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A Look Back at Burgo's Blog Thus Far...

Year End Roundup Post – Happy New Year all!

So this is just a quick post before I head out the door for a New Year’s Eve spent up Tambourine Mountain, but to all the readers out there… Happy New Year!

It’s been a great year here on Burgo’s Music Blog… so here were a few takeaways:

– Most visited post on the site in 2008:

Unsurprisingly, this honour went to the “30 South African Bands you NEED to hear!” post. Given that the post ranks #1 for the term “South African Bands” on google, it tends to bring in a fair amount of traffic.

– Most commented post in 2008:
Toss up here… obviously the “South African Bands” post ranks right up there, as it is one of the most visited, so it still continues to get a lot of comments in 2008. But the post itself was actually posted in 2007, so that kind of excludes it from that honour. Looking solely at posts published in 2008, it was a close race with posts like “Counting Crows, live on WXPN” and “Live Music Friday – Alex Dezen and Dave Chernis of The Damnwells, live on World Cafe Live” both garnering 13 comments a piece, but the winner in the end was the “Howie Day, live at the Troubadour in Brisbane” post, which ended up with 15 comments. Yeah, I know, 15 doesn’t sound a lot, but the community is definitely growing around these parts.

– Most downloaded mp3s from the site in 2008:
Without a question, it was the mp3s located at the “Live Music Friday – Coldplay, live at London’s Brixton Academy” post. The amount of other sites that were hotlinking to these mp3s was simply staggering, and it prompted me having to move from my old host to another. Yeah, we’re talking gigs of bandwidth here in an incredibly short amount of time, which wasn’t exactly appreciated by my previous host. While it’s great that it was popular, hotlinking directly to another site’s mp3s on your own site without linking to the original post is just a lack of plain old manners. Let’s remember kids, common courtesy is our friend…

Other highlights? Well, the blog finally led me into communication with some of my musical idols this year. My “Live Music Friday – Pete Francis, live at The Woodstock Opera House” was actually featured by Pete himself on his own Myspace blog (you can see it here) which blew me away, and my constant rambling about The Damnwells led to some communication with Alex Dezen. Related to that, it also led to me launching another site, The Damnwells Music.com… don’t worry all those who offered to help with that site, I haven’t forgotten about you just yet; it’s just that Alex and I are still discussing how best to use that site to help the Damnwells word get out there.

We also had our first guest post featured on the blog this year, with this post from Rachel Morris about Josh Moore. Personally, I think Rachel did a great job with the post, and encourage anyone else out there who might feel like trying their hand at guest posting to get in touch with me (email address listed in the sidebar, to the left there).


All in all, it’s been a great year, especially on the live music front. 2008 saw me attend such shows as Matt Costa, Will Conner & Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz at the Tivoli (twice), Ozomatli & G Love and Special Sauce, Death Cab for Cutie, and, most recently, Howie Day at The Troubadour. Then of course there are the countless other shows I saw, that I didn’t manage to post about, such as Australian legends the Hoodoo Gurus, Children Collide, The Boat People and many others.
2009 promises to be just as exciting, with upcoming shows Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, Neil Young, and Ryan Adams & The Cardinals all coming up in January! Following on from that, there’s a show with Josh Pyke coming up, and then Coldplay in March. All in all, it looks like the beginning of 2009 is off to a cracker!

Anyway, that’s all from me kids. Here’s wishing you all a happy and fortunate 2009. Until then… be lucky.

Happy New Year!!!

newyear



Categories
2009 releases Movies music music videos

Fokofpolisiekar – Documentary Trailer

So this is probably more of interest for my South African readers, but I’ve just stumbled across a trailer for the Fly On The Wall documentary on Fokofpolisiekar, one of South Africa’s most well known hard rock bands. Having played at the same festival as these guys once or twice, I can say with certainty that if nothing else, it promises to be unique.

From the trailer information:

FOKOFPOLISIEKAR, a film about 5 young afrikaans punk rockers that transformed a generation during a unique time in history in one of the most reluctantly complex and evolving societies of the 21st century. Many thought the name crazy, and then the music came and many were enraged, publicly protesting “die bende” (the gang) who had the strength of their own voice and the desire to question, and in a place where passion and brandy meet – many thousands became fans for life.

The below trailer was shot by the same guys who shot the video for the track, “Safe as Houses”, from the group aKING (the band which includes Fokofpolisiekar’s Hunter Kennedy and Jaco Venter… which I originally featured in a post back here, called “Stop the presses. aKING is South Africa’s next big thing“). For those of you who haven’t heard Fokofpolisiekar before, you might be surprised to hear just how much the two bands’ sounds differ… so I’ve included the documentary trailer, and then aKING’s “Safe As Houses” video below again.

As I say… this should be very interesting, to say the least.


Fokofpolisiekar – The Documentary Trailer


aKING – Safe as Houses Music Video

Categories
2009 releases artists artists to watch for in 2009 live songs music music videos

Dead Man’s Bones – In Your Room (Video)

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, called “Dead Man’s Bones“, along with bandmate Zach Shields, I was impatient to finally hear some of their material.

The two have just released a video on their myspace page, called “In Your Room”. And you know what? It’s fantastic. Describing their sound as a mixture of Gothic, Gospel and Showtunes, and their influences as “disney haunted mansion, doo wop and 60s girl groups”, it’s like a joyous celebration of Halloween all over again. And I like it.

In The Room Where You Sleep (live video version)

The boys will be playing at the Werewolf Hearts Records Showcase at SXSW on March 21, 2009, and promise that an album (and official site) will be coming soon.

Categories
2009 releases artists digital downloads guitar live songs music videos

Joe Pug – I’m Not So Sure & Bury Me Far From My Uniform

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 help make it“.

So when I stumbled on these videos of Joe performing two as-yet-unreleased tracks, “I’m Not So Sure” & “Bury Me Far From My Uniform” (two tracks which I previously pointed you towards in this post), it was a given that I would post them. Take simply beautiful songs from Joe Pug, add in one extremely loud cricket… and you’re in for good times.

Suffice to say, I’m still enraptured by this kid.

Below, the videos, and after that the mp3s of the tracks.

Listen. Love. Support.


Joe Pug – Not So Sure from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.


Joe Pug – Bury Me Far From My Uniform from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Listen: Joe Pug – Not So Sure (live)
Listen: Joe Pug – Bury Me Far From My Uniform (live)

Joe Pug’s full length debut is out sometime in 2009… and you can bet your bippy it’s going to be killer.

Categories
2009 releases artists guitar music

New Bon Iver Track – Blood Bank

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 respect for the EP’s release, there isn’t a downloadable mp3 listed below; instead I’ve embedded an Imeem widget with the album’s title track included, which is a new way of doing things on this blog. For those who haven’t used Imeem before, just hit the play button, to… well… play the track (yes, you’d think that was self-explanatory, but I had to explain the same thing about another mp3 player I used to a few of my visitors earlier in the year. Sad, but true).

It’s beautiful, and if this is what we can expect from Bon Iver as a full band… well, I’m excited. Oh, and did I mention that I’m seeing Justin and Co. live in January? Yeah. Awesomeness.

Listen. Love. Support.

Categories
2008 releases artists artists to watch for in 2009 live songs music videos

Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers – The River (Video)

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, you know?

That was… until I saw this.

Now, I’m excited.


Samantha Crain’s new album, “Songs in the Night” is due out April, 2009. You can bet I’ll be watching with interest.

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Uncategorized

Motel Motel, “Spanish Harlem”… Happy Holidays everyone!

One of the most effortlessly cool bands I know, Motel Motel (originally featured on this blog here, and also a band that made it onto my “Best of 2008” post) have released a Youtube video wishing you all a happy holiday. And, true to form… it’s pretty damn cool.


I’ll hopefully have a chance to post again before Christmas, but if not… this will do. Happy Holidays everyone. Be lucky.

Categories
artists guitar Inspirational thoughts live songs music music videos

State Radio, “Right Me Up” live at the Bank of America Pavilion

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 in changing my world view. Without a doubt.

Recently, State Radio released a video on Youtube of them performing their killer track, “Right Me Up“, live at the Bank of America Pavilion. And it’s a special, special moment. See for yourself below.

Is it any wonder I love this band?

On a closing note:  Congratulations to Chad from the band for winning the Boston Music Awards’ Humanitarian of the Year Award. It’s a great recognition of the efforts the band has made so far, but as Chad says, “there’s so much more in store with the Calling All Crows Foundation“. Visit the site, and support. It’s the right thing to do.