my bones ache

Killer
Sunday April 12
Metro Theatre

If i could muster the energy i would make this an extended post with all the bells and whistles illustrating how brilliant Killer was last night. But i have all the pep of prozac. My easter long weekend has been massive.

The sold-out show featured Sinden, Trentemoller and Fake Blood. It also featured more pairs of skinny jeans than China could produce in a minute (nb. a shitload).

After an entertaining set from Sydney's Kato, Sinden hit the main stage for a hard mix. His BPM's were defs higher than any other DJ on the night and was responsible for the most de-shirting in the crowd. Fucking insane. I had no idea American Apparel made boy bras.

Trentemoller gets the Velvet Blouse from me - he was the standout. He had a smaller room and less lighting than his counterparts in the main auditorium but made up for this with charisma and good ol' fashion screaming at the crowd. He fingered the decks like a pianist and set an epic mood throughout the small auditorium. The room was very Euro (esp. with the steel frame balcony upstairs) and with hints of Trentemoller's minimal background seeping through it was unlike anything else that night. He deserves every handshake and groupie that comes his way.

Who is Fake Blood? That's what most people say about him and, like Daft Punk, he remains an enigma. I was expecting a Spartan built, well-dressed demon to impale Sinden before engulfing the lock-jawed crowd in an electro inferno. But he casually approached the decks in a flannel shirt and army cap looking about 40. Not to deny the show's headliner wasn't radtastic though. He cut sic for about 90 minutes with his colourful and easily absorbed tracklist. The place erupted when Mars dropped.

Ok, i'm off for a massage and sushi. Happy Easter guys.

em eight three

M83
Thursday April 2
Metro Theatre, Sydney

I feel the urge to be serious. Maybe because M83 is such a serious band. So serious that frontman Anthony Gonzalez walked to the back of the stage halfway into their set, then screamed his Antiban lungs out at the Metro's sound man, who was apparently fucking up their show.

This didn't dampen the mood though. The venue was packed like an orge in a cubicle, even early on when The Dø played their solid support slot. It was apparent that punters were there to see some kind of musical art, and that's what they got when M83 stepped out - with or without perfect sound. Honestly, on the floor it was hard to tell anything was wrong.

All i could tell was that a massive cloud of shoegazey guitars and synths massaged the crowd with every opening riff, every build-up and every break down. Gonzalez, although a one-man-band, brought along a drummer tucked behind a perspex partition, a shy bassist/supporting guitarist and a ridiculously attractive supporting vocalist and keyboardist (nb: Steve agrees). Highlights were definitely "We Own The Sky", "Graveyard Girl" and "Don't Save Us From The Flames".

The show went like clockwork until they played "Kim & Jessie". About halfway in the vocals became ear-molestingly loud. You could see Gonzalez' frustration, as well as the other band members. That's when said shouting incident occured. After "A Guitar and a Heart", probably the best song of the show, the band hastily left the stage. It had barely been 40 minutes of playing.

Before the night went pear-shaped they returned for the encore, and i thought "Couleurs". Luckily the band did as well, and performed a drenching extended version of the Saturdays = Youth single.

Let's hope M83 make it back to Sydney soon. I suspect they'll be playing the Enmore when they do.

M83 - A Guitar And A Heart