wild fashions

Matt Wolf is responsible for the the heart-wrenching portrait of Arthur Russell Wild Combination. The movie was scheduled in the 2008 Sydney film festival program and I was so moved when I watched it then, at Sydney's beer-soaked iconic live music venue the Metro, that I have bought it for most of my favourite people's birthdays since.

Wolf has now teamed up with Jason Schwartzman to make an charming advertisement for Japan's almost-opened Opening Ceremony store.

Watching Schwartzman try and lift the kite doesn't make me want to buy clothes, shoes and accessories, but I like it's loftiness and (essentially) it's pointlessness. Why If this makes you want to buy stuff , the Japan store opens on Saturday.



Opening Ceremony had three directors create films to celebrate the Japan store's opening.

The first promo'ed Chloe Sevigny's 2009 debut men's range, second came Wolf's esoteric cutie, and third was M Blash's movie staring Gus Van Sant and Jena Malone (who I love!)

ryan mcginley

Nick (Orange, Eyes) 2009, Moonmilk, Ryan McGinley


Moonmilk by Ryan McGinley is online and the images are breathtaking. I can only imagine how impressive they are in person - check them out if you're in London at Alison Jacques Gallery from September 11

Ryan McGinley website

On an entirely unrelated note, all of a sudden all my old babysitters want to befriend me on Facebook! Why?!

Jeans Wilder + Albert's Basement

"You're such a mother fucking tough guy" sings Jean Wilder. Over and over.

In the 'sounds like' section of his Myspace profile he (Andrew Caddick) describes Jean Wilder as "he really needs a hug". So spot on. This is gentle fuzz surfpop for the downtrodden deadbeat in all of us - lazy and troubled but still looking ahead to a brighter day.

'Tough Guys' Jeans Wilder

Back in March Fader's Freak Scene mentioned his cassette and I looked him at the time and was into it, but then he slipped through the cracks. No Pain In Pop are big fans though and reminded me of him recently.

I downloaded 'Tough Guys' via a NPIP post and have been listening to it a lot. I had a shitty morning today and when this song started playing on a mix CD I made for myself a while ago, it really chilled me out. Vibing, I just cruised.

Make sure you check Freak Scene and No Pain In Pop via those links above. Bookmark and love like I do.

Also keep your eyes peeled for a track of his on a new compilation by awesome Melbourne collective Albert's Basement

One of their upcoming releases 'Colourful Mountains' will have a Jeans Wilder track as well as stuff by Barrage, Nite Jewel, Pink Priest and others.

New Bon Iver Single

Oh... wait... he's kinda young... is this Justin Vernon pre Bon Iver? Actually, wait... don't I know that guy?

grass widow

Sometimes I work from home, sometimes I come into a big officey area... Today I'm in the office and someone nearby is playing Sade 'Sweetest Taboo' really loudly... it's killing me.

I have been trying to drown it out with these girls: Grass Widow

They write wonderful vocally-driven post punk with quirky, contagious 60s pop harmonies and so much sass. Their songs can be a little messy at times, but I think that only ads to the overall charm. And their song 'To Where' is such a GEM!

'To Where' Grass Widow

See?! Killer track! So perfect for drowning out Sade melodies! Is it safe to say I prefer them to Vivian Girls? Is that allowed?

Make A Mess records released their first recording in April which has since sold out. They might be reissuing it, but I don't know. Check in with Captured Tracks though, because there were rumours a while back that they were picking up distribution rights.

memory cassette vs weird tapes

Two days after my birthday last year, almost exactly a year ago, I posted 'Asleep At A Party' by Memory Cassette.

Initially, the project was sold as a collaboration between former Hail Social social member Dayve Hawke and an unnamed Philadelphia vocalist. Later I found out it was just Hawke, and his femme alter ego... Kinda like Natasha Khan's Pearl...

Regardless, I thought the song was just the best birthday present, and since then have been wandering along with Memory Cassette/Weird Tapes/Memory Tapes, falling in love with the wistful, nostalgic, and wonderfully evocative pop electronics.

Today, Pitchfork (who else?) got the premiere for the song's video.



'Call and Response' EP is sold out (except in stores - try Rough Trade London) but the debut full-length 'Seek Magic' is due for release in September through Acephale

Christina Milan

OOFFF!

What a slow jam

'Chameleon' Christina Milan feat. The-Dream

I love it when couples get together professionally and it doesn't suck

via Fader blog

super wild horses

Melbourne is very nurturing of it's artistic community, particularly independent music community, and that world can be quite insular. Do you feel you receive a different response from crowds outside your hometown?

We haven't played too much outside of Melbourne, just a couple of shows in Perth and Sydney. On the whole they were a lot of fun and the response was good considering we were playing to rooms full of people who'd never heard of us. We're looking forward to going back to Sydney for Flip Out now that there are a few people who might have seen us or heard our 7".

Does that scene influence your music? And do you worry ever that people will look at the scene first, and your music second?

Melbourne bands have influenced us greatly - theirs are the gigs you see every weekend and the people you get to know and love. Ideas and moods tend to rub off on you and even if it's subconscious, so sounds probably filter through. I think it's a natural and positive thing - Melbourne's music scene is so vibrant at the moment and that's because everyone's out there playing together and having a good time. We'd be proud to be associated with whatever people perceive the scene here to be.

Is there much interaction and collaboration among your peers?

There is definitely social interaction, lots of drinking, listening to music, playing football, and collaborating on side projects. It's great to be involved with bands that have such a DIY ethic. People are lending their hands to everything from artwork, recording, song writing and playing. We've collaborated with UV Race on a sometimes band called UV Horse, then there's Brain Children which features Mikey Young (Eddy Current) and Max Kahone (Agents of Abhorrence/Cut Sick), and then you have events like Flip Out which definitely has a family vibe. - there's a lot of stuff going on!

You are about to perform as part of You Don't Love Me Yet - Johanna Billing's ongoing art piece. Have you got anything special planned for the performance?

So far we've started on some initial vocal ideas and managed to learn the chords! It's an amazing song, subtle and honest and heart felt. We're just concentrating on trying to do it justice. Can't wait to hear everyone's take on it.

Being such a (relatively) young band, how does it feel to be selected for events like You Don’t Love Me Yet and the Flip Out festival?

It feels really good and we feel very lucky. We try not to ask questions or figure out why because it doesn't make much sense to us!

What drove you both to perform together initially?

We've been friends for many years and had spent a lot of time writing things together, coming up with stupid hair-brained ideas and singing songs in the car. The band came about by accident really, we decided to have a jam one day and before we knew it, Jensen from Deaf Wish had booked us in for a gig, which we tried unsuccessfully to pull out of, and it just went from there.

How is recording coming along for the album?

We haven't recorded anything since our 7", but plans are in the works for something later on in the year.

___

See Super Wild Horses perform the Flip Out Festival August 29 at Manning Bar in Sydney and September 5 at the Corner Hotel, Melbourne.

Super Wild Horses 7" out now through AARGHT! records (Ooga Boogas, Eddie Current Supression Ring) and you can buy the record from their myspace

You Don't Love Me Yet happens this weekend at the Toff, Swanston Street Melbourne. Read more about the project here

disband

Here we are again.

'Everyday Same Old Way' Disband

If there are any left, a collection of Disband material was released on CD last year to coincide with their performance for WACK! at the MOCA LA. Copies are/were available from the Ooga Booga store. You can also still buy the catalogue from the MOCA LA online store. Or, of course, from the museum if you're that way positioned.

hecuba

In this song, her vocal is empty, but not in a bad way - disinterested but convincingly so - the flatness of her delivery perfectly complimenting the very Lucky Dragons'eqsue minimal tech beat and fog horns. And while at first her words seem to sit a little too uncomfortably within the simplicity of the electronic beat, as the harsher bleeps start up and cut through the initial delicacy of the song everything is brought together perfectly.

Haunting, weird dance that teases you - slowly building to an epic gothic jam but then peetering out just as you're wanting more!

'Miles Away' Hecuba

Paradise is out now on Manimal Vinyl which also features the single 'Suffering' - a song that has the best music video I've seen all year! Seriously! It's so fantastic! I've often talked about my love of Rainbow Arabia, and surely Devendra Banhart is one of everyone's favourite 'shabob shalom' folk stars

Hecuba "Suffering" [Official Video] HD from Hecuba on Vimeo.

Hecuba myspace

you dont love me yet

As a component of Tiny Movements by Swedish conceptual artist Johanna Billing, performance piece ‘You Don’t Love Me Yet’ has been presented in over 20 countries since its conception in 2002.

Scheduled for August 16th, Billing has invited a diverse and exciting collection of Melbourne bands to reinterpret the ever-hopeful tearjerker ‘You Don’t Love Me Yet’ originally recorded by Roky Erikson in 1984. Among those taking part in the event are Beaches, Henry Wagons, Super Wild Horses, Fabulous Diamonds, Tic Toc Tokyo, Francis Plagne, and Teeth and Tongue, each challenged with the task of making something familiar, unique. The event is being held in conjunction with the ongoing series ‘You Don’t Have To Call It Music’ curated by Melbourne musician/artist Marco Fusinato.

Tiny Movements is opening at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in Melbourne Friday, August 14 and is Billing’s first solo show in Australia.

‘You Don’t Love Me Yet’
Sunday, August 16, $10
8 pm – 11 pm
The Toff at Curtin House Swanson Street Melbourne

Also, the reason I've not posted any music for the past week is because I've been watching this video non-stop.

Mariah Carey Feat. Gucci Mane - Obsessed (Official Video)
by Henrietta-Aime-Fumer_Tv

I listened to Eminem today and honey, I am so on Mariah's side. The only issue I have with the video and single is Gucci Mane... he's like a little boy not quite sure what to do with himself in front of the monumental Mariah. Take a back seat boy; just put your bejeweled sunglasses back on and enjoy the show.

I've given myself until first thing tomorrow morning to watch it as much as possible, then am making myself give it up. So normal posts resume tomorrow.

After 5 days away in Byron for Splendour In The Grass the time has come to leave and I really don't want to go home

'Forbidden Holiday' Bridezilla

I had to check work emails today for the first time in a few days and saw the news that Merce Cunningham had died. He was such an incredible artist and choreographer. If you never saw him perform, try and track down some footage somewhere - he moved so beautifully and has such a precise and unchallenged understanding of the body and how it could be used.

Time to pack. Bye Byron

burt sings for you

For my first reader in Costa Rica

Do you know the way to San Jose? Ive been away so long. I may go wrong and lose my way.
Do you know the way to San Jose? I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose. L.A. is a great big freeway. Put a hundred down and buy a car.In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star. Weeks turn into years. how quck they pass. And all the stars that never were, Are parking cars and pumping gas.

Do you know the way to San Jose? They've got a lot of space. There'll be a place where I can stay
I was born and raised in San Jose I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose. Fame and fortune is a magnet. It can pull you far away from home, With a dream in your heart you're never alone. Dreams turn into dust and blow away And there you are without a friend. You pack your car and ride away

Ive got lots of friends in San Jose. Do you know the way to San Jose? Cant wait to get back to San Jose.

(I know Burt's singing about CA, but hopefully you could just go with it)

x Michaella

Kid Cudi 'make her say'

I used to like Cudi's boyish arrogance... but this is ridiculous:



Universal have just released the video for his latest single 'Make Her Say' featuring two of my favourite contemporary hip hop heavyweights Kanye West and Common.



Kanye has long mentored Cudi, but here he steals the show. His phrasing is impeccable, he pronounces everything properly, and he wraps words together with an understanding of the space between them. Common tells stories as always, and Cudi just sounds like he's rushing.

I like that the video splits the screen in two and shows two angles of the same image, but once that novelty wears off it's not enough to hide how boring the clip is! And why are the women there again? What are they doing exactly? They look nice, sure, but do they serve any other function? Maybe they're the ones being poked in the face? Makes me wonder what Lady Ga Ga would say...

washed out

Washed Out sounds like he belongs on Sincerely Yours after spending sun-drenched days wandering the streets of Goteborg Sweden gathering inspiration for the impending endless days of darkness spent crouched over a computer in a studio at the back of his parent's house in some backward, quaint town.

His songs also sound like they belong in an 80s teen romance starring Andrew McCarthy, when Andrew is thinking about how he has almost missed his chance to tell his love interest how he really feels about her, and runs to the bus stop where she waits to be taken to college in a far-away state to confess his love.

'Get Up' Washed Out

Hear more at npip and at his Myspace

Dreamy goodness that is gentle enough to warm souls, but not sickly sweet. And thankfully no steel drum, which most of the producers of this ilk seem to be fascinated with at the moment.

this is exciting

I don't usually get into super groups... Dead Weather for example, I just can't get that excited about. To me they just seem like another Jack White crush come band- first he had Brendan Benson, now he has Alison Mosshart. Maybe the album is really good, just wish I cared.

This, though, I do care about.

Filmed at the Woodsit/Captured Tracks 4th July festival after party:



Cassie from Vivian Girls + Kevin from Woods + Justin from Bossy = Babies

Name is TBC and they've only performed together as a band three times, including the W/CT after party. Despite this, they've already written enough material for an album release so we'll see where they takle it from here.

(thanks to p4k for the heads up)

Vivian Girls premiered their new single 'When I'm Gone' a few days back (sophomore album Everything Is Gone is out September 8 on In The Red), and are touring Australia in September thanks to the wonderful Mistletone

'When I'm Gone' Vivian Girls

VIVIAN GIRLS AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Friday September 25, Spectrum, Sydney (tickets from Moshtix)
Saturday September 26, Spring Tones at Roxanne, Melbourne (tickets from Mistletone)
Sunday September 27, Brisbane Hotel, Hobart (tickets from venue)
Wednesday September 30, Northcote Social, Melbourne (tickets from venue)
Thursday October 1, Metro, Adelaide (tickets from CIB ticket outlets)
Friday October 2, Step Inn, Brisbane (tickets from Oztix)

Blue Roses

When I first heard Laura Groves she was releasing demos with soft vocals and gentle thumb piano under her own name.

Now, she's kept the thumb piano (marimbula) but is performing under the name Blue Roses

Weaving together contemporary British anti-folk and classic Americana with nods to Joanna Newsom, Kate Bush and Emmy The Great, her debut is delicate, naive, and charming.

'I am leaving' Blue Roses

Her debut, self-titled album as Blue Roses is out now on Rough Trade

lily's 22

Motivational pop?



Hear hear lily!

I went to my parents for dinner last night and got into a heated discussion with my grandmother, mum, dad and brother about the responsibility of governmental bodies to practice bias towards women in an attempt to even out the scales. There was a report in the SMH yesterday that claimed women in managerial roles are still earning 40% less than their male colleagues, stating this inequality was in part due to women fewer shorter hours than men. Hmmm....

Its kinda lamely sugarcoated, but Lily does ask a good question; Why does society STILL suggest a woman's social position (and earning capabilities) halts once they've passed middle age?

My fingers are crossed for a Oprah+Meryl Streep style career trajectory!

woven bones

I'm in the mood for scuzzed out rock and roll today



Feedback and fuzz aplenty, Austin's Woven Bones sounded like Wavves, only a little more sinister.

Now Wavves has broken his wrist.. maybe they can step up and play for him at the Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night?!

'With You Alone' Woven Bones

Download 'Your Sorcery' from rcrdlbl here

Order Janie 7" here from Needless records - try your luck and you still might be able to get one of the 100 limited edition pressings on clear green vinyl in cream colored jacket.

Very pretty covers for loud and lary songs.

the scare

How times have changed

'No Money' film clip 2009


with NME magazine 2007


The Scare used to be a bunch of arrogant ratbags who earnt themselves a reputation for bad interviews and drunken stage performances. A few years on and a failed UK move later, they're back with their second album Oozevoodo. I approached the album with terrible prejudice, thinking I'd have one listen and throw it in the bad 70s rock rip offs pile. I was really wrong.

The Scare have really turned themselves around and written a killer sophomore album - with simple guitar melodies, anthemic chorus lines, and Sam Pearton's staccato drumming, the is album full of wonderfully catchy and uncomplicated tracks rooted in rock and roll with real pop cross over appeal. They've clearly been working hard on developing their stage show, and have matured musically and personally - when once they wanted fame and fortune without having to lift a finger, The Scare are now spending great lengths of time in the studio perfecting their sound and endlessly touring the country on various tour supports. Daniel Johns produced this album, and you can hear his influence in the delicate simplicity of the rock melodies. That sort of sound is hard to achieve, but i think they've done a pretty good job at it.

'Could be Bad' The Scare

Hear more at their myspace - the album is out August 7