parklife

This coming Sunday Parklife will hit Sydney, a long weekend and celestial Spring weather. There really is no better combination to usher in the festival season. The only thing that could compare is if the moon became a strobe light on NYE. Or spun around and said something dopey.

Fellow Parklifers, there are things you should and shouldn't do this weekend. I'll illustrate.

*Cue dark synths and smoke machines* It was way back (last week), one sunny summer afternoon in a Potts Point apartment. A raving buddy and I hung our arms from the breezy window, above a fucking hipster's balcony. We smoked cigarettes like air, drank Vodka like water and debated the "way of the rave" for hours.

We discussed 'rules' for Field Day 2010, but the ideas applied to any festival. Like Confucius, my buddy's words echoed through time like planets colliding. Her name is Lauren Murada. She is also a hipster, loves Top Shop, indie-electro, will trip in heels of any height and reckons chicks go to dubstep nights to experience vibrating toilet seats. This is what she said:

"My advice would be to definitely leave your shirt on. Don't wear thongs. Invest in a pairs of Cons or High Tops. Wear sunscreen. Don't pass out before 1pm and don't wet yourself. Oh, and see the Juan Maclean."

Empire of the Sun - Standing on the Shore (Cassian Remix)

Miike Snow - Black & Blue (Tiga Remix)

La Roux - I'm Not Your Toy (datA Remix)

La Roux - In for the Kill (Diplo and Bot Edit)

Services - Element of Danger (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Late of the Pier - The Bears are Coming (Joakim Remix)

Bloc Party - Hunting for Witches (Crystal Castles Remix)

Claude Von Stroke - Who's Afraid of Detroit? (Audion Remix)

Metronomy - Not Made for Love (Joakim Remix)

The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers (Morgan Geist Remix)

Sydney Parklife 2009 set list.

the videodrome mk XVIII

for those of you that are still buzzing after seeing Bloc Party last month, here is the sadistically awesome new video for their next single 'one month off'.
if you like seeing fairytale characters getting maimed and injured then please prepare yourself a hot chocolate and get comfortable...


Bloc Party - One Month Off

stupid bonus.. Bloc Party - Banquet (The Streets Remix)

BLOUSE BLOUSE BLOUSE

the time has come.. blouse has finally decided to throw a blog party!! kicking off tomorrow night at THE CROSS (above the Bourbon), it shall be funtastic indeed.



finally you can put faces to names and we can show you what this bloggg thang is about by playing you some of our favourite tunes and artists.. spectacular

helping us to rock the spot along the way will be Andy Webb from disco delicious, nad from stand-c, jesse from havefunclub and our new writing friend, vi from disco not disco..

doors open at 8 and $3 drinks run from 10-12.. yummo!

to help get us all in the mood here is a very preset-ty sort of remix from london rocker Padded Cell..

Heidi Vs Riton - Vejer (Padded Cell Remix)

despite the tough bassline and percussion, this track manages to maintain a very uplifting vibe..

it was lifted from the 5 year Get Physical celebration CD which you can pick up here

Spitt

I've come to the realisation that my hatred of MySpace might have to cease for a while, as bands are asking us to review them entirely from the selected songs on the MySpace mp3 player.
But seriously, worst site ever. It has never been Safari or standards compliant (not to mention that doesn't play nice with those of us with slower internet speeds) and is generally ugly as arse as soon as you let someone with no experience with web design customise their profile as much as they want.
I'm not going to refuse to review stuff that is based on MySpace, that's just harsh, but pleasepleaseplease, if you want us to check out your band, can you send us an mp3 or AAC file? It just makes it so much easier for us, and also potentially makes your music sound much better (running through an equaliser like iWow rather than the EQ-free MySpace player which, trust me, sounds pretty awful).

Anyway, onwards and upwards, those of you who are post-rockedly inclined should definitely check out the new Mogwai EP, BatCat, which is two thirds an awesome release! I tend to dislike Mogwai tracks with vocals, and as such was let down by the last song on BatCat, but still.

Mogwai - Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend

Listening to this really got me back into the spirit of Mogwai - whom I haven't listened to for quite some time - flooding me with memories of inadvertently wandering into their set at Splendour several years ago. Still the most surreal experience, I had wanted to see them, as I had heard great things, but I hadn't heard much more than Hunted By A Freak, and quick listens to Come on, Die Young before the trip. High and drunk as fuck, wandering into this blue-tinged tent to a perfectly silent, stirring crowd, while a silhouetted guitar just hummed on stage. As I found myself nearing the front of the crowd, drums errupted and the lighting flicked on and the whole place just exploded with energy and sweat and noise.

Mogwai - Summer (Klute's Weird Winter Remix)


Digesting Veto's newest album, Crushing Digits over the last week or so, I've been pretty impressed. On the first listen, I felt the singer sounded like he's come directly out of an American faux punk band and mixed over electronica. Learning that Veto are actually Dutch Danish made me drop this opinion pretty quickly (apologies for the ignorance of having never heard of them before), and there was a period of a couple of days where I didn't want to listen to anything else.
All in all, I think this is wonderful electronic pop music. The kind of music I could imagine an entire crowd chorusing in with, if Veto was big enough for that. There are several moments throughout where faster tempos and simple chord structures makes feels like a punk rock record, albeit it an electronic one. Considering the current stale state of emo shit, I suppose it is.

Veto - You Say Yes, I say Yes

Veto - Built to Fail

Veto - You Can't Afford It


In other news, I rather like the new Bloc Party album.

There are about three or four stand out tracks for me. Here's one of them.

Bloc Party - Halo


And that's all from me for now. I'm off to browse MySpace.

more cant hurt

i think that i still want to throw my 2 bloc party and sebastiAn cents in, despite the fact that there is probably already a total of about $3 in whatever it is im aiming for..

i have a healthy dose of respect for bloc party.. even though they are a largely mainstream band these days, they seem to like pushing the mainstream boundaries and keeping their fans on their toes..
i must admit that i havent been following them too closely since 'silent alarm', but i do believe that there were a couple of songs on their last album (a weekend in the city) that were a bit unexpected (the prayer, flux).. and with Mercury, it looks like they are again leading with another.. 'un-blocpartyish' sort of track..

Bloc Party - Mercury

when i first heard 'Mercury' on the radio a few weeks ago i thought that i was listening to a remix of a new bloc party single.. (isn't this the point in the bloc party boy's careers where they make formulaic banquet replicas?) but no.. it seems as if bloc party have turned up with a b'more (and ever so slightly fidget) influenced rock track... it really is a compelling and demanding song. i really like how the fluttery drums and percussion manage to hold the quirky horns string and synths together so well.

bloc party also really seem to be embracing the whole dance/electronic thing too, having done a remix for chromeo, and having had their singles and albums remixed by nearly everyone on earth. as im sure you probably know, Mercury came bundled with remixes by CSS, Flosstradamus and Herve

Bloc Party - Mercury (Flosstradamus Remix)

i definitely agree with electrorash here.. the flosstradamus remix is the pick of the litter.. is herve flogging a dying horse??

someone else that might be flogging a dying horse is sebastiAn ('dog' didnt exactly get the best reception).. please dont get me wrong- listening to his 'greatest hits/remixes" cd did put a large dopey smile on my face, but i think it was more because his beats made me reminisce about the fun times had with bangersz than anything else..

these tracks were my faves off the album..

Annie - Happy Without You (sebastiAn Remix)

The Rakes - We Danced Together (sebastiAn Remix)

The Editors - Camera (Fader) (sebastiAn Remix)

i couldnt help feeling while listening to this album that it was a bit of book end- a celebration of the past.. not just sebastiAn's past either, but of the whole electro movement..
with the everchanging world of dance music and all this talk of disco house, are bangers doomed to be relegated to back rooms and niche clubs like (shitty) trance?? busy p and ed banger have already said somewhere that they are going to try and move away from bangers and blogs have certainly started to post more ear-friendly tracks..

eeekk.. im getting way too far ahead of myself i think.. maybe ill stop going on and on about this stuff