I’ve kind of given up on my ship of noise for a while, i’m doing a few too many things at the same time. But there’s still loads of great musical goodness going on and i can’t help myself from trying to expose it, so if you happen to stumble upon this place and are interested i pop up in a few different places:

– I take lots of photos when i go to gigs, they go up here and sometimes appear on Throwshapes and Music Feeds.
– On Monday nights i do a new music and movie info based show on Triple H FM, there’s a comprehensive blog here.
– Soon i’ll be podcasting about Sydney based Music and Culture events over at Sydcasting.com
– I’m all over FBi Radio, usually organsing stuff for Mornings but also popping up randomly in other places, i have some plans to contribute to their terrific new Flog.

WordPress seem to have upgraded their spell checking system some time in the last few months. This is cool but i noticed a few amusing things:

They now want you to capitalise “myspace” … uh “properly”

and the word ‘previous’ is listed as being ‘complex’

My Disco are releasing a new 12″ on the 6th of February. On it will be 11min epic Young and a Qua remix of the same song. I can’t tell you how happy i was when i found out that Young is the same song My Disco have been opening their live shows with recently, the same song i’ve been listening to in live bootleg form a ridiculous amount over the past few months.

Perhaps almost as good as the song is their label’s description of it as “a volatile, mindboggling excursion into the outer realms of My Disco’s dalliance with German minimalism”. I think it’s the funniest line but it may be dead on, i’m not sure, i can’t say i’ve been to the outer realms of dalliances with German minimalism before. It’s a great song, starting up all power and then settling into an extended hypnotic pattern for two thirds of the song.

You can stream it on My Disco’s Myspace page or stream or download it from Polariods Of Androids, if you enjoy this blog you should really be reading Polaroids, it’s much better.

My Disco are touring Sydney and Melbourne (dates in previous post) and North America (dates on their Myspace).

Faux Pas
I’ve really loved his past stuff and now he’s readying an album. Well technically it’s already done but he’s just being a cock tease and only giving us a single release first. If you head along to his store you can buy the EP for $5, while you’re there i strongly recommend you get the free download of his ‘Chasing Waterfalls EP’. I actually like it better than the new song but bought the EP just because this guy is really worth supporting. Tim Sheil (who is Faux Pas) keeps an interesting blog full interesting stuff, not always related to Faux Pas material, you may want to check that out too.

My Disco
More ace music from Melbourne. These guys are putting out a new 12″ featuring a new 10min track ‘Young’ and a Qua remix. Both bands are playing shows in Syd and Melb to support it.

Friday, February 12 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, NSW w/Qua + New War

Saturday, February 13 – The Toff In Town, Melbourne, VIC w/Qua + New War

Sunday, February 14 – The Toff In Town, Melbourne, VIC w/Qua + New War

Seekae
These wizards have released a full live set free on the internet. It was recorded last year at the Oxford Art factory during their Remix EP launch, you can find it at the Rice Is Nice webpage.

New Weird Australia
The consistently good and always interesting New Weird Australia series has just released its fourth volume as a free download, snag it over on their website.

Danimals
Have been added to the Big day Out and the Laneway festival. They’re also doing a single launch at Spectrum in Sydney on the 15th of Jan. I believe they’re relocating to New York later this year so go check them out while they’re still local boys.

I’ve been busy with many things lately so haven’t had time to post about much here. I’ve mainly been updating my photo blog with shots of bands and other random things i’ve been snapping. You can check out milesage.wordpress.com to see what i’ve been up to but this place should be seeing some new posts once i’m done with my last bit of work. I’ve attached a couple of sample snaps below, i also have a Twitter account you can use to keep an eye on what i’m posting: Milesage

 

There’s been a decent amount of activity in the Radiohead camp recently, a slew of songs have been put out by both the full band and it’s front-man.

Radiohead

Harry Patch (in memory of) – This is a benefit song in honour of the last British soldier left alive from WW1. He died recently, all the lyics in the song are Harry Patch quotes. It’s just 1 pound and all the money goes to the Royal British Legion so please buy it if you enjoy the tune.

These Are My Twisted Words – A new track recorded with Nile Godritch. I’m hoping to hear it in the context of an EP eventually but for now they’ve released the song as a free download on the radiohead site.

Thom York

Hearing Damage – This is Thom’s contribution to, teen vampire film, New Moon’s soundtrack. I read an interview with New Moon’s director, in it he said “Actually, i’m on my way to listen to Thom York’s song after this and unless it’s just him breathing eratically on mic i’m going to use it.” Luckily we got more than breathing…

Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses – A new single which was written and recorded with Jonny Greenwood. Apparently i grew out of something that had been kicking around since 2001. This is an excellent track, it reminds me of massive attack at the beginning but kind of disintegrates by the end, could have been a tad shorter for my tastes.

The Hollow earth – b-side to the above single. You can buy both on a 12″ vinyl here.

All For The Best – This is a cover recorded as a benefit album for the late Mark Mulcahy, former Polaris and Miracle Legion lead singer. Interestingly he didn’t layer his voice for this track, that’s his brother singing harmonies. The album will be called Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy, if you like Thom York’s tune you may want to track down the whole disc when it’s released (29/9/09), there are some other cool covers on it including one’s by The National, Frank Black, Dinosaour Jr, Ben Kweller,  Michael Stipe and Mercury Rev.

Bootlegs: Thom York Live at Latitude

Cymbal Rush – Black Swan – Videotape – These are great tracks though a bit quiet and with an occasional click due to the nature of the recording.

Videos: Thom York with his crazy new band (which includes Nigel Godrich and Flea)

This American Life is a weekly hour long radio program produced in the states. Each week they pick a theme and do a series of related stories, most of the time they are real stories told by real people, occasionally they are comedy routines or fictional stories. They can be funny, heart warming or spectacularly depressing. The show can be a bit hit and miss, sometimes the theme is a really tenuous link between stories. Each piece can also be a bit weak at times but is just as likely to turn out to be an amazing personal insight or investigation into something you think you should have known about a long time ago. In addition to the radio show they have a TV show but i haven’t looked into that yet. On their website you can subscribe to the podcast which will send you a show each week, you can also stream any past shows, check out their favourites or, probably the most important thing, donate some money to keep the show going.

I’ve cut out two stories from two separate episodes, if you’re going to listen to both of them i suggest you start with Life After Death, because it’s horribly depressing and you’ll need the charming and funny story about putting a band together using only the classifieds to cheer you up.

Download Life After Death – 23min – This one’s horrible but very good, though i think it could have been a shorter piece. In the full show the sad story you’ll find here is followed by one about a retired soldier who stabs his girlfriend multiple times in a bout of post traumatic stress disorder. I thought i’d spare you a double bout of crushing despair but if you’re keen for the whole episode you can stream it here.

Download Classifieds – 15min – This is from a week where they put together a show based only on what they could find in the classifieds section in a newspaper. This is my favourite story, a cute little piece about putting together a band that will only perform once. You can find the whole episode here.

Lately i’ve been trying not to just re-post news but this is too good to pass up. Over on Pitchfork they spotted a new Sufjan Stevens track on Youtube. He played the new song in Ithaica, New York and someone was on hand with a snazzy video camera to get it all it great quality. There’s Too Much Love shows a different Sufjan than the one we’ve gotten used to over the past few albums, the track it infused with odd beats, electronic jitters and crazy trombone!

EDIT: or just go to Stereogum and get your hands on a rip of this song and two other new ones, Age of Adz and Impossible Souls.

A Casual End Mile: discovery of the night.  She was playing in the bar area for free and just had the most wonderful haunting voice echoing in the silence over there. Now that i think about it this was probably what marked her out to me- every other time i’ve been in that bar at the OAF several dozen people have been trying to talk over the very loud sounds of trendy DJ’s blasting the latest hip offering. This time everyone was quiet as Ms.EndMile did her thing. You can find A Casual End Mile’s demos on her MySpace.

Royal Headache: These guys are quite fun, they just go nuts with short, fast and loud songs. They actually created a moshpit in front of the stage and pulled off the first successful stage dive i’ve ever seen at the OAF (unsuccessful one involved a drunk/drugged woman at Pivot- they were just as surprised as we were!). MySpace.

My Disco: A force of nature, there’s no other way to put it. They are a fierce and uncompromising band who manage to combine loud rock noises with the hypnosis of a repetitive beat. From the moment the curtains opened they had me and didn’t let go until  the last note, which is a pretty amazing accomplishment for an hour of music. Their new material was excellent, i can’t wait for the new album now! MySpace.

All bands played at the Oxford Arts factory on the 25/9/09, you can check out some select big pictures here or the whole Flickr gallery.

Playing with The Devoted Few at The Hopetoun Hotel Thu 24th & Fri 25th September

I forgot to post about these guys (and girl) until today! The first show in Sydney is tonight but there’s one on tomorrow as well, even if you miss them they should be playing around the city sometime soon. Sherlock’s Daughter is one of Sydney’s most promising little indie bands and i can’t wait to check them out this week. They’ve already released a few solid singles which are great to listen to at home but they’ve also got a strong live presence. I’ve seen them perform short sets twice, at World Bar and The Metro and i urge anyone who likes their sound to get out and see them live!

Listen to Kids and Song For Old People

If you like their stuff please Buy Sherlock’s Daughter tracks from iTunes or hunt down their EP in the shops. They’re a very small band and any form of support will help to keep them going strong! This is just the type of band where every sale really does make a huge difference. You can also visit their MySpace page for more tour details and streams of their music.

You can find the Hopetoun at 416 Bourke St, Surry Hills, NSW.

props to Only An Earthling for reminding me to post about this!