Frankly! it's a pop festival

Pop in it's broadest sense. From the pure pop of i heart hiroshima to the electro pop of Qua vs Supermelody or Seja via the sunshine drenched harmonies of The Tenniscoats, the singalong Pancakes, the soul searching of Heinz Riegler to the unique vocal stylings of Jamie Stewart. It all fit. Laurence English is a genius. As is Sarah Neal.

Heinz Riegler - At Frankly! It's A Pop Festival - 12 Sept 2009

The Pancakes - At Frankly! It's A Pop Festival - 12 Sept 2009

Seja - At Frankly! It's A Pop Festival - 12 Sept 2009

Jamie Stewart - At Frankly! It's A Pop Festival - 12 Sept 2009

The Tenniscoats - At Frankly! It's A Pop Festival - 12 Sept 2009

i heart hiroshima - At Frankly! it's a Pop Festival - 12 Sept 2009

Qua vs Supermelody - At Frankly! It's A Pop Festival - 12 Sept 2009

Peaches did a DJ set but I listened from the cafe next door cause I was restoring my strength before the evening concert by Van Dyke Parks. Man is a legend for a very good reason.

Van Dyke Parks - Live @ The Powerhouse - 12 Sept 2009

Chinese Burns at The Step Inn

Another night of garage punk pop ish stuff. Actually one of the better nights recently. Geese are new and consist of 2 Z-Rays and a drummer. Undead Apes, Fancy Boys,and Chinese Burns share members but come from two states. It's complicated but it seems to work.

The PA upstairs at the Step Inn sounded good for a change. I credit Xavier from fancy boys/chinese burns [from melbourne] for this.

Geese - Live @ The Step Inn - 19 Sept 2009

The Fancy Boys - Live @ The Step Inn - 19 Sept 2009

Undead Apes - Live @ The Step Inn - 19 Sept 2009

Chinese Burns - Live @ The Step Inn - 19 Sept 2009

Up Late At The Met

Another Up Late series this time at the Queensland Art Gallery for the Met's traveling show of American Expressionism. Superb art. Absolutely.

The musical evenings featured mainly solo artists because the stage area was quite small.

The other reason was probably because the concert area was a huge room about 5 times as wide as it was deep, with the stage set in a pool of water covering most of the floor, and with walls of marble. The acoustic equivalent of... i dunno, a big perfectly reflective box.

Kin Salmon with an amplified electric guitar was almost unlistenable. I missed the first half of Dave Graney's set but as he had only a miced acoustic it was OK but still harsh as hell. The comments on Robert Fosters final night show are all along these lines so it isn't just me.

The three acts I did get well are below. Still very echoey but nice enough. The comment between songs in Kate's set is Ben Salter.

GOMA sounds much nicer.

Holly Throsby - Live Up Late @ The Met - 07 August 2009


Kate Jacobson - Live @ The Met Up Late - 11 Sept 2009


Ben Salter - Live @ The Met Up Late - 11 Sept 2009

Violent Soho with Talons, Sips and Hy-Test

Brilliant stuff. From Hy-Test who are just so tight and so good, a great Sips set, Talons, and Violent Soho at home among the Mansfield set.


Long and Loud.

Hy-Test - Live @ The Step Inn - 05 Sept 2009

The Sips - Live @ The Step Inn - 05 Sept 2009

Talons - Live @ The Step Inn - 05 Sept 2009

Violent Soho - Live @ The Step Inn - 05 Sept 2009

Little Lovers & Extra Foxx

Nice to see Little Lovers again touring from Sydney. And I had not seen Extra Foxx before. I love them.

Little Lovers - Live @ Ric's - 29 Aug 2009

Extra Foxx - Live @ Ric's - 29 Aug 2009

Sugar Army & Others

I was all excited about this. The press had them as the next big thing of Australian music. They were good. Very good in fact. But not that good.

Sugar Army - Live @ The Troubadour - 04 Sept 2009

Comic Sans, local support were interesting and worth watching to see how they develop.
Comic Sans - Live @ The Troubadour - 04 Sept 2009

Here's some other recent stuff.

DZ - Live in Brisbane - August 2009

i heart hiroshima - Live in Brisbane - August 2009

Stemford Hiss - Live in Brisbane - August 2009

and a few songs from Ironside

Ironside - Live @ The Step Inn - 04 Sept 2009

Live @ X&Y Bar

A new venue. Looks like it could be too upmarket in the long run for the likes of me and the bands I see most often. But a regular Thursday night show by appropriate bands would work I think. I enjoyed it. Particularly enjoyed watching the passersby peering in through the large window opening on to Ann St behind the band. Plus the sound is quite clean and well balanced and they have Asahi on tap.

This Secret Birds incarnation includes a few John Steele Singers. Damon's amp was playing up and it is hard to hear him sometimes but other than that a good set.
Secret Birds - Live @ X&Y Bar - 27 Aug 2009

The Axxonn set is a great recording of a duo who just spent a month or so playing around Europe and got way better at it while away. Sometimes it takes me a while to 'get' this style of music. I get Axxonn now.
Axxonn - Live @ X&Y Bar - 03 Sept 2009

Spencer P Jones

Spencer does a short but satisfying set at the Powerhouse on Sunday arvo.

Spencer P Jones - Live @ The Powerhouse - 16 Aug 2009

New Christs

First up is actually the supports sets by The Dangermen and Killerbirds before the Cosmic Psychos on the 11th. Unfortunately I was not feeling well and didn't hang round for the Psychos. Good sets however by both bands. Killerbirds hail from Victoria and I do believe one of the the guitarists is a cosmic psycho daughter.

Killerbirds - Live @ The Step Inn - 11 Aug 2009

The Dangermen - Live @ The Step Inn - 11 Aug 2009

Later that week, The Hits supporting New Christs

The Hits - Live @ The Step Inn - 14 Aug 2009

The New Christs - Live @ The Step Inn - 14 Aug 2009