3.

Now you're gone.
You took with you
all your stories,
all your songs,
and all our jokes.

You are
and will be missed,
you will be loved
always.

She loved you
with all her being.
I know it, I feel it.
The sound of her tears
is deafening.
My heart
breaks with her heart.
-------------------------
For Jarlyth.

Fanfarlo

Am really liking what I've heard London-based indie band Fanfarlo! Pretty crusiey and nice tunes! They are coming to Melbourne, a gig at Northcote Social Club on Aug 5th! I think it will be a good one!

See http://www.fanfarlo.com/home!

This weekend...

Am digging....

Eels 'Prizefighter' have played it a few times this week. Love it! Love all their stuff really!



Dan Black's 'Symphonies' plus the clip is so cool, referencing some major moments in film history!


some Ratatat to get me revved up for a big Saturday night ahead!


this is catchy too, Groove Armada's Paper Romance. They are going in a new direction with the latest album! And I like it!

SSION

I will admit I had never heard of SSION from Kansas City until today, when I read an interview with the mastermind behind the moustache, one Cody Critecheloe in I-D (fab mag)....I then looked up some youtube clips, which made me cringe a little and grin alot. I really like it and dont at the same time, strange sensation...
check it out:



x

This week:

I am rugging up warm attempting to avoid the bruntn of a Melbourne winter, and to keep me going dispite the sniffles I am listening to some...

The National, I am loving the new album like a new friend or lover- one that you instantly click with and want to spend everyday with.



some Four Tet:


also not minding some Yeasayer

Great Earthquake- 'Drawings'

There is no doubt that the word on the street is that Melbourne-based Noah Symons, aka Great Earthquake is a talented musician and soundscape mastermind. His first album released this month, Drawings is the proof of just how talented he is. This is his first solo-album after his work with post-punkers Flag and Forget. Drawings is an unique, energetic, crowded entanglement of interesting and beautiful sounds.
Most of the time when I listen to music I tend to instinctively focus on the lyrics and how they relate to the overall sound, but here there is very limited lyrics. The album consists of 9 instrumental tracks, with only two of these featuring any vocals. The stories of the songs instead are told only through the instruments and music alone, vocally expressed lyrics are not needed. The sounds wind and twist and speak for themselves.

Drawings is the perfect album title, the tracks sound like drawings- starting as bizarre scribbles but leading you to somehow make out faces, stories and places from these scribbles. Symons claims that part of his inspiration/influences is the hills where he lives, in outer-Melbourne you can here this in his work, you can picture landscapes from while you listen. After listening to the L.P I was not surprised to find out that Symons is also a visual artist. Here the feisty accordion, amazing drums, guitar, bells, etc are working as the crayons, pencils and paint.

The opening track ‘Clap Clap!’ launches listeners into an upbeat movement; bells chime and drum speed enhances. It’s a little frantic and as it builds up the strange abstract power these sounds process grow on you. Sometimes instrumentals like this try to build up but get stuck half-way and become somewhat boring but not here, it builds up with purpose and momentum, the word boring does not apply even for a minute. Not all the tracks are this euphorically energetic and intense as the opener, but all of them express this same amount of power in different ways and aspects.

Some tracks including ‘From A Memory’ are embedded with a touch of melancholy making them perfect for the Winter, especially a Winter to be spent in the seemingly ever-increasingly grey Melbourne. ‘Words and Images’, one of the only tracks with any vocals is joyous and sweet with vocals from Maude Farrugia, and the chirps of birds. The more upbeat and sweet tracks like this one successfully balance out the darker, more melancholy moments of the album, creating a sketchbook of different drawings.

If Drawings is anything to go by, Symons solo work as Great Earthquake is really something to keep an eye out for. I am sure the live shows would be something to see.
Drawings is out now, released by Sensory Projects.
See www.myspace.com/greatearthquake.

(This review was written by me, for www.thedwarf.com.au)

Tell her where to go!

Recently a friend of mine asked for some ideas of bars to celebrate her birthday at. The list of options I would recommend was huge! I thought I would share a few off this list of fantastic Melbourne bars!

Berlin Bar: (East Berlin pictured)
Really unique, stylish and very cool, the bar is themed; half East Berlin and half West Berlin from back in the divided days. It has table service and a fantastic menu with very tasty (slightly on the pricey-side) cocktails!
16 Corrs Lane, Melbourne- right in the heart of the city.

Toff In Town:

This place has two sections, one with a boutique stage that frequently has local and international gigs, filled with chairs and tables for a chilled night. For example, this Sunday Tin Pan Orange will perform. The other room is filled with old carriages, where you can shut yourself off from the world with a few friends and enjoy your drinks secluded from everyone and everything.
2/252 Swanston Street (Level 2 of Curtin House), Melbourne.

Borsch, Vodka and Tears:

A little Polish restaurant and bar, known for the huge choice of vodkas from Poland and neighbouring countries. It avoids the pretentious nature of some other Chapel Street bars. It's cute and a little quirky inside, and has a handy heated area out on the street-front for the chillier nights.
173 Chapel St, Windsor.