Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy

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.

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Mutemath - Blood Pressure

Dear Everyone,

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.

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Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

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!

And that's how I discovered Justice.

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Nirvana - Lithium

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.

Enjoy.

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Wolf Gang - The King And All Of His Men

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.

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Skee-Lo - I Wish

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.

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Skee-Lo - I Wish by inconito

Ammonia - You're Not The Only One Who Feels This Way

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.

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Pollyanna - Brittle Then Broken

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.

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The Lemonheads - The Outdoor Type

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!


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