not the same since i switched my hair part / and started shaving

Kes

the multi-talented narrator / librarian / careers advisor...

I directed, wrote, plotted the lights for and ran the sound in 2009's Year Nine Play at Melbourne Grammar; the result was a half-an-hour adaptation of Barry Hines' novel A Kestrel For A Knave interwoven with edits I'd done with Acoustica Mixcraft of Out Hud, The Breeders, and one of the poignant songs New Order had written for the Control Soundtrack. I don't really want to wax hysterical about the play itself as this is ostensibly a music blog but here's my speech from after the production, just because I can (as an aside, the other "place" should be pretty obvious to those who know me well, although the Year Nines made a lot of questionable jokes as to both its nature and location...)

caught in the act of speeching...

"There are only two places where I'm truly happy, and up here is one of them, where a shy person can take revenge on the world...and its been both a challenge and a privilege to offer that to these boys, just as it was once given to me..." - Eric Gardiner

I edited all the songs for the production, especially the Breeders' track which I "drastically reworked" (this is code for "changed the tone/looped the drums") and these songs hosted below are in those shortened forms. New Order purists will realize I've cut a significant part of the introduction of Get Out, oh well.

Out Hud - Zillionth Watt

(first 39 seconds)

The Breeders - Night of Joy (Eric Gardiner edit)

(I changed this enough to warrant a bracketed name change, I think)

New Order - Get Out

(last 2.20)

The Presets

HEAR ME OUT ALRIGHT

For far too long precious indie busybodies have derided not only mainstream music but alternative music which has been successful enough to warrant popularity...there is something inherently wrong. In particular, with the Presets, a lot of seemingly intelligent people will say something along the lines of "oh I don't like the Presets but I do like My People, Talk Like That, etc...."

This is their latest single; personally, I like it because of the singer's extremely distinctive voice over the hypnotism of the downplayed percussion, who knows?

The Presets - If I Know You

In other news...

The majority of Haze (www.myspace.com/cupidswounded) are turning 18 (with the bass-player's honourable exception) in the coming month or so which opens up an untold wealth of gigs within the massy entrails of Brunswick St and its surrounding environs, and as one of their managers-at-large I really need to get onto organising such events, which I'll start doing on Wednesday arvo Cal, if you're reading this instead of measuring the length of land crocodiles...

good photo of the black cat; yesterday i was sitting on the couch in the foreground, what do you know?

Speaking of Brunswick St, I had a perfect experience there yesterday verging on Nirvana; sitting in the Black Cat drinking iced coffee while they played the Best of Joy Division over the speakers...doesn't get much better than that (AND ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!1!)

Plus, I got the role of Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, so naturally I've made a glorious return to the wonderful world of pilates, not just for punning's sake.

Finally, I just found one of the best music blogs I've had the fortune to come across and I'll share some of its beauty next time...

love / a chink of light / between their bloody lips

Bullion

"beached as, bro!"

Came across Bullion over at Faux Pas and after a little research discovered his album Pet Sounds In The Key Of Dee which he did a few years ago; J Dilla vs the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds. In doing so he's taken the almost preposterously deified J-Dilla (of "J Dilla changed my life!" fame) and used the sample-beat-hammer to craft an extremely effective take on one of the most famous albums of all time. Another really nice touch comes when Bullion puts in samples of what sounds like the producer's commentary ("take 18") over the top, but schyeah, excellent.

Bullion - I Just Wasn't Made For These Times

In other news...

- There's a new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album, It's Blitz. I'm not particularly liking it, lacks the driving guitar of the Is Is EP or even Cheated Hearts, but I'll give it a shot.

- Thursday night I played lead tambourine with Haze at MGGS; there's a video forthcoming, sure to enter some sort of musical hall of infamy. In the meantime check out their website www.myspace.com/cupidswounded (or as Whorian would say, "scope" it...)

- The Phantom Agents are playing a gig on April 18 (facebook site for the event) and a rudimentary stalk of their myspace comments reveals they're recording again soon.

- I bought a copy of the vinyl LP "Nancy and Lee" a few weeks back with the help of David Costar (don't ask). Black gold.

father washington you're all mixed up / collecting sinners in an old tin cup

Supertramp

There are a lot of bands that have sell-out albums and top-ten hits which "define their sound", and then quietly slip in songs which are often less popular, tending to be more reflective, sometimes but not universally with a greater acoustic emphasis, and with a strange aura of melancholy. If say Beatles, chances are you will say Hey Jude in reply, ahead of Golden Slumbers or Carry That Weight.

This divergence is very obvious in Supertramp. I say Supertramp, and you scream back Logical Song, but the song I'm sharing, A Soapbox Opera, is far-removed from that hit's massive popularity.

A tinkling piano, an introduction incorporating the frantic words of a protester against fascism, and effective string articulation: if this song was a property it would be anything but a "renovator's dream", and I can't sell it any harder than that.

Supertramp - A Soapbox Opera

Beach Boys

I say Beach Boys. You say, "pay less; pay cash!"

But these three songs are from one of their earliest albums, Smile, and are far removed from the heady extravaganza of Pet Sounds. While their trademark assembly of harmony runs all the way through, in their earlier work there is a sense of delayed grandeur, of plucked strings and of muffled drums. Enjoy.

The Beach Boys - Surf's Up

The Beach Boys - Three Blind Mice

The Beach Boys - Child is the Father of the Man


Joy Division, inter alia...

Strangely enough, people often ask me what music I listen to, and while the list I provide is often eclectic, its always "good". But what does this mean?

For a start, anything I post on here is something that I consider worthwhile. Yet there must be a further definition, some essential quality.

While thinking about this I stumbled across the touchscreens in Melbourne Grammar's Learning and Leadership Centre, and, noticing someone had figured out a way to get the internal speakers to play, looked up a live drumless version of Videotape Thom Yorke recorded. In doing so I stumbled on a quote of his which perfectly sums up what I think music and musicians should be about.

"It's a fine line between writing something with genuine emotional impact and turning into little idiots feeling sorry for ourselves and playing stadium rock." - Thom Yorke

Hear that Chris Martin? This definition works so well. The difference between good and bad music is one between a song full of hollow, meaningless lyrics that spin out a maudlin story (usually involving the proverbial "her/she") and a song in which the musicians are deeply involved, in which the singer has made an emotional investment and the others are trying their best to construct their sound around it so that it is brought to life.

Ian Curtis

But that doesn't mean you have to be depressed.

Joy Division - No Love Lost

While Radiohead and Joy Division are both great examples of this difference, you can look at a band like Of Montreal, whose costume changes match their constantly metamorphosising tempos, and get the same effect coming across. Segue into...

George and Jack from Oligarchical Machinations went to Of Montreal at the Hi-Fi Bar the other night, and while I assume they'll be writing an in-depth review sometime this long weekend, in the meanwhile here's a guest Haiku Review of the night, written by George for here:

electrorhythmic

a psychosexual zoo

sublime surrender

- George

But yeah, music.

We had an earthquake here in Melbourne last night; 4.6 on the Richter Scale, as an aside.

I came to the world unrehearsed

but I've learnt some things