King Brothers

It was thanks to Adam that I hopped down to the Spectrum on Friday night to check out crazy arse Japanese more punk than blues band King Brothers. First up on the bill however, were Straight Arrows, a local DIY punk band, who seemed to be having such a fun, silly time, that it didn’t matter the crowd was rather thin, we enjoyed them and their punk Beatles covers all the same. Next were Pink Fits, who play some rocking blues/punk, I’m not if it was because I was distracted and waiting for King Brothers, but I just couldn’t quite get into this band, they did however have some enthusiastic fans in then audience. And then the King Brothers, in some stylish suits and battered instruments took to the stage and began by blasting everyones ear drums into smithereens.

This band sings in half Japanese/half English, and played an incredibly vicious, tight and furious 40-50 minute set. Throwing themselves right into the music, a few drum skins were broken along the way, mics were being eaten and flying about, the band were standing on tables, speakers, the bar, crowd surfing- all while still singing and playing along. This was such a FUN gig, I’m pretty sure I got the giggles at some point along with the drumming that made my knees twitch. Oh and their wall of punk sound songs rocked the place!!

Two Thumbs Up: This was fucking punk kids. and you missed it.

A big heads up stand up because all photos are thanks to and courtesy of Paul Wilcox who also has a music blog at ilikegigs.

 

Essential in name…

The Essential Festival was all a go go yesterday/last night in Surry Hills and I had a great and somewhat tiring time. I got there in the late afternoon, and the vibe was nice and relaxed and indie, which suited me fine. It was a very well timed festival, every band had to start and finish at a certain time, so a lot of the sets seemed rather short (about 30 mins). Although, all the bands were sneaky in that their “last songs” appeared to go twice as long.

The Dolly Rocker Movement were the first band that I caught, and I really dug them. They have this 60’s west coast sound to them, with some Mama’s and Papa’s vocal work tucked in there. I was half ready to light up some joss sticks by the end of their all too short set. And as an added bonus they covered Goldfrapp’s Strict Machine!! I caught the end of Pomomofo, who sound like a cross between Wolf & Cub and The Presets, I would have liked to see more of them and in an later more appropriate time-slot. The crowd watching them was pretty sparse, but dancing away all the same

Next on the list were The Lovetones, who play melodic indie pop rock, with 60’s sensibilities. Much in the same vein as Belles Will Ring. Up the stairs to the top of the Gaelic club to see Teenagersintokyo, playing their screamy/indie/drum propelled rock to a packed out room. Which seemed to go down very well with the crowd. And me.

Catching the end of The Exploders set, having only heard a couple of their more poppy songs on the radio I was suitably impressed with their raw garage rock sound. After which I hiked back up stairs to see Belles Will Ring, who I’ve been enjoying at home, and heard good things about live. They were great, however their set had a few technical problems, and from where I was standing up front it sounded as though the speakers had blown, which made for some fuzzy listening.

Downstairs, I caught the last two songs by Young and Restless, who I saw a couple of months ago, and what I heard didn’t seem to justify the hype. I am pleased to say Karen O/Yeah Yeah Yeahs comparisons aside, that I will eat my words, because they absolutely blew me and my ears away, and I was disappointed that I hadn’t caught the rest of the set.

I skipped Peabody to check out Bit by Bats, who have been getting some press hype recently, who were fairly well known by the indie crowd, they definitely seem to be channeling a Joy Division sound. Next up were Dappled Cities Fly, who I hadn’t manage to catch since 2005, and seem to be even tighter and better than I remembered. I also hadn’t previously heard the stuff off their newer album Granddance, and it was really cool to hear the crowd sing the entire set-list back at the band. I really love Dappled Cities Fly, and not just because I heart Tim, or their infectious rock pop, but the way that their music makes the crowd visibly happy.

Leaving the Gerling fans to get their spots, I and it seemed like the rest of the cool kids, went upstairs to check out raw and rocking indie/pop/punk band Children Collide, after hearing good things about them all day, I was grateful I listened loudly! Put it simply, this band fucking rocked. Second song in I was wanting to make like cunt and pogo around, I will most definitely be checking them out again. Soon I hope.

Final band of the evening was Gerling, who I also hadn’t seen for a couple of years, and were playing their last show for the year. By george Gerling were so good they had grown men touching themselves and crowd surfing at the same time. They did an awesome encore instrumental version of Ghost Patrol, which had the crowd singing the lyrics instead. But by that stage in the dancing Gerling pit I was getting rather tired, and let me tell you it was a slow walk back to the bus stop getting accosted by loonies.

I got some dreadful photos from the day, so I look forward to uploading them in my flickr sometime this week. However those walls, your ears got some great essential festival shots. Well worth a look.
<Off- topic: I know I’ve been a bit long winded with my words, in this here blog, so I am making more of an effort to be a tad more concise.>

Three Cool Cats…

The Basics played their last show of their Sydney residency on Tuesday Night at the Hopetoun, and while they may be grateful for the rest, I’m going to miss seeing them each week; Tim’s cover versions, Wally’s voice and amazing drumming and Kris’s grooving bass-lines. They did seemed a wee bit tired, but it was revoltingly hot in the Hopetown and god damn they were tight.

Thumbs Up to: The Basics, and for covering Neil Young TWICE!

Heads Down to: Everything else, apart from the band, and Sean/Amanda/Geoff.

Their album Stand Out Fit In will be released on May 5th, but it’s out NOW on itunes.

Go and get a copy, don’t be cheap now.

“What difference do you think you can make, one single man in all this madness?”

With Anzac Day coming up, and me not really wanting to delve into the fact that once ordinary men and women banded together, to fight war/s that were suppose to end all other wars, not the senseless quagmire of false intentions that was Vietnam, and is now Iraq.

Ahem.

So I present my Thumbs Up To the following list of war films. I was going to do books, but I could only come up with three off the top of my head, Slaughterhouse-Five, Catch-22, and the war story that is but it isn’t Going Solo. The same with TV shows, I only had Foyle’s War, Band of Brothers, and Blackadder Goes Forth- oh lord I well up when I get the last episode of that one. So films it is. I also apologise for the fact that most of these films are WW2 American, but they do seem to have the biggest output.

10. Schindler’s List. – makes me wonder is Ralph Fiennes really the same man who plays both the commandant and Heathcliff.

9. The Tin Drum- art vs. war. With a child that resolves to never grow up.

8. Saving Private Ryan- Spielberg dominated the box office with this picture, so pretty much everyone’s seen it, if you haven’t however I would refrain from eating in the first 20 minutes or so. That mince pie will haunt me forever.

7. No Mans Land.-Catch-22 meets Waiting for Godot meets the Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian conflict. This film never fails to make me laugh and cry at the same time.

6. Skammen/Shame- Ingmar Bergman’s, psychologically intense (when does he NOT do psychologically intense, well maybe Wild Strawberries) study of the human reaction when confronted by war. Sort of where you start before you get left behind; see The Seventh Seal.

5. Downfall-the final days of Hitler.

4. Gallipoli.- To have not seen this masterpiece, is un-Australian. Although, I did have some trouble separating Mel Gibson here, with his character of that other great Australian film Mad Max, my own fault.

3. The Battleship Potemkin- an astonishing work of film brilliance. There’s not much else I can say to that, simply this is a film that needs to be seen.

2. The Thin red Line-explores the contrasts of people and war, set in South Pacific battles of the Second World War. With internal pondering monologues that flit from character to character. Some feel that the film is a reel too long perhaps, but it’s beautifully shot, and scored. More drama, then some of the others in this list, but it does have its fair share of explosions and so forth.

1. Das Boot- The most incredibly tense, exciting,depressing, and draining 3-4 hours-(depending whether you are seeing the directors cut and in German with subtitles as I prefer or not) of my life. The men with beards helps, being easy on the eye, but this film has one of the bleakest endings, and one that I’ve felt hit me right there, along with 1984.

Other notable mentions include; Full Metal Jacket, Jarhead, The Great Escape, The Pianist, All quiet On the Western Front, M.A.S.H., Paths of Glory, Ran, Letters from Iwo Jima, Roma, Città Aperta, The Killing Fields, Battle of Algiers, Hotel Rwanda, Dr Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

eeehaarrtt welcome in Blue Jaaaaammmm…

Well, well, well, what can I say about Chris Morris’s BBC Radio 1 project in the late 90s, that honestly hasn’t been said a million times before and then some. Some people love it, others don’t, some people liked elements and others believed it to be a repetitive patchy sketch cop out.

I think it’s wonderful, repetitive and bloody funny.

Blue Jam is a audio projection of that fugue state you may sometimes find your-self feeling; somewhere between 3am, the absurd, not caring, and dreamy confusion. Cough syrup also gives off this effect as well. While drinking cough syrup and listening to Blue Jam feels like match between body and mind, I shouldn’t recommend things like that. After all my nan could be reading.

Sometimes labels tend to become relied upon too much, and Blue Jam is no exception, with “Dark”, “Sick”, “Cult”, “Surreal” being standard responses to this radio sketch show.

With its bleak monologues and sketches, mixed into and out of suitable “ambient” vibes with the softer side of 90s indie music. Think Eels, Massive Attack, Bjork, Beck, Beta Band, too many bloody B’s now. Written by Chris Morris (Peter Baynham, and Graham Linehan among others) and performed by Morris, Mark Heap, (the) Kevin Eldon, Julia Davis, David Cann, and Amelia Bulmore. Blue Jam was remade into a sketch show called Jam, which is still debatable in terms of quality- in some cases the radio sketches were literally transferred to the TV.

Personally Blue Jam, openned up my minuet points of reference, with its content, and mixed up “experimental” format. The first time I heard it, something just felt right, to put it simply, something clicked inside. Proves that once upon a time comedy and Chris Morris didn’t always take itself so seriously.

You can buy the official Blue Jam recording here.

Now if I know you, I can lend it to you, lord knows I’ve been trying to pimp it out to plenty of folk over the past few months with no takers, although maybe it’s my fault for talking Blue Jam up so much.

But if you want the full Blue Jam experience, music, warts and all; you can always download it off Cook’d & Bomb’d . Plus, they have a nifty introduction to the series, and some articles about the show.

TWO Thumbs Up to: Blue Jam, and frankly between you and me, the full version should be the only way you listen to Blue Jam with some headphones, making suitable WTF faces.

Personal Tidbit.

It just occurred to me then, that Radiohead’s latest “thing” or design of Down is the New Up, bares an obvious strong resemblance to my personal life. Also great picture.

Gave me the giggles.

Down is the the new up.

“Oooohh Int He Scrummy?!”

 

Ideal

Well one episode left of this up to standard third series. Ideal is written by Graham Duff, and I must say this third series has lost none of the shows laughs or charm. Ideal, for folks that don’t know, is a very tightly written and bleakly brilliant sitcom, set in an apartment in Manchester and staring comedian Johnny Vegas as its hash dealing occupant Moz, the show basically revolves around the some what interesting and banal characters and friends that come for advice, “hiyas”, complicate all sorts of matters and to score.

For some odd reason Ideal and another fantastic BBC comedy written by Brian Dooley The Smoking Room, which can be seen on UKTV, are somehow linked together in my mind, it’s most probably the fact that I watched both shows around the same time, but one cant help but feel Ideal’s third series is the chance that The Smoking Room never got. Just why The Smoking Room(WHICH WON A BAFTA FOR THE WRITING SO YOU KNOW ITS QUALITY) was shafted after a second series, and absolute rubbish and twaddle ends up being recommissioned, see Titty Titty Bang Bang- the show that I refuse to believe that Bob Mortimer had a hand in, Hyperdrive-only Kevin Eldon just saves this from the proverbial scrap heap, and the over repetitive, one joke/one note The Catherine Tate Show-some of us will never know, but I can guess the words demographic, focus groups, ratings and BBC3 were probably thrown around.

And yes I know they are safe targets, I am simply throwing out off the top of my head, and those shows are simply the most blatantly obvious : lets-not-take-a-chance-produce-something-that-manages-to-be- both-funny-and-original- comedy that floats. And yes, I realise I’m not suppose to slag off other shows, writers etc, but I’m not exactly slagging, or even being critically eloquent, in the vain of Some of the Corpses are Amusing- this lot give most folk a run for their money and manage to be funny even if the site is a couple of years old nothing much has changed in the world of comedy.

Erm now this post has turned it something else. Oh dear, I do get like this from time to time. Calm…calm.

Third series of Ideal is current available for download off the other place while the dvds are available to buy off amazon, and ebay.

THUMBS UP: to Graham Duff, the crew and cast/characters-(go Cartoon Head & Psycho Paul) for making this third series of Ideal, just as funny if not more then the previous two.

“He’s had more drugs than you’ve had hot dinners.”

look here,

get a ticket,

go and see

DOUBLE THUMBS UP

Come on its WITHNAIL & I. How much more persuading do you need?

The Basics…again

So The Basics…again…

and I was in attendance at The Basics third show at the Hopetoun, in Surry Hills on Tuesday night, and gee they’re fun. If The Basics were exhausted, they didn’t show it, they played such a tight show, complete with different set list to their other nights. Which is darn good showmanship considering that The Basics are playing three shows each week in April, as they are in the middle of undertaking a tri-state residency.

What I didn’t enjoy about the show was the group of people standing right in front of me, completely oblivious the band holding conversations about wikipedia, and providing each other and everyone else around them with a running commentary of the ENTIRE show.

Thumbs Up to: The Basics, for always putting a big dumb smile on my face and some boogie into my feet.

Heads Down to: Talkative annoying crowds and the Hopetoun for being such a sauna. and my laptop, for being a shite when it comes to resizing my basics photo.

see The Basics site for some FREE mp3s. I haven’t worked out links yet.

EDIT: Ive worked out links, and I got my basics photo up in my flickr.

“It’s almost like a moral desicion, except not really, because no one will find out”.

Peep Show is back, see the pretty picture there with David Mitchell/Mark looking fetching as always, copyright owned by channel 4. And it is available for download off the other place, for us non-UK residents, or those who missed it on the telly.

What a hoot, Jez’s smug face after the horizontal mother incident, and indifference of Sophie’s family to her father’s barn burning, pure class. It did start off slow and then it builds up, with some cracking lines between. Look it’s not as good as the first series, but it fills a hole in channel 4’s demographic and if the other five episodes carry on in similar fashion, the fourth series could be up there with the second series, and at the very least it should be better then the third, I mean Nancy’s back.

If you would like to catch up with Peep Show up till now, or check it out for the first time. Amazon do a lovely deal.
If I know you however, I’ll lend them to you

Thumbs Up to: Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, for a giggly return, and because I like Peep Show in general.

Sidenote: My Smell of Reeves & Mortimer arrived today, so expect some reviews, and Reeves and Mortimer goodtime fangirl giggles.