It’s not surprising that the fifteen-year-old boy I tutor introduced me to this video. Spatial geometry and the causes of the Vietnam War gathered dust, as he made me view it numerous times, pointing out which girl was his favourite and why: the one on the left, because she’s hot; the one on the right because she is ‘hittin’ her moves’; and Beyoncé, because, well she’s Beyoncé. To be honest, after the first ten seconds of our first viewing, I became a very willing participant in the whole discussion. We talked about why Beyoncé’s pseudo-feminist lyrics sometimes annoy me (Jay-Z did ‘put a [HUGE] ring on it’) and which moves were our favourites (mine occurs at the 52 second mark, he likes the one at 1:32). Truthfully, I barely like this song, but this video is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I wonder if we could cut the sound and get Sir David Attenborough to narrate it.

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It’s hard to find a misstep on the full-length debut from Melbourne band, Children Collide. The Long Now doesn’t sound like a first album: its mature, yet completely varied sound and lyrical concept makes it feel like something you’d expect from a band on their third or fourth album (you know, after the ‘cursed’ second album). Children Collide are most definitely in control, something that could have been lost while working with big-name producer, Dave Sardy. It’s rare that you pick up a CD and feel like the band has decided on everything, right down to the artwork that encases their killer album. We threw guitarist-singer Johnny Mackay a few questions about how they managed to wrap everything up in such a … errr … tight little package.

You seemed to have focused a whole lot of genres, into one clean tight sound. Is that something you guys have honed over the last few years?
‘Well, I’d say it’s more a result of us being people who appreciate a lot of different types of music. We get bored if songs sound too similar and prefer the sound of our instruments to be more what connects the songs rather than their style. Clean and tight? Sometimes I guess’.

Were you waiting to get to a certain point with your sound before you took the plunge to record the album?
‘Not really. Our sound goes out in all kinds of directions and there are songs on this record that we have played from our first gig along with songs that were written more than three years later. I would have been happy to record an album with the first twelve songs we ever wrote but that didn’t happen. Now we’ve written probably about 80 and have demo’d more than 60 of those. There’s no clear evolution in our sound, only an increasingly varied dynamism. Well, that’s my hope anyway’.

Lyrically, the album navigates quite a bleak social landscape. Where does this ‘end of the world’ inspiration come from?
‘It’s probably my way of accepting the mortality of all things. Or taking mortality to a macro level. Lyrically I often theorise and question rather than make statements, so a lot of it just me dreaming up an abstract “what if” rather than a cynical diss on the state of the planet’.

The silver-moon-scratch-panel on my copy of the album revealed the Earth, what are the other possible versions?
‘One is a clock, which mysteriously points to just after eleven minutes past ten. A crazy, unintentional coincidence with the date we released 11/10. The other is the Voyager gold record. When they sent out the Voyager spacecraft in the 70s they included a record that contained images and sounds from earth in case any aliens found it I guess. It also has a diagram depicting the location of earth’.

How does it relate to the album?
‘Well, I tend to write a lot of lyrics that allude to concepts of space and time in different ways. The images probably relate to the title more actually, which, in turn, relates to the songs’.

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I can say with an unwavering amount of conviction that kaleidoscopes are the greatest things ever invented. Well, one of them at least. Brisbane band, The John Steel Singers, take that statement and turn it into a super cool video for their song, Rainbow Kraut. I think Oliver Sacks would agree: phantom hands should always play keyboards.

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Chances are we haven’t met. Despite this, it’s most likely you’ve heard that I’m a huge fan of Adelaide band Wolf and Cub. The somewhat strange unconditional love I feel for this band can be justified with this live footage from a show they did in Sydney a month ago. As you will see, Wolf and Cub are always thrilling to watch, not just because of the two drummer thing (or the newly added saxophone), but because their sound always goes to unexpected places. They never sound the same. Sure the songs are recognisable, but they always manage to play them in a way I’ve never heard before. So enjoy this absolutely superb set courtesy of MoshCam [watch footage], featuring some of their new tunes, stunningly fresh renditions of their old ones, singer Joel Byrne’s shiny new haircut and some shots of bass player Thomas Mayhew’s rarely seen face.

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When I was little, for reasons I can no longer remember, I wanted to be Catwoman. A little older and appreciating the impracticalities of such an outfit, I’ve decided to be Erykah Badu, instead. On the Spanish leg of her recent European tour she rocked the crowd with her funky dance moves and a set of pipes that are a weapon of mass destruction. Her tunes, both old and new, were performed with vigour and something a little harder to explain. It was her vibe, her flow, her drama, her wit that enthralled me. Like Catwoman, she was something beautiful, dangerous and dressed in black.
[audio:http://pigmystrong.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/02-erykah_badu-the_healer.mp3]

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See, a video like this would confuse the Pussycat Dolls. It is a super hot-sexy video. But alas, no one is wearing skin-tight black latex pants, or skin-tight pink latex tops. I imagine them screaming at the television ‘where is all the skin! Skin!’ All five (or is it six?) Pussycat Dolls aside, this pairing is super cool. I love that Jack White finally got to do a Bond theme, and I think he’s done a great job on Another Way To Die. I also hear that he is going to work with Miss Keys on her next album. But for now we must be satisfied with watching this video over, and over, and over again.

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A few months ago, Dan Davey tapped me on the shoulder and politely asked me for a moment of my time. We had a brief — and, of course, polite — conversation about Sydney’s psychedelic ‘scene’. Not wanting to take up more of my time, he politely said, ‘nice to meet you’, and went on his very polite way. Now, either all the people I hang around with are really rude, or Dan Davey is the most well-mannered man I have ever met. This seemingly irrelevant tale becomes totally relevant when you hear his band Sister Jane. You see, when Dan sings, it sounds like he smokes fifty cigarettes a day, is made up of 87% liquor and never asks for a moment of your time, because he’s just too damn cool. So take a moment of your time and give their song, Shacked Up Blues, a listen.

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I recently added DJ to my repertoire of skills, after I ‘dropped’ tunes till the early hours of the morning in my friend’s lounge room. The dance floor was positively heaving as the punters (or punter, my friend Macarena) lapped up some LCD Soundsystem, N*E*R*D and, of course, Spank Rock. As the sun started to rise, I decided to tone down the mood, working the blissful Park Benches by Belles Will Ring into my set. I’d forgotten how beautiful the song is, and have been listening to it ever since. Check out the lovely video they did for the Shoot The Player team in the backstreets of Sydney.

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The Drones are a rarity for me. Unlike my Arctic Monkeys or MGMT fixations, their music possesses a longevity that makes me think I’ll still be listening to them when I’m old and grey. Like their previous albums, the sounds on their new release Havilah are challenging, or at least give you the sense that they challenged themselves while making this record. For a record made in an isolated shack, the sound manages to be really big — with all the intimacy tied up in its vocals. Gareth Liddiard’s rough and filthy register is endearingly believable, sometimes scary, and so distinctly belongs to this band. The Drones have produced a phenomenal piece of art with this record, exuding the kind of brilliance that makes me think, we have only seen a fraction of what this band is capable of.

[audio:http://www.thedrones.com.au/audio/The%20Cockeyed%20Lowlife%20Of%20The%20Highlands.mp3]

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Every now and then you encounter a band whose sound cannot be confined to CD, Vinyl or a MySpace Music Player; a sound so incredible that it must be experienced first hand, in the flesh, where it can do some well-deserved damage to your eardrums. Sydney’s Dead Farmers are one of these bands. Definitely the most musical aggressive act I’ve encountered in the last two years, Dead Farmers have an intensely dirty and expansive sound that cannot be ignored. They have that wonderful talent of being so damn noisy, but not being just noise. They play frequently around Sydney and Melbourne, so if you get the chance, you should really check them out. It’s like being kicked in the guts — but in a really good way; a Fight Club kind of way.

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Last week when the 2008 ARIA nominations were released, I was so happy to see the recognition of Melbourne’s Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Their album Primary Colours is pure, unadulterated Aussie rock, standing out from the numerous electro releases we’ve had this year. The band manages to capture that wonderful pub-vibe without any pretension or tragic nostalgia. Primary Colours speaks to people who still seek an existence that is all about wearing ripped jeans, loitering and punching people in the face … not in a violent way, but because your fist flailed in that direction while you were thrashing around front of stage.

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This is the first video from the debut LP of Melbournites Little Red. Witchdoctor has a fantastic old school feel, with its barbershop vocals and 60s pop sensibilities and collar-shirted young men. It’s funny how a video featuring beautifully delinquent young women appeals to the small part of me that is still somewhat wholesome. I’m anticipating huge things for this band.

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Diplo’s most recent venture — titled Top Ranking — takes Santogold’s glittery debut and smashes into a whole lotta dub. The superbly quirky musical conglomeration reworks Santogold’s weird pop sound with some fantastic dub tracks, with Diplo adding some 80s pop, 60s soul, punk and Top-40 gloss just for kicks. If dub is not your thing, I urge you get this mixtape simply for Santogold’s cheeky cover of The Clash’s Guns of Brooklyn and the twentieth track, Get It Up [listen below] — the most exciting song I’ve heard in a long time.

[audio:http://boxstr.com/files/3231959_rblk8/Esau%20Mwamwaya%20Santogold%20M.I.A%20%26%20Radioclit%20-%20Get%20it%20up.mp3]

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Waking up at 4am, I took a plane, two trains and a bus to a rainy field in Belgium. I passed the day drinking beer and staring at the numerous stalls selling only spring rolls- for some reason either a giant one or eight mini ones qualify as a meal. The day wore on and the rain came-quickly followed by some misgivings. Was it worth coming all this distance to see Radiohead in a bleak grey field? I tried to push these thoughts aside with a giant spring roll, but it didn’t work. I was tired, my feet were aching and I was up to my knees in mud. Then the carbon powered light-tubes converged and finally Radiohead began. The grey dissipated as the lights glowed red, blue, green, purple, red. The sounds of — the now Mercury nominated — In Rainbows­ ­beckoned the crowd away from the freezing darkness, filling the night with colour. I would eat one hundred giant spring rolls to experience it again.

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On my recent visit to Barcelona, my love for Animal Farm led me to the Plaça de Geroge Orwell. There I discovered Oviso. The tiny café features hand painted walls and low wooden benches, where inhabitants enjoy great coffee for €1 and discuss music, beer, photography and the hordes of tourists that bustle just beyond the quiet square.

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Attending Glastonbury festival was a defining moment for me. I got to experience some great artists including Leonard Cohen, Santogold, The Raconteurs and Lost At E Minor favourites Yeasayer. And while all the music was phenomenal, the most fantastic things you will hear at this festival are the conversations that float across the stinking quagmire. From the man talking about his first encounter with hommus at lunchtime, to the two ladies who wondered what would happen if you fell into the hole that serves as your toilet for five days: ‘would you die?’, she asked her friend. For me, the most beautiful sound I heard all weekend came from the young men in the tent adjacent to mine. In the late hours of the night, they sat around a fire, listening to their Kings of Leon CD. Unaware that I lay awake, they crooned softly, their voices a lullaby through the freezing air.

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Wolf and Cub are back with a brand new single and after listening to it, I feel like I should be out in the streets, warning my neighbours of the apocalypse. The song is huge, forceful, damming and painfully exciting. Joel Byrne’s half-drawl, half-howl proclaims the end, while (in true Wolf and Cub) the drums are epic and unsettling. And then, that moment, the bass against the fading echoes. My heart broke and my brain exploded. It’s too much to take. This band will be the death of me.

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Directed by Spike Jonze, the video for Kanye West’s Flashing Lights is stunning. The song is the tale of West being caught cheating on his girlfriend by the paparazzi. And the video portrays the extreme consequences of his infidelity. Running a minute shorter than the album version of the track, the clip features a staple of the contemporary Hip Hop video: the half-naked female. However, the scantily clad woman is not to be ogled. She is vengeful, giving the bound and helpless West a last glimpse of what he obviously thought wasn’t enough.

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With one of the biggest singles of 2007 — Vitriol — and consistently amazing live shows, bluejuice are bright sparks on the Sydney music scene. With their Australian tour beginning soon, we put some questions to Stav, one of two vocalists in the group: Tell us about how you guys got started? ‘Jamie, Ned and Jake all went to school together and the former two had played in bands together before. Jerry is a killer keys player from the Blue Mountains and was looking for bands to play with as he’d just moved to Sydney and I kind of fell into the band. We started off as a five-piece playing free Sunday night jam sessions at the Three Monkeys in Sydney until we got replaced by a Neil Diamond covers band. Ick!’ A bad bluejuice show is like Santa or the Easter Bunny. A myth. How do you guys manage to deliver killer live sets every time? ‘Well, I don’t think we quite do killer shows every time, but we certainly give all of our guts every time. We’ll go as hard as possible until we’re basically about to sweat to death. But if it does go wrong, there’s every possibility that a guy called Scott from Glebe will write a spiteful letter into [local free music magazine] Drum Media calling you “possibly the worst and most pointless band Australia has ever produced”. Finally, some passionate people!’ Vitriol was one of the biggest songs in Australia during 2007. Did you know all along it would be so well received? ‘I knew it would be a single from that album but I had no idea it would go nuts for us like that. It’s pretty insane’.

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Microphones that don’t work; a bass with broken strings; musicians that can’t hear what they’re playing; the set gets cut short when a large amount of people storm the stage (myself included). One would assume all the above elements would contribute to one of the worst shows you’ve ever seen. However, when the musicians in question are Sydney’s bluejuice, it doesn’t matter. Put simply: bluejuice are the best live act in Sydney at the moment. And what’s more, their debut album Problems is out now and has just been shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize. Check it.

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