As it takes longer to write a post than to travel down under, the music presented here has been out for a while now.
But it’s always nice to be reminded about what’s going on in this continent-land.

We start with Gypsy & The Cat, a Melbourne-based duo. They play a kind of “alternative pop” that might make you think of their compatriots of Empire of the Sun or Tim & Jean. Despite their young age Gypsy & The Cat have already got a firm mastery of classic pop.
A good song to get introduced to their music could be Jona Vark

The Potbelleez – Hello (Extended Mix)
Let’s get a bit more electronic with The Potbelleez.
The Potbelleez are an electrohouse quartet based in Sydney.
If you have been living in Australia recently you cannot have missed that song on TV. “Hello” by the Potbelleez was indeed featured in the promo spot for the newly aired Go channel. This song was used heavily to announce that channel, using it almost continuously on TV. This has driven some people nuts and it is hard to get that song out of your head. Their song “Hello” is from their new album “Destination Now” out in May 2011.
It is a good song, it will help you run faster and it might get stuck in your head for a while. So if the TV spot hasn’t spoiled it too much yet, enjoy it, now, Let’s Go!!

Angus & Julia Stone

You’ve probably come across this brother-sister duo from Australia, they fit perfectly in the recent new folk wave. Acoustic guitars, nice and “easy” melody. I mean the kind of melody that you can easily get into. The music flows in the air, you can sit back and relax, you’re in safe hands, you’re in Angus & Julia’s hands.
And if you listen carefully you will notice that there is more to this music than just these calm voices and sweet melodies, the texts happen to be well written and meaningful. What else should you ask for?

So start the tour of their songs with this playlist on Youtube

Hungry Kids of Hungary is a four-piece indie pop band from Brisbane. They play an energetic type of rock that makes one wants to jump and smile at the same time. Before releasing their first studio album “Escapades” in Oct. 2010 they released two EPs, the self titled “Hungry Kids of Hungary” in 2008 and then “Mega Mountain” in 2009. Attention was drawn to them partly due to the interest of DJ’s from Aussie radio Station Triple J  (already mentioned in a previous post). Triple J offered HKoH quite some airplay from the start, and that was deserved.
To give you an idea of their music here’s “Wristwatch” from their debut album Escapades:

You might think of Vampire Weekend, Cold War Kids or Phoenix, and it’s true that there is a bit of the same feelings in there. Some incursion of soft electro sound on top of a good Blues/Rock rhythm. It’s happy, rhythmic, really perfect for these coming summer days (in the Northern hemisphere).
If you also think it’s too short and you want more of that same happy feeling, try “Scattered Diamonds” from their second EP.

Speaking of Hungry Kids of Hungary, here’s a related OZ act: Andy Bull. He’s a Sydney-based artist, “artist” is to be understood as “one man band”, i.e. pop-rock singer and pianist. His high pitched voice makes this singer able to sing duet with female artists like Lisa Mitchell or Duffy. The success of Andy Bull was also helped by Triple J.
He often plays with Hungry Kids of Hungary on tour and they have this great song together on Andy Bull’s album: “Last Waltz” by Andy Bull feat. Hungry Kids of Hungary

Tim & jean are from Perth and they are just Tim Ayre and Jean Capotorto.
Both quite young (17 & 20 years old) and terribly talented as you can hear on their first single “Come around”. This single was out in Oct. 2010.

They really blew my minds with their perfectly realized synth-pop splendor. This one is definitely to be added to your summer playlist

There must be something in the water, with so much upcoming talents from Australia. Here’s another of these artist to keep your ears on: Jonathan Boulet. Jonathan Boulet – A community service announcement

Continuing the everlasting harvest of new sounds, this blog will present a series of posts about rare gems from down under. If you ever find yourself on this continent you might want to tune in on Triple J during your long car ride. Triple J is the “youth” radio channel from ABC, the public broadcaster, it’s the Australian answer to BBC’s Radio 1, exactly what Danmarks Radio would like P3 to be! On this triple J they have a feature called “Like a version” where artists get the opportunity to cover a song live in the studio, just like Radio 1′s Live lounge.

Some of the songs I’ve presented on this blog where actually from the Live lounge recording. These covers usually brings a new vision on a song that you’ve heard too much and can turn unbearable songs into delightful tunes (see womanizer, Sam Sparro).

The song I heard on Triple J was “Rock it” covered by Lotek (aka Wayne Bennett) This song is just massive! Once you’ve heard it you can’t take it out of your head and it feels good. It will be your favourite earworm for a while, try it here:

The perfect soundtrack for your Sunday morning waking up, it makes you day happier and easier to go through. With the added brass, it’s definitely a version that Mark Ronson wouldn’t be ashamed of. Lotek has kind of “reggaematised” the original song, a very inspired piece of work. The song was originally written by Little Red, a band based in Melbourne. I must admit it’s a bit hard to listen to the original when you’ve started with the Lotek cover. But it’s still worth a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSfSjkW5E6U

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Minty-Fresh™.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

The total archive of this blog is 87 posts.

The busiest day of the year was September 28th with 27 views. The most popular post that day was Sam Sparro vs. Fat Freddy’s Drop.

Where did they come from?

Some visitors came searching, mostly for sam sparro, mads langer, the metros, wim mertens iris, and fat freddy’s drop albums.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Sam Sparro vs. Fat Freddy’s Drop June 2008

Start! Festival 09 – Interviews (1/2) June 2009
2 comments

Wim Mertens “Iris” June 2006
5 comments

Nouvelle Vague – Master & Servant May 2009

Electrochoc: just a branch of a big tree April 2009
3 comments

Continuing our series of interviews for “Being a fan of…”, we meet today with Sarah, a Belgian girl studying in Boston. One of the major rock band of the 90′s and of this decade is definitely Radiohead

When did you first hear of them?
My brother had bought ‘the Bends’, and he made me listen to it. He was a very big Nirvana fan at the time, but I wasn’t so much into this ‘dark’ music. But then when he let me listen to the Radiohead album, I was sold right away. I even made a deal with him that I exchanged my CD of ‘the Verve’ with ‘the Bends’ so that it became mine. I am not sure whether he regretted the exchange in the long run, but I at least didn’t!

What is the craziest thing you’ve done for that band?
Well, I have always been on the phone or internet early enough to get tickets to their show, except for the first time they were touring with OK Computer. I really wanted to go to that show but I was actually a little bit too young (16 or so). Either way, my mum found it pretty funny that it was sold out (because that would stop me whining from wanting to go). But I did not give up and sent an ad to a magazine forum to ask for tickets. I put my phone number in that ad and some random people started calling us for the whole week, just to have fun, but there was also one person that would drop by the two tickets at my home, so that I could go. I was of course very excited to go, so I really wanted to buy the tickets… but then my mum found another excuse: ‘you don’t think that I will drive you and your friend to that gig, do you?’. So then in the end I had to turn down the tickets and I did not manage to see the concert. I did of course not forget the incident , after all the trouble I had gone through to get those tickets.. My mum was quite surprised by me not forgetting the incident, and she ended up feeling a bit bad about not letting me go in the end. So bad that the next time Radiohead was around with Kid A, she actually also booked a ticket and went with me

Do you owe all their albums? Any rarities?
I have bought all their albums, some of them also in record version. And from some of them I have the limited editions from the first press. I also have the ‘miss-press’ of ‘Kid A’. In the first press of this album, you can hear 40 seconds of noise before the first song starts. If you listen to the album at once, you don’t find this very disturbing, but the track numbers are also off by 40 seconds. So when you want to listen to the 2nd song, then you get the first 40 seconds of the first song first and so on. I didn’t know that I had that version until they made a campaign for people who wanted to have that album replaced with a correct print. Of course I was very happy that I had a ‘collectors item’ in my hands and I did not have it replaced

How many concerts of them have you attended?
6 times: 3 times in Belgium, once in Madrid, once in Berlin and once in Copenhagen

Have you ever met them personally?
I bumped into Thom Yorke and the band in the Reina Sophia museum in Madrid in front of the Guernica painting. This was an amazing moment for me because I travelled all the way to Madrid to go see their show. And this is how I also realised that Thom Yorke is pretty small. He came out of a corridor that led to the painting and I wanted to go passed that corridor when we sort of bumped. He was as surprised as I did, and I almost got a heart attack right there.. When we bumped, he looked at me, he looked at the text that was written on my T-shirt, and then passed by. I am happy I didn’t say anything, because it would have been something stupid anyways…
I wouldn’t mind having a beer with the Thom Yorke some evening, but since it is probably going to be one of these awful experiences, I might just rather not. Their music is all I need, although I sometimes wonder what is going on in the head of Thom Yorke.

Does the passion you have for this band has had consequences for your private life ?
Only good things there! I have so many memories to the band and their music, that I don’t even know where to start. They have been sort of like the soundtrack to my life almost.

What do you think about the recent projects covering Radiohead’s songs? OKX a tribute to OK computer, Easy Star all-stars, Songs With Radio Heads, Brad Mehldau, Richard Cheese…
I know that Radiohead supports all these project, so I am fine with it. I am not very interested in these projects because covers or remixes of Radiohead are usually worse than the original.

What was your opinion when they announced the album In rainbow could be downloaded for the listener’s price?
Great! Even me, as the great fan got it for free (shame on me). Either way, I made up for it by buying the album later on when it came out on CD. I think it is a great initiative and I think that most bands already know that they earn more on their tours than on selling CDs anyways. So I think it was a nice statement!

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

Simply because Grizzly Bear are getting better and better, first single of their latest album “Veckatimest”. Just like a summer breeze over your shoulder.

The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band – Pimp

Here’s the song from where 50 cents got his sample. Nice Caribbean feeling, chill out, better appreciated with some ice cubes in your glass, sun glasses, straw hat and a cosy chair.

Empire of the sun – We Are The People (The Golden Filter Remix)

Speaking of summer, here are the people from the sun. Australian duo “Empire of the sun” sent us their first album “Walking on a Dream” during the austral summer, offering us a warm sunshine at the toughest of the winter. Now seasons have changed, time for remixes, Here’s a remix by the Golden Filter from the second single “We Are The People”, nice relaxing at the beginning but still with a dancing feeling. Good for early evening soundtrack.

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Neo Tokyo Remix)

A bit later in the evening when it feels more like dancing, this remix of the Passion Pit’s hit will deliver the perfect combination of uptempo beats and nice mood.

Michael Jackson – Don’t stop ’til you get enough (1978 demo)

just discovered this very interesting tracks, this is the demo M. Jackson recorded in 1978 with sister Janet playing on cola bottle and brother Randy on keyboards, the recording took place in the basement of their grandparents’ house. So, this is what MJ’s music sounds like before the work of Quincy Jones, who will write some more songs for the album “Off the wall” (1979). Beware, this is extremely groovy! I really like this version, a bit more raw, I like the laughters at the beginning, I like the saturation on the mic, and the somehow chaotic end. It’s a bit like sitting with them in their basement and seeing them performing, like a private concert.
This version is available on the special edition of “Off the Wall”, released in 2001.

Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden – Bonkers

When the party is on, this is the track to play. The crowd goes nuts and wants more. Seriously, what else could you expect when Dizzee Rascal meets van Helden? A dancefloor classic! Bonkers! Put on your dancing shoes and turn up the volume.

Gui Boratto – Beautiful Life

Gui Boratto is a Brazilian architect, musician, composer and producer. Here’s an a track from his album “Chromophobia” (Kompakt, 2007). If you had left out the techno/house scene, here’s a good opportunity to come back to it, with fantastic synthetic melodic waves, slowly growing until the voice delivers the repeated message “What a beautiful life”. And at this point you can only agree and you just wish this atmosphere would transpose into your real life.
Gui Boratto’s latest release is “Take My Breath Away”, out last March.

Dapayk & Padberg – Island Feat Caro (Noze Remix)

Perfect for an after, relaxing but still with a beat. Those who still feel like dancing can still move on that slow moves with their arms in the air, while others, more tired, sit back and enjoy the last moments of this long night.

Songs available on request.
I’ll keep you posted for more tracks coming, don’t hesitate to share your summer songs.

Now most people will remember his fantastic career and just mentioning his “complicated” private life, without judging or giving too much details. Because if you want to tell about his private life, which in the past years had taken over his music career, then you need to tell it from the beginning, since he was about 5 years old. This is the story of a child that did not decide what he would to become. He didn’t know it was impossible for a black person to be a worldwide acclaimed star so he became one.

I’m trying to think how to introduce MJ to someone ignoring everything about him. Where to start? What to tell? Maybe starting by the end, the reactions that his death is generating: former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said: “We lost a hero of the world”, “Lamentable news” according to Hugo Chavez (Venezuela’s president), TV programs being interrupted to announce the news, and the countless fans across the world spontaneously gathering when they heard the sad news. MJ was huge in Asia, in Southern America, in Europe, he was huge everywhere!. And now everybody remembers a concert, the craziness when he came to town, his impressive videos, his amazing way of dancing that inspired so many, the LPs bought in the 80′s… that’s for the reactions.

Now the career: started with the Jackson 5, aged 8, 1966-1984, huge hits with “I want you back”, “Can you feel it”, “ABC” and much more.

Solo career, excellent albums produced with Quincy Jones: Off the Wall, Bad, Thriller. MJ was also a lot about video clip, his solo career coincided with the emergence of MTV and the making of his videos were closer to big movies than to actual TV adds (both for their budget and the special effects involved). In the 90′s, despite still making music ahead of his time, his career became shaded by his commitment in various charities and his “complicated” private life.

Throughout the years, MJ became a monument of music, everything that had to happen in music went through him, he changed the way music videos were made, he changed the way live performance were given, with a special place for dance. Inspired by James brown, MJ is associated with famous moves such as the moonwalk.
I can’t think of another artist that performed as much as MJ did over his life span, he left us enough hits to remember him for a lifetime!
He’s inspired many artists in different genres and lately Justice wrote a song about him, the dancefloor classic D.A.N.C.E. “As easy as ABC, you were such a P.Y.T., under the spotlights, neither black nor white…”

The king is dead. Long live the king.