It's a wonderful life, this life of music
From the category archives:
On Wednesday night, I went to possibly the best gig of my life. And no, I don’t write those words lightly.
But when I managed to see Rodriguez – the legend behind one of my albums of the century (Cold Fact, naturally) – at the Tivoli on Wednesday, it was easily one of the musical highlights [...]
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God. It’s already December the 15th as I write this (not sure when I will get to publish the post) [Ed’s note: only half a month later. Not bad. I’ll just use the excuse that I was waiting until 2009 was over, to give every possible chance to every album in the decade. Yeah, that’s [...]
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Thanks to Phil for pointing this out to me – otherwise Black Friday would have passed uneventfully for me – but apart from online savings, Black Friday brought not only shopping madness, but also the release of Blakroc.
And, holy hell, the thing is shit hot.
Blakroc is, at its core, a collaboration [...]
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So, a while back I was contacted by Sabrina Robertson, who sent me an email saying, “Hey, I think you might dig these guys…”.
First off, I can’t tell you how many emails like these I get. I’m not even one of the “big guys” when it comes to music blogging, so I can only imagine [...]
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So, a while back I noticed that I had watched a lot… and I mean, a lot… of Ryan Adams videos on the ol’ Tube. And I got it into my head that one day, I should really post a collection of my favourite performances of his on here, but for various reasons, I never [...]
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So, if you’re a fan of my Facebook page (and if you aren’t, what are you waiting for? Go on, visit the link and fan the page. I’ll wait. No rush. Back? Good. Ahem… where was I?)… oh yes, so if you’re a fan of my Facebook page, you would have already heard me sing [...]
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I don’t quite know how I’ve let this go until now without a post. Mumford and Sons was a band I’d heard mentioned in quite a few places online, but for some reason I’d never bothered to track down much of their stuff. That was, at least, until Song, By Toad (easily one of my [...]
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There is no better day than today, a Monday, to play this song for you. Below, Dave Smallen’s “I Think It’s Getting Better”.
You know, I can count on one hand the songs this year that have made me feel just as damn happy as this song has. And I think that maybe… just maybe… Dave’s [...]
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The music blogging gig is a weird thing… you can go months without hearing anything that inspires you, and then all of a sudden a whole host of tunes reach out and smack you across the face in a course of a week.
This has been one of those weeks.
Today, following a link posted in [...]
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Have you ever had one of those bands that you didn’t realise exactly how much you missed them, until they reformed, and then you realised how happy that made you? No? Well, I’ve just had one of those moments, when @Lenier made me aware that my old favourites, Skunk Anansie, were back.
When Paranoid and [...]
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So, I know it’s been a while. Here, to help you get through, I present an absolute bundle of joy with We Were Promised Jetpacks‘ video for cracking single “Quiet Little Voices”.
I couldn’t put it better than Captain Obvious did: “I haven’t had this much fun screaming along to songs in a long time“.
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Juzzie Smith – The One Man Band that will blow you away
Juzzie Smith is one of those happy coincidental discoveries. It just so happened that, while my mother was out in Australia visiting us on holiday, we took her up the Sunshine Coast for the weekend. While up there, we decided to take a trip [...]
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My love for Joe Pug is no secret. If there is one artist who I have ever featured on this blog that I would like to see succeed, it’s Joe. Joe’s “Nation of Heat” EP was passed around my friends and family and random people I accosted on the street like no other, and it [...]
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Malcolm Middleton
It’s no secret that Malcolm Middleton is one of my favourite Scottish songwriters. And I don’t use “Scottish” there as a qualification, or an attempt to pigenhole Malcolm. I use it as a badge of honour… I see it as a compliment of the highest order to be seen to lead such a talented [...]
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Jeremy Enigk (image credit: Mark Swanson)
Jeremy Enigk has always been an artist that has fascinated me. Not only because of his work with the highly touted Sunny Day Real Estate, but also because his solo debut, “The Return of the Frog Queen” from 1996 was an album that challenged my perception of what pop music [...]
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Donerail (Image Credit: Trask Bedortha)
Donerail (pronounced Dawn-er-rale) are a Portland band that make me smile. Much like a past Burgoblog favourite, High On Stress, Donerail play that kind of Replacements-like rock ‘n roll that never fails to bring a smile to my face.
Donerail’s latest album, “Destiny and Dishonor“, was recorded live over the course of [...]
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I was thrilled to receive an email yesterday from Leah at Engine Room Recordings letting me know that Lowry (who I featured back here) have just released their new music video for their tune, “Whiskey”. Not only do I love the track itself, but I was also fascinated by the story behind the video: Lowry [...]
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Bugger. I missed posting this yesterday, but in the United States, it still is yesterday, if you know what I mean… so I thought I would post anyway.
Yesterday (or today, depending upon where you are when you read this), marked the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.
There’s a trifecta of musical deaths that shaped my [...]
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The other day I got that kind of email that music bloggers love to get… an email from an artist’s management saying, “Hey… you know, I’ve noticed from your blog posts that you like xyz… and I think you might like some of my client’s stuff. Want to check it out?”… and you actually do [...]
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So, apologies for the decline in posts around these parts lately. It’s been a hectic few months. Actually, scratch that… it’s been a hectic year, and posting sometimes fell by the wayside. So you know it had to be something special to bring me out of that unintentional hiatus, right?
Well, it is. Something special, I [...]
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On Sunday night, I was lucky enough to see “superband”, Coldplay, perform live at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Now, I’m going to throw this right out there. Even when uber-popular music blogs like Stereogum feature bands like Coldplay, there always seems to be a massive backlash from the “Hipster Runoff” type kids. The ones who don’t [...]
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This past weekend, Ray Lamontagne performed “You Are The Best Thing” and “Trouble”, live on SNL.
Posting the videos here… because… well… simply because both performances are FREAKING AWESOME. ‘Nuff Said.
Ray Lamontagne, “You Are The Best Thing”, live on SNL
Ray Lamontagne, “Trouble”, live on SNL
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The Deep Dark Woods
“I’ve been waiting here for days, tryin’ to catch a break. But the way i’m living, it’s gonna cause my heart to ache” ~ The Deep Dark Woods.
Ok, ok… so Cap beat me to posting about these guys, so I’m simply going to point you towards his post rather than regurgitate any [...]
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Alex Dezen (image credit: Heather Conley)
So everyone’s still talking about The Damnwells‘ latest release, “One Last Century”, which was released through Paste Magazine (for free) on Tuesday. And why wouldn’t they still be talking about it? It is, quite simply, one of those albums. An album that was written just for you.
Alex Dezen has always [...]
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So as I mentioned here, the Damnwells are releasing their new album, “One Last Century”, as a free download through Paste Magazine. Today.
What the hell are you still doing here, reading this post? Get going!
Ok, ok, so you’re after more information. Then I would suggest checking out my past Damnwells posts, as Lord knows I’ve [...]
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Bugger. You know, I go offline for a few days, and I miss out on all the cool emails. A few days ago, Tim from the All-Leo Digital Agency (who have a super cool website, by the way) emailed me to let me know that one of their acts, One EskimO, would be performing a [...]
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One of my new favourite music videos… the new video for Fleet Foxes’ “Mykonos” is filmed entirely with stop-motion frames… and it’s sheer beauty.
That is all.
Mykonos from Grandchildren on Vimeo.
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This is just a quick one, but for all of the Damnwells fans out there in my readers (and I know there’s quite a few of you), some exciting news. The Damnwells are going to be releasing their new album, One Last Century, February 10.
Get ready. Spread the word. It’s going to be awesome.
**** [...]
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Little Birdy
Maybe it’s just because I’m having some personal issues right now, but this new single from Little Birdy, “Brother”, from their upcoming album, “Confetti” is one of the most soul-rending songs I’ve ever heard.
The track also features Australian music legend, Paul Kelly on harmonica and backing vocals.
This song is killing me, right now.
Listen. Love. [...]
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So, last night, I saw titans perform at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Not only did I see My Morning Jacket perform as the opening act, but then Neil Young came on and absolutely tore the stage apart.
There won’t be a normal review post here today, because, frankly, I decided that I needed to go to [...]
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Last night, I had probably the most visceral experience of my life, watching Bon Iver perform live at the Tivoli in Brisbane. To call it sublime would be an understatement.
It was over two years ago (side note: how fast is time going these days? I mean, honestly…) that the dulcet tones of Justin Vernon first [...]
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Because it’s been a while since my last Ryan Adams post, and because Black Cab Sessions just posted this a few days ago… well, the timing was too fortuitous to ignore. Below, for your entertainment: Ryan Adams performing “Sinking Ships”, live for a Black Cab Session.
Hat’s go off to the cabbie; Ryan could have been [...]
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Ok ok, I’m going to be upfront here. I’m probably a bit biased about this track, as ever since the days of The United States of Leland (seriously… this is a criminally underrated film), actor Ryan Gosling has been… well, probably my favourite actor. So when I heard news of him being in a band, [...]
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I recently came across this session on the always fabulous LaundroMatinee site, and simply had to post it. Anyone who’s read this blog for any amount of time will know my love for Joe Pug (after all, I included him in my “Best Of 2008” post, and called him the artist I “most wanted to [...]
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Ok, so I’m a few days late (read: over a week) in getting this up, but unfortunately the whole “Festive Season” rush got in the way of regular posting. Anyway, Burgo’s Music Blog favourite, Bon Iver, is releasing their four song EP, Blood Bank, in January, via Jagjaguwar.
And we’ve got a first listen below.
Out of [...]
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You know, I wasn’t sold on Samantha Crain… not quite, despite the major promise that I heard in her release “Confiscation EP“. It was undeniable that there was major talent in there, but for some reason, it just didn’t seem to reach that “critical mass” point, where everything comes together in this wonderful, glittering moment, [...]
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It’s obviously a week for talking about my favourite bands. Today, I’m going to post about another favourite band of mine, State Radio. For more about how much this band means to me, you can check out my past posts on State Radio here. If not, suffice to say that this band has been instrumental [...]
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Yes… Archives Vol.1 finally seems tangible. If it’s at all possible, I’m now even more excited for the Neil Young gig I’m going to next month. Enjoy.
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So today I was surfing the ‘Tube, and I decided to relive the joy that is “The Damnwells” by surfing some of their videos. First, I watched this video, uploaded way back in 2006, promoting the album “Air Stereo”.
… and I was filled with this sense of wonder. I mean, no matter how many times [...]
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So over the last four days, Ryan Adams has been busy on Youtube (see the Cards’ ‘Tube profile here), uploading “home jams” of some of his past songs. Given that he uploaded yet another one, “Cobwebs”, only 8 hours ago, I started thinking… well, how many more of these does he plan to do? So, [...]
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Included here for no other reason than:
It’s Kelly Jones… I mean, c’mon.
“Maybe Tomorrow” was always one of my favourite Stereophonics songs.
And, perhaps most importantly…
It’s been one of those days, and I’m hoping that… well, maybe tomorrow, you know?
Anyway, watch it below. Taken from the BBC’s “Later… with Jools Holland” show.
[youtube]Y6ferehHaWQ[/youtube]
You can see more posts where [...]
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Late December Update:
Unfortunately, after months of fighting with the RIAA amongst others, Mixwit, the site that I used to embed the below playlist, has had to close down. This means that the below playlist is no longer operating, but you can still read about the bands and follow the links to their individual posts below [...]
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(Side Note: Apologies for the weird formatting issues in the below post. I’m posting this from the road, and my laptop seems to be acting up a bit. When I’m back at my regular computer next week, I’ll try and fix it up. For now, I hope you can put up with the changing fonts [...]
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Following on from the Cardinals’ Coffee Shop Show, Ryan Adams & Co. have just released the entire (yes, entire… in other words, close on 30 minutes) 3 Voor 12 set up at cave.cardinology.
I really don’t see the need to enter too much in this post here. Honestly, I think I’ve talked about Ryan Adams and [...]
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This is a really short note here, but to any of you readers who have enjoyed the stuff you’ve heard from Joe Pug on this blog so far, you might want to head over to NPR to stream Joe Pug’s October 5 performance from NPR’s Mountain Stage in full… trust me, you won’t regret it.
The [...]
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For some reason, if you’d asked me last week whether I had posted about William Fitzsimmons on this blog before, I would have sworn blind that I had discussed his 2006 album “Goodnight” sometime in 2007. However, I recently received his 2008 album, “The Sparrow & The Crow“, and was preparing a post when I [...]
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