Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Week Fifteen

I was so completely disorganised this week and lacking in content, thank God Greer came in to save the day. Although I think the show sounded so chaotic because of my lack of organisation and because Greer made me laugh so much! God she was so funny, providing many laughs with her 'awesome' American accent (not Canadian!) and some wonderful stories (check: she asked Eddie Vedder if he would prefer 'paper or plastic' for his groceries when she served him at a supermarket in Seattle). Our OC obsession really came through (like it hasn't already) both declaring that the friendship would be lost if Seth actually existed and we had to fight over him. And our analysis of awkward indie boys came into full effect. It was quite scary really. ANYWAY I had SO much fun Greer, thanks for joining me.

Played some tracks off the new Maximo Park record which kicks arse! God I hope they tour here real soon. I was hoping to play more tracks off the record so I shall play one more next week. It's so addictive. Also had a small tribute to Modest Mouse, a band I don't play enough at all and thanks to Greer's obsession with the band we got quite a good taste from their huge discography. Was also very pissed off that my Turin Breaks song died half way through. God knows...

Oh, and for all those Napoleon Dynamite freaks out there, I am slowly warming to the humour, the quotes we played off the soundtrack were very funny indeed:

'What are you going to do today, Napoleon?'
'Whatever I feel like I wanna do, Gooooooooooosh!'



Greer's Hero: "Friggin idiots...."



Playlist for Monday May 30th:

Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Modest Mouse - Paper Thin Walls
Turin Breaks - Self Help
Hot Hot Heat - Goodnight, Goodnight
P.J. Harvey - The Life and Death of Mr Badmouth
Interpol - Slow Hands
Little Barry - Free Salute
Death Cab For Cutie - The Sound of Settling
Maximo Park - I Want You to Stay
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Brendan Benson - Spit it Out
AC Newman - Miracle Drug
The Shins - Caring is Creepy
Pedro the Lion - Never Leave a Job Half Done
Modest Mouse - Drama Mine
The White Stripes - Blue Orchid
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Elliot Smith - Waltz #2
Eisley - Telescope Eyes
Bright Eyes - Arc of Time
David Bowie - Sorrow
Modest Mouse - Out of Gas
The Pixies - Dig for Fire
The Scissor Sisters - Take me Out (original by Franz Ferdinand)

> Slow Hands better than Evil?? Ryan you need to reply - but Slow Hands kicks arse! You cannot beat the line 'You make me want to pick up my guitar and celebrate the myriad ways that I love you' with a beat like that!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Week Fourteen

Well this week was a lot of fun. In search of doing something different I found myself in the new JB Hifi store in Bourke st in the soundtrack section discreetly writing down killer songs that have appeared in movies. As such this week was a movie soundtrack special. There were the obvious (The Shins in Garden State), the teen movie (Psychedelic Furs with Pretty in Pink), the movies based around music (Almost Famous, High Fidelity), the quirky (Flaming Lips in Spongebob Squarepants) and the how-the-hell-did-that-end-up-in-there?? (Radiohead in Clueless??) as well as everything inbetween. Hope you enjoyed it, of course there is so much to chose from but you have to be selective with 2 hours.



Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?


Next week on the show my friend Greer is coming on to guest program so expect lots of Modest Mouse, Death Cab and Bright Eyes. mmmmm. Oh and she's got an American accent. It's cool. I want it.

Send in your fav B sides and cover songs too. I have the BEST cover song for next week. It's gonna be great.

Playlist for Monday May 23rd:

Oasis - Fucking in the Bushes (Snatch)
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life (Trainspotting)
The Cure - Six Different Ways (Rules of Attraction)
Badly Drawn Boy - Everybody's Stalking (Igby Goes Down)
Psychdelic Furs - Pretty in Pink (Pretty in Pink)
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (Clueless)
The Kinks - Nothing in this World can Stop me Worrying about this Girl (Rushmore)
Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (The Royal Tenenbaums)
The Shins - New Slang (Garden State)
Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
The Editors - Bullets
James - Getting Away With it all Messed Up
And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Relative Ways
REM - Sweetness Follows (Vanilla Sky)
The Who - Sparks (Almost Famous)
The Beta Band - Dry the Rain (High Fidelity)
Smog - Cold Blooded Old Times (High Fidelity)
McLusky - She Will Only Bring You Happiness
Broken Social Scene - Lover's Spit (Wicker Park)
The Flaming Lips - Spongebob and Patrick confront the Psychic Wall Of Energy (Spongebob Squarepants Movie)
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Donnie Darko - thanks el!)
Arcade Fire - This must be the Place (Naive Melody) (original by Talking Heads)

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Week Thirteen

Despite my trouble with breathing on air due to an awful cold, the show ran rather smoothly this week. I'll apologise now for my on air sniffles...it was not ideal! I aired the interview I had last year with Bluebottle Kiss frontman Jamie Hutchings which I hoped you all enjoyed! I certainly hope you listened even if you don't know the band very well, as the music is fantastic. I cannot recommend them enough, beautifully raw and intense music. It was quite an honour talking to Jamie, as you can imagine he is one of my musical idols! We chatted about his unique song writing skills (he tells these amazing fictional narratives in 'Come Across' and constructs amazing phrases), the evolution of the Bluebottle Kiss sound, Jamie's solo project and their incredibly intense, frenetic live shows. If you ever get to see them play live please do so! Not to be missed. It was also great hearing Jamie totally not care about the fact that the band have never actually broken into more mainstream avenues of music fandom, awesome attitude. It's all about artistic integrity...the guys are recording a new album in June this year.



The original Bluebottle Kiss line up


So the Bloc Party show at Melbourne's Hifi Bar on July 20th sold out in less than a day, and it looks like Interpol are heading the same way with sellouts. Ryan Adams is rumoured to play here on July 27th which I am really dark about since I bought tickets to Interpol on the 27th. Looks like I may be having to do a swap or something.... Doves have also rescheduled their Australian tour dates, with the guys now playing at the Forum on July 16th. My God, I am wetting my pants over JULY.

Once again thank you so much for the SMS's guys, I am really glad you're all enjoying the show. I would really appreciate some suggestions for cover songs, which I play at the end of every show. I am also thinking of doing a B-Side special on a show very soon so please, bring on the suggestions for that too. I know you all can't contain yourselves. Post a comment! Or Email!

Playlist for Monday May 16th:

Bluebottle Kiss - Scouthall
Rogue Wave - Endless Shovel
Bit by Bats - Neon Flux
Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap
Frou Frou - Let Go
Electrelane - Bells
Kasabian - L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
The Departure - Lump in my Throat
Bluebottle Kiss - Smother it in Honey
Bluebottle Kiss - Crawling with Ants
Bloc Party - Helicopter (Sheriff Whitey remix)
Spoon - The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
Radio 4 - Eyes Wide Open
Idlewild - Love Steals us from Loneliness
Kings of Leon - Soft
Bluebottle Kiss - Ounce of your Cruelty
Bluebottle Kiss - Boredom you are Breaking my Heart (live)
The Mars Volta - The Widow
Young Heart Attack - Mouthful of Love
The Reindeer Section - Cartwheels
The Killers - Why Don't you Find out for Yourself (original by Morrissey)

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Interview with Bluebottle Kiss

Tune in to the show this week to hear an interview I recorded with Bluebottle Kiss frontman Jamie Hutchings. The Sydney band have been around for over 10 years now and have produced some intense, raw and beautifully crafted records. I had a chat to Jamie about his songwriting, playing live and trying to crack it not only in the Australian scene, but overseas in America too. Jamie is a very articulate individual with a great passion for music and this really is worth a listen. It also gives me an opportunity to go nuts on playing Bluebottle Kiss songs, something I have been waiting a while to do. They are really amazing and one of my fav bands, so don't miss it!


Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Week Twelve

New grid! New timeslot! OMG, 2 hours is so much better than 1.5! Haha, much fun was had in the studio this week. Thank you very much to Ryan for making it heaps of fun. Lots and lots of talk about pretentiousness, because we all know that indie is the most pretentious genre of music for so many different reasons. Especially when you can't even define the genre. And especially when Bright Eyes writes a song called Road to Joy based upon a classical song 'Ode to Joy' by Friedrich Schiller. And when you release two albums simultaneously...OK enough Bright Eyes!!

Despite it being a genre that is hard to define I think Ryan nailed it with this definition:

"Pop music for uncool people"

We redefine coolness anyway...

Ryan and I saw Scottish band Dogs Die in Hot Cars on Friday night (for free!! - thank ya Ryan) and despite not being overly familiar with their material I was blown away by the amazing stage presence of the band, in particular the incredibly charismatic frontman, Craig Macintosh. The man has the most distinctive voice and literally becomes a part of the songs, throwing his entire body into the rythmn. It was really quite entertaining. Not to mention the songs, which were so much fun, a very thick sound. Most enjoyable gig.



The Dogs need taming...


I played lots of new tracks on the show this week, including Coldplay's new single 'Speed of Sound', Oasis' 'Lyla', Interpol's 'C'mere', Maximo Park's 'Graffiti' and of course the new Ryan Adam's single 'Let it Ride'. The new double album 'Cold Roses' is really good, although I must admit he probably could have cut it into a single album with maybe a few bonus tracks added in. And since he is releasing two more album by the years end, the point was made: you have to wonder how much of that will be good quality. Hmmmmm, I'm not really complaining though!

Playlist for Monday May 9th:

Soulwax - Conversation Intercom
Of Montreal - Lysergic Bliss
The Vasco Era - Kingswood
The Shins - We Will Become Silhouettes (Postal Service cover)
Oasis - Lyla
Stephen Malkmus - Baby C'mon
Ryan Adams - Let it Ride
Ryan Adams - Cherry Lane
Graham Coxon - Spectacular
Phoenix - Embuscade
The Killers - Andy You're a Star
Radiohead - Polyethylene Parts 1 and 2
Interpol - C'mere
Iron and Wine - Evening on the Ground (Lilth's Song)
The Beatles - Here comes the Sun
Turin Breaks - Long Distance
Maximo Park - Graffiti
Dogs Die in Hot Cars - Celebrity Sanctum
Dogs Die in Hot Cars - Godhopping
Coldplay - Speed of Sound
Beck - Nicotine and Gravy
Bright Eyes - Road to Joy
The Cooper Temple Clause - The Same Mistakes
John Mayer - Kid A (original by Radiohead)

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Interpol Competition

Make sure you tune in this week from 8pm for your chance to win the third single, 'C'mere', off Interpol's brilliant second album 'Antics'. The New York princes of darkness have just announced some Aussie tour dates for July to coincide with their Splendour in the Grass appearance. So you'd want to be playing as much as Interpol as possible before this time comes (without slitting your wrists, of course)! The single contains a remix of 'Public Pervert' by the band's bass player Carlos D and 'Length of Love' mixed by Sam Fog and Husker Du/Sugar legend Bob Mould. Just tune in from 8pm this Monday May 9th and call the studio on 9925 9907 when you hear 'C'mere'. First caller wins!



C'mere!!


Now lets get excited about these tour dates:

July 22 - Heaven, Adelaide
July 24 - Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay
July 26 - Metro, Melbourne
July 27 - Metro, Melbourne
July 29 - Enmore Theatre, Sydney

Tickets on sale May 16th!!

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Week Eleven

So, SYN grid 1 for 2005 has come to an end. It was so awesome, I've had so much fun. Not to worry though, loyal listeners, cos I am still on air for grid two, but in a bigger and better time slot! Tune in next week from 8-10pm! Should be lotsa fun. My friend Mason is taking me to see Dogs Die in Hot Cars on friday night (may 6th) cos he has door passes! So he'll be coming on the show to talk all things about Dogs and spin some fantastic indie tunes. Looking forward to it.

This week I had a Brit Pop retrospective spured on by The Tears new single 'Refugees'. The Tears consist of Bernard Butler and Brett Anderson, formally of Suede. They have a new album out due in June sometime called 'Here come The Tears'. I think that Refugees sounds a LOT like Suede, but I suppose that is to be expected, really. So I looked at all things Brit Pop and had a chat about the classic Blur/Oasis rivalry that was well documented in the 'Live Forever' documentary (rockumentary?). Always good to go back and look at the British scene back then and compare to now! The Tears was especially for Peter, who SMSed in for them last week. Thanks a lot and keep them coming. SMS when I'm on air: 0427 767 767

Here's what Liam Gallagher had to say about the latest bands in the UK music scene:
Franz Ferdinand: "nonsense, million miles an hour music that's not going anywhere."
Pete Doherty of The Libertines: "I’m not into smackheads. Smackheads need slaps… So what does the word Libertine mean? What does it mean? Freedom? He’s fucking in the corner doing smack with a helmet on his head! There’s nothing free about that. It’s nasty, innit? If the kids like them, fair enough, but they’re nowhere near like us. The music’s rubbish for start”.
Sister Scissors: “If that’s what they call entertaining then let them ‘av it - bright colours and fucking weirdos on stilts? I’m more entertaining than that cunt. And I’ll rip his fucking vocal chords out anyday because he’s fucking rubbish.”
Bloc Party: “a band off University Challenge, like they’re sitting on a panel or something”
The Kaiser Chiefs: “a bad Blur”

Hmmm, considering the current state of Oasis' music at the moment I'd say he should shut his mouth. But when has Liam EVER done that? I'll play the new Oasis single on the show next week.




Yes, I am God


Congrats to Elle on a brilliant last show on Music is my Radar, what an awesome 20 weeks she has had! Expect her as a guest on my show soon.

Playlist for Monday 2nd May:

The Devoted Few - Misery Loves Company
The Golden Republic - You Almost Had it
The Rapture - Heaven
The Pale Pacific - All my Friends
Kings of Leon- Holy Roller Novocaine
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
At the Drive In - Pattern Against User
The Tears - Refugees
Suede - Animal Nitrate
Oasis - Live Forever
Blur - Boys and Girls
Pulp - Disco 20000
Ride - Vapour Trail
Stone Roses - Waterfall
Youth Group - Shadowlands
Radiohead - Myxomatosis
South - Paint the Silence
Bluebottle Kiss - I Put a Spell on You (original by Screamin' Jay Hawkins)