Vivian Girls etc

So The Vivian Girls hit the Step Inn. A good crowd came and generally enjoyed it. Personally I was overwhelmed by the reverb in the vocals to the extent that it made it difficult to understand some banter.

Supports were local bands Feathers, Nova Scotia, and The Deadnotes feat. The Legend!. I have heard better sets by all of the local bands but an enjoyable night nonetheless.

Feathers - Live @ The Step Inn - 02 Oct 2009

Nova Scotia - Live @ The Step Inn - 02 Oct 2009

Deadnote feat The Legend!- Live @ The Step Inn - 02 Oct 2009

Vivian Girls - Live @ The Step Inn - 02 Oct 2009

Mark Seymour at The Troubadour

The first of an occasional special treat. This recording is not mine but done by user rockola. Rockola does recordings irregularly and he doesn't think his output justifies a blog of his own so I have agreed to post suitable recordings of his from time to time. His first then is a nice recording of Mark Seymour recently at The Troubadour. I look forward to his anticipated Les Claypool set,

In his own words then here's rockola:

Mark Seymour played the Troubadour on 8 Oct 2009, in acoustic duo form,
with Cameron McKenzie on 2nd guitar and backing vocals. The Troubadour
was quite full, which of course doesn't take that much - it must be one
of the tiniest venues in Brisbane. Maybe 100 people in attendance? Also,
I was probably the only one there who didn't know all the words to Holy
Grail...

As this was my first time out with my new rig, I didn't get a proper
recording of the support act (Asa Broomhall). There's a slight drop in
sound quality during the encore, due to operator error - still learning
how to use the gadget. Throw Your Arms Around Me is incomplete, you can
actually hear me walking out of the venue while they're still playing.

Track listing:

1. Dominion Road
2. The Ghost of Vainglory
3. True Tears of Joy
4. Westgate
5. Walk Through Fire
6. Holy Grail
7. Jerusalem
8. Little Bridges
9. Sirens in a Country Town
10. Do You See What I See
11. Mississauga
12. The Legend of the Snowmen
13. Love is a Heavy Load
14. Say Goodbye
encore
15. Ready To Go
16. When The River Runs Dry
17. Throw Your Arms Around Me

Support the artist, buy the studio albums:
1 The Mutton Birds (NZ band) cover
2 Mark Seymour, "King Without A Clue"
3,6 Hunters & Collectors, "Cut"
4,5,7,11,13 Mark Seymour, "Westgate" (7 is a Steve Earle cover)
8,9,12 unreleased (8 written with Angie Hart)
10 Hunters & Collectors, "What's A Few Men?"
14,17 Hunters & Collectors, "Human Frailty"
15 Mark Seymour, "One Eyed Man"
16 Hunters & Collectors, "Ghost Nation"

Mark Seymour - Live @ The Troubadour - 08 Oct 2009

Apologies

Cut and Paste is such a chore, especially from Mediafire to Blogger.

If anyone else has been trying to download the Axxonn X&Y Bar set and wondering why they suddenly have vocals I have fixed the link and now if you click you won't get Spencer P Jones @ The Powerhouse. Sorry bout that.

I also must apologize to Axxonn because I have been wondering why Spencer was so popular suddenly. I mean he is popular for sure but I suspect most of the recent downloads of his Powerhouse set were made by very disappointed Axxonn fans.

Only one person has asked me about it though. So if in doubt here is the link again to

Axxonn - Live @ The X&Y Bar - 03 Sept 2009

and here is the link to

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

Tiny Vipers

Tiny Vipers is from Seattle and sings beautiful songs. I swear I did not nod off but gee it went fast.
Tiny Vipers - Live @ The Troubadour - 03 Oct 2009

McKisco is a Brisbane singer who is always worth listening to.
McKisco - Live @ The Troubadour - 03 Oct 2009

Lion Island are a 7 or so piece who sound a little like Beirut until you listen and the difference become clear. Some good stuff if at times a little leaden where it should bounce more.
Lion Island - Live @ The Troubadour - 03 Oct 2009

bigstrongbrute I haven't seen as a six piece. I like it a lot.
bigstrongbrute - Live @ The Troubadour - 03 Oct 2009

By Request

Tiny Vipers - Live @ The Troubadour - 03 Oct 2009 in flac format [225MB]

Sounds Of Spring 2009

Not much t say but it was a great festival. Excellent lineup with only Shonen Knife from outside Australia and NZ [I think]. Well organized good facilities except for crap beer at high prices. They couldn't control the duststorm which rolled in at dusk. So in no particular order I saw:



The very fun Shonen Knife - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

The Hard-Ons - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

Root - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

Quan - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

Ouch My Face - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

My Disco - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

A few tracks from Kill Devil Hills - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

i heart hiroshima - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

Giants Of Science - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

Ross Hope's [ex Iron On] new band Disco Nap - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

Dave McCormack & The Polaroids - Live @ Sounds Of Spring - 26 Sept 2009

Pinky Beecroft & The White Russians

at the Spiegeltent in Queens Park. I really enjoy Pinky's shows. He writes great songs with humour and love. His band is always great for him and the songs. Pardon the bass guitar guy, Ben; he was pissed as a newt at the start of the night but managed to play his parts.

So enjoy . Next up Sounds Of Spring

Pinky Beecroft & The White Russians - Live @ The Speigletent - 30 Sept 2009

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