Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Dappled Cities Fly, Marissa Nadler
Quite a popular Sydney group, Dappled Cities Fly have been laying low for a while now while they record their second album. It's coming soon, though, and in preparation they'll be playing some shows in throughout February.
They've been great at the occasional show they've played recently, with their new material sounding great and the band sounding tight and focused. They play some great indie-pop in the vein of The Flaming Lips and The Unicorns, and are definately worth a look - they're playing with some great bands and should be an enjoyable (and well-priced) night out. They'll be on their Crooked Tracks tour from Feb 10-17 before playing a *very* special gig at the Mandarin Club with a killer lineup on the 24th.
Tour dates are as follows:
FEBRUARY
Friday 10 Spectrum, Sydney (w/ The Devoted Few + Laura Imbruglia)
Saturday 11 Spectrum, Sydney (w/ The Devoted Few + Death Mattel)
Thursday 16 161, Prahan, Melbourne (w/ The Devoted Few)
Friday 17 Jive Bar, Adelaide (w/ The Devoted Few)
Friday 24 The Mandarin Club, Sydney (w/ Thunderbirds Are Now! (USA), Baseball, The Stabs)
Here's a song from their debut LP "A Smile", called "Peach".
Another touring artist to keep an eye out for is New York's Marissa Nadler.
I got into her recently and found out that she already has plans to tour Australia - venues and cities aren't confirmed but it will be the first week of June. She plays some lovely, ethereal folk that should appeal to fans of artists such as Espers (a member of which is co-producing her album) and perhaps Joanna Newsom. She will also have her first 2 releases distributed by Art School Dropout in the near future.
This track is the first song on her album "The Saga Of Mayflower May" and is called "Turquoise".
Hope you enjoy the stuff i've posted tonight!
On a side note, does anyone know a better place to upload MP3s than Rapidshare? It's not the best place to upload songs. Let me know if you have any!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Saul Williams live review
Hey again, sorry for the lack of updates recently.
I caught Saul Williams last night at Beck's Festival Bar, and it was a fantastic show and I've posted a review of it.
Saul Williams live review
Saul Williams
Beck’s Festival Bar, Sydney
11th January, 2006.
An interesting crowd had gathered at Beck’s Festival Bar to see Saul Williams play a show of his hip-hop material, the night before sold out a 4 night stint of spoken word at the Opera House. There were plenty of people more dressed to impress, and a good number of older people, than you would expect at your typical show.
This didn’t matter though. As Saul preached to the faithfully gathered early in his set, “We Are One.” And indeed, we all believed it as we shared the experience that is a Saul Williams show.
Saul took command of his audience’s attention and imagination as soon as he stepped on the stage, with the cheers soon subsiding into a hushed reverance as he stood, front center of the stage, reciting a mash-up of lines from his poems and songs in one long passage. As it progressed the intensity of his delivery grew, and with that, the excitement of the crowd, feeding off every word – especially when the majority of people picked up on passages from his better-known material, such as “Twice The First Time”. The passage ended with the line “Now tell me, where my niggas at?”, Saul’s accompanying DJ CXKidtronix dropped the bass for “African Student Movement”, and Saul’s musical set was underway.
Proving himself to be a great musical performer as well as a great poet, Saul danced, strutted and rapped across the stage, playing a set that was mostly derived from his latest, and strongest self-titled album. The set was predominantly Saul’s heavier numbers, with songs such as "Grippo", "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)" (the last verse delivered as spoken word) and "Telegram" showing Saul to be an intense MC, while the slower numbers, such as "Black Stacey", stopped the show from being too overbearing.
Saul is best known as a poet, and between songs he often recited his passages. Every time, the room fell into the same hushed reverance that was there at the beginning of the show – at one point, saul even stepped in front of his microphone and recited part of a passage without his mic, something which I imagine sent shivers down everyone else’s spines as well as mine.
Perhaps as expected, Saul also took plenty of time to speak about his political beliefs. However, unlike the majority of performers who attempt to use the stage to discuss politics, Saul proved to be a captivating speaker. His message was much more empowering than most other artists, a message that encouraged the individual to be tolerant, openminded and strong-willed, rather than the somewhat cliché anti-bush rant that has been adopted by many other musicians. Everyone seemed genuinely appreciative of what Saul had to say, and Saul in return seemed appreciative of his audience.
Saul closed with a chaotic "List Of Demands", with Saul bouncing all over the stage as the crowd filled in the “Wah, wah, wah” part of the song, but returned amid a huge appeal for an encore. The room again became silent for the short while that Saul remained onstage, delivering a beautiful poem unaccompanied to close the set, ending his show in a captivating and beautiful way.
Before he launched into “List Of Demands”, Saul quipped “They told you I was serious, but they didn’t tell you I was danceable too, did they?”. It was a fitting thing to say – standing together as one, the crowd danced, stood silent, were moved, and were inspired during Saul’s set.
I've posted one of the highlights of his most recent self-titled album, titled "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)".
Download "Saul Williams - Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)"
I caught Saul Williams last night at Beck's Festival Bar, and it was a fantastic show and I've posted a review of it.
Saul Williams live review
Saul Williams
Beck’s Festival Bar, Sydney
11th January, 2006.
An interesting crowd had gathered at Beck’s Festival Bar to see Saul Williams play a show of his hip-hop material, the night before sold out a 4 night stint of spoken word at the Opera House. There were plenty of people more dressed to impress, and a good number of older people, than you would expect at your typical show.
This didn’t matter though. As Saul preached to the faithfully gathered early in his set, “We Are One.” And indeed, we all believed it as we shared the experience that is a Saul Williams show.
Saul took command of his audience’s attention and imagination as soon as he stepped on the stage, with the cheers soon subsiding into a hushed reverance as he stood, front center of the stage, reciting a mash-up of lines from his poems and songs in one long passage. As it progressed the intensity of his delivery grew, and with that, the excitement of the crowd, feeding off every word – especially when the majority of people picked up on passages from his better-known material, such as “Twice The First Time”. The passage ended with the line “Now tell me, where my niggas at?”, Saul’s accompanying DJ CXKidtronix dropped the bass for “African Student Movement”, and Saul’s musical set was underway.
Proving himself to be a great musical performer as well as a great poet, Saul danced, strutted and rapped across the stage, playing a set that was mostly derived from his latest, and strongest self-titled album. The set was predominantly Saul’s heavier numbers, with songs such as "Grippo", "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)" (the last verse delivered as spoken word) and "Telegram" showing Saul to be an intense MC, while the slower numbers, such as "Black Stacey", stopped the show from being too overbearing.
Saul is best known as a poet, and between songs he often recited his passages. Every time, the room fell into the same hushed reverance that was there at the beginning of the show – at one point, saul even stepped in front of his microphone and recited part of a passage without his mic, something which I imagine sent shivers down everyone else’s spines as well as mine.
Perhaps as expected, Saul also took plenty of time to speak about his political beliefs. However, unlike the majority of performers who attempt to use the stage to discuss politics, Saul proved to be a captivating speaker. His message was much more empowering than most other artists, a message that encouraged the individual to be tolerant, openminded and strong-willed, rather than the somewhat cliché anti-bush rant that has been adopted by many other musicians. Everyone seemed genuinely appreciative of what Saul had to say, and Saul in return seemed appreciative of his audience.
Saul closed with a chaotic "List Of Demands", with Saul bouncing all over the stage as the crowd filled in the “Wah, wah, wah” part of the song, but returned amid a huge appeal for an encore. The room again became silent for the short while that Saul remained onstage, delivering a beautiful poem unaccompanied to close the set, ending his show in a captivating and beautiful way.
Before he launched into “List Of Demands”, Saul quipped “They told you I was serious, but they didn’t tell you I was danceable too, did they?”. It was a fitting thing to say – standing together as one, the crowd danced, stood silent, were moved, and were inspired during Saul’s set.
I've posted one of the highlights of his most recent self-titled album, titled "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)".
