Sorry for the lack of songs of late, I've been flat out, but thankfully I've been flat out seeing gigs!
I was lucky enough to catch the amazing Stevie Nicks live in concert the other week and she certainly impressed. Her voice still sounds as amazing as it did in the 70's while her band proceeded to blow minds all over the stadium.
One of the stand out tracks from the night was Rhiannon, it really made the show for me. The band did a crazy 10min instrumental introduction which was amazing, before Stevie emerged from the back of the stage howling in that supremely powerful voice.
It's my new favourite happy dance tune and the classic clip certainly has a lot to do for it. This was originally filmed at the lyric video but became so popular online that it was made the official clip soon after it's release.
The Black Keys just keep releasing killer album after killer album and El Camino is no exception to the rule. Loving it!
They continue to release amazing music year after year and if you're lucky enough to catch them live you'll understand what an awesome experience it can be.
From the band arriving on the stage through a woman's vagina (digital, not an actual vagina), to the hundreds of giant balloons and confetti cannons that engulf the crowd, or Wayne Coyne's awesome inflatable ball that has him rolling around all over the crowd. The Flaming Lips stage show is one giant party.
Oh yeah and then there's the crazy outfits and animal costumes that the 50+ people wear on the side of the stage and in the film clips. Awesome!
I've been listening to a whole heap of old school and new school hip-hop lately thanks to my beats coach Ren-Dawg.
The boy sure knows his hip-hop and can put together a complation disc for a bro like it's nobody's business!
His latest compilation 'Sumthin From The Old School' features this awesome song, which asks the simple question, can he kick it, according to the lyrics the answer is yes he can.
I love the Lou Reed sample, certainly a lot better than his work with Metallica!
Welcome to the most covered song of all time! OK, so I don't actually know that for a fact (to lazy to even google it), but it certainly has to be up there.
I went and saw KD Lang in concert this week and she did an amazing cover version which got me thinking about the tune.
The first version I ever heard was by the late great Jeff Buckley. His haunting voice gives the song such a powerful and emotional feel. But you can't talk about Hallelujah and not include the original and that of course is by the legendary Leonard Cohen.
To be honest, up until 2008 I'd never even heard of Leonard Cohen, sad as that is, I made up for lost time and by the end of the year I'd seen him live three times. Once at Glastonbury, then at a festival in the Spanish sun, followed by a special performance in an Australian vineyard.
I've included both version here today because I love them both equally. What's you're favourite version?
For the majority of this year The Bird had been banging on about this band Crystal Fighters. Every time I caught up with him and we'd drunken everyone else under the table he'd randomly bust out into song and sing the chorus of this song.
So every time this would happen I'd be a little worse for ware, he'd sing the song, tell me plage is beach in French, I'd say cool and then totally forget about them by the time I'd wake up the next morning.
Thankfully I saw them play at Parklife Festival and as soon as I heard the chorus remembered where I'd heard it before and more importantly that I had been told to check them out six months previous to this viewing.
Yes, I was a bit slow on the uptake with these guys, but I finally got there. Thanks for the heads up Bird, even if I never remembered it.
There's been a ton of amazing albums from new and old bands this year, but there's one that I keep coming back to over and over, and that's Wilco's The Whole Love.
Art Of Almost is the epic opening track of the latest album that I just can't seem to stop playing. I've been meaning to listen to other albums, honest, but every time I plug my iPod into the car stereo or my headphones Jeff Tweedy and his gang of rag tag musicians blast me with a wall of alt country rock fuzz and I forget to move onto anything else.
This song should be retitled Art Of Awesome, because that's what it is.
Such a great song and such simple, yet excellent advice.
Don' Worry Be Happy was the first ever a capella song to go to number 1, and won the Grammy for song of the year in 89.
The film clip features Bobby McFerrin hamming it up with famous American clown Bill Irwin and Robin Williams. It's such stupid fun that always brings a smile, which certainly can't be a bad thing.
Sure it might be a one hit wonder, but it cam make you forget about that busy morning, hectic afternoon or piles of work so kick back, don't worry, and be happy.
You may have heard of Ed Sheeran, the 20-year-old ginger kid who's pretty damn awesome, as his debut album has just been released in Australia.
You may think he's an overnight success due to his songs being played all over the radio and the huge success is album is receiving in England, but this fine young UK singer songwriter has been playing tunes since he was 13 and has worked bloody hard to get where he is today.
His debut album, +, is a damn fine record and this is one of my favourites from it. The clip is so simple yet hypnotic, I can watch it over and over. At first I thought the dude was doing a hybrid sign language rap but now think it may be some type of interpretive dance. Interpret it which ever way you like, but remember the name, you'll be sure to hear more of it real soon.
Today's post is written and performed by the amazingly talented singer/songwriter that is Liam Gerner.
Liam, take it away...
It's been 10 years since SIEV X sunk off the shores of Australia killing 146 children, 142 women and 65 men, all refugees, all looking for a better home (the majority coming from Iraq) and all having paid $11000USD.
Australian authorities knew the boat was sinking and chose not to act. The refugees it turns out were forced at gun point onto the ship by traffickers. Their names would not have been forgotten if this tragedy was a plane crash.
I've added Small Wooden Boat to my music FB page which I wrote about SIEV X. If you don't know much about the tragic accident you can hear a short radio clip about the disaster by clicking HERE - its' really worth listening to.
A few weeks back while freezing my arse off at the Parklife Festival I spotted a familiar face up on stage with Mike Skinner from The Streets.
It seemed that The Music frontman Robert Harvey was up on stage, playing guitar, lending back up vocals and busting out the strange dance moves I'd come to love so much from The Music's awesome live shows.
Going back nine years and The Music were one of my favourite new bands, I played their debut album non-stop and was lucky to see them at Splendour In The Grass and two Big Day Outs.
Sadly drugs and alcohol took it's strain on the band and after three albums they all went their separate ways. Getaway, is my favourite tune off their debut album and brings back great memories. Hope you enjoy it also.
Punk pop has been getting me all nostalgic of late. With new albums by Blink-182 and The Get Up Kids, it's enough to make me feel old, yet slightly young at the same time.
I'm really enjoying the new Blink-182 album, but in sticking with the nostalgic theme of this post I had to go back to where my love affair with three young dick-joke cracking punk lads started, and for me that was with the album Dude Ranch and the single Dammit. Sure, Cheshire Cat is a cracking album but this is where it's at for me.
It reminds me of high school, parties at friends houses (when the parents are away), getting my licence and driving around with this song blaring from the shitty car stereo speakers. Sure the sound was distorted and the cassette deck wasn't offering the greatest of clarity when it came to audio quality, but my god I had a lot of fun listening to this.
This clip combines two of my favourite things, Lego and The White Stripes!
No matter how you pronounce it, Lego is quite possibly the greatest invention ever. It can keep young kids occupied for years, can be made into giant sculptures or works of art and as Jack and Meg White have shown, can be used to make sweet film clips.
Fell In Love With A Girl is just under two minutes of awesome that comes from The White Stripes killer album White Blood Cells. It was my first White Stripes album that I owned and to this day it's still my favourite.
Say It Ain't So by Weezer is a chunk of pop rock heaven! It's from the album Blue which is one of my all-time favourites.
If I was to add up the amount of hours I've spent sitting around with friends listening to this album you'd probably be shocked, but time spent with Weezer and Blue is always going to be time well spent in my book... and I'm sure the friends who listened to it with me would say the same.
In fact, I've spent so much time with Blue that I class this album as one of my best friends. I might not see him every week these days but when we catch up those old memories and riffs come running back. Memories best served with a cold Heine' (so it stops crowdin' your icebox) and the volume turned way up.
I hadn't heard this song in a very very long time but the other day someone added it to a playlist and 1998 came rushing back to me.
I've never really listened to Marcy Playground or discovered any of their albums but I absolutely love this song.
It made it into Triple J's Hottest 100 for the year peaking at number 21 on the count down. They also had Saint Joe On The School Bus come it at number 71.
It was a great year for music although the Hottest 100 was forever tainted with Offsprings Pretty Fly (for a white guy) taking out the number one spot.
Looking back, Sex And Candy would have been a much better number one, has certainly stood the test of time a lot better than Pretty Fly. Well in my books anyway.
I'd love to introduce you to my new favourite band! He goes by the name Mutemath and his new album Odd Soul is a kick-arse disc full of musical awesome.
The lead single Blood Pressure is in contention for my favourite single of the year and when you top it off with one of the best film clips it's hard to argue.
The amazing freeze frame clip was filmed over 24hrs in on top of the Warner Bros Records parking lot and I believe was edited by the bands awesome drummer Darren King. There's so many cool parts, but my stand outs are the mid-air guitar riff and drum darts... you'll see what I mean.
Would love to keep talking and introduce you two more, but to be honest, just watch and listen. Once you've done that, pick your jaw up off the ground, hit the play button and repeat. That's what I'm gonna do.
I was certainly behind the 8-ball when it came to Justice or any form of dance music to be honest.
I had never really listened to Justice before, that was until I went to the FIB festival in Spain back in 2008.
A mate of mine would not shut up about Justice for days on end insisting that we needed some fat dirty beats to get things moving along. Well the beats were fat and dirty and things were certainly moving along at a rapid rate.
It may have had something to do with the litre cervezas, free pour spirits and what ever it was crazy eyed gypsy handed my mate through the fence, but I was having the night of my life and dancing my tits off like I actually knew what the hell I was doing... I didn't, but it didn't matter!
20 years ago the music gods smiled upon the earth and said 'The people shall have grunge, and it will be mighty'.
And mighty it was, with grunge taking over and kicking the arse of every other genre that dared compete for stereo play.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers gave us Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic, Eddie Vedder and the Pearl Jam lads hit us up with Ten and then three young skinny lads who went by the name Nirvana gave us quite possibly the greatest album to be released in our lives, that's right people we're talking Nevermind.
The generation defining album contained the hits In Bloom, Come As You Are, Lithium and of course the iconic Smells Like Teen Spirit.
To say that 1991 was a good year would be the world's greatest understatement.
God damn it's been hard to keep up with bands and albums this year. There's been so many new albums from existing bands as well as whole stack of bands I'm discovering for the first time.
One of those bands has been Wolf Gang and I'm really loving what I've heard from these British alternative symphonic rock group.
Their debut album Suego Faults has been constantly filling my iPod speakers for the last few weeks and the track that I've picked today, The King And All Of His Men, is an absolute cracker.
Rock and synth together yet again in the same vain of Naked And Famous and Foster The People, with a bit of a Scissor Sisters vibe with the camp turned down a little.
Anyway check it out, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.
I got an email from a mate I went to high school with the other day and he said that he wasn't sure why but this song had popped into his head and he vaguely remembers me saying something about it in Mr's Bull's Year 10 Humanities class.
I said a lot of dump shit in school so buggered if I know what I was saying about this all those years ago but I'm glad he emailed me as this tune was a cracker back in the day.
It came out mid 90's a few years after White Men Can't Jump hit the movie screens and everyone was basketball crazy, swappin' cards in the playground and everyone collecting their favourite players.
I'm not sure but I'd say Skee-Lo's career after this song went the same way as many basketball card shops that opened up in Australia in the 90's.... Don't see them anymore! Good tune none the less, time to strap on the kicks and hit those boards.
So my last post was about my favourite cassette as a kid that featured Triple J Live At The Wireless recordings of both Pollyanna and Ammonia... well I couldn't really have one without the other, so today I've got Ammonia.
They were a kick-arse Perth band that released two amazing albums and then called it quits way to early. This was my favourite tune of theirs and still absolutely love it to this day.
Trivia fact: Ammonia's drummer Alan Balmont is now the tour manager for The Living End and Bob Evans.
The late 90's were spent locked away in my bedroom listening to music on the radio and making mixed tapes of all my favourite bands.
I remember one of those radio recordings was Pollyanna Live At The Wireless from Triple J and on the other side of the tape was Ammonia's Live At The Wireless. I would take that tape with me everywhere I went and play it with pride.
I played that dodgy old cassette within an inch of it's life, and then... til it's death. I wish I still had that recording as I had some very good times listening to it. But I'll always have the memories, oh and YouTube I guess.
I love camping, I love music and I love festivals, so here's my dilemma... after two years of amazing times at The Falls Festival, the wifey has decided that she's had enough of festival camping, cold showers, portaloos and freezing nights.
I really want to go this year again and watch music with some of our best friends but I'm not sure the likelihood of it happening, which then brought a friend of mine back to this song, which seems pretty damn appropriate.
So is it so long Falls Festival? I hope not, maybe it's just time to get a sweet house in Lorne and catch the bus to the festival every day!
The other night I came across this blast from the past and just had to post it.
Da Funk is an old favourite of mine, you can't help but feel for the big sad dog as he bumbles his way around New York city looking for friends and playing his tunes.
You can always rely on Daft punk for a killer clip, and Da Funk is no exception. It's also directed by Spike Jonze who has made some of my all time favourite clips so I was always gonna be a fan of this one.
And if you're feeling bad for Charlie the dog, don't worry, things get better for him in the sequel clip for Fresh.
So I only just found out that Okkervil River are going to be back in Australia this October for part of the Melbourne Festival, with dates in Syd, Melb and Perth as well and I couldn't be more stoked!
I love these Austin rockers with all of my musical heart and six albums in I feel that they're extremely underrated here in the Aussie market. In fact I got messaged by a friend asking me if I was going to the gig as he was struggling to find anyone to tag along with him, thankfully he messaged the right person.
They've been to Australia a few times and every time now I've missed them as I've been interstate, so to say I'm excited about this gig would be an understatement!!!
I've picked For Real for today's blog, it's off their third album 'Black Sheep Boy' and is my absolute favourite Okkervil River tune. I hope you enjoy it as much as me and if you do, go along to a gig and check them out. I'm sure you'll end up as pumped as me.
Last night I teamed up with Bags, Bowden and Smelly for a trip to the Manning Bar at Sydney Uni to catch the musical stylings of San Diego band Pinback.
The beards were big, the beers were flowing and the tunes were awesome.
It's the first time Pinback have made it to Australia and you could tell that the underground following was very appreciative that they finally made the trip to Oz.
All through the show they played visual clips and effects projected onto the wall behind them. During Good To Sea they played this weird random clip (below), with random people dressed up as the band. I thought it was just their film clip but I found the clip on Youtube today and it's a random filmmaker from Chicago who made it with a friend... and now the band use it in their show.
Lately at work we've been busting out some horribly fruity dance moves, there's 'the clapper', 'the hallway creep' and 'reverse windmills' - the other day our song of choice was Dancing In The Dark.
It turns out that The Boss is also a fan of some 'oh so cheesy' dance moves and has his guns swinging around like there's no tomorrow.
Oh yeah and it also appears that everyone hated sleeves in the 80's, especially Courtney Cox.
Sorry for the delay in post people, haven't been spending any time on the blog which is horrible I know, but I have still been listening to plenty of music.
My new favourite is last name London, first name Theophilus - and it's more addictive than crack!
He hails from Brooklyn, New York City and his new album Timez Are Weird These Days has been kicking my arse with awesome for the last few weeks.
In fact I've been playing this album so much that I've been neglecting a whole stack of new albums that I really want to listen to. Oh well I'm sure I'll get to them eventually, until then, turn this new shit up and shout with me...
Last name London, first name Theophilus, Theophilus, Theophilus!
There's no real reason for me picking this song today, no lightning strike moment of clarity, no epiphany, no live changing moment.
I simply just love it! And I'm pretty sure that the majority of you will also.
The Postal Service is Ben Gibbard who's better known for being the front man of Death Cab For Cutie, but he's pretty damn impressive when fronting The Postal Service as well.
Jim said it best, people are strange - and thank god for that!
Imagine if we were all the bloody same. What a boring world it would be.
Individuality is what makes our friends and family unique and is also the reason we love them.
Sure they might be annoying or do things that concern or trouble us, but at the end of the day they're just strange in their own way and given the option we wouldn't change them for the world.
So embrace the strange, the wonderful and the cooky, for our lives would be far too much mundane without them.
Gotye has such a beautiful haunting voice that's always drawn me in like a moth to the flame and then he goes and gets Kimbra (my latest musical crush) to feature on his latest single. OK, Gotye, you've kinda got me hooked from the get go.
Then I watch the film clip. It starts out all Gotye nudist art retreat styles, kinda strange, but kinda cool.
Then the kicker, the smoking hot voice and body of Kimbra all painted up like some type of abstract awesomeness.
The year was 1999 and it was the summer that Phil Jameson and Grinspoon helped me continually try to blow the bejesus out of my parents lounge room speakers. After all what's the point in playing Grinspoon if you don't have it cranked all the way up?
Weighing in at only 1minute and 46 seconds long, Grinspoon's Just Ace certainly packed a lot of punch for such a short tune. The clip has aged horribly, just take a look at Phil's sexy lipstick and nail polish. He wasn't even a Goth!
This tune is off the album, Guide To Better Living, and was full of Aussie rock gems that would be blasted out of my stereo for years to come.
They played in Victor Harbour for Schoolies, to which Katie and I managed to sneak in through a window, only to get to the stage and hear the band play their final song.
Having a big reflection back at old Aussie albums of late and if you're talking classic 90's Aussie rock then you can't exclude Regurgitator.
The three rockers from Brisbane were a hit with the kids thanks to their rocking guitars and combination of electro beats and effects.
Tu-Plang was one of my first favourite albums and featured hits like Kong Foo Sing, Couldn't Do It, I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am and of course Blubber Boy.
I couldn't pick between Blubber Boy and Sucked A Lot Of Cock, so I've posted both!
Blubber Boy has the official clip while Sucked A Lot Of Cock doesn't have a filmclip, so I found a reasonably humorous snippet from the net, plus you can hear the song, so all good.
The 'Gurge are getting back on the road and playing gigs at the moment, hope I can catch them live again as they never disappoint.
The Living End have been a constant in the Aussie music industry, they're simply amazing and one of my favourite Aussie bands of all time.
Chris Cheney just seems to get better with every passing year. I saw him play at the Opera House as part of The Beatles White Album tribute and my god can that man play a mean guitar.
I remember seeing The Living End perform Tainted Love live on Recovery way back in the day and I fell in love with the band and the track.
They're the only band to feature in Triple J's hottest 100 for ten years straight, so clearly they must be doing something good!
There's been plenty of screechy vocals and a truckload of cowbell busting out of my speakers this year. One could almost say, I've got a fever... and the only prescription is more cowbell!
Thankfully the Funeral Party are here to help me out with some cracking rock tunes highlighting the fact that New York may or may not be stealing (or borrowing) what some like to call the L.A. sound.
I don't particularly wanna get involved in the NY Vs L.A. beef, to be honest I'm happy to sit back and let them duke it out on their own, as long as The Funeral Party keep making cracking songs like this I'm going to be more than happy.
Last night I went and watched The Mess Hall belt out their brand of killer dirty blues rock and just like all the other crowds who have watched The Mess Hall over the last decade, we were not disappointed.
The Mess Hall are one of my favourite Aussie bands of the last decade. With six awesome albums and EPs they've got plenty of killer tunes but The Mess Hall really show their awesomeness when it comes to their rockin' live shows.
Two dudes, pumping out some serious noise. I've seen them at least 10 times and every single show just gets better and better.
So this weekend is going to be The Mess Hall appreciation extravaganza. I'm busting out all the albums and turning it up loud.
Cage The Elephant are a sweet US band that my mate Jay Bird put me onto recently.
They had a self-titled debut album in 09 and in 2011 they released their second album, Thank You Happy Birthday, which Right Before My Eyes is taken from.
Their current album has been on high rotation on my iPod for several months now and I'm no where near getting sick of it. In fact with every spin I'm loving it more and more.
This is one of my favourite tunes off the new album, sadly there isn't a film clip yet, so I've given you the original recording and a live in store appearance to check out.
God knows what I've been doing not to have heard of Dallas Green or City and Colour but I noticed him on the cover of Blunt recently as well as interviews in a whole stack of other mags.
So here I am, sitting on youtube, educating myself on the topic of Canadian muso Dallas Green, who's well known for being frontman for Alexisonfire.
From what I've been listening to of City And Colour on Youtube already, it's pretty clear I've been missing out on some amazing lyrics and well crafted tunes.
Their debut album You're A Woman, I'm A Machine was released in 2004 and spent the entire year blowing my mind with awesome.
It was a killer debut, but sadly the band broke up soon after their first album leaving a gaping dance/punk noise-rock hole in my heart.
But never fear the band have reformed for 2011, and I was extremely excited to hear the news they'll be heading down to Australia to play as part of the Parklife festival.
A new band I've been listening to lately is the lovely Avi Buffalo.
Their soft indie-pop tunes have been the soundtrack to my morning routine of late, and from the first listen it's easy to see why.
I'm anything but a morning person (it could be said I hate mornings) but they seem to be slightly easier when I've got Avi Buffalo ringing in my headphones.
Their debut self-titled album is a slice of Californian heaven and brings rays of sunshine to even the coldest and dampest of Aussie winter mornings.
I only heard of Pinback last year, thanks to a great mate who has exceptional taste in music, but from what I've heard so far I've loved.
They've been around since 1999 when they released their debut album, This Is A Pinback CD, which features this stunning tune.
On Aug 20 they're playing in Sydney and I got my tickets yesterday! I can't wait to see them live and will no doubt be discovering more of their awesome music over the next few months.
The year was 1991, I was only ten years old but my god that year was amazing.
We saw the release of the greatest action movie of all time, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and if Arnie's kick arse T2 cyborg tough guy wasn't enough, Guns N Roses released Use Your Illusion 1 and 2.
This song featured on album 2 and also featured in the T2 soundtrack. It was also responsible for starting a love affair with rock that would last a life time.
The Use Your Illusion world tour was the largest in the history of music, lasting 28 months and consisting of 194 shows. It was also well known for the insane antics of Axl Rose who would notoriously rock up late leading to riots, which caused $200,00 in damages and saw the band banned from St Louis for life.
From the moment I heard this song, I was GNR obsessed, and picked up every album they had and played my Walkman until the batteries were dead all while trying to bust out those Axl high pitched screeches.
I do apologise for Axl's white lycra shorts in the clip! W. Axl Rose: Waste Of Ammo.
"Lemmy isn't the king, he is the god of rock & roll. He is the only one who can unite punks, metalheads, and people who like all kinds of music to go see the same band.
"It doesn't matter if you're into metal, punk, hard rock or whatever, it's all rock 'n' roll."
He's not super well known out here in Australia, but plenty of people will know him as the other song who joins Jack White to make up the creative minds of The Raconteurs (The Saboteurs).
He's a fellow singer song writer from Detroit just like Jack White, and has four solo albums to his name.
I discovered Brendan on his second album, Lapalco, which this song is taken from.
I had no idea there was an alternative version until I started writing this post. The album I have features the alternative, and I have to say it's certainly my favourite. It's a beautiful tune, so give it a listen and let me know what you think.
For clarity I've included the original below also.
I've been smashing the three track ep by Foster The People for quite some time now, so I was very happy to get my hands on their brand new album last week.
Torches is a cracking album and Helena Beat is the opening track. When you open up with something things much fun and this good, you know you're in for a treat.
10 songs of awesome from the start to the finish. This is a great tune to get you pumped up and feeling the groove, we cranked this in the office this afternoon and it made my day.
The haven't launched the official film clip in Australia yet, so for the time being, I give you dog boarding featuring Helena Beat. Enjoy.
She's stunning, her clips are awesome and her album Wounded Rhymes is on super-high rotation on my iPod of late.
I love the big drums in this song,
This song has a real tribal vibe going on with the clapping, chanting, backing vocals and that big drum beat. I could imagine villagers dancing around the fire making sacrifices to this one.
![Use Your Illusion II [Explicit]](http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B000V658NW&tag=woodsson-20)
![Use Your Illusion I [Explicit]](http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B000VBJ504&tag=woodsson-20)
![Appetite For Destruction [Explicit]](http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B000V6583C&tag=woodsson-20)
