Darren

Billy Bragg, Amanda Palmer and Kasey Chambers head the first announcement of the BIGSOUND industry conference in Brisbane this September.

The trio will take part in the speakers component of the event, with 12 acts also announced for the BIGSOUND Live component. They are: Xavier Rudd, Megan Washington, The John Steel Singers, Stonefield, Bleeding Knees Club, The Jungle Giants, Spit Syndicate, Dune Rats, Clubfeet, Thelma Plum, Citizen Kay and Little Bastard. More than 120 artists from Australia, New Zealand and Canada will perform across 12 venues in what’s been described as “the biggest gathering of emerging artists in Australia”.

Other speakers include Simon Raymonde from UK indie Bella Union, Nashville producer Brad Jones (Josh Rouse, Missy Higgins), CMJ’s Matt McDonald, New York venue booker Billy Jones, Gotye’s manager John Watson, Chloe Goodyear from Woodford Festival, Nic Warnock from Sydney’s RIP Society (Royal Headache) and Brisbane indie icons Regurgitator. BIGSOUND will also welcome its first Icelandic guest, Iceland Airwaves booker Grimur Atlason.

“BIGSOUND 2013 is already the biggest we’ve ever hosted and it’s only the first announcement,” said programmer Graham Ashton. “The tribe is growing from all corners of the world as BIGSOUND quickly becomes the Southern Hemisphere’s gathering for music-lovers and industry wanting the experience of seeing tomorrow’s big artists before they break.”

Past acts at BIGSOUND have included Flume, The Temper Trap, Kimbra, Seth Sentry, The Naked and Famous, Ball Park Music, Bertie Blackman, Emma Louise and Last Dinosaurs. Early-bird tickets are now available until May 20 from the BIGSOUND website.

(Photo by Elleni Toumpas)

[via FasterLouder]

BIGSOUND 2013

Speakers:

Billy Bragg (UK)
Amanda Palmer (US)
Kasey Chambers (Aus)
Regurgitator (Aus)
Simon Raymonde (UK)
John Watson (Aus)
Brad Jones (US)
Matt McDonald (US)
Nic Warnock (Aus)
Grimur Atlason (Iceland)
Chloe Goodyear (Aus)
Billy Jones (US)

Artists:

Xavier Rudd
Megan Washington
The John Steel Singers
Stonefield
Bleeding Knees Club
The Jungle Giants
Spit Sydnicate
Dune Rats
Clubfeet
Thelma Plum
Citizen Kay
Little Bastard

The annual grudge match between Melbourne musicians (“The Rockdogs”) and community radio representatives from PBS and Triple R (“The Megahertz”) will be fought out at Elsternwick’s Sportscover Arena on June 23 with halftime entertainment provided by the legendary Beasts Of Bourbon.

The motto for this year’s Community Cup is “Be Suburban”, which is not just a dad-joke pun on the Beasts of Bourbon name but also a homage to the event’s grassroots suburban footy tradition. From what started out as a humble footy football match two decades ago, the Community Cup is now a celebrated part of Melbourne’s music and sporting calendar.

Last year’s drawn game attracted a crowd of 9000 punters and raised over $70,000 for Reclink Australia. The charity supports some of the community’s most vulnerable and isolated people - those experiencing mental illness, disability, homelessness, substance abuse, addiction, and social and economic hardship.

The original Beasts of Bourbon lineup - Tex Perkins, Spencer P Jones, Kim Salmon, James Baker and Boris Sujdovic - buried numerous hatchets to reform and play a run of shows earlier this year, supporting The Stooges and appearing on the lineups at Bluesfest and All Tomorrows’ Parties. Read our Icons interview with all members of the Beasts here.

CLARIFICATION: The Beasts lineup for Community Cup will be Tex Perkins, Tony Pola, Brian Hooper, Spencer P Jones and Charlie Owen, i.e. the same lineup for the Stooges supports but not the one from ATP.

Entry for the game is just $10 for adults, and $5 for kids under 16.

(Photo by Katie Fairservice)

MORE PHOTOS: Community Cup 2013

2013 Reclink Community Cup

Sunday, June 23
Sportscover Arena, Elsternwick Sports Complex

Live music kicks off from 12 noon

The Drones played at Perth's Astor Theatre last Friday (April 19), during a headline tour for their latest album I See Seaweed. King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard in support. Photos by MELISSA DRUMMOND.

The Drones, Songs, Architecture In Helsinki, Alpine and You Am I (performing Sound As Ever and Hi Fi Way in full) lead the local line-up for this year’s Splendour In The Grass.

Forty Antipodean bands in total have been confirmed for Splendour. They are:

Empire Of The Sun
Bernard Fanning
The Presets
Flume
Architecture In Helsinki
Matt Corby
Flight Facilities
Boy & Bear
Birds Of Tokyo
The Rubens
Sarah Blasko
You Am I (performing Sound As Ever & Hi-Fi Way)
Hermitude
Airbourne
Unknown Mortal Orchestra (NZ)
Fat Freddy’s Drop (NZ)
The Drones
Drapht
Gurrumul
Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes
Cloud Control
Something For Kate
Chet Faker
Snakadaktal
Whitley (hang on! didn’t he quit?)
The Bamboos
Alpine
Vance Joy
Jagwar Ma
Violent Soho
Dune Rats
PVT
The Jungle Giants
Cub Scouts
The Growl
Twinsy
The Chemist
Songs
Mitzi
(Plus “Triple J Unearthed Winners”)

The international contingent, meanwhile, is headed by The National, James Blake, Mumford and Sons, TV On The Radio and Babyshambles (if Pete Doherty ever make it here). Here’s the full list:

Internationals

Mumford & Sons (only Aus Show)
Frank Ocean
The National (only Aus Show)
Of Monsters & Men
TV On The Radio (only Aus Show)
Klaxons
Babyshambles
Passion Pit
James Blake
Laura Marling
“Mystery Band”
Polyphonic Spree (performing Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Fat Freddy’s Drop
Cold War Kids
Darwin Deez
Haim
Ms Mr
Everything Everything
Portugal. The Man
Daughter
Wavves
Robert Delong
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Fidlar
Jake Bugg
Surfer Blood
Deap Vally
Palma Violets
Little Green Cars
Villagers

Splendour 2013 will take place from Friday, July 26 – Sunday, July 28 at the festival’s new site in North Byron Parklands, Yelgun, about 25 kilometres north of Byron Bay.

Splendour In The Grass 2013 single-day tickets will set you back $140 plus booking fees, a mere $5 increase on last year’s $135 single-day tickets. Three-day event tickets remain fixed at $350 plus booking fees and camping tickets will set you back $99 plus booking fees (same as last year). The only surprise is something called a “Country Club ticket” ($699 plus booking fees), which given the price point, seems to be a similar concept to last year’s “Gold VIP tickets”.

Tickets on sale on Thursday, May 2, 9am.

The City of Port Phillip have unanimously approved a laneway in tribute to the legendary Rowland S Howard, who passed away in 2009.

The proposal to rename a laneway between Eildon Road and Jackson Street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda after the legendary musician was accepted without objection at a council meeting last night. Many supporters and friends of Howard were in attendance, while Howard’s sister Angela gave a moving address.

Nick Haines – a local music promoter and a longtime friend of Howard’s, who spearheaded the campaign – told M+N he was thrilled with the result. “I'm very pleased that a local who had such an influence on music worldwide is being acknowledged,” he said today. “I also hope it's the first step in more of this sort of recognition for musicians not only in St Kilda but all over Melbourne. After all it's a rock and roll city!”

The only potential sticking point is a Vic Roads regulation about multiple word street names, but Port Phillip council have already indicated their intent to apply for an exemption. If the exemption is somehow unsuccessful, other compromises may be reached including a plaque or the renaming of the lane to “Rowland Lane” or “Howard Lane”.

But Haines, who first dreamed up the proposal a year ago, said he expects common sense to prevail. “No one actually lives there and it isn't a vehicle thoroughfare. After all there is a Paul Hester Walk [in nearby Elwood] and people live on that street,” he said.

Howard – a former member of the Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls and Crime and The City Solution – lived on Eildon Road for several years. His funeral was held at Sacred Heart Mission on Grey Street in St Kilda, just down the road from The Prince, where he played his last ever show.

High-profile backers of the campaign included Henry Rollins, The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan and former bandmate Nick Cave. “Rowland and I were friends, bandmates, collaborators and fellow conspirators in the St Kilda music scene in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s," he wrote in a letter to council. "His artistic legacy endures, and I hope that you can honour him with the cultural recognition he richly deserves."

RELATED: The Making of ‘Teenage Snuff Film’

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have followed up last year’s psych-garage debut with a spaghetti western audiobook. FREYA JONES asks frontman Stu Mackenzie why.

How do you bypass the sophomore slump? By making an audiobook about a Mexican-Irish boy kidnapped by Native Americans, of course. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s second album Eyes Like The Sky transports the listener into a psychedelic spaghetti western, pairing the seven-piece’s garage rock with the silver-tongued narration of The Dingoes’ Broderick Smith. It’s the band’s second release in just six months, following 2012 debut 12 Bar Bruise, which cracked the Top 10 of M+N’s annual Readers Poll. And they show no signs of slowing down, either. As frontman Stu Mackenzie told M+N, there’s another album on the horizon in the second half of 2013.

Why a spaghetti western audiobook?
I think it just seemed like a fun challenge. We did a track on 12 Bar Bruise, which was in a similar-ish theme. It started off as, “Hey, we should try and do a whole record like this with one big narrative.” That’s kind of the beginnings of it, I suppose. But it’s totally separate from that song that was just the spark.

You recorded this one entirely at home is that right?
Yeah, nothing too fancy or anything. Kind of whatever we could do with bits of borrowed gear and just fucking around with equipment and stuff.

How did you come up with each of the songs? Did you work closely with Broderick Smith or was it more of an individual process?
Well, it was sort of a little bit back and forth. We didn’t actually see Brod face to face for the whole time. We just kind of talked over the phone about it … I think we recorded a couple of the songs, which ended up being a couple of the first tracks on the album before any of the story was written. We talked to Brod and pitched the idea and we just had these rough ideas with a couple of the tracks. They helped inspire the very start of the story. Brod sent through some of the story and the next part of the story inspired the next couple of tracks. The story wasn’t written from start to finish. It was very much written with the music. If we did a new track that might inspire the next part of the story.

What is it about spaghetti westerns that inspired you to make this kind of album?
I just like the style. I’m kind of obsessed with heaps of ’60s type culture … That’s where it stems from. It’s not too dissimilar to heaps of other music that I like as well. Brod is also super into that kind of thing, super obsessed with westerns. I knew he would want to write the story. It just kind of made sense more than anything.

Do you have a favourite western film?
I’m a sucker for classics. I kind of like anything with Clint Eastwood in it. But there was also more modern inspirations for it too. Even Dead Man, the Johnny Depp film which Neil Young did the soundtrack for, which is a really cool, later western. I think a lot of it was not necessarily inspired by music but more inspired by what sounds should happen in this part of the story. When the music is cowboys and Indians shooting each other and riding horses and doing that kind of shit, that sort of music naturally makes sense.

Year Of Our Lord by flightless

Were you at all worried about the album not being as accessible as 12 Bar Bruise?
I think it’s definitely not as accessible but I’m not worried about that. I think the next album we do will be very different to Eyes Like The Sky, and very different to 12 Bar Bruise as well.

Have you started planning your next album already?
Yeah, we’ve sort of mostly recorded it already. It’s not finished but we’ve mostly been doing that over the last month or so. It’s another thing I’m really excited about which is cool.

Can you elaborate at all on the sound of the next album?
It’s probably a bit of a generic thing to say, but it’s more experimental in nature than 12 Bar Bruise. But it’s still garage-y, psych-y type shit with drums and guitars. There’s lots of keyboards on it. We all wrote it together a lot more than we ever have before. Lots of jams on it, too.

Being a seven-piece, do you try to incorporate all of your individual music tastes into the songs?
Yeah, it’s a very democratic band. Everybody is very good friends and gets along very well and if anyone wants to do anything they can sort of do whatever they want. It can be hard with seven people, but we are lucky that we all share pretty much the same musical tastes and are very open to whatever.

Eyes Like The Sky has been receiving some pretty great reviews. Are you surprised that people have taken to the idea so well?
I am surprised. I really had no idea how the album would be received, so that’s kind of cool. We also just kind of chucked it out there more than we ever have before just to see what people would think of it. It’s obviously really hard to play live, so it’s sort of a weird one. It’s been a complete recording project rather than anything else. I think we even toyed up doing it under a different moniker but I’m glad we didn’t. It’s very different.

The God Mans Goat Lust by flightless

You’re supporting The Drones in April … Are they a big influence?
Yeah, but not directly. They’re the kind of band that are so distinct in what they do that they’re kind of hard to be super-influenced by because they just are The Drones. I don’t know how else to explain it. I don’t know what I’m talking about. I love that band a lot.

Do you plan to incorporate any of the songs from Eyes Like The Sky into your live sets in the future?
Yeah, I want to do a show further on down the line and try to play the album top to bottom with Brod as a big set. But that’s something that’s a bit far off at the minute. That can be something we can work on in the future. We’ll play a few songs off it here and there, but it’s tricky.

It seems like the kind of album that needs to be heard in its entirety.
Yeah, that’s my kind of thing. I feel like if we ever do just play one song it’s just a bit shit, it’s not what it’s meant to be.

Will you consider similar concepts in the future?
Maybe. I’m open to that, if that concept comes our way. I want to do a follow-up one day. He [the protagonist] was pretty young at the end of the story so it’s got plenty of time for him to go on other adventure.

+

'Eyes Like the Sky' is out now through Flightless/Fuse. King Gizzard are touring with The Drones as we speak.

The latest single from Big Scary signals a shift in direction for the Melbourne duo, exploring elements of hip-hop with looped drum beats and the minimalist vocals of Tom Iansek.

‘Luck Now’ follows on from ‘Phil Collins’, which was the first taste of forthcoming album Not Art. A departure from the alt-pop of their 2011 debut Vacation, the track is indicative of the experimental approach the pair took on Not Art. The emphasis here is on percussion, with Iansek hitting a whole bunch of stuff he found in his garage. “For ‘Luck Now’ we based the percussion on a drum loop then overdubbed samples of me hitting various objects in a garage on the main beat, then recorded Jo [Syme] hitting a massive concert bass drum for the chorus,” he explains.

Produced almost entirely by Iansek, Not Art is scheduled for release on June 28. Iansek says it’s heavily influenced by hop-hop. “I think hip-hop is where the most exciting production in music is happening today. From the sounds, the song structures, the interplay of new and old and the use of samples - I wanted to adopt the hip-hop approach for our own production.”

Big Scary are hitting the road this April for a national tour presented by M+N. It’ll see the pair travel to Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Related: Big Scary – ‘It’s A Long Term Thing’

M+N PRESENTS BIG SCARY NATIONAL TOUR

Thursday, April 18 – Mojos, Fremantle, WA
Friday, April 19 – Amplifier, Perth, WA
Saturday, April 20 – Jive, Adelaide, SA
Wednesday, April 24 – Goodgod, Sydney, NSW
Friday, April 26 – Alhambra, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, April 27 – The Corner, Melbourne, VIC

Tickets on sale now

The most maligned team song in the AFL has now become the coolest thanks to Perth psych-rock act Pond.

Uploaded to the Soundcloud of “Wesley Goldtouch” – the alias of Pond/Tame Impala member Jay Watson – Fremantle Dockers theme song ‘Freo Heave Ho’ has been given a bombastic space rock makeover that wouldn’t be out of place on A. Queen’s Flash Gordon soundtrack; B. A Muse record; or C. The Flaming Lips’ forgotten 1992 classic Hit To Death In The Future Head. Whether it would work as Matthew Pavlich and co. took to the field at Patersons Stadium is debatable.

Fremantle Dockers Theme Song (POND cover) by Wesley Goldtouch

Originally penned by Ken Walther, ‘Freo Heave Ho’ was on the chopping block back in 2011 as part of the club’s image overhaul. But a reworked version of the song eventually won out ahead of ‘The Mighty Roar of Freo’ by Rosco Elliott and ‘Freo Freo’ by Perth natives and Dockers fans Eskimo Joe. “[It] was written with Fremantle as a town in mind, and how we bring the fight to the east coast,” the band said at the time. “The song was written as something that everyone in the crowd and on the team could sing with the same gusto that we all sing [AC/DC’s] ‘TNT’ after a home game win!”

It’s not the first time a rock band has had a stab at an AFL theme song. In 2011, solo artist and ex-Sidewinder guitarist Nick Craft penned an “ode to the draw”, following 2010’s drawn Grand Final between Collingwood and St Kilda. More recently, The Cat Empire’s Harry Angus [wrote the theme song]( for the newest addition to the AFL, the Greater Western Sydney Giants. Listen below.

(Via triple j music news)

You Am I will re-release their classic albums Sound As Ever (1993), Hi-Fi Way (1995) and Hourly Daily (1996) on June 14. The re-mastered editions of the band’s first three records will include a second bonus disc of B-sides, live recordings, live studio tracks and expanded booklets featuring rare pictures and memorabilia.

To mark the occasion You Am I will also embark on an Australia-wide tour this July, playing both Hourly, Daily and Hi Fi Way in their entirety at each show. Dates and venues for the tour are expected to be announced later this week.

The band have been hinting at a special announcement for over three months now, sharing pictures of old cassette recordings, concert posters and photo shoots on their official Facebook page. In a statement released today, they finally confirmed what many fans had suspected for sometime: “We’re still working on the track-listings because we keep discovering cassettes, DAT tapes and 4 track recordings that few people have ever heard”, the band explained. “We are trying to leave no stone unturned so if you have anything you think is worthy of inclusion please let us know now.”

They have also said that there will be a small number of “pre-order fan packs” containing “everything the self-respecting You Am I fan would desire”. They’ll be available from youami.com.au on Friday, April 12 from 9am.

Related: The Great Debate – Hourly Daily vs Hi Fi Way

[via FasterLouder]

YOU AM I TOUR DATES

Wed, June 19 – DARK MOFO @ Macquarie Wharf 2, Hobart, TAS
Wed, June 26 – Tivoli Theatre, Brisbane, QLD [sold out]
Wed, June 27 – Tivoli Theatre, Brisbane, QLD
Wed, July 3 – Forum, Melbourne, VIC
Thurs, July 4 – Forum, Melbourne, VIC [sold out]
Sat, July 6 – Forum, Melbourne, VIC [sold out]
Sun, July 7 – Forum, Melbourne, VIC
Fri, July 12 – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, SA
Sat, July 13 – Astor Theatre, Perth, WA [sold out]
Sun, July 14 – Astor Theatre, Perth, WA
Fri, July 19 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW [sold out]
Sat, July 20 – UC Refectory, Canberra, ACT
Thurs, Aug 1 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Fri, Aug 2 – Panthers, Newcastle, NSW
Sat, Aug 3 – Waves, Wollongong, NSW
Fri, Aug 9 – Darwin Festival, Darwin, NT
Sat, Aug 10 – Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns, QLD
Sun, Aug 11 – Mackay Entertainment Centre, Mackay, QLD