN to the Jedi Council and to the snickometer.”

When it was pointed out to him that he’d in fact had a victory in court, Licciardello looked confused and said: “I’m sorry I didn’t actually prepare any material for the off-chance that we won.”

He then announced that he was off to the Big Day Out and was whisked away by a waiting car.

(From NineMSN).

Also, we all know politicians are stupid, but this week they reached new lows. The Big Day Out organisers discouraged (note, didn’t ban) people taking Australian flags into the event to help curb racial tension. Fair enough, though it is on Australia day, so I’m neutral on that being a good idea or not. But a swag of politicians, including the Prime Minister John Howard, Premier Morris Iemma, and Kevin Rudd, have made a huge fuss about it. What’s going to happen now? Everyone’s going to bring their flag. More people than usual. And what sort of people? The ones that want to stir up some trouble. Genius. Pure genius…

If there’s a brawl or two - and hey, now it looks likely, with all this rebel patriotism going on, and someone gets hurt, or killed, then the Big Day Out won’t be around next year. And if that happens (whether or not I ever want to go to another one), I’m going to be really mad.

But hey, thinking is so overrated.

English Lily

Big Day Out isn’t far away-

Alison says:
Lily Allen is not playing at Lilyworld. Am I the only person who finds this amusing?

And while we’re on silly associations-

Tristan: In five years the ‘Wii2′ will be out.
Joshua: I hope they call it ‘Number 2s’ - that would be funny.

Wii Pun

It was so hot yesterday (mid forties) that at lunch time I started out eating a fresh sandwich, and by halfway through was eating a toasted sandwich. The cheese was melted, and the bread had gone dry and crackly. Kept things interesting.

Yesterday afternoon Tim and I also discovered (while checking the world weather situation on Tim’s Wii) that the earth is not spinning the way we all thought it was!

In joke there - doesn’t work so well with this medium. Anyway, you heard it here first. Pass it on to NASA and all.

A Period Of Enlightenment

Well, the cricket game last night was highly amusing. As in, it was a farce. Poor old England, I felt so sorry for them. Even in the ‘fun’ version of the game, they were hammered to the point of embarrassment. There’s not much to Twenty20 cricket, you get in, and bash everything you can. I was mystified as to how England couldn’t manage it, instead preferring to reverse sweep every second ball - a tact that produced more wickets and near misses than it did runs.

Getty Images

Still, at least these games give up and coming players a chance to give themselves a reputation that … won’t help them at all in real cricket.

Wish You Well

So, Freddie reminded me that it’s time to sift through the last twelve months of music.

Rock failed us dismally this year. Maybe it was the aftermath of Gyroscope’s brilliant 2005 effort Are You Involved? which is possibly the greatest album I have ever heard. The Red Hot Chili Peppers churned out a double album of radio friendly rehashes of their back catalogue, Muse reached new heights with twisted britpop that Radiohead was making ten years ago, Eskimo Joe and The Killers tried to revive the eighties (again). Not all of this was terrible, mind.

So I turned elsewhere. Hip hop. TZU, Beck, Elefant Traks, Butterfingers, Illzilla.

Pop; Bob Evans, Belle & Sebastian, and The Grates. And Little Birdy showed us how to make pop for this century.

So, to the Hottest 100. Doing our bit for global warming.

It’s really quite difficult, as I want to categorise to be more accurate, but the more I categorise the more complicated it gets. So I’ve come up with two groups. I like all songs in both groups, and some could easily slide from one group to the other (and some could slide off altogether, I mean Lily Allen??), but you know.

(This also made me realise how much music I listened to in two thousand and six was not made in two thousand and six).

List One: Good.

Antiskeptic - Dancing On The Inside
Art Of Fighting - Eastbound
Beck - Cell Phone’s Dead
Beck - Nausea
Beck - No Complaints
Belle & Sebastian - Funny Little Frog
Belle & Sebastian - The Blues Are Still Blue
Belle & Sebastian - We Are The Sleepyheads
Belle & Sebastian - White Collar Boy
Ben Folds - Such Great Heights (Like A Version)
Bob Evans - Don’t Walk Alone
Bob Evans - Don’t You Think It’s Time
Bob Evans - Nowhere Without You
Butterfingers - Anthem
Butterfingers - Get Up Outta The Dirt
Butterfingers - Like Em When They’re Trouble
Darren Hanlon - Happiness Is A Chemical
Errol J.M. - Zeros And Ones
Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
Eskimo Joe - Breaking Up
Eskimo Joe - Comfort You
Eskimo Joe - London Bombs
Eskimo Joe - New York
Eskimo Joe - Setting Sun
Flaming Lips - Free Radicals
Flaming Lips - It Overtakes Me
Flaming Lips - The W.A.N.D.
Flaming Lips - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
Frenzal Rhomb - Forever Malcolm Young
Futureheads - Skip To The End
Gotye - Learnalilgivnanlovin
Grandaddy - Elevate Myself
Grates - 19-20-20
Grates - Feels Like Pain
Grates - Inside Outside
Grates - Lies Are Much More Fun
Grates - Nothing Sir
Grates - Science Is Golden
Herd - Unpredictable
Kasabian - Empire
Killers - Bling (Confession Of A King)
Killers - Bones
Killers - Sam’s Town
Killers - Uncle Jonny
Killers - When You Were Young
Laura Imbruglia - Tear Ducts
Little Birdy - After Dark
Little Birdy - Bodies
Little Birdy - Come On Come On
M Ward - Chinese Translation
Macromantics - Apple Crumble
Macromantics - Bandwagon
Macromantics - Moments In Movement
Macromantics - Scorch
Placebo - Song To Say Goodbye
Mountain Goats - Alibi
Mountain Goats - Sometimes I Still Feel The Bruise
Mountain Goats - Half Dead
Placebo - Infra-Red
Placebo - Meds
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Parade
Regina Spektor - Fidelity
Sleepy Jackson - Devil Was In My Yard
Tegan And Sara - Dancing In The Dark (Live)
Thom Yorke - Analyse
Thom Yorke - Atoms For Peace
Thom Yorke - Black Swan
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
TZU - Coming Round
TZU - In Front Of Me
Youth Group - Catching And Killing
Youth Group - Daisychains
Youth Group - Forever Young
Youth Group - Let It Go
Youth Group - Under The Underpass

List Two: Commendable.

AFI - Love Like Winter
AFI - Miss Murder
Angus & Julia Stone - Paper Aeroplane
Audreys - Oh Honey
Audreys - You & Steve McQueen
Augie March - One Crowded Hour
Augie March - Thin Captain Crackers
Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The UK
Bedroom Philosopher - Folkstar
Ben Kweller - I Gotta Move
Ben Kweller - Run
Ben Kweller - Sundress
Beth Orton - Shopping Trolley
Birds Of Tokyo - Off Kilter
Bluebottle Kiss - White Rider
Clare Bowditch/Feeding Set - Little Self Centred Queen
CSS - Alala
CSS - Let’s Make Love & Listen To Death From Above
Dallas Crane - Curiosity
Dallas Crane - Lovers And Sinners
Dallas Crane - Tonight! (There’s A Party Going Down)
Dan Kelly/The Alpha Males - Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth
Darren Hanlon - Couch Surfing
Darren Hanlon - Fingertips & Mountaintops
Darren Hanlon - Manilla NSW
Decemberists - O Valencia!
Devoted Few - Don’t Listen To Us
Eagles Of Death Metal - I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News)
Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World
Fourth Floor Collapse - Drink ‘Til You Drown
Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone
Gnarls Barkley - Just A Thought
Gnarls Barkley - Smiley Faces
Gomez - How We Operate
Gomez - See The World
Good The Bad & The Queen - Herculean
Hilltop Hoods - The Hard Road
Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rise Up With Fists!!
Jenny Wilson - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward
John Butler Trio - Funky Tonight
Josh Pyke - Private Education
Jurassic 5 - Work It Out (Feat. Dave Matthews Band)
Kate Miller-Heidke - Apartment
Lady Sovereign - 9 To 5
Lady Sovereign - Love Me Or Hate Me
Lily Allen - Alfie
Lily Allen - Knock Em Out
Lily Allen - LDN
Lily Allen - Smile
Matisyahu - Youth
Michael Franti - Yell Fire!
Muse - Assassin
Muse - City Of Delusion
Muse - Exo-Politics
Muse - Map Of The Problematique
Muse - Starlight
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
Muse - Take A Bow
Nikola Sarcevic - Soul For Sale
NOFX - Seeing Double Down At Triple Rock
OK GO - Here It Goes Again
Okkervil River - The President Is Dead
Pearl Jam - Gone
Pearl Jam - Life Wasted
Pearl Jam - Worldwide Suicide
Rapture - Get Myself Into It
Shaky Hands - You And I
Sleepy Jackson - God Lead Your Soul
Sleepy Jackson - I Understand What You Want But I Just Don’t Agree
Sufjan Stevens - Get Behind Me, Santa!
Sufjan Stevens - Dear Mr. Supercomputer
True Live - TV
Tunng - The Pioneers
Vanlustbader - Communique
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion
Young And Restless - Satan

Predicting a winner is hard. It has potential to be bad if certain demographics decide to vote en masse. I will most likely [insert hyperbole here] if Gnarls Barkely, Lily Allen, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, My Chemical Romance, Snow Patrol, or (God forbid!) Peter, Bjorn and John make it to number one. I also think this year we could do much better than something obvious like Muse, Eskimo Joe, Red Hot Chili Peppers, or Youth Group.

Albums. According to Last.fm (and hey, it apparently knows what I actually listen to), my favourite albums of the last twelve months were:

1. TZU - Smiling At Strangers / Snarling At Strangers
2. The Grates - Gravity Won’t Get You High
3. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Persuit
4. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
5. Placebo - Meds
6. Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernail Red Wine
7. Belle & Sebastian - The Blues Are Still Blue
8. The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
9. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
10. Bishop Allen - Charm School
11. Relient K - Apathetic EP
12. Bob Evans - Suburban Songbook
13. Cansei de Ser Sexy - Cansei de Ser Sexy
14. M. Ward - Post-War
15. Tunng - The Pioneers EP
16. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
17. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
18. Kasabian - Empire

I am very highly suspicious about how Last.fm figured that all out. Some of those albums I don’t even own, but rather played one or two tracks from them a few times. I also did own and play quite a bit The Mountain Goats’ Babylon Springs EP, Triple J’s Like A Version Two, Butterfingers’ The Deeper You Dig…, Youth Group’s Casino Twilight Dogs, Antiskeptic’s Monuments EP, Elefant Traks Trampled Remix Album, Beck’s The Information, The Killers’ Sam’s Town, Little Birdy’s Hollywood, Macromantic’s Moments In Movement, and Illzilla’s self-titled EP.

And I’m already quite excited about some releases coming up in two thousand and seven - but not excited enough to remember what they are.

So what were your favourites of two thousand and six?