Week Twentytwo

Last show! I can't believe I've been on the radio for close to 6 months. It's been a really amazing experience and I want to thank everyone for listening and supporting me throughout. The only reason why I did a show by myself was because I knew no one who shared the same passion for, dare I say, 'indie' music as I do but during the last 6 months I have met some really amazing people who made me realise that I wasn't alone in my passion and it's a great feeling to be able to share that. So without much further ado, I must say thank you to these people (in no particular order): Elle, Ryan, Greer, Simon, Mark, Gav, Damien, Trent, Michael, Sherwin, Adam and Brendan. Sorry if I missed anyone. Thanks so much to everyone who listened in regularly, muchly appreciated!

I also discovered some great music this year and I haven't been into discovering bands and getting so involved in music ever. And I'm sure it will continue and I'm sure I will be back on the airwaves soon. No doubt the withdrawals will begin in no time. So the setlist was a best of - my favourite tracks of the year plus some old favourites that I just love. Thanks to every for exposing me to some of the bands that I may never have discovered and hours of endless mp3 exchanges over msn! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you all enjoyed the little snippets that featured my very lovely guest programers. I had a ball with you all!

Playlist for Monday July 18th:

Supergrass - All Right
The Departure - Be My Enemy
The Walkmen - The Rat
Babyshambles - Killamangiro
Nick Cave - Supernaturally
David Bowie - Rebel, Rebel
Doves - Black and White Town
Bloc Party - Positive Tension (live @ Glastonbury 2005)
The Chemical Brothers - The Boxer
The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers
Bright Eyes - Poison Oak
Belle and Sebastian - Le Pastie De La
Maximo Park - Graffiti
Lou Reed - Perfect Day
Ryan Adams - Sweet Illusions
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
The Dears - Who Are You, Defenders of the Universe?
The Kinks - You Really Got Me
The Editors - Bullets
P.J. Harvey - Shame
The Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb
Something For Kate - Belief = Function = Belief
Nouvelle Vague - Love Will Tear us Apart (original by Joy Division)

So thats it! Keep Listening to the music and keep listening to SYN's Indie night! Ryan Mason and his partner in crime Brett will be taking over my spot with 'Discography' of the best indie bands to grace this earth and I'm sure they will do a fine job. I can't wait to listen to the first show. Good Luck guys and cheers to everyone for their support!

Now I'm going to go have a heart attack with all the gigs coming up in the next month.

Week Twentyone

The A-Z of indie this week. Surprisingly I fit in the 26 songs very comfortably. Below is by no means a definitive list, I had to leave many a great indie band out. That said I thought I'd go for more established indie bands, leaving out the current new new wave, or whatever, of the UK that I play so much anyway. Inclusion is exclusion. Anyway, thanks for the SMS, especially to E, who says they listen every week and gave me great suggestions for some letters. Much appreciated. So here's the indie alphabet soup:

Arcade Fire - Tunnels
Beck - Girl
The Cure - Lovesong
Death Cab For Cutie - I was a Kaleidoscope
Elbow - Powder Blue
Flaming Lips - Race for the Prize
Gang of Four - Damaged Goods
P.J. Harvey - This is Love
Interpol - Slow Hands
Joy Division - Transmission
Kings of Leon - The Bucket
Les Savy Fav - Hold on to Your Genre
Modest Mouse - The View
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) - First Day of my Life
The Pixies - Gauge Away
Q and not U - Wonderful People
Radiohead - 2+2=5
The Smiths - This Charming Man
Tears for Fears - Mad World
The Unicorns - I was Born a Unicorn
Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
Wilco - Heavy Metal Drummer
Xiu Xiu - Crank Heart
Yo La Tengo - Here Comes my Baby
The Zutons - Pressure Point

And the Cover song! The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes (original by The Postal Service)

Last show next week! It's a great one, I'm going to play my fav tunes of this year plus sneak in some snippets of previous shows where I've had guest programers. Tune in!

Week Twenty

I had the lovely Simon in the studio this week, one of my most devoted listeners and a damn fine guest presenter! This was his second appearance and it was great to have him back of course! Simon's aim was to play music that would fuck with the listener's mind just a little bit (and sometimes a lot - see The Doors haha). He played lots of psychedelic spaced out rock and added some much needed variety to the show I think! Not to mention the spoken word songs that spaced everyone out! But I enjoyed myself immensely. Thanks for helping me celebrate the 20th week Simon! Two to go guys, next week will be the A-Z of indie, a challenge I know and hopefully I will be up for it!

Coming soon to a cinema near you...

Playlist for Monday 3rd July:

REM - Revolution
The Pixies - Debaser
Robyn Hitchcock - The Devil's Radio
Les Savy Fav - The Sweat Descends
The Pogues - Bottle of Smoke
Shout Out Louds - Very Loud
The Doors - Mental Floss
Lou Reed - Vicious
The Velvet Underground - The Black Angel's Death Song
The Red Paintings - Walls
Brian Jonestown Massacre - You Have Been Disconnected
Radio 4 - Dance to the Underground
The Cure - A Short Term Effect
Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three
The Warlocks - Baby Blue
Cat Power - Speak For Me
Ratcat - Pieces
B-52s - Mesapotamia
Love - A House is not a Motel
Towns Van Zandt - Kathleen
Bjork - All is Full of Love
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - I Will Love You Till the End of the World
The Flaming Lips - Do You Realise?
The Saints - Private Affair
Arab Strap - Soap
The White Stripes - One More Cup of Coffee (original by Bob Dylan)

Week Nineteen

After some nudging to update my blog from the now legendary Ryan Mason, here tis. Speaking of which, happy birthday Ryan, even though you are sick. Some of you may remember Ryan when he appeared on the show, but it seems he is also an up-coming rockstar, performing a delightful acoustic version of Arcade Fire's Neighborhood #2 (Laika). I played it on my show cos I thought it was so good. And I don't play crap. I get sent stuff and I don't play it if it's crap. Anyway, head on over to his website to download it, I'll make him put it up now.

So the famous Glastonbury festival took place last weekend. And 150,000 people were under water. It rained so much, i really do feel sorry for them. But then again, I couldn't go see those really cool bands and I was insanely jealous, so maybe its a good thing, hehehe. Bloc Party were amongst the plethora of bands on offer at Glastonbury and I managed to grab a live song of there's from the festival, 'The Marshalls are Dead'. Hope you enjoyed. Also, the live Killers song was a newie too, perhaps we'll see it on a future album (if they get that far...).

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have been getting lots of good press lately. They're a new band from Brooklyn and I do like. They have that quirky pop sound. So i featured some tracks off their debut self titled record. Get your hands on some if you can.

Next week my good friend Simon will be joining me for the second time to guest program on the third last show AND the 20th week. So very special stuff. Simon is man of great wisdom, so tune in, it shall be a good one.

Playlist for Monday 27th July

Patrick Wolf - The Libertine
Spoon - The Way we Get By
Muse - Uno
Apartment - Everyone says I'm Paranoid
Ambulance Ltd - Heavy Lifting
...And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead - Baudelaire
Brakes - All Night Disco Party
Architecture in Helsinki - Do the Whirlwind
The Get Up Kids - Red Letter Day
A Gun Called Tension - Gold Franxs
The Go! Team - Huddle Formation
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Spread Your Love
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In this Home on Ice
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Details of the War
Fiery Furnaces - Single Again
The Research - She's not Leaving
Desert Session - Crawl Home
The Strokes - Someday
The Killers - All the Pretty Faces
The White Stripes - Take, Take, Take
Bloc Party - The Marshalls are Dead (live @ Glastonbury)
The Magic Numbers - Love me Like You
Ryan Mason - Neighbohood #2 (Laika) (original by Arcade Fire)
The Shins - Turn a Square (live)
Ryan Adams - Brown Sugar (original by The Rolling Stones)

Week eighteen

So the B sides and rarities special had to come. I had a great time digging in to a goldmine of B sides and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Without getting too deep and meaningful on you, to me B sides are like hidden treasures reserved almost exclusively for hardcore fans. It's really great to hear what a band does behind the scene, as such, and sometimes a B side can be even better than album material. What I find amazing is how singles can become real collectors items due to the B sides! I mean, just go to ebay and type in Something For Kate and you'll find singles worth $50 from 1998 which is just amazing for an Australian band. I admit i talked about SFK a little excessively, but I just really admire the strength of their B sides, they always deliver the gold on their singles! And they are always doing stuff for their fans, like playing scret shows and releasing rare items. B sides I think, a part from giving a band a chance to experiment or whatever, are essentially for the fans. But before I blab on a little too much here were my favs:

I got excited by Flake Music, who were The Shins before they were called The Shins. Real exclusive stuff, thanks to Ryan for passing this on to me.

Brian Jonestown Massacre taking the piss out of the Dandy's on 'Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth'.

Arcade Fire's 'No Cars Go', a song from an early EP that they will be reissuing soon. What do people think of that?? I think it's good for fans to sorta catch up on stuff they missed out on in the past but in a way doesn't it devalue and make the single / EP less exclusive? You can't cluth it to your chest anymore and say, 'It's only MINE!'

Ryan Adams for always giving us the goods!!

Playlist for Monday June 20th:

Bluebottle Kiss - Lover's Tiff
Bloc Party - Always New Depths
Coldplay - Bigger Stronger
Flake Music - Spanway Hits
Brian Jonestown Massacre - If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth
Guided By Voices - He's The Uncle
Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
Radiohead - Pearly
The Postal Service - Be Still My Heart
Something For Kate - Mental Note
The Cure - Halo
Stone Roses - Mercy Paradise
Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter
U2 - Summer Rain
Modest Mouse - I've Got it all (most)
The Beatles - Rain
Elliott Smith - No Name #6
The White Stripes - Red Bowling Ball Ruth
Interpol - Specialist
Beck - Clap Hands
Jeff Buckley - Lost Highway
Augie March - Sunday Morning Records
Ryan Adams - From me to you
Something For Kate - Ordinary World (Original by Duran Duran)

Week Seventeen

A very enjoyable show this week! The very lovely Elle came in for a farewell before she jets off to London to live out her dream for six weeks or so. It was such a pleasure to have the queen of indie radio in the studio with me with her flawless taste in music and insightful musical analysis, hehe. Twas a pleasure Elle, and have so much fun on your trip! We must do a correspondence or something on the show while you are gone. All the best!

The Departure was sorta a feature album this week, I played three new tracks off the just released brand new debut album. So much fun they are. Be sure to catch them on August 6th at the Corner. Also played a new, unreleased track by The Arcade Fire called 'Cold Wind'. The band recorded this song for the TV show Six Feet Under and is as yet unheard but for a very few ears, including those of you who tuned in last night! Very exciting stuff. Interpol also recorded a brand new track for the show reportedly called 'Direction'. TV shows and cool indie music, never thought it'd happen but it's all the trend lately.

Congrats to the winners for the new Motorace single giveaway. It goes to Carlie and Ben who contacted the studio to win a copy! The single is called 'Tomorrow's Gone', another stella tune from Motorace who I do think are one of the better bands in Australia. Very lush and well produced, it'll feature on Aussie TV show's everywhere soon! Thanks to everyone else who msged in, the responses were awesome last night!! I'll take all your bside suggestions on board, and if anyone has anything else they'd like to add, just post a comment, I'd love it!

Playlist for Monday June 13th

Coldplay - Square One
The Eels - Trouble with Dreams
Louis XIV - Pledge of Allegiance
The Drones - Sharkfin Blues
Battle - One More Night (live)
Help She Can't Swim - Are You Feeling Fashionable
Peabody - The Weight Just Right
Sarah Blasko - Always Worth It
The Faint - Southern Belles in London Sing
Dogs Die in Hot Cars - Pastimes and Lifestyles
The Departure - All Mapped Out
The Departure - Dirty Words
The Departure - Talkshow
Rufus Wainwright - One Year Love
Motorace - Tomorrow's Gone
Pink Grease - Stripped
The Strokes - Last Night
The Arcade Fire - Cold Wind
The Editors - Munich
Arctic Monkeys - Fakes Tales of San Francisco
The Cure vs The Killers - A Forest/Somebody Told Me
Muse - Feeling Good (live)

Week Sixteen

Not too much going down this week. I went nuts with playing some new UK 'new-wave' music, one of which was by The Departure who will be touring Melbourne and Sydney soon! They'll be playing at the Corner Hotel on August the 6th, new album 'Dirty Words' is due out on June the 13th while the new single 'All Mapped Out' is available now. I may be becoming a bit cynical towards the so-called new-wave now, a LOT of bands are starting to sound way too similar, but for now I'm enjoying it. Hopefully it's not going to be too overdone, if it isnt already... any thoughts?

New-wave british boys in suits and chucks: mmmm

Also in tour news, it's about time that Ryan Adams has announced his side shows. He'll be playing in Melbourne on July 27th at the Palace (yes the rumours were true) and tickets are $60 from Ticketmaster7. I think they'll be in demand and will sell out fast so be sure to grab them when they go on sale this Friday June 10th. Congrats to Wolf and Cub who scored the support slot for the Queens of the Stone Age shows in July (Futureheads also supporting). Those guys will also be playing at Ding Dong on friday June 10th. There's just way too many good bands to see soon, Amanda is going to be very broke indeed.

Playlist for Monday June 6th:

The Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less and Less
The Afghan Whigs - Uptown Again
The Cure - Friday I'm in Love (acoustic)
Maximo Park - Signal and Sign
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
Faker - The Familiar
French Kicks - One More Time
Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices (live at SxSW)
Ben Folds - Army (live)
Radiohead - Karma Police (live at Sydney 2004)
The Departure - She's in Stereo
The Rakes - Retreat
Wolf and Cub - Spirals
The Futureheads - Meantime
Ryan Adams - Magnolia Mountain
Something For Kate - Deja Vu
Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man
Bluebottle Kiss - Sisters Head On
Louis XIV - Finding Out True Love is Blind
The Go! Team - Bottle Rocket
The Cribs - Hey Scenesters
New Rhodes - I Wish I Was You
Gerling - Bad Blood!!!
The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
Bettie Serveert - Lover I Don't Have to Love (original by Bright Eyes)