August 2008
25 posts
New Walkmen - In The New Year
MORE new music, this is probably the one I am most excited about. The Walkmen (of The Rat, still one of my all time favourite songs) have released In The New Year, and unlike so many bands recently, have stuck to their roots and recorded something in line with their established sound.
I’m all for trying new things and evolving, but after so many disapointing new releases (I’m looking at you Bloc Party), it’s refreshing to have something that already feels like sliding my feet into my Uggies.
I’m also tipping that The Walkmen will be here for next years Laneway Festival. Pure speculation… but I’ve got a feeling in my waters.
While on the topic of Laneway speculation, my other hot tip is The Hold Steady. Fingers crossed… it would already be more than enough to justify a ticket if both (or even either) of those two were on the bill.
“The guy the internet has to thank (blame?) for early listens of Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy has been arrested, charged, and released on bail over posting the songs to his site. The AP reports he “faces a maximum of three years in prison if convicted, and five years if it’s found that he did it for commercial gain.” This development was celebrated equally by the RIAA and all people who have actually heard the leak because it is pretty terrible and it’s nice to have someone punished.”
—Stereogum
The Kooks cover MGMT
The Kooks did an acoustic cover of MGMT’s kids for Triple J’sm Like a Version. Not too bad, it’s got everything I like in a cover… and that’s that it doesn’t sound exactly the same as the original. Still, doesn’t blow me away, and won’t be on a regular rotation.
Fun though.
New Lou Reed - Caroline Says Pt 2
Julian Schnabel’s film, Lou Reed’s Berlin, captures Lou Reed playing his much-maligned Berlin in Brooklyn last year, and attempts to give the album the recognition it rightly deserves. This MP3 of “Caroline Says, Pt. II,” (originally “Stephanie Says” with the Velvet Underground) is taken from the film’s soundtrack, and features an obviously older Lou Reed (his voice cracks occasionally) working his way through the album’s highlight with some help from Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) on the refrain.
The soundtrack, titled Berlin: Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse, is due out on iTunes on September 30, the same day the DVD is slated to hit stores.
(Source: Prefix Mag)
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Sunday Morning Music
Hooray, it’s Sunday morning and I am catching up with my weeks worth of Music Feeds. So here come a few music related Tumbls.
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The REAL Olympic Medal Tally →
crikey.com.au
The Olympic Medal tally, adjusted for population and GDP.
(Via crikey.com.au)
“On the other hand, this new Queen is bloody preachy. First they were banging on about some Third World issue, now they’re wagging their fingers at celebrity culture - a bit rich for two guys who exhumed the corpse of Queen for what? Fame and fortune. May and Taylor aren’t in this for the good of their health, are they”
—
Unreality Music on the new Queen single - C-lebrity
(source: Unreality Music)
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Security company Marshal reports that their latest survey found 29% of respondents willing to admit that they have purchased something from a spam e-mail.
Marshal says that global spam volumes are around 150 billion messages each day and have doubled for the year ending June 2008. We wrote in december about another study, also from a vendor in the anti-spam market, that concluded that 90 to 95% of all email is now spam.
The announcement of the study concludes with these funny lines, from Bradley Anstis from Marshal: “The other way to look at this situation is from a spammer’s perspective. There are approximately 250 million people out there who are interested in these kinds of products and have made purchases from spam in the past. That’s equivalent to double the population of Japan mixed in with every other Internet user. As a spammer - how do you reach that market without knowing specifically who these people are and with the bare minimum of expense? Easy, send lots of emails to everyone.”
” —(Source: ReadWriteWeb)Sci Fi at Home
Professional photographer, Steve Schofield has recently produced a series of sci fi fans, dressed up as Star Wars, Star Trek, and other Sci Fi characters. I particularly loved these two, a rebel pilot getting ready for work, and chewbacca in his kitchen. I love the normality Steve creates.
The rest of his gallery can be found here.
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The Rob Roy has stood empty for months now, echoing faintly of bygone mayhem. This month, however, it will be reborn. ‘Ooh noo!’ You exclaim. ‘Gastro pub!’ Thanks be, we can assure you it’s in the good, party-wizened hands of Jerome Borazio (St Jerome’s) and the owners of The Empress Hotel. What to expect? Well, first up, a name. After that, a straight-talkin’ front bar and well-chosen DJs. Upstairs you’ll find The Happy Palace, accommodation for the creative traveler (free internet, free bikes, lovely rooms, listen up Sydney bands). With an interior by Melbourne’s Kano Hollamby, it will also look recycled, but not in a ‘sit on this milkcrate’ kind of way. Baited Breath.
51 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (Corner of Gertrude Street).
” —Lost and Found
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Grass Sandles
In response to a statistic that over half (53%) of workers in the UK blame their stress levels on a lack of interaction with Mother Nature, Krispy Kreme doughnuts (Not quite sure of the connection?) have released the worlds first grass thongs.
Apparently, if they are properly cared for and watered regularly, the grass can live up to 4 months!
I’m still not eating their doughnuts though… not after the black endorphin crash not long after I’d consumed four in one sitting. They were FREE! I COULDN’T STOP!
Tallest Skyscraper in the World
“The Burj Dubai tower, the tallest skyscaper in the world is about to be completed. To celebrate it, David Hobcote has taken a series of amazing high resolution pictures from the air which give an exact impression of the breathtaking, massive scale of this building”
A few more pictures (including one from inside) available here.
(Source: Gizmodo.com)
