I'm Still Alive

Hello All...I am alive and I'm still working on a few reviews but the last 2 weeks have been extremely busy with job interviews and a few other things. Be on the look out for a review of Gossip and Wilco's latest...both awesome albums!

Green Day 21st Century Breakdown Australian Tour

Green Day will tour down under at the end of the year. I am surprised they are coming so soon but they have a pretty massive fan base here so I guess they're capitalizing on that. I have to say I've always been a bit wary of bands that have been in the indie/punk or whatever scene and then suddenly become commercially successful. However, in the case of Green Day I think they deserve it and I'm impressed by how many youngsters (I guess 16 and younger...btw this makes me feel really old) have taken to their old stuff and know more about their history and music than me.

I don't think 21st Century Breakdown has been as MEGA as American Idiot but I do think that American Idiot was perfectly timed for the band as it fitted right into pop & political culture of the time. I will be honest with you I haven't heard the whole of 21st Century Breakdown only the two singles and the B-side but when I do I'll definitely tell you what I think!

Well the shows for this year look to be only one per major capital city but it seems there is room for more if they do so sell well. I doubt I'll be going to this one since I saw them in 2005 on their American Idiot World Tour. They were great live and it was made even better by the fact that the last Melbourne show was the official end of the worldwide tour for AI so it was pretty special. However, I don't think I'm willing to part with my $ for this one.

DATES
Friday December 4th: Perth, Burswood Dome
Sunday December 6th: Adelaide, Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Tuesday December 8th: Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Friday December 11th: Sydney, Acer Arena
Monday December 14th: Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena

Tickets go on sale through Ticketek tomorrow the 25th of June to the 26th for the Presale. Please visit the above link for further details as you have to get a special code for it and the time tickets go on sale differ from city to city. Tickets for the general public are on sale on July 1st @ 9am. Happy ticket buying!

Complete & Utter Randomness

I couldn't wait to tell you all this but Gossip's latest album Music For Men is UNBELIEVABLE!!! I will review it later but wow... I just had to get that out there and don't listen to the haters.

2009 Album Releases: AIR - LOVE 2

French electro-ambient duo Air release their latest album, Love 2 on October 6th. This will be their first full release since 2007's Pocket Symphony. Also, worth nothing is that they have chosen to release a digital single 'Do the Joy' on July 7th whilst a traditional first single, 'Sing Sang Sung' will be released on August 25th. Interesting... Anyways, hopefully its good because one of my fave songs and videos is by this band.

Tracklisting

1. Do the Joy
2. Love
3. So Light is Her Footfall
4. Be A Bee
5. Missing the Light of the Day
6. Tropical Disease
7. Heaven's Light
8. Night Hunter
9. Sing Sang Sung
10. Eat My Beat
11. You Can't Tell It to Everybody
12. African Velvet

Bands and Artists to Watch: Noisettes

Noisettes are one of the most amazing bands I have never heard of until someone, you know who you are demanded I YouTube them. The singer and bass player Shingai Shoniwa has one of the most unique voices out there and when I did eventually YouTube them I was immediately drawn to their cover of ‘When You Were Young’ by The Killers. It was stunning and once I got to their original stuff I was completely blown away. I’m now officially hooked!!! I want to get their first album and all their EPs too....ohhh and I wouldn’t mind seeing them live.

I wonder how I missed them as they’ve been around in terms of favorable coverage by music mags and supporting some big acts like Muse, Bloc Party and Babyshambles and yet they only formed in 2003. I’m looking forward to getting ‘What’s The Time Mr. Wolf? (2007).

Here is a lovely taste of their work courtesy of YT

2009 Album Releases: BLUR - MIDLIFE: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO BLUR

This is only a compilation album but it has been built up as a catch-up record for casual listeners who may have missed out on Blur's illustrious career and the importance of them and the whole Britpop thing to music. By the way, don't you think the album title is amazing and makes perfect sense. The focus of this paricular compilation is their recording career highlights as opposed to their previous one, "Blur: The Best Of..." (2000) which was primarily about their commercial hits.

This is a brilliant idea and good marketing as they are currently on tour for some small shows before they headline the big-MOMMA Glastonbury. I look forward to reading reviews of their shows and see if they can still bring it live.

Tracklisting:
Disc 1:

1. Beetlebum
2. Girls & Boys
3. For Tomorrow
4. Coffee & TV
5. Out Of Time
6. Blue Jeans
7. Song 2
8. Bugman
9. He Thought Of Cars
10. Death Of A Party
11. The Universal
12. Sing
13. This Is A Low

Disc 2:

1. Tender
2. She's So High
3. Chemical World
4. Good Song
5. Parklife
6. Advert
7. Popscene
8. Stereotypes
9. Trimm Trabb
10. Badhead
11. Strange News From Another Star
12. Battery In Your Leg

"Midlife..." is OUT NOW!!!

The Circus Starring Britney Spears Live in Oz...

Britney is finally doing a full tour here in November and yes, I remember when she first arrived on the pop scene and was perceived as an innocent girl singing pop tunes when in fact they are layered with double meanings. Who could have guessed the rollercoaster career she has had?? Anyways, I was never a fan but now I can appreciate her songs as just catchy little pop songs, nothing more, Also, they often translate to amazing covers e.g. Travis' version of Hit Me Baby One More Time and Lily Allen's Womanizer.





I have no doubt she will draw a large crowd to her Down Under shows and I won't be going but maybe some of you guys in the blogosphere want to so here are the details...

November 6th: Perth, Burswood Dome
November 11th: Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
November 12th: Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
November 19th: Sydney, Acer Arena
November 20th: Sydney, Acer Arena
November 24th: Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets will be available through Ticketek on Monday June 29th to Wednesday July 1st for the Visa Entertainment Internet Pre-sale and Friday July 3rd for the General Public.

Tunes for Winter

Hey lovelies

I hope all that live in Oz had a wonderful long weekend as I did and weren't too cold! I don't know where all my readers are from but here this past weekend in Melbourne it has been bloody freezing, rainy and winter has only officially started a few days ago. But that didn't stop me as my family had a small gathering at our house for an umbrella-less evening of wine, takeaway pizza and movies including my all time fave Empire Records. However, that got me thinking about songs that make you feel warm on the inside like when you walk into a room with a fireplace going after you've come in from the cold or just feel like winter. This was not as easy as it seems as I've been thinking about this all weekend and I finally came up with 5 songs.

1. Helpless - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. This is a pretty sad song but to me it has a quality to it that reminds me to rug up. I always bring out my Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young collection in winter as it feels like the most appropriate time for songs with darker subject matter and beautiful harmonies.
2. Skinny Love - Bon Iver. For basically the same reasons above except that I've only known about this guy for no more than 8 months.
   
   
3. Next Year - Foo Fighters. You might be suprised to know that this is possibly my favourite Foo Fighters song of all time. Dave's voice is amazing on this and the whole album and I'm particuarly fond of this because the Foo are not too heavy. I know they can rock out but I like their softer side better.
   
4. Warwick Avenue - Duffy. I think I added this one on the list because of the video which shows a cloud and somewhat cold London (I think...)
5. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley. A great party song for any season really but when you can't be at a bar or club you may as well pump it out your stereo at home which in my case is surround sound with extra bass.
   

Everyone look to your right!!!

2009 Album Reviews: YEAH YEAH YEAHS - IT'S BLITZ!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ sound keeps evolving which I value very highly in a band as without it bands’ albums get boring, repetitive and predictable for audiences and critics. No band or artist should ever stay the same!!! Anyways, Yeah Yeah Yeahs manage to show off a less heavy sound and a more dancey-electronica based record on their third album, It’s Blitz! which I welcome for reasons above. I think the line “Off with your head...Dance ‘til you’re dead...” from ‘Heads Will Roll’ pretty much sums it all up...

For me, this is just what I have been waiting to hear this year without consciously knowing it. As soon as I heard the first single, ‘Zero’ I knew I would love the album and they manage to reach some extraordinary heights with this one while still maintaining YYYs distinctive style. The full on dance songs ‘Zero’, ‘Heads Will Roll’, ‘Soft Shock’ and ‘Dull Life’ are progressive songs that are full of great hooks and melodies but they are not lacking an emotional intensity to them. In fact the whole record has an incredible heart to it that sets it apart from every other dance-punk/pop album that has and will be released; and that’s saying something considering the amount of synth-based albums that will be released this year alone. There are songs that are less full on but still manage to keep the synthesizer as the main instrument of choice e.g. ‘Runaway’, ‘Dragon Queen’, ‘Hysteric’ and ‘Little Shadow’. These tunes helped me question what a dance song should be as previous dance songs even within the alternative genre often (not always) sound similar but these just sound different in every way. I’m particularly partial to ‘Runaway’ and ‘Hysteric’ for some reason but it will change again and as soon as I get over how overplayed ‘Zero’ is. I can’t go on without mentioning the drums on this record...Brian Chase does an amazing job! The drum parts have depth and are innovative that allow a dancey sound to become more present. As you can probably tell I play drums and I always listen closely to the drums on any record and this is by far the best I’ve heard all year.

I would also recommend you all go out and buy the Deluxe Edition as you get some amazing acoustic versions which in my opinion are just as good as the ones that appear on the standard release. I always find it interesting to see how bands do their own songs in a stripped back environment and YYYs give it to us in a way that makes the song feel new again but this has a lot to do with the fact that the 4 acoustic songs don’t have a synthesizer in sight.

This is a BLOODY FANTASTIC ALBUM and if you haven’t got it well you’re missing out. This is some of Yeah Yeah Yeahs finest work and hopefully they will continue to change it up and they will be recognised by all as the great band they have always been and still deserve to be. By the way, in case you were wondering if I had to rank as of now, my current list of albums of 2009 this would top it and I doubt anything that is to be released will come close to this. Happy Listening Everyone!

2009 Album Releases: GOSSIP - MUSIC FOR MEN

One of my fave bands the Gossip are releasing their fourth studio album, 'Music For Men' on June 22nd and is produced by uber-producer Rick Rubin. This band have an amazing rock sound infused with a bluesy vocal by none other than the fantastic Beth Ditto. I am eagerly anticipating this one and if the single is anything to go by it's going to be one of my albums of the year.

The vid for first single, Heavy Cross...


Tracklisting:

1. Dimestore Diamond
2. Heavy Cross
3. 8th Wonder
4. Love Long Distance
5. Pop Goes The World
6. Vertical Rhythm
7. Men In Love
8. For Keeps
9. 2012
10. Love and Let Love
11. Four Letter Word
12. Spare Me from the Mold

It's looking to be a good last half of the year with some really decent albums set to be released!